Give it all you’ve got! #motivation Rico Sharp Motivations ricosharp.org

It leaves, and it never comes back again. Do this with me. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale. That was a moment. That was a breath of life. You will never get that back. If moments count, and it does because moments are increments of time, We call them dispensations. If moments count, and it does, but I need you to start maximizing your moments. Maximize your moment. When you maximize your moment and you focus on making your life count, making your life matter for the next phase of your life, then you begin to decipher who you spend your time with and who you spend your time around. Amen. Make a decision today that I'm cutting off all negative people out of my life. Some people are so negative, ladies and gentlemen, that if you never saw them again, that would be too soon. Some people are so negative that when they come around, they exasperate your strength. They, they make you feel depleted. They deprive you of your virtue. They take away your energy. Understanding that energy, time, and virtue is given to you for the assignment on your life. You don't have time to exasperate and exhaust your time and energy with people who cannot appreciate and value the gifts that you are, or the gifts that you have, and the talent that you have. You cannot afford to let people deprive you of what was given to you to make your dream a reality. When I decided I was going to change my life and turn my life around, I cut negative people out of my life, including some family members. I realized that I can do bad all by myself, and to the contrary, if I can do bad by myself, I can do good by myself. Because the truth is, it begins with you, right? And so I started maximizing my moment. I started making my time count. I started living on purpose and determining who I would allow into my space. I wanted people around me that could inspire me. I wanted people around me that had something to contribute to my destiny. I wanted people around me that can speak life into me. I wanted people around me that— you didn't have to believe in my dream, that's my job, I got that. Amen. But at least when you come around me, if I happen to share my dream with you, don't be a dream hater. Okay, and if you feel that way, you better not let me hear because I pull my scissors out and snip snip baby. I cut you off too. At some point, you have to really see yourself as being that important to you. One of the reasons why so many people struggle in life. It's because of the people they surround themselves with. You've heard it like this before: birds of a feather flock together. Right. I don't have to know you. Show me who you spend your time around, I'll tell you who you are. Show me what you're listening to, I'll tell you who you are. Show me what you're watching on television, I'll tell you who you are. Show me where you're writing your checkbook at, or where you're writing your bills out to, and I'll show you who you are. You know a tree by the fruit it bears. Right. And so many of you, you've been stuck and you've been wanting to go further. You've been wanting to get out of this place of being stagnant and complacent, but you're surrounded by people That cannot add wind beneath your wings. In fact, to the contrary, they're a crab in the bucket. Every time you try to go up, they want to pull you back down because they're not going. Right. I know you can't say anything right now, but when you get out into the hallway, just look at the person next to you and say, you told the truth in that room right there. Resources have been made available to you to help you to come out from where you are to go to where you need to be. I think the internet is one of the most fabulous things in the world because it allows you to take advantage of opportunities and resources from the comfort of your home. Where in, in time past, you had to get in your car and drive to the library. Yes. Now you can just sit there and the library drives to you. Take advantage of moments. They are precious. Decide in your heart That I'm going to spend time around the people who matters the most. If you got family members that you haven't seen and talked to in a long time, you need to make a promise to yourself to at least call them and check on them, to let them hear your voice and to know that you're still here and they still matter to you. Amen. Point number 4, mind your business and business your mind. Mind your business and business your mind. In leadership workshops that I do and motivational speaking that I do in different places, I see people that have great accomplishments in life. And when I see someone with great accomplishments in life, I know already what their potential threat is in life. It's called comfort. It's called complacency. Can I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that average is your enemy? Whoa. Being ordinary is your enemy. Being common and casual is your enemy. When you begin to get comfortable and casual, you're selling for less. You stifle your own growth. What I need you to do is to develop The type of mindset that I'm only going to focus on me and those with whom I have to do, and let everybody else take care of what they have to do. I'm focusing on my business, my assignment, my purpose in life, my contributions, my weaknesses, my strength, my vulnerabilities, my susceptibilities. I'm focusing on what I know I need to work on with me so that I can Continue to improve me and present me to the world as a world changer. And then on top of that, I'm not only minding my business, but I'm constantly educating and imparting more knowledge, more understanding, more education, more wisdom into my mind. One of the main problems and the common problems across the border across ethnicities, one of the common problems across nations' borderline or borderlines is this common struggle: the mind, the mentality, the comprehension, and the investment that one does or does not do in their educational index, in their mind, in their brain. In other words, what I found as a common problem is that when a man struggles, a woman