Only the strong survive.
You will not outwork me.
On your jet, you will not outwork me.
In your Bentley, you will not outwork me.
What’s your win it all?
Do you even know?
Like do you know what your win it all is for this year?
You have been blessed by the Creator to be on the earth.
You here.
Leave your doggone mark.
You here.
He bless you to be here.
Do something!
– He’s an American author, educator, minister, activist,
and motivational speaker.
He has a tell it like it is style that earned him
the moniker, the Hip Hop Preacher.
He motivates people all around the world
with his inspirational speeches and teachings.
He’s Eric Thomas and here’s my take
on his top 10 rules of success volume two.
Rule number one is my personal favorite
and I’d love to know which one you guys like the best
and as always guys, as you’re watching the videos,
if you hear something that really resonates with you,
please leave it down in the comments below
and put quotes around it
so other people can be inspired as well.
Also, as you are writing something down,
it’s much more likely to stick in your head too.
Enjoy!
(inspiring music)
– If there’s anything in life
that you don’t currently have right now,
it’s because of who you are and how you think.
Come on, right now you sayin’,
“ET, man, you talkin’ to me.
“Man, I’m goin’ through some type of pain.
“I’m ready to quite and give up.”
Let me see your hand.
“I’m ready to quit and give up.”
Let me see your hand.
“Somethin’ in life I’m ready to quit on,
“give up on.”
Come on, raise your hand high.
“I’m ready to quit on, I’m ready to give up on.”
Come on, raise it up.
Alright, what I need you to do is I need you to find
a reason to keep going and if you can find a reason
to keep going I know you strong enough to do it
’cause you human and every human has what it takes
to get passed whatever they goin’ through
if they decide to push through it.
Push through it.
Tragedy and trials come to everybody.
Only the strong survive.
I watched my wife when she got diagnosed,
I watched my wife have terrible days
and she probably missed two days of work the whole time
she had MS.
I watched her go to work and I’m like, Boo,
why in the world would you get up and go to work?
You don’t even need the money!
Why would you do it?
It’s cold.
It’s 10 degrees in Michigan and your MS flare up
when it’s cold.
What are you doin’?
She said,
“I can’t see my daughter,
“I can’t have my daughter see me weak
“’cause my daughter going to be married one day
“and my daughter going to face tragedy one day
“and I have to show her how to do it
“and so I get up and get dressed and I go to work everyday
“so my baby girl can know how to get through trials
“’cause one day she ain’t going to be under our roof
“and she going to have to do it alone and I don’t want to talk,
“I want to model what it looks like.”
My daughter got on the prayer line.
She was in a prayer meeting the other day,
told her testimony, she like,
“Yo, I didn’t even feel like going to school.
“I ain’t feel like walking a mile to go to class
“and I thought about it,
“my mom got a chronic illness and if my mom in her 40’s
“can get up with a chronic illness and go to work,
“why surely I can get up at 18 years old
“and go to class.”
It worked.
It worked.
It worked.
Listen to me very closely.
You all running from obstacles when in fact
it’s the obstacle that’s going to take you to the next level.
Like you all running from pain.
You all running from challenges.
You telling me how difficult your life is.
Do you understand it is the difficulty
that’s going to prepare you and take you to that next level?
Why do you keep crying, why me God?
Why’d I get MS?
Why did I get cancer?
Why did my mama die?
Why did I get fired?
Do you understand?
Listen!
You got through that,
you got put through that because what that does,
that tension produces greatness.
Stop running from it and run to it.
Come on you all, you all got to here me.
The reason why you do what you do is more critical
than what you do and if why you do what you do is weak,
I need you to go back and start all over again
because if your reasoning is weak,
you not going to get it done.
Why?
Because life is going to beat you up side your head
and I’m going to tell you this –
I don’t care who you are and what profession you in,
before you blow up, life will strip you to the core,
but if you weak,
you will be broke and I’m not here because I’m the best.
I’m here because they tried to break me
and they couldn’t.
Many of you have a very small opportunity
and you’re not taking advantage of that opportunity
because you’re not thinking about the next opportunity.
You’re looking at this as small.
No, this is the gateway.
Like this is the first one, right?
So you got to ask yourself this question –
like how do you keep that fire.
You know how you keep it?
You keep putting different opportunities in front of you.
You keep setting different opportunities.
Anybody know who this is?
Yeah, you should.
He in the Big 10.
He gave us the business.
You should know who he is.
Yogi Ferrell.
Didn’t get drafted, didn’t get drafted to the NBA.
Didn’t get drafted but they just,
something happened the other day.
The Dallas Mavericks needed a player.
They gave my man a 10 day contract.
How much did he make?
They gave my man $100,000.
How much Lebron makin’?
