THE ALPHA BEAST MENTALITY - Best Motivational Speeches Compilation
46:37 Share

We all have dreams. Dream home renovations, dream vacations, or sending our kids to their dream colleges. But finding straightforward ways to turn those dreams into realistic goals, that's where things get tricky. Merrill understands that. That's why, with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. And having the bull at your back helps your whole financial life move with you.

So when your plans change, Merrill is with you every step of the way. Go to ml.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, registered broker-dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC. When you use SAP Concur Solutions to automate your business finances, you'll be ready for anything. Let's go, let's go, let's go!

Except when you're trained to work is also headed to the comic convention with the mighty Zorg on board. Who happened to bump into his arch nemesis? With SAP Concur, you can be ready for almost anything. Take control of your business finances today at Concur.com. Everybody wants to be a beast until it's time to do what beasts do. I never looked at things as problems. I look at them as opportunities.

Who teaches you to be a man? Greatness is not something that you meet once. It's something that you meet thousands of times in your life and you don't reach it if you're not constantly in constant pursuit of greatness. The most powerful thing that we can be is ourselves. Dreams without goals are just dreams and ultimately they fuel disappointment. Those times when you don't feel like working but you do it anyway.

That's the dream. It's not the destination, it's the journey. Without commitment, you'll never start. But more importantly, without consistency, you'll never finish. You can't just say you want it. You can't watch the video and say, I want it as bad as I want to breathe. It's cute to say it. But when it's showtime, when the sun comes up, now it's time to hunt. And what separates you from everybody else is that when it's time to hunt, you're ready to hunt.

It's a lifestyle. You don't hit the snooze button. You don't want to go run, you go run. You don't want to go swim, you go swim. You don't want to make your bed, you make your bed. You don't want to clean your house, you clean your house. You don't want to study, you study. That's how you start to callous your mind. That became my life. When you can't control what's happening to you, control how you respond to it. That's where your power is. If you stay in your comfort zone, that's where you will fail. Success is not a comfortable procedure.

If you think the price of winning is too high, wait till you get the bill from regret. Not only do I want to be a beast, if you follow my 24 hours, I'd do what beasts do. I know the feeling. No, that's not that fake Lion, Tigers, and Bears motivation. It's that growing up in the slums, watching your mom nod on the couch as you go to school. We want more. We want more out of this life. And if you're not willing to give that to us,

We're going to take it. To have an underdog mentality like everybody's already counted you out, like everybody's already told you, you don't have what it takes. You don't measure up. That what you started, you will not finish. Claw your way into your future. Fight for your goal. Give it everything you have because you have nothing to lose.

Life's gonna hit you in your mouth and you gotta do me a huge favor Your why has to be greater than that knocked out and I love it Buster Douglas got knocked out Nobody ever got knocked out by Mike Tyson and ever got back up. It was almost a 10 count He was stumbling they were four three two One ding ding ding saved by the bell he goes to his corner the whole world is like that. That's it. I

Once he comes back out, that's it. Mike's going to just hammer him. And exactly that, Mike Tyson came out like I got him. I got this kid up against the rope. Listen to me, many of you right now, life's got you up against the rope. You can't give up. You can't give in. Listen to me, if it was easy, everybody would do it. And if life's got you backed up, I need you to do what Buster Douglas did. Buster Douglas started fighting back. Douglas, he's down, goes Tyson.

The world was shocked. Goliath has been knocked down. What happened? And they went to Buster Douglas and they asked Buster Douglas simply like, what happened? And Buster Douglas said, listen to me. It's real simple. Before my mother died, she told the whole world that I was going to be like Tyson. And two days before the fight, my mother died.

Buster Douglas had, he had a decision to make. When his mother died, he could die with his mother or he made a decision, I can wake up and I can live for mom. And he knocked Mike Tyson out simply because his why was greater than that punch. His why was greater than defeat. His why was greater than his trial and his tribulation. And I'm telling you, if you don't know what your why is and your why isn't strong, you're going to get knocked out every single day.

A man is not a man by his age. A man is a man by his experiences. What he goes through, what he fights through, that's what makes a warrior. That's what makes the greatest of all time. I will end my life in a bottomless pit. I'm going to rise and I'm going to show the world that greatness is obtained by the man that never stopped pushing.

