You Owe It to Yourself in 2026 - Best of Eric Thomas Compilation

Your boy was a high school dropout. Your boy was homeless. Are you hearing what I'm saying? I slept in abandoned buildings, baby. You say, how did you get here E? Because one day I got up and stopped being a victim and I was a victor. Are you hearing me? And I took that one class and that one class turned into two classes and I got my GED and then I went to college and yep, I told you it took 12 years but what did I do? I never stopped fighting. It got harder and it got harder and it seemed the further I climbed the harder it got but I didn't stop. I didn't quit. I just kept fighting and fighting and then I got to the Master's and it was harder than a four year and it was harder than the GED but what did I do? I got here not because I'm the strongest not because I'm the fastest not because I'm the best but I kept fighting and fighting and fighting and your boy got through the Master's. Now we at the end of the PhD, baby. Are you not hearing what I'm saying? Now we got the dissertation and I ain't no writer and I ain't no intelligent dude and I ain't no scholar. Then you say, how you gonna get the PhD? Because I keep fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and what I will not do is I will not quit. And when that thing tells you to quit you look at it in his eye and say I ain't going nowhere. I will break you before you break me. You will not defeat me. You will not destroy me. Lay hold of it. Some of you are so ignorant. You've been through so much hell. You gonna quit now? You should have quit 10 years ago when you got raped. You should have quit 10 years ago when he walked out on you. You should have been quit. You don't quit now. It's the 10th round. You got two more to go. And when you get to success it's not about skill. When you get to a certain level of success it's about stamina. It's about stamina. It's about you won't break me. You can't take me. I fought too long. I fought too hard. If I was gonna quit saving you should have got me a 7g on. You should have broke me when I was eating out a trash can. It's too late now. I'm in the Rich Carlton. It's too late now. Because I keep fighting and fighting and fighting. It's too late. I got people's lives I take. It's too late. You should have broke me a long time ago. I'm unbreakable now. Durant scared me because when Durant score he don't say nothing. He ain't get nobody excited. He ain't trying to get LeBron pissed off or pumped up. He just score on my man and shh. Only thing he does at the end of the game he kiss his mama, hug his brothers. All right, I'm out. Game over, shh. But the one thing he does I don't know if you watched it. The first thing he does is what with them numbers. Touch them numbers on the front. Touch them numbers on the back. And he's doing that for who? His coach that was killed. He got a why. He ain't just playing for no championship. He not. You gotta hear what I'm telling you. If y'all gonna be great on that field you gotta have a why. You gotta have a reason for why you do what you do. All he keep thinking about is I'm gonna get one for my coach. That's why he ain't all smiling because why? He not smiling because what he's trying to accomplish he has not what? He ain't got it yet. Y'all better start watching these games, bro because you're gonna need to do what these champions doing if you're gonna be a champion. The problem with some of y'all the reason why you don't give a hundred and twenty percent every doggone time you get on the field because you ain't got a why for what you do. You ain't got a why. So because you don't live long you don't have time not to make your dreams and goals become reality. Every single day because you don't know how long you have every single day should be about what can I do? What can I have? What can I be? And you gotta hang out with other people on the same trajectory you're on. Anything you could think of if you could actually think of it it means you can do it. There is no dream that's too big. There is nothing that you could think of in your head that you can't do. Listen to me closely. Everybody want to win everybody want to be on the winning team. Everybody want to win but everybody don't want to work. Everybody want the reward but everybody don't have to want to work. We all got to work. You have to make a decision that nobody in your position will outwork you. You here now. You finally made it and this is where you break up. This is where you start chilling. This is where you get comfortable. You made it now. This is where you make it permanent. Why do you wake up in the morning? Why do you put on that jersey? Why do you go out and practice? What's your why? I'm about to give everything I got and I will know if I don't get another gig it won't have anything to do with the fact that I didn't put everything on the field. You better grow up and get to the point as a man that if you ever get beat you better get beat by somebody that's just purely more talented than you are. You better not ever get beat by somebody because you beat yourself. At the end of the day your superpower is when you are your authentic self. That's your superpower is when you're you. If I'm going to be like anybody else it's not going to work. And at the end of the day if you are your authentic self that's the 1%. There's 1% of us that don't care about what nobody else say or think about us we're going to be our authentic self. That's what the 1% is. I'm number one, why? Just because I'm being myself at all costs. It does not take talent. You don't have to be talented. You don't have to be gifted. You don't have to be the quickest, the strongest. You don't have to be the most intelligent to get to where I am. That's what you got to do. You just got to grind though, your grind. Listen to me, you might come from privilege. Your daddy might hook you up with a car. He might know people. He might be able to get you a job but you will not outwork me. The reality is is not that you don't have