How to Become Great in 31 Minutes | Prince EA's Truth About Succes

They say never become too good at something you hate or they will make you do it for the rest of your life. You ever wonder why you're feeling negative or angry? It's because your input determines your output. The garbage that you listen to on the radio, the trash you see on TV, the bullshit that you hear from the people that you hang out with, it rubs off on you. I don't know what dream you have, but I can guarantee you that there's somebody in the hospital right now praying, begging God to have the opportunity that you have right now.

Hello, Believe Nation. I'm Evan Carmichael. My one word is believe, and I believe that entrepreneurs are going to solve all of the world's major problems. So to help you on your journey today, we're gonna learn from artist, poet, rapper, and entrepreneur Prince EA, and my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 1 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best. And as always, as you're listening, if something really resonates with you, if there's a message that really holds true to you, Please leave it down in the comments below and put it in quotes so that other people can be inspired. And when you write it down, it's much more likely to stick with yourself as well. Enjoy.

Hey yo, my whole life people have been telling me to be realistic. Is that a real job? Are you being realistic? Listen, realists don't start computer companies. Realists don't fight for equal rights in a time where discrimination is the norm. Realists don't get cut from their high school varsity team and go on to become the best basketball player in the world ever. Realists don't do that. Crazy motherfuckers do. And you gotta be a little crazy if you wanna be successful. So don't ever tell me to be realistic. I refuse to accept the reality I was given. I'd much rather create my own. Now a lot of you guys may not know, but I'm a naturally shy person. I know, right? Me? Yep. Been that way ever since I was a kid. I get anxiety. I'm nervous to go and introduce myself to people, especially, you know, sometimes to talk to beautiful women. Yep. I'm very shy. I was scared to raise my hand in class, basically just fearful of the things that I knew that I should do ever since childhood. And it still affects me to this day. So I wish I would have learned this trick back then because I would have been more courageous, more confident. I would have done more things things, tried more things, said more things that were on my heart. But here's what you do. Enough talking. When you get that feeling that you want to do something, like talk to someone you're interested in, raise your hand, ask a question, or, or ask for a raise, the longer you wait after you get that initial feeling, the more likely it is that you won't do that thing that you really want to do. Why? Because your mind starts to overthink, make excuses after excuses. Oh, what if I look stupid? What if I get rejected? But here's the hack. Here's trick. Are you ready for it? It's real quick, real easy, and it works. Once you know what you want to do, count down from 5. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then go and do that thing that you want to do. Like a rocket ship, count down and then blast off. Sounds like the silliest thing ever, but it works. It works based on the science of metacognition, and study after study have shown its effectiveness. See, it quiets the negativity bias that we have in us, the stinking thinking, the blah blah, the worry. See, worry is a misuse of the imagination. It does nothing but drain us of our willpower. But when you focus on the countdown, you interrupt the worry, the doubts, and then you can go and do what it is you want to do. That's it. See, you're just tricking your mind. And see, this is such a great tool to help you take control of your life and start living more authentically. Use this for things like waking up in the morning, eating healthier, going to the gym, whatever positive change that you want to make in your life. This will give you the courage to finally become the truest version of yourself. How much longer are you going to say, "One day I'm gonna..." Just count down and do it. Now, I didn't invent this. This comes from the amazing Mel Robbins, uh, She has a great book called The Five Second Rule. I just finished it on Audible. Amazing. So check it out, check it out, try it, guys. Let me know what you— what happens, what you think. And who knows, maybe you can change your life in just 5 seconds. Go! So you failed your final exam, you didn't get the job that you wanted, and your relationship ended painfully. Congratulations. Now before you click off of this video, I want to tell you that I myself have been afraid of failure for practically all my life until I learned the truth. And the truth is, is failure is one of our greatest greatest friends. I mean, success is cool, but it naturally builds the ego, arrogance, pride, and greed. But failure— see, failure is special. See, failure naturally builds humility, self-examination, and self-realization. I mean, failure can bring you closer to God because failure teaches us so many things about ourselves, but only if we are quiet enough to listen. So don't get angry because you fail, because your anger is blocking the lesson. See, failure equals new possibilities in life that you didn't expect. And in life, you can't expect anything to go your way. All you can do is put your all into what you're doing and let go. Sometimes you win, and Sometimes you learn. I mean, there are so many stories of successful people failing over and over again. I think the moral is that if you aren't afraid of failure and you learn from your failures, you can literally fail your way to success. Because a wise man once said, "Even a broken clock is right twice a day." If you buy me a gift, right? Like this