How to Face Life’s Challenges and Thrive | Eric Thomas' Advice in 39 Minutes

Tragedy and trials come to everybody. Only the strong survive. You will not outwork me on your jet. You will not outwork me in your Bentley. You will not outwork me. What's your win it all? Do you even know? Like, do you know what your win it all is for this year? You have been blessed by the Creator to be on the earth. You here, leave your doggone mark. You here, he blessed you to be here. Do something.

He's an American author, educator, minister, activist, and motivational speaker. He has a tell-it-like-it-is style that earned him the moniker, the hip-hop preacher. He motivates people all around the world with his inspirational speeches and teachings. He's Eric Thomas, and here's my take on his Top 10 Rules of Success Volume 2. Rule number 1 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best. And as always, guys, as you're watching the videos, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it down in the comments below and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. Also, as you are writing something down, it's much more likely to stick in your head too. Enjoy.

If there's anything in life that you don't currently have right now, it's because of who you are and how you think. Come on, right now you saying, E.T., man, Are you talking to me, man? I'm going through some type of pain. I'm ready to quit and give up. Let me see your hand. I'm ready to quit and give up. Let me see your hand. Something in life I'm ready to quit on, give up on. Come on, raise your hand high. I'm ready to quit on it. I'm ready to give up on it. Come on, raise it up. All right, what I need you to do is I need you to find a reason to keep going. And if you can find a reason to keep going, I know you're strong enough to do it because you're human. And every human has what it takes to get past whatever they're going through if they decide to push through it. Push through it. Tragedy and trials come to everybody. Only the strong survive. I watched my wife when she got diagnosed. I watched my wife have terrible days and she probably missed 2 days of work the whole time she had MS. I watched her go to work and I'm like, "Boo, why in the world would you get up and go to work? You don't even need the money. Why would you do it? It's cold. It's 10 degrees in Michigan and your MS flare up when it's cold. What are you doing?" She said, "I can't see my daughter. I can't have my daughter see me weak because my daughter gonna be married one day and my daughter gonna face tragedy one day." and I have to show her how to do it. And so I get up and get dressed and I go to work every day so my baby girl can know how to get through trials. Because one day she ain't gonna be under our roof and she gonna have to do it alone. And I don't want to talk, I want to model what it looks like. My daughter got on the prayer line, she was at prayer meeting the other day, told her testimony. She's like, yo, I ain't even feel like going to school, I ain't feel like walking a mile to go to class. And I thought about it, my mom got a chronic illness, and if my mom in her 40s can get get up with a chronic illness and go to work, why surely I can get up at 18 years old and go to class. It worked, it worked, it worked. Listen to me very closely. Y'all running from obstacles when in fact it's the obstacle that's going to take you to the next level. Like, y'all running from pain, y'all running from challenges. You telling me how difficult your life is. Do you understand it is the difficulty that's going to prepare you and take you to that next level? Why do you keep crying? Why me, God? Why did I get MS? Why did I get cancer? Why did my mama die? Why did I get fired? Do you understand? Listen, you got through that, you got put through that because what that does, that tension produces greatness. Stop running from it and run to it. Come on, y'all, y'all gotta hear me. The reason why you do what you do is more critical than what you do. And if why you do what you do is weak, I need you to go back and start all over again. Because if your reasoning is weak, you're not gonna get it done. Why? Because life is going to beat you upside your head And I'm gonna tell you this, I don't care who you are and what profession you're in, before you blow up, life will strip you to the core. But if you weak, you will be broke. And I'm not here because I'm the best. I'm here because they tried to break me and they couldn't. Many of you have a very small opportunity and you're not taking advantage of that opportunity because you're not thinking about the next opportunity. You're looking at this as small. No, this is the gateway. Like, this is the first one, right? So you gotta ask yourself this question. Like, how do you keep that fire? You know how you keep it? You keep putting different opportunities in front of you. You keep setting different opportunities. Anybody know who this is? Yeah, you should. He in the Big Ten. He gave us the business. You should know who he is. Yogi Ferrell. Didn't get drafted. Didn't get drafted to the NBA. Didn't get drafted, but they just— something happened the other day. The Dallas Mavericks needed a player. They gave my man a 10-day contract. How much did he make? They got my man $100,000. How much LeBron making? Millions. They gave my man, look, for 10 days, we just want you to play for us. Somebody got hurt. We are going to bring you in for 10 days. You know what I'm saying? You got 10 days, ride the bench, you know, do your thing, but you only got 10 days. Don't get your hopes up. My man been coming in, I'm talking about trick, boom. Not only 3-pointers, like daggers. 