Ashton Kutchers' Speech

As mentioned in previous posts I'm a huge fan of storytelling. Ashton Kutcher's recent acceptance speech at the Teen Choice Awards is a good example of the power of storytelling. Ashton shared with the crowd and over 2 million viewers on YouTube (number of views on 16th August 2013, this video has gone viral) three simple rules to live by.

1. Opportunity looks a lot like hard work (Kutcher shared a story about working hard all is life and being grateful).
2. Be sexy - he related this to being smart, being thoughtful and being generous. He encouraged viewers to look past marketing, advertisements and what people/media were telling us 'sexy' was.
3. Build a life - don't just live it.

This speech for me is right up there with Ken Robinsons creativity speech, it moved me as a mother, as an educator, as a community member, as a wife. Yes!! Forget the stereotypes, forget what people say you should do and build your own life. This resonated with me in so many ways (I have discussed my thinking about building your own life before in another post).

My husband and I sat down with our four children and dissected and discussed what this meant for them. Our younger children hadn't quite picked up on the messages and giggled when the word 'sexy' was used. But we used this as an opportunity to explain to them the importance of hard work, goal setting and dreaming big.