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Sometimes, we need a safe place to learn to risk again and trust ourselves, And
sometimes friends or mentors can help us reframe our self-portrait and
positively influence our path in life. This was the case with my friend Rudy
Lawson, who is internationally known as “Mr. Rudy the Edutainer.”
Although Rudy had a 1.7 grade point average, he was able to go to college
because of his athletic skills and a Martin Luther King, Jr. Minority Program
Scholarship. But when he went to college, he still relied on his old belief
system—the street smarts he had used for so
long for survival.
After spending many years trying to be “Smart enough” to be
Successful, he just couldn’t trust the fact that he was good enough without his
street survival tactics, Rudy likes to share the following story in order to
help people understand how a good person who is caught in a victim mindset can
benefit from a helping hand.
Rudy believes that he owes much to a special college coach who served as his
mentor and guide at the time he reached a turning point in his life. Rudy needed
money, and he devised a plan to hold up a pizza delivery boy with an unloaded
gun. He remembers actually believing that it was a very good plan, since he
didn’t intend to hurt the boy. He was proud that he was able to come up with an
easy and clever way to get some money.
As
a KAV, (Kinetics Auditory Visual) Rudy struggled with cause and effect. He was
very impulsive, and he didn’t think about the possible negative outcomes of his
plan. Fortunately, he talked to his coach about his plan before he actually went
through with it. His coach patiently pointed out the problems with the plan, and
Rudy listened to him. If Rudy hadn’t shared his plan with his coach and listened
to his guidance, his future might have headed in a very different direction.
In
this case, Rudy’s admiration for and trust in his coach helped him refrain from
making the wrong decision. Rudy didn’t change his beliefs about himself
overnight, but because his coach believed in him, he started believing in
himself. He began to work on turning his life around.
Today, Rudy has a teaching degree, which allows him to help millions of youth
with his
“I AM SMART”
Self-Esteem MultiSensory program. His wonderful talent for
singing and writing songs around MultiSensory curricula helps youth believe in
themselves and find success in life. (More information about Rudy Lawson is
included in the Appendix on page 226.)
Mary
Blakely is the CEO and president of Azuray Learning Inc., an Educational
Corporation that creates, produces, and markets Multi-Sensory Learning Tools and
programs. She has over 20 devoted years teaching and creating educational and
personal development achievement programs for youth and adults.
To find out more about the book
Why Not You:
log on to
www.amazon.com
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