It's only a chapter, turn the page.

Rico Sharp! Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate the love and the hospitality, the reception. It's an honor for me to be here with you today and to be able to share from my heart and from my years of experience how to keep it moving in life, how to go through the stages and phases of life that you have to go through in order to get to your promised land. I understand from firsthand experience What it's like to be homeless, what it's like to start from the bottom, what it's like to feel like life has dealt to you a bad hand. I understand the heartaches and the hardship. I've been there. But I also understand the resilience and the tenacity that it takes in order to relocate from the bottom to where you want to be in life. I understand the focus and the discipline. And it's tough, it's hard, but it's worth it.

Thank you.

And anytime there's something that you want that you feel like is worth attaining, then it's worth training, it's worth having mental discipline, it's worth gritting your teeth and just climbing back into the ring of life and fight and fight and fight.

Yep.

Until your dream becomes your reality. And will you get knocked down sometimes? Absolutely. Will you feel like quitting sometimes? Absolutely. But you learn through perseverance. to go after the things that you want to accomplish in life, and you never allow for anything, anyone, or any circumstance to derail you from what your ultimate dreams and aspirations consist of. As mentioned by Christian, my name is Rico Sharp, and I'm here today to empower, motivate, inspire, and just really connect with your, with your power, right? To summon your power to So that you can really begin to give life all you've got to give. I was homeless at the age of 13, living under an oak tree, eating out of trash cans, waiting for people who would go into this little store and get some food to eat what they were going to eat and to discard the rest of it. And I would come from out of the bushes and go and get it and run back into the bushes and eat it. And that's how I survived my winter season. I began to realize later on in life that there are certain things that you just have to go through in life. But as the old saying is, what doesn't kill you— Makes you stronger. Will make you stronger.

That's right.

And today I'm a stronger individual. And I've actually learned how to turn my lemons into lemonade. So when I look back over my beginnings, I'm not remorseful. regretful, or sorrowful for the things I've had to endure because I realize that without going through that journey, I wouldn't be the individual I am today. Everyone has something that they have to endure, have to go through, have to conquer and overcome in order to get to where they want to be in life. And when you go through those things and you overcome those things, you're able to celebrate and graduate from the things that you were able to accomplish.

Yes? I just have a question as to like, everybody has their own trauma testimony, right?

Absolutely.

How do you get it to just like die down?

To die down? Yeah.

How do you get the reimagining it all over again to go away?

And so, I have to give you facts and truth. It's just like going to the weight room. To lift weights. And at one point in my life, I used to lift weights, right? And I realized that the amount of weight that is on the bar that I'm going to press or push off of me never gets lighter. 200 pounds is going to be 200 pounds on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. What I had to do is not focus on the amount of weight, but focus on my strength. and get stronger and exercise. And the more I exercised, the stronger I became. The weight never got lighter in terms of its pounds or its density, but I got stronger. And when I got stronger, it didn't matter that the weight never changed. I changed.

That's right.

And so I say to you that you have to get stronger. You have to focus on mental toughness, resilience, When you're going through life, you gotta have tough skin. And as much as it sounds easy to say that to someone, because it's always easier said than done, that's the truth. There's no other way around it. Life is not going to bow to you. Life is not going to get easy. Life is never going to be fair. But you have to get stronger. You have to get tougher. And you just have to become more determined and confident within yourself that you not only have You don't have to have what it takes to get through these stages and phases, but you are who it takes to get through these stages and phases. So today I would like to talk with you about your life and how that your life is like a book, and you're the author of your life, and you get to write how your story goes, and gradually you begin to see the happy ending coming into fruition that you've always desired. So I'm going to start from our first point, and this is called, this is only a chapter. This is something I had to learn. I had to learn that when I go through these seasons and these moments, it's only a chapter. Tough times don't last always, but tough people do. And when tough times comes along, well, tough people rise up and gets going.

That's good.

