Motiversity family, it's Marcus Taylor. And I want to thank you for tuning into the Motivation Daily Podcast by Motiversity, one of the top 50 podcasts in the world. If you enjoy listening to Motiversity and this podcast, You need to download the Mindset Daily Motivation app. On it, you'll gain access to thousands of motivational speeches, including Motiversities and Mind. And now, with the new Mindset Alarm feature.
You can start each day with purpose, waking up to powerful audios like this one. 6 a.m. and your hand can't make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it's too early, too dark, and too cold to get out of bed. To download Mindset, just go to mindsetapp.com or search for Mindset Daily Motivation on the Apple.
or Google Play Store and listen to motivational speeches while getting ready for the day. Click the link to download Mindset now and get ready to transform your life. Dreaming of getting the all-new iPhone 17 Pro designed to be the most powerful iPhone ever? Then stay in bed and let a Boost Mobile expert deliver and set it up for you. Oh, actually, they will have to get up and open the door. Oh, right. Delivery available for select devices purchased at boostmobile.com. Terms apply.
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows home so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin? Or what that clunking sound from your dryer is? With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the app. Download today. You're not just DNA.
And so I don't sit here easily and be like, do this, because it's not easy. You've got your DNA. You've got the things that come natural to you. But I will tell you why I'm successful. Because I like the grind. Because I love the process. And so you need to be prepared, ready or not. It's coming. Are you prepared? If you're going to win the year, you got to see this thing differently. You got to change the way you live, you eat, you walk, you talk, you think.
So you have the choice on how you respond. It's not easy. It's hard. But that daily choice is your choice to show up and smile. Make all that pressure. Make all that pain. And so grit is the ability to persevere, to see things through, to go. past the point at which it has stopped being fun and it becomes boring because you believe in your end goal enough, you're excited by what you're trying to accomplish so much that you're willing to fight through all of that difficulty.
And when you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful. But I'm telling you what, as long as there's breath in your lungs, as long as you're still breathing. There is the ability and the reality and the hope that you can achieve it. You can change it and the best is still to come. But it's going to take hard work. It's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take dedication. It's going to take determination.
And it's going to take a tenacity maybe like nothing you've ever faced before in your life. I would love to be able to, you know, give you this profound anchor that people need to have. But it's like, oh, do you want to do this or not? I need you to do every single day Monday through Friday
Saturday, Sunday, the weekend. I need you to do what you're possible, what you're capable, what you're able to do. No excuses this year. If you're able to get all A's, I need all A's. You can get all B's, I need all B's. Are you hear what I'm saying? Listen to me, I'm talking about consistency. First we conquer the day and then we execute the week and that week turns into a month and that month turns into a quarter and that quarter turns into a year.
We allow our minds to choose the path of least resistance so we go a different route I'm afraid of something is telling me you must do this thing. You must do that That's what gives me confidence is facing these things overcoming them But people want to they want an easier answer. Yeah, there has to be an easier way. There's not
What advice would you give the 20-year-old version of yourself? I think the biggest advice I could give myself is effort is everything. And you can decide, are you putting in the most amount of effort that you can? Because on days I can only give 60%, and I give 60%, I give 100%. The question is not how do you develop the motivation to keep going. The real question is...
How do you develop the discipline to do the stuff you need to do even when you don't feel like doing it? And it's going to cost you something. It's going to cost you more time than you thought you'd have. It's gonna cost you some friends who couldn't make the entire journey with you But if you sign up for the inconvenience then the goal will take care of itself Every day say yes to whatever it takes no matter what. The major key to your making things happen in your life is you.
My truth in my experience has been I have to jump higher I have to show up earlier I have to be the first person to turn off the light and the last person to turn off the light The way that I show up is by being consistent. So consistent that people cannot doubt your capacity to succeed. You have to work harder than the average person. Now, don't get me wrong. I still have my bad days.
I'll be like, I hate this. This sucks. This is terrible. But I'm still doing it. You know, that's that's the problem. If you're going to complain, I'm not saying to not complain. I'm saying to complain and do it. That's all I care about. During that point, what did I do? Is I did what I preached to all of you, which is I put in the work. You want the secret? It's called work. You have to figure out what you're trying to achieve and what you want.
And then you need to put in the work that maps to that ambition you always want to blame other people you always want to you want to hold other people to the fire but you're not holding yourself to the fire you need to look at yourself in the mirror and say why are you only giving 50% what's wrong with you don't cry to quit
You already in pain, you already hurt, get a reward from it. It's necessary you take responsibility for it. That you make it happen, that you don't give up, that you don't take any objection or disappointment or defeats personally. that you keep on keeping on, that you don't decide that I can't make it because you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, that you realize that's a part of the program. Say this to yourself every day. It's not over until I win. You've got that right.
The reason people change is because of pain. The reason we grow is because we get uncomfortable and we embrace being uncomfortable. But being honest with the pain that we feel... is usually the prime mover for people to do the work that is necessary to push to the edge embrace the pain that you're going to feel when you're trying to do something great you have to understand you have to know that
With greatness comes pain. Stop listening to the opinions of others around us that are saying, oh, you're never going to make it. It's impossible. You can't do it. You will never make it. acknowledging our suffering, being in touch with the pain, that's enough to say, I can't do this. I don't want to do this anymore. Like this is not the person I want to become.
I used to sit there and look at my class and my teachers and I'm like, I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna show all of you. You think I suck? I'm gonna be the biggest, best person on earth. You need to immerse yourself in school. You need to go in deep. All you're doing every single day is studying. You're going to get distracted from your goals. And all these things, arrows are going to come at you all the time.
Whatever your goal is, you have to get there. Even though people are gonna say you can't do it, even though people are gonna throw different opportunities, you know, I'm sure your friends went out a million times to happy hour when you had to stay late. Find out what it is you want and go after it as if your life depends on it. Why? Because it does. Thoughts become things. Whatever you put out into the universe.
You are going to get back. You have an opportunity to still be achieving. So get up and get on it. Because the weak will struggle. Success is reserved for those that are the strongest. But you still got time to pass that class. You still got time to finish strong, all right? When you feel like your professor or your teacher has lost their mind.
When you feel like your energy is all gone and it's impossible to finish every assignment on time. When you feel like you're mentally broken and your motivation to achieve is hard to find. When you feel like the clouds in your life are so dark, it would be impossible to ever see the sunshine. Those are three of the most powerful words that could ever be put together. When you feel. Because to feel means you're still with us. Because to feel means you're still breathing.
Because to feel means you still have an opportunity to be achieving. Because to feel means that you still have the power to stop the pain. Stop the bleeding. Stop the hurting. Stop the grieving. I say it. When you feel.
Because the feel means you're still with us. Because the feel means you're still breathing. Because the feel means you still have an opportunity to be achieving. Because the feel means that you still have a... power to stop the pain still had a power to stop the bleeding still had a power to stop the hurting still had a power to stop the grieving so whenever you feel like your professor or teacher has lost their mind
Because they're overwhelming you with a workload that seemingly will take up all of your time. I need you to pause and recall the reason why you made the choice to invest your time. and never lose sight of the fact that you are destined to shine. Never lose sight of the fact that you were made for this grind. Never lose sight of the fact that no hole is too deep for you to climb up out of. And above all else,
Your why will never ever allow you to withdraw. Your why will never ever allow you to pull the plug. Your why will never ever allow you to throw in the towel. See, it's your why that will push you to dig deeper and to go that extra mile. See, not only do you owe yourself, but you told your mama you were finished. You told your daddy you were finished. You told your brother you were finished.
You told your sister you were finished. So therefore, it's up to you to never diminish the value of your word. And a wise man once gave me a wise word, and now I'm passing these wise words on to you. You are in total control of your situation. So when you feel like you're facing a breaking point, this is the point when you go to your professor.
point when you go to your academic advisor and not the time to despise her and not the time to despise him simply say i am in this until i walk across the stage with my diploma i am end this until I smell the sweet aroma of success. And right now I'm feeling overwhelmed because I am on academic overload. Do you have any suggestions that will help me power through this semester? because my only option is to figure this out and whatever it takes I can I will and I must do
See, I understand that drastic times call for drastic measures. And the measure of a person's will is determined by what they are willing to do to ensure triumph over tragedy. The measure of a person's will is determined by what they are willing to do to ensure success over failure.
The measure of a person's will is determined by what they are willing to do to ensure winning over losing. And see, right now, I'm choosing to fight for my academic future, and that's why I came to your office. I promise. When they see that your passion is pushing you with a purpose, they will give you every ounce of their being to assure you are successful because they know you're worth it. I just need you to never forget that you're worth it.
Success is your baby. You just gotta birth it and then kick back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. But in the meantime, I need you to pull up your sleeves. I need you to tighten up your boxing gloves because you're right in the middle of a heavyweight boxing match. And life is trying to take your title and your survival in this academic arena is at stake.
