I started the Mentor Me series
with a goal to hang around people who’ve done more than us
and hopefully by spending a little more time with them,
some of their attitudes, their beliefs, their mindset,
their way of thinking seeps into us
to help us become the best version of ourselves.
So today we’re going to look at
the best of Eric Thomas 2016 Motivation.
Mentor me, Eric.
Clip number one is my personal favorite and, as always,
as Eric is talking, if he says something
that really resonates with you,
please leave it in the comments below,
put quotes around it,
so other people can be inspired as well.
Enjoy.
(inspirational music)
– I need you to do me a favor.
I just need you to expect to win.
Yep, yeah.
Are you like, come on E, that’s simple, look.
Number one, I need you to expect to win.
When you wake up in the morning, I expect to win.
I expect it to be a great day.
Listen to me very closely.
I do not get up at three o’clock in the morning to lose.
I used to be a loser, high school dropout.
I used to be a loser, homeless.
I used to be a loser, eating out of trash cans.
Listen to me, this ain’t no feel good stuff.
I used to be a loser.
Now, listen to me, all I do is win;
and the first thing I did,
I said, look, it’s unacceptable.
I will not be a loser.
All I did was say to myself I expect to win.
Listen to me, when I get up three o’clock in the morning,
I expect it to be a great day.
When I grind, I expect to win.
When I wake up, I expect a miracle.
I expect that phone call.
I expected to have marital bliss.
I had kids.
I expected to have a great relationship with my kids.
When I went to school to get my PhD, I expected to pass.
Are you hearing what I’m telling you?
I wake up every day, and I expect it.
All I need you to do, let’s, let’s–
don’t practice to fail.
Are you practicing to fail?
Are you going to class on time,
doing all your homework to fail?
So number one, mental toughness.
Everything you put your hands forth to do,
expect to be successful, expect it to be positive.
When you set out for a goal,
expect that it’s going to happen.
That’s all I need you to do.
Number one, expect it to happen.
What if I told you that you never ever
have to come up short again?
So this is all I need you to do for me today.
Listen to me, this is all I need you to do for me today
is to declare that it’s over,
that yesterday was the last day that you were a loser.
Like yesterday was the last day you expected to lose.
Like yesterday was the last day you expected,
listen to me, to come up short.
Like, all I need you to do is declare for me, like,
losing is over.
All I need you to do is speak up and say I expect to win.
It shall come to pass.
Come on!
It shall come to pass.
Like, look, this is your year.
Yep, this is the year for you to win.
Look, come on, feel it; this is the year.
So you got to do me a huge favor.
I need you to let go of all the fear.
Yep, let, let, let it go.
Yep, let it go.
Anxiety, yep, let it go.
Yep, let it go.
I need you to totally believe.
This is your year to win.
Right, for real, I need you to see it.
I need you to see it.
This is your year, like you crossing over;
and I remember when I crossed over.
I remember, I told you, I remember.
We not talking about being a high school dropout.
I’m talking about losing.
I remember being a loser.
I know what it feels like.
Like, like, I remember crossing over;
and I remember having to believe, like, I could do this.
I remember having to believe, like, yo, this is my year.
Like that monkey off my back.
Like, for real, that monkey is off my back.
All the stuff that the teachers that didn’t believe.
Like, it’s off my back, like academically
I could do this thing.
I started believing, like, I would get up and speak;
and I wouldn’t be afraid anymore.
Like, I need you to believe me when I tell you,
this is your year.
This is the year to win, and I’m talking about
you can win, look, as much as you like.
Look, win as often as you like,
win in whatever category you like.
Like, this is the year, all right?
All right?
So I said it to you last week as we getting ready.
It shall come to pass.
Are you hearing me?
Like, if it shall come to pass,
there’s absolutely nothing that’s stopping you.
It shall come to pass.
Like, it’s going to happen.
Immediately when I said it, E, you going get this degree,
boom, it happened!
Immediately when I said it, like ET,
you going to be one of the top speakers in the world.
Like, ET, you will have an impact with not just people
in the United States of American, like,
you going to impact the world.
Listen to me once, I believed it.
Once I believed it and started walking into it, guys,
whoo!
I’m telling you, it became a reality.
