Desi Williamson has mastered the art of empowering people.  After surviving the mean streets of St. Louis, a successful career in sales and marketing, and a Hall-of-Fame career in professional speaking, Williamson had a serious fall and suffered a broken neck in two places. Along the path from paralysis to recovery, he discovered new perspectives on life. His life's work is dedicated to showing people how they can do more than survive turbulent times - he shows them how to succeed despite their adversities.

In this 5 minute interview with Pat Evans on Minneapolis-St. Paul's news channel Kare-11, Desi describes how to master change in your own life. Learn the 6 empowering questions you should ask yourself and how to conquer the fear that often accompanies change.

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Desi Williamson is a motivational speaker and the author of Where There's a Will, There's a Way - Succeeding in the Face of Turbulent Times.

There's no doubt about it, we are living through some very challenging times. But Desi Williamson says fear not, there are plenty of things you can do to end up on top. The motivational speaker and author of Where There's a Will, There's a Way, was recently interviewed by KARE 11 news in Minneaplois/ St. Paul.  Desi offers ways to better understand your challenging circumstances and transform your situation by relying on your own personal resources within. 

Watch the interview with Desi Williamson: End up on top during the challenging times (click on "Watch Video" on the right of the screen)

Everyone needs a bit of inspiration now and then. It seems with the challenges many of us are facing in today's turbulent times, feeling inspired takes more energy than it ever has. What is the difference between motivation and inspiration? They are often confused, but they are not the same disciplines. Webster defines motivation as the quality of providing incentive or motive, to impel. It defines inspiration as the stimulation of mind and emotion to a high level of feeling or activity. In short, I believe motivation comes from the outside-in and inspiration comes from the inside-out.

Many times the two are confused or used interchangeably. People often wonder what happens when they get excited about something initially and then the feeling subsides after a short period of time. It's initially because they were motivated, but because it came from outside stimulus, the feeling cannot sustain itself against the stiff test of challenges or time. When one is inspired there is a burning desire that resides within them and a commitment to persist until the challenge is overcome and the goal is reached.

Three years ago, I broke my neck in two places and landed in the hospital for three months. After fourteen hours of surgery to repair my broken spine, I was so weak I couldn't move my limbs. Intense physical therapy was needed in order to get me back to an ambulatory state. I can remember thinking I was motivated to walk again before the therapy began. I read books and magazine articles, and the doctors and nurses gave me a two week notice as to when the therapy would began.

In my mind, I was ready to walk again, but my heart was not yet sold. I can remember the first morning when three therapists came to my room to start my rehab. They helped me out of bed and I stood on those wobbly legs and immediately fell back into bed. I told the therapist to go away and leave me alone. The task just seemed too daunting to even attempt. My initial motivation didn't seem to be working. The therapist came back the next day and I didn't even try to get up, I simply told them I wasn't interested.

It took about a week for me to notice the therapists were no longer stopping by my room. When I asked about them, the nurse informed me that if I wasn't going to try and walk, they were moving on the people who were a little more inspired to do so.  For the first time, since my injury, I thought about the difference between motivation and inspiration. I was initially motivated, the thought of walking again caused me to be receptive to the challenges ahead, but when I saw what was really necessary to get my life back, it soon evaporated into despair.

Then something happened to spark the fire that is burning still to this day. I asked if one of the nurses would put me into a wheel chair and roll me around on my floor to get me out of that bed. It just so happened I was on the same floor with the children's ward. As I rolled by many of their rooms, I noticed their smiling faces, and laughter coming from inside. The softness in some of their voices and the sparkle in their eyes, even in the throes of death, was a sobering reminder to me of the contrast between my self-pity and their resilience. Many of these kids were terminally ill and would never be leaving the hospital.

When I returned to my room that morning, I made a commitment to myself I would have to take my initial motivation to a whole new level. Those kids inspired me and many never said more than good morning. It was the way they approached their situation, with a child's heart. From that moment I knew, not from a philosophical perspective, but literally that there is a distinct difference between motivation and inspiration. I would have to be inspired in order to overcome my own fears, the difficult days of working while seeing little or no progress, and continuing to push through until I could walk again.

We are now living in some very difficult times, and many people have broken dreams, spirits, and are fearful about the future. Just know that no matter what happens, your ability to overcome is greater than the obstacle in your path.  This is what I realized that morning and just as I took my cues from those kids, everyone I encountered was taking their cues from me. We can become motivated from the thought of something, but the staying power beyond initial enthusiasm is where the rubber meets the road.

