Today is a brand new day. Every day you wake up is like a fresh white canvas ready to be painted upon. How have you painted the pictures of all your yesterdays? And how are you going to paint all your tomorrows? A good indication is how you paint your todays.

I have found that being grateful for the air I breathe allows me to put my life in perspective. It inspires me to get the most out of every day. As far as I know, I have one life to live. I intend to live it. Time and time again, I have seen people who have died long before they’re actually dead and in the grave. They are living miserable lives, but why? Because they hold onto something—some pain, some insecurity, some fear or some hatred—that will not allow them to live their life to the fullest. It’s like they are dead, yet living, a zombie.

I believe there is a reason why they are not living life to their fullest potential. There is even a word for it: pity. Or better yet, living a pitiful life, a life full of excuses. These people think, “Oh I can’t do that, I am not good enough, I am a loser, it will never work for me, etc….” They adopt this way of thinking, and it literally controls them, warping every aspect of their life. They become limited instead of limitless.

Say to yourself right now: “I AM LIMITLESS! NOTHING CAN HOLD ME BACK! I HAVE ENDLESS POTENTIAL AND ENDLESS ENERGY! I CAN DO ANYTHING I PUT MY MIND TO!”

Don’t ever let an excuse steal victory from out of your hands. Attachment to your problems steals far more from your life than you might imagine. Instead of being attached to your problems, why not strive to nurture an attachment to your dreams? A human being only has so much energy, a limited amount. Where we direct our mental and emotional resources directly impacts our lives.  Dwelling on problems and making excuses only brings despair, depression and exhaustion. Dreams bring hope and energy. Having dreams to strive for will literally change your entire life. Excuses do nothing but steal from your greatness. Look around you; the world is full of excuses.

Most of the excuses I hear have to do with FEAR. Did you know that becoming a champion at something starts in the mind, in your own thoughts?  A champion’s mentality starts with an inner belief that he or she can be better than the best, by being faster, smarter and stronger. They are determined. They believe it, speak it, practice it, and live it. In this life, everyone is born with the potential to be a champion. But somewhere along the way, people allow others to break down their dreams. They allow others to destroy their belief in themselves.  These negative people try to replace others God-given gifts, talents and abilities with fear, a sense of defeat, laziness, and feelings of worthlessness. What these negative people don’t understand is that the gifts of the soul can never be taken away. They can be wasted, but the soul is resilient and will bounce back. If you are in tune with your own spirit and soul, you will be able to bounce back, and your inner greatness will always overcome your weakness. Your difficulties were not meant to defeat you.

Everyone has a destiny, but you must be ready to work hard to achieve it. The level and intensity of your destiny is determined by the level and intensity of your own desire. Some work hard to build theirs; others destroy their own destiny through laziness. Your destiny will be a direct reflection of your efforts. I don’t believe your destiny will simply come to you. You have to exercise will, you have to go out and get it. You have the tools within you to have a purpose and persevere until you reach it.

Never Give Up!

Find out more about Derek Clark at www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com and www.FosterCareSuccess.com

Motivational and Inspirational Speaker Derek Clark

Meet Derek Clark, a motivational and inspirational speaker for foster care, child welfare and at-risk youth, as well as companies, colleges and conferences around the world. He delivers a powerful keynote on the power within you. You have what it takes to live a great life. Everything is within you, the courage, determination, faith, forgiveness, love, patience and perseverance. You can succeed and have victory in your life. You have the power to create your destiny and share hope and greatness with this world. It begins with finding the selfless person within, not the selfish one.

Motivational speaker and trainer Derek Clark believes that fear changes our perception and attitude in life. Fear invokes self pity. Derek helps the audience modify their limited perspective and helps them change their focus to see, feel and hear hope. We need to face the fear and destroy the limitations that we put on ourselves. We cannot be afraid of the impossible and possible.

Derek helps the audience bust through the walls of self pity and shares with you an empowering way to live and love life. Derek states, “Negative thoughts fuel a negative life. Self pity steals your joy, enthusiasm and your dreams. Your thoughts will determine your life. What kind of thoughts are you allowing to take root in your mind? You cannot possibly think negative and discouraging thoughts and expect to live a positive and rewarding life. You have a choice. This life is up to you.”

- Find Out How To Live a Life With No Excuses.

- Find a Purpose to Empower Your Life.

- Have The Will To Break Through Your Self Perceived Limits.

- Build Self Esteem and Confidence That You Can Overcome Tough Obstacles.

Reserve Motivational Speaker, Foster Care Speaker and Child Welfare Advocate Derek Clark For Your Next Training or Conference.