Believe and I stand on it to this day as long as the Sun is shining on my face and not on my brain I got an opportunity of a lifetime Sometimes I gotta look myself in the mirror ask myself. Is that all you got? Come on, you're prepared your condition You've been beaten you've been better you've been broken you've been left for dead But there's more cuz you're breathing and you feel it so if you can feel it you can push it so push past and

The truth of the matter is that's not all you have. There's more left in you. I know you're tired. I know you're weary. I know you've been brought to tears. All the blood, all the sweat, all the sacrifice, all of the suffering. I know you want to quit right now, but this is not the time to let go. This is not the time to doubt. This is not the time to quit. Keep going. Use it to your advantage.

See the pain as a stage. See the pain as a plane. See the pain as an opportunity. You gave me an opportunity to reinvent myself. You gave me an opportunity to come out of my grave that you put me in. You left me for dead. I'm coming out alive. I'm coming out kicking. I'm coming out swinging. You left me and thought I wouldn't overcome. You forgot about me.

You let go and thought I couldn't survive it, but I'm here. It's not always about people. Sometimes life, oftentimes, most of the times, life will blood in your nose. Life will leave you in a cardiac arrest. Life will leave you in an accident. Life will knock you upside your head and dare you to get back up again. Use the pain because it's more or less.

I'm talking to that person in the hospital bed. I'm talking to that person that lost their mother. I'm talking to that person that lost their father. I'm talking to that person who didn't get picked on the team. I'm talking to that stay-at-home mom. I'm talking to that future engineer. I'm talking to that future entrepreneur, that hustler. I'm talking to that person who's been called to do something nobody's done in their family. I know you're going through an unprecedented amount of pressure.

pain but you can press through it if you can feel it you can lift it the time is now to do what's never been done use the pain use the pain use the pain so i hear the crowds calling and even if they're silent i will call myself why do that we go through life and we feel like we can live without pain that we can avoid pain that we can go under it or go around it pain is like pressure

And without pressure there is no diamond. And I'm just wondering if there's anybody out there that's listening to me that is sick and tired of complaining about the pain. I don't make enough. They didn't believe in me. They weren't there. They didn't see it. They didn't pick me. I didn't get the raise. I didn't get the promotion. She walked out on me. He abused me. My kids are ignoring me. My teenagers are driving me crazy.

I'm just wondering if there's anybody that want to stop complaining about it and is going to use it to your advantage. Imagine if

You could use pain as a fuel. Imagine if you could use the pain as a passport. Imagine if you could use the pain to push you, to condition you, to prepare you for the stages and the rooms you've got to walk into and the tables you've got to sit at and the stages you have to stand on. What if the pain can make you better? What if the pain could build muscle? What if the pain could cause you to retire, to leap farther, to run faster? What if the pain could help you?

What if all pain isn't hurt but it's helped? Because you wouldn't have prayed like you pray had you not been hurt. You wouldn't love like you love had you not been hurt because you know what it's like to hate somebody. So you refuse to go down that path. Use the pain! A musician plays his instrument, play pain! Play it! When pain shows up at your door, when people try to inject it, inflict it, use it to your advantage. Oftentimes,

It feels like it is impossible in insurmountable beef to get past the beating. But as long as I can feel it, I'm not in a state of paralysis. If you can feel it, you can move it. I can feel this. I can move this. I'm not paralyzed. I can feel this. It's heavy, but it's got to get out of my way. When life throws you away, lift it. Ah!

I'm not complaining because life got heavier. I'm celebrating because I'm getting stronger. Let's go! Use the pain! Your perspective is everything. You gotta see this thing differently. You gotta find a mirror and see this thing differently. And I gotta speak these affirmations and I have to believe, I have to believe, even if I'm bleeding, even if I'm broken, I have to believe that this came to help me, not hurt me. It made me better. I'm not bitter. I'm wiser.

I'm conditioned now. I see this thing differently now. I'm able to move and navigate and breathe different and talk different and walk different and build differently. I'm not building out of anger and revenge. I'm building from a place of abundance. Pain is inevitable and it is unavoidable. You cannot live without pain. How you navigate that pain will determine

how you propel into your purpose. Use the pain, use the pain to push you into a place of abundance. Use the pain to push you into a place where your very existence is life-giving. Use the pain not for revenge but for fulfillment. I don't want you to die because you wanted me to die. I don't hate you because you hate me. I don't want you, I don't want you to lose everything even though you took everything from me.

