"Nothing About My Life is Lucky, It's All About Preparation" - Oprah Winfrey

She's a media producer, actress, talk show host, and philanthropist. She's best known for her talk show. She is worth three billion dollars. She's Oprah, and here are her top 10 rules for success. The way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? Not think about, oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move. And not to be overwhelmed by it because you know your life is bigger than that one moment. You know you're not defined by what somebody says is a failure for you, because failure is just there to point you in a different direction. Nothing about my life is lucky. Nothing. A lot of grace, a lot of blessings, a lot of divine order. But I don't believe in luck. For me, luck is preparation, meeting the moment of opportunity. There is no luck without you being prepared to handle that moment of opportunity. And so what I would say for myself is, is that because of my hand in a hand and a force greater than my own, I have been prepared in ways that I didn't even know I was being prepared for. And the truth is, for me and for every person, every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for the moment that is to come. You don't have to hold yourself hostage to who you used to be or anything you ever used to do. Because who has lived and hasn't made mistakes? When I think about my 20s and what a foolish girl I was, and how I would give over my power to men who really didn't mean me well. But now I hold no grudges against them either, because I realized I'm the one who gave over the power because I didn't know any better. And now that I know better, I know I don't have to do that again. It's one of the most powerful lessons any of us can ever know. I say to my girls all of the time that your real work is to figure out where your power base is. And to work on the alignment of your personality, your gifts that you have to give with the real reason why you're here. That's the number one thing you have to do, is to work on yourself and to fill yourself up and keep your cup full. Keep yourself full. Now, I used to be afraid of that. I used to be afraid, particularly from people who say, oh, she's so full of herself. She's so full of herself. And now I embrace it. I consider it a compliment that I am full of myself. Because only when you're full, I'm full, I'm overflowing. My cup runneth over. I have so much. I have so much to offer and so much to give. And I am not afraid of honoring myself. You know, it's miraculous when you think about it. I would say to my team, well, it doesn't matter because every season somebody else was coming out. One talk show, two talk shows, three talk shows. There have been over 100 talk shows since we started. But every time I would feel like, all right, got to step up our game, got to step up our game. The way you step up your game is not to worry about the other guy in any situation, because you can't control the other guy. You cannot control the other guy. You only have control over yourself. So it's like running a race. The energy that it takes to look back and see where the other guys are, takes energy away from you. And if they're too close, it scares you. So that's what I would say to my team all the time. Don't waste your time in the race looking back to see where the other guy is or what the other guy is doing. It's not about the other guy. It's about what can you do? You just need to run that race as hard as you can. You need to give it everything you've got all the time for yourself. My grandmother was a maid. That's all she ever knew. The only real expectation she held for me was that I would one day become a maid and, in her words, have some good white folks, meaning people who would not speak negatively about me, who would allow me to take food home, who would be good to me, would treat me with some level of dignity and respect. That was my grandmother's dream for me. But I had another dream for myself, another more than a dream. I had a belief for myself. And I remember watching her hang out clothes on a line one day and say to me, you have to watch me, Oprah Gale, because one day you'll have to do this for yourself. And knowing inside myself that that was not going to be my life. Don't know how I knew it, other than that thing that we all have, intuition or an instinct that said, no, this will not be my life. But because I sensed that and was connected to that, and I remember it was a very still moment, it was quiet and I was still and I was watching her. I could see her right now with the clothes pins in her mouth and putting them on the line and seeing the breath because it was cold, the moisture coming from her lips. And I knew that that would not be my life. I knew that I will not be hanging clothes on a line in a backyard in Mississippi. So I was either four or five years old. And that belief that that would not be my life is what I held on to for the longest of times. I just, no matter what, believed that there was something bigger, greater, more for me. I always understood that there really was no difference between me and the audience. At times I might have had better shoes, but at the core, the core of what really matters, that we are the same. And you know how I know that? Because all of us are seeking the same thing. You're here at this fabulous school and we'll go out into the world and each pursue based upon what you believe your talents are, what your skills are, maybe your gifts are, but you're seeking the same thing. Everybody wants to fulfill the highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being. That's what you're looking for. The highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being. And because I understand that, I understand that if you're working in a bakery and that's where you want to be, and that may be what you've always wanted to do is to bake pies for people or bake cakes for people or to offer your gift, then that's for you. And there's no difference between you and me, except that's your platform. That's your show every day. So my understanding of that has allowed me to reach everyone. And there's no way that you wouldn't, because that's what I truly feel. A lot of people don't know their purpose. And if you don't know your purpose, your immediate goal is to figure that out because otherwise you're just wandering around here. So the moment you can figure out what it is you're supposed to be doing, the sooner you are able to get about the business of doing that. My life is fueled by my being and the being fuels the doing. So I come from a centered place. I come from a focused place. I come from compassion. It's just my nature. I come from a willingness to understand and to be understood. And I come from wanting to connect. I mean, the secret of that show for 25 years is that people could see themselves in me. All over the world, they could see themselves in me. And even as I became more and more financially successful, which was a big surprise to me, I was like, oh my God, this is so exciting. You mean you got more than that 30,000? I got more than 30,000 by the time I was 30. But what I realized is through the whole process, because I'm grounded in my own self, that although I could have more shoes, my feet stayed on the ground, although I was wearing better shoes. These are kind of cute today too. So I could keep my feet on the ground, even though I could get more shoes. And I could understand that it really was because I was grounded. I was doing and continue to this day to do the consciousness work. I work at staying awake. Dear beautiful brown skin girl. And I use the word beautiful because I know that's never a word you would call yourself. I look into your eyes and I see the light and hope of myself. In this photo, you're just about to turn 20 posing outside the television station where you were recently hired as a reporter. You look calm. You look happy, but I know how scared you are. If I could say anything to you, it would be relax. It's going to be okay, girl. Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Valerie Brown asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below. I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of Oprah's top 10 rules you connected with the most. Leave it in the comments and we're going to join in the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe and I'll see you soon.