Yesterday, while visiting Lake Junaluska Assembly, I heard Dr. Tony Campolo speak. His message centered around a recent study of older Americans. Campolo reported that older Americans had been asked this question: “What would you do over or differently if you could live your life again?”  These were the responses:

- I’d risk risk more

- I’d reflect more

- I’d do more things that make a difference long after I am gone

Of course, he gave lots of humorous and compelling commentary to back up these points. In reality, it matters not what Campolo thinks about these things. What matters is what you and I do as it relates to risking, reflecting, and making a difference.  As I pondered his comments, it seemed like those things added up to a RICH life (and after life) to me.

Action: Ask someone you meet today who might be in their latter years the question above. I’ll award the best question (and your answer to the question with either a copy of my book Jump Starts Wit and Wisdom to Super Charge your Day or if you are a local lurker or looker two tickets to see Grease at the nostalgic Tennessee Theatre). Deadline: Monday July 21st 5:01 pm! 

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 and co-founder of the Jeffrey Roth Cycling Foundation. Click here for more information on professional speaker Tim Richardson.

Now that I am another year older (and wiser of course), I have some observations about living a RICH life. If you have been a reader of this blog, you probably know that when I write about rich I mean money driven and when I write about RICH I mean purpose-driven.

Last Friday, June 6th was my birthday and now that I am as old as Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, I am thinking I should have run for president! Actually, I am probably too dumb to offer much and too smart to want to put my family through what a politicial family experiences.  However, if Barack can talk about things for which he may not fully be knowledgeable, I am going to take that risk When I reach John McCain’s age, I may have the life knowledge but perhaps I won’t have the memory!  So here goes my stroke of insight pondered on my birthday (but NOT in my birthday clothes):

1. Listen. Thursday my wife and I flew to Daytona Beach, FL for the funneral of a 48 year YOUNG man. He was exuberant, intelligent, witty, a brillant musician, a talented dentist and a doting father of two young girls - an infant and a 2 1/2 year old.  Somehow in the midst of everything he had going for him, he felt he had nothing going for him. He took his life one week ago today. As I heard the words spoken about him at his memorial service, saw over 1000 people in attendance, and spoke with his many friends at the reception, I realized that there were probably some people, who IF they had reached out in love and with a listening and helpful ear, his death MAY not of occurred.  Listening to my best friend talk about it recently, I am convinced that listening is the key to many things, including healing.  Listen more. 

2. Go out on a limb.  Friday, I gave a speech to the Vermont Independent Insurance Agents. During the speech, I had an idea of something that would fit perfectly into my Living Rich speech. It was a concept I hadn’t intergrated into the speech before. It was a bit of a risk. I played the ”do it or not” tape in my brain a few times as I was speaking.  I choose “do it” and am glad I did. It worked and added value to a point I was trying to make.  Don’t let a potential fall keep you from going somewhere you haven’t been.

3. Travel the road less traveled.  Traveling to the Basin Habor Club where I gave my speech, the driver took the back roads. We could have traveled via interstate and made our trip a bit quicker.  Had we done that, we would have missed out on a tour through rural Vermont. We would have also missed  hearing some history about this great state.  Today on a bike ride in the rural area surrounding this beautiful place, I saw some incredible scenes and even met a few locals. The road less traveled was paved for me. How about you?

4. Live like you’re dying. Yesterday I met a retired physican. He is 57 years old and has esophageal cancer (which isn’t a cancer you want to have if you have to have cancer). I met Bob and his wife in the healthclub here at the Basin Harbor Club. He exercises everyday and lives an active life.  He bikes, kayaks, explores lakes, rivers and oceans by boat. Over a five year period, he and his wife canoed over 8000 miles across North America. He’s recently taken up golf.  He told me that he wasn’t afraid of death but he wasn’t going to let statistics ruin the life he had left to live. Today is the best someday to start living, particularly IF you feel like you aren’t living now.  

5. Breathe. That’s one reason I am here. To soak in the beautiful mountains and lakes of Vermont. I know there are three things that fuel me: 1) Time with my wife without our kids 2) Tim Time - taking time alone to renew, revitalize, and recreate and 3) Breathing - slowing down and smelling the roses. There’s a sign here at the resort that says “Slow Down and relax”. Nuff said. I’m off for a walk around the lake and back to my cabin on Lake Champlain. 

Note: This post title was inspired by a coment posted by a reader on my post about the Last Lecture.  He recommended I find out about Jill Bolte Taylor and her book My Stroke of Insight. Sounds like a good read. 

 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 and co-founder of the Jeffrey Roth Cycling Foundation. Click here for more information on professional speaker Tim Richardson.