2 seconds, boom. The 10-day contract, then turn to this boy about to get a contract. What are you doing with your opportunity? We all get one. We all get the 10-day contract. But the question is, will that 10-day contract turn into a year contract? Will it turn into a 2-year contract? You think Yogi Ferrell is the only one that's got the opportunity to come from the all the middle league in play? Nope. You think other people doing what he's doing? Nope. Why? Because they weren't prepared for it. What are you doing in the dark when nobody's watching? What are you doing in the dark? 10-day contract. But he didn't come in and say, I only got 10 days. That's what some of y'all on. Oh, since I only got 10 days, I might as well only give 10 days worth of effort. I might as well only give 10 days worth of energy. Yogi Berra was like, I'm about to act like this might be my last shot. I'm about to act like I'm starting. I'm about to act like LeBron. I'm about to act like Kyrie. I'm about to I'm like Steph Curry. When you put me in the game, I'm telling you, I'm about to murder them. And after 10 games, he's been murdering them. He's been on ESPN almost every game. All they talk about, Yogi Ferrell. I'm talking about NBA TV, ESPN 1, ESPN 2, like Spanish ESPN. So y'all gotta understand something. What was Yogi doing before? What was Yogi doing before he got that opportunity, y'all? He was preparing for it. You don't get in the game and score like he scored. So he said, so what, I didn't make the league? So what? They can't stop me from practicing. They can't stop me from getting up in the morning and running drills. So the problem with most of you is you have an opportunity. You wrote it down, you wrote it down right here. Opportunity. They gave me an opportunity. They gave me a shot. Somebody gave me a GED. I turned that GED into a 4-year degree. Somebody gave me a 4-year degree. I turned into a master's degree. Somebody gave me a master's master's degree. I turned into a PhD. You got the opportunity. What you doing with it? Opportunity is coming. Will you be ready when it comes? There are those of you who have dreams and goals and you not getting it. You cannot do it alone. Are you hearing me? And I feel you. I feel you. Like, you feel like, like, if you do it by yourself, for real, like, you don't have to deal with people, you have to go through some of the stressors of dealing with people. Like, you like, I just want to be by myself, I want to do it by myself. And look, I'm not mad at you, but I'm telling you, there's a level that you can get to alone. And then there's a level you can get to. Are you hearing me? There's a level you can get to when it's 2 or more. Look, it was the 3 of us initially. Karl, myself, CJ. We call ourselves the 3-headed monster. The head, right? The hands, right? Come on. And the mouth. Are you hearing what I'm telling you? And so listen to me. Y'all gotta hear what I'm telling you. Y'all gotta hear what I'm telling you. Watch this. The power of 2. So the Belgian horse. Come on, come on. Come on, kid. Make sure you show an image of him. I need them to see how strong strong that horse is. I didn't even see the power. This horse has the ability— like, this is just a, like, general horse. We ain't talking about the more powerful one. 7,000 pounds. Are you hearing me? 7,000 pounds it could pull on its own. Unbelievable. But watch this, it's gonna blow your mind. But when you put two of them together— yep, yep, two of them together— they can actually pull— it's just like general, like, they can pull 15,000 pounds. You, did you hear what I just said? Alone they can do 7, right? Together 15, not 14. But watch this, ah, mind-blowing. Watch this, but if you train them together, this is what my boy Justin taught me. My boy Justin is a mental, yeah, mental skills coach, right? Here's what he taught me. He said when you put 2 of them together and train them together from the beginning, Carl, this is gonna blow your mind, they can pull 25,000 pounds. Woo! Come on. Come on, alone, 7. Both of them together, 15. But if you train them together, if you train— I'm trying to tell y'all, you trying to do it alone and nothing great has ever been done alone. And so I know you feel