I read Tuesday’s USA Today, that Gainesville, FL, is the best place to live in the USA according to Cities Ranked & Rated (in case you are wondering, Modesto, CA was at the bottom of the list). I like Gainesville but I don’t think it would make my top ten list (and it has nothing to do with the fact that I am a graduate of Florida State University!). Other cities that made the list that I personally like are Colorado Springs, CO, Bellingham, WA, Ann Arbor, MI, Asheville, NC, and one of my favorite places, Fort Collins,CO. It’s where my best friend Bill Walter who I wrote about recently lived for many years.

I think any place can be great if you focus on how you live, not where you live. Abe Lincoln said, “People are about as happy as they make their mind up to be.” I am writing this from Key West, Florida where I am quite happy at the moment, but after my keynote speech tomorrow, I’ll head to Lansing, MI (another very cool place) and I’ve decided that I am going to be happy there too. Why not!? For the most part, I am happy where ever I am. I am happy when I am home with my wonderful wife and children. I am happy waking up early to the sounds of the birds. I am happy in my career as a motivational speaker. I am happy when I get to inspire other people to make a difference in their communities and in their jobs. I am happy writing this blog and my new book. I am happy when I spend time talking to friends, whether they are old friends from high school or college, professional speaker friends, or new friends that make me think. I am happy skiing down a long snowy slope with evergreen trees on either side, or on a glassy lake without another boat in sight. I am happy making a child smile, particularly my own. I am happy when my children help others and feel good about it. I am happy when the Florida State Seminoles beat the University of Florida Gators… whether it’s in Gainesville, FL or CA.

If you’re happy and you know it, let me know. I’d love to hear your best places to live list and the things that make you happy where ever you are living.

Ponder thought: One of the plans I have for my Richest People project is to write about the best cities to live in from a giving standpoint. I would like to include cities where philanthropy is embedded in the fabric of the community, encouraged outside the classrooms, preached about from pulpits and practiced religiously in every day life. What do ya think?

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

I received an email from my buddy David Dworkski this am. Everyone should have a friend like him. He tells it like it is without sugar coating. He’s also a consummate professional and all around great guy. I could listen to him speak all day long both for his vocabulary and the resonance of his voice (he studied acting with Jack Nicholson in the 1960’s).

He’s been one of the biggest supporters of my project to profile the REAL Richest People in America. He always has time for a conversation and sends thought-provoking resources to challenge my thinking. He sent me a link to an article written by Paul Hawken who is a successful businessman (Smith/Hawken) and an activist for social change. It’s an article I need to read in depth and spend some time thinking about. Regardless of where you are politically, socially, spiritually, etc, take a read with special attention to Hawken’s concluding paragraphs. I really like this quote:

“Inspiration is not garnered from litanies of what is flawed; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, recover, re-imagine, and reconsider.”

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com

I saw this sign at the Rush Fitness Center where I work out.
Fundamentals for Success:
Motivation
Determination
Visualization
Education
Transformation
Pretty good advice if you think about it. Ironically, after my workout, I
ran into a friend there who told me about a website for de-motivation. It
seems some entrepreneur decided to take all the things inspirational and
motivational speakers espouse and turn them into de-motivations (as if we
need that!). All the work my professional colleagues and I do to motivate professionals who attend conventions and conferences can now be destroyed with one visit to
despair.com! All our sales training, inspirational keynotes, motivational
speeches, management training, leadership principles, customer service
training, team building, all our great inspirational stories, Chicken Soup for the Soul,
New York Times Best sellers…. all gone in one click.
It’s all I can do to get motivated to get up early and exercise and then my
“friend” hit me with a de-motivational quote to kick my day off with
despair! Appropriately, here’s their motto:
“Customer Disservice. We’re not satisfied until you’re not satisfied.”
Of course I laughed. I love parodies. I have a professional speaker buddy
whose real name is George Campbell. He gives presentations as Joe Malarkey,
the world’s worst motivational speaker. He’s a former stand-up comic who has
a hysterical bit parodying motivational speakers.
Send your best de-motivational quote for a cheap and highly superficial
prize. (Actually, you’ll win absolutely nothing! After all, isn’t that what
de-motivation is about? Getting nothing?)

Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com