Motivational Speaker Rory Vaden

Piano Stairs Video Spoof Response

May 22, 2010 By takethestairs 4 Comments

So Volkswagon’s piano stairs video has 12 million views so far on YouTube; which means that I got about 12 million emails asking if I’d seen it. I thought it would only be appropriate for me to craft my own video response since the piano stairs video is one of the biggest events in “stair history.” Here is another way that you can get people in your life to “take the stairs”; we call it self-discipline.

Join the REAL Take the Stairs Tour:

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See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

Filed Under: Other Fun Stuff, Take The Stairs Tour Photos, Uncategorized, Video Blogs Tagged With: discipline speaker, Motivational Speaker Rory Vaden, Piano stairs, Rory Vaden, self-discip, Take The Stairs

"Shattered Dreams" – Faith in the Flood of Nashville May 2010

May 10, 2010 By takethestairs 19 Comments

We all deal with tragedy. And tragedy creates a tough dilemma if you’re a Christian. Which is why, if there is a God, does he allow tragedy to happen?

There are thousands of people asking that in the Nashville area right now in the wake of the tremendous flooding from the past week. I was on the road travelling most of last week and missed a lot of the action but today I had a chance to go out and get in the trenches of working with some families to help them begin the journey back to restoration.

With such widespread disaster in the area my new church Crosspoint really has tried to rise to the occasion in assembling volunteers, money, and prayers for the victimized families. I’m inspired by the Church because from what I can see they are really working hard at being the hands and feet of Christ in this pivotal time.

One of the reasons Crosspoint Church is so rapidly growing and making such a large impact is because of the leadership. The Nashville campus pastor is a friend of mine Blake Bergstrom and the lead pastor is Pete Wilson. Ironically the series that we’ve been going through in Church the last several weeks is called “Shattered Dreams.” The essence of the series is what to do when God’s plan works out differently than yours?

The series has also been congruent with the release of Pete’s new book Plan B. I started crushing through the book over the last few days and was inspired by Pete’s message. You don’t know this yet but Faith is the 7^th and final strategy for improving your self-discipline in Take the Stairs (my new book that will come out once I figure out the publisher) . My speech at the World Championship of Public Speaking for Toastmasters in 2006 was actually on the topic of Faith.

I knew that my speech in 2006 wasn’t yet ready when the contest came around because I hadn’t yet discovered in my mind how to most aptly articulate what Faith is; and I lost that contest. For 4 years I’ve continued struggling to define Faith and it wasn’t until I began reading Plan B that I think I have finally landed on my definition.

Faith is choosing to believe that the pain happening now is for a Greater Glory later on.

There have been several times in my life when I have failed and when things have fallen apart. But for whatever reason I’ve always had a lot of conviction that even in that pain and loss it was just God preparing me for something else. To me that is Faith.

I’ve never experienced anything like what these people I saw today are having to live through. And I can’t answer why God allows tragedy to happen. But I do agree with Pete that it seems as though Tragedy serves a greater purpose when we have the perspective of eternity.

And from what I witnessed today I noticed that:

Sometimes tragedy bonds our communities

Sometimes tragedy binds our compassion

Sometimes tragedy builds our character

So even when there are questions that we can’t answer we have to have Faith. Faith is a choice. It’s choosing to believe that what we’re going through is preparing us and the world for God’s greater good later on. And because it’s a choice that means it’s a discipline. It’s a discipline that not everyone has. It’s hard to believe that somehow these horrible tragedies in our lives are somehow for good later on. But that is why it’s called Faith and if we do not have Faith it is then that these tragedies are only in vain.

To donate to the flood victims please click here: https://secure3.agroup.com/crosspoint/flood_fund.html

And please share your thoughts with me about what Faith is to you and how its applied in your difficult times.

See you in the “stairwell”

Rory Vaden

Filed Under: Self-discipline Strategies, Take The Stairs Tour Photos, Uncategorized, Video Blogs Tagged With: Crosspoint Church, Motivational Speaker Rory Vaden, Nashville Flood

3 Ways we lose time and what to do about it*

February 9, 2010 By takethestairs 9 Comments

* This is an excerpt from a live coaching call with one of my clients recently.

What I’ve discovered is that there are 3 primary ways we lose our time. And they are different than most people expect or realize.

A. Not knowing where you’re going next

Don’t waste a second – ever. Don’t let your goals and dreams fall victim to unplanned events. Anything that isn’t a part of your schedule is a distraction and should be minimized at all costs. Don’t be rude to people; just know that you should “always have a meeting to be at” in the next few minutes. There should always be somewhere you’re going next.
Have a written schedule and stick to it relentlessly. Your results are very often the output of your schedule. Do what is on your schedule all the time.

B. Fatigue

Physical – You need at least 6.5 hours of Sleep and if at all possible get 7-8. Vince Lombardi said “fatigue makes cowards of us all.” If you’re not energized you won’t be efficient.
Physical – Get your booty to the gym. Don’t let your body feed you the BS that you’re too tired to work out. Your body recharges from working out. Even if it’s 30 minutes for 3 days a week. Just get there! We see consistently that people who can just get their body into the gym can usually get motivated to do something once they’re there. Do it. Once you are physically there then get yourself amped up to crush it! Dominate your workout and hit it hard. Then go home and go to the next thing.
Emotional – Some of the best managers in the country forget this and they don’t realize that one thing that is holding them back is they never get emotionally recharged. If you’re pouring out into others you need to be refilling your emotional fuel tank. Find what fills you up spiritually and emotionally.
- Positive reading: John Maxwell – 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Ken Blanchard – One Minute Manager, T Harv Eker – Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Dale Carnegie – How To Win Friends and Influence People, John Maxwell – Leadership Gold, Jim Collins – Good to Great
- Read the Bible each day – at least 1 chapter.
- Church on Sunday with no excuses. Just go do it.
- Family – I find that spending actual time physically with family is very recharging. Sometimes on the phone it’s not always. Try to get some place that makes you feel like home and especially reconnecting with parents and letting them know how much they mean to you will naturally recharge you.

C. Having focus diverted across too many things

Imbalance is the new balance – The way most people think about balance is absurd. We tend to think of spending an equal amount of time on all different types of activities. Balance is not equal time across equal activities; it’s APPROPRIATE time across critical PRIORITIES. In other words, don’t try to be all things to all activities or try to do everything. Instead figure out what things are most important to you and imbalance your life in those directions.
Keystone Goal – Have 1 overarching goal that ties all your others together. A keystone goal isn’t necessarily the most important; it’s just the one that if you accomplish it, all of the others will happen as a bi-product.
Batching – multi-tasking means juggling lots of priorities; it doesn’t mean doing many tasks at once. Don’t try to be on Facebook while doing paperwork and taking cell phone calls. Doesn’t work. Focus is power. Blitz it hard. Paperwork for paperwork time. Gym for gym time. Family for family time. Pounding the phones during phone time. That simple.

Your results are just a bi-product of your schedule. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. You be consistent and relentless about your schedule. Work the system and allow the system to work for you. Put your self-esteem into your work habits and let the rest shake out as it may.

For information on booking motivational speaker and self-discipline strategist Rory Vaden please visit us at www.roryvaden.com

For information on sales coaching, sales training, or sales consulting please visit www.southwesternconsulting.com

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Join motivational speaker Rory Vaden’s Take the Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.