So I need you to do me a huge favor:
I need you to understand, alright,
that this is going to be difficult for some of you guys.
I need you to understand that before
you can totally embrace winning,
some darkness is going to happen.
So between losing and winning, listen to me,
between losing and winning it’s going to get dark.
Right between winning and losing it’s going to get stormy.
Right?
But you got to promise me you going to be the KG.
That is the reason why I chose KG, right?
KG’s story is very, very unique.
I need you to go back, I need you to google it,
and do your homework.
2003, not only did they win their division
but they went to the Western Conference Finals, right?
And they lost, but this is how it’s supposed to go down.
Like once you lose the Western Conference Finals,
the next year you supposed to go back and win it,
and you supposed to go the finals.
You may win, you may lose, right?
And then you go back again to the finals, right?
And then that time you win it all, right?
No, no!
KG went through a storm, you all?
2003 they went to the Western Conference Finals,
2004 didn’t make it back,
2005 didn’t make it back, 2006 didn’t make it back,
2007 didn’t make it back, guys!
Are you hearing what I’m telling you?
So ET, what does KG have to it?
Come on, winning, what does he have to do with winning?
Listen to me and pick this one up,
this is the most important part:
it will come to pass,
but what you have to promise me is that
in the midst of the storm you going to grind it out.
In the midst of the storm, you going to grind it out.
And in the midst of losing,
not only did they lose, they lost they coach.
There was all kind of conflict with the play,
like they hit a wall, a brick wall, but guess what?
KG still was an all-star.
KG Steal won NBA All-Pros team,
second team still won rebound titles.
Are you hearing me?
In the midst of hell, in the midst of hell,
KG still grind.
And if you can grind your way through the hell,
if you can grind your way through that defeat,
if you can grind your way through that pain,
if you can grind your way through it, I’m telling you,
it’s going to come to pass.
And in 2007, the end of the season,
he was drafted to the Boston Celtics, right?
And it came to pass, you all! It came to pass!
I’m not telling you what I read.
I’m not telling you what I heard.
I’m telling you what I’ve experienced,
I’m telling you what I saw.
So you guys do me a favor, before we get out of here,
listen to me.
Storms going to happen to all of us.
Storms happen to all of us.
Watch the difference, before we leave, losers get toxic.
Their thinking becomes toxic in the storm.
They start thinking negative, they start thinking fear.
They start thinking doubt.
They start thinking, “I can’t do it.”
They start thinking, “The problem is bigger than I am.”
They start thinking toxic.
But winners!
Winners actually use the storm to fuel them!
Listen to me, losers get weak and give up.
Losers surrender, losers give in.
Listen to me very closely, but winners are fueled.
They are fueled by storm.
Pain actually pushes them to greater–
they actually love it.
They actually feel it, they like the pressure.
And they use it as fuel to get to the next level.
And that’s what KG did for me.
Alright guys, I been watching the Olympics, yeah.
Yup, I been watching the Olympics, right?
And my favorite part, track and field.
Nope, I’m not talking about Usain Bolt, nope, nope.
We ain’t on that, nope.
I’m talking ‘about the false starts, yup.
I love it, yo!
You say ET, the false starts, yo,
‘cuz I’m tired of people asking me,
“E, why you so passionate?”
Yup, I’m tired of people saying, “ET, why you so loud?”
“ET, why you aggressive. Why?”
Because the real world,
the real world is like track and field.
And I dunno if you’ve been watching or if you paid attention
but you get one false start!
Yup, that’s it, guys!
You get one false start, that’s it!
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!
That’s absolute, you won’t get a second shot.
Like all that stuff you missed,
you made some serious sacrifices.
Like you got up early in the morning, get what I’m saying?
You didn’t go out with your homies, right?
Look, there were some things that you had to give up.
For four straight you been getting up in the morning,
four straight years you been grinding,
four straight years you been eating different,
four straight years you been in the weight room,
four straight years you been going in.
And you ruined it all, you ruined it all with false start.
And you can’t say, “Well, I didn’t mean to do this,”
and, “I didn’t mean to do that, I made a mistake.”
There are no mistakes.
And that’s why I get so passionate.
Cuz in the real world you don’t get 5, 6, 7 chances.
And some of you are going through life,
you’re wondering why you not successful.
