Evan Carmichael argues that refusing to give up is the fastest path to success, weaving stories from Barack Obama, David Goggins, Oprah Winfrey, and Serena Williams alongside everyday people who overcame racial barriers, poverty, and illness through perseverance. He contrasts their struggles with modern complaints to push viewers toward relentless persistence.
Chapters
And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself.
The difference between the people who make it is they just refuse to give up.
When I first walked into the Navy SEAL recruiter's office, he looked at me and said, "There's only been 35 African Americans in 70 years make it through." You know what I said to myself? What if I can be the 36th?
Rise and shine, it's Enespresso time! Good morning, Believe Nation, it's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in you. I believe you have an amazing gift inside you that I want to see explode out onto the world. So grab your coffee and sip on today's message: refuse to give up. Over to you, Barack Obama.
¡Buenos días!
Jasmine Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jasmine didn't speak English when she first started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to Brown University, is now in graduate school studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr. Jasmine Perez. I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was 3. He's had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer—hundreds of extra hours—to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He's headed to college this fall. And then there's Chantel Steve from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college. And Jasmine and Doni and Shantel aren't any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases, they've got it a lot worse off than many of you, but they refuse to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself.
Hearing stories like this always makes me think about the problems that I have in my life and realize how insignificant my problems are. If I look at my ancestors who had to fight in wars, or I look at successful stories of people who've gone on and done amazing things, I'm sitting here complaining about the internet being too slow or having to wait 20 extra seconds for an elevator to come. Like, whatever problem you think is so big in your life, if you have just a little bit of perspective, you'll realize how fortunate you are and how that problem is not really all that big. You've just convinced yourself that it is. One of my favorite stories along these lines is Oprah Winfrey. This woman grew up in just terrible conditions. She wasn't raised by her parents. She got sexually abused. Her upbringing was so poor that she had to go to school in potato sacks. Her grandmother would buy bags of potatoes and cut the bags up and then sew them into a dress, and that's what she would go to school in because they couldn't afford to actually buy her real clothes. Can you imagine how hard that is? Like, you're growing up without parents, you're growing up being sexually abused, you're growing up so poor that you're wearing potato sacks, and how much— how she must have been ridiculed going to school. And you think that your life is hard, you think that your situation is so challenging, and I always use that as a source of inspiration because if Oprah can go from that place that she was at to where she's at now, what's your excuse? What's my excuse? And really, when you ask yourself that question, whatever reason comes back is really just an excuse. The difference between the people who make it is they just refuse to give up. They don't quit when you quit. They keep going. They continue to find a way. And so adopting that mindset, adopting that mentality of never feeling sorry for yourself, that there's always a solution, and that by continuing on, you'll eventually find your path, you'll eventually hit hit the mark that you're trying to accomplish. Look at the people that you look up to, whoever they are, the people at the top of their game in any industry. Chances are they started off with less than what you already have right now. Go back to their origin story. Chances are it wasn't just handed to them. It wasn't easy. They had less than what you already have right now. The difference is they didn't give up on themselves. They refused to quit, and that's why they won. Now I have a very special bonus clip for you, but before that, my question of the day is, who is the person that you look up to the most who refused to quit? Who was that person and why? Leave it down in the comments below, I'm really curious to find out. Thank you guys so much for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love, enjoy the bonus clip, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of EntSpresso. I wake up every morning.
EntSpresso keep me going.
I would like to know when you're in that moment failing and you have to keep going, what do you say to yourself?
What if? A lot of times I'll be in a 200-mile run or something like that. And I'm all jacked up. Body's broken, mind's broken, spirit's broken. I start to say, "What if I can pull this off?" When I first walked into the Navy SEAL recruiter's office, he looked at me and said, "There's only been 35 African Americans in 70 years make it through." You know what I said to myself? "What if I can be the 36th?" It's the "what if" I can pull off a fucking miracle. What if I can become someone that no one thinks I can be? And just that, just me talking about that, I have the hair going up on my arms, 'cause it makes me just like, what if I can be that guy that people who call nigger and this and that, and now I'm speaking at Tom Ferry's fucking event? What if?
I studied directing at Howard. So even though I was thinking of theater and thinking of film, I was thinking about you know, being behind the camera or being, you know, in the audience blocking scenes as opposed to being on stage.
And is there a point where it got more serious as an actor and you kind of gave up the directing, your day job?
I haven't given it up. I still haven't given it up. No, I think directing isn't my future, you know. I recently sold a pitch to Universal, so I'm writing something, you know, so it's not like I've given that up. It's just that, you know, I'm kind of on a ride right now and I shouldn't get off of it.
You know, I grew up, I wasn't the richest, but I had a rich family in spirit and in support. And, you know, standing here with 19 championships is something I never thought would happen, you know, just I went on the courts with just a ball and a racket and a hope, and that's all I had. And it's inspiring for all you guys out there that want to do something and want to be the best that you can be and want to do the best that you can do. You just never give up because you never know what can happen. You never know who you can inspire and who you can influence.
So let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy. The most important word ever.
If you had to think of one word that's most important to you or that sums you up or that would be kind of like a little beacon. Hey, Believe Nation! If you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, will.i.am, and Howard Schultz, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.