the talent. It is what it is. Y'all can run just as fast. You can catch, you can throw, you can tackle. I say here's the problem. The problem is you got average will. There's two things you need to do to take advantage of this opportunity and be a dog. You need phenomenal skill and you need phenomenal will. You need both. I'm telling you, you got to have phenomenal will and I wasn't smart as you but I passed you up. Why? Because I had that dog. I had that will. I had that determination. I don't care that I can't read or write. Like I failed English twice in college. I still got a four-year degree. Took me 12 years with that dog, that will. I said if God gave me the ability to get up, yep, it might take me five days to do what it take you to do in one day but I'm gonna do it in five. It may take me four weeks to read a book that you can read in a week but I got that dog and guess what happens? If you don't have phenomenal skill but you got phenomenal will, you can make up for skill. I went in the dark, y'all. I went in the dark for 10 years. I ain't watch no TV. I ain't listen to no music. Sacrifice. I sacrificed like 10 years to catch up with everybody else. Like for real, ADHD. I had a learning disability when I was younger. Like I overcame all of that with that dog. I overcame all of that with will. So I cut the TV off. I cut off intramural sports. I cut off everything. I cut it off. I'm up at 3 o'clock in the morning praying and after that I'm reading, I'm studying. Listen to me very closely. Two things, skill and will. Like you only had a small dream. You had a dream of a house and a car and to take care of your mama. All that is done. So what you playing for? What you playing for? You ain't playing for nothing. That's why they beat you. Discipline is doing what you said you were going to do when you don't feel like doing it when you felt like doing it in the first place. That's all it is. When you first start playing this game, when you fell in love with it, you were just like, let's go, let's go, let's go, but then some stuff's going to happen. Like I got to dig deep now and go a little harder. I actually went harder. You've got to discipline yourself and you got to learn that when you don't feel like it, you must still do it or actually go harder when you don't feel like it because out of 365 days, there are going to be days you don't feel like getting up. There are going to be days you don't want to work out. There's going to be days you don't want to watch film. There's going to be days that you don't want to practice. There are going to be days you might not even want to play. There might be days you don't even feel like getting in the game. But listen to me very closely. Champions, if you want to make it to the next level, you got to win in the dark before you can win in the light. All of us can go buy a car but all of us can't get up in the morning and grind. 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 dogfight. On the road to success, I lost five aunts to cancer. It's a dogfight. 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 dogfight. I had cousins shot in stores, execution style, shot back in the head, back in the head, twice. It's a dogfight. Like you don't see that on YouTube. You don't see that on my TGI. It's a dogfight. My wife, three years ago, seven legions following her brain. It's a dogfight. It hadn't been easy. It's a dogfight. It hadn't been, the road hadn't been success, like it's just a paved road and like each heat go this way. It's been rough. It's been crooked. It's been hard. 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. And so if you're ready to quit then don't get started. If you're ready to quit, don't get started. If you're looking for this easy path, don't get started. If you think they're not going to close the door on you and say no a million times, don't get started. But every time they close the door, I just get excited. Why? Because 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 eight. Does not have enough energy to destroy love. 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 this, all the pressure, I thought I could 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 want to be great, son. You say you want to travel the world. You say you want to help people, inspire people. And you gotta be a diamond. You are running out of time. Listen to me, you running out of time. You never know when your opportunity is that opportunity. It may not be two years from now. It may not be three years from now. It may not be four years from now. Your opportunity might come in the next six weeks. My man told his grandfather, I'm graduating in two weeks later. Even before he literally marched, his grandfather passed. Who's going to pass in your life because you average? Who's not going to see you blow up? Who's not going to see you accomplish your goals? Who's not going to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor with you? And one day you're going to be great, but you think you got time. You think you got time. AET three years from now. I'm telling you, you deserve to be great now. Some of you will never be. You'll never have. You'll never do because you sitting around waiting on a phone call because you 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 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. So 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 ET thanks bro. I got up today at 5 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 5 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 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 socioeconomic 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, we can look at people who grew up in wealth. They own 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 the 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. I was like, no E, you created this and I'm going to tell you the moment I realized you are the greatest common denominator like you the common denominator. Once that realization hit me it