November 20, 2024

We're gonna give him a few minutes to speak, but first I'd like to introduce Mr. Rico Sharp. Mr. Rico Sharp is a man who, who comes from very humble beginnings, has been around. He is a motivational speaker. He understands what you are going through and he's here to just give you some words of wisdom. So without further ado, please give your attention to Mr. Rico Sharp. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Let's give it up one more time for Mr. Robert Cruz. My name is Rico Sharp, motivational speaker. It's an honor for me to be here to share this very special moment with you. There's a way that I like to start all of my meetings, and that is with what we call positive affirmation. So I'm going to ask you if you would turn to someone standing next to you, look at them, and tell them, you have something special. You have greatness on your life. All things are possible. There is nothing that you can't achieve if you only believe and put forth the effort. Do you believe that? Yes. All right, put your hand right here and say, I have something special. I have something special. I have greatness on my life. I have greatness on my life. All things are possible. All things are possible. There is nothing That I can achieve. If I only believe, it's worth part of that. Do you mean that? Yes, sir. Would you give yourself a round of applause? I want to talk to you for a little bit about this topic that's called "It's hard, but you're hard." It's hard. But do it hard. I'm sure each of you would agree with me that life is hard sometimes. Sure. It's difficult. It's not a cakewalk. Somebody once said that life is not fair. And the truth is, life isn't fair. It's not supposed to be fair. You take the hand that you're dealt with and you work it the best way that you can. And that's the same way it is when you're trying to do something great and accomplish something worthy, something worthwhile. Something transformative, something that is going to change your life. You will find yourself at times dealing with circumstances that are difficult, that are challenging. Ladies and gentlemen, there's going to be obstacles in your life where you're going to find your back up against the wall, where it's going to feel like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. But it is at times like that when it proves what you're made of. Years ago, Timex coined this expression about their watch. They said, our watch is durable. Our watch is built to last. It takes its licks and it keeps on ticking. And when they coined that expression in 1951, they put that watch through a test. They ran over it with a car, cracked it up. They beat it with a hammer. They beat it Bang with a hammer? it up. But after all of that abuse, that watch was still ticking. It was still functioning. And life is going to do you that way sometimes. You're going to be run over sometimes. You're going to be looked over. You're going to be beaten. You're going to be thrown down. You're going to be thrown back. You're going to feel like quitting. You're going to feel like giving up. There's going to be times when things are going to get hard. But I want you to remember that time that watch Take your risk and keep on taking it, because the truth is that what's in front of you is worth whatever you have to go through in order to do what it is you want to accomplish. You see, ladies and gentlemen, when you're going through times in life, especially when you're goal-oriented and you have a dream, you have aspirations, you have some things you want to accomplish, You got some things you want to do for your family. There's some landmarks that you want to make it to. There's some milestones that you want to accomplish. There are dreams and goals and visions, aspirations and ambitions that you have. And when you're going through those moments where you're trying to get to where you believe you're supposed to be in life, you're going to encounter a fight. Life is going to offer you a night— a night fight saying, Knockout punch, and it's up to you. And I'm not talking about the Mike Tyson you saw fight Devin Haney and MJ Paul. I'm talking about the Mike Tyson in his prime. I'm talking about the 22-year-old Mike Tyson. The kind of Mike Tyson that made people run around the ring. And life is going to chase you around the ring. Life is going to try to bully you. But it is at that moment that you gotta stand up and determine. That I am not going to quit. I am not going to throw in the towel. I am not going to give up on my dream. I'm going to take whatever it is that I have to endure, and I'm going to fight back out of jail. You see, there will be times when you say, man, I go to work, I work 8 hours a day, sometimes 10 hours a day, and then I come home, I'm tired. But even before I come home, I gotta go to the school and put in a couple hours at night. And it's easy to say, okay, this is too much, I can't handle it. It's easy to say, I wanna take some time away, I wanna take some time off. It's easy to feel like it's not working like I want it to, especially when you have a course that's 5 years, 5 years long. But you gotta be able to reach deep down inside And pull up the tenacity. Summon your inner strength. You gotta operate with mental toughness. You gotta be stronger than your opposition. You gotta be stronger than the temptation to quit and the temptation to give up. You gotta be stronger than the weight and the stress and the pressure and the frustration and the anxiety and everything else that's gonna build in your, in your soul. You gotta be stronger than that. That's what mental toughness is. Mental toughness means to have a mindset to outlast whatever challenge and whatever circumstances that surfaces in our life. You gotta take that thing and keep on taking it. There's going to be times where things are going to get better for you, but it doesn't get better right away, right? You gotta keep fighting, you gotta keep working, you gotta keep putting in that time. You gotta keep getting up morning after morning. You gotta keep coming here night after night. You gotta keep going. In my own personal life, I've had some tragedies. I've had some challenges. I've had some setbacks. I felt like quitting. I felt like giving up. I've had people die in my life that I loved. I've had times where I was homeless, eating out of trash cans, sleeping up under an oak tree. I've had times in my life when I was addicted to cocaine at the age of 13. I've had times in my life when I was in prison and didn't know what to do, didn't know what my future would be like. But one day I determined that I am not going to be controlled by my past, by my mistakes, by my failures. I'm not going to be controlled by the pressure at night. I'm not going to be controlled by my history. I'm going to set for myself a goal. I'm going to develop aspirations, and then I'm going to give everything that I have here to accomplish my goals and my dreams. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm traveling the world, speaking around the world, encouraging people to believe in themselves and to reach their dreams. And if Rico can come from the street where he was homeless and eating out of trash cans to having his own worldwide television show mentoring NBA athletes and NFL athletes, then surely you can accomplish whatever goals that you have and whatever dreams that you have. You see, ladies and gentlemen, you can accomplish graduating and going out there and building yourself the career that you always dreamed of and always believed you deserved. It's hard, but do it hard. When it gets tough sometimes, yes! When you feel like quitting sometimes, yes! When you feel like this is too difficult, yes! When you feel like screaming, yes! When you feel When like quitting, yes! you feel like parking on the side of the road and just sitting there, not knowing if you should go into the school. Yes, you're gonna have those moments. Mr. Martin is going to show up. Things are going to happen. The bottom's gonna fall out sometimes. But it's at that moment that you show the world who you are. It's at that moment that you determine, I am not a quitter. I'm somebody who was born to be a winner. In 1954, there was this belief that it was impossible to run a mile up under 4 minutes. It seemed physically and humanly impossible. But in 1954, this gentleman comes along named Roger Bannister. Roger Bannister ran the mile up under 4 minutes, ladies and gentlemen. Many people tried it before he did and couldn't do it. That's right. Many people felt like it was humanly impossible, but when Roger Bannister accomplished running the mile in less than 4 minutes, he established a new belief system for a lot of people. And everybody who came behind Roger Bannister believed that they could run a mile in under— or run a mile in 4 minutes. And they did. And they did, ladies and gentlemen, including high school kids. Amen. You see, there's this tree that grows in China. It's called the Chinese bamboo tree. And this tree, you have to plant the seed in the ground and water and fertilize that seed for 5 long years before there's any results. 5 years, you're going out to your garden and put water and fertilize in an area that seems like there is no evidence that anything exists. 5 years of saying, I know it's going to happen for me. 5 years of saying, I know I planted the seed. 5 years of convincing yourself it's still there. 5 years of telling yourself one day it's going to happen. And then after 5 years, this Chinese bamboo tree grows within 5 weeks to be 90 feet tall. You see, that's how it is sometimes in life. When you're working on something that's very important to you, when you're trying to save money, when you're trying to build your own business, when you're trying to get a degree, when you're trying to graduate with a vocational training, sometimes it's gonna take 5 years, sometimes it may take 10 years, sometimes it may take longer than that, but you gotta stay the course and you have to tell yourself that I know I'm going somewhere with my life, I know something big is going to happen. On my path. And even though I don't see the results right now, even though I don't have any manifestation, even though there's no evidence, and people are questioning my investment, my time, my energy, my purpose, my goal, I know I planted that bamboo tree in the ground. And I know after a while it's going to sprout up. After a while, you're going to see the fruit of your labor. That's right. After a while, you want to cash that check at the bank. After a while, you want to build your dream home from your career, from your investment, from your time. After a while, you want to drive the car you want to drive. After a while, you want to be able to travel the world and do what you want to do with your life. After a while, you want to see those dreams come to fruition. But you can't quit. If it takes 5 years, do it. If it takes 5 years, commit to it. And when you commit to it, Commit to your commitment. Dedicate yourself to something that is big and important, something that is vital, something that is precious, and call it imperative. Make it urgent that you stay the course. Promise yourself that you will not give up. Promise yourself that you will not give up on you. Promise yourself that you will not quit on your dream. If other people walk off from you, you don't need to walk off from you. If other people don't believe in you or don't believe in your dream, you must stay in course. You must remain faithful to you. You gotta believe that it's going to happen for you. And are there going to be times where you hear about other people who quit? Yes. Some of you may know some people that gave up on their dream. They gave up too soon. They gave up too early. Listen, you must be willing to do today things that others won't do so that you can have tomorrow things that others won't have. You must be willing to give to life the attitude that you want to live by, and life will give to you the gratitude you want to die by. There will be times where you have to make sacrifices. And there will be times when you're going to have to stay the course and it feels like it's all in vain. But I promise you, ladies and gentlemen, that if you stay the course, you will come out on top. And one day you'll be able to retire knowing that you've accomplished what you were placed in this earth to accomplish. Dream, but don't dream small. Dream big. And I'll leave you with this: always reach for the moon, because even if you miss, you will land among the stars. Always be willing to aim high and hit nothing rather than to aim low and hit everything. Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit. Always be willing to be on top because it's the bottom that's overcrowded. Understand that tough times don't last always, but tough people do. And when the going gets tough, tough journeyman, tough electrician gets going. Be willing to do today things that others don't do. So that you can live the life tomorrow that others won't live. Walk right inside those doors to the mine, but discover your own passion and dare to expand it. For then you will realize your greatness and live a life that inspires. And understand that other people's opinions of you matter not to the determination of your potential, nor to the dictation of your destiny. So think sharp, talk sharp, walk sharp, play sharp, dream sharp, live sharp, and you'll be sharp. It's going to be hard, yes, but do it hard. And at the end of the day, when you walk out of here with your graduation certificate, you better say, it was hard, but I did it hard. It was difficult, but I did it difficult. It was stressful, but I did it stressful.