How to EMBRACE Change | Myles Munroe's Advice in 27 Minutes

If you're having a bad time right now, it cannot last.

Poor people talk about money all the time. Rich people talk about things. Wealthy people, they talk about ideas.

Instead of waiting for someone to give you a job, create your own work.

He was a Bahamian evangelical Christian and ordained minister. He founded the Bahamas Faith Ministries International. He was the CEO and chairman of the International Third World Leaders Association. He's Miles Monroe, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 5 is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around all the way to the end for some special bonus clips. And as always, as Miles is talking, if he says something that really, really resonates with you, please leave it in the comments below and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. Enjoy!

Change is inevitable. Change is also the principle of life. That means everything that is alive will change, and even things that are not alive will change. You know, a lady came to me, she says, I came to the Bahamas for the last 10 years and I missed 4 years. And I came here this past month and everything is different. The airport is new, she said. What happened to the old airport, she says. In other words, even the things not alive are changing. The way the river runs down the mountain is wearing away the mountain. You go back to that mountain 10 years later and the river is wider. Change is in creation. It's part of life. So here is the question then. Ecclesiastes chapter 3, it says, to everything there is a season, and to every purpose under heaven there is a time for it. To everything there's a season. How many things have a season?

Everything.

This is one of the best news I ever got in my life. When I understood this, I was a teenager, and it changed my life. When I understood that everything is a season— let me tell you why. If you're having a bad time right now, it cannot last. If you cannot find a job right now, that is only a season. If your business is going in the wrong direction, it's a seasonal slide. If nobody wants to marry you, that's only a season. They're gonna come a season when everybody want to marry you. You got choices. If you have no money right now, the good news is I am seasonally broke. Tell your neighbor, it's only for a time. That's the good news. That's why we are always reminded, never make a permanent decision in a temporary problem.

Success is not something you pursue. Success is a matter of becoming a person of value. We should not be pursuing money, we should pursue purpose, we should pursue vision for ourselves and for our countries, for our communities. We should be not pursuing things, we need to pursue ideas. I always say that there are 3 types of people in the world. There's poor people, there's rich people, and there's wealthy people. Poor people talk about money all the time. Rich people talk about things. Wealthy people, they talk about ideas. Rich people, poor people, and wealthy people think differently. For example, poor people, they pursue money. Rich people pursue things. Wealthy people pursue ideas. And so constantly there's a different way of thinking. I hope that the Third World countries and the young people of our nations We become ideas people. You know, ideas control the world, not money. And ideas attract money. So I think if we minimize this desire to get money and elevate the creativity of new ideas, we'll find that financial results will naturally flow to it. Bill Gates didn't pursue money, he pursued an idea. Steven Jobs, the late Steven Jobs, who invented the Apple computer and the iPhone, he never went after money, he developed an idea. And I think, if you think of all the wealthy people in the world, it was ideas that made them wealthy, not money. So I think we need to switch it, reverse it. Don't pursue money and then try to get an idea. Get an idea and money will pursue the idea, and you become a byproduct as far as wealth.

I tell our young people, I say to you right now, stop looking for employment. Why don't you position yourself differently and look for deployment? To employers, to be employed means that somebody else is benefiting from your energy. To deploy me, to deploy yourself, means that you are using your own energy to be productive. So instead of waiting for someone to give you a job, create your own work. That's why I tell people there's difference between your work and your job. Your job Your job is what they train you to do. Your work is what you were born to do. Your job is your skill, which they can fire you from at any time. But your work is your gift. No one can take that from you. Your job is where you get compensation for activity. Your work is where you get fulfillment because you love it so much. Your job you can retire from. Your work, you can never retire from because your work is you. So when a person discovers their work, they no longer need a job because their work makes them productive. So there are young people in this country who are full of talents, full of gifts. And I want to say this too: every problem in life is a business. All businesses are simply someone solving a problem. So the more problems that are in Kenya, the more businesses available for young people to begin. And this is what I think we are lacking. We are trained to get a job. We're not trained to start a business. We are trained to let other people employ us, not trained to deploy ourselves.

