Mission: Ambition, "The Nuclear Effect" (keynote)

Everyone say, "Hi, Mr. Smith." Mr. Smith, he's not real. That's the name I gave him. He's the FBI agent that lives in my phone. So, you guys have one too, you might want to name them. I dare you. I dare you. The tagline of my company is "Dare to be." I don't know what "be" is, that's for you to figure out. I just dare you to go after it. Today's talk is called "The Nuclear Effect." Be something to reckon with. As you stand alone, so that when you're combined with another nuclear force, the power released together is exponentially greater than anything you could ever do standing alone. The nuclear bomb that landed in Nagasaki was 22 kilotons. There's different sizes and different types of nuclear bombs. They're known for being especially powerful. The force of which is so great that the target is not just rendered inoperable, it's completely destroyed into nonexistence. When I get my dinner tonight, I'm not just going to eat it, I'm going to go after it in a nuclear mentality. This is my relationship with cake. Do not offer me a piece of cake, because I need the entire cake, and anyone who knows me knows I am not joking. I will take that cake and devour the entire thing, and you will see me licking the plate in the kitchen. And if there is an extra piece that was saved for somebody else, you bet that I'm going to be in there in the middle of the night eating that person's piece of cake. I'm working on it. I'm not there yet. This is the all-or-nothing mentality. Even a baby-sized nuclear bomb is still seen as a force to be reckoned with. Around 1 to 5 kilotons? It's somewhat easy to get your hands on that much material—plutonium, uranium, and the like—because the quantities are so small. And right now, that's what you guys are. You're baby nuclear bombs. As a single person, God gave you gifts unique to you alone, and the best thing about you is that there's no one else on Earth who has those gifts. You're you. You were fearfully and wonderfully made, and despite what society tells you, your purpose in life, your reason for living, really, is very simple. You were given unique gifts. It is your responsibility to unearth them to share them, and to protect them from the evils of the world. The tragedy of life is that there are so many of us who have never reached into our souls and pulled out our gifts for the world. You in this room today, you are incredibly fortunate individuals. You are citizens of the United States of America. You have this thing called the Bill of Rights, and it gives you power to achieve your wildest dreams. Every day, thousands of people, much less fortunate, are knocking on the borders of our country trying to get in, just so that they can have a taste of what real freedom feels like. Speaking of taste, how's your meal going to taste tonight? Do something for me. As an intelligence officer in the Army Reserves, my academic focus by choice for the past 15 years has been the social and political climate of North Korea. While you eat your meal, do this for me: think just for a minute of the people who are trapped in that country, as in not allowed to leave, ever. At the northernmost border is a river, just a stone's throw from China. It is like double this stage, and you could be there. In the winter months, when the water freezes over, a person can effectively sprint across it and escape. That is, if they can make it past the guard towers. I have been there, and I have felt the red bead on my chest being watched. Why would they even risk it? I want you to know a young man. His name is Shin. He's younger than me, and to this day, he's the only person to have been born in a North Korean prison camp and escaped to the free world. His story is captured by Blair Harden in his book "Escape from Camp 14," and Shin tells of being a young boy so hungry that he and the other kids would dig through the cow dung just to find undigested kernels of corn. And look at us. Look at our blessings. God blesses America. He blesses Americans. God blesses you and your families who have worked to craft your home life into an environment in which you can flourish. They provide you with things like the Girl Scouts where you can enjoy celebratory dinners make friends and smile and laugh, and have your efforts and your hard work go towards something, a goal that is bigger than yourselves. My purpose for being here tonight is very simple. I'm here to strike a match inside of you. My spouse and I put our life's work through our company called Mission Ambition We light sparks that grow. So I'm asking you right now to do something very unorthodox. Your teachers would be very upset if they knew I was doing this, so don't tell them. I need you to pull out your phones. I need you to pull out your Facebook. And I need you to let the world know that there's a spark inside of you and you are working on it and you are taking advantage of situations. Friend request me. S-H-E-L-L-Y, Shelly Rood, R-O-O-D. Shelly Rood! Everybody does it, you can do it too. Mission Ambition, like the page. Take a picture, take a picture of me, take a picture of the girls, post it. Tell the world how incredible these things that you're doing are. Take advantage of every single one of your blessings so that the fire of your life ignites, not a candle on a birthday cake, just getting a little bit brighter because of the bits of growth that you go through. No, your life should look like a nuclear explosion. Do it! Do the thing! Make sure that it's carefully planned and violently executed. Thank you, General Patton, for that phrase. Don't waste your entire life trying things and saying garbage excuses like why you haven't accomplished more. "Well, I'm only 10 years old." Because you're going to be saying that when you're 19, and when you're 21, 'And when you're 35, and when you're 40.' I hear it all the time. What you're doing now, every day, is becoming who you'll become. People in their 20s who spend their free time and their free money in bars, in restaurants, who do you think they become? That's right, people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, spending their time, spending their money, drinking in bars, eating in restaurants, wondering, "Where did my life go?" To my Girl Scouts, right now, you are a young girl on your own, which is going to turn into your family unit, and then you're going to be a single adult on your own, and then you're going to have your own family unit, and then your family units are going to find other family unit friends, and they're going to create a church or a community, a social, and then they're going to create the county and the state and the government. You all know where this goes, right? But right now, you are a baby nuclear bomb. And here's a fun fact about how nuclear explosions work. A massive explosion, the huge game-changer bombs that effectively wipe out countries, those are mega. No, literally, they're called megabombs. Very few megabombs exist because it takes so much material to make them. But a baby nuke is still a nuke. And multiple baby nukes can actually create more of an impact than one mega. In fact, if you take 8 20-kiloton nukes and you put them in a circle of 5-mile radius, take 7 of them, put them in a circle, and then take the 8th and just plop it in the middle, when they explode, they radiate off of each other, and the blast effect is not 20, 40, 60, 80. No, the blast effect is 100,000 kilotons. So you just took 8 and you turned it into the equivalent of a megaton explosion. So don't let me hear you say, "I don't have what she has. I wasn't born in a good place. We don't have that kind of money." Because I'm just going to tell you, find a way. I'm going to expect you to make it happen. You see, it takes passion, commitment, fortitude, and love for the effects of your work to explode like a nuke, for you to be a game changer. And by God's design, when many game changers come together, their efforts don't just add up like an old person's birthday cake. With the right strategy, you, my baby bombs, can impact the world. Some advice from Shelley. Why do you want to listen to me? First of all, because I'm awesome. Second of all, because I'm young, I'm beautiful, I'm smart, and I'm humble. No, not because of any of those things. I don't know if I'm any of those things, but I can tell you that I strive to be, and so should you. So here's how. Number 1: eat your vegetables, or you're going to be tricked by society into popping pills. Celebrate the use of your body, or you will regret never using it when you had the chance. Number 2: celebrate each other by refusing, refusing to participate in gossip. Even about people you don't know. Throw away the tabloids. For that matter, toss your fashion magazines. Read every book that's ever recommended to you. And when you feel that spark, don't let it go. Instead, I want you to fuel it by asking yourself 3 questions: Does this make me a better person? Will this help me achieve my mission? And if those answers are yes, then what is holding me back? You are the baby bombs of America. And we don't need more Netflix and chill, ladies and gentlemen. We need you to act on your ambition. I'm Shelley Rood with Mission Ambition. God bless you and dare to be. I am Shelley Rood with Mission Ambition. If you would love for me to come in and spread the message of encouragement to your team, please email me at coach@shellyrude.com. Check us out on the web at missionambition.org, and while you're there, head over to Facebook and leave me a 5-star review.