YOU Are Your Greatest Asset | Eric Thomas

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Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. If you want to succeed as Bad as you want to breathe, Daniel, be successful. We've got ET the hip hop preacher in the house. My man. Welcome back. It's been a while.

It's been a minute. I gotta say this.

Congratulations, man. You know, I was saying when I was talking to you, it's like 10 years ago, you know, And I remember.

Cause you were like, e, I want you on the show. And I hadn't really started doing podcasts then, so that was like one of the first podcasts.

And I was like, but my mother, my godmother was dying of cancer. And so I was like, man, I can't leave and go, but I definitely wanna. And you were gracious enough, like, where you at?

Eat?

I was like, embassy suites.

I, like, drove out the gate. I was like, all right, let's do this.

And, man, just to see your evolution, you know, over the years. And like I said, it was a lot of us that started during that time frame and to see kind of where you are today and you survived the resilience.

Yeah, man.

Bouncing back, getting bigger, stronger, and better.

Like, you ready to go back to sports?

Let's go, baby. Let's go.

So congrats. I've seen.

I mean, I can't name all the people, but Kobe, I seen my girl Tab on the show, you know, and just to see all the people you had. And of course, I watch the show and learn from it. So, man, congratulations.

Thanks, brother.

Appreciate it.

Congratulations.

Appreciate it. I'm excited about this because I feel like you haven't been out there a lot. You've been doing a lot of your own stuff for a while. So I'm excited because there's probably a lot of people who don't know your full story because you used to tell it a lot. Ten, five years ago, from the beginning. So I kind of want to reintroduce you to the world.

Yeah.

And I feel like the world is at a such a unique place right now as we go into 2025.

Yeah.

And it almost feels like there needs to be a massive mindset shift for everyone to take back ownership of their life.

Absolutely.

To take the full responsibility of their life. To not rely on other people to give them opportunities, but to go own their own opportunities by creating and having a clear vision, man. And there's a few things that I want to talk about that you would have that I've seen you share some incredible strategies around mindset I'm going to dive into in a second. But for those who don't know, you were at one point Living homeless. You know, a long time ago, people probably don't even know this about you because you used to talk about it, but it's like you had a season of life where you didn't have any money, you had no education, you had no opportunities, essentially. Living homeless.

Yeah.

Struggling, trying to figure out what you're gonna do with your life. And I don't think people remember this about you because they see the success. They see the coaching, the speaking, the. The massive following, the New York Times bestseller. They see all these things now. But 20 years ago, you weren't in this space.

No, definitely wasn't.

And what was.

What was the space you were in back in the day when you were living, you know, without the opportunities you have now? And what was the moment you switched your mindset that allowed you to take different actions to start creating your own opportunities?

Yeah. So I'd say it's the mindset. Like, I had a victim mindset. You know, it was my mom got pregnant at 17. You know, my biological father wasn't in my life. You know, I didn't go to the best schools in Detroit. You know, I wasn't in this environment. I didn't have, like, everything was about somebody else.

You know, it was like the outside inside theory, you know what I'm saying? Which is terrible. It's like everything that's supposed to blow me up and take me to the next level is somebody else's responsibility. Like, it's something that is going to happen or somebody, and it's going to.

And it was like, yo, E. Like.

Why are you in this abandoned building? Like, your mom's not here. Your biological father. No, he's not in your life, but he didn't get pulled over by the police officer. And the police officer doesn't know the counselor or the principal that kick you out.

It's like.

But there's a common denominator here. There's a common denominator. And you homeless. Your mom's not homeless. Your biological father's probably married with a family somewhere. Like, yo, is that right or wrong? Who cares? You are living in this abandoned building. High school dropout, you're on your way to. And so when I look back, all the anger and the frustration and the hurt, it was all blaming. Everything was about this person or that person or this person. Nothing had anything. I never even realized I was where I was because of who I was. And I was actually getting the physical manifestations of my thoughts, of my feelings, my emotions. Like, I was creating this and didn't even realize I thought my mom created it. I thought my father created it. It was like, no, E, you created this. And I'm gonna tell you the moment I realized you are the greatest common denominator. You probably the least greatest. Like you, the common denominator. Once that realization hit me, it was.

Like, oh, okay, you got some confessing to do, bro. And I'm gonna tell you the hardest thing that I've ever done. Somebody asked me the other day, like.

That'S one of the hardest things you ever done.

The hardest thing I've ever done was look in the mirror and tell myself I was sorry. That was the hardest thing.

Sorry for what?

I was sorry for what I got myself into, the choices that I made, you know? Okay, yeah, you 12 years old when.

You find out that the person that's raising you is not your biological father.

And your mother lied. Absolutely, bro. That's not necessarily best circumstances for a.

Child to be born in.

Like, your mom lied about who your father is, and you know your father and don't even know you know your father.

Wow.

Like, you've been around your father, but.

You didn't know he was your father.

Didn't even know he was my father. I'm with his mother, my grandma and me like this. I'm with his sisters, I'm with his brothers, my aunts and uncles. I'm hanging out with them every day. And so the realization of, like, yo, not only did you get lied to, like, it's been manipulative, it's been deceitful, but what do I do? House? I run away from home at 12, and I'm living in garages and living in my friends homes and this vicious cycle of every time something goes wrong or every time, you know, I'm confronted by this reality that's not your father is run away from home. Is run away from home. And at 16, it's like, okay, ma, you just flat out lied to me. Everybody told me you lied. You keep telling me you didn't lie. You go, tell me. When I got older, I'm like, I'm out. But it's like, e, when I looked in the mirror, it's like, why did you have to take. Why did you have to leave your mom? You had counselors.

Why?

When you sat down with a counselor and they tried to walk you through the tools and the strategies to get on the other side of this, why were you in don't talk to me. You ain't my mom. Don't talk to me. You ain't My daddy don't talk to me. I don't want to talk to y'. All. These are professional counselors who are saying, yo, we get it, you're going through a lot, but we're here to help. I don't want counselors at school, Principals, teachers. I'm just now insubordinate. I'm evil, rude, mean man. And I looked at myself in the mirror, was like, why was that the choice? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got to talk to me. I know why you made the choice, but why did you make that choice? We know what the choice was. You run away from home. You always run from conflict. You always blame somebody. But why? And the reason why is because it was easier to put it on my.

Mom and my dad than for me.

To have to do the work. And so the Eric Thomas that you've seen the NFL, NBA commercials, whatever that dude is, the dude that looked himself in the mirror was like, yo, you owe yourself an apology. And not only that, you owe yourself. Correction, you owe yourself change. Wow. You need to be taught. You need to be trained. You need to become a better human. And that was one of the most difficult days of my life, was looking at myself, correcting myself, telling myself I.

Was sorry, and then moving forward, saying, now what are we going to do from this point?

So the growth you see is the response to, are you repentful, meaning you're about to change, or are you sorry? And I'm like, no, I'm not sorry. I want to repent.

And I want a better version of me, because I should.

What, 16 year old should be living in abandoned buildings, eating out of trash cans? Like, that's not. It's not healthy. 1. It's not safe in Detroit to be in abandoned buildings, walking. It's not safe. And I put myself in so many situations where guns were pulled out on me. You know, people would break into the abandoned building and take my belongings from me. It's like, e, what are you doing? Like, come on, bro. This version of me had gone all the way and was like, if you don't. If you don't stop. Wow. And so, yeah, that's.

I'm glad you did, because like I said, I don't talk about that anymore.

So you're. Essentially. You just said that because the. The future, you.

Yeah.

Had to have wisdom and kind of speak to the younger you. This version of you at this age, you know, 2010, 20, 30, 40 years later or whatever, is speaking to the younger you and saying, wake up, wake.

Up, Wake up, Wake up.

Greatness is in you.

Dang, man.

This is fascinating, man. What, was it, like an intuition that got you to wake up, or was it, like, just rock bottom? That was like, okay, I can't go any lower in my life now. I need to wake up.