more comfortable being by yourself. I know it's easier to be by yourself. Look, I know you like being by yourself, but I'm telling you, some of them goals you got, baby, come on. Some of them ideas you have, some of the stuff you want to accomplish, it's 25,000 pounds. And on your best day you can't do that by yourself. So it's your boy ET saying listen to me. Come on, come on. Two, the power of two. I know there's a power in one, but the power of two is great. You will not outwork me. It's not about being the best motivational speaker in the world. It's about being the most consistent motivational speaker in the world. And so when you watch me, even if you don't like me and you're into motivation, you gotta fool with me. Why? Because I'm on everything. ET, was that you on the Dix commercial? It was. How do you do this day after day, dedicating your life to the search for a few more feet? E.T., you doing stuff with the Olympics? Absolutely. E.T., was that you on it? Yep, that was me. E.T., did you do that? Yep, you saw me. Were you doing something for Cleveland on the drum screen? Yep, that was me. You will not outwork me. High school dropout? Yes. Your vocabulary count is deeper than mine? Absolutely. Yep. You look better than me? Suit, asymmetric look? Yep. You got me beat all day. You got me. Grew up on the other side of town, two parents, great network. You got— I'm not gonna lie, you way sweeter than I am. You got all the stuff. You got, you got it all. But you will not outwork me because your height has nothing to do with my work ethic. Your face has nothing to do with my work ethic. Your two-parent background has nothing to do with my work ethic. You will not outwork me. On your jet, you will not outwork me. In your Bentley, you will not outwork me. And there are those of you in this room, the reason why this stuff ain't happening for you, because you getting outworked. Come on, call the best motivational speakers in the world. Give us 7 days. Let us go all over the world and speak. Come on. And while you in the green room putting on your makeup, you will not outwork me. I'm being real. You will not outwork me. While you doing photo shoots, you won't outwork it. Y'all being outworked in your marriage. You're being outworked in your job. You're being outworked with your kids. Your kids in a gang.

Why?

Because somebody loving on them. What are you loving on them? They in a gang, they in a gang because you ain't hardly at home. You're being outworked. You got somebody else in the hood who got more— they got your kid here more than you got him. And you like, I just can't believe this society today. It's not the society, you got outworked. Some dude up the block is spending more time with your son than you are. Some guy on the block is telling your daughter how cute she is and you're not because you're grinding, you're working. But you thought when I told you 120, I just meant at work. I mean everywhere. You will not outwork me. You might make money, but your marriage might not be. I'm gonna get you on all fronts. With every milestone, while you might be excited about the milestone, there's a part of the milestone that you don't want to face. Are you hearing me? And listen to me. I knocked out the coursework, boom, got it done in order. E.T., why did it take you 2 years, E.T., after you finished your coursework Why did it take you 2 years to get started with the dissertation? I'm gonna be 100 with you. That would— when— look, knocked all the coursework out, but when I finally got to the dissertation, I had to get to that demon. I had to deal with it. I had to face it. Face what? We're not talking about elementary school, middle school, high school. I've had a professor or two tell me in college that you will never get your dissertation, that, that while your writing improve, but in terms of your analysis, like, you are not critical enough to do a dissertation. Are you hearing what I'm telling you? We talking about— look, math, I love math coming up. Why? It is what it is. Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally. Like, it is what it is, right? It's not subjective. Writing is subjective. I've had teachers to look at my work and, and strip it into parts. The fear— the fear of what? The fear of rejection. Right? My teachers were so subjective. I put my whole heart into it. I put everything I could put, and they tell me, edit it again. Uh, revision after revision, edit after edit. Are you hearing what I'm telling you? I had to deal with the fact that writing has never really been my strong suit. And even though I've worked hard and I put in hours and hours, in the back of my mind, ah, in the back of my mind, I could hear the teacher say, E.T., you don't have what it takes to get a dissertation. I'm a grown man dealing with that fear. I'm a grown man of dealing the rejection of getting all that red, ah, all that red on my paper, of having to do it over and over and over and over. And