John O’Leary

I am privy, ready to launch and grateful to be on.

John O’Leary

Yes. Perfect.

Luis, I am convinced now that.

John O’Leary

We all have this remarkable sacred story and I kept mine hidden for almost 2 decades. What I was hiding from I guess was at the age of 9, I held a piece of paper that was on fire too close to a can of gasoline. It created a massive explosion that split the can in two and kicked me up. It launched me 20 feet against the far side of the garage, literally set my world on fire, changed the trajectory of my very being, left me with burns on 100% on my body, and absolutely no chance of surviving.

That’s the very beginning of this journey. It started when I was 9 and it continues to this day. Now I tell my story to teach people how to feel motivated.

John O’Leary

I realized not everybody is staring or can picture me right now.

I burned on a 100% on my body. 87% of that is a 3rd degree, which means I have scars that covered almost 90% on my body. I’ve had my fingers amputated on both hands. My face actually is not burned at all so I’m very fortunate in that regard. All hides on like this and the reality is you only can hide it from yourself.

The best secrets we primarily keep, we’re the last ones to learn that everybody else knows about it. Those are the secrets that help us knowing how to feel motivated. So of course, my community knew and of course my family knew. I’d been in the hospital for 5 months, recovered for a couple of years afterward in surgeries and therapy but I wear long sleeves. I try to mask up.

In grade school, I tried to tell the best jokes and be the class clown. In high school and college are probably drink a little bit more than I should have and out in a little more trouble than I should of because I was trying to pretend like I was totally ordinary.

The goal of my life when you’re burned so badly is just to be normal. That’s just to be normal and to fit in and so, that’s what I strived for.

The turning point in my life happens when I was 27. My mom and dad wrote a book about what happened to their son, his name was John O’Leary, your guest today, at the age of 9.

They wrote this unauthorized biography of my life. It’s called Overwhelming Odds. It allowed me to realize what I went through but I wasn’t the only one that went through it. My family went through this and it also allowed me to see that these scars, although thick, red, and painful to some extent even today, were the beginning of the best of my story. I used my story to inspire others and to teach how to feel motivated.

It led to faith and character. It led to the passion for life, to teach how to feel motivated   and great connections. It led to where I went to college eventually which leads to a chance to meet a brunet named Elizabeth Grace, who has now blessed me with 4 little kids. It led to a fledgling business back in the day, now, a large beacon business today. This is how we can learn how to feel motivated.

The best of my life is the result actually being burned as a child.

John O’Leary

You can’t separate yourself from your past. I live in the mid-West in St. Louis Missouri. We had a huge storm that blew through clear this year and we lost this huge oak. I have four kids. We were able to go outside afterward and look at the rings. I’m no arborous. I’m no tree expert but you’re able to tell the health of each year by the rings. By how thick they are, how narrow they are, how dark they are, how light they are and I think to an extent, as human beings, we have rings.

So, the rings of being burned as a 9-year-old have certainly shaped the man that I am today and the success practices Kamala, to your point, when I wake up every morning, my body is achy. I’m a little bit sore and I find if I’m not very intentional, there are questions that I’ll ask myself throughout the day. I refer to this as, “The victim’s questions.” There are several things that help me teach people how to feel motivated.

The first question I’ll ask is, “Why me?” Why this pain? Why that experience as a child? Why the scars today? Why the challenges in front of me? Why me? If I know answers to all these questions I will be able to help people how to feel motivated.

The second question is, “Who cares?” The great question of indifference, “Who cares?!”

The third question I’ll ask if I’m not super intentional and thoughtful is, “Gosh. What more can I do?” I’m just one, these things have happened. I can’t really control what happens next. Instead of that, my experiences from the past and I’m the great recipient of love from my family, from the doctors, the nurses and many others who has served me as a child and beyond.

However, what they taught me is I can ask 3 completely different questions. So now, every morning when I wake up I ask the question.