To Find Out More, Visit

www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com

www.FosterCareSuccess.com

www.ChildWelfareSpeaker.com

Motivational Foster Care Speaker Derek Clark

If You Will Believe, They Will Believe. A Child Who Has Hope Will Have the Belief That They Can Achieve

When motivational speaker, foster care speaker and child welfare advocate Derek Clark speaks, it is directly from his passionate soul. Derek’s exceptional program is full of information, hope and inspiration. He brings along his guitar to sing the journals of his life in foster care. He believes that music is one of the purest ways to touch and communicate with the hearts of the audience. He speaks on the subject matter, “You cannot think negative thoughts about a child and then expect them to live a positive life.” He teaches you how to commit and build upon your strengths when encouraging children and youth to have hope. He shares with you how to overcome negative thinking and labels towards a specific child or lost and troubled youth. He empowers you to feel, see and know that you can make a difference. Derek is proof that someone believed in him.

Based on Derek’s personal experience of spending 13 years in foster care, he presents startling facts about growing up as a foster child and how he had to overcome to many violent, emotional and mental issues. Derek shares with you how he made it out alive as a troubled at risk teenager and how he triumphed in his personal life. Derek takes you down his personal road of lessons that he has learned of hate, anger, mistrust in adults and foster parents, violent tendencies, rejection, lack of love, child abuse and the memories that haunted his life.  Derek Clark has successfully thrived because of his trials of pain. He has turned his disadvantages in advantages.

Motivational speaker and foster care expert Derek Clark teaches you how he learned to trust, love, have hope and view his life in a positive and productive way. He knows that through foster parents, social workers, teachers, mentors, peer support counselors, youth leaders and youth development staff, they do make a big difference. It is all about connection and alliance. When you change the way you look at a child or teenager, there life will take wings and fly because you believed in them.

Here are a few of Derek Clark’s topics that will motivate, inspire and share a message of hope.

-         You Cannot Think Negative About a Child and Expect a Positive Outcome

-         How To Build Trust When They Won’t Trust

-         How To Inspire Youth To Overcome The Pain of Their Past and To Not Let It Limit Their Future

-         Why a Child or a Troubled Youth Needs You To Believe In Them

-         Create Team Building Through Accepting and Appreciating Each Others Differences and Strengths

-         How To Find The Worth of a Child’s Soul and Help Them Discover The Leader Within

-         The Critical Needs of Children: To Feel Respected, To Feel Important, To Feel Accepted, To Feel Included, To Feel Secure, To Feel Love.

Reserve Motivational Speaker, Foster Care Speaker and Child Welfare Advocate Derek Clark For Your Next Training or Conference.

To Find Out More, Visit

www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com

www.FosterCareSuccess.com

www.ChildWelfareSpeaker.com

Foster Care Expert and Motivational Speaker Derek Clark

Derek Clark, an inspiring motivational speaker and a foster care expert has inspired thousands to never limit their lives and to never give up on their hopes and aspirations.

Derek states: “I had the greatest time delivering keynotes at the International Foster Care Organization’s World Conference and the National Foster Parent Conference! I spoke to lots of awesome child welfare workers and loving foster parents and it made me think of my life as a foster child. Here are some thoughts from my great cranium! LOL

To all the Foster Children, Former Fosters and every child suffering: TAKE A DEEP BREATH!  This suffering is only one small part of your big, adventurous life.  Don’t let it consume your entire existence, and don’t use it as an excuse for your downfalls.  I know you may feel lost because nobody really wants to call you their own, but you have the power to take decisive actions and break the cycle of self-doubt.  One day you will have the power to do right by creating a family of your own. That’s what life is really about! You will make it if you surround yourself with good friends who make good choices and set good examples for you.

Your circumstances are not your fault. We are paying the price for our parents mistakes.  For many years I thought I was to blame for my parents giving me up.  Later in life I realized it wasn’t my fault. I WAS ONLY FIVE YEARS OLD! I was the kid and they were the adults.  Don’t let your emotions poison you.  Don’t be a nothing, be everything you want to be, and keep dreaming. Never let anybody tell you that you can’t do something.  Don’t ever let anyone take your dreams away from you.  Don’t ever be a slave to drugs or alcohol; otherwise you are just another casualty. Use your experiences; they will make you mentally stronger than the average kid. Believe in yourself, bulletproof your soul.

At times loneliness is a virtue, it allows you to discover yourself.  Don’t ever, ever, hold back crying. It cleanses your soul. Don’t forget to laugh. When I was going through rough times, the best medicine was laughter. I’ve always liked being the clown.