You wonder why you average,
you wonder why you can’t live the way you deserve to live.
You wondering why you light.
You wondering why you keep coming up short.
You think ‘cuz you say you sorry,
you keep saying, “I didn’t mean it.”
You keep saying, “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?
Well I’ll 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 telling me that? Why?”
Because people don’t need help sleeping in.
People don’t need help gaining weight.
People don’t need help over-indulging, making excuses.
People don’t need help hitting the snooze button,
people need help making sacrifices.
So as your boy ET tells 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, and 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.
Yup, it’s tough, it’s hard.
Listen to me, if it was easy to stay focused
on that start line, everybody would do it.
If it was easy to jump off with a great start,
everybody would do it!
I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy
to get up at three o’clock in the morning.
I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy to sacrifice.
I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy to grind.
I’m not telling 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.
I did not become successful with two family household,
with the income $250,000.
I was homeless.
I was knocked out, I was kicked out of school.
I was told never to return,
I did this in the midst of trials,
in the midst of tribulation.
Nobody gave me this, I earned it.
Life wasn’t a crystal stair for me,
didn’t nobody give me a network, I earned the network.
I know Warren Buffet
because I worked my way to Warren Buffet.
I worked my way to Dan Gilbert, I worked my way to the NBA,
I worked my way to the NFL.
Everybody say,”E, how did you crack the code?”
I grinded my way through the code!
That’s how I cracked it.
I got up everyday at three, every Monday I grind,
Tuesday I grind, Wedn-
I don’t care what the economy is doing,
I don’t care who the President is,
I don’t care who the governor is,
I don’t care who the mayor is.
My mamma ain’t counting on the governor,
my wife ain’t counting on the President
of the United States of America.
My wife ain’t counting on the mayor,
my wife ain’t counting on the commissioner.
My wife counting on me.
When I walk out that house, she’s counting on me
to bring home the bacon.
Listen to me, guys:
environment is everything.
Alright, “ET, why is environment everything?”
Guys, two things, real quick, why.
Because expectation and exposure, are you hearing me?
Expectation and exposure.
So, catch what I’m saying, right?
This is why you got to get out of your environment
and get into a new environment if you going to blow up.
So you got KG, who’d never been to Boston before.
Oh, come on, come on!
You got Jesus Shuttlesworth, never been to Boston before.
You got Paul Peirce, who’s been in Boston the whole time.
So they ask the question:
Paul Peirce, what’s the difference between Boston
and everywhere else?
He said, “Expectations.”
Here in Boston, you are expected, listen to me,
don’t nobody get excited about having a winning season,
don’t nobody get excited about the playoffs,
don’t nobody get excited
about the Eastern Conference Finals.
In Boston, the expectation is to win it all.
Are you hearing me? It’s a different level.
There’s levels to this, so much so that Paul Peirce
says we don’t even hang up Eastern Conference banners.
Like, when we win the Eastern Con–
we don’t even hang that up!
In Boston we only hang up Finals banners. That’s it!
You win the finals or you don’t win at all!
Look, you think you doing it.
Are you hearing me? You think you doing it,
you the first one in your family to go to college, right?
So for you, you been like, “I’m the first one.”
I’m the only one to ever go to college,
and you think you’ve done something, right?
You got kids when you go to college,
nobody’s excited about the fact they’re in college.
Nobody’s excited about the fact that they graduated.
They want to know, are you going to be a doctor,
you going to be a lawyer, you going to be an engineer?
It’s a different level.
Paul Peirce said it’s environment.
We not even talking about– come on,
we not even taking about the Boston Celtics.
We talking about Boston.
Right up the road you got the New England Patriots,
right up the road you got the Boston Bruins,
right up the road you got Harvard.
This environment has a level of expectation
that’s out of this world.
And your problem is you’re in an environment of average,
and you good.
And so you good with being good
because your environment is average.
Are you hearing me? So you think good is great.
Now you told yourself that good is great.
Look, I grew up in Detroit, no disrespect, right?
But the Lions, they just trying to have a winning season.
They just trying to make it to the playoffs.
Are you hearing me?
They just trying to make it to the playoffs.
If you are a Cowboy, it’s win it all.
If you are a Laker, it’s win it all.
