By Matthew McConathy/ reporter
Every person has a change-the-world speech inside of them, bestselling author John C. Maxwell said about his book Intentional Living Oct. 20.
During the live webcast shown nationwide and sponsored on NE Campus by the National Society of Leadership Success, Maxwell said the most important thing for people to do is find value and purpose in their lives.
He said his father often discussed with him the need to “intentionally find everyday value, believe and unconditionally love others.” He encouraged students to do the same with themselves and then create a plan to grow, get better and learn.
Growth is not an automatic process, Maxwell said. People have to create a plan for success and a life story.
“Few people live an intentional life,” he said. “Some people are already dead, but they just haven’t realized it yet.”
Maxwell said a college friend gave him a book titled The Greatest Story Ever Told. When he opened it, there were only blank pages, meaning he should write his own life story.
“Be true to my own purpose and write my own story,” he said.
He said people need four things to make a plan for themselves: wanting to make a difference, working with other like-minded people set to a similar goal, using actions to make a difference and adding a time to make a difference.
“Get a dream so big that you can’t do it by yourself,” he said. “Get other people to come along.”
Maxwell advised students to spend time reading great books, expanding and learning things about life situations.
“Intentional is preparing. Unintentional is repairing,” he said.
Too many people live unintentional lives repairing things about their pasts over again instead of thinking forward and preparing for the future. He said his main goal is to help people find purpose and passion in life.
Some NE students, like Amy Holley, took lessons away from the event.
“I learned not to manage time but to manage priorities,” she said. “People giving their time to help someone is value.”
Alexandra Kastner said she learned from the presentation as well.
“I see that good intentions need to become good actions,” she said.
