(Newswire.net –June 5, 2013) Washington, DC –Oprah thanked Harvard for her horary doctorate, “not too many little girls from rural Mississippi have made it all the way here to Cambridge.”
Acknowledging her presence at Harvard she addressed anybody who ever felt inferior or disadvantaged. She struggled for weeks to come up with something fresh and special then realized you don’t have to go to Harvard to have a driven obsessive type a personality.
On her journey through life she wanted to be Barbara Walters, talk like her, act like her. She was on television by age 19 telling other peoples stories in a way to make a difference in their lives and the world.
Ms. Winfrey stated when she was first on television she worried about the competition then became her own competition. Raising the bar pushing herself and stayed there for 25 years. After becoming comfortable with that level of success it was time to recalculate, break new ground and she ended the show.
Media proclaimed her new venture, OWN was a flop. This was the worst period in her professional life. Oprah said “I was stressed, I was frustrated and quite frankly was actually embarrassed”.
She got the call to speak at Harvard at the time when she had stopped succeeding. The words of an old hymnal came to mind, trouble don’t last always, this too shall pass.
She decided to turn the network around and she wanted to tell it to the grads. The network will now be a success and they were a source of inspiration.
At this point in the speech Oprah was on fire, possessed by a spirit of truth to touch lives and make a difference. She shared, it doesn’t matter how far you rise, at some point you will stumble. If you raise the bar, constantly pushing yourself higher the law of averages predicts that at some point you will stumble.
She reminded the grads there is no such thing as failure. Failure is life telling you to move in another direction. When you are down in a hole its okay to fill bad for a little while, give yourself time to mourn what you think you lost. The key is learning from every mistake.
Every experience and particularly your mistakes are there to teach and force you to be more who you are. Then figure out the next right move.
Oprah advised the grads to not just have a resume with titles and positions, but about your purpose. When you get stuck in a hole your purpose is the story that will get you out. The key to life is to develop an internal moral emotional GPS. This will tell you which way to go.
Ms. Winfrey related stories of people who refused to be discouraged. The couple, who lost a child in the Sandy Hook tragedy. After Congress voted down strengthen background checks. The wife said our hearts are broken but our spirits are not. The husband added” you cannot simply demonize and vilify someone who doesn’t agree with you”.
Oprah ended with reminders that when we stumble, have doubts be willing to listen to our internal GPS and be guided. We will be more than ok, and you will make a difference in the world.
Thanks to Harvard University for the source of information
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