- I was actually pronounced dead at the scene.
It was my fault, it was my fault.
I feel asleep at the wheel,
I veered over to the other side of the road
and had a 206 kilometer head-on collision
with a semi-trailer truck.
My arm was amputated there at that the scene
and also completely ripped my leg.
Six broken ribs, lacerated and punctured kidney,
both of my lungs had collapsed at the same time.
Obviously they resuscitated me,
then I was put on life support for an entire week
in hospital for five months
and then in a wheelchair for an entire year.
Doctors told me initially they said,
Sam, you'll never be able to walk ever again.
You'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life.
This was just a few years ago.
Now before my accident, I was very motivated,
very passionate and I was doing a lot of things.
Being classically trained as a singer,
been playing the guitar ever since I was seven years old.
Had a great job with the federal government
as a youth futurist.
But in a way I lacked why, destiny, purpose.
I was asleep in my own life.
Three areas that really really helped me
in a way these are three ways how I leveraged myself
coming out of an adversity,
coming out of a massive death experience.
So the first one of these is this.
I need to learn how to leverage crisis.
You know there's a massively corporate buzz word out there
which is actually called adversarial growth.
Which means through our most toughest of adversities
can ignite some of the greatest
of growth periods in our life.
When it's a crisis, there's something in our biology
that leaves so much pain toward this
says we must get ourselves out of it.
Crisis equals opportunity.
Ever since my accident,
since then we've actually now started an amazing charity
where we're working with the true poorest of the poor
which are the kids that live
with a disability in developing world.
We're doing some phenomenal things.
And that's actually obviously how I have bounced forward.
And how I'm now awake at the wheel.
Because I've learned to leverage in adversity
a problem or an issue I've actually turned that
into a crisis and then leveraged from it.
The second area of leverage, leverage your proximity.
That you are the average of your five closest friends.
Study also shows that is exactly the same
with our weight, with our bank account balance,
with our energy levels, with our happiness results.
That we are the average of our five closest friends.
You know it's quite interesting, back in high school,
I was hanging out with these real negative
you know toxic proximity.
And they influenced me to do things
that I knew I should not have been doing.
But they influenced me in a very toxic way
and I found myself getting kicked out of school.
So what did I have to do?
I dissociate myself from a lot of my mates
and a lot of my friends to start now hanging out
with people that inspire me in a positive way
rather than a negative way.
And the third area that has really really helped me,
is leverage happiness.
Depression rates today are 10 times greater
than what they were in the 1930's Great Depression.
The main onset age of depression 35 years ago
was 29 years old.
Today it is 14 years old.
Optimistic workers outperform
their pessimistic colleagues by 56%.
Happy children show three times more creativity
than their unhappy counterparts.
There must be a way how we can bring happiness
and positivity back into our proximity purposefully.
I choose to focus on the good things in life.
I get disability parking spots,
how cool is that?
(laughing)
The doctors also said to me initially they said,
Sam, you will never be able to play the guitar
ever again, you've lost your most dominant arm.
You know when someone says that to you,
you know when someone sort of says,
you'll never be able to do it,
there's no chance or you might as well give up,
you won't be able to.
There's something deep down with in that says,
stuff you, I'm gonna prove you wrong.
Come on, who's felt that before?
Who's felt that before?
We've all felt that before.
Every single one of us.
Did you know I'm one of the only people
on the entire planet that plays the guitar with one hand?
How cool is that?
I brought along my guitar with me.
Can I play something for you guys?
(audience cheering)
♪ I am awesome ♪
♪ Every day of my life ♪
♪ I am awesome ♪
♪ When I focus on being grateful ♪
♪ And ensure that I am thankful ♪
♪ I am awesome ♪
♪ Oh, I am awesome ♪
Thank you very much guys, thank you very much.
(soft music)