Don’t hate, that is the real poison.  Learn to forgive. Secretly, I nurtured a lot of poisonous feelings throughout my life.  These intense feelings were the fire that drove my desire to prove to the world that I wasn’t “a nobody.”  I think sometimes I tortured my own soul and liked it.  If there is one thing I have learned, it is this: What has happened to me is not as important as what has happened to me on the inside….. If I Can Fly, You Can Fly.  Let your spirit fly so that you may one day help another person!  Never Give Up!!! ”

Never Give Up!

Derek Clark

Motivational Speaker, Foster Care Expert,  Author and Singer/Songwriter

www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com

www.FosterCareSuccess.com

www.ChildWelfareSpeaker.com

Follow Derek Clark on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Derek-Clark-of-I-Will-Never-Give-Upcom/141735353526

Watch Derek Clark’s Inspiring Videos on YouTube

www.youtube.com/gnsdc06

Derek Clark knows first hand on coping with adversity and overcoming hardship. His 13 years in the foster system reflect a life of humiliation, aggression, emotional distress and overwhelming anxiety. He has experienced the life of fear, rejection, wrongly labeled and being unloved. Having suffered unthinkable child abuse, abandonment and emotional distress, this has never held Derek back from accomplishing what he set his heart and mind to. Derek is a much sought-after inspiring motivational speaker, author of Never Limit Your Life and the I Will Never Give Up book series, a music recording artist, husband and a dad.

Derek Clark Ambassador for the Foster Care Alumni of America states “I am passionate about helping others find their potential and not letting their past infect their future. I have a ton of love for my brothers and sisters in foster care. I see how strong they are and how much hope they can give the next generation. We are strong, resilient  and can have redemption!”

Find out more out motivational speaker Derek Clark inspires audiences to never give up and to never limit their lives.

Visit his websites

www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com

www.FosterCareSuccess.

www.GoMusicStar.com

www.GoodnightSoldier.com

www.BibleandBeyond.com

www.ChildWelfareSpeaker.com

I came from a failing background, but once I got past the fear of being a failure as a child, the only way I could go was up. I once heard Dr. Wayne Dyer state “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”  How true that is! So what if you have bad habits, lack drive, or have endured a life of tragedy? We need to think of these situations as teachers that aid us in improving our character. Throughout my life, I’ve taken the opportunity to learn lessons from hard knocks. I would not be a motivational speaker right now and I wouldn’t be writing my sixth book if I never learned, or wasn’t able to move along in a forward, positive direction. Even when we have every advantage in this life, we often choose not to advance in a positive direction.

If we look at ourselves as action-takers and winners, we will no longer settle for a life filled with the “Poor Me Syndrome.” When we box ourselves in, allow dreams to fade away, or let the world set limits to what we deserve, we become nothing more than robots with no purpose but to breathe in air and do just enough to get by.  Most people want to make a difference in both their lives and the lives of other people, but lack a plan of action.  Guess what? The plan will not drop onto your lap and say “Here I am!”  You have to make the map yourself. It is going to be a crazy maze, but once you have set your purpose and your goal, your map and compass will show you true north, and nobody will ever hold you back again. Today is your day to start a new life. It is all starts with your attitude. Make the best of it, and life will deliver something great to you.

Find out more about Motivational Speaker and Former Foster Child Derek Clark at www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com and www.FosterCareSuccess.com

As a former foster youth, music was a great way for me to have a voice and to share my message with the world. Music is powerful, healing and can be very therapeutic.  I recently created www.GoMusicStar.com to give back to the music community that helped me become the man I am today. I have a desire to help others share their musical talents and get noticed.

If you know anyone that can sing/rap and they have a video, please tell them to go and Upload it on www.GoMusicStar.com It’s Free! Go Music Star is a great way for anyone to promote their music. It is a great site and breaks the music into categories. Consider Go Music Star the YouTube of music.

I am taking submissions now. Check out the videos already posted. I am impressed with their talent! Also, if you like to watch videos of regular people singing their hearts out, then this is the place for you too!

Never Give Up!

Derek Clark

Motivational Speaker, Author and Singer/Songwriter

www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com

P.S. Please help me get the word out! Everybody knows someone that has a dream of being a Rock Star, Country Star, Pop Star, Gospel Star or a Rap Star. Please take a moment and share my free online music promotion site www.GoMusicStar.com with your friends. There are some awesome, creative, talented and barely noticed music artists out there and maybe… you are one… or you know of one. Thanks for your support!

One thing you have to realize is that there are going to be times when you will have to let go of your friends. Some friends are good for certain seasons of your life, but if the friendship is destructive to yourself and your goals, don’t try to talk someone into staying your friend. There is a reason in your great destiny that someone will walk in your life and then walk out. Friends should not be like eggshells, where you have to walk very carefully around them. Friends don’t control and manipulate, they help you become a better person. So don’t be afraid to let the wrong friends go, so that the right friends will come into your life.

