"DON'T LET Anyone PUT You in the BOX!" - Jeezy (@Jeezy) - Top 10 Rules

If you're looking for ways to ignore the critics, be driven, and strive for perfection, then this video is for you.

You can't be scared to push the envelope. You shouldn't never let nobody put you in a box and just tell you you're just this, you know what I'm saying? That's all you're gonna ever be. That's crazy. It ain't really even who the strongest, you know what I'm saying? It's who lasts the longest. I just strive for perfection on and off the court, you know what I'm saying? So I take what I do very seriously.

Need motivation? Watch your Top 10 with Believe Nation. What's up, it's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in you. I believe you have an amazing gift inside you that I want to see explode out onto the world. So let's get your motivation to a 10 and get you believing in you. Grab a snack and chew on today's lessons from a man who had a self-described empty childhood to becoming a rapper and collaborating with Usher on Love in This Club that shot him to number 1 on the Billboard Top 100. He's Jeezy, and here's my take on his his top 10 rules of success. Enjoy. Let's kick it off with rule number 1, my personal favorite: push the envelope.

You were bred to be a businessman. Like, you're not— your legacy— and just— and I tell myself that all the time. My legacy just can't be great records, right? That can't be who I am forever. I can't just be, you know, just a guy that made some great songs. Like, what am I going to do You know, why I'm here, what kind of mark am I gonna leave when I'm not here that people will say, you know what, he really did his thing. And it's like, you can't be scared to push the envelope. You shouldn't never let nobody put you in a box and just tell you you're just this. You know what I'm saying? That's all you're gonna ever be. That's crazy. You know, I look at people like Magic Johnson. I mean, he's a great ball player, but look, he's a greater businessman. You look at Lionel Richie. You know what I'm saying? He was a great artist, but he owns half of Rodeo. That's for real. You know what I mean? That's real life. And everybody knows this. It's public record. So at the end of the day, You should never let nobody just put you in the box because they feel like you done one thing great. Why can't I do 10 things great? You know what I'm saying? Why can't I do 20 things great? Like, why do I have to stop at one thing? Because you feel like that's who I, that's who and what I am. I'm still building and learning and pushing myself every day. So it's never gonna stop. I'm gonna stay creating goals and I'm gonna stay achieving them. I'm gonna stay executing. I'm gonna keep my team, you know, just on, on, on deck so they can understand my vision and to see where I want to go. Because the sky's the limit. You could do anything you want in this world, like anything, if you wanna do it.

Have you always felt this way?

Absolutely. When I jumped off the porch, that's what it was about. You know, when I got off the porch, all my family worked at factories and had these little, you know, these little jobs where they was, you know, they was content. And my whole thing was I was never gonna be content. Like, how could that happen? Like, how could you tell me that I have to stay here in this one place and me and my mother live in this small trailer forever? It's like, no, I want my mother to have a nice house. I want my sister to go to college. I wanna put myself in a better position so I could do things. I wanna one day, you know, wake up and be able to sit on the beach all day too. If I could see, you know, Bill Gates or anybody else do this, it's like everybody has their beginnings and their stories, but it's like at the end of the day, if you let people just put you in a box, then you already lost. You know what I mean? If you're not gonna stay hungry, it's just like, what are you doing? You know what I'm saying? If you're not gonna want information, you know, every day, if you're not gonna push yourself every day, like, why are you here for? Like, you wasting your time. You wasting the people around you time. My team will tell you right now today, we can hit all types of success. What's next? What are we doing next? Oh, this is what I want to do.

Rule number 2 is hustle. As a kid, when you were starting out, like, I know, you know, they had a lemonade stand. Did you start off having a business as a kid?

I used to cut grass, man. I used to push my lawnmower around the hood, you know, 10, 11 years old, asking old ladies, can I cut their grass? You know, it went from that to me standing on the corner by the house, but they still was cool. They would come out and, you know, give me food Sunday, you know what I mean? I come eat with them, go back on the block. I never told nobody this. It's something that we do in Georgia. Like, during the summer as kids, we used to go throw watermelons with our elders. I used to throw watermelons with my uncle. You get bit by snakes or anything, but you go out in these big-ass fields and you throw watermelons, and whatever the load is, they might give you $20, $30 for that day, and you've been in the sun all day. At the end of the week, I might have, you know, $100, but $100 in ones with a $20 on top look like a lot. I used to just fool all my friends like, you know, I'm getting money, you know what I mean? They was like, damn, Jeezy, like, how the fuck, you know what I mean? Like, we ain't making the money you make, you know what I mean? We getting paid crumbs. But always been a natural-born hustler.

