Why you should not be a statistic- Ignite Cincinnati

Editor's Notes

• #2 I’m excited to be hereI haven’t always been the person with enough confidence to speak in front of this many peopleWithout expecting them to gang up and play a practical joke of some kind
• #3 How many of you believe that you’re a victim of your circumstanceThat life is some how predestined?Does that make you a statistics.That you are left to your own devices and it is often predestined. The fact is we all are… only if we choose to be
• #4 This is less about actual statistics and more about what we allow statistics to do to us.Box us in and even more often we don’t need help.We box ourselves in.RightBut….
• #5 Falling into the trap How we should act or where we should go based onrace, gender, school or background and whether or not we’ll make it in life.That’s pressureThe truth is….I have absolutely no clue what I am doing!But it doesn’t stop me from trying and that’s the main point – most of us don’t know what we are doing.
• #6 While nice to know - You can’t believe every statistic you are given or see – There comes a point where you have to decide for yourself.Which comes to my story
• #7 Which comes to my storyI believed for so long I wasn’t good enoughI was born Born between a hotel street and hospitalMy mother had mental issues (paranoid schizophrenic – bi-polar)And b/c of that we were wards of the state of CaliforniaGreat way to start life?
• #8 No one wanted usTwins born to a mentally ill single parent on the streets of San FranciscoStatistically we had a 3 in 4 chance of developing the same issues and becoming part of the same circumstancesYet something happened – at 3 months old we were accepted
• #9 It’s 1987 – Middle SchoolI lived in a small Indiana town where the Ku Klux Klan regularly paraded a half block from my houseI was made fun of and had no real friends. I was an oukastI could have let fear of retaliation or acceptance keeps me down
• #10 I ran track, cross country, swam, baseball, played football and did rather wellAll this and I had asthmaSometimes you can’t let minor things get in the way of what you are meant to do
• #11 So what are your statisticsWhat are the barriers that get in your wayExcuses, people, you job, your safety net
• #12 STATS: We sometimes have to look at stats like85% of the 15% statistics are 25% The Problem with Statistics – Whether they are true or not, we always find a way to bend them to our own purpose.
• #13 Don’t let set-backs or people keep you down. Be confident, Be yourselfThere are days when you feel like everyone is against you
• #14 “Do you want to sell sugar water all your life,or do you want to change the world?”– Steve Jobs to John Sculley CEO of Pepsico to become Apple CEO
• #15 When it comes to lifeTake bold steps and changes. Go from what you know in the direction of where you need to be
• #16 You have to ask questions. Not just any questions but the RIGHT questions. Is this what I want to do.
• #17 You can’t always take NO for an answer. You may have to take drastic and even complicated steps to prove to people that you are not playing around.
• #18 After awhile. When you get good at not being a statistic - Somewhere along the line people start paying attention and want to detour your success
• #19 Bottom Line you have to be confident. Confidence in yourself and the potential you hold is King. You could be SAD about your life or you could be daring, kick ass and awesome.