I’ve had bad friends and good friends. My good friends helped out along the way and looked out for me. They encouraged me to make good choices. I was one of those guys who nobody expected to do anything great, but it turned out that I did. Because of my past, a lot of people figured I was destined to do nothing better than rot in a jail cell or become a drug addict.  But I rose up and decided that I wanted to be somebody. I didn’t want to carry on the cycle of my parents. I had a clean slate, so I made a promise to myself that I would do big things. Never would I surrender my dreams or retreat from a challenge. Heck yeah, I made lots of mistakes, and was almost down for the count more than once. But don’t ever count Derek Clark out! Each time, I would rise back up from the knockdown, arising stronger and stronger. I now know that my adversities were making me stronger. I started to have that fire burning within, the fire to Never Give Up!

The first step I took toward living a more rewarding life was speaking the right kind of words. I starting speaking words that inspired great intentions, words that brought out the best in me, words that produced encouraging thoughts. Words have power, especially when there is strong faith behind them. Words without faith are like garbage coming out of your mouth. They don’t amount to anything. Did you know that the words you speak and think with can be prophetic? They can completely change the quality of your life, for good or bad. When you speak negative words, words of pity and defeat, you are going to attract these negative forces into your life. When you speak positive words of faith and victory, you are going to attract that kind of power.

So ask yourself whether if, when you speak, you are speaking words of faith or words of fear. Then step back and observe what comes your way. I believe the more you talk about something, the more you turn that something into a reality.

To reserve Derek Clark for your next conference or event, please visit www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com  and www.FosterFaith.com

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

You have the strength to make it through the ups and down of your life. Your life has purpose. It is my hope that my words will help you overcome limiting and negative thoughts. I want to inspire you to have the courage to take action.  I am going to share with you the four letter word you can say over and over again for inner strength.

Determination can change your life forever. There is a four letter word that is woven into the fabric of my soul, and that word is WILL. To have the WILLPOWER to succeed is not an easy task.  Having a purpose encourages self-determination. It all starts with a belief, an idea that can create a powerful destiny. It will help you develop trust in yourself and give you the confidence needed to overcome.

Through determination, we can turn our bad habits into good habits.  We can conquer our fears and turn a life of tragedy into a life of triumph.  Having determination gives you the strength to conquer all of life’s obstacles. I have always found a way to bust through the walls of self-doubt.

The seed of purpose is planted deep within you. If you water that seed, energy will be created. Energy creates motion, motion creates action, action creates results, results create achievement, achievement creates self-confidence, and self confidence creates the mindset that you can and WILL achieve anything you desire.

We have all been engaged in a war with ourselves at one time or another. Now is the time for rethinking our strategies and winning the war once and for all. You must grow beyond your limiting thoughts, and have the courage and conviction to tell yourself “I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!”

Find out more about Motivational Speaker and Inspirational Author Derek Clark at www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com

I won’t lie and tell you I was the happiest kid. I struggled mentally and physically. There were traumatic experiences throughout my youth and I had to learn to live with them. I was given up by my own Mom at an early age, yet inexplicably she kept my brother and sister. I was so scared and alone, and these feelings persisted on through my teenage years.

This negative energy wasn’t channeled into depression and melancholy. I wasn’t a depressed kid who was weak and picked on. I actually went the opposite way, and was filled with aggression and anger. The fact is, I was a very angry kid with problems trusting, loving, and accepting others.

A fire raged within me.  I could no longer trust adults and constantly defied authority, always eager to challenge the wisdom of my elders. I was not fearful, I was fearless, albeit not always in a healthy way.  Some deep mistrustful instinct was triggered inside me, and knowing I could no longer trust adults, I felt I had to survive on my own and could only trust myself.

I was hurt deeply when my mother abandoned me to the foster care system. If I couldn’t trust my own mother, how could I trust anyone else? It brings tears to my eyes remembering the child I was, unable to trust another living person. I was a five year-old kid who was about to learn the art of mental survival on his own.

It is my hope that through my book “I Will Never Give Up”, I will inspire others to find the strength within, the power necessary to thrive, to keep despair and loneliness at bay, and not allow these destructive habits of mind to take you down a road of perpetual self-torture. It is unfortunate, but it seems we humans like to torture ourselves by blaming ourselves for the circumstances of our life, and those aspects of it that seem beyond our control.  But life is out of control. The only thing we can control is our attitude. That is it!  We can own our thoughts and control our outlook on life.

Find out more about Motivational Speaker Derek Clark at www.IWillNeverGiveUp.com