Day 198: Michael McCleary
We’re all extraordinary. No matter who we are in the world, we all have a fascinating story to share, and we often don’t look at ourselves in that way. So what I would hope every listener can understand is they’re here to inspire other people. Everybody in the world is here to inspire each other, so take the time and realize what you do is special.
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Michael, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
Michael McCleary: Well, thank you so much for having me on Toni. I am Michael McCleary. I am a speaker, video producer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur, I should say. I do pretty much everything, so those are … that’s basically what I do.
Toni: Well thank you, and thanks for being here today, Michael. When you think of the word inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?
Michael: That’s such a good question, you know. I recently worked on a film. Actually, it took four years — a film called Anything But Ordinary: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives – and it was really my desire to go out and find out what it meant to be successful.
So I went out and interviewed 20 different people across the United States and Canada to ask them this question – what does success mean to them – and got just some amazing different answers. We created this film called An Anything But Ordinary Journey out of that process. We have it out there. We’ve had some great reaction to it, and so I guess I inspire people right now through the films that I make. I also have a radio show I’m starting. That’s a way I inspire people.
But to me, really it’s kind of funny, because I really like to be a pretty humble person, and so I try not to say, you know, like, I’m out there to inspire people. I’m not necessarily doing that. I’m out there to share stories, and if those stories that I tell and share inspire people, that’s great. And I hope it does, because I want people to go out there, live their dreams, live their passions, find something they can be happy about every day of their life, and that’s my goal.
And so if that inspires people, that’s great, although I don’t necessarily go out there and intentionally try and inspire people to make myself bigger. It’s about telling stories, because we all have extraordinary stories. I can’t tell you how many people I interviewed in this process that said “Why are you interviewing me? I don’t understand why you want to talk to me.” And when you talk to them and you share their stories, people see them afterward and say “Wow, that was so inspiring” or “That made a difference in the way I look at life.” You realize that we all have inspiring stories.
We’re all extraordinary. No matter who we are in the world, we all have a fascinating story to share, and we often don’t look at ourselves in that way. So what I would hope every listener can understand is they’re here to inspire other people. Everybody in the world is here to inspire each other, so take the time and realize what you do is special.
Toni: By presenting the message that way and doing it with your film and the work that you’re doing, how do you think then that you help people to explore their own potential?
Michael: Well, you know, I really … we really challenge them in the film, and also now getting to speaking and other avenues is to ask the important questions of life. I feel if I can get people to ask those important questions, to really start to sit down and think about what’s important to them, you know, questions like “Why am I here? What is my purpose? What can I share with the world? What and who do I love?”
I mean, these are important questions that we often kind of … we sidetrack, and we don’t think about them during our day. We get so busy in the routine and everything that’s going on we forget to ask these questions. And months can go by, years can go by, and we just do our 9 to 5 job. We spend time with our family and friends, but we forget to ask what’s most important, you know, what is it that we’re here to do? What is it we’re here to contribute? What is it we’re here to do to give back?
And so that’s what I encourage people to do, is to start asking those questions. What is it that’s important to you, and how can you change the world? How can you make the world a better place, and how can you love doing it every day of your life?
Toni: What inspires you?
Michael: What inspires me? There are so many things that inspire me, you know. Really, conversations like this inspire me. I love observing people. I mean, that’s something that inspires me, too. I was just watching a TV show the other day, and I was just watching how a couple just interacted with each other, and it was just amazing to see the love that they had for each other, and that was something that was inspiring to me. So I love observing, whether it’s on TV or in person or anywhere else, I love observing other people.
Interaction with other people. I mean that’s inspiring, just like I was just saying, you know, this interview, talking to other people about what’s important to them, you know, having those important conversations, or just going out and having fun. That inspires me. There are so many things that inspire me. Everything in the world should be inspiring. We should all take the opportunity to take a breath and look around and just be amazed at what we’re able to do, that we have a breath today, that we have an opportunity to do something today. That’s inspiring to me.
Toni: Michael, have you always come to the table this way with this sense of I want to make a difference — the humility intact — but I need to expose these stories and bring light to some people that are doing extraordinary things . Have you always been wired that way and knew that this was going to be your purpose?
Michael: You know, I think yes and no. I mean, I always felt like even from the time I was young that I was supposed to do something important. It’s interesting. I’ve always had that sense that I was supposed … I was here to do something of purpose. Even when I was young, I felt the need to do that.
But as far as, you know, what I’m doing now and really trying to inspire other people, I would say it probably came to me when I was 16 years old. I was at a large conference and saw Les Brown who is one of the greatest speakers in the world. He was speaking on stage, and I looked at him that day, and I was 16 years old and saw this like, this crowd of 20,000 people react to his presentation and walk away inspired to do something better with their life. I said “Wow, that’s what I want to do.” I saw what he was doing and said “That’s what I want to do with my life.”
And what was amazing was through my mentor, Kandee G., who was also a speaker also in my film, I was asked about a year ago to help her with her TV show that she was launching. One of her guests was Les Brown. Can I go back to that 16-year-old story really quick, sorry …
Toni: No …
Michael: One of the things I said at that time was “Someday I’m going to speak on the same stage as Les Brown. That’s one of the things I’m going to do.” And that was when I was 16.
So anyway, to go back to the story of Kandee G., a year ago doing her show I was the … I’m the person who comes in and introduces the crowd, introduces them to what’s going on with the show, what the instructions are, and I was able to share this story about me being 16 and my story of Les Brown, and here he was coming on to the stage after me.
