Daily Motivations - YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF IN 2026

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

YOU OWE IT TO YOU IN 2026! Keep fighting through everything life throws at you! Speaker: Eric Thomas

Hi, I'm Samantha Edwards, online culture reporter at The Globe and Mail. I write about the internet and how it shapes our offline world, from TikTok trends and niche online communities to the rise of artificial intelligence and the influence of big tech. My job is to help readers make sense of this complex and ever-changing landscape. If that's journalism you value, head to globe and mail.com slash subscribe. Your boy was a high school dropout. Your boy was homeless.

Are you hearing what I'm saying? I slept in the 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 Masters, and it was harder than the 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 fighting, and your boy got through the Masters. Now we're at the end of the Ph.D., baby, oh, you're 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 are you going to get the Ph.D? Because I keep fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and what I 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're 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 going to quit saying, you should have got me a 7-G home. You should have broke me when I was eating out of trash game. It's too late now. I'm in the rich carpent. It's too late now. Because I keep fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting and fighting. It's too late. I got people's lives I take.

It's too late. You should have broken me a long time ago. I'm unbreakable now. Durant scare me because when Durant score, he don't say nothing. He ain't getting nobody excited. He ain't trying to get LeBron pissed off or pumped up. He just scored on my men and shh. Only thing he does at the end of the game, he kissed his mama, hug his brothers.

All right, I'm out. Game over. But the one thing he does, I don't know if you watched it, the first thing he does is what with them numbers? Touched them numbers on the front. Touched them numbers on the back. And he's doing that for who? His coach that was killed, he got a Y.

He got a Y. He ain't just playing for no championship. He's not, you got to hear what I'm telling you. If y'all going to be great on that field, you got to have a why. You got to have a reason for why you do what you do. All he keeps thinking about is, I'm going to get one for my coach. That's why he ain't all smiling because why? He's 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 going to need to do with these champions doing if you're going to be a champion. The problem with some of y'all, the reason why you don't give 120% every dog on 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 got to hang out with other people on the same trajectory you own. 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 can think of in your head that you can't do. Listen to me closely. Everybody want to win. Everybody want to be on a winning team. Everybody want to win, but everybody don't want to work. Everybody wants a 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 hear now. You hear 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 nothing 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're a super power 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 is not going to work and at the end of the day if you are your authentic self that's the one percent there's one percent 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 one percent 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, it's 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 in 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 fell English twice in college. I still got a four-year degree. Took me 12 years, but 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 going to 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, 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 watched no TV. I ain't listened 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 plan for? What you plan for? You ain't plan 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 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've 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's 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've got to win in the dark before you can win in the light. All of us can go by a car, but all of us can't get up in the morning and grind. It's going to be a dog fight. I would love to tell you that on the road to success, everything is going to work out. It's not. It's going to be a dog fight. On the road to success, I lost five aunts to cancer.

It's a dog fight. In the midst of my business, I lost aunts. I had to go to funerals. We had to get on a plane. We had to drive. We had aunts that are close to my age who died, who didn't have insurance. We had to raise money. A dog fight.

I had cousins shot in stores, execution style, shot back in the head, twice. It's a dog fight. You don't see that on YouTube. You don't see that on my TGI. It's a dog fight.

My wife, three years ago, seven legions found a brain. It's a dog fight. It hasn't been easy. It's a dog fight. It hasn't done. Even the role hadn't been success, like it's just a paved role and like each he goes 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 break it.

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 dog fight. 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 you cannot destroy this it did happen to me at 19 it did happen to me at 20

it did happen to me in 30 it happened to me at 40 after I had been through all the 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

And then when I went through the pressure and the heat, y'all, I thought it was over. The creator said, now you're ready to get cut? You say you wanted to be great, son? You said you wanted to travel the world. You said you wanted to help people and inspire people. And you've got to be a diamond. You are running out of time. Listen to me, you're 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 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'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're like, E.T. Look, I just got here. I got forever. Listen to me very closely. You got to 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, would you be ready when that opportunity comes? 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're already ready for the opportunity. It's not planned, call the 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 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 hadn't practiced, 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 off season. It's doing what you

got to do in the off season. 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 I heard a little kid called me last week. He said, E.T., 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 get enough. Whether there's an opportunity or not, they're getting up and getting dressed. They're getting up, they're getting out, and they're 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 lock.

You ain't got to rely on nobody to get off average with you. So if I was to ask most of you, you already know what you're challenging. 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 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 you. And I'm challenging you to fight it. We all have 24 hours. What makes some of us average, make some of us good, something great is not the family you was born into. I had nothing to do with that.

It had nothing to do with your social 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, 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 emotion. Like, I was creating this and didn't even realize. I thought my mom created it. I thought my final created it. It's 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're the common denominator. Once that realization hit me, it was like, oh, okay, you got some confessing to do, bro. And I'm gonna tell you the hardest thing that I've ever done Somebody asked me the other day Like, that'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

And so the Eric Thomas that you're seeing That dude is the dude that looked himself in the mirror It's 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.

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 in somebody else, whether you mean to do it or not, you give them the keys to your Like, 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 about to do this. I'm about 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 the GED, a vision of getting the four years.

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 mind. You're already in pain. Get a reward for it. Look, do we in 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 person did to me. Why wouldn't you let them destroy your life? Let's go. Why would you let them own you? Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you not define your life? 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 rewards. I'm just going to say, you've 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 are saying, I'm scared. What if I do it and I fail? E, I'm scared, E. E, I want to do it. I got, I'm 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 to win it.