If you in Boston, it’s win it all, guys! Listen to me!
It’s not just about expectation, it’s about exposure.
And when you are a Boston Celtic you been exposed.
When you were a Laker you been exposed
to the greatest of the great, right?
And so there’s a level of expectation.
I’ll never forget when Kobe came to the NBA,
Kobe said, “I’m not playing for the Charlotte Hornets,
“I’m not playing for the Charlotte Hornets,
“I want to be a Laker.”
And when you walk through that Laker stadium,
when you walk through that Boston stadium,
all you see is great.
And so because you’re being exposed to great,
all you know is great.
When I came to Michigan State I was exposed to greatness,
I was exposed to Tom Izzo,
I was exposed to Mark Dantonio,
I was exposed to the Rose Bowl,
I was exposed to the Final Four.
Are you hearing what I’m saying? I got around greatness
and so I had no choice but to be great.
So I ask you the question:
what’s your expectations? What do you want for yourself?
What do you want for your family?
What do you want for the next generation?
What do you expect of yourself?
Listen to me very closely,
it’s not what coach wants for you,
it’s not what your mamma want for you,
it’s not what your daddy want for you,
it’s not what your teacher wants for you.
It’s not what everybody else wants for you.
What do you want for yourself? What drives you?
What pushes you, what motivates you, what makes you tick?
What activates you? What are you expectations for yourself?
And then ask yourself, when you wake up every morning,
what are you being exposed to?
And if you don’t like the places you see,
if you don’t like where you going,
if you don’t like what life is showing you,
get in an environment of greatness
so you can be exposed to greatness.
And by beholding, we become changed.
By beholding, we become changed.
What are you beholding?
Where your focus goes, your energy flows.
And so if you focusing in on the negative,
guess what’s going to happen?
Your energy is going to go to the negative,
and everything is going to be negative
because that’s where your focus is.
That’s where you energy is flowing, listen to me.
If you think about that thing, you concentrate on winning.
You concentrate on dominating.
Listen to me, whatever you focus on,
where your focus goes your energy flows.
So we going to think about what we thinking about.
We going to think about what we thinking 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 focusing on it. Are you hearing 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 going to 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.
I’m feel your pain, you like, “E, it ain’t easy!
“You don’t know where I come from, ET!
“It ain’t just that easy to go from where I am
“to get this new circle of influence.”
I feel you, yup, yup, yup.
I’ve read the comments, like, “ET, you don’t understand, E,
“you don’t know the environment that I was born in.
“ET you don’t know how hard it is to get to where you said.”
Look, I get it!
And then I got teachers that have called me,
teachers that have reached out like, “ET, you don’t know
“where these kids come from, ET!
“You don’t understand their circumstances, ET!
“You giving them this dream that they can get
“in a different circle.”
Listen to me, listen to me very–
whatcha want me to do? Come one!
Whatcha want me to do, whatcha want me to tell you
to accept the life that you’ve been given?
Huh? Whatcha want?
You want me to tell you to give up? Huh?
You want me to tell you to quit?
Is that what you want me to say?
You want to hear ET say, “It’s alright to give up.
“It’s alright to surrender.”
That’s what you want me to say?
Well listen to me, bra, I can’t tell you that.
But what I can tell you is this: that I did it.
And I used one thing, I know it ain’t easy.
I come from where you come from. I been there, I done that.
It wasn’t easy for me to get to where I am right now.
I used two things and two things only.
Ain’t nobody give me no money to get out the hood.
Didn’t nobody give me to resources
to get out of that abandoned building.
I used two things and two things only:
one, my mind. I envisioned myself getting out.
And two, my heart.
And you can’t measure that.
That’s right, and you can’t measure that.
So listen to me, I’m not about to tell you to quit.
I’m not about to tell you
that you going to keep that cycle going.
I’m going to tell you to break that cycle.
So listen to me,
you can get in a different circle of influence.
You can, you can get to another level.
But it’s going to take two things. Are you hearing me?
I got here from my mind, and I envisioned it.
I saw myself when I was still homeless,
when I was still a high school dropout,
when I was sleeping in abandoned buildings,
and eating out of trash cans.
I saw myself someday being where I am right now.