Okay? So I always think it's a combination, right? So it is. It is a rock bottom. But. But this is. This is a blessing because rock bottom.

Turned into, go to church with my boy, right?

And go to church with my boy turned into.

I start dating this girl, right? And I fall in love with this girl, you know?

And this girl becomes almost like my.

First coach, you know?

And she's saying to me, man, I'll.

Never forget, she called me to her home. She's like, my mom's not here. I'm like, praise God.

She's like, can you come to the house?

I was like, well, sure.

Yeah.

I'm 16, 17, real.

Like, finally, like you, man, this church girl. And finally, you know. So it's like, y' all come to.

The house now, you know, was payphone day. I get to the house, and she comes outside, and I'm confused. Like, why are you coming outside? And she's like, I want to talk to you. I was like, okay, we could talk, but can we talk inside in the bedroom?

You know? And so she's like, no, no, I'm serious.

I'm like, I'm serious.

She said, do you love me?

And I was like, whoa. Like, we kids. I'm like, 17, almost 18. Like, do I love you? Like, I don't have no other girlfriends, if that's what you asking me, but I don't. Do you love? She said, no, no, no. Do you love me? Like, is this serious? And I was like, yeah, serious. She said, well, I just got my acceptance letter, and she showed me. And she said, when I go to college, if you don't come up, come with me. I'm breaking up with you.

And so it was twofold. It was.

I was rock bottom. But this relationship was like, hope. Like, when I was with Dede, it was almost like I wasn't homeless for.

That time frame that we were together.

Wow.

You know, we were in church together. You know, I got a job because she made me get a job.

It was just, you know, we would do stuff together. Concerts. We would do stuff together as kids. We were downtown Detroit.

It's a restaurant called Nicky's, right?

Greek Town. So we were in Greek Town on the weekends. Like, I was living life, and I was like, Whoa.

She's elevating your life.

I'm like, bro, you rock bottom. And the only light you have in your life is saying they gone and they're not.

And look, bro, I'm just being real. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm not, I'm not stupid. She's not going to go away and get a degree and come back looking for a homeless kid four years from now.

It's not going to happen. No.

You know, and so it was, it was rock.

She saw greatness in you, bruh.

But you had to do the work. I had to do the work. And I did the work. I went to night school, I got the ged, I followed her to Oakwood.

And we've been married over 34 years.

Crazy, man.

You feel me? And so it was like, it was a combination of rock, rock bottom and hope. And when you put those two together, it was like I had something to wake up to, something to look forward to. So I'm gonna be real. That's why it took me 12 years to get a four year degree. Cause I never went to college for college.

I went to college for Dee Dee.

Wow.

That's why I went to college. And so once I got to college and we got married, I was like, yo, I got what I wanted.

And she was like, okay, we're gonna.

Have to do this again.

Yeah.

I can't be with you if you don't finish what you start. So, like, I had to go ahead.

And do this business and get started.

And I started the speaking career, you.

Know, in the middle of that as well.

This is. There's a lot of, like, pressure for people to accomplish certain, certain things by certain agents. But it took you 12 years to graduate college, right? So you're in your 30s or whatever.

30. Absolutely.

And then you're 44 when you got a PhD. What do you say to some of the younger generation that feels like they're a failure if they don't accomplish things by 20 or 25 that they feel like they're supposed to accomplish?

So here's where I went with that.

One of the dangerous things is the outside inside theory.

It's dangerous because what you're doing, whether you know it or not, you are comparing your journey and your life to somebody else's journey and somebody else's life. Like you don't even have, let's just be honest, you don't even have the right context to do that. You don't know why they're doing what they're doing. You don't know like what their strengths and weaknesses are. So you comparing yourself to somebody that, that may have strengths that you don't have, like, they, they're nowhere near who you are.

Yes.

And so you're comparing yourself. So this is why I believe for those of us who finally get it, it's the inside out. Like everything we do starts from the inside. And then from there we kind of say, oh, okay, I see my boy Lou, he doing X, Y and Z. But I'm not doing it because you're doing it. But I'm calling you. You're kind of saying E in the industry this. So I'm using the information you're giving me to build my journey, not I'm trying to be you. And so what I realized was, yeah, there's some kids that can come and graduate in four years because they took K12 series or not to be disrespectful, there's some kids that can come and graduate for four years because they're going to get a job. You can't come and graduate in four years one because you didn't take K through 12 serious. And you're about to be one of the greatest speakers ever. It's going to take a little longer, right? It's going to take a little bit longer to develop you. So my man on a four year plan, but he might, no disrespect, but he may settle into a traditional life. And so for the four years, that's all it takes. But if you are about to be Eric Thomas that I didn't even know I had the capacity. Do you talk about the school of greatness? God was like, you have to be in the school of greatness a little bit longer. You have to be in the school of greatness a little. Why? I always say, you know, and everybody knows it, but when you're doing a slingshot, the further you pull it back, when you let it go, boom. So for me it was like, I was like, it's going to take 12. Not because you're behind, it's going to take 12 because that's how much time it's going to take to develop you. So once I release you into the world now, you're going to be able to do phenomenal stuff.

Let's go.

So, so, so, so I can't compare myself to the dude that's just going to get a job somewhere who just go settle and all he's caring about is his life. You know, he's not necessarily creating Content or writing books that are going to change the world. He's just trying to take care of his family. So 40 years works for him. So now I'm comparing my life to. To a person who is not even trying to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish. That's dangerous. Dangerous. Wow.

But I mean, what about the people going back to kind of your story of the victim mindset? You know, your. Your mom lies to you about your dad. You don't see your dad, you know, banning warehouses. You know, all the problems. Inner city kids struggle, getting kicked out of school, struggling. You had everything against you.

Right.

And.

Hold on.

See?

Yeah, I'm glad you said that.

Okay, so I got you.

So that's the outside inside. So that's the. You had everything against you. No, the greatest problem was I was against me.

Oh.

That was the biggest challenge.

But most people. Most people have both of that. I wouldn't say most people, but a lot of people might be listening or watching who might feel like the outside has been holding them down.

No question.

Right. Their parents have been holding them down, Their school, their teachers, their coach. Doesn't give them the opportunity.

No question.

Their boss is holding them to whatever it might be. The economy is holding them down. 1000% where I live is holding me down. The president is. The whole. The president, the government, it's all holding me down.

It's holding you down.

How does someone get to a place? And maybe it's true that things are holding them down.

They're absolutely true. Right?

Maybe it's true.

Yeah.

But what I'm hearing, you say that living in a victim mindset or living in an outside, inside theory will not help you get to where you want to be.

All I'm saying is this. They have the potential only to hold.

You down because you're allowing them to hold you down, and you're seeing that they're holding down.

Let me tell you the one thing I wish I could go back. All my mentors, everybody. Everybody told me, and they were right.

Look, bro, I'm not saying that they were wrong. You need to get a degree.

You need to make some money. You need to do whatever. But what they taught me was that my greatest assets were real estate. My greatest asset was a degree or a career. Nobody ever told me I was my greatest asset. I'm my greatest asset. It doesn't matter. Look, people act as if. If you grow up in a house where your parents are rich, you're automatically. Bro, we can look at people who.

Grew up in wealth and Are messed up.

They messed up. They own drugs, too. They make bad decisions too. Unfortunately, they take their lives as well. They. They. They check out, bruh. It does not. So people think money, environment, or you have both your parents in there and you get. So you think your story is, it doesn't matter where you come from. If you don't activate you, you. The environment doesn't matter anyway. Great environment, bad environment. If you're not activated. If you. I sit here sometimes and I could whip myself.

My grandma used to whip.

I could whip myself. And why do I say that? I'm sending the school of greatness? Like, no, we were together 10 years ago. I'm still standing. I'm mad at me because like you said, I got a PhD at 44. I could have got one when I was 34. I just didn't. I thought, you know, and when I go into the schools, I tell all this, everybody leave. Principals, counselors, everybody leave.