was like, 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 like what's one of the hardest things you ever done? The hardest thing I've ever done was look in the mirror and tell myself I was sorry. Then 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 it somebody else whether you mean to do it or not you give them the keys to your lightning. You said it they didn't do this and because they didn't because 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 cost. I'm going 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 could do it anybody can do it, but it's not working harder. You need to be more disciplined about your mindset. You already in pain get a reward for it. Look do me a favor everything you say you 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 person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life? Mmm, 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 your life? Yeah, it's like no I was in pain. It's real. And so I'm saying 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 it's a scar and we live a life of reward. So I'm just gonna 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. A lot of people say I'm scared. What if I do it and I fail E, I'm scared E. E, I want to do I got gifted. I'm gifted. I'm talented. I know I can write that song. I know I can produce that album. I know I can do that CD. I know I can write a book. I know I can get that degree but I'm scared. So I'm telling you in life you start running from a class you start running from a subject that you don't like it will haunt you for the rest of your natural life. It ain't going nowhere. But if you go after the fight if you approach the challenge you have a much better chance of winning. This is the fight of your life, baby. Are you hearing me? This is the fight of your life. This is the fight of your life and listen to me if you're going to win the fight of your life you can't be afraid to fight. All right, some things don't come they just not going to come to you because you want it as bad as you want to breathe after you want it as bad as you you got to put up the dukes, baby and you got to be willing to fight that thing out. Are you hearing me? Fear, you are not going to stop me. I'm not listening to that voice. I'm not listening to fear. I'm going to move by faith. I've come too far to give up now. You got greatness all inside of you. But your problem is you are scaredy cat, you saw and every time it get hard you quit and you give up and I'm telling you if you would be willing to fight your way through it if you would be willing to fight your way through this battle fight your way through cancer fight your way through that academic struggle fight your way through divorce fight your way through it if you are willing to fight your way through that singing career fight your way through boxing fight your way through football if it was easy, everybody would do it. Fight your way through it. You got to fight the fear because guess what? Fear ain't bigger than you. There's greatness in you. Are you hearing me? There's greatness in you and you mean to tell me you're never going to reach your full potential? You mean to tell me you're never going to be what you've been called to be that you're not going to do what you've been called to do because you are afraid? Listen to me. The boogeyman ain't real. That's why I need you to I need you to understand that you can have it for real, you can have it but it's going to be a fight. And if you're willing to put up the fight I'm telling you at the end of the fight there's going to come victory. You've gotten this far if you was going to quit you should have quit a long time ago. You've come too far to quit now. You need to get a reward for it. That's why I'm trying to tell you never stop, never give up, never give in. If you could take this one principle that H.W. gave me it revolutionized my life. It's about to revolutionize your life if you would just embrace it. Michael Jordan started his career started by somebody telling him no, there's no way you're not good enough to play basketball. Are you hearing me? In high school he was told you can't play on this team you're not good enough. Guess what he did? He kept fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and even when he wasn't on the team he was still fighting and fighting and when he got cut he never stopped fighting and fighting and he came back the next year made it on varsity went to North Carolina can't, listen to me wasn't even the first round draft Sam Bui, I don't even know who that is right? Sam Bui. So he went from all of that adversity he kept fighting and fighting he didn't win first year he didn't win second year he didn't win third year he didn't win fourth year he didn't win a championship fifth year he didn't win one sixth year it wasn't after seven years that he won his first title. Guess what he did? He kept fighting and fighting and fighting and when I told my man HW listen to me these brothers have shown me that nothing is impossible he said ET it's uh-uh, you got it twisted it's past possible. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Revolutionized my life he said it's past possible. See this is the thing you got to understand when somebody say impossible is nothing you still talking about two double negatives you talk about a negative here nothing negative here impossible he said you got it twisted Eric it's not impossible it's not that nothing is impossible it's past possible meaning that there's no way you can't do it oh you not hearing me and when he said that it changed my thought process because I'm going to keep it real with you it's past possible oh you not hearing me it's past possible meaning that not only can you do it ah, you going to go way beyond that it means that the probability of you doing it is greater than you not doing it you not hearing what I'm saying when you say it's past possible that Eric, not only will you do it but the odds are in your favor that's a whole another level it's