Millions!
They gave my man, look, for 10 days,
we just want you to play for us.
Somebody got hurt.
We only going to bring you in for 10 days.
You know what I’m sayin’, you got 10 days, ride the bench,
do your thing but you only got 10 days.
Don’t get your hopes up.
My man be comin’ in, I’m talking ‘about trick, boom,
not only three pointers like daggers, two seconds, boom,
the 10 day contract then turn,
this boy ‘about to get a contract.
What are you doin’ with your opportunity?
We all get one.
We all get the 10 day contract but the question is,
will that 10 day contract turn into a year contract?
Will it turn into a two year contract?
You think Yogi Ferrell’s the only one that’s got
the opportunity to come from a developmental league
and play?
No.
You think other people doin’ what he doin’?
No.
Why?
Because they weren’t prepared for it.
What are you doing in the dark when nobody’s watching?
What are you doing in the dark?
10 day contract but he didn’t come in and say,
“I only got 10 days.”
That’s what some of you all on!
Oh, since I only got 10 days,
I might as well only give 10 days worth of effort.
I might as well only give 10 days worth of energy.
Yogi Ferrell was like,
“I’m about to act like this might be my last shot.
“I’m about to act like I’m startin’.
“I’m about to act like Lebron.
“I’m about to act like Kyree.
“I’m about to act like Steph Curry.
“When you put me in the game, I’m telling you,
“I’m about to murder ’em,”
and after 10 days, he’d been murdering ’em,
he’d been on ESPN almost everyday.
All they talk about, Yogi Ferrell.
I’m talking about NBA TV, ESPN1, ESPN2, like Spanish ESPN.
So you all got to understand something.
What was Yogi doing before,
what was Yogi doing before he got that opportunity, you all?
He was preparing for it.
You don’t get in the game and score like he scored.
So he said, “So what, I didn’t make the league.
“So what?
“They can’t stop me from practicing.
“They can’t stop me from getting up in the morning
“and running drills.”
So the problem with most of us is,
you have an opportunity.
You wrote it down.
You wrote it down right here.
Opportunity.
They gave me an opportunity.
They gave me a shot.
Somebody gave me a GED.
I turned that GED into a four year degree.
Somebody gave me a four year degree,
I turned it into a Master’s degree.
Somebody gave me a Master’s degree,
I turned it into a PhD.
You got the opportunity, what you doing with it?
Opportunity is coming; Will you be ready when it comes?
There are those of you who have dreams and goals
and you not getting it.
You cannot do it alone.
Are you hearing me?
And I feel you.
I feel you like you feel like if you do it by yourself,
for real like, you don’t have to deal with people,
you don’t have to go through some of the stressors
of dealing with people.
Like you like, I just want to be by myself.
I want to do it by myself and look, I’m not mad at you,
but I’m telling you,
there’s a level that you can get to alone
and then there’s a level you can get to –
are you hearing me?
There’s a level you can get to when it’s two or more.
Look, it was the three of us initially –
Karl, myself, CJ,
we call ourselves the three-headed monster.
The Head, right?
The Hands, right?
Come on and the Mouth.
Are you hearing (clapping) what I’m tellin’ you?
And so listen to me.
You all got to hear what I’m tellin’ you.
You all got to hear what I’m tellin’ you.
Watch this.
The power of two.
So the Belgian horse.
Come on, come on, come on,
make sure you show an image of him.
I need ’em to see how strong that horse is.
I need ’em to see the power.
This horse has the ability, like this is just a,
like general horse.
We need to talk about the more powerful ones.
7,000 pounds.
Are you hearing me?
7,000 pounds it can pull on its own.
Unbelievable!
But watch this, it’s going to blow your mind,
but when you put two of ’em together, yep, yep,
two of ’em together, they can actually pull,
they just like general like, they can pull 15,000 pounds.
Did you hear what I just said?
Alone they can do seven, right?
Together 15, not 14 but watch this (screams), mind blowin’.
Watch this but if you train them together,
this what my boy Justin taught me.
My boy Justin a mental, yeah, mental skills coach, right?
Here’s what he taught me.
He said when you put two of ’em together
and train them together from the beginning,
Karl, this going to blow your mind,
they can pull 25,000 pounds.
Woo!
Come on!
Come on!
Alone, 7.
Both of ’em together, 15 but if you train them together,
(laughs), if you train, I’m trying to tell you all,
you tryin’ to do it alone and nothing great
has ever been done alone and so I know
you feel more comfortable being by yourself.
I know it’s easier to be by yourself.
Look, I know you like being by yourself but I’m tellin’ you,
some of them goals you got, baby?
Come on!
Some of them ideas you have,
some of the stuff you want to accomplish?
