Never Doubt What You Can Do With The Power You Have

I am extremely pleased to present a guest writer to the column this week, Talia Leman. I met Talia at the Annual Running Start “Woman To Watch Awards” dinner last week. She is a Running Start Alumna and was one of our featured speakers.

I’ve borrowed from the event’s program to introduce her:

Talia began her philanthropic journey at the age of 10 when she became concerned with the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In response, she spearheaded a Halloween campaign where she mobilized children across the country to collect donations to restore life in the Gulf Coast. She raised more than $10 million. From that experience, Talia founded RandomKid http://www.randomkid.org/, an organization that provides logical support and mentorship to youth wishing to aid in solving local and global issues. 12 million children in twenty countries have used RandomKid’s assistance to help raise funds. At 17 years -old Talia is the author of “A Random Book About The Power of Anyone.”

With permission from Talia and her mother, Dana, I have posted selected parts of her speech for you to read. I am blown away because many of the themes she addresses are ones that you have read in this column including “Synchronicity” and “Be Open To A Different Package.” But she gets it at the age of 17! Be sure to read her words to the end of her talk and you will understand what I mean.

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SELECTED PARTS FROM Tali’s SPEECH:

“The mission of RandomKid is to provide youth with every resource and tool they need to power up their ideas for a better world. RandomKid doesn’t invest in change, we invest in the change maker. And the results are astounding. For every dollar we invest in a youth initiative, We deliver a 200%-1000% return for that youth’s cause. Which means: When you give a dollar to Haiti, you give a dollar to Haiti. However, when you give a dollar to a RandomKid youth to benefit Haiti, that youth will turn it into $2-$10 dollars for Haiti. We call this The Big Return, and have developed the idea into a city strategy that links government leaders who endorse it, with business leaders who fund it, with motivated youth who drive it, together generating big change.

This year, we are bringing The Big Return to Washington, D.C., and if you want to be involved, let me know.

My story proves one thing for certain:

Serendipity plays a much bigger role in life than most of us would ever like to admit.

Which leaves one to wonder: How can we be greater than we know how to be and do greater than we know how to do, especially when so much can rely on chance?

In my book, “A Random Book about the Power of Anyone”, I address this question by telling the stories of youth who embarked on accidental journeys no different than mine.

And even though you get to meet them, my book is more about meeting their IDEAS, and the IDEAS that link every story together.

IDEAS that convince us, that luck is everywhere we are, we just have to put ourselves out there,

into the possibilities that belief doesn’t require rhyme or reason, it just requires…

fortitude, that we don’t NEED to line up our ducks, because the best plans actually…..

emerge, that square pegs CAN fit in round holes because ….. flexibility is what makes things happen.

and that the best place for ANY cart is AHEAD of the horse because your dreams should always… lead YOU.

In fact, I’ll tell you a little secret about how FAR ahead of my horse that my cart is:

Never in a million years did I ever imagine that I would be standing here, in front of ALL of you doing what I’m doing right now,

I never planned to BE the founder of a nonprofit.

Truth be told, when I was in Kindergarten, I wanted to be a princess, singer, dog kennel-owner AND President of the United States. All at the VERY same time.

But now when people ask me what I want to BE when I grow up. Knowing OUR POWER to do just about ANYTHING, when we believe in the power we each have—

I tell them this…

I want to BE… a member of a generation that cares more about our success as a planet than our success as individuals;

I want to BE someone who understands that any little problem solved IS a big problem solved—because we are all interconnected;

I want to BE someone who knows that the best reason for doing anything is simply because I can;

I want to BE someone who realizes that our everyday acts matter more than the big outcomes, because there are no big outcomes without them;

AND I want to BE someone who knows that no matter what we do with our lives, that we have to do it with heart.

And I’ll tell you another little secret:

RandomKid’s success happened

Because I made room for my little Brother

because I made room for…(yep)…Darth Vader (!) (Talia’s Brother was Darth Vader in her Halloween campaign)

Think about it.

It was the one step I took that seemed to have nothing to do with my success And it became the very thing that made me successful.

Which leads me back to my question —

How can we do something GREATER than we know how to do?

and become something GREATER than we know how to be?

Especially when chance often plays a role?

I’ll tell you.

It happens precisely when we make room for the plan we DIDN’T have, when we are free enough and brave enough to take a step sideways to a place where unexpected things might happen.

And do you know why that is? Because

the great surprises of life by definition, can ONLY appear in those unexpected places

By making room

For passions that don’t make sense

For playfulness that has no purpose

For ideas that are not your own

For people who are not like you

For a path you didn’t define

For a dream you didn’t dream

For a future you didn’t imagine

You can sometimes…

Follow your heart… to a larger destiny

Be captured by… a grander idea

Dream… that impossible dream

Realize … a power you never knew

Choose a path… that raises you higher

Believe yourself …into a new way of being

And create a future… defined by surprises

and marked with a Greatness

you never thought possible.

We. Don’t. Have. To. Know. How.

We can just head in the direction of whatever pulls us forward and we will get there Because THAT is both the secret and the magicbehind The Power of ANYone.”

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If you ever think that you cannot make a difference, read this often and think again. Also the concepts that I bring to you in this column do work. To quote Talia “create a future… defined by surprises and marked with a Greatness. You have the power to transform yourself and change anything .. you just need to think differently!

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