Listen to me, kids, this is 2024. Y' all got the Internet. Y' all on TikTok.

Y' all blew TikTok up. And I knew it. Because adults are on LinkedIn and LinkedIn.

Instagram, LinkedIn made no money.

TikTok billionaire Instagram. Why? Cause these young people are there. I said, when you show up to.

Anything, it blows up.

Here's my problem. You're in the school and you're failing.

Why?

Because you're waiting for the teacher to teach you. The teacher didn't teach you TikTok. The teacher didn't teach you how to play YouTube.

Call of Duty, they didn't teach you.

How to do that. You did it on your own. Why? Because you wanted to do it. And anything you activate, anything you do for you, it's going to blow out. But you waiting for some teacher to teach you. When you can pick up a book, you can go online and learn on your own. So in this environment, you are absolutely. You're not reaching your fullest potential because you're sitting back, oh, it's the teacher's job. It's the counselor's job to tell me when I'm supposed to graduate and what classes I'm supposed to take and then.

What degree to get and then what. What job to get and put me in the right job.

But she not Call of Duty. There's no school counsel, there's no teacher, there's no principal. And you on there with people from all over the world and y' all playing and communicating and listen to me, these kids are so dope, and they.

Don'T realize how dope they are.

They did something with video games that we never did. They turned it into a career. You can make money without playing video games. I hate to date myself, but joysticks.

I know it's back to us now.

But when it was joysticks, you couldn't make millions doing it now because of these kids, and they're taking this thing and giving it a life that it never had before. Anything you touch when you know who you are, believe who you are, could have PhD. I don't say that like on the bragging. I say that because if I got a PhD, that means I could have finished high school. But I wasn't in school. I was just there because my mother dropped me off. Like, I. I wasn't immersed in it. I wasn't excited about it. I wasn't enthused about it. And so it's like, now I'm enthused about life and my life, and now I realize, yo, your mama don't got no whatever. She did that was just to get you started. It's like on the swing when somebody push you and get out the way, they don't. The swing doesn't work if that person keeps pushing you back and forth. It only works if they push you. They get out the way and you do your feet. And so it's like when I showed up and said, eric, the government where you come from, your dad not being.

In your mind, your mom being young.

That has absolutely nothing to do with.

Why you can't read. You can't read because you are lazy.

You can't read because you don't take.

It as serious as you take playing intermental football.

You shouldn't be playing football. He should be studying. And so when I started taking my life serious.

Wow.

Yeah.

Ah.

As I step into 2026, one of my big wellness goals is consistency. Showing up for my body, my mindset, my help every single day, even when life feels overwhelming. And that is why I love simple habits that support the bigger picture for my life. And starting off the new year strong with protein beverages at Starbucks is a big thing because Starbucks now offers a whole lineup of delicious protein beverages, including the brand new caramel protein latte, caramel protein matcha, and new protein drinks with no sugar added.

This is huge.

You can even add protein cold foam, or protein boosted milk to your favorite drink. So getting extra protein, it's naturally into your routine. My go to is the iced vanilla protein latte.

It is so good at Starbucks.

Ooh.

That first sip Feeling is amazing. Bold signature espresso with protein boosted milk and sweet vanilla flavor.

This is amazing.

And what's so crazy is a grande has 29 grams of protein. I mean, talk about staying consistent with your wellness goals. Now my morning iced latte can make it feel effortless to hit my protein target. For me, this is just one of those small moments every day that starts it off right a little bit stronger and knowing I've gotten protein in my drink as well. So make sure to level up and add protein to your favorite drink at Starbucks.

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I mean, I say this with all, you know, sincerity. I'm. I'm in one of the best podcasts in the world. And not only that, when people were.

Asking about, I was like, oh, no.

I got a relationship. Like, this ain't what you think it is. This is not to your point. I don't do podcasts.

Like, I don't have that media schedule where I. You don't see Eric Thomas on different shows. And I remind people, don't get it twisted. I can't be on shows.

That's just not my thing.

So I'm not here today just on some.

I'm on a. I'm going to hit Louis by then.

I got this podcast. That's not what this is about. This is about a friendship that I'm tapping into and saying, man, it's good to see you alive. It's good to see that we made it. And it's good. I still remember the red shoes with the red shorts and we're in there just kicking it.

And now I'm like, yo, this is a.

This.

This is an enterprise now.

This is on a whole nother level. Not saying what you did 10 years ago with me was nothing. I'm saying this. And it'll still be alive, and it'll still be welcome.

Yeah, man.

It's like.

It's beautiful, man.

This is what happens when you realize you're your greatest asset and you tap into you. Nothing wrong with real estate.

Yeah, yeah.

Nothing wrong with investing the s and P500. But at the end of the day, you have to be the first thing that you invest in.

And if you invest in you, I just believe there's nothing that can stop.

You 100 and investing in you and being willing to stay consistent.

Absolutely.

In the long run.

Absolutely.

Because we were just talking beforehand. It's. You know, we. We met 10 years ago. We've done a lot of stuff together. You've been on the show a few times. I've been to your events. You've spoken at my events. We've helped each other with book launches, all that stuff, and just been fans of each other over 10 years. And we've seen a lot of people in this space come and go. We've seen people try to come and they get a big hit and then they fall off and they don't stay consistent. And we've continued to stay consistent. And I think what both of us do really well is we have a vision of our. Of a future that for ourselves in the world that we live into, we speak into that, and we constantly invest in our own personal growth. You know, you're always growing, evolving, transforming, changing, whatever you want to call it. And I feel like we have to hold ourselves to that standard, otherwise it could all go away if we don't. And so it's. And. And I'm curious, you know, for those that are listening or watching, that are still thinking, you know what? It's just too hard for me. The world's against me. Like, I hear what you're saying. I know you did it. I know people like Oprah did it, like all these kind of outliers. It's like, that's only for a few people who can really break through and create the life they want. My parents really didn't show up for me, or I was abandoned, or I got cheated on and abused and sexual abuse and physical abuse. And I know what you went through was pretty hard, and it was tough and inner city, but what I'm going through is even harder.

Yeah.

And it's just.

It's too Much of a weight. It's too hard. It's too much friction to eat, healthier to get up earlier to be considered. It's just too hard, man. Do people need to think about motivation in order to overcome themselves and their problems and their challenges, or do they need to think about being more disciplined to overcome the weight of the world they're feeling?

Yeah, I say both. And. But to your point on the discipline, you need to be more disciplined about your mindset.

What do people need to be thinking about with their minds?

So. So here's the deal.

You already in pain, get a reward for it.

It's just like, look, do me a favor. Everything you say, you right. But why go through life with whatever people did to you when you were.

Younger or a young adult, and then.

You have to live with it for the next 40, 50 years? Like, why would you. Why would you sit here and all the stuff that you said was absolutely right? My daddy wasn't there. My mama did this. This person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life?

Let's go.

Why would they? Why would you let them own you? Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you? Now defined the rest of your life? It's like, no, I wasn't playing. It's real, but get a reward for it. So for me, walking into, first of all, driving here in a car service, getting to la, walking in this beautiful facility, seeing the other businesses that are here, I'm like, e, I'm proud of you, bro. You made it. E, you could have stopped at the homeless boy and nobody would have tripped. Your daddy wasn't there. Your mom was 17 when she got pregnant. All the negative that happened to you, Eric, we understand. Bump understand. Let me tell you one of the things that just blew my mind the other day. So, you know, we were fortunate to.

Own a home in California on the hill, right? So we got this property, we got.

The basketball court with the logo, all.

The companies that whatever. And I go outside yesterday and I see my wife and my son playing basketball. And I'm thinking to myself, in California.

On the hill, looking at all these beautiful properties. Yeah, man. My wife and my son are outside hooping.