So we're going to focus on— this is only a chapter, and my, my goal is to bring out the best in you today. All right, can we go to point 1? Now I have a book in my hand, okay? So every book has a beginning, a middle, and an ending, right? And no life story is all sunshine and ease. There's going to be difficult chapters in life. There's going to be difficult moments. There's going to be times where you feel like quitting. There are going to be times where you feel like, I can't take it anymore. That's normal. Understand that. Like, that's in the clause. That's a part of the contract, that you're going to have some difficult times and feel like quitting. But remember, you're the author, and your response writes the next page. Life is 90% of what happens to you, right? But the main part of it is the 10% of how you respond to it. How you respond to it. No one can give you the perfect life you want, but you can build that life. And the more you respond to it adequately, with wisdom, with knowledge, with training, with understanding, the more you're able to take that 90% of what happens to you and make it 100% favorable in your life. When I started out as a teenager, I, I had no idea of how I was going to survive, and I made a lot of mistakes. But then I began to realize that my mistakes are really like just stepping stones. They're stairs. And if I correct my actions and learn from my mistakes, I'll climb. It may take some time, but I will eventually rise up. I'll get to my next level. So I had to learn how to go through my stages and phases and realize that I am in control of my destiny. I'm not going to allow for my identity to be what I've gone through. It's possible to go through some things in life and you not be what you went through. It's possible to be homeless for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. It's possible to have cancer for 10 years. It's possible to be It's possible to have been on drugs and alcohol. It's possible to have been abused and have gone through that abuse for a long period of your life. But that does not define you. That is not how your story ends. Maybe that's a beginning, right? Maybe that's a middle part, but it's only a chapter. And with it being a chapter, we have to turn the page and continue moving forward.

Thank you.

So I speak all over the world, basically, in jails, prisons, churches, courtrooms, for the federal government, for corporate America, for businesses. I was just in a prison in Marion County on Friday talking to a bunch of inmates. And one of the things that I have found to be common on all the different platforms and circuits that I speak is that people all want to do better, but there's a process to it. the same thing. We want to come up out of the circumstances and the situations we find ourselves in, but there's a process, and that process begins with you knowing that you have jurisdiction over your own life. You're in control. You're the governor. You're sitting on the throne of your life, and no force or entity or circumstances or individual can make you give up when you are a fighter. When you refuse to quit, there is nothing that can sentence you to being in your present circumstances for the rest of your life. I know that from my personal experience. Can we go to the next slide? You don't control what happens, but you do control how you deal with it. It is true that every action demands a reaction, right? Someone walks by you and says hello, more than likely you're going to say hello back. Someone walks by you and compliments you for your dress or your shoes or your suit. More than likely, you're going to say, "Oh, thank you very much." It is true that when life brings something to you, you're going to respond or react. To react means to allow for the situation or the circumstance to dictate your action, but to respond means to digress for a moment, to stop. To think, to focus, and to ask yourself, how should I approach this situation? What is the best way for me to get through this? How do I take a negative and turn it into a positive? How do I take my lemons and turn it into lemonade? How do I take something that was meant to hurt me, to harm me, to bruise me, to decapitate me, to stifle me, How do I take something like that and use it to catapult me? You do it by responding. You think, you stop, you digress, you plan, and then you execute, and then you plan again and you execute. Coming out of the state of being homeless is something that requires tenacity, mental power, Mental toughness. Mental toughness. A plan, as she was saying earlier, it requires planning. It's not something that is just going to happen because I've counseled and I've spoken to a lot of people. I actually had my own homeless facility for years and helped got people off the street, and I would find places for people to go and live, and because their mindset wasn't ready, I could put them in a place and they could be there for 6 months or a year, but because their mindset had not adjusted to where they wanted to be, And because they found themselves becoming victimized and traumatized through their experiences, they didn't take the opportunity, some of them, to really change their thinking and fortify their mentality so that they could start seeing themselves as a homeowner instead of being homeless or houseless. And so I suggest to you that when you're going through different phases and stages in life, When you're going through these cycles and you're walking through what appears to be a revolving door, and you feel like that your luck is bad and you just can't really get ahead and catch a break, well, it is at that moment where you have to realize that it's only going to happen if I make it happen. Nothing is going to change until I change. Doors aren't going to open for me that are permanent until I make some permanent adjustments in my thinking and in my thought process. And by virtue of doing so, now you're beginning to develop the character and the tenacity and the integrity to be able to do the things that you want to do in life. You're not just going through motions. You're not— your tires are not spinning in one place and you're just burning rubber, but you're actually gaining traction and you're moving forward. And your traction becomes your momentum, and your momentum becomes your breakthrough, and your breakthrough becomes your dream. Thank you. And you live in that reality day after day after day.

Mm-hmm.

