Ryan Benoit knows a thing or two about positivity. In fact, he's known for his positive attitude. The 20-something entrepreneur was still a student at Laurentian University when he decided to leverage his happy outlook into a thriving business that spreads his upbeat message.
From a kiosk in the New Sudbury Centre, Benoit's The Positive Inception has grown into its own storefront at 1212 Lasalle Blvd. And Benoit himself has turned into something of a local celebrity. The Act of Kindness Sudbury.com surprised him with two years ago is still one of our most popular. And he's something of a sought-after speaker and personality.
Which is why Rainbow District School Board reached out to Benoit to be a guest speaker at the board's Embrace Diversity: Free To Be Me conference on Nov. 22.
Board superintendent Judy Noble called the conference "one of the most important events" hosted within the RDSB.
Now in its ninth year, the symposium brought together 150 students from across the board to participate in a day of workshops that fostered positive self-image, diversity and affirmation.
The conference is all about “helping students understand that everybody is unique, that everybody has something to the table, and that resilience is getting up every day and having the rest of your life be the best of your life,” Noble said.
Benoit, who never lets being in a wheelchair get him down, has made it his life's mission to make the world a better place by following his own dreams. Born with cerebral palsy, it's been his life goal to never let CP be a disability.
Not only did he bring his beaming smile and positive attitude to the conference, Benoit brought along some wisdom.
Here are Ryan Benoit's 13 Lessons on Positivity
1) Perspective
“Your perspective drives performance. It's all about how you think about things. If you have a good perspective, you can do wonders. As you can see, I have a disability, I was born three months premature and I don't really know any different. I never really let my disability stop me. I think of it as an ability because I would have never met the people that I've met or lived the experiences that I have lived (without it). You've got to work with what you've got."
2) Attitude and Actions
"There's stuff in life that people stress about that they can't control. It's important to focus on the things you can control. Always have a good ambitions. Having good ambitions translates to good habits and then translates to good actions and all those actions and all of those habits turn into good character. Having a good character builds who you are."
3) Setting your own limit
"Don't let someone tell you that you can't do something. A lot of people told me I couldn't go to university because the work load would be too heavy. I did what I wanted to do. It was really hard, there was a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of studying. I had to sacrifice a lot of things and put in a lot of time and effort, but I had a really good work ethic and I was really passionate about finishing my degree in four years and I did that. I think that's one of my proudest accomplishments thus far."
4) Perceptions
"I live with people's perceptions every single day. Either it's positive, which is great, or it's negative. People come into my store sometimes and they don't really believe it's my store. If I let people's perceptions get to me, I wouldn't be where I am today. You just have to brush it off."
5) Popularity
"It's important to be confident in who you are. Be exactly who you are, and don't change for anyone. I didn't change for anyone and I'm still 'me'. Because of that, the friends I had in high school are still my friends ten years later."
6) Joy
"If you don't have a smile on your face, there's no point in doing what you're doing."
7) Love yourself
"Be comfortable in your own skin, as they say. Be who you are. Everyone is special in their own way and everyone brings something awesome to the table."
8) Be Unique
"Determine to be unique. You've got to work with what you've got, as they say. Life is not what happens to you, it is how you handle it. Everyone is so different and that's what makes the world such a great place."
9) Set Goals
"Working hard and working smart always works. It's important to work hard and to have a good work ethic, that drive, that perseverance. You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you don't have the proper work ethic, the proper drive, you won't really achieve anything."
10) Have a positive impact
"You always have to have positive intentions and positive interests at heart."
11) Build good relationships
"You can't do it alone. You're a product of your own environment. You have to surround yourself with people you want to be like and people that have your best interests in mind. I'm a huge sports fan, so I always say: If you want to be an all-star, you have to surround yourself with all-stars."
12) Be a leader
"Imagine a sports team, they can't win a championship for just one player. That said, you've got to be the most valuable player on your team because ultimately, it's your life. It's important to be a leader. When I think about leadership, I think about being a role model but I also think that being a leader is about how you make people feel, how you make others feel. If you think about the great leaders in sports like Michael Jordan or Sidney Crosby, they're great leaders because they elevate people around them, they make other people feel that they're part of the team."
13) Dream big
"When I first started the brand, it was all my idea. I started with four types of shirts and I sold them at the library at school. I was just introducing new products and I didn't really knew it would become so big. But it was a dream for me to have a store. This may sound cheesy but if you dream it, you can achieve it. I think it's true. When it comes to dreaming big, I think it's important to realize that you're in control of your own life, the commander of your destiny. You won't know if you don't try. Work hard, have fun and make history. Dreams can come true every single day."
Now's that positively true.