Dream life.

My wife was like, I want to work out. My son was like, I didn't even know. She was like, I'm going to play basketball. I'm like, I can't do it right now. And I'm listening to a voice. He came home, heard the basketball, went out with his mop. I'm like, yo, my son, 29 years old, is spending time with his mom. As an adult male, he could be anywhere doing anything. He's with his mom, her first born. They got this bond that I don't.

Have, and they're out here hooping.

And as I look at the property, I'm like, yo, what if the 16 year old Eric Thomas would have stayed the 16 year old Eric Thomas. So I'm saying for those who are listening, get a reward for it. And then do me a favor, don't just think about you. Like, do you know that my son, in his mind, this is where you. Like this where you start. Like, he got the sauna, the pool, the whirlpool. He's starting somewhere I never started. The cars, the Rolls Royce, the Escalade. Like he started somewhere I didn't start.

Why?

Because I didn't stop where I started. I didn't stop. I was like, okay, this is where we started, but this not about to be my end. And so his, his beginnings. Look to my man. Went to Michigan State and was a general manager for Izzo. He traveled the world. He's got a final 4 winger elite 8 ring. He's got the. He got the jack. He sat under Coach Izzo, hall of Fame coach for four years, Coach og. He sat under these guys. Like his boys, some of his boys went to the league. There's some of them still in the league. Like, he got that because I didn't go. I quit because my mom, my dad didn't. So I quit. I give up. This is worst thing ever happened. I was like, you get a reward for it. And so to see my son, I'm.

Coming to a concert tonight with my daughter.

Listen to me. Like, I didn't give up. And so I'm saying to everybody, we.

All go through pain.

Some of us go through pain and it becomes our tombstone. Some of us go through pain and it's a scar and we live a life of reward. So I'm just gonna say again, 20, 25, do me a favor, Check you. So you in the ballot box and you looking at all these options. Doctor, lawyer, teacher, whatever you see, president, mayor, governor. Do me a favor. Before you check off any of that S&P 500 real estate, before you check any of that. Check you. Yeah, before you check anything, check you and go. Look yourself in the mirror and go, yo, I'm my lottery ticket. I'm my ticket out of the neighborhood.

Or, you know, I'm the broken curse.

Like, whatever you want to call yourself. But the day I stopped Saying, my.

Mom, my dad, this person, the police.

The day I stopped doing that and the day I said you.

Do you think anyone can have a beautiful, amazing life if they live in a blaming mindset?

No. No.

You know why?

Because what I didn't realize as a young adult is that when you say it's somebody else, whether you mean to do it or not, you give them.

The keys to your life.

You give them power over. They got your whole life in their hand because you said it. You said it. They didn't do this. And because they didn't, they got the keys. Now, I'll be honest. The reason why we don't want to take the keys because we got to drive. We got to drive. And I told you today, I was like, I got too much to do. I normally drive. I'm like, I got too much to do. And it felt good to be in the car. Driven. It felt good.

Yeah.

Like I'm on the phone talking to my wife. We having worship, doing our thing, making a couple of business calls. Like, I don't have the responsibility of.

The traffic paying attention.

I got my attention. He moved over and got. I was like, why is he stopping in the middle of. But it was. A truck was coming, so he had to move up. I didn't know what was going on because it was the first time in my life that I wasn't really, like, responsible because I normally drive. And that's why people don't want to.

Drive in their lives.

They don't want to be responsible. It's so much easier to say, my life is messed up because you did this and you did that. Once you take the keys, now you gotta go, anything. But I'm gonna tell you this. This is why I like it. While it's more responsibility, it's more freedom, it's more independence, it's more control opportunities, they limit it, but limitless. When you take the keys. And so I took the keys in my life, I said, ma, thanks, dad. Thanks for not being there for me. You gave me a dog. You gave me a passion. You gave me resilience. You taught me how to make it when the very thing that's supposed to be there for you isn't there for you. And I tell people, would I want. Some kid asked me the other day. He's like, man, wouldn't you say your son is lucky because you're in his life and his mom is in his life? I said, yes and no.

I said, yes. He's blessed to have his mom and dad, but he Ain't got that dog.

He doesn't have the hunger.

He ain't got that dog.

Oh, man, my son is a great.

Kid, but he doesn't have the drive.

He. He ain't got the same drive I got. And that drive came without some stuff that I lack. That stuff came from lack. And so I say to anybody, you gotta understand, it could go either way. But when you take the. You take the. It's like, I walk into a school, and I ask, how many of y' all 50 kids? How many of you kids in here? A thousand kids? How many of your dads wanted in your life was not living in the house? 90% raised their hand. Wow.

And guess what? I automatically can relate to them.

That's the je ne sais quoi that my daddy wasn't there. That's the it factor. If my father had been there, I might not be able to go in here and relate on my videos and go viral. People are like, okay, maybe if I just had Eric voice or if I just scream and I just passionate, bro, that's not what it is. It's. When I speak, you hear it. Because I've been through what you've been through. Wow. And so you recognize that voice. You recognize the pain, you recognize the struggle, but you recognize I overcame it. And that's why you, like, I want to rock with this dude, because this one ain't some kind of way. Eric ain't the one that's making us feel like, oh, it's okay that you went through this, and it's okay that this. And it's okay if you don't want to grow, and it's okay, and you don't want no. What you hear from me is a coach that's saying, jordan, you got six rings in you, but you got to stop playing this way, and you got.

To start playing this way.

Kobe, you got great, but you gotta. You gotta do it this way. Serena, you gotta. Venus, you gotta. Richard Williams is saying he's not out there. Just good job. He's teaching, training, but he's also correcting. And so for me, they hear my voice.

I'm not letting you get away with murder, because greatness is in you.

The greatness is in you. And now it's time to go to school. It's time to go to work and bring that greatness out of you. So, yes, anybody, anybody could be successful. But as long as you plan the blame game, you have. You have given permission, the license, registration, the keys, you give it all over to somebody else. And the day you take it is the day that you can start deciding.

Which direction you want to go.

Wow.

So it sounds like, step one, take the keys back to your life.

Take the keys back.

What would steps two and three be for setting people up for their ultimate life with that beginning process? Is it? Is it. Get clear on a goal? Is it? Start with motivation. Start with discipline. Like, change your habits. What would the next couple steps be to set up the mindset for success?

I would say step two.

And I don't know why they don't teach this in school. I be your first best friend, you.

Know, like, get to know you. We're so busy wanting to be in a community that we don't realize we are a community. Right. And look, I'm not trying to be deep. You know, people could, you know, you believe this? You don't believe this. But what I was taught, you know, in school, especially Catholic school, it seemed like Adam was by himself first. It doesn't seem like it was like somebody else. It was like Adam was first and then whatever happened after that. So the first man was by himself. And I think that's important for those of us who study that.

Why?

Because all of us think we have to have somebody to be somebody. And this guy started on his. He started his journey on his own before he connected with somebody, whatever. He knew his purpose. You know, he walked in his confidence, he walked his. And a lot of us are going. I hear people say all the time, well, I'm not doing good.

Like, why not? I don't have nobody.

I'm not in a relationship. I'm saying, you telling me no? Listen to me very closely. Do you think for one minute that getting in a relationship with somebody, it can't be the key? Because so many people have gotten in relationships and gotten out of it. So that. That can't be the key. Now two healthy people, not perfect, but two healthy people coming together. Oh, no, that's different.

It's expansive.

But guess what has to happen.

You gotta be healthy with you.

You can be with them. So we even messing each other up when we have two dysfunctional people trying to connect with each other, because we think two functional people gonna come together to make each other happy. It's not gonna work. So I just think the first step after the first step is you gotta figure out who you are and love you and feel good about you and. And show up in the ring you and not care what nobody think about you. And that's why this relationship has worked so well for Me over the years because when we're together, it's never been a thing of E, why you do that, E, why you do that or E, why you do that. It's always been like, e, you have a unique set of skills that make you great. You have a unique set. And so we've always focused on what's our unique skills and what do you know that I don't know and how can you help me get to. And so a lot of these young kids are joining things they shouldn't join and being with people because they think their happiness is going to come from being with somebody else. And I just think if you.

