Lucky graduates! The Duke University Class of 2009 landed Oprah Winfrey as their commencement speaker. Here are some highlights from the speech:

If you can find a way to give back … you will be a huge success because for sure, one of the things I’ve learned is that the best way to enhance your own life is to contribute to somebody else’s.

My greatest lessons have come from my work…I look at life everyday as an experience ‘How can I grow from this?’ …25 years later I’m still learning.

At some point something in life is going to eat you inside…but graduates, I want you to know if you can summon the courage…and remember what good are you to anyone if you’re miserable, I know for sure you’ll be a huge success. Remember…you are responsible for your happiness…you are responsible to the energy you bring to everything.

If you can see the possibility of change in your life, of seeing what you can become and not just what you are, you will be a huge success.

You never know what kindness you offer today to someone how that might live with them forever. If you can be generous enough to say kind, affirming words to those who may long to hear them, you will be a huge success.

It’s great to have a nice home. It’s great to have nice homes! It’s great to have a nice home that just escaped the fire in Santa Barbara.

It’s great to have a private jet. Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn’t great is lying to you.

You really haven’t completed the circle of success unless you have helped someone else move to higher ground…I spend my life thinking of how I can help someone else move to higher ground.

Each of us has to stand in our own shoes. The real question is: How will you stand in your own shoes? Every experience will give you the chance to make that choice.

Trust your gut to help you stand proudly in your own shoes as you help others stand in theirs and I know you will be a huge success.

We love Oprah, a true Entrepreneur Goddess! Watch Dr. Oprah give her speech at Oprah.com, it’s well worth your time.

I found this cartoon in the New Yorker a few weeks back and felt inclined to share it with the world.

What does this cartoon have to do with business and entrepreneurship? Everything.

So often, we stop short of living the life we’re capable of living (sounds cliché, I know)… We don’t believe in ourselves, think we’re incapable, or forget how powerful we are as humans and more specifically, as individuals. This especially rings true in times of crisis when everyone becomes panic stricken.

When there’s a will, there’s a way…You or your significant other may have just lost a job, but it doesn’t mean it’s the end of your career. On the contrary, your career is just beginning and it’s the perfect opportunity to do what YOU want to do this time around. Whether you’re looking at finding a new job, career, or starting a business you’ll soon realize that you’ll have to work harder than ever, but seize the opportunity and make sweet lemonade with bitter lemons.

Reach into your toolbox and tap into your inner wisdom… Sometimes the answer really is in front of your eyes or filed away in your mind. The guy in the cartoon is on an island waiting to be saved from adversity, while all this time, the power was within him. So many of us are finding ourselves in this situation these days and don’t realize that the power to succeed is ours.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to realize this… you might be missing huge opportunities.

Setting Goals

You can’t help it. The end of December signifies not only the end of a calendar year, but the opportunity for a new beginning. It’s a time for both reflection and projection. You ask yourself: What did I accomplish this year and what do I want to work on or change for next year?

Think of goal setting as an extension of your business plan. You wouldn’t drive from California to New York without a road map, would you? You might eventually get there, but why waste valuable time, money, and energy blindly navigating. Make a plan, it’s your roadmap to success.

Goal setting is important for setting the tone and path to life and business. Think of it as future vision. Stating your goal and/or vision will keep you on track and keep the distractions at bay as you navigate through the jungle of life.

Carve out time and space to set your goals. Today, tonight, tomorrow, or this week. Do it all at once or in several short sessions. Some need a quiet place with ambient music whereas others are perfectly content goal setting in the middle of a wild party with Dance Dance Revolution and Beyonce blasting in the background. Whatever floats your boat, just do it and don’t wait.

Before looking to the future, it’s important to reflect on the past. Goals met should be celebrated in a big way while failures need to be examined. If you don’t assess what you’ve accomplished and what you’ve put on the back burner this past year, you’ll waste your energy in the upcoming year when old patterns repeat.

If you have goals or visions from this time last year, pull them out and examine what you wrote. If you didn’t write anything down, start brainstorming and thinking about what you did or didn’t do over the past year.

Write, write, write. We’re so glad the Egyptians wrote on pyramid walls because we have a record of what their lives were like and how they lived. Same goes for you. Write down your goals/vision so you have something to look back on, celebrate, or change. You don’t know for sure unless you have a record.

Look to the future and dream, but keep it realistic (I know, The Secret followers will have my neck at this one). I say this because I care and don’t want you to be disappointed. Think big, but more importantly think in manageable baby steps.

Put your mind to it and believe in yourself. It’s one thing to write it down and say that’s what you want or should do. It’s a completely different thing altogether to actually believe in your power to accomplish your goals (which is another reason why you should keep them realistic).

Take action. Each day is another moment of living your vision or stepping toward your goals. Without action, nothing happens. That’s the real secret and it works for me.