As you hopefully saw today on The Larry Elder Show, I gave an unmotivated young man the chance of a lifetime to benefit from my mentorship and turn his life around. Below is an update on my experience with Will and an account of my time spent mentoring him the day after the show was taped.

Will is a 27 year-old father from Oregon whose utter lack of motivation has cost him partial custody of his own son and put a tremendous strain on his mother and father with whom he still lives.  He appeared on The Larry Elder Show about one month ago and was torn apart by Larry and the audience for his lazy attitude towards life.  Will does not have a job, car or even a driver’s license.  His 3 older brothers and sister have left home and moved on to successful careers, but Will seemed hopelessly stuck.  What was worse was Will’s negative attitude, even when Larry offered counseling and help with finding employment.

The producers of the show knew that Will needed more than an appointment with a therapist to get on track.  They had worked with my on a previous episode, and I was at the top of their list of motivational guests.  I was thrilled for the opportunity to come back on the show and talk some sense into a young man with plenty of time to turn his life around.

As I expected, Will’s smug attitude towards his dire situation was just a front he was using to get attention.  All I had to do was show him that the positive attention for a job well done will make him feel immeasurably better than the negative attention he is used to receiving.  I encouraged the studio audience to acknowledge Will with applause for his willingness to put himself in front of millions of viewers and ask for help.

Once Will saw me as a peer, and not somebody there to punish him, he was more than willing to accept my mentorship.  While I wouldn’t wish my difficult childhood on anybody, the fact that I have been able to rise above so many challenges helps me relate to people like Will who feel like they can’t catch a break.

The key for Will, and for anybody who wants to achieve more, is to drown out the disempowering beliefs that hold us back.  Thoughts like “I have no luck,” “this just isn’t my day,” and “I’m probably not qualified to do that job,” are destructive internal dialogue patterns.  Will was unable to reach his full potential (or any potential for that matter) because these thoughts were winning.

I was thrilled to see Will’s enthusiasm to accept my mentorship.  I had a packed schedule coming up the day after we taped the show, and felt it would be a perfect opportunity to have Will be my shadow, getting to see first-hand the results of hard work and dedication.

Will showed me his commitment by canceling his plans to go sight-seeing in Los Angeles and agreeing to come along with me and learn how he can make a better life for himself.

I picked will up at 10:00AM, five hours after my alarm goes off, but still earlier than Will is used to waking up.  We started with a meeting at Junior Achievement, a charity partner of mine in Los Angeles dedicated to spreading financial literacy among America’s youth.

Among our other meetings was a visit to my agent’s office high above Beverly Hills.  We took a moment here to borrow the office of the agency’s CEO so that Will could feel like the big shot he is going to be.  In this setting, I had Will write down his goals.  One of the most empowering things you can do in life, writing goals down on paper gives them weight and is the first step in creating the road map that will lead you to tremendous accomplishment.

I will leave it up to Will to decide if he wants to make his goals public.  As with any PathConnect member, he has the choice to make any one of his goals public or private.

Our final stop was with a company where I do consulting work.  Will had a chance to see me motivate and inspire in a corporate environment, and he saw that the working world is not such a scary place after all.  He saw people working hard, as he would have expected, but he also saw the fulfillment they felt from a job well done.  This was a benefit of employment that Will had never considered, and something I made sure to stress as we parted ways.

At the end of our day together, Will made 2 important commitments to me.  First, he committed to pursuing employment until he succeeds so that he will not be a 3-time loser on The Larry Elder Show.  He loved the positive attention the audience gave him, and I had him visualize how great the standing ovation will be when he comes back to announce his new job, new apartment, and show off his shiny new car.

Will’s second commitment was to go speak at his high school back in Oregon and share with them his story of success.  My hope is that Will can take the benefits of my mentorship and pass it down to others who are looking for support and guidance.  PathConnect has been founded on the gift of mentorship, and it has thrived because of people’s inherent desire to share their knowledge and good fortune with others.

Will’s story is just one example of the thousands of people who are achieving greatness every day thanks to the power of PathConnect.  I thank and acknowledge all of you for your continued support, and would love to hear your story.  We are always looking for the next “face” of PathConnect.

Check back for continued updates on Will’s progress and for more inspiring stories from the PathConnect community.

Thank you,
Ryan Blair