It's Me Against Me Every Day - Powerful Motivational Speech Video | Eric Thomas

You get to determine how you live. You live life on your terms. Everybody who wants to live the dream and willing to put in the work to live the dream can make the dream happen. What is it gonna take? What side of the dream you gonna be on? Consistency is having a goal and when you wake up that day and you don't feel like it, you still do what you told yourself you was gonna do. That's all consistency is. It is the days you don't feel like doing it but you look at your wife, you look at your kids, you look at the country and you realize that I am where I am because of other people's sacrifice. I gotta get up and make it happen even though I don't wanna get up and make it happen because success is not a feeling, it's a mindset and I gotta clear my mind. I need you to clear your mind of every single thing that's in it that's stopping you from being successful. Some of you are not successful not because you can't do this business. Number one, you're listening to people who have no business in your ears. Stop, it works, it works. High school dropout, America, it works if you work it. You can have and be and do whatever you want. I told you, who are you here for? Who will benefit from you taking this business to the next level? Who's gonna benefit? They moved me in a way that I couldn't move myself. What's the impossible? What is it? Is it a dollar figure? Like really in America, if you're gonna be successful, don't hesitate. If you're hesitating, if you're thinking about it, you're never gonna do it, why? Don't hesitate, why? Because the way the brain is designed, the brain, it can't do two things at once. As powerful as the brain is, it cannot think two thoughts simultaneously. You're either thinking one thought or you're thinking another one. So when you're hesitating, what does it mean? It means you're using energy to stop. It means that whatever your dreams and goals are, you're not using your energy and your strength to make that happen. Nothing is impossible. So you have to decide before you leave, what's that first thing that's been impossible for you? I want you to attack it and overcome it. I'm saying this to you because there are no excuses. If I can come from a 17-year-old that got pregnant and my biological father was not in my life, high school dropout, lived in abandoned buildings and got to this point, you can do it too, why? Because we're in America. We can't say that everywhere in the world. But in the United States of America, nothing is impossible if you're willing to put in the work, if you're willing to put in the grind. We live in a country of opportunities. If you're willing to get up, if you're willing to work, if you're willing to grind, yes, there are obstacles. I said, you didn't hear what I just said. Yes, there are obstacles. Yes, there's trials. Yes, there's tribulations. Yes, there's roadblocks. But whatever the roadblock it is, it is not as deep as my wife with MS and she ain't never going back to work. So I don't care what the obstacle is. I will find a way to get through the obstacle to get what I need so she can have what she wants. I don't care what the obstacle is. And I'm telling you today, I don't care what the obstacle is. What side of the American dream are you going to be on? Listen to me, that's a question and it deserves an answer. You ain't got to answer me, but you got to answer yourself. It's a mindset. But a mindset without an opportunity is nothing. I need you to replace fear with faith. No more fear. No more fear, faith only. So do me a favor, write the word fear down and go look up all the antonyms and do that instead. And I want you to say those antonyms every single day. Anxiety, whatever the opposite of anxiety, go look it up and go do it. Listen to me, you have an opportunity that you can't afford to lose. You have an opportunity that you can't afford to give up. Opportunities are great. But most opportunities have more to do with whose hand the opportunity is in than the opportunity itself. Listen to me very closely, anything is possible. But nothing is possible if you have limiting beliefs. There are no limits but the ones you place on yourself. Take those limits off. There are no limits. There is no such thing as fear. You're going to die, live your life. All I want you to focus on is the impossible and one day the possible, GED. One day, four-year degree. One day, master's degree. One day, PhD. One day, you will write books. One day, commercials. One day, the impossible. You will laugh at the impossible. You will look at the impossible and go, how was that ever impossible? You will look at the impossible and go, what was I thinking? Stop chasing money. Money, they print it every day. Go work on your mindset. That's what you need to work on. Go work on your mindset. Get your mindset together. There is no lack. If you put in the work, it can happen. Go to work. Why? Because I had an opportunity my grandmother didn't have. I have opportunities that even Martin Luther King himself didn't have. He didn't have YouTube. He didn't have Facebook or Instagram. How dare you have Facebook, Instagram? How dare you have Zoom? How dare you are virtual and in present and you still can't make the American dream happen? How dare you? So you know what you want, but you don't have a system to tell you how to get there. Michael Jordan was phenomenal until he got with Phil Jackson. He didn't win nothing. You walking around here, you ain't got no system. And you love to hang with other people that don't have a system because