The TRUST factor

Good morning, happy Monday. I want to talk to my people and, you know, my Black and brown people, especially my Black folks, because, and I'm, you know, I have to say this, and this is something that's always, you know, really concerning when you look at the plight of Black people in America over the years, over the, over the centuries now. Uh, struggle has been something that was very familiar to us. Struggle. And struggle in the sense that I don't have enough to survive, I'm not gonna make it, I'm being oppressed, I'm being harmed. Survival. These are just some of the words, some of the watchwords to think about. I just exist. I could never be. It's too hard. I would never be in that place. And these are— think about it psychologically. Think about what impact that has on our psyche. When we have this feeling of I cannot or I will not. And where does it come from? What is this, uh, trauma? What is this, uh, historical trauma that we deal with on a regular basis as a people, as a, as a culture? And what are some of the things we're trying to do to get out of it? I've offered many a times trainings, leadership development, uh, ways to grow wealth, ways to develop a portfolio that can put you in a better place as a human being so that you can better take care of yourself and your family. But there are some baby steps that has to be taken first, and these baby steps is where we're often— are often, uh, missing the mark. And that is just the whole concept of discipline, this whole concept of discipline. Now think about it, some of the things that are suggested— in becoming this successful human being requires a level of discipline. One of the things that I realized early in my career, in my life, after being released from prison, was that I wanted to be someone that people trusted. Number 2, I wanted to be someone that people could rely upon, that I would be super reliable, that I would be trustworthy, right? Trustworthy in the sense that, you know, and I used to make the— I used to give this scenario sometimes where, you know, when I was on the prison yard, when people would go out on a visit and they would leave the facility to go to the visiting area and they realized they had their phone book or something like that on them You know, we use phone books. And when they came back through the gate to find somebody on the facility to pass that off to so that they didn't all go have to— sort of didn't have to run back to the entire unit to put it up, they would find somebody in the yard to hand it off to. And it was me. I was someone that people trusted. They knew I wouldn't go through their phone book and try to contact their girls, their wives, family members, their sisters. That wasn't the type of cat I was. Never have been. So I was— people trust me. Reliable because they knew that I would show up every day at the same time. If I said I would be in the chapel area at 10 o'clock, I was going to be there at 9:55, right? So those two key principles that I established in my life for myself upon being released into society was how— that was the key. Those were the baby steps that I took to get to where I am today, right? Being super reliable, being trustworthy, right? You need to be someone that people trust. You need to be someone that people rely upon, because you could be super educated, you could be very knowledgeable, very sharp about something, but If you're not trustworthy, if you're not reliable, who cares, right? You know, you can, you can quote how many authors, scholars you like, but if you're not showing up on time, if you're not being that trustworthy individual that I know I can hand off something to and it's going to get to its next destination, then who cares how much education you got? Who cares that you carry a BA, a PhD, a master's degree? Doesn't mean much. But these things require discipline, right? Being trustworthy, being reliable requires discipline, right? That's just the first two. We can go deeper into that whole concept. What I'm explaining to you is something that we as a people lack. Now, how does this relate to us here at Timeless? We have a situation where many of our employees show up to work late. They don't show up on time, and it's normal to them to do that, not realizing not only does it hurt them, it hurts the, the company. It hurts the image. It hurts the, the, the, the reputation of yourself and the company. So how do you grow? How do you build? How do you create a legacy for yourself where people can follow and people say, I like that person and I want to be like that person, if you're not meeting those two basic things of being trustworthy and reliable? So I just wanted to share that because these are These are stepping stones to actually get you to another place. You know, some of the people that's moved up in this organization didn't move up because they're smarter than everybody. That's not how they moved up. They moved up because they were super reliable. They moved up because they was company people that realized that, you know what, I'm about to make this happen. I'm about to drop everything. I'm about to make sure this happens for this company today. Right? And in that sense of loyalty, right? That sense of loyalty. And, and those people are there for that reason. They can learn what they need to learn later, right? They can learn as you go. That's why you have internships. That's why you have fellowships. That's why you have these things, because people understand you can learn as you go, right? But right now, I need you to show up. And that's what's going to get you to the next level as a, as a leader, as a colleague, as an entrepreneur. Whatever it is you're trying to achieve in life, you need those two things in order to get there. I hope I said something to you that'll make you Build that within, and I guarantee it's going to take you somewhere if you do that. Peace.