Rule number 3: Keep pushing.

A win is a win. Like, no matter— I won when I got out of the hood. I won when I got, you know, my first opportunity to get in the booth. I won when I got my first show. You know what I'm saying? I won when I got my first car that I could get in my own name. I won when I bought my momma her first house. You know what I'm saying? With my grind and not doing nothing illegal, just with my passion and all the things I was going through. You know what I'm saying? I won already then. So this shit right here is cake and ice cream. You know what I'm saying? You can't beat me at my game. That's what Scene and All is about. Anybody out here going through anything, man, keep your head up and your chest out and keep pushing on these fucking niggas, man. They can't beat you, dawg. When you against all odds, you cannot lose. Trust me, I know. You know what I'm saying? You can't lose. Just stay you and stay true, man. Just keep pushing.

Rule number 4: Listen more.

I have no regrets, you know, especially being where I'm at as a Black man. So that's for, you know, first and foremost. But I think it's been times that I wish I would've listened to myself and others when I felt like I knew what I was doing. So, you know, I've learned to listen more than I talk. You know what I mean? So that's the best advice I can give to anybody. And not being scared to bet on yourself. And that's why I always won that. Win, lose, or draw, I'mma learn something. You know what I mean? So I don't really have any regrets, But at the same time, all I could tell you, if people are giving you information, you know, sit back and listen to it, digest it. You know what I mean? Just think about how the information can help you because, you know, an idea can be life-changing. Man, yes. It could change your whole life and everybody around you. Yeah, yeah. And you have to treat it like that. You can't just go into it like, "I know everything." You know, when I was coming out the streets, I figured, you know, I beat the streets, I could beat anything. But now, oh, this is business. This is real life, you know? If you don't handle things right, you know, you might not be able to get back where you at. Right.

Rule number 5: Be driven.

So Professor Jeezy is another alias that we could go by now. Urban philosopher. Yeah. So if we're gonna give someone a diploma or a university degree, yeah, what would you call it? The school of hard knocks, man. You know, it ain't really even who the strongest, you know I'm saying, it's who lasts the longest. Everybody goes through different phases of success, but how long are you successful? How long you gonna keep that drive? You got to keep it because the minute you wake up and you go, you know what, I'm tired, I can't do it no more, you lost.

Rule number 6: Stay true to yourself.

I don't just put out just to say that I've done it. Or, you know, I hear the thing all the time, oh, they put out, you know, such and such put out 5 mixtapes now, what you— I was just like, damn, that's good for them, you know what I'm saying? Like, because I ain't here to compete. I'm gonna compete for— who can compete with me? I just competed with the best person that could be with me, that's Jay-Z, [MASKED]. Who else is it, you know what I mean? Because when it comes to what I do, you know what I'm saying? So, and I held I've been on tour with Jay and everything, I held my own. So, you know, when the music is gone and, you know, and the music is gone and there's no more magazine covers, who are you? I'm gonna be Jeezy. You know what I'm saying? I ain't gonna be nobody else but me. My albums have been so successful because I stay true to me. If it takes 2 years to do, man, who gives a fuck? If it's right when they get it, they gonna love it.

Rule number 7, get knowledge. Information is so crucial.

People have no idea. That's, to me, more valuable than money. Of course. That's just like, especially after being in the game for so long and you've experienced the ups and downs and the ropes, like that game you could give somebody is just—

Knowledge.

It's knowledge. It's just like, you know, from any athlete to any, you know, just any book writer to, you know, anything that you've done or gonna do is always somebody who went through it before you. Yes. And actually, you know, when you get in a rut, they could tell you, look, you know, you might wanna try this or you might wanna try that. And that's, you know, for me, that's what my music has always been about. Yeah. It's about sharing the information. Yes. You know, so it's just like, I'm not here to, you know, wow you or amuse you. I'm here to say, look, well, when this happened to me— Yeah. You know, I took this route. You know, that might not be the route you wanna take. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, here's the information. Man. You know what I'm saying? This is what I achieved. You know, that might— You might wanna achieve more. You might wanna achieve less. That's on you. You know, let's be fair about it.

