Personal Growth with Braden and Carolyn

At Loveworks, we believe that one of the ways that you can become one of the best versions of yourself is to focus on personal growth. We love curating things like books, music, organizations, blogs or resources that have encouraged your personal growth. 

Today, we are going to take a minute and share with you a piece of advice from our middle school years.

Braden encourages middle school students to get involved.  Find your community.  Try lots of things and discover your passion.  

Carolyn advises students to get a planner or use the one provided by your school.  Organize everything!  Jot down the things you need to do and your plans.  Take a moment the evening before to plan out your day, come up with a theme or encouraging word that you may need to carry you through they day.  

Brandon Gosselin: Author, Inventor, Philathro-Capitalist

Brandon Gosselin has shared his story with tens of thousands of people. He brings a perspective of life personal to him, yet universal for anyone to implement into their lives. Having shared the speaking stage with notable speakers – such as NFL Legend Peyton Manning – Brandon is passionate about serving others and helping his audience realize their potential in achieving their ASPIRATIONS! His personal stories include growing up in a 1-bedroom house in a family of 6, interning at the White House, and building a $10 million company from gaining insight from some of the world’s ‘greatest’ minds. Brandon takes you on a journey to equip you with the tools to overcome the obstacles you have faced before, during, and after the pandemic.

Stepping up to the plate

As a child, Brandon aspired to be a chef.  He loved food and was fortunate to have a mom who made sure that all of her children knew how to cook and clean.  Brandon had a natural mindset to always see the positive side of things and he didn’t hold on to anything that would drag him down.  While he may not have had a lot growing up, he had a loving family, and they had fun. He didn’t allow negative circumstances to keep him from fulfilling his dreams.  Between his junior and senior year playing basketball he decided to rise to the challenge and see how far he could go.  He worked hard on a farm every day and spent the evenings in the gym.  By the time his senior year came around he was ready and his teammates saw the difference.  Brandon encourages students to remember you may not be the best right now but if you put in the work and the time you can achieve what you aspire to achieve.

Mr. High School to Mr. Hopeless

Brandon was chosen to be the senior council president, the choir and band president and even became an academic all-state basketball player.  He couldn’t imagine a better senior year.  He studied hard and received a full ride to college.  To celebrate, Brandon went camping with friends when he had a terrible ATV accident.  He suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with the mental capacity of a third-grader and hardly having the ability to walk.  His doctors told him he would never be the same.  No one had high expectations for the future but Brandon wasn’t going to allow his circumstances to prevent him from realizing his aspirations. 

Brandon believes society has trained us to think if something is hard means we are unable to overcome or beat the odds. Saying something is hard puts you at a disadvantage.  Choose a different word, like challenge.  Life is not hard, it is challenging.  You absolutely have everything you need to get where you want to be and face the challenges that will come your way.

“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it-you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” – Steve Jobs

Moving Forward

Brandon worked hard to get better. Not just better than he was after the accident, but better than he was before. He went to college the next year, his mental capacity improving far beyond what doctors had led him to believe. His mantra as he struggled to heal and simultaneously succeed in his classes became “Study. Physical therapy. Pray. Repeat.” In 2017, he graduated college (on time) summa cum laude and a college athlete; interned at the White House; currently partnered with former partners of Steve Jobs and a former chair of a $10 billion company; and does what he loves every day.

“People often tell me I could be a great man. I’d rather be a good man.” ― John F. Kennedy Jr.

Brandon’s Advice – Servant Mindset

Help anyone you can whenever you can.  Make it your focus and allow it to lead you to your aspirations.  Serving others allows you to build the skill sets you need to succeed.  

“You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

You can find Brandon online on his website www.brandongosselin.com ,  Facebook and Instagram

Check out his book, My Path To The Presidency: An Action Plan to Realizing Your Aspirations.  Brandon Gosselin has shared his story with tens of thousands of people. He brings a perspective of life personal to him yet universal for anyone to implement into their lives. By the end of the book, you will have developed a Path and Action Plan to UNDERSTANDING who you are, the process of DESIGNING, BUILDING and MOLDING your Aspirations with the ebbs and flows of life – resulting in a Path to ACHIEVING your Aspirations.

Key Takeaways

• Believe in yourself first
• Make the best out of every circumstance
• Remember you have people who believe in you, when you lack motivation do it for them