come on, come on, somebody feels me. You feel like you'll do 120%, you'll give everything you have and it still won't be enough. I feel you, I was there. A part of the milestone is what if I give everything and it ain't enough? What if I put my whole heart, my whole mind, my whole soul into it, E.T., and it's not enough? What if I do it and I fail? And so I feel you. So you just like, you're not gonna do it at all because you'd rather not do it and find out the truth. And I'm telling you, you gotta do me a favor. You gotta face your fear and you gotta do it anyway. Your boy E.T. had to face his fear. That's right. Yup. I know you see E.T. Beast mode. And you right, I am beast mode, but it don't mean beast mode without fear. It don't mean beast mode without a little anxiety. It don't mean beast mode and I'm just 120% sure. No, I have to live by faith too. And I made up in my mind, E.T., you gotta go To eat. Look, I finished my coursework. It took me 2 years. Why? Because it took me 2 years to get over the fear. It took me 2 years to get over the anxiety. It took me 2 years to finally say, Goliath, here I come! Goliath, you might be taller than me, you might be bigger than me, you might be stronger than me, but I'm coming. And I'd rather die trying. I'd rather die going after this dissertation. I'd rather give everything I got. I'd rather give a year. I'd rather put in work to work and fail than not try at all. Where your focus goes, your energy flows. And so if you focusing on the negative, guess what's going to happen? Your energy is going to go to the negative. Everything and everything is going to be negative because that's where your focus is. That's where your energy is flowing. Listen to me. If you think about that thing, what you concentrate on winning, you concentrate on dominating. Listen to me. Whatever you focus on, where your focus goes, your energy flows. And so we, we gonna think about what we thinking about, you hear me? We gonna 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? Are you— whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things of a 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 Hear 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're not gonna meditate on it. We're gonna focus on what's positive. We're gonna focus on what's good, right? And when we focus on that, that's where our energy is gonna go. And what's gonna happen is the outcomes are gonna reflect our thinking. Practice, practice, practice. Reps, reps, reps. I can't wait till the big gigs to speak. I gotta get my reps in. I don't care how good you are. I don't care how bad you are. You gotta get those reps in. So make sure you do this. Listen to me, and I told you how many times a day do I want you doing this? 3 times a day. Morning, noon, night. Come on, this ain't rocket science. I want you to do it when? Morning, noon, night. Good. Whoa, it's not a lot of us. I need to hear you. Morning, noon, night. 90 straight days, right? So y'all know we went from the backyard, we did this here, Right? We did, we did, we did high schools. Like, for real, just keep practicing. It ain't rocket science. You keep doing it 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. You start all over, you go to another level. 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. You like, why am I not going to that? Because you're not doing 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. Like, you might not even make it. Like, you might not even— whatever you said you was going to do, it might not even last 30 days. You might do 10 and quit. What's your win it all? Do you even know? Like, do you know what your win it all is for this year? Like, do you know if this year ended, like, would you go, "Whoo, if that happened!" Like, do you know? Or are you just waking up, playing craps with your life, and you just hope it roll on what you want it to roll on? You playing the lottery with your life? You just hoping you put the numbers in and they come out right? Or are you 30-60-90? 30-60-90. Morning, noon, night. Make the adjustments. Whatever you're doing that's not good, quit. You're getting like a D, a C, okay? Okay, you got 71%, you're doing something wrong. Look, if you got an 80%, you're doing something what? If you got an 89%, you're doing something what? Oh, you might be sweet. An 89 might be sweet, but we got 11% for growth. That's 11% growth right there. It's not until you're getting 100% that you need to stop, right? So 30, 60, 90. Say it with me. 30, 60, 90. Come on. 30, 60, 90. And then we do We start all over again. By that time, it's a habit. If you really want to be dominant in your field, 30, 60, 90, start all over again. 