New Speech Flashcards
Introduction / Thanks For Inviting me / Honored / Steps
Honored to be here and have the opportunity to share this special moment with you all. I am so proud of everyone in this room. You’ve achieved an amazing step in not only elevating your own personal journeys, but also adding so much value to each of your communities. Today we celebrate not only your personal achievements, but your contribution to something bigger than yourself.
Excited / Ideal Student
Never thought I’d be excited about going back to school, but I’m excited to be here. Though I have spent much of my life in school, I was far from being the ideal student. From special reading classes in elementary school, to having to attend night school in order to avoid flunking out of high school, like many non-traditional students, I do not have many fond academic memories.
Love Cypress / Blessed Life
But that changed when I came to Cypress College. I love this school. It is as important to me as Chapman University, where I earned my Juris Doctorate. In fact, in many ways, it is more important to me because every time I tell someone about my journey in life, it usually starts with Cypress College. It was in these halls and on this campus that the most important dominos of my life were first tipped, ultimately allowing me to earn the life I am now so blessed to live.
Tools / How I learn / Helping Others
Cypress College, and the Disability Support Services, provided me with tools and resources to empower my ability to figure myself out. To learn what I need in order to succeed in school. To understand how I learn. How I absorb information. From the foundation I laid here, more than a decade ago, I continued on to graduate with honors in business at Cal State Dominguez Hills and, later, at the top of my law school class at Chapman University. Most important, I have had the opportunity to take what I’ve learned works for me and share it with others along the way. To date, I’ve mentored more than 30 children with learning disabilities from a dozen countries around the world.
Time Machine
Sharing information is a passion of mine, if you haven’t noticed yet. Whenever I meet someone who I feel is further ahead on a path I’d like to be one day, I ask them: “If you had a time machine, what would you tell a younger you?” With that in mind, as I look out on an audience where I once sat, I’d like to provide 5 core truths that I wish I had come to know earlier in my life.
- It gets better.
We have all faced barriers and struggles in our life, and I won’t pretend as if I can relate or even compare to any of yours, but believe that it gets better. Whatever that “it” may be, if you surround yourself with a loving community and keep pushing forward towards your goals, you will reach a sense of accomplishment and personal pride that makes the journey worth the investment. Worth the sleepless nights.
- Perfection / bugs / winging it
In business, if you wait until there are no more bugs before you launch, you waited too long to launch. The same is true in so many other aspects of life. Don’t let fear of failure prevent you from trying. Given the chance between not doing something or winging it, go with winging it, then learn from the experience and improve.
Reddit story + 500 million
The best opportunities I’ve had in my life came from me taking risks. In undergrad, I fixed computers to make money. I called myself “handynerd.” If you’ve ever fixed computers, you know that work often ebbs and flows. Some months you have more work than you have time, and other months you’re glad you saved up money just to afford gas to get to school. One time I had an especially-dry season with no clients for 2 months. At this point, I noticed that there was a girl who always seemed to do illustrating work for a website called Reddit.com. I found her e-mail and sent her a message letting her know I did graphic design work and, if she had any overflow work, to send it my way. A few weeks later, she asked me if I knew how to design infographics and the best lie I ever told was: Yes. I spent a whole weekend locked in my room viewing tutorials online and, a week later, I started working with the founder of Reddit on various infographics. We worked together for two years. I have since designed graphics and marketing materials for companies ranging from AirBNB to Google. Over 500 million people have seen my work.
All people care about is answers
At the end of the day, all people care about is that you can find the answer and provide them a solution. All they care about is that they are confident that you are confident. And with that in mind…
- No one knows what they are doing
No one knows exactly, with 100% confidence, what they are doing… we are all just trying to do our best with the information we have at hand.
Imitating world / blaze your own path
I still struggle with this. I over-prepare for everything, and yet it is easy to find myself in a room full of other professionals and feel like I don’t belong. School does a decent job at imitating the real world, but it is not the real world. You will experience new circumstances that literally no one has ever faced before, and though you may draw from similar experiences and advice from others, it is up to you to ultimately blaze your own path forward. To find yourself lost in a problem and have to find your own way out. In those moments of anxiety, remember that they are felt by everyone. Novice to expert. So don’t let them control you, or scare you away from opportunity, or make you feel like you are less capable than someone else in the room.
- Ask what you need
Don’t ask for what’s appropriate, ask for what you need.
Money / Stigma
I see this a lot with entrepreneurs raising money for their startups. They obsess so much with trying to figure out what is the most appropriate amount to ask for rather than asking for the amount of money they actually need to succeed as a business. I also see it with students who need accommodation. Rather than seeking out the resources they need to level the playing field with their peers, they worry about what others may think or the stigmas that are sometimes associated with receiving accommodation. Don’t sell yourself short. Help others help you by articulating your needs clearly and honestly.
Question blocking opportunity
When all that stands between you and a potential opportunity is a question, ask the question.
- Forward
Forward is forward, no matter the speed.
