How the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Changed My Life

by Wendy Perrotti

Last week, my husband came home from his parents house with a newspaper clipping from 1992.

"Wait until you see this," he said.

There, on the front page of the Money section of the Connecticut Post, was a picture of Paul with comic looking fellow leaning so far into him, they were practically nose to nose.

"If you act enthusiastic, you will BE enthusiastic," I screamed.

The photo was from an SBA symposium we attended where one of the speakers (the guy pictured with Paul) had leapt up on a table and shouted "If you act enthusiastic, you will BE enthusiastic!" about five times in the middle of his talk.

We've been saying it to each other ever since.

Even before I read the caption, I remembered the guy's name. Warren Greshes. At one point in his talk, Greshes got uncharacteristically quiet. "The economy's not stopping you," he said, "the competition is not stopping you, only you can stop you."

The guy was a life-coach before anyone had ever heard of such a thing - lol.

"You hold back your best ideas," he said, "because you're afraid they'll be rejected - or because they've already been rejected, so you tell yourself that your idea is stupid."

"I'll give you 4 words that will prove to you that there is no such thing as a stupid idea..." and he yelled,

"TEENAGE

MUTANT

NINJA

TURTLES!"

at the top of his lungs.

He went on to tell us that the largest toy company, along with several others, had completely rejected the turtle action figures before they went on to be a multi-billion dollar franchise.

You may think that I'm writing this blog to share Warren Greshes' nuggets with you. I'm not. Consider them a bonus.

Paul and I were 25 years old at that symposium. (You don't have to do the math. It was 30 years ago.)

Since then, we've yelled 'If you act enthusiastic, you will BE enthusiastic' at the top of our lungs more times than I can count.

Whenever one of us has been afraid to stick our neck out with an idea, the other only needs to say "TMNT" while holding up four fingers.

Collectively, Paul and I have been to dozens and dozens of conferences and seminars and I'm certain we learned something from all of them, but Warren Greshes made a lasting impact on us that day.

When people hire me as a coach, most of them tell me that they want to know that their life meant something, that they've made an impact, that they've left this place a little better off for having been here.

Greshes was a great speaker, but we've heard plenty of great speakers that we don't remember.

He gave useful, inspirational information, but nothing we hadn't heard before or since.

He was funny, but I'm sure that I've heard funnier yet forgettable talks.

The thing is, that guy let the full Warren cat out of the bag. He played all in with us and held nothing of himself back. We remember him because he was he was so unabashedly himself.

You don't have to shout or jump on tables to have an impact.

You don't have to do anything earth shattering.

You just need to be the all-in, no-holds-barred, you.

And I promise, whether you've noticed it or not, any time you have, you've already made an impact.