I WILL NOT LOSE - Best Motivational Speech Compilation (Featuring Eric Thomas)
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They use Monday.com to keep their teamwork sharp, their communication clear, and their goals in sight. Monday.com. For whatever you run, even orcas. Go to Monday.com to dive deeper. What are we doing in the garage? I think we could set up a gym in here. I'll put a squat rack on the back wall, a chin-up bar on that wall, weights over here, and a treadmill over there. What do you think?

Where's the car gone? It's gone to a better home. When you donate your unwanted car to Kids Undercover, it's a great feeling knowing that 100% of proceeds will have a huge impact on the lives of at-risk young people. The process is really quick and easy. Find out more, visit donateyourcar.org.au. I want you to live the life you were meant to live. You hear me? Not the life that was given to you. I'm a high school dropout because that's the life my daddy gave me.

But I've been married almost 28 years and two kids by the same woman, which is not my experience. I got brothers and sisters. None of us had the same parents.

Because I made up in my mind, that's the life y'all gave me. Humans do not transition to another level when they're comfortable with the level that they're on. You only go to another level when you're on this level and you're eating out of trash cans and you say, enough is enough. When you're living in abandoned buildings in the winter and you say, enough is enough. You only transition from one level to the next when you're tired of the level you're on.

You don't transition in life if you happy with where you are. And the problem with some of you is you happy being broke. You've gotten content. Just be honest when you walk out of here. Some of you are not transitioning because you're okay with the life you have. And I'm telling you, when I walk out, I want to be an example of you can start from wherever and get to wherever you want to get to.

Was like yo, it's time to go to work. I'm telling you I've been thinking I've been making calls That's what I'm asking you to do what fuels you the reason why you so lazy is not because you don't have the ability You so lazy cuz your dreams so small your dreams are so small You study me on the internet if you look at how I became number one in the world You got to take it all the way back. You can't start where I am now. You got to start where I started and

And the way I blew up before I even knew I was going to blew up is that I took every class here. That's how I blew up. I got to a point in my life where I was like, yo, E, the gateway. The gateway to all success is through knowledge. We're not talking about degrees right now. None of my degrees are hanging up nowhere. As a matter of fact, when I got my PhD, they said to me, as we heard you, what do you want us to say? I said, I don't care what you say, but make sure you tell them I started with a GED. It's going to be a dogfight.

I would love to tell you that on the road to success, everything is going to work out. It's not. It's going to be a dog fight. On the road to success, I lost five aunts to cancer. It's a dog fight. In the midst of my business, I lost aunts. I had to go to funerals. We had to get on a plane. We had to drive. We had aunts that are close to my age who died, who didn't have insurance. We had to raise money. A dog fight.

cousins shot in stores execution style shot back at it back in the head twice so dog fight but you don't see that on YouTube you don't see that on my TGIF it's a dog fight white three years ago seven legions following the brain it's a dog it hasn't been easy it's a dog it hasn't been the road hadn't been success like it's just a paved road and like each he go this way it's been rough it's been crooked it's been all

But I've made up in my mind that I will get a reward for the pain that I go through. I will not stop in the middle of the process. I will not be defeated. I will not be destroyed. I will take everything that happens in my life and I will allow the pain to push me to greatness. You will not break me. You will not stop me. You will not defeat me. The only way I lose is if I quit. It's going to be a dogfight.

So if you ready to quit then don't get started If you ready to quit don't get started if you looking for this easy pass don't get started If you think they not gonna close the door on you and say no a million times But every time they close the door I just get excited why? Cause I am not a no I'm one yes away I'm young I'm one yes away You can't keep telling me no forever You can't keep denying me forever This type of energy This type of passion You can't stop it

You can contain it for a while, but you cannot stop this in life. And you can't defeat me. There is not. You don't have enough power. You don't have enough energy. You don't have enough strength to stop this. Contain it for a year, you might. Two years, you might. You do not have hate. Does not have enough energy to destroy love. You cannot destroy this.