you get pissed when people bring you a system and try to put you in the system. But look how your life is being destroyed because you don't have one. I'm not talking about what you post. I'm not talking about how you look and what you drive. I'm talking about the inner man. When you going to do the work? Do the work is what I'm trying to tell you. Do the inner work so you don't build with one hand and tear it out with another hand. Do the work, not the external work. This your life. Do the work. If you do the inner work, your stuff will never crash. If you do the inner work, if you fix the inner man, if you fix the inner woman, we got the same ending. We're going to die. So if you know you're going to die, why are you playing it safe? Like if you know you're going to die, why are you listening to other people tell you about your life? If you're going to die, why don't you live your own life? You're going to die anyway. Don't die on your grandma's terms. You're going to die anyway. Don't die on your friend's terms. You're going to die anyway. Don't die on your parents' terms. If you're going to die, die on your own terms. Man, I'm telling you, I'm so free now and people think I'm free because of the money I make. I'm free now because I'm living life on my terms. 90% of the people who are balling out of control literally write down their dreams, their visions every single day, multiple times a day. But I'm telling you, that's what I noticed. And so for a lot of you, it's going to be tough to make your dreams and goals because they're becoming reality because you're not writing it down. Like you're not looking at it three, four, five, six times a day, right? I know it's in your head, but you got to get it out of your head and you got to get it on a piece of paper and you got to share that piece of paper with as many people as possible, right? Every day of your life should be consumed with actually living the life that you want to live and not the life you think somebody wants you to live. You got to be consumed with you. You got to figure out who you are, fall in love with who you are and understand that any and everything you're going to do on this planet, that's going to be great. It's going to be great because you was great, not because you had a great app. I'm just being real. I just want to help you all out. I want to help somebody. I didn't get to the top because of my videos. I got to the top because I'm comfortable with Eric Thomas. I never dreamed of being in a room like this. I never want to be in a room like this. I wasn't consumed with being here. I don't need an entourage. I'm enough by myself. I don't need six people walking around me. I'm being real, y'all. I'm about to help somebody. Number one, I'm telling you like you, your story, what you've been through, who you are as a person, like it's enough. I'm not tripping on what you think about me. And too many of you in this room, you are never going to get to where you're supposed to get to because number two, you are consumed with what other people think about what you're doing. I'm just being real. Like you're too consumed with what does my mom think and my dad think and what do my friends think and what do they think online? Who cares? And your problem is you care so much about what other people think about what you were born and called to do that you can't do what you're supposed to do because they don't feel comfortable with what you're supposed to do. Get over it and get over people and be your authentic self. The wall follows people who know who they are because 90% of the world don't know who they are. No, I'm going to say that one more time. You missed that whole thing. I'm about to tell you the way you blow up. The way you blow up is being yourself and not worry about what other people think because most of the world is worried about what other people think. We actually honor and respect people who know who they are. I want to show you a secret to success. A secret to success is that people are attracted to confident people because I finally know who I am. I woke up one day and realized how dope I was. I woke up one day and realized how sweet I was. I woke up one day and realized how unique I was. I woke up one day and I'm telling you today when we walk out of here, it's not about Eric Thomas, nobody else. It's about you. And I'm not being disrespectful but most of you will not get to where you're supposed to get to because you're so consumed with losing and what people think. I don't care what you think. You can't copy me. You can't be me. You can't think like me. You don't feel like I feel. Some of you will never be, you'll never have, you'll never do because you're sitting around waiting on a phone call because you're sitting around waiting for somebody to give you an opportunity. Your opportunity to get your mama out of that neighborhood and get your mama into a new neighborhood. Listen to me, that opportunity might come in the next six months. You knew it's your job and you like ET, look, I just got here. I got forever. Listen to me very closely. You gotta hear me. You might be at that job another 10 years. You might be there another 20 years but that opportunity, somebody's about to leave and get another job. Hear me very closely. Somebody's about to quit. Somebody's about to get fired and you will not, listen to me, you will not be ready at that particular moment to go to the next level. Question is, will you be ready when that opportunity comes? So you're running out of time. There's a certain determination. There's a certain level of resiliency, a bounce back, a