You have to turn the page. Oftentimes I talk to people and they tell me about what they're going through, and I can tell you from the start of any conversation if a person is a victim or a victor. Here's the difference between a victim And a victor? The difference is how a person views themselves. The same circumstances that happens to a victim happens to the victor, but what makes the difference, what draws the line, and what brings the division between the two is how each individual look at it. One person looks at it and say, oh, I don't think I'll ever recover. I just— I don't think there's anything good that's going to happen to me. I don't think that I can rebound from where I am. And then they just go through life looking for empathy and sympathy. And they go through life looking for someone to give them something, someone to make a miracle happen in their life. And there are times when we all need a handout, right?

Mm-hmm.

There are times when we all need a hand up. There are times when we all need someone to talk to, someone that can sit next to us, And let us know that things are going to get better. But then the other person says, you know what? I went through that, but I'm not going to be defined by what I went through. I went through that, but I'm not going to let that be my story. I went through that, but that is not how my story ends. I've gone through that, and it hurt me. It threw me back 5 years. I've lost this. I've lost that. But I'm still in the fight. I still have time on the clock. And I still have adrenaline. And I'm going to use this adrenaline to create the energy that I need to turn my circumstances around. Thank you. And that person becomes the victor because they learned how to turn the page. And in every stage of life, with you being the author of how your story goes, the best thing you can do for yourself is turn the page. Say this with me, I will turn the page.

I will turn the page.

Good, because that's what's required of us. During times of trying to find out who I am, dealing with the mistaken identity, following after other people, being inspired by negative influence, I didn't see past the next 30 days of my life. I thought that my life was just about living in the moment.

Right.

And that's what I lived for. And when circumstances threw me back, I didn't know how to deal with it. I didn't understand how to recalibrate. I didn't understand how to bounce back. I was stuck like Chuck.

That's right.

I needed help really bad. But then one day I began to focus on my creativity, my talent, my gifts, my skills, the things that I was born with, the things that I came into this world with. I began to focus on the inside, and I discovered that even though I went through the drug addictions and went through the criminality and went through the homelessness and went through being neglected, and rejected by family members and by friends, even though I was out there as a lost young boy just trying to find love and affection and acceptance, trying to find my place in society, I refused to let that define how I would live the rest of my life. So I learned this: never allow for your history to dictate your destiny. Do not allow for your yesterday to determine how your tomorrow will be. Turn the page and move on to the next chapter, because eventually it gets better and better.

Next slide.

Keep knocking on life's door. It feels at times that you're knocking on steel doors. Does anyone feel like that at times?

Yes.

That you're trying, you're giving it all you've got, like you've got your best foot forward and you're determined to make some things happen, and the door is, is made of steel, and when you knock on it, it seems like that the person on the other end Can't hear you knocking, or life on the other side of the door can't hear you knocking, but you have to keep on knocking. And you have to become so determined that you're willing, within reason and within respect, to kick the doggone door down in order to get to where you want to go in life. In other words, sometimes Yes. You have to try a little harder. Sometimes you have to get up in the morning a little bit earlier, stay up a little later. Sometimes you got to get online and be online an extra 2 or 3 hours today than you— than the other days. Sometimes you just have to look up under every rock and call every phone number and agitate people and bug people because you're focused on you, you're focused on your future, you're focused on your dreams. You're focused on your goal. You're focused on your aspiration. You have a vision. You you have something that you want to do in life, and it's true that no one's going to give it to you. But by virtue of that, no one can stop you from achieving it. You have to just go after it. Sometimes we get in our own way. We get you know slothful, lazy, or lackadaisical. Sometimes we start feeling like, um, I just don't have the energy today. Sometimes we get depressed, we get upset, because it's easy to focus on the now, the present. It's easy to focus on where you are. It's easy to focus on the way things are. But you have to tell yourself that no one's going to give it to me, and if it's going to happen, I have to go after it, and I have to get it, and I have to make it happen. See, one thing about me, and and being homeless taught me this. Honestly, being homeless taught me how to be a hustler. Facts.

Oh, my mama told me that all the time. She's like, "You're a driver in every situation. You know how to survive and make something out of it." Exactly.

And you have that in you, right? That's your DNA.

made. Literally.