It did happen to me at 19. It did happen to me at 20. It did happen to me at 30. It happened to me at 40. After I had been through all the pressure I go through, life said you finish with all the pressure. I said, yeah. I said, let me bring on the heat. Then when I went through the pressure and the heat, y'all, I thought it was over. The creator said, now you ready to get cut? You say you wanted to be great, son. You say you wanted to travel the world. You say you wanted to help people, inspire people. Hey, you gotta be a diamond.

In our armed forces, let's just pick one. The Navy, for instance. The first thing they teach you. Somebody over here, help me out. You were in the Navy, right? They're teaching you war, right? What's the first thing they teach you? The first thing they teach you, the very first thing they teach you, is how to respond when you have a jammed gun. And number two, how to carry a dead body. That's the first thing they teach you. They don't teach you how to defend yourself. They don't teach you how to swim. The first thing they teach you is when your gun is jammed.

The first thing they teach you is a dead body, how to carry a dead body. And somebody tell me, why would they start you there? That's the worst-case scenario. That's what you're not prepared for. That's what you're not thinking. You're not thinking when you go out there to defend yourself that your gun is going to jam. You're going to get killed and you've got to drag. You're not thinking that.

So listen to me. It's not hardships that hurt us. It's not my cousin getting shot twice. It's not my cousin spending 50 years in jail. It's not my eyes dying of cancer. It's not my wife being diagnosed with seven legions on her brain that will break you. What will break most people is you didn't prepare for that. So when you put all your little goals and all your little dreams together, it's not the thing that broke you that broke you. It was you never even thought about the fact that you could be broken. They say it's going to be a dogfight.

And if you solved, this ain't the, you want to get out now. This is where you're like, I quit. But if you're willing to say, I'm not going to quit, I guarantee you whatever success you want to have, you're going to have it. You will not outcry me.

You won't outgrind me. You can be smarter than me. You won't outgrind me. I get up at 3 o'clock in the morning and do videos. I do a video at 3 o'clock. I do a video at 2 o'clock. I'm putting out so much dog on content, they can't keep up. They smarter than me. They better than me. I admit, I got a GED. I ain't the smartest person in the world, but I get up and do this for DD. I do this every day for DD.

Because of what didi did for me. I do this for my kids. My daddy wasn't there I do this for my family. You can't stop me The reason why some of you should be stopped is you're doing it for yourself And guess what happened when you get tired when you grinding and what grind when you grinding grinding hurts Grinding is a sacrifice grinding costs when you're grinding and your body tell you you hurt when you're doing it for you You stop you never you never prepare you never you

I never prepare for worst case scenario and the reason why ET is standing here is because I'm prepared for it. If you know anything about me, I still lay on floors. I still eat chips off the floor. I still do some stuff that to most people is crazy like, "ET, why would you do that?" Because I'm always prepared that we may not live in a house one day. One day something might happen and we might have to go back to that and it's not going to break me. The thing we covet the most, that for a diamond to be produced, it must first go through extreme heat.

Extreme heat, extreme pressure. You hear what I'm telling you? For a diamond to be produced, it has to go through extreme pressure, extreme heat. And if that wasn't enough, what makes a diamond a diamond is the cuts. So you are put through, if you want to be a diamond, you must go through extreme pressure. If you can't take pressure, then you're not a diamond.

After you go through all the pressure you thought you could not handle and you think it's over, then they turn on the heat. Of all the stuff I've gone through in my life, eating out of trash cans, sleeping in abandoned buildings, the worst thing that ever happened is when I went to the hospital and they told me my wife had a chronic illness and she might not be able to walk one day. People say ET. Ask CJ. It never broke me. Why? Because I've been broken so much. Defeated so much. I've been disappointed so much in my life.

And I know what it feels like and I can handle it. Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute or an hour or a day or even a year. But eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever. Some of you in the room right now, you are where you are. You're giving 60% when you have 120 in you. Why? Because you've never made a decision. We all have 24 hours.

All right. What makes some of us average makes some of us good, some of great is not the family you was born into. I had nothing to do with that. Had nothing to do with your socioeconomic status. It has everything to do with how you command your life. So if you have a bad day, which is no such thing of it doesn't exist. You had a bad moment. You were so immature that you let that moment dictate the rest of your day. Right. And you're not kids no more. I don't do elementary school.

