About Darrin
W E L C O M E T O D A R R I N C H A T T E R
I am here to fulfill a purpose, and that purpose is to help as many people as possible. I am sharing my stories and experiences to help you better understand yourself and what you are capable of. One of my favorite quotes sums it up…
“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.”
— Nelson Mandela
Helping others pursue their own Self Optimization has become my personal crusade.
I believe the privilege of the adversities I have faced in my life have handed me opportunities to grow in ways I never dreamed. From a neck injury in high school which derailed my college scholarship aspirations to surviving a head-on collision with a wrong way drunk driver, adversity is nothing new to me. As the saying goes, “Life is 10% what happens and 90% how you deal with it” and I am living proof of this to be true.
I have also had some amazing experiences in my life as well, including pursuing my dream of being a Professional Racquetball Player, reaching a career-high ranking of number 18 in the world. After this chapter closed, I became the Head Coach of the ASU Racquetball team, spending 15 years in this role. In my time at ASU I helped produce over three dozen Collegiate All Americans, win a Women’s National Championship, and was a two time recipient of the Collegiate Coach of the Year award. Parallel to this, I am the Vice President of Sales for TriageNow, a telephonic nurse triage service, and have a long list of Fortune 500 clients who now use our service to assist their employees with workplace injuries.
As a Professional Speaker…
I am amassing a large client base of recognized trade associations, companies and universities to my credit. I share the stories of my life experiences, from the car crash or my time preparing to play on the Pro Racquetball Tour, in a customized format for each audience. My focus is to be a dynamic and captivating speaker and leave the audience with actionable takeaways to apply to their own lives. I pride myself on connecting with each audience on a deep and personal level to help ensure out time together has as much value as possible.
In my free time I enjoy fly fishing, golf and incessantly writing my blog and producing more content to share with others.
The Car Crash That Changed My Life
It happened so quickly, and I never saw it coming. I saw nothing but headlights coming out of the darkness right at me. A massive impact, screeching tires and twisting metal, and then complete silence in the dark. The only noise I could hear was someone screaming “Oh my God” over and over… until I realized it was me.
It took forty-five minutes for the paramedics to arrive. This head-on collision with a wrong way drunk driver occurred at the midway point between Phoenix and Payson. Thank God I wasn’t wedged in the car with a broken leg or worse. I doubt I would have made it if I was any less fortunate than I was. I walked away from this crash with barely a scratch physically. However, the emotional scars of this were a different story…
“I have taught nearly 70,000 undergraduates during my career. During this time, I have had a number of guest speakers. Darrin Schenck is one of the best guest speakers of them all. He knows how to engage students in classes from small to large. He connects with students in a manner that engages them and makes them want to learn. Darrin prepares in advance to know his audience and his preparation clearly shows during his guest presentations.
In short, Darrin had made my classes better with his presence.”
“I have taught nearly 70,000 undergraduates during my career. During this time, I have had a number of guest speakers. Darrin Schenck is one of the best guest speakers of them all. He knows how to engage students in classes from small to large. He connects with students in a manner that engages them and makes them want to learn. Darrin prepares in advance to know his audience and his preparation clearly shows during his guest presentations.
In short, Darrin had made my classes better with his presence.”