For the last couple of years, I've been working with the Minnesota Vikings. Each week, my task is to create a theme and use various tools to keep the players inspired. At the start of each season, every team has a goal to make it to the Super Bowl. The start of the season brings excitement and promise to each team, but by the time mid-season comes many teams are already out of the picture and by seasons end, only two of the thirty two teams will play in the big game.

Coaches know it's a six month marathon from the draft through seasons end.  The team that can keep the fire burning through injuries and all of the trials and tribulations of a grueling sixteen game schedule will emerge victorious. Only two teams sustain it for the duration and only one emerges as champion. Even the outlandish amount of money that many of the players earn is often not enough incentive because, although it is a motivating factor, it's still outside stimulus.  The heart of a champion is grounded in something much deeper called inspiration.

As we step through the challenges of today, let us be reminded of the dreams we all had as children, and the childlike enthusiasm that went with each day. Whenever I feel like my light is dimming, I think about the elders in my family and the hardship they went through to make a life and how they never let the challenges of life destroy their winning spirit. If you think back to the people who built this great country, every group had their obstacles and came from all backgrounds. Many of them gave their lives, so that you and I would have a better life.

Future generations are now taking their cues from us.  It is up to us to leave them a legacy of hope and dreams of a better life. We also owe it to the people who came before us. Think about someone in your life who made sacrifices, so that you could have a better life. Many times, it's just the way we approach our day. It's smiling and saying good morning to someone, it's letting someone in front us in a traffic jam, a kind word in a world where people are moving too fast to even notice. It's being grateful for all that we do have, in spite of anything we may have lost.

Inspiring greatness in ourselves and others start with an attitude of gratitude. It's how we define challenges, not the challenges themselves, that are the greatest measure of one's character. It is my hope that we can bring back some of the outlandish dreams of childhood. Let's approach each day with an attitude of using whatever happens as a learning tool to help us be the best we can become. Let's work together to gain new insights and pursue our dreams with a new level a passion.

Remember that motivation and inspiration are both important, but different. May you be so motivated that you never stop dreaming and so inspired so that the fire inside you never stops burning. Remember that no matter what, WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY!

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Desi Williamson is an inspirational speaker and the author of Where There's a Way: Succeeding in the Face of Turbulent Times.

What do you do when your best isn't good enough? When achieving excellence seems like an unachievable pipe dream? You must seek to develop a force from within that transcends any challenge in your path. That immovable force is WILLPOWER. Whether it's the game of business or life, you must be willing to do things you've never done, in order to go places you've never been. You must know that Where There's a Will, There's a Way!

After being involved with athletics for more than 30 years, I believed I'd been challenged with every obstacle a person could face. Born and raised in the ghetto, I reached the pinnacle of college athletics by earning football scholarships to more than 30 colleges, choosing the University of Minnesota, and leading the U of M to its first bowl game in 16 years. After football, I was privileged to have an outstanding career in corporate America for more than 20 years as an executive in sales/marketing with four Fortune 500 companies and a Hall of Fame career in professional speaking and training. I thought I had the formula for success and I was on a roll!  

Then the unthinkable happened...

I had a devastating accident that changed my life forever. It happens to every great athlete, performer, business person, or artist. I lost my focus! I tumbled off of a ladder, broke the C6 and C7 vertebrae in my neck, and found myself paralyzed, unable to move. 

When your mind works and your body doesn't, it's like being buried alive! I needed fourteen hours of surgery to give me a 50/50 chance of ever walking again. Before being wheeled into surgery, my neurosurgeon, Dr. Stephen Haines, asked me if I wanted to tell him anything. I said, "Doc, it's the 4th quarter, 4th down, we're on the one inch line, and there's one second left in the game... now don't screw it up!"

If I thought the surgery was going to be the worst of it, boy was I in for a big surprise. I woke up in the ICU with a metal and fiberglass apparatus bolted into my skull, extending down to my waist. I was never in so much pain in my life. Lying there each day, in searing pain, trying to negotiate my future with a body that wouldn't move was a sobering experience. I never thought I could ever be depressed, but there I was in a state of deep, dark, despair. They tried every kind of anti depressant on the market to no avail. They only made me feel worse. I thought to myself, "Great, a motivational speaker who is depressed!"

One day, Dr. Haines came into my room while full of visitors and asked everyone to leave and challenged me. He told me many of his patients could walk, could use their arms and legs, but will never walk or raise their arms again because they don't believe in their heart they will ever get better. They won't go through the painful, slow, and mundane process of rehabilitation for fear that it won't work. They succumb to the injury and lye in bed or sit in a wheel chair for the rest of their lives, never knowing how much better they could get.

