Jack Pockl, Reporter

World-renowned motivational speaker Kent Julian gave students the message of a lifetime on February 28.

  Julian is the owner and president of Live It Forward, which focuses on career coaching and personal development for the future.  He brings humor, passion, energy, and insight on how to fulfill one’s future at all venues he hosts.

    Essentially, Julian’s appearance is most well-known at high schools and state conferences, where his presentations is geared towards youth audiences.

   Julian has published a variety of books including Who Wants to Be Normal, Anyway?! A Teen's Guide to REAL Success and Ultimate Coolness, which was available for purchase by students after the assembly.  The book ultimately talks about the success principles for one to follow depending on how successful he/she wants to be.  

  “The first ten chapters includes principles for people are just starting their professional profile and career.  This is for people who want to be the top 50% achievers in life. The second group of ten chapters includes principles for people who want to really expand their success and influence on others.  Those chapters are for those who want to be the top 10% achievers. The final ten chapters are those who want to be the top 3% in the workplace,” said Julian.

  Julian’s main message for students was to understand that one’s reaction to an event is what causes the outcome’s harshness or difficulty level.  If one reacts to a burdensome event in a calm and diligent manner, the outcome will not have as much of a negative effect.

  This brought Julian to two equations that he preaches for all of his listeners to live by.  These equations were brought to his attention from reading the book, The Success Principles by Jack Canfield.

  “When I was going through school, I didn’t learn the equation, but I learned that I’m responsible for not letting circumstances take control of you.”

  The two equations presented were “E = O” and “E + R = O.”  The ‘E’ stands for the events that happen in one’s life. The ‘R’ stands for the response one gives towards the event.  And the ‘O’ stands for the final outcome of how the event was reacted to. Julian wears his “E + R = O” bracelet everyday as a reminder to follow this equation, as everyone else should since this is the equation to success in everything.

  Julian urges all listeners to follow “E + R = O” no matter the situation they are in.

  “I have failed many times before, and that’s a good thing.  The quicker you can fail the better. The way you overcome failure is not by living ‘E = O.’ You do not let that event control you -- you live ‘E + R = O’ so you know how you are going to respond to that event.  Everytime I have had a failure in my life, I have tried to associate myself with people who had the same failure as me so I can learn from them. ‘E + R = O’ is the linchpin for me that helps me deal with anything in life.”

  From this, Julian gave the story of his daughter’s diagnosis of Type II Diabetes and how keeping a positive attitude helped him respond to the event better.

  “After my daughter came home from being in the hospital for seven days, I would express to her about every month on how I would love to take the type II diabetes out of her and take the pain for her.  When she was 14, I had this same pep talk with her and she told me to ‘Stop,’ in a mad tone. She looked down at her wristband that said ‘E+R=O’ and said she was now able to take control of her life’s situation because of that equation and that she would be okay.”

  Julian later went on to express the “4 Fence Posts of Responsibility.” In conjunction with this, Julian explained the 4 fence posts: attitudes, actions, associations, and articulations.  In depth, he explained the more ownership one puts into something, the larger the fence posts will expand out; the more ownership one puts into something, the outcome will be reflected positively.  One will have more “room” to influence others and become more successful. On the flip side, the less ownership put into the something, the fence posts will expand inward, causing one to have less responsibility and input in situations.  The fence posts expanding outward or inward are all based off of the ‘R’ in the equation -- the response one has to an event.

  Julian can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIN, and his podcast -- Live it Forward.  For more information about Julian, visit his website, www.liveitforward.com.