It’s 25,000 pounds and on your best day
you can’t do that by yourself.
So it’s your boy ET sayin’, listen to me, come on, come on.
Two, the power of two.
I know there’s a power in one but the power of two is great.
You will not outwork me!
It’s not about being the best motivational speaker
in the world.
It’s about being the most consistent motivational speaker
in the world and so when you watch me,
even if you don’t like me and you’re into motivation,
you got to fool with me.
Why?
‘Cause I’m on everything.
ET was that you on the Dick’s commercial?
Yep, it was.
How do you do this day after day?
Dedicating your life to the search for a few more feet?
ET, you doin’ stuff with the Olympics?
Absolutely.
ET, was that you on the?
Yep, that was me.
ET, did you do that?
Yep, you saw me.
Was you doin’ stuff for Cleveland on the jumbo screen?
Yep, that was me.
You will not outwork me.
High school drop-out.
Yes, your vocabulary count is deeper than mine.
Absolutely, yep, you look better than me.
Suit, asymmetric look, yep, you got me beat all day.
You got me.
Grew up on the other side of town, two parents,
great net worth?
You got, I’m not going to lie.
You way sweeter than I am.
You got all the stuff.
You got it all but you will not outwork me
’cause your height has nothing to do with my work ethic.
Your face has nothing to do with my work ethic.
Your two parent background has nothing to do
with my work ethic.
You will not outwork me.
On your jet, you will not outwork me.
In your Bentley, you will not outwork me.
And there are those of you in this room,
the reason why this stuff ain’t happenin’ for you
’cause you gettin’ outworked.
Come on, call the best motivational speakers in the world.
Give us seven days.
Let us go all over the world and speak.
Come on,
and while you in the green room puttin’ on your makeup,
you will not outwork me.
I’m bein’ real.
You will not outwork me.
While you doin’ photo shoots, you know I’m working.
You all being outworked in your marriage.
You’re being outworked in your job.
You’re being outworked with your kids.
Your kid’s in a gang.
Why?
‘Cause somebody lovin’ on him more than you lovin’ on him.
They in a gang, they in a gang
’cause you ain’t hardly at home.
You’re being outworked.
You got somebody else in the hood who got more,
they got your kid’s ear more than you got him.
And you like, “I just can’t believe this society.”
It’s not the society.
You got outworked.
Some dude up the block is spending more time with your son
than you are.
Some guy on the block is tellin’ your daughter
how cute she is and you not ’cause you grinding,
you working but you thought when I told you 120,
I just meant at work.
I mean everywhere.
You will not outwork me.
You might make money but your marriage might not be.
I’m going to get you on all fronts.
With every milestone,
while you might be excited about the milestone,
there’s a part of the milestone that you don’t want to face.
Are you hearing me?
And listen to me.
I knocked out the coursework, boom, got it done in order.
ET, why did it take you two years,
ET, after you finished your coursework,
why did it take you two years to get started
with the dissertation?
I’m going to be 100 with you.
Look, knocked all the coursework out
but when I finally got to the dissertation,
I had to get to that demon.
I had to deal with it.
I had to face it.
Face what?
We not talking about elementary school, middle school,
high school.
I’ve had a professor or two tell me in college
that “You will never get your dissertation,”
That, “While your writing has improved
“but in terms of your analysis, like,
“you are not critical enough to do a dissertation.”
Are you hearing what I’m telling you?
We talkin’ about look, math, I love math coming up.
Why?
It is what it is.
Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally, like,
it is what it is, right?
It’s not subjective.
Writing is subjective.
I’ve had teachers that look at my work
and stripping it apart.
The fear, the fear of what?
The fear of rejection, right?
My teachers were so subjective.
I put my whole heart into it.
I put everything I could put and they tell me,
“Edit it again.”
Revision after revision.
Edit after edit.
Are you hearing what I’m telling you?
I had to deal with the fact that writing
has never really been my strong suit
and even though I’ve worked hard
and I put in hours and hours,
in the back of my mind, in the back of my mind,
I can hear the teachers say,
“ET, you don’t have what it takes to get a dissertation.”
I’m a grown man dealing with that fear.
I’m a grown man dealing with that rejection
of getting all that red on my paper
of having to do it over and over and over and over
and come on, come on, somebody feels me.
You feel like you will do 120%,
you’ll give everything you have
and it still won’t be enough.
I feel you.
I was there.
A part of the milestone is,
what if I give everything and it ain’t enough?
What if I put my whole heart, my whole mind,
my whole soul into it, ET, and it’s not enough?
What if I do it and I fail?
And so I feel you.
So you just like,
you not going to do it at all because you’d rather not do it
and find out the truth and I’m tellin’ you,
you got to do me a favor.