Do we sit down and let change just happen to us? Are we just watching change happening around us? Are we aware that change is happening within us? Are we going to be those proactive people who make sure that we affect what happens to us? Change also produces 4 types of people. They are in this room. First of all, there are people who watch things happen. Now let me say something about change. This is important here. Not all change is improvement. You used to weigh 128, and now you changed. And for some of you, that's not an improvement. You lost your wardrobe, you lost your ability to climb up steps fast, even lost the quality of health that you had. Change doesn't mean improvement all the time, but the problem is without change there can be no improvement. So you have to decide what to do with change. Change will happen, and if you are not careful It could be destructive. So you have to determine what kind of change do I want in my life. And I want you as a young person, as a mother and a father, as a business person, to think about your company even, or your family, or your educational pursuit. What kind of classes do you want to take in college this year? What kind of grades do you want? What kind of relationships you want to have in your life? Who do you want to drop, but who do you want to pick up in your relationships? What kind of people do you want to associate with? Where do you want to travel that you've never been? What are the books you need to read you never read before? The changes come with choices. So what kind of person are you?

We should not try to get everything now. You know, I went to college, I spent 8 years in universities. I have 3 bachelor's degrees, a master's degree, 5 doctorate degrees, bestowed upon me by many different universities. And many of my friends that went to school with me in high school, they went straight to jobs. I went to college. You know, they started making money early. I delayed my money-making for 5 years. And now what they make in a year, I probably make in an hour. So, you know, we need to be more focused on developing ourselves rather than trying to grab money now. Focus on self-improvement self-expansion rather than trying to get your pocket to expand. Because the more valuable you make yourself, the more value you attract. You're not paid for how hard you work, you're paid for what you are worth to the organization. And the more intellectual development you have, the more spiritual development you have, the more psychological development you have, emotional stability, you become more valuable to the world. Now let me say this finally. If you become valuable to the world, the world will pay you to be yourself. So it's important for you to become a person of value, not to seek value in things. I get paid for what I know, not for what I do. And I think this is what we need to perceive as being most valuable. Do you know what they actually call intellect? They call it capital. You know, intellectual capital is really a commodity. And so I want to encourage our young people to focus on discovering the purpose for your life, why God created you, and then discover your gifts, and then refine them, develop them, practice them, and then even begin to serve them freely to your community. Develop yourself, and in a short time you'll discover that people will pursue you. Because when you develop your fruit and you maximize your fruit of your gift in life, just like a tree— trees never bring their fruit to you, they just simply manifest them. You attract, you are attracted to the tree. So when you develop your gifts and refine your gifts, you don't need to look for followers, they'll find you. After all, leadership is not about finding followers, it's about followers being attracted to what you have, and this is true commodity.

The power for me to be successful was not in the teachers, it was not in the educational system, it was not in my culture, it was not in my society. It was within me. And I began to think, God, if you are a good God, why am I poor? If you are a great God, why are these people better than me? If you make me in your image, why are they special and I'm a monkey? And that night, no thunder, no lightning, no earthquakes, nothing. I just heard a voice in my mind and the voice said, I ask you to believe me and you will be saved, not them. And that night I made a commitment to believe what God said. 13 years old, I said, okay, I believe that I have the power to experience far beyond all I can ever ask, think, or imagine. 13 years old, and that's when my pursuit of God began. When was it that you realized you wanted to become a preacher? You know, I didn't want to become a preacher. Matter of fact, today I still don't consider myself a preacher. I think, uh, it drove me to have a passion to help everybody who's been oppressed. My passion is to make sure that no one should live under what I experienced. I never desired to be a minister. I desired to help people.