That's your chromosomes, right? Those are your genes. And it's okay to be a hustler, even though the connotation of being a hustler is not always pleasant when it's put in certain appropriations. But you are called to go after life and do some things and, and tell yourself, as I said earlier, I not only have what it takes, but I am who it takes. I've got this. This is my moment. I was born for this And one day you're going to see the reality of what you went after. Life is going to be hard from time to time, but if you keep knocking on doors, doors will open for you. Closed doors are a test; they're not tombstones. It's not where you die; it's where your strength comes alive. It's where you realize your power. Keep knocking until your future answers. Keep knocking until your dream answers the door. Though it is a steel door, keep knocking until your breakthrough says, "I've been waiting for you," and then understand this: you was you worthy of more. So speak life to yourself and tell yourself, "I have a purpose." One of my habitual patterns, one of the things that I do, is I talk to myself. I tell myself what I'm going to accomplish. I tell myself. I remind myself what my goals are. I remind myself. I make sure that I continue to give me all I have to give. So this is like a little short commercial break that we're going to take here for just a moment with me saying this. I speak in a lot of schools and colleges, and one of the things that I share with people when I'm out there speaking around the world is that you have to be to you what others cannot be. You have to be to yourself something and someone that no one else can. Never allow for anyone to be more of a friend to you than you are to yourself.

Yep.

And don't you be more of a friend to someone else than you are to yourself. Give you the support that you need when you need that support. Always believe in you. Sometimes it's true that we have a difficult time having self-confidence. But you have to find a way to believe in the power of you. And then you have to also make sure that you forgive you for anything that you feel disappointed within yourself about. Because there are times where I let opportunities pass me by because I was too busy procrastinating. I was dealing with dreamer's remorse. I didn't think certain things were going to happen for me. I thought that certain things were too wonderful for me because I had developed a victim mindset and I was looking for empathy. I was looking for someone to feel sorry for me. So when opportunities came to me, I got caught up in the moment of feeling like, this can't be real. This came to me before in this, in this way and it wasn't real. And so I started developing this mindset that it really wasn't real, that it wasn't going to happen. But And again, I had to catch myself and tell myself, what's wrong with me? Life can happen for me. Dreams can happen for me. Aspirations can happen for me. Being a homeowner, being successful, having my own business as an entrepreneur, traveling the world, taking vacations, having an automobile, having money in the bank— that can happen for me. I was born and created for life to happen for me. For dreams to happen for me. My creator didn't put me in this world to punish me and to make me suffer. I was placed here so I can enjoy the royalty of life, and so were you.

Yes, ma'am. How do you even stop people? So I suffer with like self-sabotaging a lot, and it's not intentional because I like deep down, like deep down, I like know I'm worthy, and I know like how much potential and what I show and what I bring to the table are But when it comes down to like friendships and relationships and like business partnerships, I self-sabotage to the point where like I, I know like deep down in my soul I know that person is good for me, right? And I see it. I just don't feel like it's, it's good. I'm gonna be good enough for them. Does that make sense? It does make sense. So how do you get out of that life?

By just loving you and telling yourself you're worthy, telling yourself you're unique, you're creative, you're special. You want to affirm to yourself that the greatest level of confidence comes through affirmation. That's by you telling yourself, I am, I can, I will, I'm worthy of this, I can have that. It's just like this right here. Watch this right here. Watch this illustration. So I'm gonna take a $20 bill, right?

Okay.

I'm gonna set this book down right here. See this $20 bill? All right, how many of you Would like to have this $20 bill? Just just raise your hand. You say, okay, you're gonna give me $20. I'll take it. All right. All right. But check this out. She says, I don't have to ask her twice. Well, check this out. So now I'm gonna take this $20 bill, and I'm gonna put some pressure and abuse to it and crumble it up. How many of you will still take it?

Okay.

All hands went back up. All right. Now how about this right here? I'm gonna pretend to spit on it. I'm not gonna spit on it, but I'm gonna pretend to. All right.

All right.

How many of you would still take it? With a napkin? With a napkin.

Okay, all right.

But check this out because I'm not done with it, right?

If you rip it up?

I'm gonna throw it down, right? And then not only am I gonna throw it down, but I'm gonna step on it and treat it like it has no value, no essence, no importance, no significance, no worth, all right? How many of you would still take it after all that abuse?

Right. Okay, watch this. Then I'm gonna kick it around.

Right? Just just totally abused. Just totally like I don't care for it. Like it doesn't mean anything to me. Now under all that abuse and all that stress that this twenty dollar bill have gone through, how many of you will still take it?

Yes.