Christopher P. Neck
Associate Professor of Management
Arizona State University
W. P. Carey School of Business
Department of Management
Past Speaking Clients
Recent Articles
Blog #414 – If people talk behind your back…
..they are in the right place. BEHIND YOU. Here is something I want you to understand, you need to pay little to no attention to what most people have to say about you. If they
Blog #413 – Choose Wisely: Learning or Performing Mindset
It appears to me that far too many people these days are afraid to fail at anything, and this keeps them from attempting new things in the first place. Maybe it is the over-exposure that
Blog #412 – Greatness and Balance don’t go together…
We have all heard for a long time that work/life balance is very important to a healthy lifestyle. Please allow me to be the one to blow that idea apart for you. I'll start this
Blog #411 – You Earn Your Stripes Once You…
...have enough Scars. No one gets to the top unscathed, it just doesn't work that way. People are only an "Overnight Success" after years of toiling in anonymity. That musician that has a hot song
Blog #410 – Your Survival Rate so far is…
one hundred percent for all that you have been through. Steve Harvey I hear this quote from Steve Harvey and thought is was a great way to look at life. Because it is true,
Blog #409 – “Success is just a pile of…
...mistakes that you end up on top of instead of buried underneath" Dave Ramsey I can attest to the fact that failure is part of the process of getting better at anything. You need
Blog #408 – Simplicity is Bliss…
There are a lot of things I love about my life, but one of them has to be its' simplicity. I have set this up by design, as I have learned through trial and error
Blog #407 – The Equation is Simple…
Quality Input means Quality Output...or Garbage In means Garbage Out You don't want to put the cheapest gas in your Ferrari, so why would you do this to yourself? Not a tough concept to grasp,
Blog #406 – Top Six Things to Learn Now instead of later…
"I wish I knew back then what I know now..." The famous old line lamenting the fact that our lives are so much harder until we learn and figure things out. I want to help
Blog #405 – Imposter Syndrome means one thing…
...you are on the right track. I heard Jordan Belfort (the guy the movie The Wolf of Wall Street was about) sharing this idea with Ed Mylett, who is a famous entrepreneur and motivational speaker
Blog #404 – Find your Zihuatanejo…
In case you didn't recognize the iconic movie poster photo I chose as the cover picture for this blog, this is from the classic Shawshank Redemption. Ask any Gen Xer and we will tell you
Blog #403 – Having a “Have To” and a “Get To” job
I have done a few talks around AZ on this same topic, but I thought I would write about it today from a different angle. So many people have a job they "have to" do;
Blog #402 – Living in the right ratios…
I am not sure when I first heard this, but I can tell you for sure I never heard it soon enough or often enough. This is a key principal to financial control and success,
Blog #401 – Stop Sedating Yourself…
Far too many people are guilty of this, of settling for their current place in life and then just complaining about it. Lots of people are guilty of sedating themselves with things like video games,
Blog #400 – Peace through Pain
In honor of blog #400, I chose this less than flattering photo of me doing something I am in the middle of, and that is a cold plunge challenge. I HATE cold water, always have,
Blog #399 – Money DOES buy Happiness…
I am sure you have heard the opposite, and if you are a Christian who reads the Bible, you may have been left with the impression that money is the root of all evil. The
Blog #397 – I am not extraordinary, however…
I am an ordinary guy who figured out how to do some extraordinary things. This means that you can too. I didn't come from a wealthy family, far from it at times. I wasn't born
Blog #396 – The Disease of Validation
This is something I suffered from for a chunk of my life, and oddly enough it really only subsided once I started making some real money. Before, I was busy trying to convince the world
Blog #395 Are you willing to take the first step…
...when you can't see the whole staircase? When I was 19 I got the chance to do a really cool thing, and some of those memories are etched so deeply in my brain it is
Blog #394 – An Educated Guess is as Good As It Gets…
When it comes to living your life and planning out your future, an Educated Guess is as good as it gets. There are no guarantees, and the future is promised to no one. The best
Blog #393 – Anxiety is the gap between…
...the expectation you have for your life and the reality of where you are. That one hit different, as I had not thought about this in such a manner. I, like almost everyone, deal with
Blog #392 – Single Tasking…my secret to getting stuff done
This seems to be a lost art these days, and maybe not having grown up with social media and everything accessible through my phone lends itself to this skill. But it certainly is skill you
Blog #391 – The High Cost of Low Living
This is such a true statement, as most things that you wish to bend the outcome in your favor take planning and preparation in advance. Whether it is studying for an exam, a job interview,
Blog # 390 – Winning is more fun than fun is…
I think it was Tim Grover who said this quote, and it actually goes like this: "Winning is more fun than fun is fun" True and concise, with a funny twist to it. But it
Blog #389 – Ancient Wisdom that is Spot On…
It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a largely sick society. Jiddu Krishnamurti Since I am guessing it is a safe bet that you do not know who this