I want everybody to win. If you can hear my voice, I want you to win. I'm talking to people that have lied on me. I'm talking to the people that have given up on me. I'm talking to the people that have walked out on me after I gave you everything. I'm talking to you. I want you to win. I want everybody to win. That's how you know you've used the pain. Not to inflict pain.

but you've converted that pain into fuel. So there needs to be a conversation on the inside of you about conversion. Convert the pain into fuel, not payback. Payback is for punks. I don't need you to hurt like you hurt me. I want you to win because I want to be better. I got to be bigger. I got to be the better human being. I got to be the one who is existing that's life-giving. I got to be the one that can do better. I got to be the one that after you knock me off of the mountain,

After you pushed me off of the hill, after you dragged me off the staircase I was climbing, after I wiped the blood out of my eyes and spit up whatever I need to spit up and cough up whatever I need to cough up, I'm coming back to help you! I need everybody to win! Pain is inevitable and it is unavoidable. The question is, can you leave where you've been? Can you close the gap between pain and promise?

So it's time to come face to face with pain. Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, how much more can you take? Ask yourself the question, is this all you got?

The more you run and the more you lift and the more you train and the more you dance and the more you sing and the more you advance into the beauty, the brilliance of your future, the more that you move forward and you advance and you do it for your mother, you do it for your father, you do it for the one that believed in you, you do it for God himself who put you on this planet to make an impact and leave a legacy. Ask the pain one question. Is this all you have?

Is this all you got? While I'm lifting these weights, I know it hurts, but ask that dumbbell, is that all you got? Ask that treadmill, is that all you got? When you're in rehearsal, when you're practicing again, when you're beating on your craft, ask yourself, is this all you got? Self, I got more in me. You thought you were empty.

But you had a quarter take. Some of you had half a take. Some of you had three quarters of a take. There's more in you. My content creators, my entrepreneurs, my musicians, come on, my keynote speakers, my captains of industries, my CEOs, from the captain to the cashier, there is more in you. It hurts.

When we hit in the gym, it hurts. But we lifting these weights and we're trying to accomplish a goal. It hurts. It's painful. It's daunting. It's cumbersome. I don't want to do it. I'm sweating. I'm bleeding. I'm crying. I'm suffering. But after I've suffered, there is a reward.

Stay at home father, stay at home mother, lawyer, doctor, hygienist, author. I don't know who you are, where you're from, but there's more in you. You may be hurting, may be dying on the inside, but you still got life left.

You gave them everything you had and they left you for dead! I know what that feels like! To be left for dead after you gave everything you had! I know what it feels like! You give and you pour and you sow and you believe and you give them everything you have and they leave you for dead.

And you are either going to lie in a state of paralysis or feel the pain. The truth of the matter is, if you can feel it, you still got life left in you. Close the gap between pain and promise. The gap is closing. The gap is closing. The gap is closing. The gap is closing. The pain! The pain! You're never going to get anywhere being lazy. But I would tell you that hard work is what stands out.

I pursue number one at all times. But you have to be able to look at yourself. I always worked hard. I was never lazy. I was always somebody that believed in hard work. When you work hard and you have that sense of pride, it goes right out the window if you utilize your efforts in the wrong fashion. But when you do what's right and it's based off of that effort that you put in,

Then you feel good about it because you took care of your responsibilities. Then you can go play. Can't do the playing before any of that stuff. If I never try, if I don't go for this, where's that going to lead me? Don't be scared to bet on yourself. You're going to be scared anyway because it is scary. But at the same time, betting on yourself isn't always leaving. Betting on yourself is believing in you. Knowing who you are, what you're worth. Having an idea about it anyway.

and willing to work towards that to validate that reality. That's betting on yourself. Whatever decision emanates from that is based off of you looking at you and saying, "I'm going for it." When you don't do that, what you have done is refrain from challenging yourself to be all you can be. You should be scared if you're clueless.

You should be scared if you're ignorant to what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you intend to go about achieving whatever aspirations you may have. If you're going to overcome that fear at some point, knowledge is a part of the equation. What is winning? I challenge any human being. And if you can't do it, you scratch, claw, and even die trying. It was about striving to do whatever you could to be the best that you can be.