one. It's a bomb in here, you trying to play me, and I don't take the gift. You try to give it to me, I don't take it. Who does it blow up on? You, right? It's the same thing with hatin' on somebody. If you're hatin' on me, giving me this negative energy, and I don't get insulted, it blows up on you. You feel the pain, not me. This video isn't for haters. Haters are not a problem. Our reaction to the haters is the problem. Haters aren't going away. They're everywhere. You can go online and find videos of babies laughing, thousands of dislikes. Like, who does that? Only a hater. We gotta stop reacting and taking this gift that they give us that makes us blow up. And the best body armor to protect yourself from a hater is compassion. If you fully put yourself into the shoes of a hater, how can you hate a hater? They aren't even haters anymore if you put yourself into their shoes. They're just sad people. You realize that nobody psychologically happy or healthy could ever hate on someone. And I'll prove it. I have hated on people before, and I'm sure you have too. We all have moments of jealousy, envy, low self-esteem, taking our insecurities out on somebody else. It's human. But go back to how you felt when you did that. You were unhappy. So when somebody's hatin' on you, that's where it's coming from. Only deep internal pain could ever make somebody lash out and do something hateful. These are hurt people, and hurt people wanna hurt people. And I know it's not easy to not take this gift. I mean, it's wrapped up so nicely You want to debate and be defensive, but you gotta remember, there's a bomb in here. Don't do it. A lot of people ask me, how do I know what my true purpose is? The answer is the difference between a career and a calling. It's the difference between satisfaction and fulfillment. It is the difference between an interest and a passion. What is the difference between an interest and a passion? So many people are interested in this, interested in that. But see, when you go to marry somebody, you don't get down on one knee and say, "Baby, would you marry me? I am interested in you." No, no, you don't do that unless you want to get smacked in the face and then left. You gotta say, "Baby, I am passionate about you. You complete me. I cannot truly live this life without you, without us." together. That's operating from the heart. And if you don't operate from the heart, I can guarantee you'll live a life climbing a ladder, and if you get to the top, you will realize that it was laying against the wrong wall. They say never become too good at something you hate, or they will make you do it for the rest of your life. So look, ask yourself these 3 questions: What are your natural talents? What is something you enjoy doing? What is something that you can't shut up about? You gotta read, write, and talk about it. That's how you get closer and closer to your mission or purpose in life. Still confused? Okay, so I believe that the best teacher of how to live life is death. Legend has it that when we are on our deathbeds, we will be visited by ghosts. These are the ghosts of our ideas, dreams, abilities, talents given to us by life. And if we never acted on that idea, never pursued that dream, never worked on those skills, used our voice, or wrote that book, then those ghosts will say, "We came to you, and only you could have given us life, but now we must die with you forever." So ask yourself this question, my friends. Engage this thought experiment. If you had one year to live, 365 days, and whatever you chose to do, you were guaranteed to succeed at, what would you do? Chances are that is what you should be doing right now. When you're on an airplane, before takeoff, the flight attendant always says, in the event of an emergency, An oxygen mask will automatically appear in front of you. If you're traveling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first and then assist the other person. See, life is just like this. Before you try to go and help somebody else, you gotta first help yourself. You gotta secure yourself. Some people may call it selfish, but if you're panting and hyperventilating in life and you're trying to go and help somebody else I don't care how good your intentions, chances are you're both not gonna make it. See, there's a reason they say secure your mask first before helping even children. That's how important it is for you to be stable first, because once you're stable, then you can help the child, you can help the old lady, the old man, the teenager. What I'm trying to say is that in life, to be the most help to others, you gotta take the time to secure your own mask. To secure yourself financially, mentally, physically, and most importantly, spiritually. That means you gotta leave friends, family, turn off the game, the award shows, and just be with yourself. Because see, in the operating room ain't no visitors allowed. No guests, no friends, no family. Why? Because the patient is undergoing a transformation. Well, in that same way, you must get by yourself if you want to transform transform into your best version. But let me finish with this. After you have your mask properly secured and you're able to breathe, it becomes your obligation, your duty to help others secure their mask. So ain't nothing wrong with being selfish in the beginning, but make sure the endgame is to be selfless. Because to be the only one breathing on a plane while everybody else is unconscious will surely put you on a crash course for loneliness and disaster. Every day we allow and even encourage people to dump garbage into our minds and into our lives. See, contrary to popular belief, you don't just consume nutrients through food by way of your mouth. You also consume through your eyes and through your ears. You ever wonder why you're feeling negative or angry? It's because your input determines your output. The garbage that you