“Living the Outstanding Life”: ‘The Motivational Cowboy’ Motivates by Actions Instead of Words!

            By Donald Robertson

After asking to conduct an interview with the Detroit based, Motivational Keynote Speaker, Author and Master of the Spoken Word known both as John Dmytryszyn and as Johnny D. the last thing I expected coming through the door was for him to hand me a hammer. “I don’t have time in life to sit”, said Johnny D. as we headed down stairs into the basement. I remembered I had other intensions in mind coming through the door, but I was willing to see where this might go as I followed him down. Johnny D. pointed me to some nails in the ceiling, handed me a piece of wood, and asked me to get the nails out of the rafters. Not knowing what the small piece of wood was for, I through it down and began to pull with all my might at the first nail I spotted. Because of the angle in the rafter I could only bend it, but could not budge it. Noticing my struggles Johnny D. came to help, and the first thing he did was to pick up the small piece of scrap wood he originally gave me. “You see this scrap wood can be placed between the rafter and the hammer”, he demonstrated. “You see, it’s called a fulcrum and it helps with leverage, to lift the nail out of its place,” and he smiled as he easily removed the nail. The lesson did not end there for me. “Most people’s lives are like the hammer, and their problems are like the nail. As a Motivational Speaker I am that fulcrum that comes between the problem and the solution. You see the hammer always has the ability to lift the nail but sometimes it just needs a little uplifting and support from the fulcrum. Just like I give people a little uplifting and support in my ‘Living the Outstanding Life’ seminars. I’m not having you pull nails just because I need the help you see. There is a lesson in everything I do,” as he looked me right in the face with his blue eyes. I tried to summarize Johnny D’s theory, “So you are telling me that everyone already poses the tools needed to live the outstanding life.” “You got it,” he finished, “I just give them the advantage of showing them when to bring them out and how to properly use them.” As we finished removing the last of the nails I could not get this theory out of my mind. Did this analogy come natural to Johnny D. or did he set me up. Exhausted from all the work, I was willing to put off my own motives and committed myself to finding out.

Johnny D. was replacing his drop ceiling in the basement to its natural look and with the nails and support boards all gone it was obvious we needed to get paint to cover this old wood. “Why don’t you join me on a trip to the bank and then Home Depot”, Johnny D. suggested as he turned his hat back around and grabbed his keys. His hat read “MotivationalCowboy.com”. “Who’s the Motivational Cowboy,” I asked knowing the answer was staring me strait in the face as it left my lips? “Wait, stupid question. So how did you get that name,” as I quickly regrouped before hopping into his Ford pickup truck.

Johnny D. began his story, “I use to give my seminars and presentations in just a suit and tie. I was merely just another uncomfortable guy in a suit, talking to a group. I needed an edge I thought. I didn’t need an edge however. What I needed was to just be me. I realized that when I meet people around town I am usually just out in my boots and cowboy hat and I grab their attention and it allows me to impact their lives in some way. Now, just being me when I present in my hat, boots and comfortable jacket I am doing what I ask others to do and that is displaying image, attitude, focus and consistency. So it’s not about roping, riding and playing my six string on a cattle drive. I just became me again, just simply a Motivational Cowboy.”

Shortly after his story we arrived just down the block at his bank. Pulling up to the drive-through-teller window a nice voice came over the speaker immediately, “Well, hello Johnny. We haven’t seen you in over a week. How did your trip to Phoenix go?” Grinning, because I think Johnny D. could sense that I was shocked by this personal welcome, “Outstanding! Thank you for taking the time to ask.” The teller asked what she could do for him and he replied, “I could use two-hundred in cash. Thank You”. Without filling out any paper work, or handing her anything the next thing I knew he was counting his money and we were on our way. I told Johnny D. that I didn’t think that sort of stuff happened anymore these days. “Oh, I’ve been coming here for years. I’m sure they do that for everyone,” he modestly responded. I’m pretty sure they only do that for you John, I said to myself. Does everyone Johnny D. meets give him this respect? I was going to find out, I thought, as we turned the corner.