It's moments like these where we separate the real from the fake. But winners like you shake off any and every punch that life throws and fight back with a series of vicious headshots and body blows to overcome and achieve. the victory but believe you me life will keep testing believe you me life will keep trying you believe you me life will keep pushing you
Believe you me life will keep trying to break you. I don't think you heard me I said believe you me life will keep testing believe you me life will keep trying you believe you me life will keep pushing you Believe you me, life will keep trying to break you. I can't with you. And always remember, you are unbreakable. They want to see you fail, but you are a diamond.
and you succeed because you get back up after you fail and you will get back up again and again until your arms are raised with the wind so i need you to speak positivity into existence and ignore your inner voice of resistance because it's your resilience and persistence that will allow you to master your time management skills that will allow you to break all of these huge assignments down into small pieces
that would allow you to group study with a winner circle that would allow you to jump over any and I mean any academic hurdles always remember when you feel that means you are still breathing and thus You have an opportunity to keep achieving. This is a great day to win.
Defining ourselves by what we are not is the first step that leads us to really knowing who we are. You know that group of friends that you hang out with that really might not bring out the best in you? You know, they gossip too much or they... kind of shady they really aren't going to be there for you in a pinch or that computer screen right that computer screen that keeps giving us an excuse not to get out of the house and engage with the world and get some real human interaction
How about that food that we keep eating? Stuff that tastes so good going down, makes us feel like crap the next week. We feel lethargic and we keep putting on weight. Well, those people, those places, those things. Stop giving them your time and energy. Just don't go there. I mean, put them down. And when you do this, when you do put them down, when you quit going there, when you quit giving them your time,
you inadvertently find yourself spending more time and in more places that are healthy for you, that bring you more joy. Why? Because you just eliminated the who's the where's the what's and the wins that were keeping you from your identity 99% people are not willing to do what it takes to make their dreams come true. The center of bringing any dream into fruition is self discipline.
You know, something as simple as food and eating is not about Your body as much as it is about your mind It's getting command of your mind to be able to choose actions that are in your own best interest And I think the word discipline has kind of gotten a bad name. We think about it in terms of punishment. I'm not talking about discipline in that way. I'm talking about discipline. in the sense that you forego immediate pleasure for the exchange of long-term self-respect.
You cannot win the war against the world if you can't win the war against your own mind. Because motive matters, right? and what drives us. I always tell people that there's a success formula I subscribe to, and I call it H-Cube, that it goes from your head to your heart to your hands. Affirm things in your head, but if you're not acting with your hands, there's something that's missing, right? There's an incongruency there.
And what I tell people is like, you know, check in with the second age, which is your heart, which is the symbol of like emotion, the energy of motion. And so I feel like that's the fuel that fuels the car that gets you to... take action for something and i do believe what got me through it is figuring out what my why was and i say if happiness is what you're after then you're going to be let down frequently
And you're going to be unhappy much of your time. Joy, though. Joy is a different thing. It's something else. Joy is not a choice. It's not a response to some result. Joy is the feeling that we have from doing what we are fashioned to do no matter the outcome. I started enjoying my work. and literally being more happy when I stop trying to make the daily labor a means to a certain end. I need this film to be a box office success.
you know i need my performance to be acknowledged i need the respect of my peers all those are reasonable aspirations but the truth is as soon as the work became the reward in itself for me I got more box office, more accolades and respect than I ever had before. Self-love is, hey, look, I know you got a test on Monday, you know.
And I know you really want to go out with your friends. It's Saturday night. You want to go out. But if you fail that test, you're not going to feel good about yourself. You know, I just I love you too much to let you go out tonight. Self-discipline is self-love. If you want to be happy, you have to love yourself, which means you have to discipline your behavior.
Don't matter whose fault it is that something is broken if it's your responsibility to fix it For example is it's not somebody's fault if their father was an abusive alcoholic but it's for damn sure their responsibility to figure out how they're going to deal with those traumas and try to make a life out of it. It's not your fault if your partner cheated and ruined your marriage, but it is for damn...
I'm sure your responsibility to figure out how to take that pain and how to overcome that and build a happy life for yourself. Fault and responsibility
do not go together, it sucks, but they don't. When something is somebody's fault, we want them to suffer, we want them punished, we want them to pay, and we want it to be their responsibility to fix it, but... that's that's not how it works especially when it's your heart your heart your life your happiness is your responsibility and your responsibility alone
The sooner that we become less impressed with our life, with our accomplishments, with our career, with whatever that prospect is in front of us, the sooner we become less impressed and more involved with that and these things. the sooner we get a whole lot better at doing them. Life's not easy. Don't try to make it that way. Life's not fair. It never was. It isn't now and it won't ever be. Do not fall into the trap.
The entitlement trap of feeling like you're a victim. You are not. Get over it and get on with it. And yes, most things are more rewarding when you break a sweat to get them. For me, it's like... no brain left behind right because i i live with that identity for so long and i my my message to people whether it's on stage or on the podcast or anything is that
you know, we are more than what we're demonstrating, that we've been sold this lie that people are taught through school. Like when I do these demos and I, on stage, memorize a hundred names and words and numbers forwards and backwards, it appears effortlessly. I always tell people, I don't do this to impress you. I do this to express to you what's really possible because the truth is everyone can do this too and so much more.
We were taught a lie that somehow our intelligence, our potential, our learning, our memory somehow is fixed, our creativity is fixed, our thinking is fixed like our shoe size. And what we've discovered more about brain science in the past. two decades we've discovered more than the previous two thousand years and what we know is that we're grossly underestimating our own capacity to be able to grow to be able to contribute to improve our intelligence and our influence and our impact
And I want to kind of pull the veil behind and just say, hey, this is about transcending. This is about ending the trance, ending the trance that we're not good enough. that we're not smart enough, that we're not this genius, and telling the truth. And the truth is, we're faster and we're smarter than we think.
And not just to be able to memorize things, but be able to really solve significant challenges and maybe that these challenges that we're going through are the lessons that we need to learn the most. Not all of us go through struggles, right, in our health, our relationship, whatever it is, but through struggles come strengths.
And people don't talk about this as much. And I probably have a post-traumatic stress from it, going through brain injury after brain injury. There's also post-traumatic growth. which you know, as widely talked about, but there's some people that go through immense amount of trauma and difficulty and challenge, but they come out of it actually more empowered.
They say to themselves that because of going through this, I found a new strength. I found my superpowers. I found a new meaning in my life. I found a new level of commitment. I found a strength, a mission, if you will. And a lot of them attest that they wouldn't trade that experience, no matter how painful it was at the time, for anything. I realized what was stopping me was my own fear. It wasn't
It wasn't anything with my educational aspect. It was me thinking I couldn't do well in mathematics. And when I learned to remove that fear and think, I'm going to do this no matter what's going to happen. I may fail it. I may not fail it. I'm going to do well at this, and I'm going to just see where it goes. I'm going to put my arm into it. I'm going to find out. I'm motivated by fear.
I hate being scared to do something. And I think what developed in my early days was the attitude that I started attacking things that... I was scared of. Too many times we always wanna walk the same journey. Go down the same road. But that road is not for us. You got to follow your heart sometimes. You got to listen to the spirit that's inside of you that's burning and begging to come out. You have to step up and step out. And walk that path. Take that road. That lonely. Dark. Cold.
road that nobody else wants to take sometimes that's where you're going to truly find yourself in those moments that you think you don't want to do something those moments that You feel that that's not for me? Uh-uh. That's exactly when and where and why you gotta go for it. When things get hard, don't ever ask why me. Dig deep down and say, try me. Because I'm stronger than anything you can throw against me. Because I've been down that dark path. I've been alone.
And I'm rose up. Above it all. Be pretty. Oftentimes, we are always looking for excuses. to make as to why we are not where we want to be who we want to be and I am absolutely against excuses There is no excuse not to let your greatness shine through you. There is no excuse not to give you a very best. There is no excuse For making excuses You have two choices in this planet in this world you can execute
Or you can make an excuse. And guess what? Excuses always make sense to the people that are making them. Excuses are always going to be obstacles that you have to overcome internally. Excuses. Or what's separating you from owning the life that you want? Get out of your head and step into your greatness. There is greatness inside of each and every single one of us the richest place on this planet is Not Africa. It's the cemetery
Too many times we die with greatness and gifts inside of our heart, inside of our soul because we are afraid. Afraid to be criticized. Afraid to step out of our comfort zone. Afraid to reach for the best and be the best that we can be. You fail. It's because you're reaching for something that other people can't see. If you fail, it is not over. If you fall, fall on your back. Look up. If you can look up, you can get up.
I failed. I made my move before I was ready. I took a risk. It didn't pay off the way I wanted it to, but I learned. You don't lose if you learn. Whatever you think you're doing, whatever you got an idea. Just grab life by the horns. Go for it. Stop waiting. Don't look for anybody else's approval. Take a chance. Take a risk. And you will never, never know. There's nothing worse than what if and regret. Make it happen. Jump.
bad do you want it are you talking about it or you're being about it greatness is no joyride greatness is full of adversity and obstacles How bad do you want it? How dedicated are you to achieving your greatness? Too many times we wake up in the morning and we're ungrateful for that day. We're awake. We're blessed. The world is full of negativity. We don't have to be negative on ourselves. I hear people talking about I am unlucky. I'm unsuccessful.
