#youarewhatyoudo. I am here today to speak about something I truly believe in – the power of what we do.

As a person with intention, one who is the first to admit to my many flaws I have, and one who wakes up each day to become a better human than the day before, I truly believe in the power of what we do. What you do defines who you are. It defines who and what you surround yourself with and it is a factor to how successful you are in life. And yes, success means something different for every individual here in this room today. the amazing thing about this for me, it is all in the power of our own hands. You are in control of it…in what you do and how you define ‘you.’ It goes along with the saying that you have yourself at the end of the day, so you better love staring at the person in the mirror. And if you do – amazing. And if you don’t – change something. It’s within your grasp, within your control.

#youarewhatyoudo all starts with you attitude. You choose how you get to show up. As an overthinker, a passionate soul, a person who often leads with their heart and gut (while fact checking at the same time), attitude is critical. Don’t get me wrong – I would be lying if I told you I am ‘Ms. Positivity’ 24-7…I am human. Yet I believe to believe in good, in hope, in the positive side to any situation. “We cannot change our past, we cannot change the inevitable. We cannot change how others will act. The only thing we can do is focus on how we show up. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you. You are in charge of your attitude. Attitude will make or break a company, a home, a relationship, a church, an event. The remarkable thing is everyday we have a choice regarding the attitude we will embrace that day.”

Okay got it. I will be positive. I will find the silver lining. I will breath through the uncomfortable. Then what? Then it is how you action and are accountable to that attitude you show up with. Without action, you stay stagnant, you don’t allow for new experiences, growth and change to occur. You stay in what is comfortable or what you selfishly believe to be the best or easiest. Action is hard. Because action invites failure, it invites learing, it exposes our flaws. But action is at the root of success. Being accountable for our actions goes hand in hand. We are the owners of accountability. No one else. No one owns my accountability. When you leverage those two forces, you are unstoppable.

Michael Jordan once said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

I too have failed in my life. At 22, graduating college, I thought I had it all figured out. Little did I understand that the next 15 years would bring the biggest joys, failures, hardships, twists, unknowns and beauty into my life. It is my attitude, my actions and my accountability that has allowed me to get to where I am today. I owe it to myself, no one else. I have a village around me, but at the end of the day, showing up, consistently, with intention, and owning who I am, is why I am where I am today. It is what I call the power of thought.

Thought + Emotion + Action + Behavior = Outcome

We all have thoughts. You can choose two paths – curious or not. That will trigger an emotion. One is more positive than the other. More productive. Then an action will result. I call it either reactive or proactive. Which then leads to a behavior. T+E+A+B becomes the outcome you get. And the outcome is entirely guided by #youarewhatyoudo. Who you are, what you do, and how you show up to this world daily…it matters. It matters because that is how you are defined. That is how the world invites you to this amazing thing we call life.

So I ask each of you…who are you? What do you define yourself as? And what will you do next to become #youarewhatyoudo? It is all up to you. The power resides right here, within you.