How to TRANSFORM Your Life: Charlamagne's Top Tips

You stay stuck in the ways that you've been moving, you're gonna keep getting what you've been getting out of life, and that's not the way life is meant to be lived. It's so many things that you go through in this game, man. So many ebbs and flows, so many ups and downs, but it's the people that truly keep going that make it. You know, you gotta create the kind of energy that you want in your life. If you constantly keep creating positive energy around you, then more positive things will come, so—

He's an American radio presenter and TV personality. He's a co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club. He currently stars in and hosts MTV2's show Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne tha God. He's Charlamagne tha God, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Also guys, as you're watching, 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. Also, when you write it down, it's much more likely to lock in for yourself as well. Enjoy.

So after you've been through the good, the bad, the ugly, what do you know for sure about life? That it moves on. It's the truth. It's the truth that it moves on and it keeps going. And guess what? It's gonna move on and keep going with or without you. So, you know, you better adjust to the changes, because if you don't adjust to the changes, man, and you say you stay stuck in the ways that that you've been moving, you're going to keep getting what you've been getting out of life. And that's not the way life is meant to be lived. Life, life is meant to be lived— you got to constantly evolve, you know. Change is the basis of growth, and growth is the basis of life. If you're not constantly changing, you're not growing. If you're not growing, then what are you doing? You're dying. You're not doing nothing. So that's why when you look at certain people, man, you see them and they're 40-something years old, they washed up. Cuz they still trying to live the way they were when they were in their 20s and their 30s. Nothing about them has grown. Nothing about them has evolved. Their mindset hasn't grown. Their mindset hasn't evolved. They're still hanging around the same people they was hanging around when they were in their 20s doing nothing. So guess what? If you're hanging around the same people that you were hanging around in your 20s doing nothing, guess what you're going to be doing in your 30s? Nothing. So guess what you going to be doing in your 40s? Nothing. So you got to understand, life moves on. Father Time don't wait for nobody, man. And when it's over, It's over. When you're 40-something years old and you look back and you like, damn, I wasted all that time doing nothing. You know, life moved on and I didn't move with it. Now you're just a washed individual. You don't got nobody to blame for that but yourself. Be yourself. Be yourself at all times because when you're truly yourself, whatever you get out of life, you will appreciate it more. And when you're truly being yourself, you also will never be a victim. And the reason you'll never be a victim— oh, you'll never practice victimology. And the reason you'll never practice victimology is because you know that whatever you got, you got because you were yourself. How do you feel about, like, things that happened to you in the past? Like, for example, you get going to jail, you getting fired from a couple of stations. Do you think that might have been the stuff you were putting out there that kind of came back to you? Like, you're making some dumb decisions, especially when you're— I mean, when I was, when I was getting locked up and stuff, I didn't know no better, you know what I'm saying? That's why I said when you know better, you do better. That's why I said when I want I wanted to change my life, I changed my lifestyle. So I started knowing better, so I started doing better. As far as me getting fired, that's just the way things are sometimes. How'd you come up in radio? How'd you start with radio? I started off as an intern in 1998 when I was 18 years old. I mean, I'm 32 now. I've been doing radio for— this will be my 15th year in radio. I started off as an intern when I was 18. So I've worked in every aspect of radio. I've worked in the promotions department, you know. I worked in programming. I was an intern for a year and a half, you know. I worked— this is the 7th radio station I've worked at. I've been fired 4 times. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, that's why when I saw William, like when William came back out there to perform, well, for everybody who wasn't at the show, William was a rapper who got booed, but he forced them to let him perform again. I just like the determination. Like the never-say-quit attitude. 'Cause that's what you have to have. 'Cause man, like I said, I've been fired 4 times. I could have quit a long time ago, but I don't have no backup plan. I didn't go to college. I don't have a degree. You know, I don't have anything else to do but radio. And I used to want to rap. Until I realized that rap was just a pipe dream. It's just, it's so many things that you go through in this game, man. So many ebbs and flows, so many ups and downs. But it's the people that truly keep going that make it. What's your vision board look like? So you have like— I'm sorry, go ahead, tell me what your vision board looks like, and can you share some of the things that are on there? I used to have a traditional vision board where, you know, you would take, uh, things that you want and put them up on poster board, whatever, whatever, and That's cool. I read, you know, I did that when I did The Secret. But to me, the best vision boards are when you write down your long-term and short-term goals, write down everything that you want to accomplish, and keep those things in your mind. Because your mind is what makes it manifest into reality. Like, your thoughts really do become things. Like, I don't have a college degree or anything like that. All I have is, back in 1998, I said I want to be a super jock. I said I want to be one of the biggest radio personalities on the planet. I said I want to be you know, in that Wendy Williams, Tom Joyner, Doug Banks, Howard Stern, you know, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh. I want to be in that number, you know. When they think of Charlamagne, I want them to think of me like that. I want to be my generation's that, because all of those guys, it's the natural course of things that power eventually fades and weakens. All of them. It's just like the NBA or music. It was the Magic Johnson, Larry Bird era, and it was the Michael Jordan era. Now it's LeBron James era. That's just the way things are in the game. And I knew that eventually it would be my time if I wanted that. And so I claimed it. So my vision board is really just a notebook with everything that I want in my life. Live your truth, man. Live your truth. When you live your truth, nobody can use your truth against you. And the world opens up for an honest person, you know, like you get back what you put out. So if you're always consistently being honest you'll get honest things that'll come back to you. And with honesty comes positivity. So when you give out positive energy, you get back positive