30, 60, 90, start all over again. Morning, noon, night. All right, guys, I've been watching the Olympics. Yeah, yep, I've been watching the Olympics, right? My favorite part, yep, 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. Yeah, I love it. Yep, you say ET, the false starts. Yep. Yup, because I'm tired of people asking me, E, why you so passionate? Yup, I'm tired of people saying, E.T., why you so loud? E.T., why you aggressive? Why? Because the real world, yup, the real world is like track and field. And I don't know 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. Like, you don't get a second chance. And what I love about these Olympics, we're gonna show it to you. What I love about these Olympics is one false start, you out. That's right, you've been working for 4 straight years. You out. Absolutely. You don't get a second shot. And like, all that stuff you missed, you made some serious sacrifices. Like, you got up early in the morning. Like, you hear what I'm saying? Like, you didn't go out with your homies, right? Look, there was some things that you had to give up. For 4 straight years, you've been getting up in the morning. 4 straight years, you've been grinding. 4 straight years, you've been eating different. 4 straight years, you've been in the weight room. 4 straight years, you've been going in. And you, you ruined it all. You ruined it all with a false start. And you can't say, well, I didn't mean to do this, I didn't mean to do that, and I made a mistake. There are no mistakes. And that's why I get so passionate, because 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're not successful, you're wondering why you average, you're wondering why you can't live the way you deserve to live, you're wondering why you in lack, you're wondering why you keep coming up short. You think because 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? When I tell you that you gotta make sacrifices and you gotta get up at 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock and you gotta 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 overindulging, making making excuses. People don't need help hitting the snooze button. People need help making sacrifices. So it's your boy ET telling you, look, I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. I didn't make up the rules. I'm not saying you don't need a third or fourth chance. I didn't make up the rules. But what I'm telling you is life is like track and field in Rio. You don't always get another one. You don't always get a second one. You don't always get a third one. You don't always get a fourth one. Yep, it's tough. It's hard. Listen to me, if it was easy to stay focus on that starting line, everybody would do it. If it was easy to jump off with a great start, everybody would do it. I'm not telling you it's going to be easy to get up at 3 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, knowing No excuses, just adjustments. Execute, my friend, execute. And listen, let me just explain something to y'all. I gotta keep it 100. CJ, 12 years younger than me. I was out of high school before this boy was even really born. Are you hearing what I'm saying? My man, 12 years younger than me, 12 years, and he picked up that phone and he had one of them heart-to-heart. Do you have anybody in your inner circle circle that's willing to be real with you, that's willing to keep it 100, that don't care nothing about your feelings, but they care about your goals and your dreams. CJ hit me up. I had called my man, left a message like, see, they killing me, they want to know when the mixtape coming out, when is the next mixtape coming out. See, he said, E.T., let me tell you something, shut it down. I said, what? He said, shut it down. Shut them— tell them ain't no mixtape coming. Stop doing TGI, shut it down. That's why you got the reruns for so long. He said shut it down, E. Shut it down. I'm tired. He said I'm gonna keep it 100. I'm tired, E. The last two mixtapes, you was talking about how you gonna get your PhD. Between me and you, Imano Imano, man to man, we will not come out with another mixtape where you talking about what you gonna do. Shut it all down. E, do you understand that, that the future of this company is on you finishing this PhD? Shut the gig down. Shut it down. And I'm telling y'all, one of them— yep, one of the ways your boy got the milestone done, I had to shut it down. I shut down the phone calls flat out. From a certain time, don't call my house. If you love me, text me. If you love me and ain't no emergency, don't I had to shut it down. Shut the TV down. Listen to me, put the controllers down. Shut down going out bowling on the weekend, going to the club. Look, shut it down. Shut down your favorite team. Stop watching your favorite football or basketball or soccer, whatever it is. Shut it down. And I'm telling you, you ain't got to shut it down for the rest of your life, but you got to shut it down long enough so you can get your Super Bowl done. Yeah, so you can get your MVP. NBA Finals done. Yep, yep, yep, yep. So you can get your World Series done. Yep. Are you hearing me? So you can get your national titles up. Are you hearing me? So you can get your book done. So you