You should never judge your success by other people's accolades. You judge your success by God's instruction to your life and how well along you are with that instruction. Because I found out something in life: the average human being is so mediocre that to be a genius, just do a little extra. Y'all missed that. People are so normal. To be an expert, just go 1 inch abnormal and they think you're great. So don't judge your success by the masses, what they think of you. Judge yourself by what God told you to do. Can I put it another way? When experience is your best teacher, then progress is imprisoned. Experience could be a curse. I've been taught by my parents years ago that experience is the best teacher. I don't believe that anymore. Experience could cause you to stop progressing because you keep judging your dreams by your experience, or your vision by your experience, and you end up saying, uh, I tried that before, or I never saw anyone do it that way. And you begin to use your experience to stop your progress. This is why God always makes history with young people, because old people got too much experience. You all remember the story with David and Goliath? The problem with Saul, who was the king, was he had experience, and he tried to put his experience on David. He told David, wear my armor, wear my shield, use my sword. David put it on. David said, this thing is too heavy. And he went out and fought the giant with something the giant never saw before— a sling. How do you fight a rock with a sword? The giant says, what is this thing he's using? The giant is trained, experienced with a sword, so he expected an experienced swordsman to come and fight him. But here comes a little boy with equipment he ain't never seen before. We need some people like that in the 21st century who come with some things that they never seen at the office, think of some ideas that wreck the whole system. That's why Steve Jobs will always be in history as a great inventor. He keep defying his own experience. I was reading his, uh, a document, watching a documentary on him last 2 weeks ago, and they said that when the iPhone came out, they said to him, that's it, you're the ultimate, this is it. He said no, and he came up with this idea about the iPad, and he said the people in the company said it will never work. Why? It's, it's an abnormal size. Either you got a computer or an iPhone, put in your pocket or put in your briefcase. Either this thing in the middle ain't gonna work. He says, look, we're gonna make this. Now the iPad is the most common machinery people use in the world. Sometimes you got to defy your own board. To take progress. Experience— consult your experience, but never let it rule you.

Shakespeare says, sweet are the uses of adversity. Ooh, I like that. Sweet are the uses of adversity. He says you must learn to use adversity for your benefit. One of the wealthiest men in the United States— I just finished reading his book again, his edition, new edition. It's called Cheaters Never Win. He's a multi-billionaire. He probably has products in this room today or in this building somewhere. He is the largest manufacturer of plastic paper cups and paper plates, forks in the world. The company is called the Huntsman Enterprise. Multibillionaire. Here's what he says in this book I just finished reading. He says, if there is a silver lining to bad times, it is this: when facing severe challenges, your mind is normally at its sharpest. No wonder why he's a billionaire. When facing challenges, he says, your mind kicks in and thinks beyond the norm. He also says another statement I thought was interesting. He said humans seldom have created anything of lasting value unless they were tried and or hurting benefits from crisis. This is when you are supposed to become a greater leader, a better leader, because your skills must be tested. I put it another way: Abraham Lincoln was an amazing guy. He became the greatest president in the midst of trials. Today, I still am convinced he is the greatest president of the United States in history because he used adversity to create a federation that lasted 300 years and still working. But it came out of the fires of crisis. My definition of leadership is very simple yet complicated. I believe that leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, not manipulation. And that inspiration comes from a passion which is motivated by a sense of vision and a sense of purpose. So leadership is first personal, then it's corporate. Leadership is not something you pursue, it's something you discover. Leaders are born when a human discovers something more important than their personal ambition.

Leadership— you don't pursue it?

Leadership is— no, true leaders do not seek followers. Leaders actually are pursuing a passion toward a purpose that gives them a sense of destiny. For example, one of the greatest leaders of example that I use is Nelson Mandela, one of your great presidents. He never sought followers. Think about it. He discovered a purpose that was more important than his private preservation, his private ambition. He pursued that purpose privately. It attracted people. So leaders don't seek followers. Followers are attracted to leaders. Leaders are more concerned about discovering a purpose to improve the life of humanity that's more important than their personal ambition. So they sacrifice themselves to accomplish something for the greater good. Yeah, we find that very rarely. Most people we call leaders are simply professional manipulators, and they actually are more concerned about their own promotion than promoting the people. As you look back over your life, if there's just one thing that you could do differently, what would it be?