I am fat. I am ugly. No, you are not. Let's change our I am. It's going to fuel our day. It's going to fuel our life. I am successful. I am powerful. I am great. I am amazing. That's the words that have to follow our I am. It's going to fuel your life. Let's start taking it with passion. Let's start being amazing. Use your I am.
To change the world. If your actions are not in line with your beliefs, stop lying to yourself. There is nobody in this world that can go out there and be great for you. You got to make a conscious decision. to stop making excuses, strap up your heart, stick out your chest, and get it done. There's nobody in this world that's going to give you what you want. You're going to have to go out there.
And get what you want by working hard. Being talented is not good enough. You got to work hard. You got to be passionate. And you got to, got to be grateful. Yes, I said grateful. I've failed over and over and over again and I've risen to success because of my mindset. Your mindset can be controlled. Your attitude can be controlled by you. Nobody else, nobody else can control your attitude and your mindset. If you let them, then you're allowing them to own something.
That belongs to you. That is your property. When you get up in the morning. Don't look at your phone. Don't check your emails. Don't think about yesterday's problems. Yesterday's struggles. And what obstacles you got. today focus focus on the things that you have and not the things that you want focus on the people that love you and not the people that hate you focus on what and who you want to be and become
Be blessed, be grateful, and say thank you. When you wake up every single morning, I want you to wake up with a smile on your face. It doesn't matter how bad yesterday was. It doesn't matter what you got going on today. and start telling yourself what you wanna be. I am rich. I am healthy. I am great. I am amazing.
I am a great father. I am a great mother. Whatever you want to be, start your day off with I am. Because what follows your I am is going to shape your day, your year, and your life. We have to rethink. What motivates us? What pushes us? What is our why? Why do you do what you do how you do it? I want to inspire you to become the best you that you can be. Everybody else is taken. You can do the easy things in life. If you do those easy things.
Life is going to be hard. I promise you. But if you go about it and do those hard things, those things that nobody want to do, those things that people say, oh, man, I got to get up and do that today. then life will be easy. It's a choice that you have to make whenever you're ready. Write down exactly what you want to achieve. And then...
Every single day as many times as possible. Read it to yourself. If you want to make a million dollars a year, write down on a piece of paper, I make a million dollars a year. I am healthy. I am happy. i have the love of my life write it down and repeat it every single day you want to be great you want to be special
You want to be wealthy. You want to be a billionaire. You want to be the best basketball player. You want to be the best football player. You want to be the best soccer player. You want to be the best surgeon, the best doctor, the best father. Whatever your best is going to be. Whatever the best that you want it to be. You gotta get up and you gotta change.
You got to do something that you never thought you'd do. You got to do something that people don't expect you to do. You got to go ahead and rewrite your own history. Stop waiting for somebody to come in there, swoop you off your feet, make your life perfect, make your life great. You got to do it. You have to be the change in your life that you want to happen. You cannot depend on anybody. The only person I'm going to ever bet on in this world is myself.
Because I know that's the one thing I can control. My attitude. My mentality. Yes. My mentality. I'm the only person I can control over that. If you let somebody piss you off. If you let somebody get you mad. Shame on you. Stop doing what you're doing every single day unless you are dedicated to being great. Now get up there, get outside, and go make change happen for you and your family right here, right now, today.
Repeat after me. Education equals opportunity. One more time. Education equals opportunity. school is like a privilege learning is a privilege getting your education is a privilege not a lot of people have that surprisingly i know the people in your City and in your school all have that and it may seem normal to you at times But it's not you know people wish to have education people wish they can go to school and learn and grow as an individual
You know, it's not about just one math test that you have tomorrow. It's not about one grade. It's that if you do good on this one test, you're gonna do good on another test. and then another test in there you're going to get an a and that's going to raise your gpa and that's gonna your gpa is what's gonna decide what college you're gonna get into and then what your job will be like it all adds up you know
Always, always try your best. Don't look at it as just a test. Don't look at it as just a class, a grade. Because anything that you want in life, you're going to have to work for. Nothing is going to be given to you. See, most people only ever focus on problems. It's the world we live in today. We live in a world of... Media-fueled problems, right? You can't turn on the news without seeing problems, disasters, all the bad in this world. Now most people focus on their problems.
and make them bigger than what they actually are. This is where people are going wrong. If something bad happens and you make that problem even bigger and tell yourselves things like, this is always happening to me. This is never going to get better. This is a big problem. Train your mind. Train your mind not to focus on the problem and make it bigger, but focus on the solution to solve it. Stay positive, stay focused, and most importantly, stay strong.
You know, I used to actually do my homework on a Friday, so I would enjoy the weekend. Mostly people do it on Sundays when they have to do it, but I just, I like to just get over with. It's so much better knowing you're done and you have free time and you can do whatever you want.
have that on your mind while having the free time. You know what I mean? It's just so much better to get it done. You'll feel so good. Start off good. Do your homework. Do the best you can do on every single test. I know I can.
Be what I want to be If I work hard at it I'll be where I want to be I know I can Be what I want to be If I work hard at it I'll be where I want to be Hard work pays off you know the classes i used to slack on and i didn't do that grading it showed in the classes i worked really hard on and i tried my best it showed you know it made me realize that hard work really really does
pay off in the end. Your result might not show and you might feel like you're failing, you might feel like you're not getting anywhere and that you won't do good, but just this mom is you try your best. Just as long as you give it 100%. Start off strong and finish even stronger. You got this, my friend. If I could go back and give my younger self just one piece of advice, what would it be? Never give up. If I could give anyone just one piece of advice, what would it be? Never give up.
It's so sad to see so many people give up on the life they want to live just because of the need to fit in. Fit in with parents, fit in with friends, fit in with society. Too afraid to dream of how great life can be because life and others have offered plenty of examples of what can go wrong. Plenty of examples of how hard life is. How much of a struggle life is.
well I don't buy that I believe everyone is capable of creating the life they want I refuse to believe we are stuck I refuse to believe in limitation we are capable of anything if only if we believe that because with belief comes action with belief comes possibilities with belief we are open to opportunities when we refuse to give up on our dream
When we seek to find examples of those who have achieved the life they want. When we want to learn how we can make steps forward every day. When we are open to learn more. When we are willing to work for it. when we trust our intuition and follow our hearts, when we have the courage to trust the universe and reach for the sky, well, then anything is possible.
If you believe it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, there's no doubt you can be it. Believe in yourself. Shakespeare said, our doubts are traitors. and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. See, most people fear failure so much they don't even try. Therefore they fail by default. Achieving anything of significance in life will never be easy.
But the only way you can guarantee not achieving anything is if you never try in the first place. You do not know what is going to happen in the future. Anything can happen if you believe in yourself and are willing to learn how to make it happen. It might not happen right away. It might take you longer than expected. But if you are committed and maintain belief... that in the end you will achieve your desired outcome you will achieve your desired outcome never give up never ever give up
Things that we can't control, we can't plan for, but they come anyway. This can be in relationships, the workplace, the family. It tears us down when things start to go to chaos. And all you want to do is win. See I witnessed so many times in my life and it may be someone out there that understands life Understands that is necessary understand that unexpected obstacles stop you got to dig down deep today
Even when you're crying even when that girlfriend or boyfriend is walking out of your life. I need you to be prepared Because sometimes when terrible things happen to us we go into this dark shape And we stay there. And we believe that this darkness will be our home forever. But you gotta understand that every pain is a lesson. Every lesson that you learn in the process of life.
is turning you into something. It's turning you into something phenomenal. See, dreams, aspirations, they're not easily obtained. You're gonna have to walk through those storms with no unbrothering. But know and trust in God that you will not get wet. Yes, life is painful. In it, we lose some of the greatest things we ever had. But one of the hardest things to do is to keep going. Is to keep chasing.
believe it. That's our entire life. We believe that. That is our existence. But we are more. Because like my grandfather used to tell me, we're your dreams. They never lived down there. What now is dedication? Relentless effort to achieve your dream. Putting a plan together, not just jumping into the water with no life. strategic plan together to be greater than you were yesterday to be greater than anything anybody could ever imagine see this thing about dreams
We believe that it's up to other people to believe in. And the truth is, the only person that needs to believe in you is you. Your life won't turn out. how you plan it. It turns out how you work for it. How you wake up and you chase that dream every single morning. It's what you give your time and your energy to that takes you to the next level. Wake up every single day. Thinking about how can I change my life? How can I stand on a stage with the Giants?
It's like a man going 100,000 miles per hour. And you haven't even started the engine. But first you must ask yourself, are you willing to fail a few? Are you willing to lay down and bleed so you can see the dream that you dreamed about? Are you going to beat the obstacles? That freshman is getting ready to go to college. Are you going to take the obstacles that come with it? Are you going to study when they party? Are you going to dream when they sleep?
come to you if you wouldn't split. Greatness will only arise when you step in the fire and you're not afraid to get burned. when they slip. You gotta grind when they walk. You gotta grind when you do not feel like it. And this is all areas in life, school, sports, your religion. Consistency is the tunnel to greatness. Consistency will turn an ordinary man into something he never thought he would be.
