By all measures, O’Neill’s
speaking business today is a
smashing success.
But the success didn’t come
easily, and wouldn’t have been
possible unless O’Neill overcame
two major challenges. First,
in the wake of that awkward
post-speech conversation—
“Who cares?”— O’Neill
needed to communicate her
unique challenges in a way that
was universally relevant and
helpful to others. Second, and
more important, after battling
feelings of self-doubt and
unworthiness for years, she had
to finally confront—and accept—
who she is.
The discovery of her own
“inner bigness” was the pivotal
moment in her personal and
professional life. When she speaks
to her audiences today, she tells
them the same kind of personal
enlightenment is possible for
them, too.
After all, she’s living proof
that even the smallest of us can
“walk tall.”
“The thesis of my keynote is
that size matters—but that the
size of what’s inside matters
most,” says O’Neill, who lives in
Woodland Hills, Calif. “My whole
emphasis is on helping people
realize their innate greatness, and
that inner size is a choice. There
are many things in life we can’t
control, like the stock market,
who’s in our family, the weather,
or our height. But one paramount
factor in life that we can control
is our inner size. We get to choose
to embody ‘inner smallness’ or
‘inner bigness.’”
Diamond in the Rough
Of course, making that choice is
easier said than done. If anyone
knows that, it’s O’Neill.
Her story of overcoming
challenges holds valuable life
lessons for everyone, including
emerging speakers who are
struggling to achieve success.
“Believe me, it’s been a
phenomenal amount of inner
work for me to overcome
everything,” O’Neill admits. “I
had to deal with a lot from my
own critical voice. I had to turn a
lot of challenges into gifts.”
For most of her life, O’Neill
struggled with her short stature and
the way she was treated because
of it. She faced prejudice and
ignorance, and even downright
nastiness. All of that negativity
eventually took a heavy toll.
The curtain lifted when O’Neill
experienced a turning point after
doing some cathartic work. As
she lay back on her pillows and
closed her eyes, she saw a brilliant
diamond. In this transformative
moment, she realized that she
is a precious gem that had been
hidden by anger, frustration and
disappointment.
“This understanding of my
true self was more real that my
everyday identity,” O’Neill says.
“I decided that from that moment
on, no matter what challenges
were thrown in front of me,
my job in life is to live as a
diamond in a place of real value.
That meditation has been the
focus of my work for the past
several years.”
O’Neill says her success
would never have been possible
without discovering her
“diamond” self, the name she’s
given to the beautiful, confident,
empowered self that was always
inside her, locked away by doubt
and fear.
When she speaks to her
audiences today, she assures
them that there is a “diamond”
inside them as well. They just
need to discover it and live from
that place of inner magnificence.
That’s her request of audience
members, her call to action.
