Closing Keynote speaker at SHRM11 – was Michael J. Fox, former Teen Wolf, Back to the Future, Alex P. Keaton – MJF!
Here’s a guy who goes from High School Drop out, to major TV and Movie Star, to being dropped back to earth with Parkinson’s, and what struck me most were some of his key takeaways from his experiences. Rule #9 of The Sackett Rules is – Don’t be a Victim – and this guy is an Anti-Victim, he’s so far away from being a victim I want to wear a t-shirt with his picture on it, like he’s Superman!
Here are a few of the gems he shared with the capacity crowd at SHRM 11 –
– “Speaking of my Dad, he’s the first person you call in a crisis, but the last person you want to show up!”
–“Life changes and you change with it, the script of your life is not written.”
–“If you’re going to be a lumberjack, you have to go to the forest.”
–“My Mom thought my head was in the clouds. My Dad was convinced it was somewhere farther south!”
–“Early success and fame is like throwing Miracle Grow on your character defects.”
-On his wife Tracey calling him an Asshole upon first meeting him on Family Ties – “Nobody talks to me that way, I’m Marty McFly!”
-After learning he had Parkinson’s – “My happiness would grow in direct proportion to my acceptance of the disease.”
–“Loss doesn’t leave a vacuum, it creates opportunity.”
–“Parkinson’s, its like standing in the road with your feet in cement knowing that a bus is coming, but not when.”
–“I was still me, just me with Parkinson’s.” on going through the 5 stages of grief.
– On telling his 5 year old son about his disease – “He still realized I was Dad, I was just shaky Dad.”
–“The only decision I don’t have in life is Parkinson’s, everything else is my call.”
–“I know about loss, about how it feels when life gets re-arranged, still, don’t play to the results.”
–“I like my job, finding a cure for Parkinson’s, but I’m looking forward to being Unemployed!”
– On his wife Tracey, her role of a caretaker and their marriage – “The more complicated it gets, the more it seems to bring out the best in us.”
It always make me feel like less of a person when I see someone who is facing a great challenge, but they aren’t complaining, they aren’t giving up, they are facing it head-on and kicking it in the Ass! Michael J. Fox is really an inspiration to so many people who feel like they are stuck in life, or can’t make a change – he reminded a bunch of people today that they can, that they hold the power within themselves to do whatever it is they want.
Please check out www.MichaelJFox.org to support Micheal’s search for a Parkinson’s cure.