How Oprah Winfrey Discovered What's Possible

Oprah Winfrey credits her first easter speech at her Baptist Church when 3 years old as the beginning of it all.  

"Every other speech, every other book I read, every time I spoke in public, was a building block. So that by the time I first sat down to audition in front of a camera and somebody said, 'read this', what allowed me to read it so comfortably and be so at ease with myself at that time, was that fact that I had been doing it for a while, if I had never read a book or spoke in public before, I'd be traumatized with it." said Oprah.

Oprah recognizes that her success was something she had prepared herself for throughout her life, even if she didn't know it ahead of time. 

What are you preparing yourself for?

I'm never surprised anymore when I speak to people that don't know what they want to do next in their life. I still see it every single day. I've spoken to people that felt this way in every aspect of my life including High School, Church, my missionary days in South Africa and Mozambique, my undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University, my graduate program at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, during my time at Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Google, Facebook, and in my own ventures.

This is a big problem. I call it The Directionless Pandemic of the 21st Century™. If you don't  know where you're going, you don't know what to prepare and train for. So, you won't know what you're supposed to do.

You will drift from job to job, following whatever path seems most advantageous for you at the time. 

How do you stop drifting?

Oprah didn't know what she was supposed to be doing in life, until she tried it. 

"I happened into television and happened into radio. Sort of happenstance...I was working in Nashville and so I moved to Baltimore, so I'll do this for a while, and then I don't know what I will do."

But when she was given an opportunity to do her own talk show interview, she said, "My very first interview was the Caravelle Ice Cream man, and Benny from 'All My Children', I'll never forget it. And I came off the air thinking, 'This is what I should have been doing!' Because it was like breathing to me. Like breathing. You just talk. Be yourself...so from the very first day I did my very first talk show, I knew it, I knew it was the right thing to do." 

She had been preparing herself all her life for it, but she didn't know it. All those speeches she gave at churches were grooming her to be confident and comfortable in front of the camera, to never be ashamed, no matter what happened on stage. 

So how can you improve the chances of recognizing what you were born to do with your life? 

I call it the Born To ? Test™. It works like this. 

1) Think about an idea or try something new, something you haven't done before. For example, Oprah tried being a talk show host, and Jeff Bezos tried majoring in Physics.

2) Try your best to remove yourself from peer pressure, or any influence that could be distracting you from listening to your mind, spirit, heart, words, and body. 

3) Pay attention to how you're feeling before, during and after your new experience. Take out something to write on, I recommend your Discover Possible Planner™ (you will find several Born To ? Test templates at the end of your Discover Possible Planner), and title the page "Born to ? Test: ___________". 

Write down what you are testing in the blank to the right of the title, for ex: Born To ? Test: Be a Talk Show Host. Then, divide the page into three sections, one for 'Before', another for 'During' and another for 'After'. Describe in no more than one sentence how you felt before, during and after you tried that new thing. 

After reviewing your responses for the three sections above, at the bottom of the page, add an incomplete statement, "I was Born To _______________!" and take the time to fill in the blank. 

At the end of this exercise, you will know if you were born to do this or if you weren't. If you haven't felt something like what Oprah describes as, "It was like breathing to me!" Then, you need to continue trying more things. 

If you're one of the lucky ones that has found what they were meant to do. Take some time to celebrate, but realize that you've only just started your journey, you must now create it. 

For most of her life, Oprah wanted to be an actress. She knew what she wanted, and so she thought it into reality.  

"I truly believe that thoughts are the greatest vehicle to change power and success in the world...Everything begins with thoughts. The chairs we are sitting in, the room we are in, all started because somebody thought it. So I thought up The Color Purple for myself. I know this is going to sound strange to you. I read the book, I passed the book out to everyone I knew, if I was on the bus, I'd pass it out to people. When I heard there was going to be a movie, I started talking it up for myself. I didn't know Quincy Jones or Steven Spielberg. I thought it so intensely that I had to be part of that movie. I really do believe I created it for myself. I wanted it more than anything in the world and would have done anything to do it."

What happened next is remarkable. Quincy Jones was in his hotel room and saw Oprah on TV and felt like she would be perfect for The Color Purple. He discovered her and cast her as Sofia in The Color Purple, where she earned an Oscar Nomination for her acting.

Create Your Future! 

Are you thinking about it in your sleep? Are you thinking about it in the shower? Or, maybe you're thinking about it when you should be thinking about something else. Infectious Ideas™ need to grow, it's what brings them to life, it's part of the creation process.

For an idea to grow, it needs to be created first spiritually and then physically. 

Oprah talked about The Color Purple with everyone she knew. She handed out books to people on the bus. She imagined herself in it. She became a part of the idea, so others that were involved with it became attracted to her in order to really achieve the idea's potential.

Infectious ideas are brought to life spiritually first by one or more individuals who collaborate knowingly or even unknowingly to bring the idea to life. 

Bringing an idea to life isn't easy. Not everyone that is involved in its spiritual creation, actually figures out how to bring it to life physically. This is why people often live with regrets and take ideas to their grave. And that's why an idea can be created by multiple people at the same time or at different times, with different results. 

In this example, the idea behind The Color Purple began its spiritual creation through its author, Alex Walker, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the novel. But the spiritual creation continued as it developed into a major motion picture with the help of Quincy Jones, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and many others who helped create it physically through the medium of film, propelling the idea to reach and impact an even wider audience. 

What type of future are you in the process of creating? What spiritual creations are you a part of right now? 

For a step by step template on how to take your infectious ideas through the creation process, refer to the Discover Possible Planner™ section on the Cycle of Creation!