A × E × S = P
Attitude. Effort. Skill. The only three things you control 100% of the time, and what happens to the product when one of them quietly goes to zero.
What This Keynote Is About
Come what may, there are only three things in this life you control 100% of the time. Your Attitude. Your Effort. Your Skill.
That’s it. That’s the list.
You don’t control the market. You don’t control the weather, the traffic, the reorg, the supplier who missed the date, the customer who woke up swinging, or the person who got the promotion you wanted. You control three things. And most of us spend most of our energy on the other list.
Multiply those three together and you get your Performance. Not add them. Multiply. In your career, in your finances, in your relationships, in your health… everywhere.
How many of you know that anything times zero is zero? You can have twenty years of skill and a work ethic that shames everybody in the building, and if the attitude has gone to zero, the product is zero. Your people already know it. They’ve been quietly working around it for a while now.
Zig Ziglar said it this way: “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” I’m Ziglar Legacy Certified, and I have carried that sentence around long enough to tell you it holds up in a shop, a showroom, a clinic, and a sanctuary.
What’s the point of me telling you that? Nobody in your building needs another hour of being motivated at. They need somebody to hand them the part that’s actually theirs to own, show them where they’ve been calling a zero a nine, and then get out of the way.
This keynote walks your people through all three. Standards go up. Excuses go away. Action shows up. In business, and in the business of life.
“Twenty years of skill and a work ethic that shames the building will not carry an attitude that’s gone to zero. Anything times zero is zero.”
Paul Chappell · The Success FormulaThe Three Variables
The one nobody wants to be told about, and the one that multiplies everything else. Attitude is not the mood you happened to wake up in. It’s a decision you make before the day has earned it. Paul goes after that difference and gives people a way to catch themselves in the act.
Effort is the most honest number on the board. It does not care about your title, your tenure, or your degree. Paul asks the question most rooms have been avoiding: is this actually your best, or is it just enough to keep from getting talked to?
Ecclesiastes 10:10 says if the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. Attributed to Lincoln: give me six hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe. Most people don’t have an effort problem. They have an edge problem.
The Takeaway
Who It’s Built For
Every keynote is tailored to your audience, your industry, and what your people need to hear. Tell Paul the number you’re trying to move and he will build toward it.
What Clients Say
“Paul is an engaging and dynamic speaker who combines humor, warmth, and truth in a way that resonates deeply. When he spoke at MRCOOL, he inspired and challenged our team while keeping the atmosphere fun and uplifting. His ability to connect and motivate makes him an outstanding keynote choice.”
“Paul is energetic, funny, and incredibly engaging… he has a way of connecting with people while teaching with real clarity. I’ve known him for years, and he genuinely lives out the principles he shares. That kind of authenticity is rare and powerful.”
The Practical Part
Full bio, stage introduction, headshots, and AV specs are on the Meeting Planner Resources page. Budget questions are answered on the speaking fees page, and here is what happens after you book.
Also Available
Lead Big. Love Big. Laugh Big. The signature keynote. A child running across the yard with both arms wide open, and what it looks like to lead from belonging instead of proving.
Explore this keynote →For the person in the room wondering if they still have what it takes. Identity, resilience, and getting back up when the chapter you’re in is not the one you would have written.
Explore this keynote →Need more than a keynote? Paul is Ziglar Legacy Certified and leads half-day and multi-day workshops for teams that want to go deeper than one session allows.
Tell Paul about your event and what you want your people walking out with. He reads every one of these himself and answers personally.
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