Much has been spoken and written about success and motivation in the last couple of months. It's time to gauge what it means to be motivating, inspiring, and transforming.

[caption id="attachment_4099" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Motivational speaker Lloyd Luna with Mariner&#39;s Polytechnic in Naga City"]<a href="http://www.lloydluna.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DSC_0288.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-4099" title="Motivational speaker Lloyd Luna with Mariner's Polytechnic in Naga City" src="http://www.lloydluna.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/DSC_0288-300x200.jpg" alt="Inspirational speaker and author Lloyd Luna" width="300" height="200" /></a>[/caption]

Seminars on motivation, inspiration, and success from marketing to selling to after-selling activities have been on its high primarily because the market became too competitive and too unpredictable for both major and minor players. Obviously, companies look for people who can fire up their people. They hire speakers or trainers who can inspire their workforce or salesforce to perform to the best of their ability.

The responsibility of standing in front is like that of a pilot in the cockpit. The life of every one in the audience and the life of every passenger depends on how the speaker or the pilot would perform.

Either the plane will land safely or it crashes.

Not all inspirational speaker makes a safe landing. Sometimes, he or she crashes. And then there's disaster.

Our individual stories comprise our lives as individuals. A father going home early to make sure he has time for his kids tells a story of commitment to family. A public school teacher that braves flood to make it to school for her students despite an incredibly low salary tells story. A soldier trekking the mountains to ensure the stability of our government and the safety of our people tells a story.

A cab driver who returns what his passenger may have left in the cab tells a story. A farmer who spends most of his life in the fields just for us to have something to eat tells a story. A doctor or a nurse who patiently takes care of a patient tells a story.

These are nothing short of motivational and inspiring accounts of ordinary people doing a simple yet powerful contribution to the society.

Standing in front of an audience of 10 or 50 or 1,000 tells us something. That sometime in the past, we made something that can touch the lives of those who listen to us. It means we have passionately created our stories so we can present it to those who might need it.

My story isn't something I've read from a book. It's something that I've experienced with real people. It's something that made me as a person. It's something that happened somewhere with the people I've met along the way.

We all have these stories. We all have these learnings. We all have these experiences, good and bad.

And so my business doesn't succeed because I speak in front. It succeeds because it adds value to other people. It succeeds not because of the network or the organization that I belong to but because they are authentic stories of a person who has been trying to make a difference anywhere he goes. It is that legitimate ambition to help people that makes my business last for years.

The challenge, therefore, is for you to find that story that can inspire your friends, your family, or your associates. Don't just depend on professional speakers. You have your own that may probably be more uplifting than those who claim that theirs is motivational and inspiring. You may have a person in your team that can energize you in achieving your collective goals.

I'm saying this because I want you to believe in your own individual capacity to empower your self in challenging times. I'd like you to believe in the power of your story to change the life of your classmate, or officemate, or business associates. I'd like you to inspire the person next to you.

The single story can change your world, too. The world is waiting for your piece. Take that one instance when you got that opportunity because you believed in your self. Share it.

One life is going to change not because you attended a seminar or convention or conference featuring an inspirational speaker who you only know because of press releases and self-promotion but because you tell a true story about your own empowerment.

That is motivational, inspirational, and truly transformational.