If you be.

Eagles aren't trying to. They just are eat. They're not trying. Lions aren't. What do you think about me? What do you think about my roar? You think I'm too loud when I roar? They're not concerned. And so I think step two, figure out who you are, love you. And step three, figure out your North Star. And wake up every single day going after your North Star. Because when you have a North Star, you know, and the people that you love and you spend time with have a North Star, have a purpose. And their purpose might be, we both have people whose purposes are help us with our purpose.

Yes.

They don't necessarily have a individual purpose. Like they felt like they were called to help us with serve our mission. That's it. So we need a North Star so they can know what their North Star is. So that would be my third one. It's like, you gotta figure out what makes you happy. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with first time I did a behind the scenes coming in here just because I was like, to my Patreon community, like, yo, y' all need to understand where I am and what's going on. But I don't. If you follow me on Instagram or TikTok, wherever I'm on, you don't see behind the scenes. I think that's a phenomenal tool to show other people what. But my wife is private. So for us, that does not work. She does not want to be seen in the long line. She doesn't want to be in Dubai and stop and go, let's take a. Let's document what we're doing. She doesn't like that. So for some people it works. But I don't have to do that to still find a space.

Right.

There's some people, you know, they do tours, right? I don't do tours. That's not my thing. I used to do them, I don't do them now. There's some people that write books, some people don't write books like it doesn't matter. But what matters is you have to find a thing that wakes you up at 3 o' clock or 6 o' clock or 10 o'.

Clock.

Like, you got to find the thing that brings the life out of you, the joy out of you, the happiness out of you. And you can't do that following somebody else's North Star. So my last one would be Matt, figure out what you was put on this earth to do. And I mean, every single chance you have to do it, do it. And when you're not doing it, enjoy your life. My son was like, damn, I'm tired. I say, you tired? You burnt out for what? Look at your mom and dad. You work for the family. What are you doing? Well, I've been up the last six days working 10, 12 hours. I said, for once, what would you be doing that for? Like, why wouldn't you take advantage of the. You said, what should I be doing? I said, you should figure out what it is you do. He's a designer, right? You should be designing clothes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever, five, six hours a day. And then Saturday, Sunday, or Friday, Saturday, because of your family.

You should get a trip somewhere and go spend it with a friend.

You should go see the. You should go to Italy, you should go to Rome, son. You should go to South Africa. So you should go to the Gold coast in Australia, son. What are you. Like you should. What are you doing? Like, you should work. But a part of work also is, where's your play? You should play. We worked hard so you could be balanced. So don't be like us. We grew up in a working class home. We grew up in Detroit. We grew up blue collar. You're not blue collar. So go enjoy your life. Be balanced. So I'm not just saying find your North Star in terms of what you've been called to do for others, but there should be a healthy amount of time that you spend enjoying your life, you know, and enjoying a little time that you have here. Because we, not, we both know we won't be doing this podcast 100 years from now. Sure, we don't know how much longer we have, but I won't be 154 sitting down talking. So however much time I have left, I need to work hard and I need to enjoy that.

Absolutely. Those are beautiful.

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I've heard you talk about a concept I want to share in a second, but I feel like there's a group of people we've been talking to, you've been talking to that are the people that have maybe don't have the opportunities they want, they don't have the life they want. They feel like people are holding them down. That's one group. Then there's another group of people, which I feel like is a majority of people that have a good life, it's okay, it's good, but they don't. They're not living a great life for themselves. Maybe they got a good job and they're pretty healthy, got a decent relationships, but something, there's like something missing. I think if you can, if that resonates with anyone listening or watching, comment below or leave a like, if you feel like, yeah, my life is good, but I feel like something's off. You have this great concept called creating a mental rock bottom to push yourself towards your goals. Can you share more about kind of some practical steps of creating your own mental rock bottom so that you can go to the next level in your life?

Okay, I want to use the term that you use and you said create. And I just think so many of us have stepped into careers. That group, we have worshiped careers more than we worship create. And so the first thing I was headed that group is what would life look like if you did it on your terms?

Because right now you're really not doing on your terms.

What you've done is say, yo, if.

I want to survive, if I want.

To strive, this is what I have to do.

And you have allowed people to tell.

You, okay, you need to be an engineer or you need to be a. And you need to move it.

So you've done a phenomenal job. And being obedient. You've done a phenomenal job.

And.

And complying.

Yes.

Like, you've done a phenomenal job. You follow the rules.

Yes.

Congratulations. You know what I'm saying? Like, you didn't rob a bank. You know what I'm saying? Like, you haven't done anything illegal. You did exactly what a good child should do. And I have a daughter that I have to get on her sometime because she's that child that's like, yo, dad, what do you guys want me to do? And she's obedient.

She's obedient.

I said, do me a favor. Don't always be obedient. Like, you need to sit down and ask yourself, if you weren't thinking about the family's name, if you didn't, if Eric Thomas et the Hip Hop Preacher was not your father, what would you be doing? What would you be doing if you didn't have to worry about honoring the dynasty? And you do a phenomenal job of honoring the dynasty. I'm not taking anything. Went to school, handled your business. You've never been in trouble before. We've never had to spend money doing anything. You've been a phenomenal child. But what would you do if you live life on your terms and you were able to go where you want to do? And so that's the first thing I would ask them to do. I want you to think about your life instead of the life, because that's what you've been thinking about the life, not think about your life. And I want you to start putting it everywhere. Now, the next thing I want you to do is I want you to know that if you have the ability, like, I never forget, CJ was like, okay, E, you know what you missing? That the big boy. All the big boy speakers. You know what you're missing?

I was like, no.

He was like the New York Times bestseller. Now, I'm not telling you gotta do it, but I'm saying that's what's missing.

That's one of the things.

You got it.

You got it.

So he was like, first of all, do you want it? Do you want it?

Don't do it.

Because I'm saying you, but do you want it?

And he could elevate you, but do you want it? I was like, yeah, I want it. The next question becomes, what does it take to do it? And then, am I willing to do.

What it takes to get it? Yeah, that's cause it's a lot.

It's a lot. But here's the thing. I believe if you think about it, it is only because somewhere inside of you, you have what it takes. Now, capacity is there. Willingness is something totally different. Yes, that's different. But I want every human to know. You wouldn't be watching the school. You wouldn't be watching or listening to the school of greatness if you didn't believe you were great. I'm just. For real. You wouldn't be spending time with this man on a regular basis. I'm telling you, I wouldn't be going to Columbus. I drove to Columbus, bruh. It's not a. Trust me when I tell you, it's not a. You don't get off the freeway. It's not 65. You get up.

Why did I go?

Because this man is great. And greats want to hang with greats. I need you all to understand.

Look, y' all may not know.

Listen to me. I've got Nomad suitcases that I still carry this day because he gave them to me. Like I didn't buy a new one. I carry the exact same ones that he gave me. And my son bought a set because I had a set, because it reminds me of him when I travel, it's like, greatness, great. So you wouldn't be watching. You wouldn't be locked in something. Your spirit has you tuned into this man because you know you're great. Now you got to say to yourself, am I willing to cooperate with the greatness that's in me? And then once you do and you start consistently operating in that, you're gonna feel good about it. Here's what you have to do.

You have to understand. Andre Deshields, I think, said the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next.

Wow. So you get to the top of the mountain, but you understand the GED was just one. The four year degree was just one. The master just after the PhD was the new York Times after that. It's the assessments, it's the training, it's the coaching. But I'm in masterminds. I get coached right. And so it's this idea of yesterday's greatness can't be enough because I'm alive today. So if I'm alive today, it must be some more greatness in me. And it's my job, like the toothpaste. It's my job not to just lose. I don't know about you, but I.