You got to face your fear and you got to do it anyway.
Your boy ET had to face his fear.
That’s right, yep, I know you see ET beast mode,
and you right, I am beast mode,
but it don’t mean beast mode without fear.
It don’t mean beast mode without a little anxiety.
It don’t mean beast mode and I’m just 120% sure.
No!
I have to live by faith too and I made up in my mind,
ET, you got to go after it, E.
Look, I finished my coursework.
It took me two years.
Why?
‘Cause it took me two years to get over the fear.
It took me two years to get over the anxiety.
It took me two years to finally say, “Goliath!
“Here I come!
“Goliath, you might be taller than me.
“You might be bigger than me.
“You might be stronger than me but I’m comin’
“and I’d rather die tryin’.
“I’d rather die going after this dissertation.
“I’d rather give everything I got.
“I’d rather give a year.
“I’d rather put in work and fail than not try at all.”
Where your focus goes, your energy flows,
and so if you focusin’ on the negative,
guess what’s going to happen?
You’re energy is going to go to the negative in everything
and everything is goin’ be negative
because that’s where your focus is.
That’s where your energy is flowin’.
Listen to me.
If you think about that thing
when you concentrate on winning,
you concentrate on dominatin’.
Listen to me.
Whatever you focus on, where your focus goes,
your energy flows and so we going to think about
what we thinkin’ about.
You hear me?
We going to think about what we thinkin’ about
and when we think about those things which are pure.
Listen to me, come on!
That stuff that’s true, right?
Whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, are you hearing me?
Meditate on this stuff.
Focus on this stuff.
It don’t mean negative things won’t happen
but we not focusin’ on it.
Are you hearin’ me?
It don’t mean that negative things won’t transpire,
that as you go through the day, something bad won’t happen,
but we not goin’ meditate on it.
We going to focus on what’s positive.
We going to focus on what’s good, right?
And when we focus on that,
that’s where our energy’s going to go.
And what’s going to happen is,
the outcomes are going to reflect our thinking.
Practive, practice, practice.
Reps, reps, reps.
I can’t wait ’til the (inaudible),
I got to get my reps in.
I don’t care how good you are.
I don’t care how bad you are.
You got to get those reps in.
So make sure you do this.
Listen to me and I told you,
how many times a day do I want you doin’ this?
Three times a day – morning, noon, night.
Come on, this ain’t rocket science.
I want you to do it when?
Morning, noon, night.
There’s not a lot of us, I need to hear you.
– [All] Morning, noon, night.
– 90 straight days.
Alright so you all know we went from the backyard,
we did this here, right?
We did high schools like for real, we just keep practicin’.
It ain’t rocket science.
You keep doin’ it 30 days, 60 days, 90 days.
You start all over.
You go to another level.
30 days, 60 days, 90 days.
You like, why am I not going to that?
‘Cause you not doing 30 days, 60 days, 90 days.
Like you might not even make it, like you might not even,
whatever you said you was going to do,
it might not even last 30 days.
You might do 10 and quit.
What’s your win it all?
Do you even know?
Like do you know what your win it all is for this year?
Like do you know if this year ended,
like what you go woo, if that happened?
Like do you know or are you just waking up playing craps
with your life and you just hope it roll on
what you want it to roll on.
You playin’ the lottery with your life?
You just hopin’ you put the numbers in
and they come out right or are you 30,60,90?
30, 60, 90, morning, noon, night.
Make the adjustments.
Whatever you’re doing that’s not good, quit.
You’re getting like a D, a C, okay we need to,
you got a 71%?
You doing something wrong.
Look if you got a 80%, you doin’ something what?
If you got a 89% you doin’ something what?
Or you might be, sweet, a 89 might be sweet
but we got 11% for growth.
That’s 11% growth right there.
It’s not until you’re getting 100% that you need to stop.
Right, so, 30, 60, 90.
Say it with me.
30, 60, 90, come on.
30, 60, 90 and then we do what?
We start all over again.
By that time, it’s a habit.
If you really want to be dominant in your field,
30, 60, 90, start all over again.
30, 60, 90, start all over again.
Morning, noon, night.
Alright guys, I’ve been watching the Olympics, yeah.
Yep, I’ve been watching the Olympics, right?
And my favorite part, yep, track and field.
Nope, I’m not talking about Usain Bolt.
No, no, we ain’t on that.
I’m talking about the false starts, yep.
I love it, yep.
You say, “ET, the false starts?”
Yep, yep, ’cause I’m tired of people asking me,
“E, why you so passionate?”
Yep, I’m tired of people saying, “ET, why you so loud?
“ET, why you abrasive?
“Why?”
Because the real world, yep,
the real world is like track and field
and I don’t know if you been watchin’
or if you paid attention but you get one false start.
