Latest / Motivation Mindset Podcast / Oprah Winfrey’s Most Inspirational Speech: Prepare to Be Changed Forever

Transcript

Oprah Winfrey’s Most Inspirational Speech: Prepare to Be Changed Forever · Motivation Mindset Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Today, I just want to share a few lessons, meaning three.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The three lessons that have had the greatest impact on
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: my life have to do with feelings, with failure, and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: with finding happiness. A year after I left college, I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: was given the opportunity to co anchor the six o'clock
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: news in Baltimore. Because the whole goal in the media
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: at the time I was coming up was that you
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: try to move to larger markets, and Baltimore was a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: much larger market than Nashville. So getting the six o'clock
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: news co anchor job at twenty two was such a
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: big deal. It felt like the biggest deal in the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: world at the time, and I was so proud because
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I was finally going to have my chance to be
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: like Barbara Walters, which is who had been trying to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: emulate since the start of my TV career. So I
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: was twenty two years old making twenty two thousand and
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: yet it didn't feel right. It didn't feel right. The
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: first sign was when they tried to change my name.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: The news director said to me at the time, nobody's
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: going to remember Oprah, so we want to change your name.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: We've come up with a name we think that people
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: will remember and people will like it's a friendly name, Susie.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: But my name wasn't Susie. And you know, I'd grown
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: up not really loving my name, because when you're looking
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: for your little name on the lunchboxes and the license
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: plate tax, you're never going to find Oprah. So I
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: grew up not loving the name. But once I was
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: asked to change it, I thought, well, it is my name,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and do I look like a Susie to you? So
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I thought, no, it doesn't feel right. I'm not going
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to change my name, and if people remember it or not,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that's okay. And then they said they didn't like the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: way I looked. This was in nineteen seventy six, where
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: your boss could call you in and say I don't
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: like the way you look. So I was juggling these
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: messages of expectation and oblation and feeling really miserable with myself.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I'd go home at night and fill up my journals
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: because I've kept a journal since I was fifteen, so
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I now volumes of journals. So I'd go home at
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: night and fill up my journals about how miserable I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: was and frustrated, and then I'd eat my anxiety That's
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: where I learned that habit, and after eight months I
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: lost that job. They said I was too emotional, I
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: was too much, but since they didn't want to pay
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: off the contract, they put me on a talk show
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: in Baltimore. And the moment I sat down on that show,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the moment I did, I felt like I'd come home.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I realized that TV could be more than just a playground,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: but a platform for service, for helping other people lift
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: their lives. And the moment I sat down doing that
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: talk show, it felt like breathing. It felt it felt right,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And that's where everything that followed for me began. And
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I got that lesson when you're doing the work you're
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: meant to do, it feels right, and every day is
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: a bonus, regardless of what you're getting paid. And how
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: do you know when you're doing something right? How do
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: you know that it feels So what I know now
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: is that feelings are really your GPS system for life.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: do something, your emotional guidance system, let you know. The
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: chick trick is to learn to check your ego at
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  Speaker 1: the door and start checking your gut instead. Every right
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: decision I've made, every right decision I've ever made has
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: come from my gut, And every wrong decision I've ever
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: made was a result of me not listening to the
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: greater voice of myself. If it doesn't feel right, don't
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: do it. That's the lesson. Even doubt means don't. This
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: is what I've learned. There many times when you don't
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: know what to do, When you don't know what to do,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: get still, Get very still until you do know what
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: to do. And when you do, get still and let
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: your internal motivation be the driver. Not only will your
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: personal life improve, but you will gain a competitive edge
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: in the working world as well, because, as Daniel Pink
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: writes in his bestseller A Whole New Mind, he says,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: we're entering a whole new age, and he calls it
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the conceptual age, where traits that set people apart today
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: are going to come from our heart's right brain as
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: well as our heads. It's no longer just the logical, linear,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: rules based thinking that matters, he says, it's also empathy
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: and joyfulness and purpose, inner traits that have transcendent worth.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: These qualities bloom when we're doing what we love, so
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: when we're involving the wholeness of ourselves in our work,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: both our expertise and our emotion. So I say to you,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: just harness your power to your passion, honor your calling.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Everybody has one. Trust your heart, and success will come
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: to you. So lesson one. Follow your feelings. If it
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: feels right, move forward. If it doesn't feel right, don't
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: do it now. I want to talk a little bit
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: about failings, because nobody's journey is seamless or smooth. We
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: all stumble, we all have setbacks. If things go wrong,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: you hit a dead end, as you will. It's just
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: life's way of saying time to change course. So ask
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: every failure. This is what I do, every failure, every crisis,
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  Speaker 1: every difficult time. I say, what is this here to
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you get to move on. If you really get the lesson,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: you pass and you don't have to repeat the class.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: If you don't get the lesson, it shows up wearing
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: another pair of pants or skirt to give you some
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: remedial work. And what I found is that difficulties come
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: when you don't pay attention to life's whisper because life
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: always whispers to you first, and if you ignore the whispers,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: sooner or later you'll get a scream. Whatever you resist persists.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But if you ask the right question, not why is
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: this happening? But what is this here to teach me?
