That’s a helluva question, the kind that gnaws at a fellow for most of the day. I stumbled on a story of George M. Daniel, a fly fishing champion who was asked to speak to 182 graduating college students on the secrets of success.

Daniel is a national and international fly-fishing champion, with several gold and silver medals and first-place finishes under his belt. It’s likely he would know a thing or two about success.

Imagine being asked for the same speech based on your fishing career, and with 182 freshly scrubbed smiling faces peering intently at you, how would you mold your story into a positive message?

Fishing and Success are not always in the same hand of cards, at least not in most of the hands I’ve been dealt. You could flounder away through the message your  folks gave you, “..don’t do drugs, don’t get pregnant, don’t…” – but that’d fall on deaf ears…

Figuring a 30 minute lecture with everything I’ve learned, here’s the highlights:

• You’ll be in over your head many times, if you lose your bearings swim in the direction the bubbles are going.
• Fail repeatedly until success gets careless and is foul hooked.
• Change careers often, and if you don’t get a rise, there’s always unemployment.
• You have limitless potential and can be anything you want to be, make sure you want to be rich.
• Never marry a woman with more tattoo’s than you, failing that, make sure you’re barbless.

Maybe four quality bullet points would cover me, the rest is all that “feel good” filler that is requisite for such an occasion. No mention of fly tying, as this is supposed to be a positive and uplifting speech.

Technorati Tags: graduation, motivational speech, fly fishing success