This is the fight of your life, baby. Are you hear me? This 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 dup, 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. You got greatness all the side of you. But your problem is you are scaredy cat. You saw. And every time they 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 bigger than you there's greatness in you are you hear 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

and so i need you to i need you to understand that you can have it for real you could 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, it'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. Nah. 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. you gave me. It revolutionized my life. It's about to revolutionize your life if you were just embrace it. Michael Jordan started, his career started by somebody telling him, no, that there's no way you're not good enough to play basketball. You hear me in high school he was told you can't play on his team. You're not good enough. Guess what he did. He kept fighting and fighting and fighting and

and even when he wasn't on the team, he was still fighting and fight and when he got cut, he never stop 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 buoy y'all don't even know who that is right sam buoy 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 the championship fifth year he didn't win one six 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 fighting And when I told my man, H.W, listen to me, these brothers have shown me that nothing is impossible.

He said, E.T. 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, nothing, you're 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're 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're not hearing me. It's past possible, meaning that not only can you do it, you're going to go way beyond that. It means that the probability of you doing it is greater than you're not doing it. You're not hearing what I'm saying.

When you say it's past possible, that here, not only will you do it, but the odds are in your favor, that's a whole other 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're going to set records. You know you're going to take it to the next level. You know what's going to be that you're going to do what's never been done before. So I challenge you as past possible. If you're 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 three is three. Get your butt up. You cannot tell nobody else to get up at three 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 can have a say for you. So if you're going to separate yourself, growth is the greatest separated between men. As you grow, right?

You see CP3 leadership growth. You see the way he handles himself. growth so I'm asking what sacrifices are you willing to make everybody want what you want everybody want to go to the lead 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 that's next level that saying that although I'm already great at what I do I'm ready to dig deeper I'm ready to do so I'm ready to make another sacrifice I'm ready to go

somewhere everybody else ain't where 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 were one of one strive for perfect don't mean you got to be perfect but strive for people tell me all the time oh you got this thing his image you try to be 1,000% I'm trying to be perfect 1,000% 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 to 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 care for. If you really want to be happy, getting 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 you you think i promise you you you get in that vision you're gonna sleep so well at night when you're gonna level up what's the goal what's the mission

what's the priority what's the purpose stay focus 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 listen I'm saying like we ain't we ain't letting the noise distracts 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 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, 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't. Because I can. I will. I will.

Because I'm strong. I can get through any obstacle with my way to my journey. I must because they count 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 two, three years ago. Somebody told you you couldn't do it and you internalize that foolish then. Stop, listen. to the haters shut them down shut them up you want to shut your haters up how do you do 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 learn nothing succeeds like success and so pick your dream back up pick your goals back up

kill a killer kill a noise shut them down and surround yourself with people who will help you 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, E.T. Remember, I don't care none about your past because I got one too. Listen to me, you had 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 I must 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 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, all right?

So we all in, baby. Now it's time to get the reward. It's about momentum. tell me. You got to keep it 100. You've got to be true to you. And I'm tired of people emailing me telling me what somebody told them they can 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 get your master's. The only thing you need to do is get your PhD.

That is 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. to get a reward. Are you hearing me? You 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've got to wrestle with it. I'm not going to let you

go until you bless me meaning that i'm we go we can we go to this thing all night long we 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 you got to fight with that thing and tell 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 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's strip them. Hurt people, hurt people. And so I need you doing your favor. Never, ever, never, never, never, never, never, never, let somebody else, their reality for you become your reality for you, all right?

You ain't no boy no more. This ain't no base. This ain't, no, I want to go party. You've given up that right when you had kids. Party's over, we're out of time. Not time to be partying them all. Now it's time to create a legacy now. You had your fun.

Now get your 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 out all your goals down you've been sleeping you've been in the state of depression you just you've given up you've quit i need you to i need you to pick that thing back up i need you to pick it back up it's okay we all right listen to me it's nobody that hasn't made a mistake you've been forgiven now you need to forgive yourself all right because you're living in the past you can't get what's next you can't get your future because you stuck in your past i'm you can't let it go listen to me no matter is an island. You cannot do it alone. You do not have to do it alone. Get some help. All right? Get, 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. Here what I'm telling you. Third quarter living is about the point of no return. Like if you're 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 said before, you better get a reward. I behaved like a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish thing. Cut it off. Cut it off. Cut it off. Cut her off.

So what? She's going to get out of two. Cut her off. So what? Buck your boss. Cut your boss off. Your wife needs you. Bup 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're supposed to do. You ain't no boy no more. You don't need to approve them. You're 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 died at your job. 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 realize is sometimes in this world the kinder you are the more they try to play

you like a fool I was delusioned know I'm nice to you you 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 do me a favor when you are delusional you can never get the outcomes you want because you 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, 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 a 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. You're about your boss. You're something about to catch you out you 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 should 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 you'll get your calling together it's not going to happen you're going to have to just leave 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. And for those of you who hadn't quite started yet, I am. And for those of you who 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 in a policy 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 going to do great things and I don't owe anybody an apology I 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're from, if that's where you're from, if you leave, you can always come back. I promise you. I promise you when you come back, you can get right back into conversation. Ain't nothing going to 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 drop out, 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 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 evolved. 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 with ours. You are brilliant. You are special. Yes, you're different, and yes, you're not doing it to traditional route. But greatness is upon you. You got to keep going. You got to keep going. You got to 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 write in 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, let's stop. On three, one, two, three.

I am. One, two, three. I am. One, two, three. I am! I am! I am! I am!

Yeah!