can get your CDs finished. So you can get your degree. So you can take your marriage to the next level. Shut it down. I had to shut the noise down. I had to shut it down. And when I shut it down, when I shut certain things down in my life, boom, Boom! I went to a whole other level. There are those of you who don't understand the power of your why, and what I need you to do for me is that when you make your moves on a daily basis, I don't need you to make them with you on your brain. Because if you're thinking about you, you might quit. Or if you're thinking about you, you might give me 80%, right? If you're thinking about you, like for real, you, you on you, you selfish. Like for real, some of y'all, you go to work and you like, I don't feel like going to work. And the reason why you don't feel like going to work is you own you. So you cannot want to go to work and then when you go, you like— for real, this is what people don't realize. We didn't blow up because of what we do. We blow up because of the passion in which we do what we do. You understand? Like, all we do is free videos on YouTube. That's it. But the passion in which we do free, you're not gonna get people to do it the way we do it that's getting paid. We're not getting paid no money, but we bringing it. Look, 8 years we've been bringing it. You got Secrets to Success video, the guru went viral. You got, uh, What's Your Why that went viral. You got the St. Louis boy that went viral. Are you hearing me? Greatness is upon you. Come on, it's for free, but we do it with passion. So you're going to work with an attitude and you don't get it. You so selfish that you can go with attitude because you're not thinking about about the people behind you. The reason why you saying no to stuff, the reason why you pushing the snooze button, the reason why you still going to work tripping, the reason why you ain't blow up is because you still on 70%, you still on 60%. You want to know why the world's passing you up? Because whatever you do for a living, you barely doing it. You coming and you don't want to be there. You're not bringing the fire, you're not bringing the passion, you're not bringing the heat. And the reason why you're not bringing it, because you thinking about you. You have not blown up because you're so self-centered. It's always about you. You're so conceited, you're so arrogant. Your whole life is about you, and that's why you haven't gone nowhere. But when you learn to think about somebody else, how what you do affects— how you're sleeping in the bed affects somebody else's life, how you hitting the snooze button is affecting somebody else's life, how you being lazy She gotta walk past you to go to work. You still on that? Your mama gotta get up and go to work to provide for you. My mama worked for me. I created a job so when my mom finished working, when she retired from where she didn't want to be, she can now do what she like to do and get paid for it. Come on, come on, come on! I need you to finish this year up strong so I can get the real you in 2017. We tired of We're tired of this 60% you. We're tired of this crying you, this complaining you. We're tired of this version. Greatness is in you. You are here. You have been blessed by the Creator to be on the earth. You here, leave your doggone mark. You here. He blessed you to be here. Do something. So whatever you gotta do, you do it. But I'm not about to compromise because you've inflicted pain. And there are those of you, you were this close but you compromised. Compromised. You let your feelings get the best of you. You compromised. You compromised. You let your anger make you say something that you didn't really want to say. You let, you let the fact that you was lonely, you got lonely, you did stuff that you know you probably wouldn't do. Some of you have sold your greatness and your destiny for a couple dollars. And what I'm doing now, I was doing 20 years ago and I have not been I didn't break. So what? You don't understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. So what? You don't see my greatness. So what? You don't understand how I do what I do. This is what I've been called to, and you let a little pain stop you from your dream. Girl, you was there. You was running your business. You were there, and your mama didn't like the fact that you was doing it. Your mama didn't understand, and you let your mom in your ear like it was your mama's dream. You let your daddy talk you out of it. That was yours. That was something the Creator gave to you. That belonged to you. My mother never understood, but she working for me now. I didn't quit because people didn't understand. I worked harder when people didn't support me. We never stop. I wake up every single day and I will prove to the world that I was here. I made my mark. I was here, and you can't take that away from me. I told you, if I die today, you cannot take away the fact that Eric Thomas The promise was here.

