A speaker who was incarcerated 19 times tells Florida Technical College students there's no rewind button on education or life. He warns against surrounding yourself with negativity, pushes past a trade diploma to bigger purpose, and says his own jump from runaway to global speaker proves anyone can achieve greatness if they give everything they have.
Chapters
Number 2, I made a decision that I'm going to give myself a fighting chance in life. And number 3, I made a decision that if I'm going to do good, I can't have myself surrounded by negativity. Many of my family members and friends that lived that life and refused to give it up are either dead, in prison, or strung out on crack cocaine. I don't want that to be how I how end up. my story ends. I had to make a grown-up decision that I'm going to do what's best for me. And I'm here today because I'm telling you, I'm coming to encourage you that you got to do what you have to do to make sure that you have the best chance you can possibly have with life. Because after a while, you're going to be too old to come back to college and sit in this class. That's right. and take a course. Life is going to come and life is going to go, and you're not going— you can't go back in time. You can't push the rewind button and go back in time and start all over again. So you got to make your decision that I'm going to do what I have to do, and I'm going to do it now. Now is my time. Now is my chance. Now is my opportunity, and I will not let this moment pass me by. You see, ladies and gentlemen, this is a bridge. To your promised land. This is a ladder that you're climbing to success, and if you take advantage of it and give it all you've got to give, you will find yourself living your dream, while others who doubted you and didn't believe in you will be sitting back asking for a dollar at a traffic light. Don't let that be you. Don't let that happen to you. Take life serious. Take you serious. If you're going to laugh, if you're going to joke around, if you're going to play, do that with your kids. But when it comes down to your life, take your life serious. How many of you understand what I'm saying? Yes. And so number 4, If you're going to give it all you've got to give, then you got to be able to bring out the best in you. You got to be able to look internally and discover what your potential is. The greatest frustration that a person can have in life, in my opinion, is to know that you deserve better than what you have right now. It's to know that you have potential to do more for yourself than what you're doing, but yet you're not doing it. My greatest frustration was believing and knowing that I had more on the inside than what I was actually living out and manifesting in my life. I want to be able to bring out the best in me, and so I've made up my mind that I'm going to search internally and discover what my gifts and my talents and my creativity and my purpose is And then begin to walk in that purpose. Can I tell you something? Yes, sir. That coming to school here at Florida Technical College and getting a degree or a diploma in higher learning, that's your trade, but that's not your purpose. Your purpose is bigger than your trade. You can go 5 years from now and decide, I no longer want to be a welder. But then life still goes on. 62% of people who go to college actually does not graduate. And then those who graduate, after they leave college, 71%, 5 years later, are not even working in the career field they went to college for. So what I'm saying to you is, even though you're walking away from here with a diploma, with a trade. Don't let your life be defined strictly and totally by a welding career, because there's more to you than being a welder. There's more to you than just having a job welding. Your life is bigger than that. The spectrum of your life is bigger than that. You were born with greatness. You're born to be a world changer. You're born to be a trailblazer. You're born to be a multi-millionaire. You have the opportunity to travel the world, to set up businesses around the world. You have the opportunity to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. You have the opportunity to, to be the next Elon Musk. Don't limit yourself to just what you can accomplish through welding. Because life is much bigger than that. This is a good start for you, but this is not where you end with your journey. This is where you start, but this is not where you end. This is where you start out at, but this is not where you end up at. This is your starting line. This is not your finish line. But in order to take it to the next level and really begin to maximize your potential, you have to then look inside and discover what you have on the inside, because you have greatness. on your life. Say this with me, I have greatness on my life. I have greatness on my life. And you have to be— you have to mean that. You have to mean that. You have to believe that. You have to tell yourself this, that I have greatness over my life. Don't just settle, my brother, for having a Ram truck. You can own the whole entire Ram dealership. Don't settle for just having a house. You can own the entire community. Don't just settle for having money in the bank. You can own the entire bank. People are doing these things. People are not only buying houses and buying cars and putting money in the bank, but they're owning communities, they're owning franchise dealerships, and they're owning banks. Individuals like you and I. See, if you have a dream, And that dream is a big dream, then you can work that dream until it comes into your life into fruition as a manifestation. When you have a dream, you're saying to yourself that I'm going to work until I accomplish something great in my life. I don't want to tell you to settle for where you are right now. I do want to say to you, it's a good start. But it's not where you finish. It's not how your story ends. So believe in yourself. Put around you people who can speak into your life and encourage you and tell you what you can do instead of folk who tell you what you can't do. When you share your dream with somebody and they laugh at you, walk from around them because they're not the one that is going to be a part of the process. When you tell somebody what you want to do with your life, and then they look at you as if you lost your mind, they're not the one that you're going to get support from. You want around you people that want what you want, that believe in you, people that can affirm you, people that can tell you that hey, it's possible. Say this with me: My dream, my dream is huge, is huge, but it's possible, but it's possible. My dream, my dream is big, is big, but it's possible, but it's possible. Whatever I set my heart and my mind to accomplish will be big, but it's possible. Do you believe that? Yes, sir. It's possible. It's possible. Who would have got that a 13-year-old runaway who was incarcerated 19 times will have FBI agents, HUD agents, Agents in the Department of Homeland Security sitting down just like you're sitting down listening to me talk. You can go to my website and you can see the videos. Who would have believed that I would be traveling the world speaking, telling people that they can realize their dream? Who would have ever believed that I could come from the gutter and begin to live a life where I'm seeing My greatness manifests every single day right before my eyes. If I could do it, you could do it too. You just have to bring out the best that's within you. You have to give life all you have to give. You have to look in the mirror and believe in the person you love, and believe in the person you see, and believe in the person that you know only have one chance at life. You have to tell yourself, I am somebody. Other people are not going to believe in you. Other folk are not going to support you. Other folk are not going to stand by your side and pat you on your back when you accomplish certain things. But that's okay, because you don't need other people in order to be the best you can be. You don't need other folk in order to realize your dream. You can do this The moment you said in your heart and in your mind that this is my life, nobody's going to give me anything, I got to work hard for it, and I got to not quit until I accomplish what I set myself out to accomplish. Will it be hard? Yes. Will you feel like quitting? Yes. Will you break down and cry sometimes and pound your fists on the table? Yes. I'm not going to quit. Will you feel like you're wasting your time? Will you feel like it's not worth it? Yes! But in spite of all of that, you must keep going. In spite of all of that, you must give it all you have to give. You cannot quit on you. You cannot give up on you. You cannot pull the plug on you. Anything great, it's gonna cost you something, and it's gonna cost a sacrifice. There's this tree
