Patterns - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

I was a chronic truant in my final year at school.

I didn’t like learning. I loved it.

But I didn’t love the curriculum.

So I took myself to the State Library in Brisbane and got an education there.

There I read every book on photography and photojournalism. The grainy black-and-white war photos spoke to me. The text excited me. Weeks turned to months and I reread them again and again until I saw something I had missed earlier.

There, between the lines, lay the real lesson.

Photojournalism didn’t happen in Brisbane. Not one photo, not one story. I would need to leave.

This moment was pivotal in my journey. This was the moment I understood the value of patterns. Find the pattern and you find the secret sauce.

The next time was as a cameraman. I subscribed to the iconic monthly American Cinematographer magazine. For 15 years. I read them cover to cover. Articles and ads. Looking for clues.

Then there it was, the pattern. So many great films had a director and director of photography who had a shared passion; books, art, music. This was not a game of f-stops and filters. This was a game of relationships and a game-changing insight into my camera career.

One of the many things wrong with the world of magic is as soon as someone learns a trick they stop being a wonderfully interesting unique fallible human being and become a ubiquitous cardboard cutout of someone playing the role of a magician. I was no different.

I read and read into magic. Bingo! There it was. A pattern. Commercially successful magicians had little to nothing to do with the tricks they performed. Their success came from playing themselves on stage. Amplifying their identity, their loves, their passion, be that a country bumpkin or a rock star.

Here I am a speaker. I haven’t locked this pattern down yet. I’ll let you know when I find it. And I will. Because I know every moment spent looking for the real lesson will pay me back manyfold.

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If we haven’t met yet…

I never considered myself good at change until I went from

-average shot to army sniper

-home movies to National Geographic cameraman

-fumbling card tricks to a professional magician

-never swinging a hammer to building a home

-high school dropout to published author

-business illiterate to building & selling a business

-stutterer to motivational speaker

Turns out I know how to change, I know how to make it simple, and I know how to stand on stage & make it fun so others want to do it too.

#change  #changeability #motivationalspeaker