Yep, that’s it, guys.
You get one false start.
That’s it!
Like you don’t get a second chance
and what I love about these Olympics,
we going to show it to you,
what I love about these Olympics is,
one false start, you out.
That’s right, you been working for four straight years,
you out.
Absolutely, you don’t get a second shot and like
all that stuff you missed, you made some serious sacrifices,
like you got up early in the morning,
like you know what I’m sayin’?
Like you didn’t got out with your homies, right?
Look, there was some things that you had to give up.
For four straight years, you been gettin’ up in the morning.
Four straight years you’ve been grinding.
Four straight years you been eatin’ different.
Four straight years you been in the weight room.
Four straight years you been going in and you ruin it all.
You ruined it all with a false start and you can’t say,
“Well, I didn’t mean to do this,”
and “I didn’t mean to do that,”
and “I made a mistake.”
There are no mistakes and that’s why I get so passionate
’cause in the real world,
you don’t get five, six, seven chances
and some of you are going through life,
you wondering why you not successful.
You wondering why you average.
You wondering why you can’t live the way
you deserve to live.
You wondering why you in lack.
You wondering why you keep comin’ up short.
You think ’cause you say you sorry,
you keep sayin’, “Oh, I didn’t mean it.”
You keep sayin’, “My heart’s in the right place.”
Look, in the real world, it’s like track and field.
They don’t care.
You get one false start, boom, and you out.
So your boy ET is passionate.
Why?
When I tell you that you got to make sacrifices
and you got to get up at three o’clock and four o’clock
and you got to grind,
“ET, why you tellin’ me that?
“Why?”
Because people don’t need help sleepin’ in.
People don’t need help gainin’ weight.
People don’t need help overindulging, making excuses.
People don’t need help hitting the snooze button.
People need help making sacrifices.
So it’s your boy ET telling you, look,
I’m not saying it’s going to be easy.
I didn’t make up the rules.
I’m not saying you don’t need a third or fourth chance.
I didn’t make up the rules but what I’m telling you is,
life is like track and field in Rio.
You don’t always get another one.
You don’t always get a second one.
You don’t always get a third one.
You don’t always get a fourth one.
Yep, it’s tough.
It’s hard.
Listen to me.
If it was easy to stay focused on that starting line,
everybody would do it.
If it was easy to jump off with a great start,
everybody would do it.
I’m not tellin’ you it’s going to be easy
to get up at three o’clock in the morning.
I’m not tellin’ you it’s going to be easy
to sacrifice.
I’m not tellin’ you it’s going to be easy to grind.
I’m not tellin’ you it’s going to be easy
but I can tell you this –
it will be worth the sacrifice
if you can grind your way through it.
So like Usain Bolt, no excuses, just adjustments.
Execute, my friend.
Execute.
Hey, listen.
Let me just explain something to you all.
I got to keep you on it.
CJ 12 years younger than me.
I was out of high school
before this boy was even really born.
Are you hearing what I’m saying?
My man 12 years younger than me.
12 years and he picked up that phone
and he had one of them heart-to-heart.
Do you have anybody in your inner circle
that’s willing to be real with you?
That’s willing to keep it 100?
That don’t care nothing about your feelings
but they care about your goals and your dreams?
CJ hit me up.
I had called my man, left a message like,
C, they killin’ me.
They want to know when the mix tape comin’ out.
When is the next mix tape comin’ out, C?
C said, “ET, let me tell you something.
“Shut it down.”
I said, what?
He said, “Shut it down.
“Shut them, tell ’em ain’t no mix tape comin’.”
Stop doin’ TGI, shut it down.
That’s why you got the reruns for so long.
He said, “Shut it down, E.
“Shut it down.
“I’m tired.”
He said, “Imma keep it 100.
“I’m tired, E.
“The last two mix tapes,
“you was talkin’ about how you going to get your PhD.
“Between me and you, e mano e mano, man to man,
“we will not come out with another mix tape
“when you talking ‘about what you going to do.
“Shut it all down, E.
“Do you understand that the future of this company
“is all you finished in this PhD?
“Shut the gig down.
“Shut it down.”
And I’m tellin’ you all, one of the, yep,
one of the ways your boy got the milestone done,
I had to shut it down.
I shut down the phone call.
Flat out from a certain time, don’t call my house.
If you love me, text me.
If you love me and ain’t no emergency, don’t call me.
I had to shut it down.
Shut the TV down.
Listen to me, put the controllers down.
Shut down going out bowling on the weekend,
going to the club.
Look, shut it down.
Shut down your favorite team.
Stop watching your favorite football
or basketball or soccer,
whatever it is, shut it down.