Thank you guys so much for watching. We're continuing to experiment with the Volume 2 series, so I'd love to know your thoughts if we should continue it and who we should do next. I'm also super curious to figure out what did you learn from Eric today that had the biggest impact on you and why? What message are you gonna take and immediately impact your business or your life somehow? Leave in the comments below. I'm gonna join in the discussion. I also wanna give a quick shout out to Paulette. Paulette, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book. One word and posting those pictures. I really, really, really appreciate your support. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.

So real quick, anybody know who this is? Serena. Good. Next one. This is All right, good. We there? All right, next one. Okay, it's all right. All right, let's go right quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and she beat Serena. Yeah, let's go to the next one. Who's that? Okay, let's stop. So real quick, now what I got to explain to y'all is this: they are all pros. Like, these are people who have beat Serena and Venus. They're all ranked. You don't know who they are though. They probably won one or something. They might want one Grand Slam or two. So they're professional. They are pros. They getting paid in the, in the tennis world. When they walk out, people like, sign my ball. People like, oh, but you don't know them. Why is it that you don't know them? Like, how you know Venus? You don't know Venus because she played tennis. You know Venus because there was a time in her career she dominated, and then her sister came and she dominated. That's why you know who they are. Let me say this to you. This is what domination looks like. Venus has dominated in tennis, and as a result, she's made $34 million just in tennis. Serena has made $84 million just in tennis. That's what domination look like. Now, when you go to these young 80s, it's like $8 million. That's a good salary, but they don't make what Serena and Venus make. Why? They have not dominated. So who is this? Yeah, LeBron James. Yeah, next one. Yeah, Steph Curry. Yeah, next one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, somebody know. But most of y'all like, who's my man? My man play for the Nuggets. He started here, NBA pro. Let's go to the next one. I know You know who this is right here. Boom! Utah Jazz. He ain't in the— he's not in the developmental league, he's not playing overseas, he's starting with Utah. You don't know him though. Why? Because he's not dominating. So we're gonna try not to compete, we're gonna try to do what? Come on, we're gonna try not to compete, we're gonna try to do what? I need you to dominate. You think every gift comes wrapped? So yeah, you did it once. Yep, you did twice and it didn't work out, so you quit. Look, every gift don't come wrapped. Are you hearing me? Yeah, you did it for 3 months. Yep, you did it for 6 months. Yeah, and you like, where the results? Look, it's gonna take more than 6 months for what you trying to do to become a reality. Now I get it. Yeah, in math it comes easy to you, so you just think everything gonna come easy. Yeah, I get it. When you write, you can wait to the last minute and still produce a great paper. But you wonder why you don't do well in math. Look, every gift don't come wrapped, and just because it don't come wrapped don't mean it ain't a gift. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Ever since I've been a kid, I've been able to speak, but something happens when I get in that booth and I do voiceover work. It ain't as easy, but it don't mean it ain't a gift. It does not mean that God has not blessed me to be able to be just as effective in voiceover over as he has getting in front of a crowd. It's just when I stand in front of a crowd, it's just easier. But when I get in that booth and it's a script, when I get in that booth, it sometimes is difficult to enunciate words. Are you hearing what I'm telling you? Just because it ain't gift wrapped don't mean it ain't a gift, right? All gifts don't come gift wrapped. And you gotta learn to stop starting and stopping. You gotta learn to stop quitting and giving up. Just because it didn't work out for you the first time, just because it didn't work out the 20th time, just because it didn't work out the 30th time. And every time I got in that booth, I'm telling y'all, I used to feel embarrassed. I would get in that booth and the magic just wouldn't happen, right? I couldn't just turn it on and turn it off like the ET that I know. The ET would just disappear in the booth. But I didn't quit. I didn't give up just because it wasn't gift wrapped. I kept going and I kept going and I kept grinding. And listen to me very closely. Yeah, you saw a good year last game. You want to know what it takes to succeed? And you saw me with the NFL, you saw me do some stuff with the NBA. Listen to me closely. You saw me do something for the Olympics and dicks. But let me tell you something, I didn't quit. I just kept going and kept going because what I know about life is you can't lose. You cannot lose if you do not quit. And I kept going and kept going and I kept practicing and I kept going