struggles, it's because they don't feed their mind enough. The threat that stands at your door is the fact that you're employed for the federal government, and in the world's eye, you've arrived. In your eye, you need to just be getting started. All right. Because what you have today can be snatched up under your feet like a rug tomorrow. Where you are today, you can wake up tomorrow having lost everything. That's true. I've seen people on top today and on the bottom tomorrow. And I say to people that when you make it to where you want to be, celebrate for 5 minutes and keep moving. Because what you want to do is continue to build levels of success. You want to continue to create different streams of income. You want to have more doors than one open for you. You want to have more than one solid connection in your life. You want to have more than one idea. You want to have more than one venture. You want to have more than one business. You want to, you want to specialize in more than one thing. You want to be multi-talented. You want to have a multi-vision, not a tele-vision, a multi-vision. You want to begin to think with your mind's eye and see things from your creative perspective, how you can continue to build your life and take your life to Places that you've never gone before. So you have to begin to focus on different things that you can do to empower yourself, to educate yourself, to enlighten yourself, and to guarantee yourself multiple streams of income and multiple avenues of success. If all your eggs are in one basket, then it would be just a matter of time. Where all your chicks dies in the basket. Do not think you come as far as you can go. Say this with me: I will give it all I have. Stay focused on your assignment without comparing or competing with others. Learn all that you can do to be the best version of yourself. What someone else has going on matters not to you. What someone else think about you matters not to you. If someone dislike you, it matters not to you. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses went bankrupt a long time ago. If you keep up with the Joneses, you're going to join the Joneses. And I don't know if there's someone in here with the last name Jones or not, but if you are, I'm not singling you out. Is there someone in here with the last name Jones? Yes. I said that in my last meeting, there was somebody named Last name Jones and Brown. And I said, Mr. Brown and Miss Jones, and both of them were in the room. I said to them, I promise you that God didn't tell me to call you. I am not prophesying. I don't know anything about you, sir, ma'am. Say this with me: I will mind my business and business my mind. The next one, if you're taking notes, continue to prioritize your perspective. Continue to prioritize your perspective. What does that mean? First things are always first, without compromise or deviation from your priorities. First things are always first. First things are always first. First things are always first. No exceptions, no compromise. Do not put off for tomorrow things that need to be done today. You need to focus on what you need to do today. You have 24 hours in a day. If you focus on your 24 hours in a day, you will find out that the more you focus on your priorities, the more you would do things right in your life, the less regret you will have, the less you will feel exhausted or feel like you have a failure. I don't believe in living with regrets or remorse. I've learned how to change my perspective and look at things to a point where I can now see all things working together for my good. Amen. And I believe if you prioritize your focus, the more you look at things, you will see things working together for your good. Most people are so negative in their perspective that they see the glass as being half empty. How can the glass be half empty when the glass was created empty? If there's anything in it, it is a surplus. It is more than what it had from the beginning. Amen. If you got just one drop, that's more than what you started out with. And if you can see it as being half full, now you're living at the point where your perspective is beginning to change and create your world. You start to get things right, keep right in your life. Even a broke clock is right twice a day. And if a broke clock can get it right twice a day— Mm-hmm. Look at the person on the left or right and say, I know you can get it right at least 3 times a day. I can hear the people over there clapping. Y'all hear them clapping? Well, let them know we having a good time too. Put a clap. Can you hear me now? Number 6, surround yourself with the right people. And I kind of alluded to this earlier. Always keep around you people that will encourage, enlighten, and help hold you accountable. Yes. One of the things that we don't like is to be challenged by people. We don't want folk getting too close to us. And I can understand that your perimeter is your perimeter, but remember this, that even though you let people in your perimeter, you remain in charge of your jurisdiction at all times. Amen. You get to determine who you let in and how far they can go, but it's good to have in your circle people that love you enough to tell you the truth about yourself and the decisions that you've made. You need people around you that will help hold you accountable. You need people around you that can look at you on your weakest day, your brokest day, your saddest day, your most frustrating day, and can speak into your life and say, Charlie, you are better than this. Richard, get over it and move on. Look at somebody to the left and right and tell them, build a bridge and get over it. Build a bridge and get over it. Build a bridge and get over it because life is waiting for you. Your husband is waiting for you. Your wife is waiting for you. For those of you that's looking for your significant other, they're waiting for you. They're waiting for you to get over it. Say it again. How many of you are almost ready? Almost ready. Almost ready. You're not ready yet for your husband and your wife, but you're almost ready. Why are you not ready yet? Because you.