Yesterday, was a great day and an really bad one too. Why it was great: I attended my first Decoration Day Celebration with my family and was able to ride the Cades Cove loop with my son.  Previous to yesterday, I had little knowledge of Decoration Day. To the relatives and families of those burried in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Decoration Day is a time to honor their families burried there. They travel to churches in the place there ancestors settled in the pioneer days to decorate their graves and celebrate their heritage. As I sat in a hard wooden pew listening to singing without musical instruments, a bird flew into the room. Then the cicadas kicked it up a notch. It was a visual and audio feast for eyes and ears. I imagined 100 years earlier when the pioner farmers rode many miles to the old church in a covered wagon or horse drawn carriage. It was a treat to meet some of the people for whom history may someday forget. Sadly, the park service is making it difficult for these celebrationt to continue though some of the people who attended lived in the Cove until moved by the US Government.  I heard the old-timers talk on the way out about Decoration Day in the past where there were so many people that the church couldn’t hold them all. It was a great day with my family but a terrible one for one of my best friends. While we were enjoying learning about how people celebrate life, my buddy was questioning why life was so hard. His brother, father of two precious little girls, took his life yesterday.  In doing so, he changed the lives of so many who knew and loved him. Yes, yesterday was a very good and terrible day - a day when many would like a “do over”. Yet another reminder of the preciousness of life. Hug your child a little tighter today. Reach out to someone you know who might be going through a tough time. Write a letter to a friend and tell them how much they mean to me. Pick up the phone and have a heart to heart conversation. Life is so very precious…

I have been writing recently about work people do that they are passionate about. It appears that there are some who take their passion too far. Had I know that DEATH was a potential hazard from blogging, I don’t think I would have ever started my blog. According to stories both on CNN and in the New York Times yesterday, people are blogging themselves to death! Of course, I would not be one to make light of something like death but can you imagine the obituary? What about the tomb stone? Or the article in a home town newspaper. Blogger, Bob Webb, died today. He lived well but died due to complications resulting from blogging. He is survived by his IMac, his Iphone, and his Ipod and his dog who was rescued after barking for hours at Bob’s computer screen.

If you read the article or saw the CNN piece, know that I don’t intend to lose sleep, weight or my life, SO… I am done (for the day).

I will be back soon with a healthy post on living. It’s what I do best.

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 and co-founder of the Jeffrey Roth Cycling Foundation. Click here for more information on professional speaker Tim Richardson.

I saw this picture on Richard Hadden’s blog. Richard is a great friend, former “neighbor” in Florida and fellow professional speaker. (Richard please accept my apologies, I haven’t even read your post but borrowed this picture).

I don’t really watch Oprah but it seems to me she should get a “real world” job. As a self-employed motivational speaker, I sometimes can loose touch with the real world myself. For that reason, I am thinking about getting a getting a “job” for the holidaze - just for fun. IF I do get a job, it will be EXTREMELY part time and I’ll like give all the money away (to a Dreams for Kids Christmas party though I MAY give a little to my wife for pampering). I don’t really need a job but I am entering my slow season and I am sure it will give me RICH material for my speaking IF I decide to do it. What do you think, readers? IF someone would hire me EXTREMELY part time, what would be the best place to get in touch with the REAL WORLD?

Post your answers here and I’ll be blogging about the results. Perhaps Oprah will join me for the Christmas 2007 BIG Give… what do you say, O?

It seems ironic that one day after I write about how impressed I am about the future and the young people who will be leading it, there is a tragic school shooting in Finland. It seems that the US, a leader in nearly every way, has now modeled fatal shootings as well. Youtube, which is a great idea, is being used like many technologies in ways that it was never intended.

How do we balance the need to give people freedom of expression without allowing potentially danagerous material to be shown on the internet? How do we reach young people that feel like their lives are useless? How do we prevent shootings from occuring in more schools? Should there be restrictions placed on what people can upload to technologies like You Tube, My Space, Facebook and others?

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

When I receive emails like this one, it is confirmation that people are ready for a new message of richness:

I spoke to you briefly after your recent presentation at the NECA convention in San Francisco. I was glad to hear of your organization and your stories about all the people who have done so much for so many. I can relate first hand what a wonderful experience it is to volunteer your time and talents to help someone who is less fortunate.