See the difference between a good player and a great player. See that good player does just the minimum to get by. great player pushes his body past the limit. He leaves every single drop of blood. And whatever he does in life, he wants to be remembered as the greatest. Extra 10 when a coach only asks for 20. He runs that extra mile when a coach only asks. For five.
again knowing that you may not even get paid for it. Knowing that you don't even have a meal to eat at night. You see that is the true sign of a champion. Mistakes happen. trials and tribulations happen, deaths happen, but you gotta keep going. You gotta keep believing. I'm reminding you. how great you are. Many individuals on this earth have slipped into a cold and they begin to sleepwalk through life. They begin to do the bare minimum.
They begin the deaths. See, this type of greatness I'm talking about, I'm talking about when I die, they can't even fit another body in the church. Because what I gave the world. You see? You see all these men standing on top of the world. You think they're special. You think they're everything. But you don't know what they did to get there. It's one of my favorite sayings. You must learn how to live fully so you can die in it. This is a saying by Les Brown. Listen to me.
You must be willing to live full! Diane? Who we holding back for? You are phenomenal. You are a king. You come from royal blood. You stand on the tip top of pyramids. You are royalty, king. You are a light. You are a star. The question is do you believe? Motivation plays a huge role, but I'm a big believer that motivation comes after action. Okay, so stick with me. Motivation comes after action. The question is not how do you develop the motivation to keep going.
The real question is, how do you develop the discipline to do the stuff you need to do even when you don't feel like doing it? Floss one tooth. Go to the gym and lift one weight, one time. Then you can stop. Then you can go home. Then you can stop. More than likely, because you already got there, because you already started, you're going to finish. Getting there is the majority of the issue. The discipline to start...
That's what you need. The motivation to keep going comes after the action to start. So on those days you don't feel like it, if you know you need to, you have to. Do I think you could be a success without being consistent? Perhaps if you have other resources and tools that I was never given, but coming from where I am, my perspective has only been consistency and the discipline has been everything that I have ever gotten on the back of doing it.
again and again and again it is what I teach it is what I preach is what I believe that's what a lot of people do is they try and attack a big goal with intensity instead of consistency they try and just go they're like okay Monday, I'm going to go get fit. I'm going to do two hours of cardio. I'm going to eat only chicken, brown rice, and broccoli six times a day. I'm going to do... You've never done that before, one. And two, you know that's not sustainable.
can't outdo the need for time and consistency. Intensity still has its place, don't get me wrong, but misplaced intensity, I feel, is the number one reason why people fail their goals. And that's not just fitness. That's with business. That's with everything. Instead of just adding intensity, you have to be consistent over time. Not consistent for two days. Not consistent for two weeks over time. You know?
If you do the work, you will more than likely get there. So the physics of progress is you come up with a hypothesis that should be as informed as possible. You figure out a way to turn that into something you can actually do. So you're going to run a test. Then you actually run that test. And then this is where most people fall down. You have to lower your psychological defenses.
to stare nakedly at the results and oftentimes that's going to be you didn't do something well you didn't think through this right you made a mistake somewhere and then if you're willing to do that and you learn from that then you can re-inform your hypothesis make it a little bit better run that whole system again. And once you get in that loop, then you can really make progress. The tenacity it takes to face your inadequacies and continue to try, try, try, that's where
we've succeeded. I cannot tell you the number of businesses I've had that have failed, but I learned from it. And it gave me the wisdom to go on to the next one. and the next one, and the next one. And so when you focus on your personal growth, what happens is that even if a business fails, even if an idea fails, you emerge from it. with new knowledge, new data points, a new version of yourself that can do better on the next idea or the next business.
People hear that jumping the net will appear jumping like the universe has your back and we love it. We're like high-fiving because we've been on the other side, but like there've been plenty of times where there was no net and they're like, the universe was just like, I see you. I'm not putting my arms out because you needed to fall on your face.
And like, I've just realized that as many times as I have gotten back up, I was supposed to fall. I was supposed to face plant. And the less time I spend. groveling in the gravel the faster I find my next success the biggest difficulty is that people fall and then they stay down The greatest entrepreneurs are the people who understand that falling is part of the process. So if we just said, I'm going to fall now and I'm going to fall.
probably another 175 times before the end of my career. If I look around and say, this is normal and every entrepreneur faces this, then yeah, it sucks. And yeah, I took the jump and yeah, I didn't end up where I wanted to.
but do I have the courage and wherewithal to get up again? And if the answer is yes, you're going to be in business. And the answer is no, you're going to go back to your cubicle and live a very predictable life that is not as fulfilling as you once hoped. Most people can only see these are the 152 ways that this could go wrong.
We started doing that to say, no matter how outrageous, there is a way to pull this off. So what would need to be true for this to work? Stop telling me all the things that aren't going to work. Tell me the thing that is going to work. And once you get to that, you go, okay, well...
If we did X, Y, Z, it would work. Okay. Now, are we willing to do that? Yes or no. And if we're not, is there another thing that we are willing to do? But at least now we're operating from a position of that would work and successful people are about that. I never know if I'm right and I go all out every fucking time. And I'm just trying to make it happen. And so I have the courage of conviction to say,
I know about myself. I will keep going until I figure this out. Not that I already understand everything that I have the courage to figure this out. I'm not telling you I already understand everything, but I am telling you I will not stop fighting until we get to the other side. So if you can manage your emotions, if you've got the courage to fight through that storm.
If you're not easy to knock off your pedestal and you're humble enough to know that you're almost certainly making mistakes so that you know when to correct course, that's the recipe. The rigors of academic life can be brutal. Long days of classes. Long nights of studying. And low cash flow requires you to be frugal. Projects. case studies, pop quizzes, and final exams will test your morals and your scruples. But you keep pushing and pushing because you know one day
All of that hard work and studying will pay off and be fruitful. You've seen many others succumb to academic demise and wind up with the wrong letter on their transcript. The dreaded W. Which painfully stands for withdrawal. But that's where you draw the line because you made a vow to choose incline over decline. Fast forward over rewind. Redesign over recline and hard grind over pout and whine. You made the choice to dig deep within. And thus the only W you will ever get.
will be the W that stands for win. Because winners like you pick themselves up when they stumble and slip. Winners like you understand that it's impossible to never trip. Winners like you are strong enough to say no when their friends want them to take a sip. Winners like you trust the process, so steps they never ever try and skip. And that chip on your shoulder, it remains to remind you of all the doubters, naysayers and haters.
That said you would never walk across that stage and receive that paper. But more fuel for your fire just makes success so much greater. Because you're overcoming the sour taste of now. to get to the sweet taste of later. You adjust to all the different personalities of your teachers and professors and enjoy those that are super cool, but stay mentally prepared for those that are stressors.
Blessings seem to find you because the universe conspires to make sure everything falls into place because you've got so much heart, passion, and desire. Your fire keeps burning. But at times it starts to fizzle. But you remember you owe it to your future self. And that gas turns that fizzle into a sizzle. You want to leave a legacy and contribute to the greater good. So for now, it's the uncomfortable discipline and sacrifice. Because the cash out in the future.
Means today you got to pay the price. So that means when your friends ask can you go. Your heart wants to say yes. But your willpower says no. Because Mr. Jones Thermochemistry 3202. Ain't no joke. And so you got to be locked in and stay woke. Because he's all about business and doesn't give any rope. So if you miss any assignments or fail any test.
You have very little hope of passing his class. But you will pass his class. And you will pass it with flying colors. Because you, my friend, are an academic hustler. And thus you put in the time, the effort, and ask all the right questions to make sure all of your bases are covered. The vultures will hate. You tried to give them vision, but they never put on the right frames.
And thus their sight was blurry. And that gray reflected it. And now they want to throw shade at you. But your shield deflected it. You tell them winning in progress over here. So please eliminate the negative vibe. It's time to remove them from your circle and find yourself a positive tribe because misery loves company. But that misery cannot have any of your companionship because everybody on your team is working as a unit.
to come back and win the championship you owe it to your future self to make money moves in and out of the classroom because time waits for no one and whether you succeed or fail it will pass soon So respect your personal brand and make sure your daily advertisement represents who you want to be. Walk with character and integrity so your reflection in the mirror is who you want to see.
Your future self is counting on your current self to set the tone and make sure your future is not only bright but powerful and strong for mediocrity. Your future self is counting on your current self to never take shortcuts and never lack integrity because the day will come for you to walk with character and have clarity. Greatness is your destiny. But at times you must reboot your mental computer because every step you take today will directly affect your future.
Your future self is counting on your current self to give every ounce of your being, every ounce of your soul to make sure you tap into your gift. This It's a great day to win. Nine years ago, man, I did this and I would encourage some of you to.
I took a piece of paper and I wrote down my dreams and my goals and I slapped it on a bathroom mirror. And every single day I would wake up and I would look at it. And I said, every choice that I make, every decision that I make, I'm going to bounce it off. Is that going to help my dream become real or is it going to help destroy my dream? And if the choices that I'm making are helping my dream, that's the choice for me.
But if the choices we're making are destroying our dreams, that's not the choice for you. You have to learn to become mission, goal, dream oriented and not in the moment impulsive oriented. It's like when you look in a rearview mirror. When you look in the rearview mirror, the words read things in the mirror closer than they appear. And I need every one of you young men and young ladies to understand that your dreams and your goals, they're right there in front of you.
