I love a good sports movie. I like to see the underdog rise to the top and as the music begins to crescendo, we see the team shoot the winning basket, score the final touchdown, kick the goal to take the championship as fans rise in sheer joy at the remarkable story they have witnessed. The best stories include struggle and determination. A Mother, Coach or Father sacrificing to see the person they love and believe in make it to the top. When Kevin Durant, star player with the Oklahoma City Thunder, delivered his acceptance speech when receiving the honor of NBA MVP, he described the challenges of his life and all that lead him to this day. The speech could be a script for a movie that I would pay money to see.
By the time he got to the 22nd minute of his speech, I was on my third tissue! The best message was yet to come...Kevin thanked his Mother and described one of his best memories as a child. His Mother was a young single women raising two young boys. She gave up her meals to make certain her children were fed. She worked to keep them off the street and instill a strong sense of family. And, when they sat in the living room of their first apartment, empty because they had no furniture, that apartment made this young family feel as though they "made it".
I clipped this portion of the speech to share with you:
I want to thank Kevin Durant for reminding me what I love best about my work. I love connecting people with home. I was reminded power of this experience. It is a old, tired saying and yet it means so much, Home is Where The Heart Is. And on a day when I questioned the value of all that I have done and built in my career, Mr. Durant reminded me of my purpose.
Initially, I posted this on my Facebook wall thinking that others in our business may be having a difficult day like me, and would find their purpose renewed by reading his quote. I was touched to see, in a matter of a few hours, 200 people clicking "like" as a personal affirmation that even an empty apartment can change someone's life and that we are honored to create exceptional communities for a living. As the post was shared, 29 times and counting, it seems that everyone needed the sweet reminder that our work matters more than we will ever know.
This is a pretty bold title for a blog! Let's start by saying I love this guy. In my life I have had a few celeb crushes starting with Rob Lowe starring in St. Elmo's Fire and About Last Night. The day after I saw Legends of the Fall I had to leave work at 10:30 am because I could not concentrate on writing a marketing plan and had Brad Pitt on the brain. Then came my encounter with John Stamos.....well that is another blog on my personal page. And finally Ashton. I saw him in Just Married and loved his expressions. I was hooked.
Of all my celeb crushes, I have never felt like I was on their level until I heard Ashton accept his Teen Choice Award. He proudly took this opportunity to reach out to the young audience with a message about life. I was personally touched when he shared the same thoughts that I frequently talk about in my programs. Not only did he connect with screaming 16 year old's, he connected with me too.
The first point of his speech is that his name is really Chris and he lived an important life before he took his middle name to become and actor. Surprisingly, he learned about opportunity before he got his role on That 70's Show. Ashton feels that opportunity looks a lot like work. He had jobs where he mopped floors and washed dishes and he never felt that he had a job he was better than. Ashton respected the opportunity and saw it as a stepping stone. I found his next point to be very important for today's 20 something generation; never quit a job until you have your next one. When you quit without your next job lined up, you just proved to the world that you thought you were better than the job you wanted to leave and did not respect the opportunity to work. As an employer, I steer clear of people who make this choice and do not have a really really, and I mean really good reason. Click here:
For those of you who have heard me speak in the last few years, you may have heard me close my program with this words to live by "Be Here Now, Be Somewhere Else Later". This is the key to my success and I have been benefiting from this belief for over 20 years. I meet ambitious people who want to do what I do and the best advice I can give them is to do what you do now extremely well. If you are a housekeeper, be the master of clean. If you are a Leasing Consultant, stop making excuses for why an apartment is not leasing and have the highest closing ratio in your company.
I have a dream board, goal sheets and big plans for my life but none of them will happen if I am not taking my current opportunities and knocking them out of the park. My first job in the apartment industry was to lease apartments. In my first two weeks with my company, Trammell Crow, I went to a week long training class where I witnessed what corporate trainers do and I knew then, I wanted to be one. But, to get there, I had to first show people that I could do the work that I would be training other people to do. It was in that very class that I decided that I would not stop until I was the number one Leasing Consultant in the company. I hit that goal within a year. I was the Director of Training 4 years later.
I wondered where Ashton was going when the second point of his speech was about being sexy. This is a guy who could rest on his looks for his sexy but he knows there is more to being attractive. Ashton explains that being sexy is accomplished by being smart, thoughtful and generous. In our world we are caught up in what he labels crap; the stuff that people try to sell to you to make you feel less. I have always been attracted to the smart, thoughtful and generous guy.
Over the years, I have received some nice compliments about how I look. I always brush that off because I think I am just an average person. It is the comments and compliments about my intelligence that make me say "thank you". I know my expertise, and how I give to others, have opened many more doors than my looks.
Ashton's last message is about building a life not just living one. Again, I connected. I have not taken the path well traveled, I have carved out the life I want. I continue to build my life based on the belief that most people are no smarter than I am. If they can do it, why can't I?
Now, go be amazing at work today and get your sexy on!
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