And I’m tellin’ you,
you ain’t got to shut it down for the rest of your life
but you got to shut it down long enough
so you can get your super bowl done.
Yep, so you can get your NBA finals done.
Yep, yep, yep, yep.
So you can get your World Series done.
Yep.
Are you hearing me?
So you can get your national title done.
Are you hearing me?
So you can get your book done.
So you can get your CD finished.
So you can get your degree.
So you can take your marriage to the next level.
Shut it down!
I had to shut the noise down.
I had to shut it down and when I shut it down,
when I shut certain things down in my life, boom,
I went to a whole nother level.
There are those of you who don’t understand the power
of your why and what I need you to do for me
is that when you make your moves on a daily basis,
I don’t need you to make ’em with you on your brain
because if you’re thinking about you,
you might quit or if you’re thinking about you,
you might give me 80%, right?
If you thinkin’ about you, like for real,
you want you, you selfish.
Like for real, there’s some of you all,
you go to work and you like,
“I don’t feel like going to work.”
And the reason why you don’t feel like going to work
’cause you on you.
So you can not want to go to work and then when you go,
you like, for real, this is what people don’t realize.
We didn’t blow up because of what we do.
We blow up because of the passion in which we do what we do.
You understand, like all we do is free videos on YouTube,
that’s it but the passion in which we do free.
You not going to get people to do it the way we do it
that’s gettin’ paid.
We not gettin’ paid no money but we bringin’ it every,
look, eight years we been bringin’ it.
You got Secret to Success video, The Guru went viral.
You got What’s Your Why? That went viral.
You got the St. Louis boy that went viral.
Are you hearing me?
Greatness is Upon You that went, come on!
It’s for free but we do it with passion.
So you goin’ to work with an attitude and you don’t get it,
you so selfish, that you can go with an attitude
because you not thinking about the people behind you.
The reason why you sayin’ no to stuff,
the reason why you pushin’ the snooze button,
the reason why you still goin’ to work trippin’,
the reason why you ain’t blow up
is because you still on 70%.
You still on 60%.
You want to know why the world’s passing you up?
Because whatever you do for a living, you barely doing it.
You come and you don’t want to be there.
You not bringing the fire.
You not bringing the passion.
You not bringing the heat
and the reason why you not bringin’ it
’cause you thinkin’ about you.
You have not blown up because you’re so self-centered.
It’s always about you.
You so conceited.
You so arrogant.
Your whole life is about you
and that’s why you haven’t gone nowhere.
But when you learn to think about somebody else,
how what you do affects, how your sleeping in the bed,
affects somebody else life,
how you hittin’ the snooze button
is affecting somebody else’s life,
how you bein’ lazy.
She got to walk past you to go to work.
You still on that?
Your mama got to get up and go to work to provide for you.
My mama worked for me.
I created a job so when my mom finished workin’,
when she retired from where she didn’t want to be,
she could now do what she liked to do and get paid for it.
Come on, come on, come on!
I need you to finish this year up strong
so I can get the real you in 2017.
We tired of this, we tired of this 60% you.
We tired of this crying you, this complainin’ you.
We tired of this version.
Greatness is in you.
You are here.
You have been blessed by the Creator to be on the earth.
You here.
Leave your doggone mark.
You here.
He blessed you to be here.
Do something.
So whatever you got to do, you do it,
but I’m not about to compromise
because you’ve inflicting pain and there are those of you,
you were this close but you compromised.
You let your feelings get the best of you.
You compromised!
You compromised.
You let your anger make you say something
that you didn’t really want to say.
You let the fact that you was lonely,
you got lonely and you did stuff
that you know you probably wouldn’t do.
Some of you have sold your greatness and your destiny
for a couple dollars
and what I’m doing now,
I was doing 20 years ago and I have not bent.
I didn’t break.
So what you don’t understand why I’m doing what I’m doing.
So what you don’t see my greatness.
So what you don’t understand how I do what I do.
This is what I’ve been called to
and you let a little pain stop you from your dream.
Girl, you was there.
You was running your business, you were there.
Then your mama didn’t like the fact that you were doing it.
Your mama didn’t understand
and you let your mama in your ear.
Like it was your mama’s dream.
You let your daddy talk you out of it.
That was yours!
That was something the Creator gave to you.
That belonged to you.
My mother never understood but she working for me now.
I didn’t quit ’cause people didn’t understand.
I worked harder when people didn’t support me.
We never stopped.
I wake up every single day and I will prove to the world
that I was here.
I made my mark.
I was here and you can’t take that away from me.
I told you, if I die today,
you cannot take away the fact that Eric Thomas was here.
– Thank you guys so much for watching.
We’re continuing to experiment with volume two series
so I’d love to know your thoughts if we should continue it
and who we should do next.
