In this virtual keynote preview, Shawn Ellis invites leaders to shift their focus from external circumstances to the present moment, arguing that true resilience is cultivated by mastering the now. He opens with a personal story about his young son Brody’s radiant smile while biking, using it to illustrate pure, present‑focused joy. Ellis guides the audience through a brief breathing exercise, then outlines three progressive "shifts": (1) moving from victimhood to creator of experience, (2) releasing past narratives to embrace possibility, and (3) choosing to thrive rather than merely survive. Central to these shifts are three "tools of creation"—attention, attitude, and action—which he presents as simple, repeatable levers anyone can apply in real time. Throughout, he frames thriving as a state of intentional living, not a flawless destination, and encourages leaders to apply these principles in their professional, personal, and community roles.
Chapters
Every day, doesn't it kind of feel like that? Like every day, this is at 18,000 feet. He says, I'm going to count down 3, 2, 1, and then we're going to go. This session is really— it's not about your business. This session is about you. It's about mastering the moments. It's really about mastering yourself because the circumstances we can't control. But what can you do? What can I do? How can we show up a little bit differently? In the face of the circumstances. That's what we're going to be talking about, and really talking about how do you cultivate resilience. And I discovered this guru, this guru that had come into my life, and we started spending a lot of time together. And this guru was a true master of the moments. And one day we were out riding our bikes together, and we were out on the trail, and I saw him. He had this just huge smile on his face. And I thought it was so big, like, I took a picture of it. And this, I'll show you this. This is my guru. This is my son Brody. He was 2 or 3 at the time. And I saw that big smile on his face. And, you know, if you can see it from where you are, but that smile, like, that's not a smile of just like, it's pretty good, pretty, pretty happy. Yeah, it's nice, not bad, right? Like, that's a smile that is true joy. And that's why I had to take that picture just to see, like, I wanted to capture that. And then, but I asked him, I said, hey Brody, like, what are you thinking about? Because I was curious, like, what makes you smile so big? Because I don't know about you, but like, like, I've been on my bike, like, I love riding my bike, but I can't remember the last time I smiled that big on my bike. But I asked Brody, like, what, what are you thinking about? You know what he said? Riding my bike. Like, I mean, like, of course, like, what do you think? Like, what do you think I'm gonna say? Like, I'm thinking about like last night's pizza, or, you know, I'm thinking about what, you know, playing with my Legos later, or whatever. But like, no, I'm riding my bike. And that really— like, we could talk about psychology, neuroscience, we could talk about all that, but if you want to talk about the essence of this moment matters, of being present in the moment, I mean, That's it. And if you want to test, are you surviving or thriving? I think here's the question: are you in this moment, or are you just trying to get through this moment? Everything changes when you step into this moment. And I want to invite you now, for us to take the time as we're here in this leadership conference, to just pause and actually be here. Just breathe this in. For a moment because we won't be here again. Like, maybe we'll have more virtual events, maybe not, who knows. Hopefully next year we'll all be together again, but this moment is real. This moment is now. I want to invite you to take a breath in and breathe out. So then that facilitates brain function, promotes optimal performance. All that matters right now is right now. And when we come back to this moment, you see, we didn't change any circumstances. You changed. I didn't do that, you did that. When you breathe, your body changes, your chemistry changes. And when you do that, you've made shift number 2, which is making the shift from being a victim of your circumstances to being the creator of your experience. If you got up and danced a few minutes ago Like maybe like, I don't, I don't dance, but you got up and danced. Guess what? You made a shift. And that takes us into shift number 3, shifting from the past into possibility. See, the past only predicts the future if you choose to live in it. Everything around us right now, the present circumstances are a product of the past, of past choices, past decisions. But what's happened in the past does not dictate what's going to happen in the future unless you continue to stay in the same habits, the same routines. You keep thinking you keep thinking the same thoughts, you keep focusing on the same things, then yes, the past will become the future. But this present moment is new, and what's present in this opportunity, in this moment, is possibility. So where have you been living? And then the question is, well, where would you like to live? In order to thrive, in order to live the life you want to live, to show up as you want to show up as, as a leader in PICPA, as a leader in your business, your organization, in your home, with your friends, wherever it may be. Where would you like to live most of the time? This is my definition of thriving, because when we're talking about thriving, especially in a year like this or in times of difficulty— like, this is not— I know this is not the first crisis anyone here has faced, but in times of difficulty, like, talk about thriving. Like, how is that even possible? But here's what you need to know. Thriving, it's not a destination where everything is perfect and where I'm always happy. Thriving is a state of being where I'm living as the creator of my experience rather than as a victim of my circumstances. There are 3 tools of creation that we all have. If you want to create your experience, you want to transform any moment, like in the moment, you can use these tools. And it's nothing new, it's not rocket science. It's, it's your attention, your attitude, and your action. It's It's like, what are you focused on? What are you thinking about? And then ultimately, what do you do? These are our tools of creation. And with these tools, you can transform any moment. And I would say, look at your own story, because I know we can look around, again, present circumstances, and whether it's politics or whether it's, you know, medical healthcare issues, whatever it is, the taxes are crazy, you know, everything. Kids are home from school. You know, what in the world is going on here? But we can either let our experience be shaped by what we see now, or we can look to our past and say, you know, where is the evidence to trust in your story? Is there something in your story? Like, look at— have you faced some difficult circumstances where you thought, man, there's no way I'm going to get through that, and yet somehow you got through it? You made it to the other side. The fact you're here today means you've overcome everything you've faced. You're still here. So what if you looked at that and said, "I see, like, I can trust that some way, one way or another, I'm going to get through this." Seeing the messages now that feeling energized, hopeful, positive, empowered. Good, good. I'm so glad. And you know, I didn't do that. You did that. You did that. This is the space that you were able to use that space and there's nothing here that you can't do every day. And when you do this, you show up differently, you'll be able to face the challenges differently, be able to live the life that you truly desire, to be who you know you are.
