In this on‑site motivational monologue recorded at Marion Correctional Institution, speaker Rico Sharp addresses roughly 300 incarcerated men. He urges them not to be defined by their past crimes or the prison system, emphasizing that each person retains innate worth and potential. Sharp outlines a three‑step framework for transformation: (1) reach out to God, (2) look inward to discover personal gifts, and (3) acquire knowledge and resources to renew the mind. He shares his own redemption story—released from prison on November 30, 1995 after a mentor named Billy tutored him—illustrating how mentorship, education, and faith enabled him to build a family, ministry, business, and a speaking career. Sharp repeatedly stresses that identity is separate from past actions, that negativity must be silenced, and that greatness is attainable if one aims high and maintains a positive attitude. He concludes with a series of high‑energy maxims about aiming for the moon, maintaining sharpness in thought and conduct, and promising that if he could change his life, anyone can.
Chapters
Hey, this is Rico Sharp and I am on site at Marion Correctional Institution. I just finished speaking to about 300 men and can I tell you something? These men are so empowered right now. They are going to do some great things in life. Listen, do not count these people out that have been incarcerated and locked up. Do not count them out. They're somebody's dad, yes. They're somebody's father, yes. They're somebody's son, yes. They're somebody's uncle, Somebody's nephew, somebody's grandson, somebody's grandfather. But I'm telling you right now that God is doing something great in the lives of these men. I've talked to these men about how to bring out the best in them. I talked to them about how to seize the moment and maximize the opportunity to explore your greatness. I talked to them about how to detach themselves from the old mindset, old mentalities. I talked to them about how they got to give life all they have to give. I talked to these men in a way That is so passionate and so powerful. I told them that you cannot live in this prison system and just serve time. You gotta figure out how to let time serve you. And you do that by number one, reaching out to God. Number two, reaching within yourself. And number three, getting all the information and the resources you can to feed and renew your mind. I talked to them about how education is power. I talked to them about how they gotta separate themselves from negativity, from people who remind them of their past. That all they want to do when they come around is talk about how much money you used to have, how many women you used to have, how much dope you used to smoke, how you used to be balling and moving and strolling and rolling and you had it going on. I talked to these men about silencing that voice from the outside and the voice on the inside. I talked to these men about how to bring out of them the treasure that God has placed in them. You know what I told them? I told them, I said, you got to be a great thief. You got all this power and gifts and talent that you have. On the inside, this brilliance and all of these treasures that God placed in you, you got to learn how to reach inside of you and pull it out and leave it with the human race. Put it into somebody else's life and let them see that you're pouring into them to help them to build a better life. That's what happened to me when I was in prison as a young man. An older white guy by the name of Billy took me under his wing and tutored and mentored me and helped me to understand that I don't have to die the way I've been living. You might be born a certain way, but don't die under the conditions that you were born, because life is giving you the opportunity to change the landscape of how you live from day to day and to do something big with your life. I talked to these men about how that if they try hard enough, God will move mountains that will forever be removed. You know what else I told them? I said, hey, look, you are not what you've done. You are not what you've done. You could have been an inmate before, but you're not an inmate forever. You could have been a drug dealer before, but you're not a drug dealer forever. You have been a rapist or a murderer or a child molester or a gangbanger or somebody who robbed and stole and hurt people. That's not who you are. That's what you've done, but that is not who you are. Don't let anybody sentence you to a lifelong sentence sentence based upon the mistakes you've made and the failure you've encountered along the way. See yourself as somebody who still have a chance to discover their personal greatness and be able to bring them out of— bring it out of themselves. That's what I did, and I did it while in prison. When I go to these prisons and talk to these men, man, I'm telling them what worked for me. And listen, last thing I told them is, if Rico can do it, So can you. If Rico can come out of prison on November 30th, 1995, and build a family, change his life, build a ministry, build a business, travel the world speaking, empowering people, educators, federal agents— if I can do it, so can you. And I had them to promise themselves that they were going to do it, that they were going to make great changes, that they were going to do great things with their life. And I now believe that if Rico can turn his life around, Everybody can turn their life around. I gotta get out of here. I've had a busy day. I've been speaking all day. I just finished speaking at a leadership conference for a church. I've been speaking the past couple of days at a leadership conference, 25,000 people in attendance over in Orlando for an organization called SHRM. I gotta get to my friend's church tonight for an event that he has going on. I got another event to do tomorrow. I got my church on Sunday. And then I gotta be back on the road again on Monday speaking twice in a college. I gotta leave you with this right here. Always reach for the moon because even if you miss, you will land among the stars. 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 hit or miss, but because they aim too low. They aim too low and hit. Listen, always be willing to be on top because it's the bottom that's overcrowded. That's right. Your attitude towards life determines life's attitude toward you, and your attitude in life determines your altitude in life. So be willing to give to life the passion you aspire, and life will give to you the dream you desire. Walk not in the shadow of those you admire, but discover your own destiny and dare to aspire, for then you will realize your greatness and live a life that inspires. For life is what you make it. And when the moment comes, you take it. You be sharp now and maximize the moment and make yourself a great life. And think sharp, talk sharp, walk sharp, live sharp, dress sharp. You'll be sharp. Take it from me, Rico Sharp. I know, and I'm out of here. Peace.