It was amazing to look back and go “Wow, who would ever have thought 16 years ago I had this idea of being on the same stage as Les Brown, and here I was … you know, a little bit more than 16 years – 18 years later – standing on the same stage as Les Brown.” It was really a truly amazing experience to say, if you have an idea, who knows how it is going to turn out, but if you have that idea and you continue to pursue it one way or the other, it’s amazing how things work out to make your dreams reality.
Toni: So your sense of purpose you knew way back when. And most people that are listening to the Project … and there seems to be some themes that come out of the Get Inspired! Project that it is really about purpose and passion, and not everybody knows what their purpose is, and …
Michael: Exactly.
Toni: … so that’s why the work that you’re doing … and I know that you don’t mean to inspire, but the stories are inspiring.
Michael: Sure.
Toni: That’s why I’m wondering if, you know, knowing that you wanted to be a speaker and make a difference, you know, how did you get there? How did that finally happen for you, or did you just lay the gauntlet down one day and say “Yeah, today’s the day.”
Michael: Well, you know, I did kind of lay the gauntlet down. I was in corporate life for 10 years, found myself incredibly dissatisfied with my life — not because of the companies I worked for, which were great companies, but because of what I was doing. I wasn’t doing what my purpose and passion was for my life. And I got to the point where I was almost suicidal and said “I’ve got to change what I’m doing. I can’t do this any longer.”
And so I changed my life. I said “I’m going to go into this video production business with a friend of mine. I’m going to change everything, run my own company.” He asked me “Why don’t you just go out and speak?” And I felt like at the time I couldn’t go out and speak, because I didn’t have the stories to share with people. I didn’t have a sense of integrity to go out and say “Go out and live your dreams although I’m just starting to do it now. I don’t have this experience yet.”
And so I went out and interviewed these people and made it possible. But what I found is we all have purpose and passion in our life; we just need to explore what it is. For some of us, we know what it is, and it comes to us very easily. Other people from those I’ve interviewed have told me, you know, it was a process of elimination. They went and did this and they didn’t like that so much, and they did another job, or they changed a career, they changed something else about themselves and what they’re doing. They continued to change until all of a sudden they stumbled upon what it was that they were passionate about, what they wanted to do with their life.
So there’s kind of two different people. There’s the ones that need to continuously change until they find what it is that they’re supposed to do, and others who just know in their heart “This is what I want to do, and this is what I’m supposed to be.”
Toni: And so you had the courage to do that?
Michael: Yeah, I did, and it was kind of crazy, you know? It was crazy when you think about it. I was giving away a … you know, a really good salary at a company to go out and start a business that I had no concept of what I was doing and with no customers at the time, you know. But it felt like the right thing to do, and so I went out and did it.
And I’m thankful, because I had a great family that was very supportive. I had a wife that was very supportive of what I was doing. And I think also, too, she knew that I couldn’t continue to exist in the way that I was for our relationship to last, so, you know, she was very supportive. My family was supportive, and I was blessed to have that.
I know there’s a lot of people out there that don’t necessarily feel they have that support system, but what I implore them to do is then go out and find it. Build friends, build networks, get to know other people, make progress every day no matter what it is towards what it is you want to do. It can be small steps. You can make one phone call. It can be reading a chapter in a book.
I don’t care what it is – make a step every day towards what it is you want to do, and what’s amazing that will happen over time is that you will start to create those things that you want to do, and what you feel you need to do in your life. So I just implore people to take those steps every day.
Toni: Well, thank you for that, and the final question of the Project is what are you doing to explore your own potential?
Michael: You know, that’s a great question, and I think it’s really just doing what it is that I’m passionate about, what I feel a purpose to do. It’s going out now and speaking. It’s … I’m generally … well, it’s kind of funny. I love to speak, but I have this fear of introducing and meeting new people in some ways, and so that’s sometimes a challenge for me. But I’m glad of that because what it’s doing is making me kind of work through that weakness, work through that thing that I need to change. And for me to do what it is that I’m passionate about, I have to get through that, so that’s an exciting opportunity. I try to look at things as an opportunity.
So it’s following those passions, those dreams, those goals. And I’ve learned through this process I love filmmaking, you know, just as we said, I always wanted to be a speaker. I didn’t know I wanted to be a filmmaker. But through making this film, I’ve learned I love making films, and so now I have an opportunity. We’re filming a film in Detroit at the end of May, a dramatic comedy, something I’ve never done before. And what’s exciting is here’s this opportunity, so it’s just exploring those things that I want to do and pursuing them, even when I may not know all the answers. I’m learning them along the way, so …
Toni: So really for you it’s all about the exploration of what’s important to you, and then doing it and pushing through the resistance.
Michael: Oh, definitely. I mean it’s … you have to do that, and it’s the only way we get better to learn, you know, we’re not all … I’d love to be Steven Spielberg and make amazing films right out of the box, but you know, he had to go through a process to become a great director and become a great producer.
Some of the greatest speakers in the world, they had to go through a process. They had to speak to thousands of people before they became on top of their games, so you have to go out there and do it. Whether it’s a small venue or a large venue, wherever it is, wherever people give you an opportunity to do what it is that you’re passionate about, just go out and do it and you’ll learn, and you’ll get better, and people will start to request you as your name starts to get out there.
Toni: Well, thank you so much for being part of our Project and letting our listeners and readers learn a little bit about you and what you’re doing and how your project has inspired others as well. And we will have a link that people can access your movie and see what you’re doing and keep tabs on you. And so, Michael, we cannot thank you enough for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Michael: Well, Toni, I really appreciate the opportunity, and I really … I just implore people to go out there, find something you can do today, live your dream, be extraordinary, love your life.
Toni: Thank you so much. Take care, Michael.
Michael: Thank you.
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For more information about Michael McCleary: www.anythingbutordinary.net, www.beaconmediaonline.com
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