Stop Wasting Time | Live by Maya Angelou's Truth

Good morning, Believe Nation! Today's message is "Just Do Right." Over to you, Maya Angelou. I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.

I have a painting by Phoebe of a group that she calls Sister Suki's Funeral. And they all, the women, they're about 9 women, and they all look like women in my grandmother's prayer meeting group. So whenever I'm obliged to do something, I take that painting and I look at that painting. There's an empty chair, and I think, now what would Grandma do? What would she say? I can almost hear her voice say, "Now sister," You know what's right. Just do right. You don't really have to ask anybody. The truth is, right may not be expedient, it may not be profitable, but it will satisfy your soul. It brings you the kind of protection that bodyguards can't give you. Try to be all you can be, to be the best human being you can be. Try to be that in your church, in your temple. Try to be that in your classroom. Do it because it is right to do. You see, people will know you, and they will add their prayers to your life. They'll wish you well. I think If your name is mentioned and people say, "Oh hell, oh damn," I think you're doing something wrong. But if your name is mentioned and people say, "Oh, she's so sweet, he's so nice, oh, I love, oh, God bless her," there you are. So try to live your life in a way that you will not regret years of useless virtue and inertia and timidity. Take up the battle.

Take it up.

Pick it up. It's yours. This is your life. This is your world. I'll be leaving it long before you under the ordinary set of circumstances. You make your own choices. You can decide life isn't worth living. That would be the worst thing you can do. How do you know? So far. Try it. See. So pick it up. Pick up the battle and make it a better world.

You are.

Yes. And it can be better and it must be better, but it is up to us.

I really love this message and the only thing I would add to it is believe that you can do right. Believe that you can have an impact with the knowledge that you have now and the resources and the information and the hustle and the heart and the drive and the energy and the passion and the wisdom that you have right now. Even though it may not be what you think you can have. Even though you may look up to people and say, "Well, they have a lot more resources than I do," or "They're a lot smarter," or "They have a lot more connections than I do," it doesn't mean that you still can't do right, that you still can't have an impact. And yes, the greater resources you have and the greater abilities you have, I believe the greater responsibility you have to try to make a bigger impact. But even if you have nothing, zero, you can still give somebody a hug when they need it. You can still commit your time to a cause that you believe in. You could still give your energy, your ideas, your creativity to something or someone that is trying to make the world a better place. It starts with you believing that you can. Believing that you can make that impact and not asking yourself the question anymore, "Well, who am I to do that?" When you believe that you can make an impact, that's when you start actually making an impact. So the question of the day today is, I'm curious, what is the right thing that you are doing right now? What's the impact that you're having? How are you doing right in the world? Leave in the comments below. I will join in the discussion. I also want to give a quick shout out to Jasmine Blake. Jasmine, thank you so much for buying a copy of my book. Really means a lot to me. Those of you guys watching, if you want a chance at a shout out in a future video, make sure to pick up a copy of the book. It's really good, I promise you. Then email in the receipt so we can keep track and send you the bonuses. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot A venti espresso. I wake up every morning, espresso keep me going.