It didn’t take us long to find the paint and get to the checkout counter. “How are you doing today,” asked the nice young girl behind the register. I mumbled fine, but Johnny D. bellowed for all to hear, “Outstanding! Thank you for taking the time to ask.” Well she just lit up with a smile. “So are you two painters,” she asked? Johnny D. quickly replied, “Nope, I am motivational speaker.” “I could tell there was something different about you as soon as you walked up,” she told him. I grabbed the paint while Johnny D. said good bye, and we headed back towards the exit. “Outstanding,” I heard again, but this time it was coming from a small little girls voice. I quickly connected that a mother and her small child were behind us in line. She must have heard Johnny D. say outstanding, and now she was bellowing it out to tell people how she was doing today. Putting the paint buckets in the truck I commented to Johnny D. that it is just amazing to see people’s reaction to just the way he lives his life. People just seem to light up when he says outstanding and I asked him to tell me more. Johnny D. began to enlighten me finally with his words and not his actions, “You see, everyday that you wake up and you don’t see your name in the obituaries, you know it’s going to be a good day. If it is a good day, why not go ahead and make it an Outstanding Day”?

            “Since you’re having such a good time now, you probably won’t mind if we stop at the grocery store then will you,” asked Johnny D.? We were cutting down the second aisle towards the back and I was just following behind Johnny D. wondering what it was he was looking for. I noticed him reaching up to the very top of the shelf and he pulled down a box of stuffing and handed it to a nice elderly gentleman standing with an empty cart. “No problem. Have an outstanding day,” he replied to the man and his eyes went back to scanning the shelf. Not too much time after he turned, “Got it. My dad makes the best smoked salmon and I always like a little bit of this afterwards”. I was still curious and asked him how he happened to come to helping out that man. It was like he knew him. He began, “When you go shopping during the day like this you find a lot of retired people. I find I spend a lot of time helping them get products off the high shelves. I assume everyone does that for old people though.”

            We were through the check out and I was making a strait line for the truck until I realized I couldn’t find Johnny D. I scanned the parking lot and observed him collecting all other random shopping carts in the parking lot, and driving the herd back towards the door. Feeling compelled to join him I grabbed two carts myself, and met him up at the front cart rack. I had to ask him if he was only doing this because I was here and he was showing off. “No,” Johnny D. began, “I do it every time I come to a place like this. You see we all have grandparents who go to stores everyday. Like that old man in there you saw. What would be the point for him to walk all the way into the store to find that there are no carts? He would have to walk through traffic back into the parking lot, between two cars, in someone’s blind spot, to try to get a cart just to do some shopping.” I nodded with agreement and Johnny D. began again, “I like to think that every time I come out of a store, that the next person pulling into the parking lot will be my grandma. I would like to think I was watching out for her, plus I know she would be proud of me knowing I was able to get her a cart.” We got back to the truck and without a cart in the lot we headed back towards the basement.

Johnny D. began to explain what it was that was going on with the people we were interacting with, “In my mind I am outstanding, you are outstanding and we are all outstanding. I approach every single person I encounter as if they were outstanding and were having an outstanding day. It’s up to them to decide if they are, or if they want to start to be right then, but most are going to try to convince me other wise. With the power of my mind I believe that I am convincing people to have outstanding day. If not convincing, I am allowing them a choice at that moment to join me in feeling positive energy and passing it from one human being to another, or to let the negative wall they are putting up end the transaction. If I believe it, then I can achieve it, but if you believe you can’t, you won’t every time.” You are absolutely right I told him as I spotted my car fast approaching on the right. “You’re in luck,” Johnny D. told me. “We are out of time to work on the ceiling, but more importantly I have to get ready because I have a speaking engagement tonight and you are coming with me. Meet me at the IHOP at 6:30pm if you want to hear me speak,” and he dropped me at my car.

