I was working at my office late tonight when a text came through from a friend with a video clip. I was super busy today and wouldn’t normally have stopped to listen to a video clip but for some reason I found myself hitting play. A young man in his graduation cap and gown stands at the mic and explains why he regretted becoming Valedictorian of the school in probably THE BEST 6 minute speech I’ve heard. WOW!!! Seriously, just WOW!!!!!!!!! I was totally blown away…

“Have no regrets in the 16th Second” – is the title of the speech Kyle Martin gave at The King’s Academy’s graduation ceremony. He explains that he regrets graduating top of his class because while for 15 seconds it felt really good being named Valedictorian, on the 16th second he thought, “That’s it?!”

For a years he had sacrificed personal relationships in order to focus on earning that achievement and for 15 seconds it felt good, but by the 16th second he found himself full or regrets…

“Working hard is good, it is in fact biblical. But it should not be done for the sole purpose of a goal’s sake or at the expense of relationship with others,” Kyle Martin shared. “Looking back on this year I realized the stress of this goal was paid for by the lack of attending to relationships in my life. Lesson learned, and self-reflection accomplished.”

He then asks that you self-reflect on something you are striving for and focusing on – something you think is the end-all be-all – maybe its career, or academics, or becoming social media famous, or video games, or whatever it is for you. Then realize that “Nothing is more important than your healthy relationships. Nothing. Not your goals, not your successes. Here’s why: Relationships are where we get to influence, impact, and change people’s lives. Your life cannot be meaningful without them…” and his speech only gets better from there….to the point I was not only choked up by the end but even more motivated than before to make some necessary changes in my own life…Take six minutes to watch this video below and I promise you that those six minutes will be the most rewarding six minutes of your entire day…and then some….

Again….WOW!!!!!! Life lesson learned and self-reflection accomplished! And Kyle Martin – YOU are what AWESOME looks like! Thank you for sharing your life lesson with all of us.

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )