I try to share original thoughts, but sometimes the classics are better.

In 1993, Coach Jimmy Valvano gave a speech at the ESPY awards. In it, he describes a life well-lived. There is a sadness to the speech. He gives it knowing that his cancer will soon take him.

But the speech also inspires. It is worth the 11 minutes to watch it, but I will share my highlights.

He gives a great story about his first locker-room speech and his comical bungling of it. A great lesson in humility.

Around the 7-minute point, he realizes that the director of the awards show is trying to get him to wrap up. His response is classic.

He ends by saying that “cancer cannot touch my mind, cannot touch my heart and cannot touch my soul”. I love his insistence that he has control over what matters.

My favorite moment comes early (around 2:25) when he describes an ideal day. There are three things that we should do every day:

1. Laugh
2. Think 
3. Cry

“That’s a full day!”

For us in 2020, our days are odd and disjointed. But oddly enough, I find that I am having more “full days” – some thought, some tears, and some laughter.

This video delivers on all three.

Let’s hear it for Full Days!

Steve Sir