get back up that you have to have to reach certain levels of success. It's about being prepared beforehand so that when the opportunity comes you already ready for the opportunity. It's not playing call of duty and waiting by it and putting the phone by you waiting for somebody to pick up the phone and call you. That's not what it's about. Preparation. We're getting prepared just in case the opportunity comes. I don't want to start practicing on the opportunity. I want to practice before so when the opportunity comes I can stroke it. Are you hearing what I'm saying? You are who you are in practice when you play. And if you aren't in practice then when it's time to play your play is going to be practiced. You heard me. Your play is going to be practiced. It's working in the offseason. It's doing what you got to do in the offseason. So in the regular season come you ready. You heard me say it before. I am an athlete. I am a professional. So whether there's a game or not I wake up and shoot. I heard a little kid call me last week. He said, E.T., thanks bro. I got up today at five o'clock in the morning and I'm practicing my soccer game. He said, but guess what? That's not what's important. He said, I'm not on the team, Eric. He said, I didn't make the soccer team but I'm getting up at five o'clock every morning practicing as if I made it. There are two types of people. There are people who plan for events and when the events don't show up they don't show up. And then there's another group that's hungry and they want it as bad as they want to breathe. And whether there's an event or not they getting up. Whether there's an opportunity or not they getting up and getting dressed. They getting up, they getting out and they going to make it happen. Are you hearing what I'm telling you? I don't plan for events anymore. I plan because it's a part of the process. I plan because I'm a professional. I plan because I create my own luck. You ain't got to rely on nobody to get off average but you. So if I was to ask most of you you already know what your challenge is. You ain't dumb. You know what it is. You just don't fight it. And at what point are you going to fight against that? That nature in you that you know and you had a power to be great. It's in you. You capable of it. Now you have to understand if you stay average and you stay good you'll never get to where you're trying to get to. And I'm challenging you to fight it. We all have 24 hours. What makes some of us average makes some of us good, some of us great is not the family you was born into. It has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with your socio-economic status. It has everything to do with how you command your life. People act as if if you grow up in a house where your parents are rich you're automatically bro, look at the people who grew up in wealth. They on drugs too. They make bad decisions too. Unfortunately, they take their lives as well. It doesn't matter where you come from. If you don't activate you the environment doesn't matter anyway. It's the mindset. And so when I look back like I had a victim mindset like everything was about somebody else. All the anger and the frustration and hurt, it was all blaming. Everything was about this person or that person or this person. Everything that's supposed to blow me up and take me to the next level is somebody else's responsibility. I never even realized I was where I was because of who I was. And I was actually getting the physical manifestations of my thoughts, of my feelings, my emotions. Like I was creating this and didn't even realize. I thought my mom created it. I thought my father created it. You created this. And I'm going to tell you the moment I realized you are the greatest common denominator. You're the common denominator. Once that realization hit me it was like, oh, okay. You got some confessing to do, bro. And I'm going to tell you the hardest thing that I've ever done. Somebody asked me the other day what's one of the hardest things you've ever done? The hardest thing I've ever done was look in the mirror and tell myself I was sorry. And so the Eric Thomas that you've seen that dude is the dude that looked himself in the mirror was like, yo, you owe yourself an apology. You owe yourself correction. You owe yourself change. You need to be taught. You need to be trained. You need to become a better human. That was one of the most difficult days of my life was looking at myself, correcting myself telling myself I was sorry and then moving forward saying now what are we going to do from this point? You always blame somebody, but why? And the reason why is because it was easier to put it on my mom and my dad than for me to have to do the work. Because what I didn't realize as a young adult is that when you say to somebody else whether you mean to do it or not you give them the keys to your life. You said it, they didn't do this and because they didn't, they got the keys. Feel this word, vision. It means the ability to see the end before you even get started. And that's what I need y'all to do for me. Like don't look, don't get so caught up on you know, counting the costs. I'm going to have to do this. No, I want you to see the vision. I want you to see the full picture and then we're going to walk into it. Like I had a vision of getting a GED, a vision of getting a four-year degree, a vision. Listen to me, it just didn't happen on its own. I had to see it first. A vision of traveling across the world. I'm trying to tell you if I can do it, anybody can do it, but it's not working harder. You need to be more disciplined about your mindset. You're already in pain, get a reward for it. Look, do me a favor. Everything you say, you're right. But why go through life with whatever people did to you when you were younger or a young adult and then you have to live with it for the next 40, 50 years. All the stuff that you said was absolutely right. My daddy wasn't there, my mama did this, this person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life? Mm, let's go. Why would they, why would you let them own you? Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you not define the rest of your life? Yeah. It's like, no, I was in pain. It's real. And so I'm saying to everybody, we all go through pain. Some of us go through pain and it becomes our tombstone. Some of us go through pain and it's a scar and we live a life of reward. So I'm just going to say, you got to deal with all of that because when you get here, when you get to this level, you ain't practicing no more. You either got it or you don't. You don't even realize it's a blessing that you're not there yet because had you got to where you wanted to get to, most of you might lose it. You forgot what it was like when you was hustling in high school playing ball. When you were in college, hustling to get to this point. Before you had the jersey. You remember that? You put in 120% every time or you don't put in nothing because listen to me very closely. Today, this opportunity you have, it might not be here next year. It might not be here the year after next. It might not be here the year after that. This is the only moment you got and you better take advantage of this particular moment. You might be sweeter than me. You might be bigger than me. You might grind. Listen to me. I don't know. You might have money. I don't know where you come from but you will not outwork me. What Kobe said that blew my mind. Kobe said, I saw you in practice. Why would I pass the ball to you? I thought Kobe was a ball hog until I read the quote. I'm like, Kobe, I owe you an apology. Kobe said, I watch you in film sleeping. I watch you in film dozing off. I watch you in film not paying attention to coach. I watch you in film on your phone. I watch you in practice. I saw you in practice. I saw you in the real game. What in the world would make you think with four minutes left in the fourth quarter and we down by 10 to the Boston Celtics, what would make you think I'm about to pass you the rock? Have you lost your mind? Have you seen me in film? I got there before coach got there. I left, coach left and I was still there for an hour. When we lost to the Miami Heat, I was still in there practicing while the rest of y'all was in South Beach on the beach having fun. While the rest of y'all was drinking and with girls. While the rest of y'all was on the beach acting like we won. We lost to Miami in the regular season. We might have to play them in the doggone NBA tie. Y'all sitting here playing and Kobe took the same exact shot. Three hours. Obie was in the Miami Heat. He was in Boston. He was in the guard for three hours. He shot not 20 different shots. He shot the same shot over and over again that he missed because he knew he was going to get a chance again. He said, I ain't going to mess up the next time. Why would I pass you the ball? Some of y'all crying because you ain't getting time. Why would you? What makes you think you deserve time? Just because you made it to the team? That's what that behavior got you here. That behavior ain't going to take you to championship. Guys, you got to understand the opportunities that you have. You know, I've been to third world countries where it does not matter how early you wake up. It does not matter how long you stay up. It doesn't matter what your skill sets are. It doesn't matter. You don't have opportunity. You have people all over the world who are dying to get here. Literally dying to get here. You have an opportunity of a lifetime. And where much is given, much is required. San Antonio was so close to winning. They started bringing the trophies out. And when my man got the ball in his hand, like I'm looking and I could almost see him thinking like, listen to me, it's third quarter living. You've got an opportunity of a lifetime. What I discovered is if you don't make it happen in game six, it probably won't happen in game seven. You might not get that chance two times. You might not get it three times. You might not get to do it over the fourth time. And listen to me, we had one, two. And it's history. Are you hearing me? History. You're talking about Tim Duncan with five going amongst the great. You're talking about San Antonio carving out another place of hit. You're talking about two shots, the opportunity of a lifetime. And it was not seized. I'm telling you, you can't afford to have one more year where you're just talking. You can't afford to have one more year where you just dreaming, like you can't, you, listen to me, you can't afford this life and death. You cannot afford to be talking about it no more. Like this is it. You got, you got family members on the line. You got, you got dreams on the line. You, you have opportunities on the line. Some of you got an opportunity of a lifetime and you playing scared. Some of you got an opportunity of a lifetime and you being timid. Some of you got an opportunity of a lifetime and you waiting on it. Listen to me, you got to impose your will. You got it, you got it, you got to take it to them. Some stuff in life, it's not free. They not giving out success but you can earn it. You can take it, I need you to take it.