Our church, Sonrise, in Rotterdam, NY, learned about an organization called YUGO in Mexico. They needed volunteers to rebuild a local church in a poverty stricken village in Mexico, south of Tijuana. The pastor there could not afford to rebuild, and the people had no money. The old church had been torn down because it was unsafe. Our church sent a team of adults and teenagers to YUGO, which provided facilities to set up tents so we had a “home base” to operate from. Every morning our build crew, which I was a part of, drove in a van over twisting dirt roads through the worst poverty I have ever witnessed to reach the church site in the village. We spent a week there rebuilding their church, and the people started coming back even before we were done. They held a bible study one night in the main structure once we had four walls and a roof, they were so excited. The pastor was very pleased and appreciative of the work we had done. You could see his mood improving every day as the work was completed. While we were building the church, the teen groups were out visiting the nearby orphanage, playing with the kids and just showing them love and attention. My son was there, and the stories he told me brought tears to my eyes, to know they made such a difference in those kids’ lives, just by being there. He had the time of his life being there, and I know he will do it again, I was so proud of him. I make a good salary at my job, and I have had the opportunity to travel all over the country, and abroad. I never considered myself rich, but I never felt so good or had a better time than when I volunteered my time and energy to help those people who could not help themselves. I can’t wait to do it all again someplace else, our pastor said we may be sending a team to Africa next year, I’m already saving my money, I will be there, and I will encourage my friends to go as well.

God bless you and your organization for sharing your stories and motivating people to serve others, to “Love their Neighbor as they Love Themselves”.

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’m going public - I am now out of the closet. Yes I went to a casting call for a reality TV show No it wasn’t The Batchelor (I’m blissfully married to a wonderful woman and have been for over 15 years and she’s not going anywhere without me) and it’s not Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, or The Big Loser. While America’s Got Talent, Tim doesn’t and my Real World doesn’t involve a Wife Swap. My Dancing With the Stars is limited to dancing with my little girls ages 3, 6, and 8. I have three Big Brothers and when I cook it’s usually Hell’s Kitchen…just ask my wife. The casting call I went to was Oprah’s new show called The Big Give. The show plus the incredible success of Bill Clinton’s new book Giving demonstrate a societal shift toward focusing on things that matter. When I heard about The Big Give, I made a trip to Nashville for the casting call. Sensing that there might be a big turnout, I got there early and took a seat in line behind ten other people who arrived before 6:00 am for a 9:00 call. While waiting for the doors to open people in line exchanged stories of why they were there and what they were doing to make a difference. I met a guy who worked with home owners to pay their mortgage after natural disasters. I met a man who was working on a documentary on the impact of hurricane Katrina. Through his efforts, he wanted to raise money for Katrina victims. There was the young medical student who was setting up a clinic with his father in Nigeria. Part of his motivation was to help his country overcome the negative perception due to the many Nigerian email scams. There were people of all ages, all ethic and religious backgrounds and all with the feeling that they could make a difference through their actions. It seems that there are many waiting for the opportunity to give big. When a celebrity or person of influence makes waves about the importance of giving, it seems to stir up others too.

While I didn’t make it on the show (heck, I didn’t even make it through round one), I was glad to meet some inspiring people and know that in the Reality crazed TV world we live in, there is finally a show that just might be worth watching.

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

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According to a report released today on National Public Radio, Bill Clinton made 10 Million in speaking fees last year. I made…well, slightly less than that. Bill is on the Celebrity 100 list. I have my own list and happen to occupy the top and only position. My list has at least a dozen “honey do’s” on it. Completing everything on my list will make me a celebrity to one person. I guess I will have to make a lot more impact as an inspirational speaker to be mentioned when Forbes releases their 2008 list. Oprah, Tiger, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, and Brad round out the top five for their bankable buzz. Google rankings and MySpace pages also factor in. Sorry this is so short, I have to get to my list… which doesn’t include getting Face(Book) on MySpace.

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

 This past weekend, I stayed in the beautiful Antlers Hilton overlooking
Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. I am happy to report that I didn’t think
about Paris Hilton once. Yet, now that I think about it, I wonder if all the
times I stayed at a Hilton Hotel somehow contributing to the making of Paris
Hilton. Perhaps all business travelers should boycott Hilton Hotels during
the time she is in jail to voice displeasure of what she does and how she
leads such a pitiful life of total self indulgence.

Today was the day poor Paris was to start her jail sentence. She surprised
everyone and went two days early (a selfish act to avoid the media circus
that awaited her). I recently read that there was a campaign to save her
from going to jail. Here’s a quote I heard on CNN from one of the fan club
members trying to “help” Paris, “She provides hope for young people around
the world. She provides beauty and glamour for our mundane lives.” It’s a
sad commentary on our world when people hope in someone like Paris or her
rat pack group of friends.

I met some new friends while in Colorado Springs this weekend. They are
friends with disabilities who may represent the US in the Paralympic Games
in Beijing in 2008 or London in 2012. I had the pleasure of speaking to
these inspirational young people at the US Olympic Training Center. It was
truly one of the most amazing experiences of my professional speaking
career. In the days ahead, I will be writing about some of the people I met
there and the impact that they are having on others.

Note to Paris: if you want to help provide hope for young people around the
world, do something with your life. Volunteer to help young people with
disabilities. Or find something else to turn you on and turn your own
miserable life around by helping others. Just do it.

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. He also is a leadership speaker, customer service trainer and sales motivator. For more information go to www.TimRichardson.com