Inspiration: Defeating Incredible Adversity

John O'Leary's knows what its like to overcome tremendous odds.  As a nine-year-old boy, he saw older kids playing with gasoline and fire. He went to his own garage found a can of gas and tried to replicate what he saw the other boys do. However, before the liquid even left the gas can, the fire consumed the fumes and severely burned John.  His brother Jim found him outside. Jim courageously beat back the flames with a rug, then laid him down in the snow and rolled around on top of him until the flames ceased, then returned to the house to call 911.

 

With 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over his body, John was given less than one percent chance of surviving the first night.  Miraculously, he pulled through. After that he was in the hospital for months. He went through dozens of surgeries, years of therapy, and lost all of his fingers due to amputation.

In spite of John’s challenges, he maintains a positive outlook and enjoys a successful life. John is a college graduate, business owner, philanthropist, author, husband and father. He is also an international motivational speaker. His goal is to empower people from around the world to lead fuller, more productive and inspired lives.

ON FIRE: THE 7 CHOICES TO IGNITE A RADICALLY INSPIRED LIFE

 In On Fire, John tells his emotionally gripping story, plus gives several choices that we can all make in our daily decisions. He says these choices have the power to transform our lives and the lives of others. Some of the choices are:

Accountability

 John says accountability is the power that helps you take ownership of your life. He says, “It not only keeps you from accidentally slipping backwards in life, it frees you to intentionally navigate the path forward.” Any worthy achievement will require personal accountability. He challenges people to erase “It’s not my fault” from their vocabulary. Instead people should say, “It’s my life and I’m responsible for it.” His mother and father played a key role in helping him keep ownership of his life. During his recovery, instead of coddling him, as many parents would, they lovingly made sure he worked hard to regain his strength, abilities, and self worth John credits his parents for much of his success today.

Purpose

 Living with purpose means living every day radically inspired. This is not something you can do half-heartedly. You have to go all in. Living each day with purpose is important because it allows us to move past difficult spots in our lives. He says, “Purpose is the light that keeps us going through even the darkest tunnel. It allows us to hold on tight even when it burns, even when it hurts.”

Being a Victor

Being a victor means to deliberately view life, with both the good and the bad, as a gift. John says the victim has a favorite question, and it’s “why me?” When victims ask this question, it always focuses on the negative aspects of a situation. They wonder why situations have gone badly for them. However, victors also have a favorite question. Interestingly, it’s, “Why me?” When victors ask this question, they want to know why they ended up in a particular situation, and what they should learn from it.

MILESTONES IN JOHN’S LIFE
John says there were several turning points in his life that helped him become who he is today. One was how he learned how to write despite having had his fingers amputated. He had met Jack Buck, a sports broadcaster who would visit him in his the hospital. After he was released, Jack sent him an autographed baseball from Ozzie Smith with a note that said, “Kid, if you want a second baseball, you’ll have to write a thank you note to the man who signed the first. Your friend, Jack Buck.” John had been reluctant to try to write again. He was discouraged and didn’t think he could do it. But he wanted the baseball, so with his mom’s help, John wrote the note. Jack sent another autographed ball, and another, and with each ball, John had to write a note. Soon, he had 60 baseballs and was writing all by himself. John says that moment taught him about the importance of empowering and encouraging others to live up to their potential.
 
Another important milestone in John’s life was allowing God to move him into his purpose through personal growth and self-acceptance.  He says growth means to “refuse to become stagnant by purposefully growing and intentionally stretching in every area of life.” Although discomfort is often seen as a sign that something is wrong, John says, sometimes, discomfort means you are going in the right direction. When life gets uncomfortable keep going! His own personal growth story took place when his parents decided to write a book about his journey called, “Overwheliming Odds.” John was (and still is) an introvert, and had never spoken to anyone about his story. However, when his parents wrote the book, it forced him to take ownership of


his story. It helped him achieve self-acceptance, including the scars and difficult parts that the story includes.  It meant not hiding behind a mask, but instead, realizing how he had been formed in a positive way by the difficult circumstances that he had to overcome. John says that time in his life was vital in preparing him for what he does as a motivational speaker today.
JOHN’S FAITH
 John is a devout Christian who grew up in a Christian home. Now, his speaking engagements are usually in the secular world. He speaks to people from various companies IBM, Southwest and other multi-million-dollar organizations all over the world. Although he doesn’t speak on a faith based platform, he knows what he is doing glorifies God. He said, “I view what we do as preaching to folks who will never step into church. That Christ is still alive, and there is hope.”




-CBN