I’m also super curious to figure out what did you learn
from Eric today that had the biggest impact on you and why.
What message are you going to take and immediately impact
your business or your life somehow?
Leave it in the comments below.
I’m going to join in the discussion.
I also want to give a quick shout out to Paulette.
Paulette, thank you so much for picking up a copy
of my book, Your One Word, and posting those pictures.
I really, really, really appreciate your support.
So thank you guys again for watching.
I believe in you.
I hope you continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is.
Much love.
I’ll see you soon.
– So, real quick.
Anybody know who this is?
Serena, good.
Next one.
This is (group chattering).
Alright, good, we there?
Alright.
Next one.
Okay, it’s alright.
Alright, let’s go right quick.
Yep, yep, yep and she beat Serena.
Yep, let’s go to the next one.
Who is that?
(laughs) Okay.
Let’s stop.
(group laughs)
So real quick, now what I got to explain to you all is this –
they are all pros.
Like these are people who have beat Serena and Venus.
They’re all ranked.
You don’t know who they are though.
They probably won one or something.
They might’ve won one Grand Slam or two.
So they professionals.
They are pros.
They gettin’ paid.
In the tennis world, when they walk out, people like,
“Sign my ball!”
People like, “Oh!”
But you don’t know them.
Why is it that you don’t know them?
Like how you know Venus?
You don’t know Venus because she played tennis.
You know Venus because there was a time in her career,
she dominated and then her sister came and she dominated.
That’s why you know who they are.
Let me say this to you.
This is what domination looks like.
Venus has dominated in tennis and as a result,
she’s made $34 million just in tennis.
Serena has made $84 million just in tennis.
That’s what domination look like.
Now when you go to these young ladies,
it’s like $8 million.
That’s a good salary but they don’t make what Serena
and Venus make.
Why?
They have not dominated.
So who is this?
Yep, Lebron James.
Yep.
Next one.
Yep.
Steph Curry.
Yep.
Next one.
Yep, yep. (laughs)
Yep, somebody know.
Most of you all like, who my man?
My man play for the Nuggets.
He start.
He an NBA pro.
Let’s go to the next one.
I know you know who this is right here.
Boom.
He with the Utah Jazz.
He not in the developmental league.
He not playing overseas.
He’s starting with Utah.
You don’t know him though.
Why?
‘Cause he’s not dominating.
So we’re going to try not to compete.
We’re going to try to do what?
– [All] Dominate.
– Come on, we going to try not to compete.
We going to try to do what?
– [All] Dominate!
– I need you to dominate.
You think every gift comes wrapped so, yeah,
you get it once.
Yep, you did it twice and it didn’t work out so you quit.
Look, every gift don’t come wrapped.
Are you hearing me?
Yeah, you did it for three months.
Yep, you did it for six months.
Yeah, you like where the results?
Look, it’s going to take more than six months
for what you tryin’ to do to become a reality.
Now I get it.
Yeah, in math, it comes easy to you.
So you just think everything goin’ come easy.
Yeah, I get it.
When you write, you can wait ’til the last minute
and still produce a great paper
but you wondering why you don’t do well in math.
Look, every gift don’t come wrapped
and just because it don’t come wrapped
don’t mean it ain’t a gift.
Are you hearin’ what I’m sayin’?
Ever since I’ve been a kid, I’ve been able to speak,
but something happens when I get in that booth
and I do voiceover work.
It ain’t as easy
but it don’t mean it ain’t a gift.
It does not mean that God has not blessed me to be able
to be just as effective in voiceover as he has gettin’
in front of a crowd.
It just when I stand in front of a crowd,
it’s just easier but when I get in that booth
and it’s a script, when I get in that booth,
it’s sometimes, it’s difficult to annunciate words.
Are you hearing what I’m tellin’ you?
Just because it ain’t gift wrapped don’t mean it ain’t
a gift, right?
All gifts don’t come gift wrapped and you got to learn
to stop starting and stopping.
You got to learn to stop quittin’ and giving up
just because it didn’t work out for you the first time.
Just ’cause it didn’t work out the 20th time,
just ’cause it didn’t work out the 30th time
and every time I got in that booth, I’m tellin’ you all,
I used to feel embarrassed.
I would get in that booth
and the magic just wouldn’t happen, right?
I couldn’t just turn it on and turn it off
like the ET that I know.
The ET would just disappear in the booth
but I didn’t quit.
I didn’t give up just because it wasn’t gift wrapped.
I kept going and I kept going and I kept grinding
and listen to me very closely.
Yeah, you saw a good year last year.
You want to know what it takes to succeed?
You saw me with the NFL.
You saw me do some stuff with the NBA.
Listen to me closely.
