Day 10: The Best Advice I've Ever Received/Heard

The best advice… ever?

We live in the age of information overload, and that includes lots of advice on how to live better, eat better, work better, exercise better and be better. Which is why choosing the piece of advice that’s the best I’ve ever heard is really tough.

I’m sure that, over the course of my whole life, nobody has guided me as adeptly as my parents. But it’s hard to track down just one piece of advice they’ve given to me.

So, I’m going to go with good ol’ reliable Oprah – or as my favourite aunt used to say, awww-pra.

In her final episode speech, Oprah said:

“…what I want you to know is each of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage on a studio. Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show and that is where your power lies.

Everybody has a calling, mine aligned with my profession, my job. Not everybody gets paid for it, but everybody gets called…My great wish for all of you who've allowed me to honor my calling is you carry whatever you're supposed to be doing forward. Don't waste anymore time. Use your light to serve the world."

This excerpt from her speech stuck with me, and what I took from it is:

We can’t all be rock stars, celebrities, leaders of massive corporations or indeed, talk show hosts, and that's okay. We’ve come to see success as only these glamorous things, and everything else as inferior. But farmers still need to plant us food, bus drivers are still needed to transport others to and from work and someone still needs to make sure the Hectic Nine-9 website is up to date. There is enjoyment – and purpose – in virtually every human activity. Find yours, and if that’s where you feel you contribute best, stick with it.

Some people are better followers than leaders. As much as entrepreneurship as a concept is vital and important, not all of us want to take over the world or constantly innovate. Some of us find great joy in creating, not overseeing the creation of things. Can you envision a world full of presidents and managers? I can’t, and I don’t want to. We need to remind ourselves that the things we do well represent a weakness in another.

Oprah recognized that there are countless ways to serve our world, and one is not better than the next, it’s merely different. So, in whichever way you choose, serve the world and find your platform. And if it isn’t on a stage beneath a spotlight, but it’s on a platform where you feel comfortable and happy, stay where you are, because there are lots of people still searching for theirs.