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spent weeks repeating to myself the question, “What
makes me happy?” Now I had the picture, but I had no
idea how to act on it. But at least I knew what my true
life was, and I knew that I wasn’t living it.
Then one day one of my major advertising clients
asked me to hire a motivational speaker for a big break-
fast meeting they were having for their sales staff. I
didn’t know of anyone in Arizona who was any good—
the only motivational speakers I was familiar with were
the national ones whose tapes I’d listened to so often in
my car, people such as Wayne Dyer, Tom Peters, An-
thony Robbins, Alan Watts, and Nathaniel Branden. But
Alan Watts was dead—and the rest were probably far
too expensive for our little breakfast.
So I called Kirk Nelson, a friend of mine who was
sales manager at KTAR in Phoenix, and asked his ad-
vice. “The only person in Arizona worth hiring is Den-
nis Deaton,” he said. “He speaks all over the country,
and he’s usually booked, but if you can get him, do, be-
cause he’s great.”
I finally reached Deaton in Utah, where he was giv-
ing seminars on time management. He agreed to come
back to Phoenix in time for our breakfast and give a 45-
minute motivational talk.
Kirk Nelson was right. Deaton was impressive. He
held the audience spellbound as he told stories that il-
lustrated his ideas about the power that people have
over their thoughts, and the mastery that they can
achieve over their thinking. When he finished speaking
and came back to the table where we had been sitting, I
shook his hand and thanked him, and I found myself
making a silent vow that someday soon I would be work-
ing with this man.
It wasn’t long after that that he and I were indeed
working together. It was at a company called Quma