past possible meaning that there's nothing you can't do that the odds are for you and not against you so you go get that PhD so you go get that master's so you go back to school are you hearing what I'm saying? are you hearing what I'm telling you? it's past possible meaning that all you got to do is start because if it's past possible as soon as you start you know you going to set records you know you going to take it to the next level you know what's going to be that you going to do what's never been done before so I challenge you, it's past possible if you going to win the fight of your life you can't be afraid to fight I'm not that guy that just started off and had everything together it's like, I learned I grew and got better so I'm a living example that you don't have to be born number one to be number one you can be last, born last but through hard work, determination you can work your way up to number one you told yourself to get up at 3 it's 3, get your butt up you cannot tell nobody else to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning you can't tell nobody else how they need to grind they grind, look like they grind you can't tell nobody you need to get up early maybe they don't, who knows you know what you need to do you got to have a say for you so if you going to separate yourself growth is the greatest separator between men as you grow, right you see CP3, leadership, grow you see the way he handles himself, grow so I'm asking, what sacrifices are you willing to make? everybody want what you want everybody want to go to the league everybody want to take care of their family everybody want to be a celebrity or whatever you want to be right, what are you willing to give up for? what are you willing to sacrifice? that's next level, that's saying that although I'm already great at what I do I'm ready to dig deeper I'm ready to do something, I'm ready to make another sacrifice I'm ready to go somewhere everybody else ain't ready to go why? because I'm ready to take it to the next level no matter what has happened to you no matter what somebody said to you no matter what somebody did to you I need you to walk away knowing you are one of one strive for perfection don't mean you got to be perfect but strive for it, people tell me all the time oh you got this thing, this image you trying to be 1000% I'm trying to be perfect 1000% it don't mean, I'm not trying to dog you out I'm not judging you I don't even think I'm better than you but I am striving for perfection, I am I'm definitely not trying to be the same version of Eric Thomas I was last year or the month before I'm definitely if you knew me five years ago you better take a picture because the only way you're going to be able to prove that person existed is that you got film on it I'm telling you that you got to be possessed with the vision and somebody's trying to mess up my vision and I need to make sure my vision is protected and cared for if you really want to be happy, get in that vision you think a car gonna make you happy, I promise you it won't you think a house gonna make, you think status you think, you think, you think, I promise you I promise you, you get in that vision you gonna sleep so well at night when you gonna level up? what's the goal? what's the mission? what's the priority? what's the purpose? stay focused on the mission and don't let anything distract you from getting it done no fighting, no fussing get focused, focus on the goal are you listening what I'm saying? like we ain't, we ain't letting the noise distract I need you to lead I don't know how much time I have left on this earth so I have to focus on you have to focus on what's the goal? what's the mission? what's the priority? what's the purpose? I can because I'm capable I will because I'm strong I must because they're dependent on me don't you sit here and act like you've reached all your level of success no you have not you have not begun to see the things that's about to happen to you never ever never, never, never, never ever give up on your dream listen to me that mental picture, never let it die out never ever let it die out I don't care how much time passed I don't care what happens circumstances, situations I don't care what defeats, what upsets I don't care what happens in your life listen to me and listen to me very carefully you better never ever ever never ever give up on your dream never let the mental picture the picture that you painted listen to me whatever you saw whatever you said you were going to accomplish whatever you said you were going to do never ever I know, I know repetition deepens the impression never ever, never ever ever never let your dream die I can because I can I will because I'm strong I can get through any obstacle with my weight and my journey I must because they're counting on me don't give up, don't give up on your dreams don't go, go pick it back up there's a dream you left 2-3 years ago somebody told you you couldn't do it and you internalized that foolishness stop listening to the haters shut them down, shut them up you want to shut your haters up, how do you do it? you do it by being successful you don't do it by falling into their traps doing what they want you to do put your head down you don't do it by not being successful let me tell you what I learned nothing succeeds like success and so pick your dream back up pick your goals back up kill the noise shut them down and surround yourself with people who will help you who will speak life into you and not death people who will speak life into you and help you to get from where you are to where you want to be it's your boy ET remember, remember I don't care nothing about your past because I got one too listen to me, you have the opportunity right now to make the rest of your life the best of your life I must because it's going to be harder for them to do it if I don't do it I must because I got to break that cycle it's not going to break itself I must because they count on me listen to me, we're all human we're