because every gift ain't gift-wrapped. Now it's important for me to let you know that you are powerful beyond measure. Listen to me, I told you last week because perhaps, perhaps, I don't know, your daddy wasn't in your life, your mother wasn't in your life, I don't know, you didn't have a mentor, I don't know, but you may have never heard someone look you in your eye, look you in your soul and tell you that you not only matter. You're powerful, and you are powerful beyond measure. But listen to me, that's just— knowing is half the battle. That is not enough to know. It's not enough to know. Now I need you to apply. So I'm gonna give you 3 quick principles that— and I want to— when this thing is over, I'm telling you, I want you to take your life to a whole new level. I want you not only to understand you matter, I want you to go in that mirror and say, I matter. I matter. So the first story I'm gonna tell you, right? 'Cause I don't know if you like me, right? But I remember as a business when we got our first credit card, excited. We had a pretty nice limit on there so we could get our products and we could travel, we could get our t-shirts, the whole nine. But it was weird when we first got the card. I don't know if you ever seen that strip before. That's right, you matter. You're powerful beyond measure. You know what I'm talking about. You got the card, right? Limit, we had a nice size limit. We had the money to do what we needed to do to take this ministry to a whole other level, right? But when we got the card, what we discovered was, although the money was in the bank, before we could get the money, before we could use the money, we had to activate the card. That's right. We had to call that number and say, yes, we agree. Are you hearing what I'm telling you? I'm telling you that, look, you can't activate life. You can't begin to experience life in the way you want to experience. You can't have it. You can't be it. You can't do it. Until you activate it. And yes, it's all in there. All your gifts, all your talents, all your— everything you need to do to be what you've been called to do, what you've been birthed to do, you can't do until you activate it, until you recognize you matter. Everything about you is great, but the problem is you have consciously chosen to be average. I get it. I get it. Like innately, innately, everything about you is great. Everything about about you is phenomenal, but you've consciously made a decision to be average. You are average in school, you are average at your workplace, like everything you do is average. And not because it's average, but because you made a decision, you made a choice to be average. Why? Because the people around you are average, or maybe you grew up in an average environment or went to an average school or you work for an average company. And so you've decided, you've decided to go against who you are, you've decided to go Makes sense? Who you are, all right, all right, all right. So I get it, watch this, this is deep. So that's why you go to the basketball games. I got it now. That's why you spend hours watching your favorite athlete, right? 'Cause when you watch 'em, you watch 'em, there's something about you that's attracted to that greatness because there's something in you that's great. So that's why you watch 'em because it's easier to watch him reach greatness than it is for you to put in sweat, blood, and tears to become great. That's why, that's why. I got it now. That's why you buy all the magazines and you look at that homegirl on the magazine, right? I got it now. 'Cause it's easier to look at her and get motivated and pumped up and you feel something inside. What do you feel? You feel that greatness and that phenomenal you stirring up. That's why you put those headphones on and you just shut the whole world out and you listen to your favorite artist. You're listening to them sing or you're listening to them rap. And deep down inside, you hurt when you listen because it should be you. You, I got it now. I understand now. You are attracted to greatness because greatness is all in you. But it's easier to watch greatness. It's easier to go see greatness than it is to put in the time, to put in the energy, to discipline yourself, to sacrifice. It's easier. And so that's why you average. And so you frustrated because you're not living like you should live. No, you don't have what you should have. You're not being who you should be, and so that's why you don't want to wake up in the morning. That's why you pissed off with Monday, because Monday is the day that you're supposed to go mold and shape and create your greatness. That's why you like Friday. I get it, because Friday you get to chill. You don't have to face yourself on Friday. You don't have to face yourself on Saturday, on Sunday. That's the day that everybody is partying, everybody's drunk, everybody gets to forget that they didn't become who they were supposed to come during the week. That's why I get it now. But I challenge you, listen to me, I challenge you. Why do I try? Because I know you can't. I know, listen to me, some of you, you're not even in the game. Can you do me a favor? Get in the game. You could be great if you just showed up. Get in the game.