And some of you are grown, but you're still a child. And you brag about how you're an adult. You're only an adult because of your age. You're not an adult because you command your life. I was homeless for two and a half years. And the problem with most of you, you never felt no pain before. Y'all spoiled. Y'all spoiled. Some of y'all spoiled. Just bottom line. Your parents have done everything for you. You never had to do nothing for yourself. You're spoiled. We're going to keep it real tonight. Some of you are spoiled brats.

Every time you ever got in trouble, somebody in your house got you out of it. Every time you've done something you're not supposed to do, people say, Eric, your mother's a tyrant. You're right. She kicked me out. You're right. She's mean, but she developed a man because she put me out there and said, you're going to have to grow up. And some of you have never learned to grow up. And so every time something get hard, you quit. You call mama. I dare you to take a little pain. I dare you. I dare you not to go home. You ain't going to die at the end of pain and success.

You're not gonna die because you're feeling a little pain. I'm not eating like I eat at home. That's why you're about to go to the next level, because if you keep eating like you ate at home, you'll keep being a boy or a girl. It's time to become man, woman. I love my life. Y'all gotta start loving your life.

And whether you make it to the league or not, you are not who you are because of the league. You are who you are because of who you are. And if you make it to the league, then the league is going to be blessed with your presence. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Be comfortable in who you are. Be comfortable if you're all poor. If you come from a family right now that's broke, you use that to your advantage. I use that to my advantage that I was a high school dropout, that I was homeless, that I ate out of a trash can. I love dealing with a dude who thinks because he come from money, he better than me. Let's go.

Let's go. You got money, but do you got that dog? Yeah, you got money, you got privilege, but do you got that dog? Do you got that stamina? So yeah, you might have something I don't have right now, but if I work hard, I can have what you have. You have to give it everything you got. No more TV, no more parties, no more playing. If you don't have a 4.0, what you need to be doing is studying.

Get off the phone. I'm sorry I'm not available until the end of this year. No, I'm for real. You've reached the right number, but you called me at the wrong time. Call me back January 1st.

I'm about to get busy now. I want you to have a countdown of your own and say when the countdown is over, will the real, shh, watch me, because when I was homeless, I knew something was wrong. I knew that wasn't the best of me. And one day I said, will the real Eric Thomas please stand up? Will the real Eric Thomas please stand up? Stop being this high school dropout. Stop giving up. Stop sleeping on the streets. Stop walking up and down Finco Avenue like you ain't got nothing and get your GED. Stop being afraid to take a test.

Stop being afraid to go to college because your daddy didn't go and your mama didn't go. Stop being afraid and be the best Eric Thomas you can be. But listen to me, it's going to be hard. It took me 12 years to get a four-year degree, but I got it. And guess what? On a degree, it don't have dates. But I'm exactly where I wanted to be because I realized I got to commit my very being to this thing. I got to breathe it. I got to eat it. I got to sleep it. And until you get there, you'll never be successful in life.

But once you get there, I guarantee you the world is yours. So work hard and you can have whatever it is you want. I realized one day what was missing was confidence. Guys, I remember like being number 20 in the world.

I remember being like number 15 in the world and I remember when I became the best in the world the only thing that changed is one day I got on stage and said I belong here of course money changed the blue checks changed but I remember everything in my life changed when I got on stage and said why are you nervous you belong here why are you nervous this stuff didn't come from a book you didn't watch some video and pick this up it's your life you have the credibility you belong

So when I got on stage, I realized one day like, yo E, you were homeless and you came out of it. You didn't know who your biological father was, but you fought to meet him and build a relationship with him. You are married. You've been married 28 years. E.T., you got two kids the same. E.T., you got degrees when nobody in your family has ever had a PhD. Nobody in your family has ever wrote a book before. E.T., you went from the bottom to the top. E.T., you belong on stage. You belong on stage, Eric. You have something to say.