1. Why me? Why am I so lucky? Why am I so blessed? Why do I still have the opportunity to make a difference today that I can maybe even do better today than I did yesterday? Why me?
2. Who cares if there are some scars, if there are some challenges if there’s a little bit of pain? If you have traffic on the interstate on the way into the office, if TSA is strip searching you again, who cares? We do work that matters, we’re fortunate to live during this time period, so who cares if there are some uphill battles?
3. What more can I do? Don’t hope for it but work toward it to ensure tomorrow is even better than today.

If you’re listening closely at home or driving to work right now, you probably identify they’re the same 3 questions and yet at different tone, through different lens, it transforms the way you ask them, how you feel about them, what you do about them and then, the results you get after them.

John O’Leary

I think it’s the only lens with which we view life. I don’t feel myself as a Pollyanna or a guy who just loves squeezing lemons and then drinking down that sugary goodness afterward.

I often get asked how to feel motivated. We can either be victims or victors to life. There is no gray area here. No new president will bring it into our lives. No one else will bring it into our lives. No new car. No new success. That won’t change who we are within.

John O’Leary

It’s our determination to be a little bit better, fresher, newer, and more engaged today than we were yesterday and that is one of the great gifts that we have each day regardless of our external circumstances.

John O’Leary

It’s an awesome question. It’s one that I’ve asked for being burned, or through grade school, or high school, or college, or even beyond.

I was a real estate developer here in St. Louis, starting a young family, having a blast, living a good life. My mom and dad wrote the unauthorized biography of my life that changed my world and about a week later, I got a call from a group of girl scouts. I believe it was four 3rd grade girl scouts and they said, “Mr. O’Leary, will you share your story with our group? In life and I think this is a lesson if we all can learn in our businesses and relationships and faith journey.

My answer to almost any question is, “Yes. I’m open to it,” even if I don’t consider a speaker. Even if I don’t think the story is worthy of even sharing with a couple of kids. However, I said, “Yes.” I shared the story. I read my notes. I wasn’t even able to look up one time at those little monsters. I was terrified being in that room. I was not even paid boxes of Samoas. I got no payment. Nothing. This is not a scalable business back then. This was perhaps the first time I started sharing my story to teach how to feel motivated.

Yet afterwards, the little girl scouts came up. They give Mr. O’Leary these big hugs and it really touched my heart and about a month later, one of their parents was a Rotarian. He said, “John, will you share in our rotary group?” I said, “Yes.” and then there was co-member and then, a small business owner.

The first year, we spoke 3 times and the second year, 8. In the 8 years since, we had the opportunity of sharing this message more than 16 hundred times, all 50 states, 15 different countries, hundreds of thousands of people impacted, tens of thousands of book sold. That’s just a decade earlier. I wasn’t even able to share in the reflection of the mere.

I think the first person that you got to be able to share your story with is your reflection.

John O’Leary

When I was burned, what really happened was, I was deciding to see what might happen if I held the flame to a can of gasoline. I see other little boys in the neighborhood doing something similar and I thought it would just create a pop.

Well, what happened, of course, was before the liquid came out, the fume grab it, created a mighty explosion, transformed my life. However, my mom, dad, doctors, staff, EMTs, my family and I, always referred to what happened to me as an accident. Except it’s not an accident. It’s a choice. A little boy had no idea what the consequence might be but I think when we go through our life.

John O’Leary

We’re keeping in the life we live and the one we can live going forward.

So, I think at the core of this message Kamala is this decision to wake people up from accidental living.

John O’Leary

Quit pointing finger outward. Wake up to the beauty and the miracle of this moment that is yours, only then you can learn how to feel motivated. What are you going to do with it?

John O’Leary

It’s been my pleasure being on your show. We live in a marketplace that loves to talk about everything that’s wrong and then, you and Luis talk about all that’s right and what we can do in our own lives, in our own businesses to truly thrive going forward.

I just encourage you to keep sharing that message. You know that you’re making the difference.