I had to do a motivational talk this morning to a group of trainee chefs in Hermanus.  I found it ironic as I  need loads of motivation every day to get up and get out. I did not think myself a likely candidate to present this talk given my current frame of mind.  BUT… I got up and started making the notes and delivered a speech that got even myself inspired.

Driving to work I heard the news of Stephen Hawking’s passing.  This was the perfect material for my talk on motivation.  Here is a man who was disabled from the age of 21, paralysed and wheelchair bound, who believed that there were “not many” preventing him from leading a normal life.  A man who said “I have been lucky that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.” This is motivation!