They are closer than you can imagine or even... Even think about or dream. They're right there. I don't care if you're the 7th grader or the senior right now. What you want to become and what you want to achieve. It's right there. Things in the mirror are closer than they appear. And the doctor, the teacher, the scientist, the cardiologist. the cosmetologist, the athlete, the entertainer, the musician, whatever it is that you want to become, it's right there in front of you.
But the choices and decisions that we make are going to matter. And we've got to stop letting the opinions of people that don't really value you and what they think about you hold you back from breaking free and running at this thing with everything that you've got, man. Because the dreams, all those things, they're right there in front of you. But it's the choices and the decisions that we make
These are the currencies that are going to purchase that dream. Decisions are currency that purchases those dreams. Prioritizing your life is the currency that purchases those dreams. What you do is what's gonna matter. Some of you gotta stop playing and start recognizing that this is your moment. Don't you dare give yourself away for something that you're not because you want to fit in don't do it Don't you dare do it
I know these are real issues and you're wrestling through life, man. And you're trying to figure out up and down and left and right. And where am I going? I'm telling you guys, you're at a place right now on this day and this month. In this school that I'm talking to you, that you can realize something. This is your moment to change.
This is your moment to realize you don't have to do or be what anybody else thinks that you want. Anybody else expects you to be. You can be you. And you can become what you want to become. So those dreams and goals that some of you have, that may seem larger than life, good. That's what I want you to go after. And don't let the fear of the failure, don't let the fear of perfection hold you back. You won't be perfect. You will make mistakes.
I promise you this, you're never going to know if you can sink or if you can swim unless you jump in the water. Your world, this journey. It's a beautiful picture. Every one of you are drawing a picture with your life. You're the artist. Your hands and your feet are the paintbrushes and the choices and decisions you're making.
right now are the paint strokes you can you can paint whatever picture you want to paint you can become whatever you want to become but your choices and decisions that you're making right now Matter. I could slow down and make choices that build and don't destroy. If I can make choices that grow and don't tear down. If I could learn to feed positivity and starve negativity, man, my life could change because hard work works. Make good choices.
things happen hard work i'm sorry there's no way around it hard work works we can't cut corners Every a isn't an a and I say that what I mean is you can jump on Google if you want to just to get the answer But you're not robbing your teachers. You're not robbing your parents You're not robbing the school. The only person that you're robbing is you because you're trying to take the shortcuts not every A is an A hard work works and the great thing about hard work especially in our culture
our world is lazy everybody will talk about it everybody will post about it but not too many people want to do it and if you will just find the courage to begin to chase your dream to make choices that build to put in the work by default instantly because most people are lazy you separate yourself from the crowd because everybody talks and posts but not too many people want to roll up and go hard work will always outwork
talented people that don't want to work hard you can control you you can't control what they think of you you can't control what they're doing but you can't control you and hard work will always outwork talented people that really don't want to work hard Every one of you, no matter where you're at on the spectrum of this journey of life, you can absolutely take your life with full authority and become whatever you want to become, man. Diamonds.
Diamonds are made beautifully. Diamonds are from coal and from pressure and from heat. And it takes an immense amount of stuff. And from that dirt and from those coal mines and from all of the dangers of that struggle and that stress, Jesus, something amazing happened, man. Some of you have been going through a lot.
Some things have been intentional. Some things are just things that you were dealt with in life that you had no control over. But what I'm telling you, regardless of what the circumstance is and what you've been going through, there is beauty in the ashes, man. It's not about us being perfect. It's not about you being perfect right now. But it's about progress. It's about growth.
You know, failure is a beautiful thing because failures is where we learn to grow. Our character can get deeper, richer, more fuller of who we are as a person. Like mistakes are okay. I'm not saying go out there and try to make mistakes and go try to fail, but this is a part of life. Every successful person you will ever come across has failed big.
has failed often, but failure wasn't failure where they gave up. It was where they just learned what not to do and how they can go about it in a different way. They use every experience. How can this teach me about being a better person to have better? to achieve better, to become better. Everything's going to be perspective as you guys grow up. Don't allow the pressures to overrun you or you start compromising who you are. As long as we're breathing, as long as we have breath in our lungs.
There's hope for us to overcome, to persevere, and to push through any object, any obstacle, any adversity in our lives. Your dreams and your goals are not going to come easy. And if they're coming easy, you're not dreaming big enough. Literally dreams and goals they should take sacrifice blood sweat tears absolute total focus of pushing yourself and if dreams and goals are coming easy
I submit to you, it's time for you to ratchet up what you're going after because you can achieve more. Because without restraint, without struggle, without resistance, there's no growth. If I was a weightlifter, And if I wanted it to get swole, right, and I wanted to be able to bench like 325 pounds, I couldn't go out there and lift.
just 150 pounds every single day over and over and over again and never think that was going to get bigger. I would have to apply more weight, more resistance, more pressure and push myself. Don't find yourself right now. hitting the autopilot. People in here right now have the capability and the mentality to make an impact in this world. To be of an epic proportion.
do and put your hands to whatever foundation, whatever business field, and even if you haven't had a revelation and you want to go somewhere else in your life and your career, you have a capability to transforming this world. start thinking epic you guys have got to start thinking outside of the box you can become whatever you want to become but your choices and decisions that you're making right now
matter. I never said when you want to succeed as bad as you want to eat because you can go 21 days maybe 30 but without eating. I never said when you want to succeed as bad as you want water because you can go about three days or so without it. I said when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe.
then you'll be successful. And so one of the things I want to do for you as an educator today, you don't necessarily need better skills per se. That's not what you need. But what some of you need is to go from 70%. to 120%. Some of you need to go from 80% to 120%. The reason why I'm giving 120 is because your dad is not in your life. The reason why I'm giving 120 is because your father's in prison.
The reason why I'm giving 120 is because your mom is working two jobs. The reason why I'm giving 120 is because your grandma is raising you. The reason why I'm giving 120 is because you live in a community where education is not valued. So I don't care what you do academically when you leave here, you can't go and get credit for getting A's.
That in your neighborhood, in your community, nobody affirms you for reading at a certain level. Nobody affirms you for doing well on your ACT or your SAT. Where you come from, education is not affirmed. So even if you are a scholar, you have to keep it to yourself. You have to suppress it. So the reason why I give 120 is because your daddy's not there to give 80 and your mama's too tired to give 100.
And your grandma is washed out, so she's giving 50. And y'all do that little stuff about you gonna eat, but y'all ain't got no doggone motor. You get tired quick. If you practice for one or two days, you go out. You do a couple hours, you tired. But yet you compete against people right now, that's their lifestyle. And you think they're about to let you take their lifestyle? I don't want to do it as much as I want to eat. I don't want to do it as much as I need to drink.
to be the best in the world as bad as i want to breathe i want to be the michael jordan of education i want to be the lebron james of education and i ask you the question i ask you the question today are you giving 120? I never said when you want to succeed as bad as you want to eat. I never said when you want to succeed as bad as you want water. I said when you want to succeed. as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.
my professor what happens if i fail he said what happens if you pass i said but what happened if i don't get it what happened if i put in all these years and it don't work out he said but what happens if you put in all these years and you get it You got skill and you got will. You got skill and you got will. Two total different things.
you were born with certain things but to get to the next level and not just get to the next level to stay at the next level you got to have will when you get to that next level so when you play you have to compete When you have an opportunity, why would you give 80% when you have opportunity? Somebody answer that for me. Y'all talk. Why would you give 80%, 70%? Why wouldn't you always give 120%? For real!
You might get it, but right now what? Oh, I can't hear y'all. You may get it, but right now what? You don't have it. You have nothing to fear, guys. You already overcame all kind of stuff. Because a lot of you don't see that what's going to take you to that next level that's going to separate you from everybody else because you got to have something that separates you.
What's gonna separate you from everybody else? Right? I don't know what that is for you. But just talk about when you hear my videos, one of the things you notice that separates me from everybody else, I don't do what in any of my videos. I don't curse enough. You've never seen me cuss before. You've never seen me drink before. You've never seen me smoke. I'm not against drinking and smoking, but my brand is I don't drink. I don't smoke. What are you going to do to separate yourself?
Like I do things to separate myself from everybody. The passion that I have when I speak. The grind that I have when I do what I do. What are you going to do to separate yourself? People you're not even going to be hanging out with. All I want to hear is E. They grind like they never grind before. Johnny, I want to hear they out there handling that rock like E. They monsters, E. They like freaks out here, E. Like they going hard, E. That's all I want. Well, some more stuff is keeping you.
from doing what you're supposed to do. I love it. You have an opportunity of a lifetime. And what I'm trying to get you to understand is When you understand you have an opportunity you just you play a little different I wasn't successful because of who I was. Like in a lot of y'all for real, here's what you got to stop doing. You hold people to the fire when they don't do what they're supposed to do, but you give yourself a pass. Like, and you got to stop doing that.