"What are you going to do?!" he shouted. "Who is Desi Williamson? Now you've got to reach deep down inside and find yourself. You've got to do all of those things you've been telling other people to do."I was scared to death! I knew for things to get better, I had to get better.

For things to change, I had to change. And so began my painful journey of self transformation.

After three months in the hospital, four months in a metal and fiberglass halo, and eighteen months of intense rehab, I not only believe - I know - that Where There's a Will, There's a Way!  As I began to relearn old things, like how to walk, feed myself and use my motor skills, I also intimately learned about the concept of PROCESS. Webster defines PROCESS as "gradual changes that lead toward a particular result." I am now a living walking example that it's the ability to go through the PROCESS that determines your outcomes in life. When failure strikes, it's usually because people want the end result, without going through the PROCESS of transformation.

Whether it's building a successful business or life, there are irrevocable principles that determine our success or failure. WILLPOWER is the fuel that drives the engine. I've created my own personal definition of WILLPOWER. It's the mental powers by which one chooses and decides upon a definite course of action, fueled by deliberate intention, in spite of opposition. Dedication, desire, discipline, purpose, power, and persistence are the forces that drive deliberate intention.

I'm now dedicating my life to showing people how to dig deep inside of themselves and find that WILLPOWER necessary to increase the quality of their lives in all areas. Whether it's the life of business or the business of life, I'm committed to helping people get, keep it, and use it. Then they will know, too.  Where There's a Will, There's a Way!

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Read the first chapter of Desi Williamson's new book, Where There's a Will, There's a Way!

No doubt, we're living in some very challenging times. Real estate prices are tumbling, gas prices are through the roof, and consumer confidence is dwindling...but fear not!  We've been down this road before!  Whether it's overcoming the perils of the great depression, surviving the turbulent 60's, the gas shortage of the late 70's, or the decade of greed in the 80's, we will emerge stronger, and hopefully wiser than before.    

In the 1930's, during the height of the great depression, Mary Parker Follett rose from the ashes to be one of the first female millionaires in American history. She was a pioneer management guru who taught things such as cross-functional teams, servant leadership, customer-first strategies, and a multitude of ideas that came into business lore which, at the time, were thought to be new and revolutionary.  Mary Parker Follett practiced what we consider to be basic fundamentals today.

I believe that in order for us to become centered during these challenging times, we must get back to the basics. The 80's taught us that greed was good...well, it was not. The same philosophy followed into the new millennium with an unprecedented real estate boom - housing prices soared, the stock market roared, and we all became intoxicated by our good fortune.

During my 25-year career in corporate America, I was part of three reorganizations with three different companies: PepsiCo, Rain Bird Sprinkler Manufacturing and Cadbury-Schweppes. In order for the companies to emerge stronger, it was necessary to strip themselves down to the bare bones and rebuild from the inside out.  We first had to take stock and admit we had some serious problems. We identified those problems. We then reorganized the business in a way that cut unnecessary expenses and activities which did not lend themselves to profitability or growth, and installed new disciplines to help us capitalize on the opportunities that did exist given our new environment. 

When I started investing in real estate in 1983, if you were able to secure an 11% interest rate, you were living in high cotton. I could still remember how excited I was when I bought my first duplex and got a 10% interest rate. I was ecstatic! If anyone would have told me 34 years later I would get a 5% rate on my most recent investment, I would have called them crazy. The real estate market has not yet shaken out. Prices were so inflated for so many years that experts say it may take another 3 to 5 years before things truly bottom out and the "Real Value" has emerged. In the meantime, this is a good time to regroup. There are still great bargains for those with patience and a tolerance for risk.

The point of the matter is to understand that where there are problems, there is also opportunity!  And sometimes the best strategy is to simply reorganize, just like the big companies: re-think, re-strategize, re-tool, and then advance. For the first time in years for many of us, it's READY, AIM, FIRE!, instead of READY, FIRE, AIM!

Let's get back to the basics of saving by paying ourselves first, paying off debt, eliminating the need for immediate gratification, and in some cases that will require some sacrifice.  We must understand though, that our most basic needs of today would be considered great luxuries by our ancestors.

When the stock market crashed in the 1930's, researchers say it took 43 years to get back to even in relative terms. I would like to think we're in much better shape now than we were then. We have entire industries in technology, communication and information that didn't even exist at the time. We obviously have challenges to go along with that, but history has shown it's not wise to bet against the resiliency of the American people.