Words from the Heart
 

What are you going to be when you grow up? When is grown up? I’ve been in professional communications for 45 of my 58 years. I started my first paying gig writing sports reports about my junior high school teams for the local newspaper for ten cents a word. It wasn’t a lot of money then, either, but it was my start in the noble profession of journalism.

My start in broadcast journalism was on April Fool’s Day 1970, when I began working as a copy boy on the overnight assignment desk at ABC television news for $73 a week. I went on to cover Watergate, eight elections and five space shots. I also produced Barbara Walters news interviews and later earned a handful of national awards as business-economics producer.

I left the security of the network in 1980 and have been mostly on my own since, working as an independent producer, writer, media trainer, political consultant, marketer, and teacher. I have also sold cars and fine art. I have been unemployed, not by choice, and filled the time writing and taking long walks.

Along the way I have discovered that I am a creative type, wonderful at coming up with new ideas, especially for other people or enterprises. Concomitantly I learned that I am not cut out for management.

Over the years, as I have gone deeper inside, I have become less self-conscious. Or perhaps less ego conscious. As a result of all this, and much more, I have now embarked on my new career path: public speaking. Over the past year I have spoken before a half-dozen groups, unscripted, with just some notes, and I have been quite successful. And I have greatly enjoyed the experiences.

I got my lips moving and then lost track of time. I found that when I speak from my heart, I don’t always know what I’m going to say, but the thoughts are never wrong. Very neat.

 

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