energy, you get back positive things. So that's what I always tell people, man. Let your foundation be a foundation of honesty, man. Just, just always live your truth. Yeah. And even when you look on Instagram, you look at somebody like Cardi B, you know, who was very famous on Instagram, you know, I feel like she was just honing a craft. That's why when you see her in front of the camera on Love and Hip Hop, she pops, right? She already got a natural personality, but she knows how to operate in front of that camera, right? You know, so I think, I think it helps. I just don't think it should be your only hustle, right? I think it should be something to cultivate your craft and get you to a point, but then it's always another level. Like, I look at like a rapper like Young M.A. Yeah, she got 10 million views on YouTube, everybody loves her, but now you got to get to that next You gotta get a record deal if you want one. You don't really need one of those nowadays, but if you want one, you get a record deal. You just gotta figure out how to really be a star. You gotta look at the goals. You wanna be on the VMAs, you wanna perform at the BET Awards, you wanna win Grammys. But the reason I made it is because I knew exactly what I wanted to do. See, that's the thing I see with a lot of people nowadays, they be confused. They don't really have a clear-cut, concise goal in mind, or they don't have that one thing that they feel that they're good at, so they don't try to master it. I'm reading a book right now called The Mastery by Robert Greene, and it's basically taking that whole 10,000-hour theory, like you're not a master at something until you put in 10,000 hours. Yeah, so it's like you gotta find that one thing to put in that time with, and everything else will sprout from it. Like, radio was my thing that I'm— so that's because you always knew then radio, like once it clicked? People move on. They dope. I mean, 50 actually put out some great records earlier this year. The joint he had with Kendrick Lamar, then he had another record the joint with Too Short, I thought was dope. But when people are off you, they're off you. I mean, he got his pocket of fans that'll still support him, but you'll never see 50 Cent selling 10 million records again. Hell, you'll never see 50 Cent selling a million records again. Not a one album. You might do it as a single. And that's not, that's not a diss to him. It's just, just the way hip hop is. Nobody cares no more. You know what I'm saying? Like, A thug changes, love changes, and best friends become strangers, man. Like, it happens all the time. It happens in cycles. Everybody can't be Jay-Z, you know, because— but the reason Jay-Z is Jay-Z, because Jay-Z has been consistent. Jay-Z dropped the album every year since 1996. My father was in the construction, so I used to like help him out, you know, as far as building houses and stuff like that. But I didn't really start working until I got out of jail for the first time. When I got out of jail for the first time, I did a year in jail. For assault and battery with intent to kill. The only reason I did it, yeah, because my father was trying to teach me a lesson because I was such a bad kid. So he was trying to teach me a lesson. So instead of posting my bail, he let me sit in jail. And I'm like, I don't know, 16, 17 at the time, like '97, '96, '97. Yeah. So I didn't— when I got out of jail is when I started saying, yo, in order to change my life, I got to change my lifestyle. So I didn't want to hustle no more. And I never was no big-time drug dealer. I was a quarter spoon, dude. You know, quarter spoons where I'm from is 7 grams. You pay $2.50 for it, you flip it, you make $500. But when I went out, the first jobs I started working, I remember I got a job at this warehouse called IAC, Industrial Acoustics Company. I worked there, and I worked at, um, a flower garden, and I worked at Taco Bell. I worked at Demo in the mall. I worked at a telemarketing place called Paragon Solutions. And the reason I was doing all that, because I always say You know, you got to create the kind of energy that you want in your life. If you constantly keep creating positive energy around you, then more positive things will come. So I would be landing all these jobs. Like, I never was one that let my record stop me, my criminal record. And that's what eventually led me to get an internship at the radio station, because I was just working. I was working 2 and 3 jobs at one time. You know, at one point I worked at Demo in the Mall, Paragon Solutions, the telemarketing agency, and, um, and interned at the radio It's like a psychic telling you, yo, you gonna be rich one day. So you just sit around and wait to be rich. It don't work like that. You know, when you're constantly thinking about doing positive things, you gotta actually go out there and be working towards those goals. That's what I told you earlier about just going out and working at Taco Bell or, you know, working at a warehouse, just trying to create that positive energy of production into my life.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Ian Knowles 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 Charlamagne say that had the biggest impact on you? What clip resonated the most with you? And what are you going to take as an immediate action after watching today's video? Leave it down in the comments below. I'm super curious to find out. I also want to give a quick shout out to Anthony Morgan. Anthony, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. I really, really, really appreciate the support and I hope you're enjoying the read. So thank you guys so much for watching. I believe in you. I hope you're continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.

I don't have all the answers, you know what I'm saying? I just have my experiences. I'm not an expert of nothing. I only know what I've been through and what I've lived and things that I've adapted to my life that have caused me to prosper. So, you know, I'm trying to, um, give that to the people. I don't believe in like I don't believe in like good or bad, you know. I just believe in like the process. Yes, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't believe that there's ever been anything necessarily good that's happened to me. I don't believe there's anything that's been necessarily bad that's happened to me. It's all part of this process. It's this thing called the rule of 10. The rule of 10 is 3 people gonna like it, 3 people not gonna like it, and 4 people just gonna be on the fence about it. Like, they're just gonna kind of remain neutral and just wait to see what happens. I use that whenever I I say anything in life or however I approach anything, like a TV show or, you know, the radio show for that day or a statement I might make. Like, 3 people gonna agree with it, 3 people not, and 4 people just gonna be on the fence about it. So you just have to take all of that into consideration. And that kind of goes into something my father told me a long time ago. My father said, "You're never as good as they say you are, and you're never as bad as they say you are." That's a fact. Personally, I just don't care either way. Like, you know what I mean? The only thing I can do is be authentically me.