Hmm.

That's always a tough question. I get that question asked a lot. I'm not sure, you know, because everything that happened in my life produced me. Even the negatives, even the things that I might have failed in, the things I've made mistakes with, they were fantastic classrooms for me. And I believe the best thing in life to do is not to regret and try to change what happened, but to interpret it properly, maximize it, and use it to serve other people. And that's what I want to do with my past.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Abel Solomon asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it down in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know what did you hear today that inspired you the most? What was the biggest lesson that you learned after watching this video? I'd love to hear from you, please leave it in the comments and I'm gonna join in the discussion. I also want to give a quick shout out to Max Young. Max, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book. It really, really, really means a lot to me. 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.

I want to focus on discovering and releasing— how to release your hidden greatness. Every human being in this room and those watching by the internet, you have inside of you, I have no doubt about it, greatness. But most people will die with the greatness on the inside, and this is why we have this conference, because we don't want you to be one of those persons who die with their greatness. Let me say a few comments about greatness. Every human desires two things in life. I want you to write them down. Two things every human wants. 6 billion of us, and now 7 billion since last April, on this planet want two things. And everything you do is motivated by these two things. One, we want power. Every young person, every old person wants power. We gotta talk about what power is. And the second thing we want is greatness. We don't talk about these too much, but every human being wants power and they want greatness. This is why we are motivated to wear certain clothing. We call them power clothing. This is why we try to join a gang, because being in a gang of people gives you power to threaten other people. This is why we would actually want to steal money or gain money, because money gives you power to buy things that you want to make you feel important. Everything we do is motivated by these two things: power and greatness. Now, I want to mention something about power. What is power? Power. I want you to quote it with me out loud up on the board so you can remember it when you leave here. What is power?

Read it.

Power is the ability and the capacity to control circumstances and in the environment. That's power. Power is what? The ability to control circumstances and to control your environment. That's what power is. And everybody wants it. The politician wants it. The banker wants it. The parent wants it. The young person wants it. Everybody wants power to control circumstances. What is greatness? Write this down. Greatness— out loud, please— is a sense of value, importance, and significance. That's greatness. Great is when you feel that you are important to the world. You feel great when you feel that you are valuable to society. Greatness is when you feel that you are significant to your generation. In other words, the desire for all of us to be great and to control our environment is natural. You as a 16-year-old, your desire to become the head of the class is a desire for greatness. You as an 18-year-old Your desire to go to college and get a degree so you can get a better job, so you can make more money, so you can buy things you want, is a desire for control, a desire for greatness. And this is why people get in trouble— they're pursuing power and greatness. Now let me repeat again: the pursuit of power and greatness is natural. As a matter of fact, if you don't want to be great, something's wrong with you. If you have no desire to be powerful, something's wrong with you. Every person here desires these things. I put it this way: God is not against your desire for greatness. He's not against your desire for power, because God created you to be great. Potential is who you are, but no one knows it yet. Potential is who you could become, but you haven't become it yet. Potential is how far you can go, but you haven't gone yet. In other words, potential is never what you've done, because once you've done something, it ceases to be your potential. Potential therefore has to do with what you haven't done yet that you can still yet do, and that's why I am after you. I came after you because I'm bored with what you've done. I'm bored. You got a PhD, so what?

It's over.

What's left? That's right. Potential, therefore, is not about what you've achieved. It's what you haven't achieved yet that you could achieve. And this is why I say this, that the end of your potential— write it down— is your last success. The greatest enemy of your potential is your success, because when you become successful at something, it tempts you to stop. This is why I am always nervous about people's accolades concerning me. I don't trust too many awards people give me. I have so So many degrees to show the front people, and I hide them away because I don't even want to see them. They may stop me from moving. Nothing is more dangerous than counting on your success. And so you possess the potential, and it's hidden.