Mike DomitrzPresident, Author, and Speaker on Respect, The Center for Respect, Inc. · Author & Speaker on Respect for Schools, Corporations, & the Military since 1990 (has reached

Be true to yourself #centerforrespect #mikedomitrz #liveyourlife #authenticitymatters #highschool

19 Dec 2024 · 0 min

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In this brief motivational monologue, the speaker challenges high‑school listeners to examine whose life they are living. By asking whether they are following the wishes of those around them, the speaker highlights that most of the people influencing them now will not be present in their lives eight years from now—typically only two or three, sometimes none. The speaker argues that making daily choices based on the expectations of transient peers is misguided and urges students to live authentically, making decisions that serve their own future rather than the fleeting approval of others.

If you're always doing what the people around you want you to do, whose life are you living? Yours or theirs? Theirs. Live yours. Because here's the part we don't say enough in high school. How many of these people are going to be in your life in 8 years? What number? 0 to 100, what number? 2 or 3 is about right. For some of you, it's going to be 1. For some of you, it'll be 0. That's not a bad thing. You're going to be in a different place in your life. They're going to be different places in their life. But the point is, why am I making all these choices every day based on these people who won't even be in my life? Why am I doing this to myself?