You saw me do something for the Olympics and Dick’s
but let me tell you something – I didn’t quit.
I just kept going and kept going
’cause what I know about life is you can’t lose.
You cannot lose if you do not quit
and I kept going and I kept going and I kept practicing
and I kept going ’cause every gift ain’t gift wrapped.
Now it’s important for me to let you know
that you are powerful beyond measure.
Listen to me.
I told you last week because perhaps, perhaps, I don’t know,
your daddy wasn’t in your life,
your mother wasn’t in your life, I don’t know,
you didn’t have a mentor, I don’t know,
but you may have never heard someone look you in your eye,
look you in your soul and tell you that you not only matter,
you powerful and you are powerful beyond measure
but listen to me.
Knowing is half the battle.
That is not enough to know.
It’s not enough to know.
Now, I need you to apply.
So I’m going to give you three quick principles
and I want to, when this thing is over, I’m telling you,
I want you to take your life to a whole new level.
I want you to not only understand you matter,
I want you to go in that mirror and say, I matter.
So, so, so the first story I want to tell you, right,
’cause I don’t know if you like me,
right but I remember as a business
when we got our first credit card, excited,
we had a pretty nice limit on there
so we could get our products and we could travel.
We could get our t-shirts, the whole nine,
but it was weird when we first got the card,
I don’t know if you ever seen that strip before,
that’s right, you matter.
You’re powerful beyond measure.
You know what I’m talkin’ about.
You got the card, right, limit.
We had a nice size limit.
We had the money to do what we needed to do
to take this ministry to a whole nother level, right,
but when we got the card what we discovered was,
although the money was in the bank,
before we could get the money,
before we could use the money, we had to activate the card.
That’s right, we had to call that number and say, yes,
we agree.
Are you hearing what I’m telling you?
I’m telling you that, look, you can’t activate life,
you can’t begin to experience life in the way
you want to experience it,
you can’t have it, you can’t be it, you can’t do it,
until you activate it.
Yes, it’s all in there.
All your gifts, all your talents,
all your everything you need to do to be
what you’ve been called to do,
what you’ve been birthed to do,
you can’t do until you activate it,
until you recognize you matter.
Everything about you is great but the problem is
you have consciously chosen to be average.
I get it!
I get it.
Like, innately everything about you is great.
Everything about you is phenomenal but you’ve consciously
made a decision to be average.
You were average in school,
you are average at your workplace.
Like everything you do is average
and not because it’s average
but because you made a decision.
You made a choice to be average.
Why?
Because the people around you are average
or maybe you grew up in an average environment
or went to an average school
or you work for an average company
and so you decided,
you’ve decided to go against who you are.
You’ve decided to go against who you are.
Alright, alright, so I get it.
Watch this, this is deep.
So that’s why you go to the basketball games.
I got it now.
That’s why you spend hours watching your favorite athlete,
right, right?
‘Cause when you watch ’em,
you watch ’em and something about you that’s attracted
to that greatness because there’s something
in you that’s great.
So that’s why you watch ’em
because it’s easier to watch him reach greatness
than it is for you to put in sweat,
blood and tears to become great.
That’s why, I got it now.
That’s why you buy all the magazines
and you lookin’ at homegirl in the magazine, right?
I got it now ’cause it’s easier to look at her
and get motivated and pumped up
and you feel something inside.
What do you feel?
You feel that greatness and that phenomenal you
stirring up.
That’s why, that’s why you put those headphones on
and you just shut the whole world out
and you listen to your favorite artist,
you listenin’ to them sing or you’re listenin’ to them rap
and deep down inside you hurt when you listen
because it should be you.
I got it now.
I understand now.
You are attracted to greatness because greatness
is all in you but it’s easier to watch greatness.
It’s easier to go see greatness than it is
to put in the time,
to put in the energy, to discipline yourself, to sacrifice.
It’s easier and so that’s why you average
and so you frustrated because you’re not living
like you should live.
No, you don’t have what you should have.
You’re not being who you should be and so that’s why
you don’t want to wake up in the morning.
That’s why you pissed off with Monday
’cause Monday is the day that you’re supposed to go mold
and shape and create your greatness.
That’s why you like Friday.
I get it!
‘Cause Friday you get to chill.
You don’t have to face yourself on Friday.
You don’t have to face yourself on Saturday or on Sunday.
That’s the day that everybody is partying,
everybody’s drunk,
everybody gets to forget that they didn’t become
who they were supposed to become during the week.
That’s why!
I get it now but I challenge you.
Listen to me, I challenge you.
Why do I challenge you?
‘Cause I know you can.
I know, listen to me, some of you,
you’re not even in the game.
Can you do me a favor?
Get in the game.
You could be great if you just showed up.
Get in the game.
”
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