listen to on the radio, the trash you see on TV, the bullshit that you hear from the people that you hang out with. It rubs off on you. Everybody talks about GMOs, stay away from GMOs. Well, stay away from the human GMOs, the greedy, the miserable, the obnoxious. These people are toxic, they drain you, they complain, they remind you of your mistakes, they tear you down, they gossip, they aren't there for you when you need them. And some of these people are even in your family. But these aren't necessarily evil people, they're just trapped in a cycle themselves, but that's their problem, not yours. You can't fix them. You have to fix yourself and become an example for them. So politely, just give yourself some space from these people, or else you're gonna end up just like them. You keep hanging out with losers, you're gonna wind up picking up the qualities of a loser. Hang out with people that encourage you and empower you to become the best version of yourself. You deserve that. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to to be you. So figure out what you want out of life because you're gonna be the only one with you for the rest of it. Life is short, and as a wise woman once said, fake friends, negative friends, ain't nobody got time for that. I read a study yesterday. It said that last year, more than half of us actually chose not to take our full vacations from our jobs. Question: Don't you think it's crazy that so many of us go into work even when we don't need to be there? Times we could be on the beach buried in sand or traveling the earth, we spend it in the office traveling from desk to desk buried in paperwork. See, in this chaotic world everything goes so fast. We're so busy, seems like everyone's middle name is multitask. But now, now before you go and act all holier-than-thou, how many extra tabs do you have open on your computer right now? See, we all need time to get away from the race for our family, friends, for the sake of our mental state. Time to rewind, recharge, and reconnect. Not reporting to the office on emails that should be on redirect. Because life, ladies and gentlemen, is all about moments. No one in history has ever been able to hold on to one, not a single soul. And you never get them back. See, there one goes. No do-over, no rewind, no DVD root menu to skip to a previous scene. Ask yourself, how many trips did you almost take? How many sights have you almost seen? How many moments have you lost thinking about the next one? Thinking that once you get this or get there, maybe that will be the best one? Life has taught me that all we will ever have is now. But let me be perfectly clear, I'm not saying to quit your job, even though I know you deserve a 6-month vacation twice a year. But how about small steps? Short trips with long dances. No distractions. Spend time with family instead of coworkers. Meditation instead of aggravation. Replace our screensavers with sunrises. Palm Pilots with palm trees. Jammed copy machines with— Man, I really hate jammed copy machines. The most precious thing we have in life are moments. Let's make the most of them before they disappear. Let's see the world while we still can and cherish those while they're still here. Because when our lives are almost over, it won't matter how much money we made or hours we worked or times we got employee of the month. What we will look back on are the memories we made, the hours we spent with those we loved, and were we father of the month, mother of the year, friend of a lifetime. Holidays should be a time where we go away and come together. From now on, let's take our whole vacation and be fully present, creating memories that will last forever. One of my favorite stories is about a man. Now, this man is walking down a path and finds an egg, an eagle's egg. He takes this egg and puts it into the nest of a backyard hen. Pretty soon, the eagle hatches with the chicks and grows up with them. Now, all his life, that eagle did what the chickens did. He would poke around in the dirt looking for worms and insects to eat. He would fly a few feet into the air like chickens do, and he'd cluck around. And as time passed, that eagle, he grew very old. And one day, he saw something above him. This thing, it glided gracefully and majestically through the clouds. "What's that?" the eagle says. "Oh, that? That's an eagle." "Who?" one chicken responds. "He is the king of all birds, the master of the skies. But we belong to the ground because we are just chickens. Don't worry about him, you will never be that." And that eagle lived and died a chicken because that is what he thought he was. This new year, it's time to take flight. You and me both know that you don't belong where you are right now. You don't belong with some of the people you're around right now. You got no business doing what you're doing right now. You're being a chicken when you were born an eagle. So now the question is, how long is it gonna take? To make the decision, to make the shift and show some courage, show some character. Let me— that word character is funny. You know, character is the ability to carry out a resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed. I'm gonna say that again because some of y'all might have missed it. Character is the ability to carry out a resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed? Are you gonna say you wanna, wanna do something, do it for 2 weeks and then quit like you did last year, like you did the year before last? You say you want to lose weight, get in shape, get your business off the ground, get closer to God, and then turn around and party, get lit, drink alcohol, eat like crap and continue to live below who you were created to be, thereby committing the greatest sin known to man? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm not religious, but I'm gonna take you to church. Watch this. See, the word sin, watch this, see, the word sin comes from the Greek word sin used in archery. It means to miss your target. Mark. The greatest sin in life is to miss your mark, to not be who you were created to be, to be a chicken instead of an eagle. I don't know if you guys remember growing up the story of Icarus. You know, a lot of people remember Icarus being this guy who had the wings made out of wax. His father cautioned him not to fly too high or the sun will melt your wings. And what happened? It was Icarus's arrogance that caused him to fly too high. Sun melted his wings and boom, fell to the earth dead. But that's not the full story. No, no, no, you didn't know there was more to it? See, Icarus's father also cautioned him against flying too low. He said, "Don't fly too close to the sea or your weight will cause you to plummet into the water." See, we all know not to be too arrogant. Well, most of us. But how many of us know not to be too humble, too meek, too timid, too shy, too safe? It is said that the greatest tragedy in life is not that people aim too high and miss, it is that people aim too low and hit. I see a lot of people on Facebook, everywhere, Instagram talking about the friend zone. Haha, laughing, he's in the friend zone, the hoverhand. But I don't see too many people making jokes about the other zone, the comfort zone. Ain't no memes about that, ain't no jokes. You know why? Because a lot of y'all in there. Well, in this new year, let's step out of our comfort zone. Fortune favors the bold, and it is the cave that you fear, the cave that you fear, that will hold the treasure that you desire. Forget a New Year's resolution. Forget it. Let's make a new life resolution to be fully and authentically you. I don't know what dream you have, but I can guarantee you that there's somebody in the hospital right now praying, begging God to have the opportunity that you have right now. Don't blow it. It is time. It is time to go from mediocre to meteoric. It is time to go from being counted out to being counted on. It is time to fly like the eagle you are. Or do you want to continue to cluck with the chickens? I don't care who you are, what race, what age, what gender. I don't care about any of that stuff. But what I do know is that you have a dream inside of you, and that dream you have kept hidden from the world. You've made excuses for it, you've delayed it, you've listened to people telling you to be realistic, but deep down in your heart you know that you're not living to your potential, and life is now something you're just getting on with. I want to lay some, some reality on you real quick. Where is the wealthiest place in the world? Do you know? It's not China, it's not Dubai, it's the graveyard. Because in the graveyard you will find inventions never invented, businesses never erected, songs never sung, books never written, ideas never nurtured, people never realized because they were scared. To take a risk. I'm scared like you. But you want to know something else? You're not in a graveyard yet. And every— we get one life, right? And every passing moment, we will never get back again. You will never start this video with the same perspective you had when you click play. You will never brush your teeth the same way twice in your life. Ain't no rewind button on life. I would never get that breath back ever again. See, this present moment is so precious. We have to be here, we have to be in it and make the most of it. We have to live our dreams now because they are possible. 6,000 years ago, man created the wheel. Only 6,000 years ago, first written language was created. Six— that's it. And if I may remind you, the airplane is only a little over 100 years old. There was no internet 50 years ago, no cell phones. So don't sit here and tell me that everything that can be done has been done when we haven't been here for very long. There are dreams, there are ideas and accomplishments that are waiting to be discovered, that are waiting for you. Helen Keller was once asked, I asked, "What on earth would be worse than being born blind?" She said, "It would be so much worse to be born with sight but no vision." Why can't we have cures for every disease known to man? Why can't we have clean water, food, education for every person on this planet? Why can't we have peace on this planet? Why do we have to die to go to heaven? The earth is already in space. We can have heaven right here, right now. Just a shift in this. Why not? Because somebody said it's impossible? It can't be done? I'll tell you this, there's never been a statue erected for a critic. Everybody tell you how to do it, they never did it. Moral of the story is, do you, be you, and be here now. Your dream your dreams are possible. Stop obsessing over these celebrities, Kim Kardashian, live your life. Step into your greatness. They say the average person dies at 25 but is buried at 75. You know what that means? Unless you figure it out. Don't let this negative world get to you. Don't let it win. Do not go where the path may lead, but go where there is no path and leave a trail.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Marcus Mokakala asked me to. If there's someone you'd like me to profile in the next top 10, check out the link in the description and go and cast your vote. I'd also love to know what was your favorite message from this video. What did you learn from this video that you're going to immediately apply somehow in your life or in your business, please leave it down in the comments below. I'm really curious to find out. I also wanna give a quick shout out to Brandon from 1% Better. Brandon, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, doing a review on your YouTube channel, and posting it to Twitter as well. I really, really, really appreciate the support, man, and I'm glad you enjoyed the read. 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.