all growing none of us are evil because we're not doing what we said we were going to do but at some point you have to embrace be fruitful multiply have dominion and subdue the world let's go y'all you have gone too far you've invested too much time you've given too much to quit now you've put too much time into it too much effort you've cried too many tears, right? you've gone without eating you have invested too much to walk away at this point, alright? so we all in baby now it's time to get the reward it's about momentum and you got to keep it 100 you got to be true to you and I'm tired of people emailing me telling me what somebody told them they can't and can't do, listen to me the only thing you need to write your book the only thing you need to do to finish the GED I'm telling the book now, I'm telling the book the only thing you need to do to get your four-year degree the only thing you need to do to get your master's the only thing you need to do is get your PhD and it's to believe in your dreams and stop listening to others you're about to get certain things just because of the effort you put in the time you put in you're about to get a reward are you hearing me? you're about to get a reward, baby so don't quit, don't give up there are some blessings that come in life after regulation they come in overtime they come in extra innings so for some of y'all you're going to have to learn to wrestle with it you're going to have to learn to fight with it that's what wrestling means that's what I'm talking about you're going to have to put in a little bit more sweat a little bit more blood a little bit more tears but you got to wrestle with it I'm not going to let you go until you bless me meaning that we're going to do this thing all night long we're going to do it all night long but I'm telling you that I'm not going to let you go until you bless me but you got to fight with that thing until that thing you will quit before I quit you'll give up before I give up you fight your way through this one but you do not quit you do not give up on your merit do not quit school do not quit on your goal, your dream you keep going and not just don't quit we're not talking about not quitting we're talking about taking the prize home let me tell you something what hurt people do hurt people hurt people don't even take it personal when they try to strip you they're not stripping you because they don't like you they're stripping you because somebody stripped them hurt people hurt people and so I need you to do me a favor never ever, never ever, never ever never ever let somebody else their reality for you become your reality for you, alright? you ain't no boy no more this ain't no bass this ain't no I want to go party you've given up that right when you had kids party's over without a time not time to be partying no more now it's time to create a legacy now you had your fun now get to work now build a legacy you don't work for nobody else you work for your mama you work for your sister you work for your aunts you work for your grandma you work for your family you work for your kids you ain't making no other man rich you've done some stuff that's so bad that you just put all your dreams down all your goals down you've been sleeping you've been in a state of depression you've given up, you've quit I need you to pick that thing back up I need you to pick it back up it's okay, we all made mistakes there's nobody, listen to me there's nobody that hasn't made a mistake you've been forgiven now you need to forgive yourself alright, because you're living in the past you can't get what's next you can't get your future because you're stuck in your past I need you to let it go listen to me, no man is an island you cannot do it alone you do not have to do it alone get some help alright, I call it accountability partners a board of advisors get the right people around you third quarter living is about the point of no return hear what I'm telling you third quarter living is about the point of no return like if you was going to quit that's first quarter living, right? maybe second, I'm not sure but I know in the third quarter look, you're in it too deep you're too far in it, you're too deep in it you better, you heard me say it before you better get a reward I behaved like a child but when I became a man I put away childish things cut it off, cut it off cut it off, cut her off so what, she gonna get attitude cut her off so what, bump your boss cut your boss off your wife needs you bump your boss your boss don't run you your boss don't care about your wife and your kids you care about your wife and kids do what you supposed to do you ain't no boy no more you don't need their approval you talented enough God made you you got everything you need I want you to spend all your energy on overcoming your weaknesses because behind every weakness you overcome is another level of success and your goal should be the best human when you die that you could be so your sons and daughters when they bury you should say that's what I want to be like that I'm gonna take this legacy to the next level 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're 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 E.T. you dropped out of school E.T. 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 do me 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 the 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 haven'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 1, 2, 3 I am 1, 2, 3 I am 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 I had to, let the dream destroy you let it strip you let it remake and mold you don't be afraid some of you are 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 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 becoming 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 and 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 got to keep going, you got to keep going, you got to keep going and 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