Would just use a little bit of.

It and get Another one I'm squeezing and I got money and I'm squeezing, squeezing that toothpaste. Why? Because I'm trying to get everything out the tube before I go to another one and with my life before I get out of here, which is why.

I could murder myself. That I didn't realize at 12 that I was great. And that's why I said, you got.

To check in 2025, you 2025.

Why?

Because I didn't know I was great. And once I checked it and realized how great I was, I was like, bruh, we gonna keep doing this and to the day we die. And so I would just say to you, you are, you're watching. You're in this space, you're reading his books, you're going to his conferences. Because you know it's in you and.

It'S time to stop being lazy and it's time to. It's time to activate.

I love that, man. Well, here's the thing why I think a lot of people might stay stuck is they. They allow their feelings to keep them in a place of frustration. You have this great example that you say execution should be fact based, not feeling based. But people feel the overwhelm of the economy or the government or their parents or their partner or whatever the responsibilities of the world. They feel anxious, avoidant, overwhelmed, burnt out, like doubtful, insecure. And they allow feelings to consume their inaction. So how, what's an example of how someone can shift from being driven by emotions into fact based actions towards their.

It was what you teach man, the meditation thing. People don't take it serious. This is the time to get control of your mind. And for most of us, our mind is in control of us. So when you talk about meditating, it's.

Like, this is a habit of the grades. And one of the habits of those individuals who are not where they want to be is, I'm not trying to be funny, but it's like lazy to actually meditate regularly is a discipline.

It is, man. It's not easy.

It's not easy to get control of your. I'm like, where did that thought come from? Right? So guys, let's go back to the.

12 year old that found the birth certificate, right? We found the birth certificate. We found the birth certificate in the emotional state.

Oh yeah, we found it in emotional state.

Yeah.

Listen to me. I'm not the first kid who has ever gone through this experience. And you know what I had to ask myself in that mirror at 16.

17, 18, I had to keep asking myself when you saw it.

Why did you see it that way?

Why did you not call your mom and say, mom, you would talk about this?

Why didn't you go, hey, Ma, the counselor. Can we go sit down and talk to the counselor? Hey, Ma, call Dan. Can we just sit down and listen to me? I went from, I can't believe that.

You would do me like this. I went from a ball of emotions to living in abandoned buildings.

It was the stupidest decision I have probably ever made. I put myself in so much danger as a 12 year old, 13 years old, homeless, based on emotions, on emotions. So the same document, nothing changed about it. But if I could go back as this adult and look at that, I would look at it as facts and go, wow, your mother protected you. Wow. Your mom loved you so much that she didn't want you with your biological father because she thought he could be a threat, right, Wrong or indifferent. Your mom didn't do this because she was trying to hurt you. Your mom did this because she was trying to protect you. Your mom brought you into a family. Your mom didn't try to hide the identity. She wanted this man to be your father. He didn't. He changed your name and gave you his last name.

Wow.

He treated me as if I was his own. Wow. He didn't lie. He made his family treat me as if I was. And don't ever say anything about my past because my past has nothing to do with him making a decision at the courthouse to be my dad.

Wow.

It's the same document.

What?

Emotional. The other one is factual. Your mother loves you. Your mother cares for you. Your mother's trying to put you in a healthy environment. Your mother has a job. Your mother married somebody who was a foreman at gm.

He has a job.

He has a college degree. He played basketball. He's a responsible man. He protects his family. Take care. But emotion wouldn't let me be rational. Emotional would let me think rationally. It had me irrational. So I would say, when you make emotional decisions, you get emotional consequences. But it takes meditation, it takes controlling of the mind to say, how should I behave? How should I think in this situation? And what's going to give me the best outcomes? And I'm going to be honest. I've learned we can save the emotions.

For when I'm looking at the Nomad.

Bag and going, man, that's my boy. Thank you.

Why would you even buy me?

Like, what would make you think of, and this is a perfect gift, you.

Know what I'm saying?

Like, I didn't think to buy suitcases for myself. That's where the emotion should be. Me coming in, seeing you, hugging you. What's up, fam? But when it comes to business, when it comes to being a leader and a decision maker, we not doing emotions. We're doing empirical evidence. Wow. We're doing facts. What does the fact say? What does the research say? What does the evidence say? Okay. And based on the research and the evidence, this is the game plan. Let's go.

It doesn't matter how you feel.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't matter how you feel.

Man, I love this.

Yeah.

Again, if we're. We're talking about really developing, Developing kind of a bulletproof mindset when the last five years for a lot of people has been a lot of stress, overwhelming anxiety, in order to have a more powerful, resilient mindset, how important is it for not just me and you? Because I already know the answer for me and you. How important is it for everyone to have mentors in their life?

It's everything, man. Listen to me. I never even thought about being a multimillionaire or billionaire until I was in a room with Warren Buffett. I never even. I didn't even know how much it was worth when I was in the room afterwards. And then it's all started making sense. Okay. Now that I know who I am, you 20, 25, like, check. I know who I am now.

It's. Oh, oh, real estate is away. Oh, so you mean to tell me.

That being a blue collar, okay, that's what my parents knew. But you don't make a whole bunch of money working.

You make more money when you put.

Your money to work. Oh, that's real estate.

Oh.

Helping kids who are talented figure out their talent, taking a percentage. Oh, okay. I didn't even know this stuff exists.

Got it.

And so it is important.

Bob Proctor pulling me to the side.

How much do you charge? You should be charging. Les Brown calling me and said, I'll meet you in Orlando. Les Brown sitting me down, talking to me. Listen to me. Coaching is everything.

Why?

Because I just said, think of Michael.

Jordan without Phil Jackson, Right?

Think of Venus in Serena.

Venus in Serena without Richard Williams.

Like, yo, I just want you to picture Kobe without Phil Jackson. Think about Tim Brook without Mike, without. You know what I'm saying?

Tim Browia.

Come on.

Not Tim.

Where would he. So. So coaching is critical. And here's what's going to blow your.

Mind when you get to our level. You really need more coaching because we.

Didn'T exhausted all the stuff you really need coaching.

After Jordan, after Joyner won his first championship, he didn't say, I think I've got it figured out on my own. I don't need a coach. He said, let me find Tim to train me. Let me find the mindset coach, the recovery coach. Make sure we're getting to the next level.

They said, they said, I read it, but it's research. I'm almost sure it's true that LeBron, look at LeBron.

What he's doing right now, it's amazing, man. Bro, 40, checking Duncan on 20 year.

Olds, whoever had the arguments, you know what I'm saying? Because there were those of us who was alive, yeah, we watched Jordan do his thing. But bro, what LeBron is doing right now, but when I do my research and not emotional about, oh, how is he doing this? No, when I do my research, he's.

Spending 1.5 million on his body, meaning.

Recovery coaches, meaning dietary coaches, everything, meaning mental and emotional coaches, acting coaches, like he got on. And so you see the decision he made and you see, okay, yeah, he was great. But that investment that he made in himself and now look, his son is in. And then he got another son. These are decisions that he's making. He's not emotional. These decisions are based on facts of experts. And then we're seeing the outcomes of it. We're seeing the numbers that he putting up at this age versus the and nobody's ever put these kind of numbers up at this particular age. So we all need coaches, you know, and so that's why I've made the decision that e, the one area that you need to step up in speaking.

Is good, traveling the world, talking. But you got to the same way people open up doors for you and walk you through, you have got to.

Do the same thing.

And I've literally the last two years have had a small group of people that every morning I wake up with and I train them for an hour every single morning.

It's amazing.

And what's amazing about that is to see the difference between people I coach and people who watch me online.

Wow. It's a difference. You watching me online, you getting the motivation, but you're not getting the daily schedule, you're not getting the things to do list.