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: What is this here to teach me? It puts you
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: in the place and space to get the lesson you need.
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  Speaker 1: My friend at Cartol who's written this wonderful book called
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a New Earth, it's all about letting the awareness of
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  Speaker 1: who you are stimulate everything that you do. He puts
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: it like this. He says, don't react against a situation,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: merge with that situation instead, and the solution will arise
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: from the challenge. Because surrendering yourself doesn't mean giving up,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It means acting with responsibility. Okay, many of you know that,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: as President Hennessy said, I started this school in Africa,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and I founded the school where I'm trying to give
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: South African girls a shot at a future like yours.
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  Speaker 1: And I spent five years making sure that school would
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: be as beautiful as the students. I wanted every girl
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to feel her worth reflected in her surroundings. So I
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: checked every blueprint. I picked every pillow, I was looking
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: at the groud in between the bricks. I knew every
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: threapecount of the sheets. I chose every girl from the villages,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: from nine provinces. And yet last fall I was faced
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: with a crisis I'd never anticipated. I was told in
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: one of the dorm matrons was suspected of sexual abuse. Well,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: that was, as you can imagine, devastating news. First I cried, Actually,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I sobbed for about a half an hour, and then
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I said, let's get to it. That's all you get
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: is a half an hour. You need to focus on
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the now. What you need to do now. So I
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: contacted a child trauma specialist, I put together a team
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: of investigators. I made sure the girls had counseling and support,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and Gale and I got on a plane and flew
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to South Africa. And the whole time I kept asking
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that question, what is this here to teach me? And
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: as difficult as that experience has been, I got a
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: lot of lessons. I understand now the mistakes I made
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: because I had been paying attention to all of the
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: wrong things. I built that school from the outside in,
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  Speaker 1: when what really mattered was the inside out. So it's
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: a lesson that applies to all of our lives as
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: a whole. What matters most is what's inside. What matters
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: most is the sense of integrity, of quality and beauty.
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  Speaker 1: I got that lesson, and what I know is is
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: that the girls came away with something too. They've emerged
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  Speaker 1: from this more resilient and knowing that their voices have power,
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  Speaker 1: and their resilience in spirit have given me more than
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I could ever give to them. Which leads me to
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  Speaker 1: my final lesson, the one about finding happiness. Not a
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: small topic. This is finding happiness, but in some ways
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  Speaker 1: I think it's the simplest of all. Gwendolyn Brooks wrote
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: a poem for her children. It's called Speech to the Young,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Speech to the progress toward, and she says at the end, live,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: not for battles won live not for the end of
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the song, Live in the along. She's saying, like Art Eckartole,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you have to live for the present. You have to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: be in the moment. Whatever has happened to you in
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: your past has no power over this present moment, because
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: life is now. But I think she's also saying, be
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  Speaker 1: a part of something. Don't live for yourself alone. This
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  Speaker 1: is what I know for sure. In order to be
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  Speaker 1: truly happy, you must live along with and you have
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: to stand for something larger than yourself. Because life is
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a reciprocal exchange. To move forward, you have to give back,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and to me, that is the greatest lesson of life.
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  Speaker 1: To be happy, you have to give something back. So
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  Speaker 1: whatever fields you choose, if you operate from the paradigm
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  Speaker 1: of service, I know your life will have more value
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  Speaker 1: and you will be happy. I was always happy doing
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: my talk show, but that happiness reached a depth of fulfillment,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: of joy that I really can't describe to you a measure.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: When I stopped just being on TV and looking at
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: TV as a job and decided to use television to
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: use it and not have it use me, to use
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: it as a platform to serve my viewers, that alone
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: changed the trajectory of my success. So I know this
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: that whether you're an actor, you offer your talent in
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the way that most inspires art. If you're an anatomus,
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  Speaker 1: you look at your gift as knowledge and service to healing.
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  Speaker 1: Whether you've been called as so many of you here
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  Speaker 1: today getting doctorates and other degrees to the profession of business, law, engineering, humanities, science, medicine.
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  Speaker 1: If you choose to offer your skills in talent in service.
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  Speaker 1: When you choose the paradigm of service, looking at your
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  Speaker 1: life through that paradigm, it turns everything you do from
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a job into a gift