travisstoliker.com

Here is the transcript of my speech today. Video is processing now and will be online soon.

Update: Video up

“Thank you very much for the honor of speaking to you, the future leaders of our community. Congratulations to all the graduates. Whether you realize now or not, your successful graduation today is a cumulative achievement shared by you, your family and your community. We should all celebrate it.

I was asked to speak today because your scheduled presenter was unable to be here. So I’m sorry to say but you’re stuck with the 2nd string presenter I only had a couple days to prepare for this presentation and I’m approaching 30 now so I’m a little out of touch with your generation. So I decided to ask some of my younger friends and relatives what they would want to hear about. The consensus was “what I wished I knew in high school” - so that will be the theme of our discussion today - I hope you approve.

But first let me start by telling you a little about myself because I know that if I was in the audience I would be wondering who the heck is this Dude talking? My name is Travis Stoliker. I grew up and graduated from Holt. Attended LCC and got my bachelors from Northwood. I’m the Son of a UAW tool and die maker for Generous Motors (as my grandmother called them) and my mother is a Realtor. I’ve traveled to a few places in the world as a product manager for the software company, TechSmith. Worked for WILX Channel 10. And now I am the Marketing and Sales director for Liquid Web. A web hosting company in Lansing. I’ve started my own company - that failed. I’ve been nearly fired from jobs for refusing to shave my beard and I had my neck cut by a hockey skate during my senior year in high school. — That experienced changed my life - and I want to start this speech by telling you why.

On Christmas break in 1997 my hockey team headed to Saginaw to play in a weekend tournament. I was playing center and one of my chief responsibilities was to keep the front of the goal cleared so that the goalie could see the puck at all times. As I was pushing the opposing teams player from the front of our net, he fell and the edge of his hockey skate cut a 6 inch long - very deep, cut in my neck. I lost a tremendous amount of blood and had to be rushed by ambulance for emergency surgery. I was awake through the surgery when the doctor told me I was a quarter inch away from dying .

That experience completely changed my perception on life, forever. I began to question every assumption that I had formed about life. I found a new thirst for life and I wanted to experience everything.

It took a near death experience to wake me up and call my attention to the incredible amount of possibilities we are all capable of pursuing. It made me realize that my life didn’t have to be a random collection of events which I passively observed from the sideline.

I started to realize that - You can make your life. You can choose to be great. You can choose to achieve your goals. But you can only do that if you make a choice. It doesn’t matter much what you choose, it only matters that you make a choice. Do you choose to be great? Are you capable of what that takes?

One of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, has a new book out called Outliers which demonstrates that most of the successful people in the world have one unifying trait in common - ten thousand hours of experience in their field.

So I ask you now - If you knew that you could be the best at anything that you wanted to be - would you invest the ten thousand hours in it? Many of us want to be great - but we are unwilling to do the work.

I am begging you. Please, make a choice. Choose to be great. If you are willing to do the work, you are guaranteed success.

For all intents and purposes, today is the beginning of your adult life. Up until this point your parents, your society, even the law pretty much mandates that you get to this point. After high school is when it becomes your decision. It is the start of your adult life. Are you going to choose to be great? Or are you going to watch your life from the sideline?

So that is the first thing that I would have liked to know in High school - if I choose to be great today, I am guaranteed success.

I sound a bit like a optimist right now and a lot like a liar. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. I’m not going to be one of the people that tell you everyone is equal and you all have the same chance at success. The reality is that some of the people in this room are more intelligent than others, some are more attractive, some are more popular and some are going to be more successful.

I am not saying it’s going to be easy for everyone - what I am saying is that if you want to change something - with enough time - you can change anything.

The second thing that I wished I had known in high school is - Failure is okay but results matter.

