Motivational Speech: The Four Agreements By Don Miguel Ruiz

If I were asked to get the attention of my peers for a speech, I would first consider my audience because I have different groups of people I consider peers. I would also take into consideration the topic of the speech and utilize an appropriate attention grabber. For example, if I am giving a motivational speech, I might use the word courage. I could either incorporate that word into a powerful quote or tell a story about how courage “changed my life” or why it is a “necessary virtue” on the path to success. I think the most important part, in addition to the attention grabber, is to keep the audience’s attention throughout the speech.
One of my favorite books is called, “The Four Agreements”. In it, the author, Don Miguel Ruiz highlights four agreements a person should utilize in their life to reach optimum happiness and serenity. One of the agreements is to never take anything personally. This agreement explains that

I will give a little back story. I took over a store, at a new retailer, three weeks before Black Friday; the highest sales day of the year. I had no staff and the store did not have a store manager for almost six months. Over the next two weeks, my team and I worked diligently to get the store in order. I held interviews and hired over twenty associates for the season, my team and I completely revamped the stock room. We did everything, from the front door to the back door. I worked 70-80-hour work weeks for almost three weeks, to get the store ready for the season and for a regional visit. Well, when my boss came in she was amazed at the progress. My Regional Manager came in a few hours later and had nothing positive to say. She pointed out everything that needed to be fixed and never took into account the progress we made. When she left I could not do anything but cry. I was so insulted and felt like we did not do