That is what I believe makes me the best. It's my commitment to excellence for the collective whole. I believe I'm the best there is. I ain't apologizing for it to anybody. You know, Denzel Washington talks about consistency, the importance of consistency. You got to put in the work, you got to go for it. But you have to have consistency because without consistency and putting in the work, the dream is nothing but a dream. And I get all of that. But you have to be able to look at yourself.

And you have to be able to be honest with yourself and know when you mess up because when you mess up, it's going to catch you. What I mean when I say it's going to catch you is at some point, you're going to look at you and you're going to say, I didn't try. I didn't go for it. But I often tell people this, particularly when it comes to relationships. Relationships come and go. Things don't work out sometimes. There is nothing right.

on earth worse than when you know you're the reason it messed up. See, if somebody mistreats you, if somebody that you love don't want you no more, but you wanted them and you treated them right and blah, blah, blah, but it didn't work out, it hurts, but you'll be fine. Most people will be fine. When you're not fine is when you know it was you. You messed up. You messed up. You heard that. Everybody you've run across has had apprehension about who they are, where they are,

where they're going, etc. But really, the most important thing that it requires is like a literal look in the mirror. Asking yourself how you will feel.

Now get back to business with that podcast of yours.

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two-year contracts, they said, what the f*** are you talking about, you insane Hollywood a**hole?

So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes in details. If you never try. If you are alive, you have another opportunity to begin again. A new opportunity. Get and get after it.

It's not about scrolling through social media and looking at people on vacations and looking at the people that are projecting the highlights of their life. It's not about that. It's about can you do better than you did yesterday? If you're walking through or walked out of or survived the worst trauma and pain of your life, if this is the first day of the best days of your life, get up. Get up.

Wake up! There's always another level. And it's not about beating the man or woman that's standing in the room with you. It's about beating the man and the woman that's in the mirror. Can you do better than you? Can you do better than you did yesterday? That's all I want to ask you. Can you do better? You may be tired. You may be broken. You may be hurting. People may have betrayed you, lied on you.

but you refuse to give up. There are gonna be days when you are not going to feel like waking up. You are not going to feel like you are tired of yourself. You are tired of looking at the face in the mirror that you see. You are tired of making the way that your body looks, the money that you have, or the people that you are connected to. There are gonna be days when you are gonna be tired of being you. And you got two options. You can give up or get up.

This is the day that everything changes. Get up! Rise and grind! Begin waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning. You may have to lose sleep for a week so that you can accomplish what it is that you've been destined to accomplish. What you were born to contribute to humanity. So I know it hurts. And I know it's expensive. Everything you need to get to this next level is inside of you.

But if you don't count up the cost of what it's going to take, and if you are not willing to pay that price, you cannot have your future. Life and death is in the power of your tongue. Just get in a mirror and start speaking life over yourself. You're making progress. This needs you to be 1% better than you were yesterday. Get up. You got a day to conquer. Rise and grind, baby. Let's go.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me one more day, one more opportunity, one more meal, one more outfit on my back. Thank you for that one opportunity. If you haven't been able to get up, something inside of you has to snap. You've been insecure long enough. You've been unfit long enough. You've been unqualified long enough.

You've been overlooked long enough. You've been undervalued long enough. You've been in this cave. You've been in this deep dark prison of obscurity and uncertainty and doubt and fear. This is the day you come out of your tomb. In this very moment, you have an opportunity. Seize the opportunity.

I'm talking to that person that keeps saying, I'm going to lose weight. I'm going to make more money. I'm going to learn a new skill. I'm going to make bigger connections. I'm going to invest in myself. And they affirm.

I know you don't feel up to the task. I know you've got some doubt and you've got some fear and you've got some uncertainty and you hate the image that you see in the mirror and you hate the way your money looks and your relationships look and people that you've given your all to keep walking out on you. I know you feel stuck in reverse. I know you feel like you're underpaid and undervalued and overlooked, but listen,

This is the day that everything changes. You've got to do what is required in order to manifest. Get up and get after it. So take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. It's a new day. Control. All. Delete. Control yourself. Alter your thinking. And delete negativity. Period. What are you made of? What is your DNA? What is your mentality? What are the skill sets? Come on, start to write down the vision.

