What Gives Purpose and Meaning to Your Life? | Oprah Winfrey's Greatest Life Advice #motivation

My television career began unexpectedly. I was in the misfire prevention contest that was when I was 16 in Nashville, Tennessee, and you were required to have red hair to win until the year I entered, so they were doing the question and answer period. because I knew I wasn't going to win in the swimsuit competition, so during the question and answer period came the question of why young lady,

what

would you like to be when you grow up and when they got to me, all the good answers had disappeared, so I had seen Barbara Walters on The Today Show that morning, so I said, I would like to be a journalist.

I would like to tell other people's stories in a way that makes a difference in their lives and in the world. those words were coming out of my mouth I said whoa this is pretty good I would like to be a journalist I want to make a difference well I was on television when I was 19 and in 1986 I launched my own television show With a relentless determination to succeed, at first I was nervous about the competition and then I became my own competition, raising the bar every year, pushing, pushing, trying as hard as I knew how, we finally got to the top and stayed there for 25 years.

The Oprah Winfrey Show was number one on our schedule for 21 years and I have to tell you that I was pretty comfortable with that level of success, but a few years ago I decided, as you will at some point, that it was time to recalculate and find new . The territory broke new ground, so I finished the show and launched my own Oprah Winfrey Network. The initials just worked for me, so a year later, after launching in almost every media outlet, I proclaimed my new company a failure, not just a failure, but a big one. audacious failure, as they call it.

I still remember the day I opened USA Today and read the headline. Oprah was not entirely alone. I mean, really USA Today. That is the good foreign newspaper. It was truly the worst period of my professional

life

. stressed and frustrated and frankly I was, actually I was embarrassed, the words of an old hymn came to mind, maybe you don't know, it's shortly after, when the morning comes and I started to think about when the morning might come, because the time I thought I was stuck in a hole and the words came to me problems problems don't last forever from that hymn this too shall pass and I thought I'm going to change this and I'll be better for it this is What I want to share is that no No matter how far you can go, at some point you are bound to stumble because if you constantly do

what

we do, you raise the bar, if you constantly try harder, the law of averages does not To mention the myth of Icarus predicts that at some point you will fall. and when you do, I want you to know this, remember this, there is no such thing as failure, failure is just

life

trying to move us in another direction now that you are down. there in a hole it seems like a failure and when you're down in the hole when that moment comes it's really okay to feel bad for a while give

your

self time to mourn what you think you've lost, but here's the key to learning. every mistake because every experience you encounter and

your

mistakes are there to teach you and force you to be more of who you are and then figure out what the right next step is and the key to life is to develop an internal moral emotional GPS that can tell you.

Which way to take? The life challenge I have found is to create a resume that doesn't simply tell a story about what you want to be, but a story about who you want to be. It is a resume that not only counts. a story about what you want to achieve, but why, a story that is not just a collection of titles and positions, but a story that is really about your

purpose

, because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole, that is the story that will take you. discover what your true calling is what your Dharma is what your

purpose

is for me that discovery came in 1994 when I interviewed a girl who had decided to collect Pocket Change to help other people in need.

She raised a thousand dollars throughout the year. She and I thought that little nine-year-old girl with a bucket and a big heart could do that. I wonder what I could do, so I asked our viewers to do their own change collection and in one month with just pennies and nickels and dimes we raised over three million dollars which we used to send to a high school student. every state in the United States to college, that was the beginning of Angel Network, so what I did was just ask our viewers to do what they could wherever they were.

They are from wherever you are in life, give me your time or your talent, your money if you have it and they reach out with kindness to other human beings wherever they can and together we built 55 schools in 12 different countries and restored almost 300 homes that They were devastated by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, so The Angel Network was on the air for a long time, but it was The Angel Network that focused my internal GPS and helped me decide that I wasn't going to be alone on television. every day, but that the goal of my shows, my interviews, my business, my philanthropy, everything, any enterprise I may undertake, would be to make clear that what unites us is ultimately much more redemptive and compelling than anything that separates me, because what had become clear to me and I want you to know that it is not always clear at the beginning because, like I said, I have been on television since I was 19 years old, but around 94 it became very clear, so don't wait for clarity to come completely.

I once knew its purpose right away, but what became clear to me was that I was here on Earth to use television and not to be used by it, to use television to illuminate the Transcendent power of our better angels, so This Network of Angels not only changed the lives of those who were helped, but the lives of those who were also helped reminded us that no matter who we are or what we look like or what we believe, it is possible and, more importantly, coming together is becomes powerful. With common insight and common effort, Maya Angelou always says that when you learn, teach, when you learn, give to my friends what

gives

purpose and

meaning

to your story, so that everyone has the power, in their own way, to develop their own Red Angel.

I did it in a way analog world I was blessed with a platform that at its peak reached almost 20 million viewers a day now here in a world of Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and Tumblr you can reach billions in just seconds I know you all They understand better than most that real progress requires an authentic way of being, honesty and above all empathy. I have to say that the most important lesson I learned in 25 years of talking to people every day was that there is a common denominator in our human experience, most of us, I tell you.

We don't want to be divided. What we want. The common denominator I have found in every interview is that we want to be validated. We want you to understand us. I've done over 35,000 interviews in my career and as soon as that camera goes off, everyone always turns around and inevitably in their own way asks this question. I heard it from President Bush. I heard it from President Obama. I heard it from heroes and housewives. I heard it from victims and perpetrators of crimes. I even heard it from Beyonce and all her Beyonce she finishes performing she hands me the microphone and says what's okay, friends and family, your enemies, strangers and every argument in every meeting, every exchange, I'll tell you everyone wants to know one thing was which was good.

Can you hear me? You see me? Does what I say mean anything to you? My hope is that you try to go out and have more face-to-face conversations with people you disagree with and have the courage to look. Look them in the eye and listen to their point of view and help ensure that the speed, distance and anonymity of our world does not cause us to lose the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes and recognize all that we share as a people. It is imperative for you as an individual and for our success as a nation.

I know, there is a light inside each of you, all of us, that illuminates your human being if you let it, and as a little girl in rural Mississippi, I learned a lot. Once upon a time, being myself was a lot easier than pretending to be Barbara Walters, although when I started because I had Barbara in my head, I would try to sit like Barbara, talk like Barbara, move like Barbara, and then one night it was on the news. reading the news. and I called Canada Kanata and that was the end of my life as Barbara.

I laughed out loud at the TV, I couldn't stop laughing and my true personality came through and I discovered, oh boy, I can be a much better Oprah than I could be. Pretend to be Barbara, but no matter what challenges, setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there is really only one and that is to fulfill the highest and truest expression of yourself. As a Human Being you want to maximize your Humanity by using your energy to uplift yourself, your family and the people around you.

Theologian Howard Thurman said it best, he said, don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you live and then Do It because what the world needs is people who have come to life. You will have questions and doubts about your path, but I know, if you are willing to listen and be guided by that still small voice that is the GPS within. yourself to discover what makes you live you will be more than fine you will be happy you will be successful and you will make a difference in the world