Keep it Simple

My youngest son graduates from high school in less than a week. Last year, the head of the school invited me to give the graduation address. She gave me the option of speaking then or waiting until this year, when my son would be graduating.

I asked him what he preferred, and in typical Shepherd fashion he had a thoughtful response.

“I think you should give it this year instead of next year,” he told me, “because next year I’d rather have it be about my classmates without any unnecessary attention on me.”

Great reason. So that’s what I did.

In the month leading up to the talk, I had lots of ideas about what I wanted to say. I took notes, created a few outlines, and even wondered if I could make a graduation address interactive.

A few days before the event Shepherd asked me, “Dad, you’re not doing a normal address, right? You’re going to make it interactive?”

That was the nudge I needed.

No matter what direction I took, I knew the talk needed an experiential component.

As an improvisor and professional speaker, I’m very comfortable working from an outline instead of a script. An outline gives me the flexibility to stay present, understand the core message I want to share, and then just let it flow naturally. That’s how I approach every talk and presentation.

The day of the graduation address, I was also leading a corporate workshop for a company in St. Louis. I finished around 4:00 p.m., leaving about two hours before I needed to arrive at the high school.

I still didn’t have a final outline.

So, I stopped at Panera Bread to clear my mind, get still, and listen for what message I wanted to share. It was time to feel what was coming to the surface.

I grabbed one of their cardboard coffee sleeves and scribbled down a few bullet points and ideas.

Voila! My outline was done.

One of the concepts I share most often with individuals and teams is this simple mental tool for finding calm and clarity:

Make the Complex Simple.

Our brains are moving non-stop, and our thoughts get pulled in countless directions. There are so many scenarios, distractions, and possible outcomes competing for our attention.

But when we know who we are, our purpose lights the way – one step at a time.

The goal is not to see the entire map. The goal is to trust the next step.

Remove the distractions and focus on what is most important…and the complex begins to feel simple.

That’s exactly what happened as I prepared for this talk.

Give it a watch and let me know how I did.

—Travis