Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Follow Jim Paluch to get new release emails from Audible and Amazon.
How does a landscape architect transform into an author, motivational speaker, and successful consultant? The answer is by being creative, down to earth, and willing to work very hard at it.
For the past 35 years, I have partnered with great individuals and companies to create an awareness of how our daily choices determine whether we live our lives as a builder or a destroyer. My creativity begins with a mission to “Energize a Zillion People” knowing this can only happen through other people as they implement and share the things they’ve learned. I believe the best opportunity to learn and grow happens at the outer edges of our comfort zone, and I have used a variety of engaging, fun, and memorable approaches to make sure this always happens. When people are having fun and stretching themselves, they can be reminded of the importance of some basic builder choices like continuing to learn, appreciating people, owning our attitude, setting goals, and never quitting until the goal is reached or the task is completed. Their engagement and confidence to act is where the ENERGIZING begins.
The most helpful speakers, teachers, and coaches I have met have been very approachable and down to earth. That is the path I have tried to follow in my journey of helping people too. I love motivational speaking yet feel I can be even more effective as a motivational listener. We can always motivate more people by speaking with them as opposed to speaking at them, and I have been careful to use questions and engaging scenarios to create the opportunity for audiences and readers to exchange and think through ideas as they discover solutions and gain the confidence to take action and make a difference.
My earliest childhood memories are of my parents and extended family working together with our hands in the dirt, tending gardens and spending time together outside. Those lessons shaped an appreciation for hard work and a commitment to outside activity that inspired me along with clients around the country to create the non-profit organization Come Alive Outside in 2012. Those early lessons also taught the importance of working together and appreciating the contributions of others in accomplishing a task. Whether it was travelling to speaking engagements or hours spent designing workshops or the commitment to write a weekly newsletter enjoyed by thousands each Friday for 20 years, it has never felt like work but merely an extension of the lessons learned and valued as a child.
As an author I like to deliver an inspiring and beneficial message by creatively weaving it into an engaging and entertaining fictional story and producing a “motivational novel.” Each of my first three books, FIVE IMPORTANT THINGS, LEAVING A LEGACY, and GROWING DREAMS, has used this storytelling approach to make a difference for thousands of people around the world. When I receive heart felt comments back that the books are “life-changing,” I know I have accomplished what I set out to do in crafting stories that readers will relate with, learn from and feel are important enough to share with someone else. Energizing A Zillion will take great people caring enough to share these books and ideas with others.
My fourth book, THE DEPRESSED MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, follows this same formula to address the timely and delicate subject of battling depression. The book pulls from my adventures and many years on the road, as well as my personal battle with depression. I have developed four fictional characters through my observations and discussions on depression that I have had with many people through the years battling the same demon. The story delivers insights through a creative, down-to-earth, and hardworking psychologist. Her incredible commitment to go beyond a normal approach to treating depression helps the characters choose to develop different instincts to win the battle. I want the reader to feel they are learning and acquiring wisdom right along with the characters in the book.
Having made the choice to retire and transition from the road to new adventures that include grandparenting, oil painting, and enjoying the great outdoors with my wife, family, and friends, I am energized and excited to continue with the next chapter of my life. I know that even if no one reads The Depressed Motivational Speaker, I have benefitted greatly from writing it. In choosing to share such a private struggle, I have discovered the tools to fight my personal battle, and this fictional story might just make a difference for a lot of other people too. I know it will not only have an impact on the motivational novels yet to be written but my own ability to make the right choices in the future.
Read more
Read less
