Rico Sharp, a life coach who has worked with NBA and NFL athletes, leads a college audience through affirmations and shares his own journey from homelessness and incarceration to success. He argues that personal resolve, not external circumstances, determines whether you thrive or fail, and urges listeners to visualize their future and commit to never giving up on themselves.
Chapters
You have something special. You have greatness on your life. You can do anything and everything that you set your heart to. You will be successful. You will accomplish your dreams, your goals, and your ambitions. Today is the first day for the rest of your life. And I can see you in your future. And you look a whole lot better. Than you do right now. Come on, give yourself a round of applause. Now say this with me before you take your seat. Put your hand right here and repeat after me. I am special. I am special. I have greatness on my life. I have greatness on my life. I can do all things. I can do all things. All things are possible. All things are possible. I will live my dream. I will live my dream. I will give my life. I will give my life. All that I can give. All that I can give. To accomplish. All that I can accomplish. I make a promise to me that the rest of my life will be the best of my life. You believe that? I believe that. Give yourself a round of applause. Thank you. You may be seated. My name is Rico Sharp. I am a motivational speaker, life coach, entrepreneur, Mentor to athletes in the NBA, mentor to athletes in the NFL, mentor to professional WBO boxers. I have been speaking for 33 years in schools and jails and prisons and courthouses and colleges and churches, for businesses, for corporate America. Just a couple of days ago last week, I spoke twice— 3 times actually— in Tampa to a federal government event, a conference there that was for FBI agents, Department of Intelligence, HUD agents, HUD agents, and Homeland Security Department agencies, and so forth. Listen, my goal to be here today is to bring out the best in you and to help you to understand that there is nothing that you can't accomplish when you set your heart. And your mind to accomplish it. You're young, you got your whole life ahead of you, and there are some things in life that you're going to have to take advantage of. Today I want to talk to you on this subject entitled Never Give Up on You. Say this with me: Never will I ever give up on me. Come on, say it again. You can do a little bit better. Never will I ever give up on me. Now, if you were in the NBA arena right now watching the Orlando Magic or in Jacksonville Jaguar Stadium and you were cheering on for your team, like, you can really come with some bass in your voice, right? You can raise the volume up, right? Right. Right now we're talking about something more important than a football and basketball game. We're talking about you. We're talking about your life. And what I need you to do is to really take this moment serious and begin to focus on how you're going to see yourself in life 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years down the road. So say this one more time with me. Never give up. Never. Come on, raise it up. Never. Never. Will I ever? Will I ever give up? Give up on me? On me? One more time. Never. Never. Will I ever? Will I ever give up? Give up on me? On me? Do you mean that? Yes. Because I need to know that you mean that, right? Yes. Because right now you owe that to you, right? You you have to make that commitment to yourself, and then you have to commit to your commitment. You have to promise yourself that. And then you have to make a promise to your promise because we tend to go easy on our dream. We tend to go in cruise control when it comes down to things that are very, very important for our lives. And we're going to dig into that today. All right. But I really want you to focus on understanding that giving up on you is never an option. Giving up on you is never an option. Amen. In life, you'll find that there are quitters and there are winners. You will find that there are people who are living their dream and experiencing the best that life has to offer. And then there are people, unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, that are living under bridges, living in homeless shelters, some sleeping under trees, some sleeping on the street corner. Eating out of trash cans, which is where I started at, by the way, at 13 years of age. Homeless, living on the street, sleeping under an oak tree, eating out of trash cans. And one day I realized, after being incarcerated multiple times, that I have to really discover the true me and not allow for myself to let my story end with me being homeless and on the street. That's right. I realized that I had a dream and I needed to apply determination, willpower, ambition, tenacity to my dream so that I can see my dream become my reality. When you think about what you want to do with your life, you have to think about it with a serious meditation. Like, you got to really put some thought into it and really focus on where you see yourself going with your life. Because the truth is, life is not fair. Life is not fair. Life can be difficult. Life is hard sometimes. When you see people giving up, when you see people doing things that, you know, make you wonder like, wow, why are they living that way? Why are they doing those things? Listen, life is hard. Yes. And when life is hard, you have to be harder. Life is tough. Life is tough. And when life is tough, you have to be tougher, because in this world, only the strong shall survive. And you have to be strong. You have to believe that you can win in life, because winners don't quit and quitters don't win. And so I want you to start to think about, how do I overcome in life? How do I win against life? Life is It's like a boxing match. You have to get in the ring with life. Life is an opponent. Life is a competitor. And nothing great in life comes easy. Even failure costs you something. Even failure is expensive. Even failure requires effort. And if you're going to put effort in to fail, ladies and gentlemen, then you might as well put the effort in to succeed. That's right. How many of you understand what I'm saying so far? You need to put the effort in to succeed in life. Your parents believe in you, that you're going to do the right thing with your life and the time you have here at Florida Technical College. Some of you may have kids, you may be a father or a mother, and if so, they believe in you, that you're going to do what you need to do. Yes, sir. But what I need to happen, number one, is I need you to begin believing in you. You're not just going through school just to be coasting along the way. You're not just here as if you're in high school just to sit back and go through the motions. You're here for the purpose of higher learning, and I need you to see yourself graduating. I need you to see yourself moving on into your future. I need you to see yourself actually operating And the career field that you're in this school to receive. I need you to look at your life and begin to see yourself living successfully, because otherwise you're wasting your time. Otherwise, you're just going through the motions. Can I inform you that there are people with a college degree that are homeless? Can I inform you that there are people with a college degree in prison? Can I inform you that there are people with a college degree that's sitting at the bar every single night drinking their life away because of sorrows, regrets, and failures? Can I inform you that there are people with a college degree that are in crack houses? The only thing that's going to separate you from the people with the college degree that are in prison, on the street, on drugs, and at the bar is the moment you look yourself in the mirror and promise you, I will never give up on me. Come on, say that with me again. I will never give up on me. I will never give up on me. Come on, I need you to say it like you mean it. I will never give up on me. I will never give up on me. On me. One more time. I will never give up on me. On me. Now, people will give up on you. Society will give up on you. Society will look at you and write you off like a bad check and turn and walk away from you as if you don't exist and as if you don't matter. But you cannot duplicate, imitate, or emulate how society treats you. There are times that people you love will walk away from you. People you love will give up on you. People you love will call it quits and not want to support you anymore. I agree. Sometimes people are in school and, and classes of higher learning trying to get a vocational trade so that they can go on and improve their lives. At the same time, they got all kind of trouble going on at home. Sometimes they're going through a divorce. Sometimes they got family members that have some type of terminal sickness. They have situations where they battle mentally and emotionally in their minds. But you have to not allow for how other people treat you and for what life can throw at you to cause for you to give up on you. Then there are times that family members walk away from you in the time of need. Some of you have experienced this at an early age. Maybe you needed some financial support. Maybe you needed moral support. Maybe you needed emotional support. Maybe you needed someone just to be there to talk to because you were having some tough times in life. And then at some point, you couldn't get the help and the support you needed, even from those who are sworn to love you for who you are all the days of your life. Sometimes Girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, and wives will give up on you and walk away from you. That's a such thing called divorce. And when you go through a divorce, that's your spouse's way of saying, "I'm quitting you. I'm giving up on you." When a girlfriend or boyfriend walks off.