This is the first day of the best days of your life. Get up and get after it. You are here by design. You are listening to this talk by design. Every day, every single day is a new beginning. And every decision you make is either bringing you to your destiny or taking you from your destiny. There's some of you. You got to take everything you have on the inside and claw your way back to right standing.

Sometimes you gotta dig deep inside. I'm talking to that person that keeps failing the mission. Appreciate what has happened. Appreciate the people that walked out on you. Appreciate the people that hurt you. Appreciate the people that overlooked you. The people that slept on you. Appreciate it. I want you to get this mentality in your head. Every day, you pay. You pay.

You may get two hours of sleep in seven days so that you can accomplish what it is that you've been destined to accomplish. Everything you need to get to this next level is inside of you. There's always another level. Seize the opportunity. And every day, every single day gives you that new opportunity.

So if you don't have a to-do list, get a to-do list. If you haven't planned a day, start planning your day the night before. If you don't have a morning routine, get a morning routine. Start your meditation. If you're not tracking your progress, start tracking your progress. If you don't have accountability partners, you need to get accountability partners. If you have not identified

The roadblocks if you have not identified. The kryptonite if you have not identified. The hurdles, what has hindered your forward progress. Identify those things. This is your day! Get up and get after it! The day could be today that your career is over. Now what do you do? I say I better get to work. Rest at the end, not in the middle. And that's something I always live by. I'm not going to rest, I'm going to keep on pushing now. There are a lot of answers.

that I don't have, or even questions that I don't have. But I'm just gonna keep going. I'm just gonna keep going, and I'll figure these things out as you go, right? And you just continue to build that way. So I try to live by that all the time. - Have a dream, sacrifice for it, and never ever rest in the middle. - When I came into the NBA, I was like, "Babe, these things really don't work that hard." One of the things I would do is, while everybody would be at the cafeteria, you know, eating and doing all sorts of stuff, I'd just go back to the gym. I'd go back to the gym.

How can I show you that? No, I have the energy. Well, you do it through training, right? So when I get up in the morning, my daughter goes with me. 4 a.m.? 4 a.m. My 15-year-old goes with me. She goes with me before school and it becomes a daddy-daughter thing. That's cool. Through that process, she understands the value of hard work. And so it's through those behaviors is where I find the motivation to do it. Mm-hmm.

I think the definition of greatness is to inspire the people next to you. I think that's what greatness is or should be. It's not something that lives and dies with one person. It's how can you inspire a person to then in turn inspire another person, and then inspires another person. And that's how you create something that I think lasts forever. It's not sit around and it's all happy or lucky type of thing. If you're a leader, your job is to get the best out of people.

You gotta deal with it. Face it, learn from it. It's exciting when you win, it's exciting when you lose, because the process should be exactly the same. But the hardest thing is to face that stuff. But what if today is the day that you, that's it. Now what do you do? - What can I say? Mamba out. - My parents were great. Growing up, they instilled in me the importance of imagination, of curiosity.

Understanding that, okay, if you want to accomplish something, I'm not just going to sit here and say, yes, you can do whatever you want. Yes, you can. You have to also put in the work to get there, right? So they taught me that at a really early age, man. And when you grow up as a kid thinking that the world is your oyster, all things are possible if you put in the work to do it, you grow up having that fundamental belief.

Who was more influential for you, your father or mother? Both were influential at different points. My mom was there on a daily basis. My father was really influential at a really critical time where I had a summer where I played basketball when I was like 10 or 11 years old. And here I come playing and I don't score one point.

The entire summer. Not one. You didn't score once. Not one. Were you in the game? I was in the game. How did you not score? Because I was terrible. Not a free throw. Not a nothing. Not a lucky shot. Not a breakaway layup. Zero points. I remember crying about it and being upset about it. My father used to give me a hug and say, listen, whether you score zero or score 60, I'm going to love you no matter what. Wow. That is the most important thing that you can say to your child. Because from there, I was like, okay, that gives me all the confidence in the world to fail.

I have the security there. But to hell with that, I'm scoring 60. Let's go. Right, right. And from there, I just went to work. I just stayed with it. I kept practicing, kept practicing, kept practicing. I think that's when the idea of understanding a long-term view became important. Because I wasn't going to catch these kids in a week. I wasn't going to catch them in a year. So that's when I sat down and said, okay, this is going to take some thought.