There was a study done on 300 world leaders, everybody from Martin Luther King to Gandhi to Helen Keller, you name it. You know what they found they had in common? 75% of them were either raised in poverty, had been abused as children, had some serious physical impairment. See, these individuals knew. They became great because they knew that life isn't about what happens to you, it's about how you handle what happens to you. And you can either break down or break records. Your choice. So your mind is out of control, huh? You want to control the mind. Well, guess what? You can't do it. Nobody can do it. Trying to control the mind Trying to flatten out water, you just make more waves because that's the nature of the ocean. It has waves, it has crashing. You don't say there should be no waves in the ocean. Well, the natural state of the mind is full of thought, mental noise, and once you accept that, the easier it will be to go beyond it because you are not the mind. You have a mind, but the problem is you have been identifying with the mind, with your thoughts for your entire life. If you were the ocean, why would you identify as a wave? It's just a wave. Well, you are that which observes thoughts. Stop identifying as thoughts. It's just a thought. And what is every thought made out of? Nothing. You bring it to life with the attention you give it. See, every single day we have 50 to 70 70,000 thoughts, but the ones that stress us are the ones we keep putting our attention on. But these thoughts don't have any more strength than any other. Stressful thoughts come like a knock on the door, and you keep letting them in. Or you say, "No, no, no, I don't, I don't want you to come in. No, no, no, stay out." And that makes them knock even louder. So both aversion and attraction feed and multiply thoughts. The secret is is just don't mind the mind. Know that this is the natural state of the mind. Don't feed it. You do that by not trying to control. Just hold your ground and the thoughts will go away. This is the law of the universe. Everything passes. Just stay as the observer of thought. Don't touch them. Don't resist the thought, label it, or create a whole story around the thought. Just stay as the your awareness. This is a much higher place, your true place, in silence. So yeah, thoughts will arise and you feel them. Yeah, you're gonna feel them, but they will pass. You don't have to follow them anymore down their rabbit hole. Just remember, it's just a thought. Don't touch it. Just stop and fix your attention in that silence. Nothing more. Very simple. You don't have to fight, control, or defeat the mind, just stay as you are. How simple is that? Just stay as you are, as the silence in between two thoughts, and the mind will dissolve by itself into the nothingness that it really is. Hey yo, whatever it is you're going through, I want to tell you that you are exactly where you need to be. You see this? This is a lotus flower. Some say it is the most beautiful, fragrant flower flower on the face of the earth. But the funny thing is, it was born out of the nasty, dirty, ugly swamp. The swamp, the mud. You don't grow lotuses on marble or in the highlands. Only from the mud can this beautiful flower emerge. I want to tell you that you are the lotus. All of the ugly situations, the— your past, The struggle, the strife is necessary. You need these situations to force you to become what you were destined to be, which is greatness. So hold your ground, keep moving forward out of that mud. I promise you that you will get through. And all of that ugliness, the struggle, the strife will make your victory speech that much more beautiful. Peace.