3 Lessons on Motivation from Nick Vujicic

Can there be a greater example of motivation at work than the life of Nick Vujicic? His story is basically a great example of what’s possible with the right attitude - the power of motivation. It proves the quote, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” If you haven’t heard of this celebrity, here’s a brief introduction.

Nick Vujicic, or Nicholas James Vujicic, is an Australian evangelist and motivational speaker. So what’s special about him? He’s a differently abled individual, having been born with tetra-amelia syndrome, meaning he doesn’t have any limbs -- neither arms nor feet!  He does have extremely tiny and deformed feet whose toes he uses to do stuff such as operating the mobile phone and computer, turning the pages of a book, operating his electric wheelchair, and so on.

Find Your Source of Motivation

Born to Serbian immigrants to Australia in 1982 at Melbourne, Nick’s parents initially struggled to accept him. Eventually, they found faith in God to carry on, accepting His will for Nick. And that’s what Nick has found as well. His faith has given him the motivation to carry on. And he’s devoted his life to spreading that faith. Likewise, it’s up to us to find our sources of motivation. And that’s the first lesson we learn from Vujicic’s life.

Focus on the Positives around You

After that initial shock his parents had, Nick reports that his childhood was “amazingly normal”. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have challenges. In fact, there were plenty of them. Despite the physical impairment, most of his struggles were emotional. He wondered if his life ever had any purpose, because he couldn’t do or aspire for many things his friends were able to. He even contemplated suicide. Then he read an article about a disabled individual doing impressive things, and that changed his life. That’s where we come to our second lesson - dwell on the positives you see in the world around you and look for examples that can give encouragement, motivation, and renewed focus to your life.

Forget About Your Struggles and Help Others

Nick’s actions after that life changing moment made the world aware about his struggles, and helped him motivate his fellow-beings. Nick started motivating others through speeches. He started with his prayer group and people started finding inspiration from the experiences he related. He soon found larger audiences to the point where he now addresses churches and stadia packed with people! Gradually, he expanded to YouTube videos and also the prison ministry where he motivates people who’ve made wrong decisions in life, but have the chance to make the rest of their lives better for themselves and for others.                   

And that’s the final lesson we learn. Are you going through a major problem in your life? Then the best way to forget about it and move ahead would be to focus on how to help others deal with their problems. Be motivated, and motivate others. If Nick Vujicic can, so can you.

Peter Theodorou has devoted himself to motivating others, not just as a career but to also fulfill his dream of doing his part to make the world a better place. People like Nick Vujicic are his role models.  

Motivational Speeches can Reduce Employee Burnout

This is the age of competition, be it in the marketplace, sports pitch, education or corporate circles. When considering the corporate sector, profit margin expectations of companies are pretty high. As a result, employees are burdened with seemingly unattainable deadlines and goals. The constant pressure could get too stressful for employees. Burnout rate among corporate organizations is rising. According to a 2018 Gallup study covering around 7,500 full-time company staff, 23% reported feeling burned out “always” or “very often” at work, while 44% said they felt burned out “sometimes”. So it’s obvious that the phenomenon widespread.     

 

Preventing Employee Burnout in a Simple But Effective Manner  

In such situations, companies resort to many techniques to get their employees stronger mentally so they can make use of their full potential to perform even seemingly impossible tasks. While meditation, exercise and activities are the common strategies employed by companies, there is a much simpler but effective technique -- motivational speech. The motivational speaker can bring out the best in people, and make the nearly impossible, possible. 

What Is Motivational Speech All About?  

What does a motivational speaker do? It’s not just a smart and interesting way of giving a speech. It’s going beyond just speaking things that are pleasant to hear. It is transforming the mind and mentality of listeners through the things you say and the way you say them. You could use anecdotes, start with a thought-provoking quote and go about explaining it, present out-of-the-box ideas, help audiences frame a plan, and end up with the audience feeling good about what you said, remembering the main points for a long time to come, and applying what they learnt to their work challenges.

Motivational speech must appeal to the audience emotionally and intellectually, and also offer reflection for future decisions and challenges. Ultimately, it must help them perform better and drive success for their organization.

The Evolution from War Cries and Motivational Speeches 

The situation may be different, but it is quite similar to war cries and motivational speeches made by kings or military generals to strengthen the morale of their troops before major battles. Sometimes, it would be just a single battle. At other times, it could be a series of battles that make up a war. We’re all aware of Sir Winston Churchill’s firm resolve against Hitler’s forces and the famous speech that inspired Britain’s Royal Air Force to win the decisive Battle of Britain against Hitler’s Luftwaffe over the English Channel. 

Nowadays though, the common man’s battles don’t involve weapons, artillery or bloodshed, but projects, deadlines and schedules. However, the magnitude of the challenge cannot be overestimated. It all lies in the mind, and motivational speech strengthens the mind.  

                        

Peter Theodorou is a well-known motivational speaker for corporate audiences. He has come a long way - from observing other motivational speakers to setting an example for other speakers.