Professional keynote & seminar speaker using the wisdom & persona of Forrest Gump to inspire individuals and companies to self motivate and control own destiny.
Imagine you have a business that operates sloppily.
Your business has lots of sales, lots of employees, lots of activity … but small mistakes are repeatedly made … over and over. Your profitability suffers.
How do you change a corporate culture?
Do you make grand proclamations and send out memos with new rules?
Or do you start with the little things?
Forrest persisted despite learning that “shrimpin’ is tough.”
Persistence is defined as constantly repeating, enduring, being tenacious – especially in the face of obstacles, discouragement, and/or opposition.
Forrest Gump was persistent throughout his entire life.
One example of Forrest’s persistence was his determination to succeed as a shrimp boat captain.
Forrest picked flowers everyday for Jenny and put them in her room.
When Jenny’s hippie-ing days were over, she came home to Greenbow to the safety and sanity of the Gump House. Forrest said the following:
“Jenny came back and stayed with me. Maybe it was because she had nowhere else to go …
“Or maybe it was because she was so tired, because she went to bed and slept and slept like she hadn’t slept in years …
“It was wonderful having her home.”
“I did all the talkin’. Jenny most of the time was real quiet.”
“I never really knew why she came back, but I didn’t care. It was like olden times. We was like peas and carrots again …
“Every day I’d pick pretty flowers and put them in her room for her.”
Valentine’s Day was never specifically mentioned in the movie Forrest Gump.
But …
What if you had a place to go when there was nowhere else to go?
What if you had a place to sleep when you hadn’t slept for years?
What if you had someone who just listened, expecting nothing in return?
What if you had someone to pick flowers for you everyday?
What if every day was like Valentine’s Day?
Next Blog Title: Forrest Gump and Charisma
Next Blog Date: February 17, 2011
"Never, ever take your eye off the ball"
As defined in previous blog articles, gumptionable is being 100% personally responsible for all of your actions and interactions. It is a combination of gumption and Gumption, born of 7 essential principles.
Today let’s look at principle #5: Take Opportunities with Daring. I originally defined Principle #5 as follows:
Opportunities can be taken or not taken. To be daring means taking risks and being courageous. Taking only small or safe opportunities is the same as choosing mediocrity. Daring opportunists are people who make things happen and change the world.
Now we are not only going to examine this principle in greater detail, we are going to up the ante; we’re not only going to take opportunities, we’re going to seize them. Here are 5 things you’ll need to do if you want to seize opportunities as they come your way.
At the beginning of the movie Forrest Gump, a feather floats down from the sky and ultimately lands at the foot of Forrest. Imagine the feather as an opportunity. What does Forrest do? He picks up the feather. What do you do when opportunities land at your feet? Do you pick them up? And what do you do during turbulent times when the feathers stop landing at your feet? Do you get up off your buttocks and chase them down?
Opportunity is defined as an appropriate or favorable time for advancement or success. Are you a person who regularly looks for opportunities? Do you recognize opportunities when they land at your feet? Or are you blind to opportunities even when they land in your lap?
406.396.4611 | steve@speakinggump.com 
Forrest Gump is a fictitious character created in the book Forrest Gump, Winston Groom (1986) and the movie Forrest Gump, Paramount Pictures (1994). Steve Weber has been a Tribute Artist portraying Forrest Gump since 1996. Although Steve Weber has worked for the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. under license as Forrest Gump since 1996, nothing herein is intended to imply sponsorship or affiliation with either Paramount Pictures or Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.