I don’t care where you are, use what you got
to get what you want.
Use your mind, use your vision, use your dream.
I dreamed my way out the hood.
I dreamed my way out, and then I saw it.
And I would get up every day and I would grind hard.
I would grind my way through it.
So listen to me, I’m going to tell you a story.
First gig I ever did in my life was Bermuda.
Listen to me, I dreamed about Bermuda for eight months
before I got there.
I’m not playing with you, I can’t make this stuff up.
Are you hearing me? I went to the library,
and I read about it.
I asked my friends that were from Bermuda about Bermuda,
and they told me about the water,
and they told me about the palm trees,
and they told me about the island.
Are you listening to what I’m telling you?
I dreamed it, eight, six, eight months, I dreamed it.
I thought about it, I read about it, listen to me,
from where I was.
Are you hearing me? From where I was.
In college, not doing well, from where I was I dreamed it.
Not from Bermuda, I didn’t dream it from Bermuda.
I dreamed it from where I was, in the library,
in my house, walking up and down that street
thinking about it.
And on everything I love, I can’t explain it to you,
but the James family, the husband and wife,
knocked on my small apartment door one day,
with me and my wife sitting there,
and they walked in with two plane tickets.
Two plane tickets to Bermuda, are you hearing me?
And a two week itinerary of every church,
and every school, and every youth detention center
that I was going to speak at.
And listen to me, it went from a dream I’ll never forget
when I got my passport, ahh!
I’ll get when I landed on the island of Bermuda,
I said to myself, “How in the world?”
And God said, “It was your mind!”
As a man thinketh, so is he.
Think your way out of it, grind your way out.
And I got up every day after I dreamed about Bermuda.
And I went to that GED class, and I put in work.
I went in and I read to them, and I spoke to them,
and I inspired them and I motivated them.
So I leave you with this, listen to me:
change your circle of influence.
Change your circle of influence.
Change your life.
Know they may not give it to you,
but whatcha want me to do?
You want me to tell you it’s okay to quit?
You want me to tell you it’s okay to surrender?
They may not give it to you.
Nobody might take you by the hand and take you there.
You might not get a mentor, I don’t know.
But what I’m telling you is,
I did it with my mind and my heart.
And if I can do it, starting from the bottom,
now we here, starting from the bottom.
I started with my mind, I started with my heart.
You got a mind, you got a heart, stop making excuses!
Stop waiting for somebody to feel sorry for you.
And to my teachers out there, and to my mentors out there,
stop giving them the paths to quit!
Yes it’s going to be hard, yes it’s going to be difficult,
but you can do it!
Listen to me, you, your boy ET telling you,
I did it, you can do it.
Now a lot of you all people talking about the Black Mamba,
the Black Mamba, let me tell you something.
When you talk about the Black Mamba you talk about practice,
It’s a must have.
I watched this dude lose a game, a game,
I don’t even know if it was the playoffs.
I think it was like a regular game against the Miamia Heat,
in Miami.
Southeast Florida.
I don’t know if you ever been there before,
but it’s, you want to go, it’s a nice place to just hang out.
Especially if you on the roll playing ball,
that’s a nice plays after the game to go get dinner,
sit on the beach, it’s nice.
And I’m sure in the NBA
they probably got a VIP section for them on the beach.
And unfortunately,
the Lakers lost to the Miami Heat
because Black Mamba missed a wide open shot
in the corner, set shot and he missed it.
What he did for the next three to four hours
while everybody was getting dressed and going to the beach
he sat there for hours,
shooting the exact same shot over and over and over,
like he had never won a championship.
I’m like, now hold up, where everybody else at
on the Lakers?
They need to be out there as a squad.
But the Black Mamba’s out there doing his thing,
like I’m not owing them, I messed up,
I got to practice.
And this is not a coach practice, this is not
an organization you can call this one,
this was just flat out, the Black Mamba was saying
this is a must-have.
And where most of you go wrong,
you not even 4.0 and you not studying.
You not even a 4.0 student, like you got
a 2.0, a 2.5, a 3 something?
And you still not really studying like that,
because for you it’s like, ahh, it’s not a must-have.
It blows my mind, I worked with professional athletes,
I work with D1 athletes all over the world.
