Dr. Carson - inspiration and motivation.

Dr. Ben Carson is a professor at John Hopkins and a neurosurgeon.

He is known for his amazing work separating conjoined twins Julan and Joseph Gibson in Africa. They were joined at the head. Neither of the boys had any brain damage. This was a major success because it was the first time this type of surgery had been completed successfully.

You may be interested in watching, “Gifted Hands,” a movie about Dr. Ben Caron. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Dr. Caron. It is one of my favorite movies.

Here are some resources that you may enjoy:

I had the privilege to listen to Dr. Carson speak at the Leadership Training Program on May 7, 2010 that was sponsored by Chick-fil-A.

Here is a summary of some of the wisdom that I discovered from Dr. Caron’s inspirational talk:

Dr. Carson asked:

What am I really good at?

He gave a disclaimer that his intention is not to offend anyone during the session. He says it like it is. I found him humorous at times.

He said he liked working with kids a lot more because he had a greater return. The kid could go on maybe 50 years of good health because of a surgery. An elder person may die a few years later from something different. He said he was joking and of course, he cares about people who are elder, too.

Caron says that we need to be civil with people who we disagree with.

Caron said that his mother never developed a victim mentality despite having had a rough life. Caron said that she didn’t put up with his excuses either.

Start to look for reason to do something and have some responsibility in life.

Caron admired students who did well when he was in elementary school.

Dr. Caron’s mother would not allow him to watch television, but to read two books a week from the library and submit a book report to her.

AS a reminder, in my book, Discover Hidden Secret Wisdom, I suggest that the number one way for becoming great and successful in life is by becoming an avid reader.

Dr. Carson said that after a few weeks he started to enjoy books because he could go so many places. ?he began to know things that no one else knew. He went from the bottom of his class to the top.

Guess what He had the same brain when doing poor as he did when he did well. All he did was to change his self-concept.

The brain is very powerful. You can believe Dr. Carson since he is a neurosurgeon. It is amazing what you could really put your mind to doing.

Carson pointed out in the 90s the United States ranked 21 out of 22 countries in math. This isn’t good because we’re in the technology age.

Danny Pettry’s comment: This reminds me of someone else who asked, what is your favorite sports team? How would you feel if they were ranked 21 out of 22? What would you want to take place? Naturally, you’d want your team to improve.

How can The U.S. improve? Every great empire in the past has had their time and they have fallen. The British Empire, The Roman Empire, the Greek Empire have all risen and fallen from greatness.

Can we, the United States be the first nation to take action and prevent ourselves from falling? We don’t want to be the next Brittan, France, Rome, or Egypt. We want to continue to be the best and to be on top. How can we do that when we’re ranking 21 out of 22? Education is important.

Dr. Carson said that the writings of George Washington and our founding fathers showed great faith.

During WWII nations were falling to tyrant powers. All of them fell except the U.S. and we fought wars on two fronts.

Innovation makes the United States unique.

Dr. Carson and his wife have a scholarship program that starts to recognize 4th graders who have humanitarian interest and academic success.

Two tips:

Develop your brain
Care about other people

What will you be doing in 20 years? The year will be 2020. Time flies.

Dr. Carson said that he had chosen to go to John Hopkins to study because it was the best for preparing neurosurgeons.

Danny Pettry’s comment: I had chosen to go to Indiana University to purse my graduate degree in Recreational Therapy because I felt they had the best program for preparing Recreational Therapists. I admired Dr. David Austin who was over the program. Austin had written many of the text books that I had read during undergraduate school at Marshall University (Huntington, West Virginia). Both of my degrees are in recreational therapy.

Dr. Carson said that no knowledge is irrelevant because you’ll never know when it is needed. Carson also said take it from a neurosurgeon; you can’t overload your brain.

Dr. Carson said to think of win-win situations. Make it work for everyone. He talked about working during the summer breaks when he wasn’t at Yale. He worked as a supervisor for a crew that collected trash along the main roads. The workers weren’t motivated to work. Caron had a few tips. He encouraged them to show up earlier when it was still dark outside because it was cooler. He also said that he’d let them leave early if they got the required quota of bags of trash and he still paid them for the full day. He said they increased their productivity and started collecting a lot more trash to get the job completed.

Dr. Carson pointed out that the twins he separated will be graduating 6th-grade in a few weeks. As a reminder, they were the first set of twins joined at the head who were successfully separated.

Dr. Carson pointed out to:

Love our fellow man.
Care about our neighbor.

Develop our talents to our best and help others people.

Have strong principles and values.

Be the one.

It isn’t about me. It is about helping.
Be the bridge builder.

Be the one to make the difference and to serve others.


Want to discover wisdom and secrets on becoming great?

In my book, Discover Hidden Secret Wisdom, I outline a system, a plan that is used to help you to become successful and great in life.

Check it out here: