This is a speech I delivered at the 2011 District 38 Toastmasters International Speech contest. I hope it inspires you to make today your DAY NUMBER ONE!
By the way, the date of December 9, 2024 was five thousand days from the date I gave the speech. To find out the date five thousand days from today, click here.
By the way, the date of December 9, 2024 was five thousand days from the date I gave the speech. To find out the date five thousand days from today, click here.
How long does it take to achieve your dream? Tough question. How much time is a dream worth? A day? A month? A year? I have a number I want you to think about: five thousand days. And today is day number one.
Mister Contestmaster, fellow Toastmasters, honored guests. Why five thousand days? Let me explain that by telling you a little story. It's a story about three people: Dwight, John, and Nadia.
In 1931, Dwight was an Army officer, and he wasn't a happy one. His career seemed to be stagnating. Most of his friends had left the Army, and it didn't seem like his career was going anywhere. That was day number one for Dwight. Five thousand days later, General Dwight David Eisenhower was leading Allied forces to victory against Nazi Germany in World War II.
The next year, John began his career as a politician, an obscure, little-known Congressman from Boston, Massachusetts. No one gave him much of a chance to succeed in politics, and frankly, most people laughed at the idea that John would go very far as a politician. That was John's day number one. Five thousand days later John Fitzgerald Kennedy was about to become the 35th President of the United States.
That same year, Nadia was born. Six years later, little Nadia was seen turning cartwheels in a schoolyard in Romania. That was day number one for little Nadia. Five thousand days later, Nadia Elena Comanechi retired as one of the most celebrated athletes the world had ever known, the first person ever to score a perfect ten in Olympic gymnastic history.
Why five thousand days? I don't know, but it seems to work. At least it did for Dwight, John, and Nadia.
You're probably wondering, exactly how long is five thousand days? To be precise, five thousand days is fourteen years, eight months, and ten days. Five thousand days from today is December 9, 2024.
I know what you're thinking. How old will I be on December 9, 2024? Well, how old will you be? Personally, I'll be a month past my fifty-ninth birthday.
In his book, The Path of the Genie, Dr. Dilip Abayasekara quote W. Gifford Jones who wrote, "Never retire. Michaelangelo was carving the Rondanini just before he died at 89. Verdi finished his opera Falstaff at 80. At age 80, the Spanish artist Goya scrawled on a drawing, 'I am still learning.'"
We're not counting age in years. We're counting dreams in days. What is your dream? Mine is to become an author. What's yours? December 9, 2024 is going to arrive in five thousand days, twenty-four hours a day, one day at a time, and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. All you can do is to decide whether today, April 2, 2011, will be your day number one.
Will it? Will today be your day number one? I want you to say it out loud: "Today is my day number one." Say it: "Today is my day number one." Say it again, and feel it. "Today is my day number one." And on December 9, 2024, one of two things is going to happen. You will have either spent five thousand days just dreaming your dream, or you will have spent 5000 days accomplishing your dream. It's your decision. It's your choice.
And if December 9, 2024, rolls around and you have accomplished your dream, you know what to do. Start counting again. After he defeated Hitler in World War II, Dwight David Eisenhower wasn't finished. Five thousand days later, he was finishing his second term as President of the United States.
What can you achieve? What will you achieve? Today is your day number one, and the clock is ticking. You have five thousand days.
Copyright 2011, R. Michael Donley
Mister Contestmaster, fellow Toastmasters, honored guests. Why five thousand days? Let me explain that by telling you a little story. It's a story about three people: Dwight, John, and Nadia.
In 1931, Dwight was an Army officer, and he wasn't a happy one. His career seemed to be stagnating. Most of his friends had left the Army, and it didn't seem like his career was going anywhere. That was day number one for Dwight. Five thousand days later, General Dwight David Eisenhower was leading Allied forces to victory against Nazi Germany in World War II.
The next year, John began his career as a politician, an obscure, little-known Congressman from Boston, Massachusetts. No one gave him much of a chance to succeed in politics, and frankly, most people laughed at the idea that John would go very far as a politician. That was John's day number one. Five thousand days later John Fitzgerald Kennedy was about to become the 35th President of the United States.
That same year, Nadia was born. Six years later, little Nadia was seen turning cartwheels in a schoolyard in Romania. That was day number one for little Nadia. Five thousand days later, Nadia Elena Comanechi retired as one of the most celebrated athletes the world had ever known, the first person ever to score a perfect ten in Olympic gymnastic history.
Why five thousand days? I don't know, but it seems to work. At least it did for Dwight, John, and Nadia.
You're probably wondering, exactly how long is five thousand days? To be precise, five thousand days is fourteen years, eight months, and ten days. Five thousand days from today is December 9, 2024.
I know what you're thinking. How old will I be on December 9, 2024? Well, how old will you be? Personally, I'll be a month past my fifty-ninth birthday.
In his book, The Path of the Genie, Dr. Dilip Abayasekara quote W. Gifford Jones who wrote, "Never retire. Michaelangelo was carving the Rondanini just before he died at 89. Verdi finished his opera Falstaff at 80. At age 80, the Spanish artist Goya scrawled on a drawing, 'I am still learning.'"
We're not counting age in years. We're counting dreams in days. What is your dream? Mine is to become an author. What's yours? December 9, 2024 is going to arrive in five thousand days, twenty-four hours a day, one day at a time, and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it. All you can do is to decide whether today, April 2, 2011, will be your day number one.
Will it? Will today be your day number one? I want you to say it out loud: "Today is my day number one." Say it: "Today is my day number one." Say it again, and feel it. "Today is my day number one." And on December 9, 2024, one of two things is going to happen. You will have either spent five thousand days just dreaming your dream, or you will have spent 5000 days accomplishing your dream. It's your decision. It's your choice.
And if December 9, 2024, rolls around and you have accomplished your dream, you know what to do. Start counting again. After he defeated Hitler in World War II, Dwight David Eisenhower wasn't finished. Five thousand days later, he was finishing his second term as President of the United States.
What can you achieve? What will you achieve? Today is your day number one, and the clock is ticking. You have five thousand days.
Copyright 2011, R. Michael Donley