And when I look at Twitter and Instagram,
it blows my mind how dudes on Instagram,
I’m like bra, you have not won a championship!
Like that’s what you come here for,
to win a championship!
And so if you don’t win championship, I don’t even
know why there’s people broke.
I don’t even know how you had enough time
to do a 30 second video, you broke!
How did you have time to do a video,
how did you have time to do a dance routine?
When you should be practicing!
You should be lifting weights,
you could be looking at film.
You said, not me, that you wanted to win the tourney.
That you want to win it all, you want to go to the Final Four.
How do you want to go to the Final Four,
but your schedule don’t look like the Final Four.
What are you tweeting about when you broke?
You about to get kicked out on academic probation,
what are you tweeting about?
What are you talking about?
Why do you even have friends?
Why do you have friends, what do you need friends for?
They’re not helping you study.
They’re trying to convince you to do stuff,
gimme one second, listen to me very closely,
I’m not trying to disrespect your little friends.
But if they your real friends,
and they not helping you to get this,
what kind of friends are they?
Who are they?
If this your homebody and he don’t know
what your dreams and goals are,
if it’s your homegirl and she don’t know
what your dreams are,
if they inviting you to parties,
if they inviting you to the movies,
but they ain’t never invited you to study,
what kind of friend are they really?
Cuz all my friends, this what we owe.
Now, this is the thing, and I want you to be real with me,
is we got one or two problems.
Either you’re a liar, and what you wrote down,
you weren’t really serious about.
You just did it ‘cuz it was cute.
Or you really want it.
One of the two.
And you got to decide if what you wrote down,
if you really want it or not.
I can’t sit here and lie, and tell you that my faith
has not helped me to get to where I am.
I want you to listen to this word.
Because it’s a word that is used in the spirit realm,
it’s not a word that’s used in the flesh.
And why most of you will never be successful in your craft
is because you’re chasing a dollar
and you don’t honor your craft.
I honor what I do, I honor it, it’s sacred.
The people are sacred.
And that’s why most of you chasing money,
like you doing this for the money,
you’ll never blow up because it’s not sacred to you.
When something is scared
you spend time with it.
When something is sacred
you take your doggone shoes off,
‘cuz where you stand is holy ground.
It’s holy ground, it’s sacred.
It’s your life.
It’s your life, you putting your life in my hand.
You sitting here listening to me,
I’m putting words in your spirit.
I’m imparting ideas into your spirit,
that ain’t no joke, that ain’t no game.
When I come into this place, I didn’t eat on the plane.
They serving me food, I’m like, “I can’t eat it.”
They like, “You in first class, sir,
“Somebody ordered a quiche for you.”
“I can’t eat the quiche right now.”
He’s like, “Why not?”
I’m like, “There might be something in it,
“I can’t afford to get sick, I can’t eat.”
I can’t afford to put food in my mouth
if I don’t know where it came from.
I can’t afford,
this is the airplane, ain’t no telling
where this stuff come from!
Nobody wash they hands, I don’t know!
I got three gigs, I got to be ready when I get there.
Don’t gimme that water.
I need bottled water.
Don’t bring me no water in no cup.
I dunno where that came from.
I needed to open it ‘cuz I got people who spent money,
and I cannot say I’m sick.
I can’t tell these people I’m sick!
Your stuff needs to be sacred.
You don’t even know what to do if you don’t know
who you are.
And so I want to tell you what nobody’s told you,
perhaps your mom didn’t tell you today,
perhaps your dad didn’t tell you today,
I dunno maybe your teacher had an attitude,
and she didn’t say it before you left school,
but you are a amazing!
Yup, I said it, bring it here.
I said it, you are amazing.
That’s right, I’m going to say it again.
You are amazing.
And you need to understand something, I do not get
paid to do this.
I been doing this for eight years.
I have no sponsors.
I don’t think somebody sent me like five dollars to do this.
“So ET, why would you keep doing it year after year?
“Month after month, week after week, why?”
Because I know something about you
that you may not know about yourself.
You are amazing!
And it’s time for you to act like you amazing.
It’s time for you to do the amazing, right?
It’s time for you to know you are amazing.
So listen to me, I’m going to give you an assignment.
But before we go there, I got to let you know
I’m telling you the truth.