You will still take it. Why? Because in spite of the abuse, in spite of the struggle, in spite of the challenge, in spite of the stress, in spite of all it's gone through, it never. lost its value. It never lost its worth. Homelessness will throw you down. Life will beat you up. People will stump you. Circumstances will kick you and leave you bruised, battered, and broken. But know this, my sister, that after all that abuse, you still have your worth. You still have your value.

That's right.

And this is for you. I've conquered so much and I've done so much for my community and I feel so, like, useless. Yes.

Even through it all, like, I've gotten the successful, like, yeses, you know, and it's like I'm still suffering and by myself. Nobody. So it's like I have so many doors open right now, so many opportunities to really succeed, and it's like I'm beating myself up because I have nobody to share them with.

Yeah, but you will. But you will. You will. And always remember that this is just a chapter. Turn the page, and when you look at your next chapter, things get a whole lot better. You have someone to share your life with. You have two or three cars in the garage. You have your own home. You have money in one and two banks. And you're able to travel the world and enjoy your life, and it's going to happen for you. I know these are birth and pains that you're going through, but you're going to get it's going to get better.

Yes. Um, I kind of feel something similar. I have where it's like I second guess myself a lot when it comes to like making certain decisions where I'm like, okay, but what if it wouldn't? How do I go about life sometimes where it's like? Instead of second-guessing myself, I trust myself. And that's where I stumble because I'm like, well, what if? And then it turns out sometimes I get into situations where I'm like, I was right the whole time. Yeah, but I don't want to keep having that not trusting myself or not second-guessing myself. I want to own it, and it's hard for me to do that.

So one of the best things you can do is to get to know yourself. This is so important, and I talk about this. And each and every one of us have to continue to get to know ourselves because we grow, we change, we evolve, we mature, right? We transform. We go through stages of metamorphosis in life where we like this today and then we don't like that today. We're about this today and then we're not about that tomorrow. And then we just continue to go through these different phases and stages. But here's the thing, whatever stage and phase you go through, when you It's a journey. It's a journey. You're on that journey. The best thing you can do is get to know yourself, get to know your strengths, get to know your weaknesses, get to know your dos, your don'ts, your ups, your downs, your likes, your dislikes. Get to know everything about you so that you can know what you're capable of doing. When you know what you're capable of doing, you'll do what you should do when you need to do it. Whenever you find yourself Spending more time trying to get to know someone else versus getting to know yourself, then you almost become more committed to that person than you are to yourself.

Right.

When people don't know themselves, they either overestimate or underestimate. When you don't know yourself, oftentimes you'll bet money on you and you overestimate it with something that you never were going to do in in the first place. When you don't know yourself, you underestimate and you lose opportunities that you could have had because you didn't know yourself.

Yeah.

It is important that you know your strengths and know your weaknesses. Know what you need help with. Know what you're good at. Know what you have mastered. And focus more so on your strengths than you do your weaknesses. Because if you focus on your weaknesses, that will become the highlight of your life. But if you focus on your strengths, Your strength will become your focal point, and out of that you'll be able to give more time, attention, and energy to your strength. And eventually your weaknesses will become your strength, and your strength will become your greatness.

Yeah.

Keep knocking until your future answer. You are still worthy of more. Speak life to yourself and tell yourself. In spite of all, I still have a purpose. When I talk to people and I tell them about my past, and we can go to the next slide. When I tell them about my past and the things I've gone through, my journey, a lot of folk look at me and they're like, wow, I can't believe that you've gone through those things. Yeah, but I have. When I share my successes with people today, I'm an entrepreneur. My wife and I, we own real estate. On properties. So not only am I not homeless, but I own several homes. And then I have my own shoe brand called Sharp Shoes. And then I'm a motivational speaker, leadership developer. I train people how to bring out the best in them in schools, colleges, for the federal government, etc., for businesses, corporations, organizations, for-profits, nonprofits. I travel the world speaking. I've been able to bring out the best in me. When I share that and people start cheering, we call That's right. And there's— I've had my own television show worldwide, my own radio show. So, but I share that so that I can set them up from how my story really begins, because my story did not begin on television. It did not begin having my own business. It did not begin with me traveling the world speaking. It began with me eating out of trash cans. It began with me sleeping under an oak tree. with no change of clothing for weeks at a time, nowhere to take a bath. And so it required for me to really believe in myself. And so I had to understand something, that being homeless, being out there on the street, it's just a season.