Like I see in this generation, people will let their kids get away with stuff that I know you wouldn't let nobody else kid get away with. But sometimes when you're so close to something, you don't treat it real.
like you give it a pass because it's your it's your baby but if somebody else was to get on your couch and do that you'd have a fit or somebody so what i had to start doing was saying you got to stop holding other people to the fire you got to hold yourself to the fire And I realized that without a schedule I was the one that was messing up my life and I realized I needed a schedule because I wasn't I wasn't the the brand
to get me where i wanted to go if that makes sense like that version of eric thomas would never make me a one percenter i realized that so when i sat down with warren buff and three things that blew my mind i never really realized where his money came from
so the first thing i did was like yo his money comes from investments well what happened was when he was 12 years old his father gave him his first like grand and let him make an investment so i realized he's not getting up early in the morning just to get up in the morning What he says he does is he reads. He doesn't just read books. That's not what he does. He reads financial reports. So this dude was telling me he read a financial report of General Motors in like 1964.
And I'm thinking like, why would you be reading? It's 2014. He was reading the document, the financial. Listen to me. He's a financial genius. What was he reading? Finances. For real y'all be coming up to me like yo eat what you reading why you trying to be a motivational speaker You're trying to be the next mother to King you trying to be the next mother Teresa Why are you trying to read what I'm reading? Like what are you trying like you trying to impress somebody?
Why are you reading what I'm trying to read if you're not trying to be me? He was not reading Mother Teresa. He wasn't reading about leaders. He was reading a financial report from 1964 General Motors. Why? Because General Motors had one of their successful financial years in 1964. And so he was looking for the clues of what were they doing specifically in 1964 that can be duplicated in 2014. That's what he was looking for.
So a lot of you getting up early because ET get up early, but you getting up early for no reason. You just up early. So be careful that your routine is pointing to where you're trying to get to. And you're not wasting time. So I'm looking at Warren Buffett. He says he reads six hours a day. He reads financial documents six hours a day. That's the first thing he does. Seven days a week. Six hours.
But watch this, you go, ooh. When you read something for six hours times seven, that's 42 hours, right? That's 42 hours a week. Right, I don't know how many hours that is a year, but guess why he makes the best financial decision Because all he's doing is financial stuff That's are you putting in ten thousand twenty thousand forty thousand fifty thousand hours?
If you're gifted in three areas, then that means you're going to have to get 30,000 hours just to be like basically a master. But what if you did one thing and got 30 hours of information in just that one area? You guys got 10,000 in three different areas. So why you got 10,000? I got 40, 50,000 in one area. What? Speaking. And guess what the disc is? The disc is still going further into personalities.
it's still the same exact thing so i'm putting more hours on top so the routine is important because eventually it's going to make you a beast in one particular area that's why you need a routine because you can't trust yourself not to get off track. That routine is going to keep you on track and make you a 1%.
On the other side of temporary pain, you get introduced to your other self. We think everything's permanent. And because we think it's permanent, we make permanent decisions based on temporary conditions. I'm super proud of where so many of you are right now. But I don't let anybody settle. I don't want us to become complacent. Man, I want you to engage with you. I want you to start confronting.
You is up to you to assemble yourself. You have to work on you. What we do is we shackle our mind. We are a prisoner in our own mind that this is all I can do. This is all I'm good at.
we really do believe it's further away like we honestly believe this thing is like a 20-year thing and so because we believe that we keep it there and we miss out on these you know possibilities in our life you have the power within yourself to change millions of lives by facing life by facing yourself most people go through life quietly and safely tiptoeing to an early grade find out what it is you want and go after it as if your life depends on it
You need to create a different relationship with pain in your life. The foundation of all strength is pain. There's always going to be storms on the horizon, but you've got to have the strength, the out-and-out arrogance to just keep getting up and keep carrying on.
It's doing. That's how you get great at your craft. And so if you're not willing to be a fool, then you'll never start anything new. And if you never start anything new, then you won't develop. And so the willingness to be a fool is the precursor to transformation. And that's the same as humility. And so if you're going to write your destiny, you can do a bad first job. You're going to get smarter as you move forward. I promise you, you are turning into a warrior.
Because the stuff that you're going through, the stuff that you have to experience, what don't kill you makes you stronger. I want you to understand. I don't know your story. I don't know the depths of what some of you have had to deal with. But I'm here to tell you, man, you can do hard things. And as long as there's breath in your lungs, there's hope in your heart too. But what you cannot do is you cannot quit doing the process. Stop sitting around.
moping and complaining and waiting for somebody to connect the dots for you put the work in and take the stairs to the top to get that good is a terrifying journey of self-discovery and confronting who you really are because you cannot make change until you acknowledge where you're actually at.
Nothing is easy. Anything worth having is hard to get. Admit that you can have anything you want, but it's going to be hard work. Admit that you are the only reason that you are where you are. And you are the only reason that you ain't where you want to be. Admit! Take responsibility and accept it. Get off your ass and get to work. If you're suffering terribly,
There's two options in front of you in some sense. One is you're suffering terribly and it's unjust and you're suffering terribly because the cosmos itself. The other possibility is you're suffering at least in part because you're not everything you could be. Most of us, we live in a box and we don't want to go outside that box at all, ever. Outside that box is all these possibilities of life. I now know that there is no cap.
on the human mind. There's no cap. We cap it ourselves. And there is literature too that suggests that people are a lot more unhappy when they look back on their lives about the things they didn't do. than they are about the mistakes they made while they were doing things. And so that's really worth thinking about too, because there's redemptive mistakes. And a redemptive mistake would be a mistake that you make when you go out and try to do something. You know, you actually...
You think, okay, I'm going to try to do this, and you're not good at it. You make a bunch of mistakes. It's like, what's the consequence if you pay attention? You're not quite so stupid anymore. That's the thing, is you've been informed by the results of your errors. Take some stumbling.
steps towards it and as you take stumbling steps towards it you become illuminated and enlightened and informed because of the nature of your experience because you're pushing yourself beyond where you are and you're going into the country that you have not yet been in And you learn something. And so if you stand still, you fall backwards. You cannot stand still. Because the world moves away from you if you stand still. And there's no stasis. There's only backwards.
And so if you're not moving forwards, then you're moving backwards. And that's more of the underlying truth of the Matthew principle. To those who have everything, more will be given. From those who have nothing, everything will be taken. Everybody wants to get to a place very few are willing to sacrifice to get there. Everything that has happened that's been good to me is slow. If you actually thought about your life in a 50-year window,
or an 80-year window, you would slow down. Everybody wants to succeed so fast because they want to prove something to somebody else. I started down the road instead of the path of least resistance. I started choosing the path of most resistance to prepare myself for the journey that was coming my way.
And most kids don't prepare themselves for the most resistance. No. They want to get out of things. They want to get out of things. Get off the hook. Right. Don't put in the extra reps. Right. They want the easiest path to get to the top, right? Right, exactly. We believe, like so many people, before I give them a workout plan, they're talking about recovery. Everybody that hears me speak, they want to go straight to recovery. Workout first.
Work out first before you talk to me about recovery. How to recover, yeah. Work out first. You know, they want to put you in a box. They want to put a title on you. No, you're putting a title on me to make yourself feel better about yourself. I made this person. I made this person by diving into the insecurities that life gave me. Because now they're yours. They're yours to own. If you're not smart, call yourself dumb. It's okay. Because you are.
But take that, not as you're putting yourself down. If you're fat, call yourself fat. I used to be 300 pounds. We want to talk so soft to ourselves. We're looking for that recovery day. And that recovery day is everything in your life. Everything in your life is a recovery day. We're looking for it. It's not coming It's not coming Get over that recovery day and that's the mentality I took with me When you start to build yourself up
and start to have the one thing that we don't have is confidence. Real, authentic confidence from hard work. Everything else goes away. You no longer look to other people for your self-esteem. That's right. You now know. I walk in the room now and I know the hours and years and decades I put into David Goggins. That's something, it's not on the wall. It's not a trophy on the wall. It's not a medal on your neck. I don't care how you perceive David Goggins.
because through my journey i figured out the one piece i was missing i thought it was cars i thought it was women i thought it was i thought it was money i thought it was everything the one piece i was missing was me having the courage to face myself I graduated high school with the number four grade point average in my class. However, I went to one of the lowest performing schools in my state. I never had any homework. Never had to study.
Never had to apply myself. I never was pushed. People always looked at me like, how do you make it look so easy? Well, to me, it was easy. But unfortunately, that's the exact opposite of how the real world works. See, in the real world, nothing comes easy. You have to put in the effort. You have to put in the blood, the sweat, the tears. If it doesn't hurt a little bit, if it doesn't sting a little bit.
If it doesn't make you a little uncomfortable, you probably won't get very much out of it. When I arrived at college, I quickly realized that I needed to study and really put a lot of time into it. But mentally, I just wasn't there. I was living way too reckless. I was nowhere close to being focused. Those poor choices led me to drop out and instantly I found myself in survival mode. Heard a wise man say,
If you fail to plan, then naturally you're planning to fail. And what I take that to mean is, each and every day, you're executing some type of game plan. That game plan is either going to lead you to massive success or massive failure. And see what the 18-year-old me fresh out of high school failed to realize is that it wasn't going to be easy. It was going to require me to be all in.