What I want to work on first. Alright, shooting. Alright, let's knock this out. Let's focus on this half a year, six months, do nothing but shoot. After that, alright, creating your own shot. So I started creating a menu of things. When I came back the next summer, I was a little bit better. Then 14 came around, back half of 13, 14 years old, and then I was just killing everyone. And it happened in two years, and I wasn't expecting it to happen in two years, but it did because what I had to do was work on the basics and the fundamentals.

But they relied on their athleticism and their natural ability. And because I stick to the fundamentals, it just caught up to me. And then my body, you know, my knees stopped hurting. I grew into my frame. Then your athleticism, once you have the fundamentals, the hard work, the mindset, and you tack on the athleticism, it's game over. Then it was game over. Wow. The love of the game, the challenge. Like, I would watch Magic play. I'd watch Michael play. And I would see them do these unbelievable things. And I'd say, you know...

Can I get to that level? I don't know, but let's find out. Let's find out. And so that curiosity to see where I could push this thing led me down that path, I think. With the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets select Kobe Bryant from Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania. Greatness lies ahead for this young man. Well, I learned that you have to work hard and you have to approach the game with a serious mindset. There was a stretch.

In '03, where Shaq was out with an injury, and Phil called me up to his office and said, "Okay, we need you to really turn on the afterburners and start scoring ball if you have to play." So I did, and I wound up scoring, I think it was nine straight games with 40-plus points. - Nine straight? - Nine straight games. And then Shaq comes back second, second to last game of that. And then Phil called me up to his office and said, "Co, okay, I need you to dial it back." I'm like,

Why? Like we're winning. I don't understand. It's because our goal is to win a championship. But if you continue to do this, we'll lose Shaq. We'll lose him. His motivation, his excitement. What triggers him, right? So I need you to pull back so we can pull Shaq forward for June. I mean, that was the big challenge is you move from, you know, being the single dominant player to understanding, okay, I have to help these other guys. Oh, I lift everyone else up. It's tough.

It's more like you put yourself to the side and you put yourself in their shoes and understand what they're feeling. And then you have to make certain decisions of, okay, what buttons do I need to push for this player to get them to the next level? So it's never, it's not sit around and it's all happy or lucky time. The leader, your job is to get the best out of them. Even if...

He may not like it at that time. He was very demanding because he expected everyone to put in the same effort as he was. And that was unrealistic. You're not behind me. You're not in front of me. You're right there. You're right there parallel with me. Practice was very competitive right away. You know how Kobe is. We was drawing. We had it going sometimes. He didn't let me slip a lot. Times where I get ejected or about to get a technical foul or going off the deep end, he would be there to...

you know, set me straight a lot, which helped me a lot. So we get into the top mountain, he's like, "Hey, hey, uh, hey, I'm open." I'm like, "Okay." And so we go out and same thing, he comes, "Hey, hey, hey, I'm open." "Okay." There you go. Come back in, "Hey, dude, you gotta throw me the ball." I said, "Man, fuck that. Get it off the rebound if I miss, bro." Listen, I don't deal with people that don't commit at that level, but then act as if they do. The running joke.

He doesn't pass and all that sort of crap. I mean, that's okay. You know, but I'll take those five. I'll take five. 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 it's 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 in the 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? 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 PhDs, 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 turned into 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, stop 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.

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 gonna 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.

Hi, this is Jonathan Fields, host of The Good Life Project, where each week I talk to listeners about investing in their future by increasing their own vitality. But when it comes to those financial goals, whether it be saving for a home renovation, growing your child's college fund or travel, life can make it difficult to stay the course. By working with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Having the bull at your back helps your whole financial life move with you. So when your plans change, Merrill's with you every step of the way.

Go to ml.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, registered broker-dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC. Expand the way you work and think with Claude by Anthropic.

Whether brainstorming solo or working with a team, Claude is AI built for you. It's perfect for analyzing images and graphs, generating code, processing multiple languages, and solving complex problems. Plus, Claude is incredibly secure, trustworthy, and reliable, so you can focus on what matters. Curious? Visit claude.ai and see how Claude can elevate your work.