Mm-hmm.

Like, this is not how my story ends. It's just a season. Winter season comes, but they don't stay. Even in silence and struggle, growth is happening. In fact, In fact, growth happens more in silence and in challenges than it does when you're parading around and enjoying recreation.

That's right.

The things you go through in life, they're not meant to break you down, they're meant to build you up. I've gone through some rough cycles in my life. I got addicted to cocaine as a teenager. I was addicted to marijuana, addicted to alcohol. I was arrested 19 times. Can you believe that? Do I look like I've been arrested 19 times?

No.

No, but I have. I have. I've been to prison 3 times. Do I look like that?

No.

But I have. That's my story. That's how my journey began. I spent years incarcerated. I was beaten and left for dead out there on the street by a bunch of people at one time, left for dead. I've had nearly 3 fatal experiences from drug overdose. That's my story. I can't change my story. So what I've learned how to do is let my story change me. I'm just like Jerry. I've learned how to embrace what my journey is. And even as a professional speaker, there were times when I would go and I would speak on educational empowerment, and academic accomplishment. I would go and speak on personal development, interpersonal development, professional development, and I wouldn't even tell people about my story because I was ashamed at one point to say I was homeless. I was ashamed at one point to say I was incarcerated, I was on drugs. But then I realized something, that there are people that are in my meetings that have these challenges, or their family members have these challenges. And I came out so that I can help others to come out.

Amen.

And so I started sharing my story And when I started sharing my story, that's when people really began to appreciate my being there with them for their meetings because I gave them hope. I inspired them. And today I'm here to give you hope and inspire you. Survive the season because your story continues. Spring always follows the storm. It's going to get better. Say this with me: My life is going to get better day by day. Next slide. And how much time do I got?

8 minutes.

Great, great. You and I are thinking the same thing at the same time. I said, how much time do I have? She said, you got 8 minutes. You don't need a perfect start for a powerful ending. How many of you believe that?

I do.

Resilience means riding when it's hardest. Your mindset determines your lifestyle.

Mm-hmm.

Your mentality creates your reality. When you look at yourself and the reflection of what you've gone through, then that will become what you think of yourself. But when you look at yourself through the projection of where you're going to, that will determine how you look at yourself. Determination is strength in motion. You have to tell yourself, "I will get to my happy ending." And understand this, and this is so true: your comeback is always greater than your setback. Amen. Anytime you go through something, your setback is nothing but a setup for a comeback, and your comeback is always greater than your setback. And you have to keep a positive mindset. mindset and surround yourself with positive energy, positive people. Get in a positive environment. Connect with people who have your answers and not your questions. Connect with people who have your strengths and not your weaknesses. Connect with people that's going where you want to go.

Yes.

And stick with that person and ride it out until both of you or all of you are able to realize your dreams. Next chapter or next slide.

There we go.

Discipline builds your plot. Success lives in your daily action. You have to determine that my small habits will become my great outcome, right? And then your greatness is hidden in your routines. The things that you do and you do habitually it will actually create the capacity to give you an edge on life.

Yeah.

You have to be focused on where you're going. And then I think this is the final one coming up, the next slide. Bringing Out the Best in You. I got 2 leadership books coming out that I did for leaders and for those who are operating from a leadership position called Bringing Out the Best in You that will be out on the market market in the next 45 days. You are more than your struggle. You are strength and progress. The world needs your story, each and every one of you. Life has chosen you to write a book about how to take your licking and keep on ticking.

Mm-hmm.

2 things I'm going to say in closing. In 1953, TimeX wanted to prove to the world that they had the most durable watch. So they took that watch and they put it through extrusiating tests. They took it, threw it down on the ground, let a car roll over it. The watch was still ticking. They then took a hammer and beat the top of it. The glass was broken, but the watch was still ticking.

That's right.

The watch was damaged, but it still told time. They then took it and stuck it in some water, and it still told time after being drowned. So it was run over, beaten nearly to death, and drowned, if you will, but it still told time. And then they coined this expression. called Take Your Licking and Keep on Ticking. That's what I had to do when life tried to drown me, when life would run me over like a Mack truck, and when I was beaten and beaten and beaten by the circumstances of life. I learned how to take my licks and keep on ticking. There is this man that has this dream, and he's running through the forest, And he's being chased by this big grizzly bear. And while running, he trips over a branch. And when he falls down, he turns over and he looks up, and here is this big bear coming down over the top of him. And then he says, Mr. Bear! Mr. Bear!

