Friday June 3rd 2011 in Denver Colorado Rick Butts is being held down on a bed on the 3rd floor of the Denver Health Care Hospital and the room is filled with nearly every nurse, resident, orderly and employee on the floor.
Rick is drenched in his own blood and so are they.
The surgeon who had performed a cancer removal surgery on Rick earlier that morning, was on top of him trying to stop the artery in his neck from bleeding any more.
How quickly life changes!
Only a few short months ago, Rick had been alive and well on the expert panel at jvAlert Live in Denver and now he was fighting for his life.
Rick had spent a long journey to get to that place. In his own words …
“In the process of raising myself up from a booze and dope head musician I devoured all the self help, success, and motivation literature I could find. I parlayed that knowledge and life experience into a career as a motivational speaker, traveling internationally to give my keynote speech at conventions.”
Rick was blazingly successful as a keynote speaker. If you had a chance to hear him it was magic.
But life turns on a dime and now Rick is fighting for his. Luckily the room full of medical experts managed to get the bleeding stopped, but that is just the start of a long battle and it got Rick to thinking …
“While I was in danger, I made no deals with God. I was ready to go – and the life I had was frankly not bringing me much happiness. On reflection I wondered why I was so apathetic about the outcome and now I believe I know why.I have simply not been doing the kind of work I was capable of, and letting illness and momentum keep me on the sidelines.”
Now Rick is realizing that for him …
The best stuff is still on the drawing board
After that dramatic start to his battle with cancer, Rick got off his BUTT and created some of the best work of his life.
His work included his Wisdom Thesis Workshops and “The Big Butts of Life – Get Off Your Excuses and Do Big Things!”
If you haven’t read his books, you should do it now.
http://www.amazon.com/Rick-Butts/e/B005CS49YS/
Now it’s 2015 and last night Rick Butts died, with a lot left on the drawing board.
Just last week we were planning an East Coast Wisdom Thesis event. He had so much left to share.
After experiencing the lingering march towards the death of my father, I’m thankful that Rick was moving on his adventure to the very end as my father was as he spread his smile until the day he died.
If Rick were with us today, he’d be asking you …
“Is your life still on the drawing board?”
If it is … “Get Off Your Excuses and Do Big Things!”
All the best,
Ken McArthur
KenMcArthur.com
The Impact Factor Movie
The Impact Masterminds
The Impact Action Workshop
I think about Rick all the time. I had no idea he had passed away. He reached out to me many years ago. We spoke for a long time on the phone and he gave me some life changing advice. I am heartbroken that he’s gone. He was a man with a big heart.
Hi Ken,
I worked for Rick when he was starting out as a speaker in Houston. I would help him organize his events there. I think it was around 1995 or so. I had recently reconnected with Rick in 2014 and then shortly thereafter he was diagnosed and then he died. Ugh. I was devastated. I am working on some things to help beginning speakers get out there and was trying to find anything about Rick online as he was in the middle of sharing many of his recent “secrets” with me. That’s how I found your blog post. Thank you. I really enjoyed reading it. I sure miss Rick.