            I found it odd that a Motivational Speaker would be talking tonight to a group of people assembled in a restaurant, who I assume all favor the taste of breakfast as dinner. I had a suspicion however that the fact it shared a parking lot with a church might have something to do with the choice of location. Approaching the front door I knew I was at the right place because I saw “The Motivational Cowboy” through the window. I was a little surprised as I got inside because he was sharing a cup of coffee already with an elderly gentleman still in his long overcoat. Johnny D. gave me a smile as I approached, and turned back to his friend, “Well thank you Butch for the cup of coffee and letting me spend a couple minutes with you. Wish me luck tonight.” Johnny D. got up, discreetly slipping the tab into his hand, and we moved into the booth one over. I asked him who his friend was. “Well, I got here a little early do to good traffic and I couldn’t help but notice a troubled and saddened look on that mans face from the window as I approached the door. I questioned the waitress and she told me he had been alone for the last hour, and was just finishing his third cup of coffee black. I asked her to bring over two more, and with the gentleman’s permission I joined him for a cup.” I asked Johnny D. what the two of them talked about, “After introducing myself I simple asked him what the most amazing thing he had ever done in his life was.” Johnny D. paused like he wasn’t going to share the man’s answer so I asked him again to please tell me more. Johnny D. began, “Without his parent’s permission he joined the service and flew a B-17 bomber. He never saw any combat but being up there might have been one of the most amazing things he has ever done.” Johnny D. continued as I leaned in listening to every word, “When I asked him what he took away from that experience, and what advice he could give me, he told me this.” Johnny D. directly quoted the man’s words, “It wasn’t until I was forty-thousand feet above the pacific ocean that I realized how much I loved the woman that later became my wife. As for a piece of advice for you young man I have only this. If there is something that you love doing, then do it now as often as you can. When you are old and grey you may not be able to do it as often, or at all, but the more memories you take with you into old age the more you have to look back on to keep you happy. Sitting here alone in this booth for the hour before you asked to join me all I was doing was looking back missing the time I spent flying around the country in my small Cherokee plane with my late wife. Thank you for taking the time to tell a stranger hello. You really made my day.” Myself, I could only sit there with my mouth dropped, thankful that Johnny D. had shared that with me.

            “That however is not the story of why I asked you to join me here. I am speaking right there in less then an hour,” and Johnny D. pointed at the Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church. “I want to buy you something off this menu before we head over there,” he followed with. I told him I wasn’t really hungry and that I had eaten before making the drive up. “Not a problem. Let’s say that you were hungry then. What would you choose off this menu”, and Johnny D. opened my menu in front of me. I told him that the Belgian Waffle looked real good and that I would have ordered that. “Exactly, you said looks good didn’t you, not sounds good,” Johnny D. remarked. I guess I did, as he continued, “There are about sixty things on this menu and there are only six of those items on here like the waffle that have a picture that compliments the description.” Johnny D. was correct and he continued, “I’ve found that people are more likely to order something off a menu that has a picture instead of just words about 17% of the time.” I knew at this point that Johnny D. was going to be following this observation with a lesson. “Because of this knowledge I incorporate this technique into my Motivational Seminars. Instead of standing in front of people talking with words about sixty things they can order to help their lives, I stand in front of them and paint sixty different pictures in their minds of those things they can do to help them achieve the goal of living an outstanding life. If you have at least sixty pictures in your mind and they all increase your chance of sticking in your mind by 17% then by the time you leave my seminar you come walking out 1020% ahead of where you were walking in.” Thirty minutes later I was finishing my second glass of milk as Johnny D. took the last bite of his Belgian Waffle he ordered based on my suggestion and we headed towards the church.

FOR THE ENDING OF THIS STORY
Send am Email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the subject "REST OF THE STORY"
Then you will receive a link to the finish of the article.
Have an Outstanding Day

Johnny D.