You're not getting the mindset, you're not getting the analytics, you're not getting the blueprint.

So it's like you're watching and then you inter.

And this is why I think audiobooks are good, but I think training with our books are good.

Because People will read our books and.

Interpret them in a way that we didn't intend for, to interpret it.

So when we do the training or they get to come to a conference.

Where they get to watch the podcast.

They'Re really investing more to. What was, what was he really saying?

Yeah.

And if they can do what you're saying, that habit, they can get the.

Outcomes of me and you get.

Yeah. And it's also being around other people who are in that mindset who are pushing and you're seeing them grow and it's influencing you to grow and you're.

Yeah.

So the community aspect of. We're, we're getting coached together, we're growing together, we're working our goals together, all that stuff. I wanted to ask you a couple more questions before we wrap up. Again, we're going back to the 12 year old you who's, who's down and out figuring about your, your dad's not your, your biological dad in your life, your mom lied, you know, challenges in life. And we're talking about where you're at now. Where do you think you'd be without a spiritual relationship with God in your life over the last 30 plus years? With all the ups and downs, where would you be in life right now? The ETU with no spiritual relationship?

I'd say either. Dead. I'd say dead.

Really?

Yeah.

Because I was an extremist. You know, everything I did, I did it to the fullest, you know, so I think I would be dead. Honestly. I would say this to simplify for people because sometimes when you talk spirituality, it just, for some people, it's just too deep. I would say to you, what happened when I, you know, made a commitment to God, is that I connected with the person that made me, that knew me like nobody else knew me. And he coached me from that 12 year old to God.

He.

He coached me.

Wow.

He's like, bro, I know you. I made you inside out. I know, I know what's the best environments for you. I know who's good for you, who's not good for you. I know your temptations. I know your, your vices, you know, I know your good habits, your bad habits. And just let me, let me teach you.

Wow.

You know, and so it was maybe.

Five, six years of fighting, resisting, resisting.

You know, and then. Cause he introduced himself to me at 8 and I guess maybe it was.

Too young, but homeless.

I was like at 16, like, okay.

I'm ready to get coached. Where's that coaching program you said you had? I'm ready for that coach. And so from 16 to maybe 25.

You know, it was like, okay, I'm going to come to coaching some days. Some days I'm not. Some days I'm going in and there's a knot. And then my son was born. I was almost 25 years old. Jalen was born. And Jalen was born in 1995. I turned 25 in September. He was born July 20th. And when Jalen was born, it was the day coach said to me, this is why I've been trying to train you, because I wanted you to be the best father you could be. And so you miss him. You miss some classes, you miss some lessons. Your son is here now. He needs the best version of you.

Wow.

We can't. We can't. We can't repeat the mistakes of the past. And so I need you to hurry up.

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I had that dream again. My small business needs to hire, but I don't use LinkedIn and I hire wrong. So our orders are get all backed up. More drowning in paperwork than actually drowning. Carol is fighting off sharks with a stapler and pirates are pillaging the office copier. And then I wake up.

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And so when Jaylen was born, from that day forward, I remember when he was born, I held him and it was kind of like he looked at me like, you the person that's gonna take care of me. And that was the day. And this is what a lot of you are running from is the R word. And I get it. Cause it's tough responsibility. That was the day where it's like, oh, you gotta be responsible for somebody else. Yeah, you cannot. You got. I've never played a video game since Jalen was born.

Wow.

I've read more books since Jalen was born. That first year or two that I ever read in my life, I took my career serious. And speaking. I start, you know, Zig Ziglar, you know Nightingale, you know, Og Mendino.

Yeah, you Know Proctor, you name them.

Dennis Kimbrough, Like, I went.

I went deep, I went heavy.

You know, Arthur Ashe, you know, Days of Great, man, I read everything. I was in the library like an addict, just studying and studying and studying and. And it was because I didn't want some of the consequences of the past to come in this generation, you know? And so for me, it was like, yo, your son's here. You gotta handle your business. And I just heard. I was more attentive. I started getting up at 6. And then I'd play this game. Daylight saving times would come, I would, okay, say, don't follow it, Stay up at five is the new. And then the next year, the four. And then I got started getting up at three. And I started getting up at three o' clock in the morning because it was still. There was no dogs outside, nobody was driving around, the family was asleep. And I was like, okay, coach, I'm sorry. Let's go back over the lessons I didn't get. And let's go over to new lessons. Coach me, show me, show me.

Nobody knows me, man.

I tell people, I had a brand new Cadillac, man, they had 10,000 miles and the engine blew. And I immediately took it back to Cadillac. I didn't take it to BMW, I didn't take it to Honda. I took it straight to Cadillac. And I went right back to the creator, like, yo, you made me. And I'm tearing this car up. I'm not putting oil in it. I'm not changing the rotating the tires. I'm not putting fluid in it.

Show me how to take care of this.

And he began to show me how to do it. And it's just like, amazing to see when we're on one Accord and I'm following the. He told me, he's like, yo, it's time. I think I called you maybe last year. I'm like, yo, I need to. And it was like, no, no, you're just supposed to call and say, what's up? You know? And then this time it was like, yep, you need to do it. You know? I was like, all right, I got it, Brandon. I think I was like, all right.

You know what I'm saying?

So just listen to him doing what he's telling me to do and let him coach me. So I would say, you know, don't spiritualize it and make it too. It's the coach. And just get a relationship with the coach. Let the coach get a relationship with you and just do what he tells you to do. And you're going to love the results.

You alluded a little bit about. You know, this version of you is kind of speaking to your 16 year old self and saying like, here's what you need to do. Stop doing that, start doing this. Like whether that was you in the future or God speaking to you in the future, in the future. Like, hey, this is what your higher self needs you to do right now.

Yeah.

What do you feel like God is speaking to you now or your future self is saying to you now for the wisdom you need to hear to take you to the next level.

This, this, this, this is what God is saying. You spent all of your mature life pouring into people who can't do a whole lot for you. You spent some kind of way in your soul. You feel like because of where you were and all these people to help you get to where. So it's like you, like, you feel like you owe people to not be in mutual relationships. Like, you feel like you're so blessed and you have so much, it's almost a survivor of guilt. And now you just got to be with people who you got to pull.

And you got to be with people.

That you got to beg to and you got to be with people who you just got to bless and you may not get nothing back. He like, no, no, no, no. In this season, these relationships have always been there for you, but you haven't taken advantage of them. Because it's like, I gotta help and I gotta fix and I gotta be a. I gotta savior's complex. I gotta help you, help you and help you.

Because somebody helped me and I wouldn't be here. And it's like. And C.J.

Said to me, eric, no, the only reason it worked is because you wanted it to work.

Those mentors didn't do nothing for you. They did, but you had to want it. You're helping people that don't even want to be helped.

They want a handout. Yeah, they don't want to be helped. Now the rest of your life, son, be in relationships where it's mutual. Just, bro, this might seem insignificant to you, but, you know, they called me and was like, yo, let us know.

When you get here. Yeah, yeah.

And I was like, all right, I'll.

Be there, you know, whatever.

And it was like, no, no, no, tell us. You know when you pull up. I'm like, tell me when I pull up, like I can get upstairs on my own. They're like, no, no, tell us when you get there. We're gonna meet you downstairs. Oh, and you want Anything from Starbucks?

No.

I'm like, nah, I'm good. I didn't say anything to her. I was like, no, I'm just in the car. I'm good. I get my own Starbucks. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm trying to teach you something. She didn't ask you if you had money to buy Starbucks.

Do you want something?

She asked you, did you want something, Something from Starbucks? And I said, you know what? I even text her and say, you know, I. I normally say, no, I don't say yes to this kind of stuff. But you know what? Yes, I'd like a grande medicine ball with no honey, but three agave. Wow. You know, and she was like, okay.

You want to get.

You need to use the recipe.