You really care about the people. Your motives are pure. Like all your stuff has been pure. E, you still doing middle schools. You still doing elementary school. You still doing high schools. E, you belong here. You're still doing a free program for 10 years at Michigan State. You belong here. You're putting out a video every day. You belong here. And before I leave, some of you, your problem is you don't believe that you belong here. Shh, there are those of you in this room, you already there. Your problem is there's some stuff you don't want to give up to go.

You're talented. You just don't want to give up sleep. It's not that you, listen to me, pound for pound, any agent in the room, pound for pound, motivational speaker, pound for pound, entrepreneur, pound for pound, athlete, pound for pound, pound, weightlifter, pound for pound, whatever you do, I guarantee you when you do it, nobody can do it like you do it. The problem is you don't hardly do it.

You love sleep too much. You love that alcohol too much. You love that substance too much. You love that vice too much. There's something that you love more than yourself, than your dream. What do you do on the days that you don't feel like... I'm going to be honest with you. I'm way past that. Every day I feel like... Every day I feel like eating.

Every day I feel like giving my wife the best life every day. I feel like driving in a nice car every day I feel like flying first class every every single day of my life I feel like giving a hundred every single day. Somebody said yesterday ET you gave 120 what you gonna do tomorrow? I said, I don't know get 140 I don't know but I don't have days where I don't feel like it Why because I'm counting on me my wife's counting on me. I don't have days to waste. I

That person who was your hater, they thought they defeated you. That person who told you you'll never amount to anything, they thought they defeated you. I need you to say it so they can hear. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. We're going to add this to the declaration. I'm going to read something to you. We're going to add this and then I'm out. We're going to add this and I need you to say it like you mean it. We're going to say I am, therefore it is. And when you walk out of here, you're going to live it.

I need you to do me a huge favor.

All three beast mode. One, two, three. Beast mode. Rich people don't waste time. They realize it's their most important commodity. They don't watch a lot of TV. They don't do a lot of entertainment. If they're not working, they're studying their craft and getting better at their craft. So I need you to stop having the poverty mindset. So when I quit my job to be an entrepreneur, my mom was like, whoa, what are you doing? I was like, I'm quitting. My mom was like, don't you dare quit. You're going to embarrass me. You got a wife and kids. Does YouTube have insurance?

Does YouTube have a 401k? And I was like, yo, ma, I ain't trying to be funny and I ain't trying to be disrespectful. I love you, but you can't teach me how to be a millionaire because you're not. You come from the working class and I'm not mad at you, ma. We wouldn't be where we are without you. But you told me that every generation is supposed to get better. So I'll take your values, but I'm going to take your work at it because rich people don't work. They think poor people go clock in. I make this much an hour. Rich people go. I put them to work and I make this much an hour.

See what happens is you're working for you and your family one, they got 40 of you working at one time. So they giving you 20% and then they keeping the 80% off of 15,000 people. So what you have to decide is are you going to keep being the 99% or are you ready to be a part of the 1%? When you want this thing as bad as you want to breathe, that's when you find a way. You have an opportunity right now. A real man in the dark when nobody's watching, he putting in work.

A real man when coach ain't even watching, he's studying film on his own. Cause he loves the process. Cause real lions like to hunt. They love the process just as much as they love the prize. If you will be a champion, if you will be a beast, you're gonna have to go through something. Crisis is not a permanent condition. And crisis is a human description. It's just a season. This is important.

And the key to life is outlasting the season. The key to life is outlasting the season. If you can stay warm long enough, summer will come. In other words, the season for you to leave the job you are on has come. Why? There's a better one up ahead. He got to prepare you for that. So he got to close out one chapter to open a bigger chapter. Get ready for something big, big, big, bigger than what you had.

What will you do with your pain? Will you let it break you or will you let it redefine you? Seasons of crisis. Everybody say it with me. Overcoming seasons of crisis. That no one can do it for you but you. And even though you face disappointments, even though you will experience some setbacks, it goes with the territory. You must understand that. Life has taught me that you will grow through what you go through.