It was going to require me to apply myself. Something I'd never done in high school. Something no one around me had ever encouraged me to do. And that's why I'm encouraging you to dig a little deeper. To give a little bit more. To try a little bit harder. To go that extra mile. And understand that the reason why you're taking those classes. The reason why you're trying to get that degree.
It's because you are trying to design the lifestyle that you want to live. You're doing it for your future self. Because when you make the decision to stop progressing towards your degree, You're setting yourself up to live in survival mode. When your goal should be to get to thrival mode. No excuses. This is your life. You got to have a reason. You got to have a why.
So when you don't know why, just remember every step you take, every move you make, all of your daily actions are either leading you to success or they're leading you to failure. They either lead you to win or they lead you to lose. The choice is yours. So you get to choose. Don't be like me. Please don't be like me. Living in survival mode is no joke. Survival mode is tough. So please, take heed and avoid the route I chose by any means necessary. I admit, I was young.
But life doesn't give you a past based on your age. I need you to really listen. From the ages of 18 to 30, you should be eating a lot of ramen. Gary Vee would say you should be eating a lot of shh. I won't say that. But you should be comfortable being broke. You should embrace the struggle as you work hard in school or on your business to design the lifestyle that you want to live in the future.
I bet you didn't know that the average millionaire is 62 years old. And only 1% of all millionaires are under 35. So I want you to visualize the struggle of my life. Or the struggle of other people who made similar choices like me. Mentally stressed and emotionally drained. All because we wanted to do it our way. But our way set us up to live in survival mode.
And you're trying to design a lifestyle. So when you find yourself in that place where you want to drop out, you find yourself in that place where you want to give up, you find yourself in that place where you want to quit, you find yourself in that place where you want to throw in the towel.
You hear that negative inner voice saying things like, I'm homesick. I don't want to be here. I'm broke. I can't take another test. I can't stand my professor. Just remember, if you walk out on school right now, You might be walking out on your future. And you cannot get that time back. So whether you're in school or not, time will keep on ticking. But one thing is for certain, whatever you're doing right now.
Whatever you're doing tomorrow is leading you to your future life. It can be a great life or it can be a hard life. Remember, the choice is yours. So I implore you to take a moment and think. I implore you to remember these five things I'm going to tell you right now as it relates to your future self. It's not going to be easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it. I always say, I could have took the easy route. But there is no easy route. So number one, you've got to be patient.
But the problem is in this day and age, nobody wants to be patient. Everybody wants instant gratification. We're living in the microwave age of social media. When you post something, you immediately want a successful response. How many likes I get? How many comments I get? How many followers I get? Patience is a virtue. And life could care less about social media.
Success is a slow grow. And at times you'll feel like you're not making any progress. But you've got to keep grinding. You have to take it one day at a time. And let one day become two. And two become three. And three become four. And a week becomes a month. And a month becomes a year. And before you know it, you're arriving at your desired destination of graduation. So please, keep exercising your patience muscle.
Number two, I want you to see the success. I want you to visualize yourself in 10 years. I want you to visualize yourself in 20 years. Do you like what you see? How much money are you making? What kind of car are you driving? How big is your house? See, it all leads back to what you're doing right now. Your present self will set you up for whatever you have or don't have in the future. See, you're the architect.
So you create the design. You create the layout. And right now, you're simply building the foundation. And if your foundation is strong, meaning you're executing your plan on a daily basis, The day will come when your original blueprint turns into the castle of your dreams. So you have to see the success because when you can visualize the greatest you in the future, it gives you something to work toward.
it motivates you it empowers you it empowers you to push through even when you want to quit it empowers you to push through even when you want to give up it empowers you to push through when you feel like you can't take no more it empowers you to push through No matter what obstacles life throws your way. Number three, make sure you're hanging with winners. Surround yourself with a winner's circle of positive influences and positive people.
You can't run with the cheetahs if you're walking with the turtles. If you show me your friends, I'll show you your future. Are the people that you're hanging with everyday serious about going to class? Are the people that you're hanging with serious about going to the next level? Are the people that you're hanging with serious about being successful? Number four, build relationships.
You don't go to class every day and not build meaningful relationships. Later on in life, these are the same people that may be able to offer you a job. The same people that you may go into business with. The same people that may own the bank that you request a loan from. So make sure you're adding value to as many people as possible. Be likable. Show genuine care and concern. And please make sure you're not burning bridges. Number five.
Don't let relationships break you. Relationships control our mental state when I hate too much. She broke up with me. He left me. Why is she ignoring me? He cheated on me and I don't know what to do. I can't function no more. I can't go on without this person. Yes you can. You have to. You must. You're not the first person to be part of a relationship that ended. You have to love you some you.
You have to find a way to make sure that you believe in yourself enough. You believe in your heart of hearts enough to make sure that you don't let a relationship break you. so never be surprised at the actions of another person and always always save a piece of your heart for yourself and never allow relationships to break you this is your life so make sure you're respecting your personal brand
This is your life so make sure you avoid doing detrimental things that lead you to living in survival mode. This is your life so make your future self proud by working hard to tap into your wildest dreams of being great. So ultimately, you designed a lifestyle of greatness that you were born to live. This is a great day to win. Everybody wants to be successful, but no one wants to suck that comes before it. Everybody wants to be successful, but no one wants to suck that comes before it.
If you never found yourself saying my life sucks, you not ready. If you never find yourself saying my life's hard, you not ready. If you never find yourself saying my life's tough, you not ready. If you never find yourself saying my life is a mess, you're not ready. Ready! Life is hard. Life is tough.
But it's those that can persevere. It's those that can overcome. It's those that push through. It's those that power through all the setbacks, all the failures, all the suck of their life that go to another level. See, we all have a story. But the only way your story is ever told the only way your story is ever heard is if you overcome whatever it is that you're going through And I speak from experience See I grew up in the grimy
I grew up in the hood. I grew up in the place of undesirables. Place that no one wanted to live. Place that no one wanted to be. My mama passed away when I was four years old. I grew up with a mentally abusive, drug-addicted stepmother who treated me like Cinderella. I wasn't Cinderella, I was Cinderella. I got bullied. I got battered. I got bruised.
Matter of fact, it got so bad for me that I was running through the schoolyard and I was trying to avoid them bullies. I was running saying I can't let them catch me. I can't let them catch me. They caught me, picked me up, body slammed me, boom, punched me in the stomach. Punch me in the stomach. Drug me to a swimming pool. Threw me in the water. Held me up under that water. And I'm fighting and I'm fighting and I'm flailing. They're holding me. I just knew I was going to die.
But the last second they pulled me up I was just trying to catch my breath y'all They jumped out of the pool and they was laughing and I was sitting there defeated No, I wasn't defeated I learned a valuable lesson about myself that day. I found out that I was resilient. I found out that I was mentally tough. I found out that I was strong. I found out that I was a fighter. The bullies of life will try to break you.
The bullies of life will try to battle you. The bullies of life will try to beat you into submission. The bullies of life will try to make you quit. They will try to make you give up. And that's the moment that I need you to dig deep and realize that you are resilient. I need you to dig deep and realize that you are mentally tough. I need you to dig deep and realize that you have the power to push through and overcome
anything and everything that life can throw at you. See greatness cannot be borrowed. So all the woe is me, all the sorrow Will not help you go to another level. Will not help you succeed. Will not help you reach the top. Will not help you tap into your wildest dreams of being great. So as I slowly climbed myself up out the swimming pool I sat on the ledge for a second And I thought to myself I'm better than this I thought to myself
I'm bigger than this. I thought to myself I'm greater than this. I thought to myself what can I learn? How can I grow from this? And that's exactly what I need you to do in the face of adversity. That's exactly what I need you to do in the face of drama. That's exactly what I need you to do in the face of setbacks, failures, hardships, bad relationships, bad days.
Whatever it is that life is throwing your way, I need you to take a moment. Stop. Think. How can I grow from this? How can I learn from this? How can I overcome this? See, the mindset is never quit. The mindset is never give up. The mindset is pick yourself back up after you fall. I don't care if you fall 2,051 times. You pick yourself back up 2,052.
Because it's you versus you. So when I left that swimming pool that day, I knew I had something strong within me. I was shy. I was introverted. I was scared of my own shadow. But I had a gift. I had a gift that I needed to share with the world. And so I decided I made a choice to overcome my fears and jump. And I need you to overcome your fears and leap. and put yourself in a position to land softly on your bed of dreams. Because that's exactly what happened for me.
overcame my fear of public speaking I wanted to be a hip-hop artist but I was scared to be in front of people I was scared to be on stage but those bullies don't realize They lit a fire in me. Those bullies didn't realize they lit a flame in me. Those bullies didn't realize they lit the fire of determination. And I overcame my fear of public speaking. And what I did is I wrote and I wrote and I practiced and I practiced.
And when the day came, oh yeah, I still have fear inside of me. I was scared, but I was prepared. So I need you to pour into your dream with every ounce of your soul. I need you to pour into your dream with every ounce of your being. I need you to pour into your dream with everything you got. You may be scared. You may have fear. But when you plan and when you execute, you put yourself in a position to be scared. But you know you're prepared. So no matter what happens, you're ready.
willing and able they handed me that microphone and it was my time to shine and I took a deep breath and I let loose I let loose on the world. All the aggravation, all the bullying, all the setbacks, all the failures, all the people that told me I couldn't do it, all the fear, I let it go. And that was one of the most exhilarating, one of the most powerful verses I've ever said in my life.