Mr. Bear!

Bear, are you going to eat me? And the bear replied, I don't know. This is your dream. Only you can determine how your story ends and how your dream goes. I would say to each and every one of you, life hasn't been fair. Life has been brutal. You've been chased by circumstances and situations. situations, and oftentimes life has been very unfortunate. But life doesn't hold the power to determine how your story ends. This is your life. This is your dream. These are your goals. These are your ambitions and aspirations. These are things that you see happening for you. And because it's yours and you have the title That's right. And you have to take ownership too. The title deed is to your dream. Only you can determine how your story goes and how your dream ends. It's just a chapter. Turn the page and get to the next chapter, because in the end, all things work together for your good. In the end, you win. In the end of the fight, your hand is raised victoriously. Thank you very much.

My name is Rico Sharp. Thank you, Rico!

So, so can I just, um, real quickly give out these shirts?

Yeah, for sure.

So I, uh, for sure I brought some of my motivational shirts and, and I just wanted to just give out a couple of them. All right, I I wanted to see, I want to see, I got 4 shirts. Obviously I don't have enough for everyone, but if 4 people can give me 3 things that you got out of what I said, it has to be something I said, right? If 4 people, then you can take one of these shirts.

Yes. So no matter how much life goes your way, right, there's always Another chapter to go to. That's one thing I heard a lot.

Yep.

Two, success starts within. And yeah, that's two.

One more.

You said three. The last one that really stuck with me is just like my circumstances don't define me.

That's great.

So just look at myself. for who I am, what I went through, but more so who I'm becoming.

Absolutely right.

Yes. Um, I'm so sorry. Um, one thing that I really like that you spoke about was, um, loving yourself like how a friend loves you.

Yeah.

Um, I feel like it's very easy to like not give yourself that same love that others can give to you.

Yeah.

Um, I really like that. I like that you compared our life to a book and just like if like one in a chapter is not going maybe the way that you're like, like not wanting to in that season. Yeah, there's always another chapter.

It's always another chapter.

Um, what was the third thing without looking at this paper? Um, um, what did you say? I'm so glad I wrote it down. You did write it down, girl. Um, one more, one more. Um, you talk about seasons. And how, um, that's a part of it. I had to use that. Um, um, you talk about seasons and like sometimes like the season may be going one way, but like that there's like other seasons ahead of you.

Great, thank you.

I actually wrote because you say some great gems that really resonated with me. You said the greatest level of confidence comes from affirmation.

Yes.

I feel like this is— you should write a quote book, I swear. That's good. Get to know yourself. We change, we grow mature, and get to know your strengths and weaknesses. I swear I wrote all 100 quotes. It's amazing. Um, you were born for life to happen to me.

That's right.

And then you also said, um, don't be more of a friend to others than you are to yourself. Yes. And then you said you have to be That's great.

That's four. Thank you.

That's good.

One, I gave away two over here already. So one over here. Let me get a guy because I haven't had a guy yet. I know he had his hand raised, but I gave up. All right, his hand. No, it's fine.

It's fine.

You can give it to him. Okay. You sure? All right. Go ahead. Here.

No. Yes.

That you just need to turn the page.

Yes.

And that your weaknesses don't define you.

Yes.

And they should instead focus on your strengths.

Yes.

And lastly, you should be able to do your best even with what has happened to you.

Absolutely right.

Good job, baby! So, so you may want to exchange with her with the orange shirt because this pink or blue— what do your shirts say? Each of them have a saying on it. What does yours say?

Um, mine says— give me one second. Crickets. Okay. I promise to never ever give up on me.

I promise to never ever give up on me. What does yours say?

That's crazy because I didn't even read my shirt until I put it on just now, right?

Yeah.

So it says, I can't stop, won't stop giving it all I've got. Right.

What does your shirt say? Always one, believe in you. Two, be your best friend. And three, forgive you.

All right.

And one more. What does yours say? I got share, which means strong, happy, adaptive, resilient, and positive.

Hello, Sharp.

And what is the word again?

Share. Sharp. Sharp.

Sharp. Yes.

That's dope.

Sharp. That's my last name. So go to hypernews for my last name. What I've given you all is what I live by from day to day.

That's amazing.

All right, thank you so much for having me.

God bless you.