We live in a world where young people are striving to increase their viewership online. They want more \u201cfollowers.\u201d They want more \u201clikes.\u201d They want to be seen as an \u201cinfluencer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I get this answer from young people, I immediately ask, \u201cFamous for doing what?\u201d And, 9 times out of 10, they respond with, \u201cAnything. It doesn\u2019t matter. I just want to be famous<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t like this response. It goes against everything in my being. I share this feeling with the youth I\u2019m talking to. And I tell them why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was a kid, I dreamt of being a professional wrestler. My idols were guys like Hulk Hogan, Jake \u201cThe Snake\u201d Roberts, and Ricky \u201cThe Dragon\u201d Steamboat. These men were my heroes. These were my \u201cinfluencers.\u201d The amazing feats of athleticism and charisma they displayed in the wrestling ring inspired me. It developed a passion for performance in me that I never lost. I just knew in my five-year-old childhood brain \u2013 \u201cI have<\/em> to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I never grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler because I wanted to be rich and famous<\/em>. I grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler simply because I loved it. I was passionate about it. I found something in wrestling that captivated my attention. And spawned my imagination. I found something I truly loved. And I just had<\/em> to do it. Being \u201cfamous\u201d for doing something I loved never crossed my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast forward over thirty years. After years of determination, perseverance, and hardship, I find myself living my dream. I now find myself wrestling on a television show that airs worldwide in 120 countries, in 150 million homes. And, I also find myself getting to share my adventures and lessons I\u2019ve learned along the way with thousands of youth across North America as a professional speaker. A lot of the youth that I speak to are enamoured with the fact that I\u2019m on television because in their eyes, it means that I\u2019m \u201cfamous.\u201d I\u2019ve achieved what they desire\u2026 to just be famous<\/em>. It\u2019s in these moments that I find the need to share with them what really matters in life. And it sure isn\u2019t being \u201cfamous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The truth is\u2026 it does<\/em> matter that we be influencers<\/em>. But, not the kind that just accrues an online following because of the clothes we wear or the shoes we\u2019re sporting. What matters is that we be a positive influence in this world rather than a negative one. And we all have the power to be a positive influence in this world\u2026 if we simply make that choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A number of years ago, I started a grassroots charity fundraising campaign called \u201cGiv\u2019er for Charity.\u201d I began partnering with young fans I was meeting at wrestling shows and raising money for different local children\u2019s charities. I was able to recognize the sphere of influence I operated in. Children looked up to me, and I wanted to use that positive influence and be able to spread it to others. Since I started \u201cGiv\u2019er for Charity\u201d in 2018, together with young people I\u2019ve connected with at my wrestling events, we\u2019ve been able to raise over $18,000 for different children\u2019s charities across the country. I don\u2019t tell this fact to youth to brag. I tell them this fact because I want it to inspire them. I want it to teach them a valuable lesson: You don\u2019t have to be in the \u201cbig time\u201d to make a big difference<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fact is\u2026 I wasn\u2019t wrestling on national television when I started \u201cGiv\u2019er for Charity.\u201d I wasn\u2019t in the \u201cbig time.\u201d I was essentially wrestling in the \u201cminor leagues\u201d of professional wrestling. The shows I wrestled on only had a few hundred people in attendance\u2026 not thousands. And the shows were not televised. It was definitely not the \u201cbig time.\u201d However, I noticed the small \u201csphere of influence\u201d I had at these events and capitalized on it. I used that influence to help change the lives of hundreds of young people by working with amazing organizations like the Rumball Camp of the Deaf, the Lansdowne Children\u2019s Centre, and the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One thing I try to instill in youth who want to \u201cjust be famous\u201d is this\u2026 quantity follows quality. Many young people today are focused on the quantity of their influence. The quantity of their Instagram likes. The quantity of their so-called \u201cinfluence.\u201d I strive to change that perspective for them. My story helps them change their perspective. To focus on the quality<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I started to focus on the quality<\/em> of my human interactions, rather than the quantity<\/em> of my digital ones\u2026 my influence started to grow. The quantity of my influence grew because I focused on the quality of it. I used my influence with young people to try to help other people and be a light in the world. And guess what happened? A few years after I did that\u2026 I signed a contract with a major wrestling company and started wrestling worldwide. And my influence grew exponentially. But that was never the goal. The goal was to simply do what I love. Be a professional wrestler. And help some people along the way. Quantity follows quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When our goal becomes to strive for doing whatever we are passionate about\u2026 and being a positive influence to others along the way\u2026 it changes the world. That sounds like a grandiose claim. But it truly does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know that because I\u2019m doing it right now. I\u2019m doing what I love as a professional wrestler and sharing that story with youth across the country. I\u2019m inspiring young people with my stories of working with disadvantaged youth and being a positive influence to them. And in doing so, I\u2019m seeing perspectives change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I share these stories with youth, the typical statement of \u201cI just want to be famous\u201d changes. I start to hear from the hearts<\/em> of young people. I start to hear that they actually desire to make a difference in the world. They want to help people. They want to inspire people to make the world a better place in some way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a new passion now. I still have a passion to perform as a professional wrestler. The same passion that I had as a young five-year-old boy. But my passion has evolved. I have a passion to share stories with young people that ignites a newfound passion in them. A passion to be a true positive influencer<\/em> in this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m living out this passion every day. And I couldn\u2019t be more grateful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So yes\u2026 it\u2019s true\u2026 everybody today wants to be an \u201cinfluencer.\u201d But I take pride in the fact that I have the ability to change some young people\u2019s perspectives about what this really means. They want to be an influencer. A positive influencer. One that inspires good in those around them. And, in doing so, the cycle of positive influence continues. This is the key to being a TRUE influencer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cody Deaner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n CodyDeaner.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n @CodyDeaner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everybody today wants to be an \u201cinfluencer.\u201d As I travel across Canada, speaking to youth,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3833,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions\/3833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/youthspeakers.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/unnamed-1.jpg\")
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