And when you let go and you let loose on the world with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your passion, with all your drive, with all of your energy, you can't help but win. The next level awaits. What are you waiting for? You have a story that needs to be told to the world. So I need you to use your story.
as the fuel that drives you. I need you to use your story as the gas that drives you I need you to use your story because your story will plant the seeds that allow you to water and watch grow and watch blossom because when I came off that stage when I came off that stage
Those same bullies that tried to drown me. Those same people that kept talking behind my back. Those same people that thought I could never achieve. Those same people who doubted me. They were all respecting me. They were all... Pat me on the back. I need you to give yourself a chance for people to tell you how proud they are of you. Better yet, I need you to do something today. I need you to do something right now to make yourself proud.
But see, success doesn't happen by accident. Success happens by acts of grind. Success happens by acts of resiliency. Success happens by acts of never giving up. Success happens by overcoming the adversity, overcoming each and every obstacle that you're facing in your life. You were born to be spectacular. You were born to win. I love this quote.
It says if you're not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. And champions like you, champions like me, we add that extra because we're extraordinary. And we understand. The harder you work for something The greater you will feel when you achieve it The greater you will feel when you receive it You are blessed and highly favored And this is your moment. This is your time. You were once a lump of coal. But all that pressure, all that pressure has formed a diamond.
And now is your time to shine. You just got to receive it. You just got to believe it. Don't wait for the opportunity. Create it. You were born with a gift to share with the world. You were born to be spectacular. You were born to be phenomenal. You are enough. You are worthy and your story doesn't define you. You take your story, use it as fuel to arrive at your destination of next level. This is a great day to win.
You don't get to choose how you start in this life, but you do get to choose what you do. Real greatness isn't determined by some birthright or fate. Real greatness is determined by what you do with the hand that you're dealt. So what are you going to do? Sit there, do nothing, complain, be a victim? Is that really what you want? To be mediocre? No one, and I mean no person on this earth, has ever woken up and said, I just want to be mediocre. So what are you going to do about it?
Do you want to coast through life without fulfilling the potential that lives within you? Do you really want to wake up one day and realize that all of the dreams you have had have passed you by? Each one of us has dreams and we have passions. We have things that we want to accomplish. Maybe it's a better job. Maybe it's to be more fit. Maybe it's to have a better relationship with our children or our spouse.
Either way, there's something out there I know that you want. The real question is how bad do you want it and what are you willing to do to get it? Normal, regular people just like you and me can do extraordinary things. I don't think greatness is something you're born with. Some mysterious power bestowed upon us by God. It's something that truly exists in everyone. At some point in time the egg hatches. At some point in time.
Your wings have to go out and you have to fly out on your own. You can't be carried for the rest of your life. You made it this far because something kept you going. Something kept you believing. Something help you to understand that the fight was not over yet If you put your right hand on your heart right now you can feel that blood pumping you can feel that purpose You can feel that reason
There's nothing that I couldn't get up from we're really strong. We're just being sold that we're not You know you want to be a little bit better in some way tomorrow than you are today But it's not going to be in a linear path. You have to really do the work. You have to back it with hard work. And if you ask Conor McGregor, what's the secret to his success? Hard work, hard work, hard work.
Your dreams aren't going to come true on their own, so it's time to get to work. It's not going to be easy. Great things never get dropped in your lap and they never start from comfort zones. If you want to be something you've never been you need to do something you've never done.
you'll be faced with difficult situations there'll be times that you don't believe in your ability to persevere there'll be times you feel incapable of rising to meet the challenges that face you you'll be tempted to turn your back and run But running is never the best option. When you're in the middle of a struggle, the only way out is through. Rather than running away from obstacles or trying to figure out some kind of way around them, go right through them, brace yourself.
Steady your nerves and tackle whatever you face head on. Those voices in your head telling you to turn back, telling you that they'll fail. Shut them the hell up. But I've failed in the past. I fell flat on my face. Listen to me. You can't have a better tomorrow if you're too busy thinking about yesterday.
once the past has taught you everything you need to know then let it go your past doesn't define you regardless of what has happened in the past today is a brand new day you can always start fresh you can write a new chapter Or you can choose to write an entire new book. Once you learn to let go of the past, then you can truly start living in the moment. Don't trip over what's in front of you because you're too busy looking behind you. We all have a choice when it comes to building our future.
but I don't feel like I'm good enough. Feelings are not facts. Feelings may feel real. You may believe your feelings are real, but they aren't, and feelings lie. Don't make a permanent decision for your temporary emotion. Don't make promises when you're happy. Don't reply when you're angry. Don't make decisions when you're sad.
Waiting until you gain control of your emotions may save you from making a decision you'll greatly regret later. But what about the people telling me to quit? Just like your feelings? Them too. Never. ever, ever let a person who gave up on their dreams talk you out of yours. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The only person who has the right to tell you that you can't do something is you. Just because others have failed, it doesn't mean that you're going to fail.
Just because others gave up it doesn't mean you're going to give up. Just because others didn't have the strength to fight for what they believe in it doesn't mean that you'll fall to the same weakness. Go after what you want and go after what you believe in. listen to the person who matters most you know who that is it's you
Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start believing in what could go right. There may be a million reasons you're afraid to follow your dreams but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go after what your heart desires. even if the odds are stacked against you it doesn't mean you won't be successful there's no obstacle that you can't overcome if you want something badly enough the greater the challenges you face the greater the miracles you'll create
Now that you've shut down the negative voices it's time to focus. You'll defeat the person you were yesterday. The person you need to compete with the most is the old you. Today, you're going to train harder than that person. You're going to eat better than that person, sleep better than that person. You're going to read and educate yourself and become smarter than that person. You're going to live more than that person. You know their strengths.
You know their weaknesses. You know them all too well. They're the old you and there's nothing they can do to stop you. How do I know you'll be successful? Success isn't about greatness. It's about consistency. No one's born great. greatness is something that is earned through consistency. If you show up day after day and work hard, if you give your full effort, if you leave nothing on the table, then greatness and success will come. The true secret of success is to accept the truth.
that the only path is the path of hard work and productivity. You'll get where you want to go and achieve your goals if you follow four simple rules. Show up, work hard, don't quit. and ask some questions along the way everything in this life is earned there's no such thing as a free lunch so go earn yours but it's going to hurt I want it to hurt. Pain leads to power. Struggle leads to strength. If there was a pill that could fulfill your dreams without effort, would you take it?
If you could buy what you want for three easy payments of $9.99, would you buy it? I wouldn't. I've seen how genuine hard work and effort changes people from the inside out through a cycle of struggle. Hard work and then success, something happens to a person, not only physically, but psychologically. You become confident inside out. That kind of confidence doesn't wash off in the shower. The effect stays with you.
The confidence you gain stays with you. The feeling of success stays with you. The more you struggle and the more you have to work for what you want, the longer those feelings last. The easy path never brings a reward you really want. Nothing in life should come easily. And if it does, you don't want it because chances are it comes with a catch.
I've tried before, but my last plan didn't work. If plan A doesn't work, there are 25 more letters in the alphabet. Even the most successful have had their share of failures and missteps. The difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is that the ones who accomplished their goals never quit. If they failed on the first attempt, they tried again. If they failed on the second attempt, they tried again.
There are people who failed 15 times before they got it right. Don't let failure get you down or dissuade you from continuing to pursue your goal. There's no rule in life that says you can only try once. Learn from your failure and try again. Eventually, you'll get it right no matter how many times you fall down. Do you think when a baby's learning to walk, it sits down after its first fall and says, maybe this isn't for me? The only time you truly fail is when you quit.
So believe in yourself. Place a bet on yourself. The true secret of success is to believe in yourself. Be daring. Be bold. And don't be afraid to go places that others fear. There is something greater inside you than any obstacle you'll ever face. Remember that a bird sitting on a branch is never afraid of the branch breaking because the bird's trust is not on that branch, but in its own wings.
Do it now. Do it today. Don't wait until tomorrow and don't wait for someday. There are seven days in the week. Someday isn't one of them. and I've got a Boost Mobile gift just for you. Aw, for me, Anna? Yes, Anna, you deserve a gift. The Boost Mobile Unlimited plan is just $10 a month for the first two months, then $25 a month forever with unlimited data, talk, and text. It's a gift.
Thanks, Anna. Anytime, Anna. The holidays are here, and the best gift is for you. Offer valid at BoostMobile.com. After your first two months, you'll pay $25 a month unless you go online or call to cancel. Requires auto pay. Why choose a Sleep Number smart bed? Can I make my sight softer? Can I make my sight firmer? Can we sleep cooler? Sleep Number does that. Cools up to eight times faster.
and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side. Your sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night. It's our Black Friday sale. Recharge this season with a bundle of cozy, soothing comfort. Now only $17.99 for our C2 mattress and base, plus free premium delivery. Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Check it out at a Sleep Number store or sleepnumber.com today.