Here is rule number 8: find a way to express yourself.

I grew up in a trailer. My first trailer that I bought my mom at 13 years old wasn't even big as this room. You feel I'm saying? I couldn't even fit a bed, right? And I couldn't even fit a bed in there, bro. You feel I'm saying? Like, you know, so that just lets you know where it's at, you know what I'm saying? My mom lives great now, you know what I'm saying? My family is great. I put my sister through school. I did all these things. These people because I had passion, I had drive, I had integrity, I had all the things that matter, you know what I'm saying? I had humility. Like, that ain't rap shit. I ain't here for that. Y'all keep the music over there. Then why rap? Because at the end of the day, that's my way to share my message. You feel what I'm saying? That's why you have somebody that goes and becomes a preacher. It's like, you know, they might have had their past, they might have been through things, but they learned from their experiences, and that's the way they spreading their word. You know what I'm saying? This is the way for me to look out for my people and continue to be who I am and use myself and the things that I learned as a gift to others.

Rule number 9: Always give your all.

I treat my mixtapes like albums. If I go in and I do a mixtape, I work on it just like it's an album. Like, every day, every night, grinding. I listen to it, I A&R myself, sit there, and I put it out, you know, to hold them off, because that's how I was feeling at that point in time. You feel me? Yeah. So, like, now with this album, It's like, you know, I had to get to that point where I felt like, okay, I had all the records that told this story. 'Cause I didn't wanna just put it out to meet a quota, you know, it ain't about money with me. This ain't about no money. This ain't about no fame. This ain't about nothing, man. This is about real life. [Speaker] You don't think it sells at this point? [Speaker] No, none of that. It's about, you know, just keeping it solid with yourself and knowing that you put your all into this and all these records help to, you know, to tell the story you want to be told. And it's like sometimes some of the records don't fit. And you gotta go back in. It ain't about me being a rap— I'm not a rapper. I'm not a dude who's gonna go in there and just make a record and be like, "Okay, this is jammin', it's for the club, let's put it out." It's like, no, I want a body of work. I want you listen to this, you gonna get some gems out of it, you gonna have something to live and die by. You gonna feel it, you know what I'm saying? But at the same time, 10 years from now, it's gonna give you that same feeling.

And rule number 10, the last one before the bonuses, strive for perfection.

What is a goal of yours that you are still working on, you're not going to stop until you get it? Just being iconic. You know what I'm saying? Being, you know, forever. And I think the way you do that is you just don't let up. Just go hard every time until they get it. You know what I'm saying? And once they get it, they got it. You know, I just strive for perfection on and off the court. You know what I'm saying? So I take what I do very seriously. So, you know, even my personal life, you know what I mean? I treat it the same because, you know, I handle myself the same way on and off the court. Off court, you know what I mean? So that's just how I'm rocking.

Now I've got some special GZ bonus clips for you, but before getting to those, my question of the day today is: are you a perfectionist, and do you think that's a good thing or not? Leave in the comments below. I'm excited to hear from you. Thank you guys so much 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 and enjoy the bonuses.

If I tell you, you know, Thug Motivation, that's about, you know, motivating some people that I think that have been demonized or put in positions where they can't be successful. It's just like, no, you could be successful. You know, you might have to go through a couple things, but you know, there's a way around it. There's a loophole, like, you know, your lawyer tell you, there's loopholes in everything. Everything. You know There's a crime behind every success story, you know what I'm saying? But at the same time, you can clean up what it is you're doing and open up doors for other people by your trials and your tribulations, through your words and your music, through you just showing up at a detention center for kids in Detroit. Man. You know what I mean? You're touching people. You're able to provide for you and yours, and you're comfortable with doing that, and you got a next move planned, then you're successful. Wife is a Nissan type of chick and she's cool with that and y'all build, y'all got a roof over your head, your kids don't want nothing and you got transportation to and fro and everybody's cool and you can do things you want to do in between, you know, it might be small things, could be big things. It's being successful, man. So let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy.

The most important word ever.

If you had to think of one Is there one word that's most important to you or that sums you up or that would be kind of like a little beacon?

Hey Believe Nation, if you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, Will.i.am, and Howard Schultz, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.