Now when I a high school dropout, when I was homeless,
when I was getting kicked out of school,
I’m just going to keep doing 100, I did not know I was amazing.
I told you before, no disrespect,
but my biological father wasn’t in my life,
so I didn’t have him to tell me when I got up every day,
“ET, you are amazing!”
Like me and my mom had some challenges,
so my mom wasn’t necessarily telling me,
“You are amazing.” Right?
And so I was eating out of trash cans, right?
Listen to me, I was getting kicked out of school.
Like I was in the malls, stealing from the mall,
getting in trouble, getting arrested, listen.
And some pastor brought me to church, right?
And I’m telling you, my man would tell me
on a weekly basis,
“You are amazing. And it’s time for you to act amazing.”
And do the amazing.
So I want to say this to you real quick,
you are not your test score.
Are you hearing me? Look at ET!
I never done well on a standardized test.
You are not your grades, you are amazing.
You are not what happened to you, where you were born,
what circumstance you come from.
You are amazing.
You hear me? You are amazing.
The day you recognize you amazing,
the day you understand how amazing you are,
everything changes.
Look, my standardized tests, they didn’t change.
My test scores didn’t change.
My grades didn’t necessarily change like that.
It’s when I became aware of the fact that I’m gifted,
that I’m special, and I need you to understand something,
when you recognize who you are,
when you realize how amazing you are,
there’s certain things you not going to do no more.
When you recognize how amazing you are,
there’s certain people you not going to hang around no more.
When you realize how amazing you are,
there just certain things you not going to do no more.
Because eagles and pigeons don’t run together.
And when you realize, sweetheart, that you an eagle,
my brother when you realize you a king,
my sister when you realize you a queen,
things are going to change, why?
‘Cuz queens don’t do what everybody else do.
Kings don’t do what everybody else do.
And so I’m telling you, you are amazing.
Now draw me a line.
And I want you to do me a favor,
that’s right, I said it, draw a line.
And I just want you to put one thing on there.
As a matter of fact, two things:
put “amazing” and put “super duper amazing.”
I just want you to write down all the things
that make you amazing.
Like for real, just sit down, for real,
I don’t care about your teacher
when he talking about grades right now.
I’m not talking about what you did in school,
what you didn’t do in school.
I’m not talking about where you were born,
where you come from, we’re not talking about that.
Look, all that aside,
I just want you to write down, “I’m amazing. Why?”
I’m a people person, I’m amazing,
I’m intelligent in my own right, I’m amazing.
I’m an artist, I’m amazing, I do music,
I’m amazing, I love people, whatever,
I don’t know what it is, I’m amazing, ET.
Everything that makes you special.
Everything that makes you you.
Then I want you to get up, listen to me,
I love you guys, that’s why I do what I do.
Now it’s time for you to recognize how amazing you are.
Right? So just do that for me.
Just write down how amazing you are,
I just want you to look at it in the morning,
look at it at night, look at it in the evening,
and I’m not telling something I read in a book,
or somebody told me.
I’m telling you, I went from being who I was
to who I am now.
And guess what? My biological father
never came back in my life.
Like, I’m being 100, nothing changed,
but I woke up one day and I realized, yo E,
so what, your father wasn’t in your life.
You still amazing.
So what, you got kicked out of Detroit Public School?
You’re still amazing.
So what, you ate out of trash cans?
You still amazing!
And there’s nothing your circumstances could do about it.
And so the difference between the old ET and the new ET,
is that I know by the grace of God I’m amazing.
And you are amazing, too.
So I need you to do me a favor,
I want you to start acting like it.
This your boy ET saying I love you, I believe in you,
and now it’s time for you believe in yourself.
– Thank you guys so much for watching,
I love to know what did you think?
Did you enjoy this video, are you motivated now?
It’s hard not to be after watching all of that ET.
I’m curious to know, though, which clip
had the biggest impact on you?
What lesson did you learn from this video
that you’re going to immediately apply to your life
or to your business somehow.
Leave it in the comments below,
and I’m going to join in the discussion.
Also want to give out a quite shout out to Devon Triche,
thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book,
Your One Word,
and posting that picture to Instagram,
I really, really, really appreciate it, man.
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 seeya soon.
”
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