Life has taught me for every level there's another devil. Life has taught me the depth of your struggle will determine the height of your success. What will you do with your pain? Will you let it break you or will you let it redefine you?

And hear me, everybody's got a dream. Everybody's got a goal. Everybody wants something in life. But many of you in this room right now, your beast mode is idle. Your beast mode is not turned on. And when you leave this place, I'm telling you, your life is going to go to a whole other level if you can learn to turn that switch on and keep that switch on.

I need you to recycle your pain. I want you to recycle your pain. Now, many of you, when you get this water bottle, you might be thinking this is the first time, that this is the very first time this particular plastic was formed. And we don't know. This could have come from anywhere. Right? So you got to do me a huge favor. Because what you're going to discover as you're going towards your dream, as you're going towards your goal, there's so many distractions.

There's gonna be so many people that haters so many people that come up against you so many obstacles so many trials so many tribulations when people ask me easy like for real for real easy I know you can give me 20 things that you've done to help yourself to become successful But ET I just need like one or two Can you give me one or two and one of the things I tell people is I outlasted the pain I

I outlasted the pain. When I was sleeping in those abandoned buildings, I kept telling myself, one day you'll be a homeowner. Every time I walked into that abandoned building, I told myself that this might be your current circumstances, but this will not be how the story ends. All you have to do, ET, is to survive today.

To survive today, when they kicked me out of school, I knew that I would not be a high school dropout for the rest of my life. I knew I got to get through this one day. Every single day when I woke up in that abandoned building, one day, one day is going to be E.T.'s day. But that day can't come if I give up today. Soon it will be my day and I will recycle my pain.

Well, I didn't grow up with my biological father. He wasn't into my in my life until I was 30 years old But I told myself today your father is not in your life But one day my mom and I have gone months and almost years of not talking to each other But every single day I kept telling myself one day I have a great relationship with my mom. One day What will you do with your pain? Will you let it break you or will you let it redefine? I outlasted the pain

I outlasted Japan. On three, beast mode. One, two, three. Beast mode. One, two, three. Beast mode. One, two, three. Beast mode. You know, I thought if you were a good person and you do right by people, that people will take your kindness and give you kindness back. But what I realized is sometimes in this world, the kinder you are, the more they try to play you like a fool. I was delusional.

I'm nice to you, you're nice to me. Don't always work like that. Sometimes it's nice to me and I take advantage of you. So some of y'all, you delusional. I just need you to do me a favor. When you are delusional, you can never get the outcomes you want because the premise in which you're operating from is a lie.

So you got to work from truth and some of us don't want to deal with truth because it's so difficult ET you dropped out of school ET you grew up in a certain community in order for you to be able to do what you need to do like a Tony Robbins There's some things that you don't have in your arson that if you can just admit you don't have it in your arson Then you can go get it. But until you admit that you don't have it. You'll never be able to do it

So I need you to be a huge favor. I just need you to be real. And the reason why a lot of y'all don't want to be real, because some of you would rather be in a lie and at least have a lie than not have anything at all. You already know that job. Your boss ain't about to cash you out. You're just scared to quit and start your own business because you don't know if you're going to do well or not.

You know you shouldn't. Come on. Be honest. You know you still shouldn't be at that job right now. Let me see your hand. Let's just be real. Let me see your hand. You know you shouldn't still. Raise it high. Don't play with me. Raise it high. You still shouldn't be at that job. But you're delusional. That one day is going to be your day. That one day you're going to merge your job and your calling together. It's not going to happen. You're going to have to just leave. He gave me permission to say I am brilliant.

Yeah, I might be different but I am brilliant. Yep, I might be loud but I am special.

He gave me permission! And so the first thing I want you to do today is I want you to keep saying to yourself, "I am, I am, I am, I am." And for those of you who hadn't quite started yet, I am. And for those of you who've gotten started, I am. Why? Because I can't believe that I started with a GED and that GED turned into a four-year degree. One, two, three! One, two, three!

One, two, three. I am great. Listen to me. And I don't owe anybody an apology. I am phenomenal. And I don't owe anybody an apology. I am going to do great things. And I don't owe anybody an apology. I am. I was created to be great. I was created to do great things. I was created to have great things. And I will no longer ask others for their permission.

