By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd.
Through telling stories, talking philosophy and playing music on a 200-year-old violin from Italy, the keynote speaker at the 17th Annual Wisconsin Assisted Living Association’s Spring Conference yesterday morning offered pearls of wisdom about the “Joy of Hard Work and Commitment.”
According to the bio that – he noted – he wrote himself, the speaker is a violinist who has worked with such famous artists as Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Placido Domingo and Andrew Lloyd Webber. He has played on the sound tracks of more than 200 major motion pictures, including Schindler’s List, The Green Mile, A Few Good Men and Mrs. Doubtfire.
His name – North Wood – is not a stage name. It is real. His parents were creative – and from the 1960s.
Here are some of his insights that caught my attention:
Creativity done in the name of fun can be Explosive.
There must be some level of joy for creativity to flourish.
Anything in life that has the potential to go wrong and doesn’t deserves to be appreciated. There are millions of things going right just so you can have a plain, old boring day.
Everything that we do in life starts as an idea. Talented musicians have a complete idea of the music in their mind before they begin to play.
Distractions are the Number #1 reason why people do not reach their goals.
Talented people do whatever it takes, not the best they can.
The only person qualified to give you advice about you is you.
A house is lumber, cement, shingles and pipes. A home is what we bring into a house.
True success can only happen from inside out.
Assisted living, he told those in attendance, is something that he first became aware of when his mother-in-law moved into a community.
“The business you are in is the greatest in the world,” he said. ”You want to make a difference.”
Rick Banas served as a breakout session speaker at the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association 2012 Spring Conference. He spoke on “Stirring the Social Media into the Marketing Mix.”
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Tags: 17th Annual Wisconsin Assisted Living Association’s Spring Conference, assisted living, Joy of Hard Work and Commitment, North Wood, Rick Banas, The BMA Blog, WALA
