My Afternoon With Oprah

OK, Oprah and 3,999 other people.Last week I attended a conference hosted by QuickBooks and Oprah was the keynote speaker. I counted six different times during her presentation that I choked up as well as two personal and business revelations. MAN, that woman is a powerful presence!As hoped for, she touched on two topics that are near and dear to my heart, Intention and Energy.IntentionOprah introduced the topic of intention with a story from her Oprah Winfrey Show days. She was in the middle of interviewing members of a white supremacist organization when she realized that instead of exposing them as a hate group, they were actually using her to further promote their message. After the interview, she walked into her producer’s office and said, “Never again.”Now, she doesn’t go into a single interview without first discovering the intention of her guest and then telling them her own intention for the interview. She has since begun using this process for every aspect of her life. There isn’t anything she does that she hasn’t first thought through the intention for doing it. Quite simply, this one habit has changed her life.During this part of her presentation it was reinforced for me that the Spending Plans we help clients create are intentions. They’re a stated intention for where you want your money to go to live the life you want to live. Create a clear intention and receive better results.EnergyThe other topic Oprah talked about that hit home for me is the management of energy. She told the story of Dr. Jill Bolt Taylor, a Harvard trained brain scientist, who had a stroke at the age of 37. Her story is explained here, but the gist of it is that during her recovery, she couldn’t recognize the people that came into her room. However, she could feel the energy they exuded.She could feel the doctors who were in a hurry, just wanting to get to the next patient so they could ultimately go home. She could feel the people who stopped by, but were uncomfortable to see her in such a state. For others who walked in her room, she could feel love – especially from her mother - even though because of the stroke, she did not recognize the woman as her mother.After reading Dr. Bolter’s book My Stroke of Insight, and then interviewing her on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah learned the life changing lesson of taking responsibility for the energy you convey. The energy you put out is palpable. Not only do others feel it, even if it’s subconscious, but you LIVE in that energy every moment of every day.I’ve seen this again and again in people trying to make changes in their financial life. Those who focus only on the positive outcomes they will receive by changing their habits, have a much easier time making those changes. Positive energy equals more positive outcomes.Those few who look at changing their habits as hardship and punishment experience exactly that. Negative energy makes the outcome more difficult to obtain and the journey miserable.I walked away from last week’s presentation with a refreshing reminder to continue to be intentional with my life and responsible for the energy I bring to it and those around me every day.Thank you Ms. Winfrey.