That Eric Thomas that grew up in Detroit and had like that Detroit mentality, while I love it, it doesn't transfer to every community.

Had let let the dream destroy you let it strip you let it remake and mold you don't be afraid Some of you afraid listen to me wherever you from if that's where you from if you leave you can always come back I promise you I promise you when you come back you can get right back into conversation ain't nothing gonna change I Promise you whatever world you're from if you go to other worlds. You can always go back to that world. I

The version of you that you are right now is a blessing but it won't take you to the next level. What got you here won't take you there. So let the dream destroy you, tear you down, redefine you, build you back up, make you stronger. The first version of Eric Thomas, the high school dropout, that guy would have never been able to stand here and help you. I had to destroy that Eric Thomas.

No matter who you are, if you're average or if you're good, when you get around greatness and you stay around greatness, you start listening to great podcasts and reading great books and you start hanging around great people and you start becoming a part of great masterminds. God, you just evolve. And I don't know what happened, but every year I went from a high school dropout and homeless to I started to be coming every single day more of who I am. And I can't believe it.

My next goal is to win the Nobel Prize. Why? I had to come up with something. I am giving you permission to be

great I'm giving you permission to be everything you were called to be to do everything that you're capable of doing to have everything you're supposed to have listen to me you have to be careful when you hang around average people all they're going to do is tell you what they can't do and that's okay that they can't do it but that has absolutely nothing to do with us

We can go from being homeless in high school dropouts to having PADs, writing books and becoming the voice of a generation. We can do whatever we believe we can do and we don't need anybody's permission to do it but ours. You are brilliant. You are special. Yes, you're different and yes, you're not doing it the traditional route, but greatness is upon you. You gotta keep going. You gotta keep going. You gotta keep going. In the 12 years to get the four year degree, turn it to a master's degree.

and the master's degree turned into a PhD. Guys, I can't believe it. I went from being a high school dropout, from being homeless, living in abandoned buildings, to eating out of trash cans, to Dr. Eric Thomas, to writing six books. Guys, are you hearing what I'm saying? Today, I'm playing small and start playing big because I am.

All right, all right, all right. Let's stop on three. One, two, three. I am. One, two, three. I am. One, two, three. I am. I am. I am.

Listen to me. I was literally homeless. I was coming to church, not really taking showers. I wasn't brushing my teeth. And this guy looked at me and said, you need to get your GED. You need to leave Detroit. I'm going to send you to college because greatness is upon you. I was 16, 17 years old. I had never spoken a day in my life. And this guy saw it. Like he saw something in me that I didn't see. And he gave me permission to

to be where other people said I couldn't be. He gave me permission to believe I was great. He gave me permission to think I could change the world. He gave me permission to start something that had never started in my family before. He gave me permission to say, I am. I am. I am.

Listen to me very closely when you graduate and you get a job if you want to get paid you never say no You never say it can't get done. Don't you ever say out your mouth? It can't get done. Even if you feel in your heart It can't get done. You don't say it out loud You let the broke folks say that you let the folks they firing first say that you always say it can get done Even if you don't think it can get done just say it and try to make up something. I'm being real

I'm being real. I don't deal with people who say, well, they get paid real low in my company. They like maintenance when you say, I don't know how, or I don't think it can be done. I'm like, okay, cool. You won't be like at the end of the year when bonuses getting passed out, you won't be getting no bonus. What I need you to do is I need you to kill the noise. I need you to embrace the I am. And however you get it done, I need you to get it done.

Whoa, easy there. Yeah.

What are we doing in the garage? I think we could set up a gym in here. I'll put a squat rack on the back wall, a chin-up bar on that wall, weights over here and a treadmill over there. What do you think?

Where's the car gone? It's gone to a better home. When you donate your unwanted car to Kids Undercover, it's a great feeling knowing that 100% of proceeds will have a huge impact on the lives of at-risk young people. The process is really quick and easy. Find out more. Visit donateyourcar.org.au.