You gotta surrender to your purpose, Burt. Those are the words Ken says to me. You gotta surrender to your purpose. (Hes my co-sales manager at Golden Valley Development Company.)

This golden nugget of transcendent wisdom changes my life. I never forget it. I engage it to this day.

Surrender. Nothing equals the power released by surrender. Giving yourself to your task. To your objective. To your mission. To your loved one, your significant other. The act of surrender releases amazing energy. It yields magnificent outcomes. It helps you grow.

When you love anything enough, it reveals all its secrets to you. Love, dedication, surrender, add up to a magical elixir.

Lets say its love for, empathy for, those in your audience. You surrender yourself and your time, your energy, your focus to the delivery of value and then more value to this audience. You lavish value for the pure joy of the process. As an outcome, you grow. Try it. See for yourself.

Or maybe its surrender to the study of a process. You may reveal a Leonardo-like power to see into the nature of its inner workings. (Thats how Leonardo came to foresee manned flight. And undersea travel. And parachutes. All back in the 15th century.)

(Of Leonardo it was said, From his earliest days he flung himself upon his studies with an unprecedented ardour of delight and curiosity. . .neither did he stop at mere appearances of any kind. He went on indefatigably to probe hidden laws and causes.)

Is this not surrender to his purpose? Youd look a long time to find a better role model. Surrender on the part of Leonardo led him to transcendence in his achievements. Thats a historical truth. So why not you? Why not here? Why not now! Is there any possible reason why the same principles cannot serve you today?

Emerson wrote, The power that is in you is new in nature. And none but you know what that is which you can do. Nor do you know until you try!

You may do the study that launches an industry. Or reveals a previously undiscovered possibility. You may break new ground. You may evolve new insights. You may perceive through a different prism and discover new findings. Though the process of surrender, of giving yourself to your intentions you may find a new sense of the possible you.

In fact, the greatest beneficiary of your surrender to your purpose is you. You discover a greater you, a greater power in you, a power to understand what others do not.

If its love of another and you give yourself to that person wholly with nothing held back, you soon know that person very well. If its love of the speaking business and you surrender to your own highest possibilitiesand then give yourself to your intentions, you may make a difference no one before you ever made.

In 1973 Cavett Robert does just this. He surrenders to the concept of creating an association of speakers. Now we have a home. A legal home, a physical home, a spiritual home. And what a difference this makes for all of us.

Thats what Cavett did. And we are all enriched because Cavett surrendered to his possibilities for noble service.

To which lofty purpose are you willing to surrender?