One of my married friends was talking the other day about their kids soccer team and how they don’t keep score anymore. They want to encourage the children to play for the love of the sport and not be focused on competing with the other team. They don’t want any of the children to feel like they lost. — We have a tendency to do that in society now. We try to pretend like failure doesn’t exist. We pretend like everyone is a winner - all the time. This isn’t just prevalent for children. It is pervasive throughout our society. If a company fails - we bail it out. If our school can’t pass MEAP, we lower the threshold. If our government lies to get us into a war, we are complacent. Our society has decided to ignore failure. To pretend like we cannot learn from our mistakes.

I am here to tell you that the most memorable learning experiences in your life will be your failures and the most successful people in the world are the ones that are not scared to risk failure over and over and over!

Failure is okay. Failure is the result of risk and risk is the only way to attain reward. Do not let your failures distract you. Accept them - learn from them - and move on. You will be better for it, I assure you. Do not think you are a failure simply because one of your ideas was.

That leads me to my third point - have ideas - not beliefs.
Beliefs are hard to change, but idea’s can flex with time and evidence. Beliefs are things that get people burned at the steak. Beliefs are what make people hate without logic.
Ideas on the other hand can change the world. Ideas are what make you great. Ideas can change with time. Ideas can be discussed. Idea’s can be shared.

People get “personal” about beliefs but people get Passionate about Ideas.

When you have an idea, it can change with time and an accumulation of evidence. This is important. Now that you are an adult, you are judged by your logic and your evidence. From this point on, you will not be given credit simply for your effort, simply for completing your homework, or showing up to class. From this moment on, you are an adult. And adults are judged, or should be judged, only be the quality of their arguments and the results of their actions. If you hold ideas that are wrong, it is up to you to change them and improve yourself. Continual improvement is paramount to your ongoing success. Never settle. Never stop improving. Never stop learning.

The last thing that I would have liked to know when I graduated High school is not something that I take any pleasure in telling you. But unfortunately, I believe it to be true. — Your high school diploma isn’t worth much. Your parents High school diploma was more valuable for them than your bachelors degree will be for you.

Now I’m not saying that you don’t need a high school diploma. That would be like saying you don’t need elementary school or you don’t need to be potty trained. No - high school is important. But it is an expectation now. It is a minimum requirement. It is a prerequisite for adulthood. But your high school diploma is NOT going to measurably change your life in the next few years. No employer is going to ask to see it. It’s not something you should hang on your wall. It’s not going to unlock any doors to amazing careers with huge salaries, job security and generous retirement packages.

Your High School diploma is not your finishing line. It is your starting line. This is where your life begins. Your teachers and family generously provided you with their perspective on life. They gave you the tools to understand the world but now it is your turn to see if they were right! I’m not going to tell you that you have to go to college. That would be presumptuous and ironic considering my 27 year old boss is a multi millionaire without a single college credit. I am not telling you that you must go to college - but I will warn you that it’s going to be the number one question at your open house, so get ready!

College is not a requirement - but life long learning is. If you expect to retire from the job that you take out of college, you are kidding yourself. You will most likely have changed jobs five times by your 30th birthday. You will have multiple career changes throughout your life. You will be engaged in life long learning and continuing education for your entire career.

Did you know that today the top careers which are in the highest demand - did not exist 4 years ago. That means that if you start college today, we will be preparing you for jobs that don’t yet exist. Technology and globalization have changed the speed of innovation. Everything is faster now. The successful people in this room will be the ones that realize that.

Your life is an exercises in trial and error. Testing and refining. You’re opinions and views on the world are going to shift dramatically over time. Some of the things that you believe today will be proven wrong. But don’t worry - It’s all okay. — That permanent record we told you about, it doesn’t exist. You will be great. If you choose to be.

It is possible that one of you will cure cancer. It is possible that one of you will be the first to cure Multiple Sclerosis, an illness my mother has. Your have the opportunity to solve many of the biggest problems that humanity faces. Like energy, health care, poverty, water supplies, the for nuclear war and on and on and on. Do you realize what you are all capable of? Because I am and I am honored that you asked me to be here with you today to celebrate your accomplishment.

Thank you very much.”