You need whatever.

And he was like, yo, this is.

The season you poured out so much. Receive, get something.

Receive.

Get in these mutual relationships and get something.

So that's what I'm hearing him say.

You know, as I come today. It's like, you. These relationships have been there for you, and you've done your part to make sure you stay alive, but you don't always. You don't always allow people to reciprocate, you know, so that's the season for me. It's like, hey, bless the world. And, hey, if you don't ever put out another video, there's enough videos and.

All kind of content for people to.

Now look out for Eric Thomas now put air, now go to the weddings, stop working all the time. Not go to the events, stop just working all the time, and stop just you and your wife or your little.

No, no.

There are other communities that are waiting to bless you in the way you've blessed others, and it's time for you to enjoy that.

Wow.

Yeah.

So that's what he's telling me.

You deserve to receive, man. I want to acknowledge you, Eric, for being in this season of life, because I've known you for 10 years. But you put so much focus on giving in a big way, which is a beautiful blessing. But I think you can also give and receive at the same time. It doesn't have to be mutually. One way of just give, give, give, give, and, like, exhaust yourself to, like, serve, serve, serve, serve, and then you can give nothing back to self. So I really acknowledge you for being in a season of, like, how can I give and receive that? How can I deepen these relationships with people who. Because I know people try to pour into you.

Absolutely.

But you're always too busy or you're trying to Give, give, give. Or you're traveling non stop. I got to help save the kids and teenagers.

Of course, dude.

And so I acknowledge you for, you know, being. Acknowledging the season of life for you and saying, like, it's time to like. And I can even see it in your face and your chest even. I just energetically, when I, when I saw you today, yeah. I was like, man, you look healthy, healthier. And I think it's because you're allowing yourself to receive it. And so it's really beautiful, man. I'm glad you're in that space.

You and me both.

You look younger too.

You and me both. You know what I mean? And you know what?

I've got people in my life who have, you know, my guy Chuck at church, E, what you need? I have people who've been there and I haven't even allowed. And so it's like, no. There are a few people already in your circle who've tried. You got to let them fully.

And then there are other people not in your circle of influence.

Yeah.

Who are, Who've been trying to.

Sure.

And you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Receive, receive, man. I love this, man.

Okay, so you can buy email.

Yeah, exactly. Well, people want to learn more. They can go to u2025.com they can also go to. I think it's Eric Thomas.com or ET the hip hop preacher on Instagram. YouTube, obviously. Lots of great free content. If you're not able to sign up for the challenge right now.

But it is free.

Yeah. There you go. You2025.com make sure you guys check that out. Leave a comment of the thing that spoke to you and resonated the most with you below on YouTube as well. And I'll. And always make sure to share this with a friend that you think would empower them to step up in their life in a. In a powerful way. Two final questions for you, Eric. I appreciate your time, man.

Me too.

I appreciate this opportunity.

I think I asked you this seven years ago last time. You're on. But I'm gonna ask it again and see where you're at now. You keep evolving as a human. This is a question called the three Truths. So it's a hypothetical scenario. Say you get to live to 150. You get to live as long as you want.

We got to come back and do it.

You get to live as long as you want, but it's the last day on earth for you. You know, you're as old as you want to be. You get to create and Accomplish and give and receive all the things you want. But it's the last day, very far in the future. And for whatever reason, on this hypothetical scenario, you've got to take all of your content with you so the world has no more access to ET's content. Books, challenges, YouTube. It's all, for whatever reason, hypothetically gone.

It's called.

Oh, I know, right? It's a hypothetical. It's not going to happen, but let's just say. Let's just say it is. But on the last day, God says, you know what? I'm going to let you leave three things behind. Three lessons from all the wisdom you've gained and all the content you've created, all your experiences. You get to say three final things, three truths. And this would stay forever for people to watch. What would those three truths be?

So the first one is unplug. Unplug from everybody, you know, Unplug from everybody. I don't know if this is one, but unplugged from everybody and plug with the creator, man. Like, plug with. The person that brought you into this space knows you, loves you, you know, Unplugged. Number two, man, find love, you know? Dee Dee, man, Dee Dee, it's just been so rich being in a healthy relationship. That's beautiful, you know, because it shows you who you're not. Like, it's not what you think. It's not just this warm, fuzzy, you know, But Dee Dee has been like, hey, you're a great human, but you gotta work on this, you know? And then the last one, man. Love, you know, love. It's so easy to see our differences. It's so easy to, you know, the things that are, you know, polar opposite. You grew up here, you grew up. I believe in this. I believe in that. You vote this way, you vote this way. I believe this. I believe it. It's so easy to let one or two things separate you when it's about a hundred things that you guys have in common because you're human, you know? And so it's just like love. And I think of a lot of my friends who've never gotten to go out of our community, never meet anybody outside of our little world, and to be in Dubai or New Zealand or, you know, wherever, travel in love, you.

Know, so that's the last one. Love.

But don't love in your little, little pocket, like, get out and meet different people who come from different spaces and places and just see how dope the Creator is by. By. By being around the people who he created. Absolutely because he created you and not like me. And so there's so much dopeness, you know, around you that I can get into. But I do, you know, I have a lot of. I have a lot of friends. You know, the thing I love about you is I've done podcasts with people. Like, it's dope because people are energetic. But I always know when I'm with you, it's not about energy. It's about inward. And you make me go inward in a way that I don't have to do with a lot of people.

So many people are surface. They don't make you go inward.

Whenever I'm with you, it's like, oh, e. Let's have a meaningful. We may only be together for an hour, but let's. Let's make it meaningful and deep. So when I walk out of here, my wife is about to get a new version of me. So I say love would travel and meet all the different people from all the different walks of life, eat different food, see the world different, live in different spaces, and just see how good the Creator is by introducing yourself to the ones he created.

Wow. That's beautiful. I love those. Final question, what's your definition of greatness.

Man?

I'll just say this verse, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few. I make you rule over many. To me, greatness is fulfilling the purpose of the manufacturer. So if I made this cup, I. I want to put whatever I want to put in the cup. I don't want the cup telling me I don't want to do that. And so for me, it's like, what is it that you want me to do? And there was a time you wanted me to save the world. Now you want me to save myself.

Oh, my gosh.

So if that's what you want now, if that's the new thing you're asking me to do, I just want to make the manufacturer go, I created this for this use, and I am utilizing it in the way that it should be used. And that's. You know, of course, you got to evolve and grow and do all the stuff you have to do. But, yeah, that's. To me, that's, what greatness is. The Creator getting everything out of you, not just you.

Because I feel like if you created.

Everything out of me, I'm going to have a great life, too. But it doesn't necessarily mean I've been married for a while, I've been happy, and my wife was like, I'm not.

As happy as you are.

And I'm like, what?

We happy?

She said, no, no, you're happy, but there's some things I need you to do that you're not doing.

I'm like, well, you're doing everything you it's like that two things could be.

True, but you're not. And so I don't want to just be happy. I want the creator to go, yeah, I'm grateful that I created you and I see you're doing in the world what it was that I wanted you to do and now also for yourself what I wanted you to do. Because I wanted you to be happy too. I didn't want your life to just be about work and being a blessing. I wanted you to be blessed as well. So that's it.

My man ET my brother. Appreciate it man. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and.

It inspired you on your journey towards greatness.

Make sure to check out the show.

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And I want to remind you of no one has told you lately that.

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And now it's time to go out.

There and do do something great.

I had that dream again. My small business needs to hire, but I don't use LinkedIn and I hire wrong. So our orders get all backed up. More drowning in paperwork than actually drowning. Carol is fighting off sharks with a stapler and pirates are pillaging the office copier. And then I wake up.

Don't let hiring nightmares ruin your dreams. LinkedIn jobs new AI assistant goes beyond the resume, using unique insights to deliver a smarter shortlist. Post your job for free@LinkedIn.com Pandora start.

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