Motivation Daily by Motiversity - YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF IN 2026 - Best of Eric Thomas Compilation

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Keep fighting through everything life throws at you! Best of Eric Thomas Motivational Speech Compilation for 2026. Edited by Motiversity.SpeakerEric Thomashttps://www.youtube.com/user/etthehiphoppreacherhttps://twitter.com/Ericthomasbtchttps://www.instagram.com/etthehiphoppreacher/https://www.facebook.com/etthehiphoppreacherhttp://etinspires.com/Music:Really Slow Motion Buy their music:iTunes: http://bit.ly/1ee3l8KSpotify: http://bit.ly/1r3lPvNBandcamp: http://bit.ly/1DqtZSoWhat Have We Become - Confidential Musichttps://www.youtube.com/@ConfidentialMXSoundstripe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The link is in the description. 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 climb 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 your boy got through the masters now we're at the

end of the PhD 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 you gonna get the PhD 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 let 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 stamina it's about stamina it's 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 at 17. You should have broke me when I was eating out of trash game. It's too late now. I'm in the rich carpet. It's too late. You're 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 broke me a long time ago. I'm an unbreakable now. Durant scared me because when Durant scored, Grant score, he don't say nut. He ain't getting nobody excited. He ain't trying to get LeBron pissed off or pumped up.

He just score on my men 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. Touched them numbers on the front, he touched them numbers on the back,

and he's doing that for who? His coach that was killed. He got a why? He got a why? He ain't just playing for no championship. You got to hear what I'm telling you. If y'all's going to be great on that field, you got to have a why. 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 what 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 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 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 could 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 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 them to do with the fact that I didn't put everything on the field 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 is not gonna 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 a grind though. You're 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 wheel

There's two things you need to do. It'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 gotta 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, I said if God 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 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,

next level you gotta 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 gonna be a dog fight I love to tell you that on the road to success everything is going to work out is not it's gonna be a dog fight on a road to success I lost five aunty 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 back in the head twice It's a dog fight

Like you don't see that on YouTube you don't see that on my TGI I? It's a dog fight My wife three years ago seven legions found my brain It's a dog fight It hasn't been easy It's a dog fight. It hadn't been 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. 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 The only way I lose is if I quit, it's going to be a dog fight. Ready to quit and don't get started. 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, don't get started. Why? Because I'm yes away.

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. But you cannot stop this in life. You have enough energy. You don't have enough energy. You do not have hate 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 at 30. It happened to me at 40. After I had been through all the pressure I thought I could go through. Life said you finished 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. thought it was over. The creator said, now you 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, inspire people. 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 in two weeks later. Even before he's 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 like ET.

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? So you're running out of time. There's a certain determination. There's a certain level of resiliency, a pounce 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 are ready, ready for the opportunity. It's not playing. 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 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 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 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 practice it 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 getting out. And they're going to make it happen.

Are you hearing what I'm telling you? I don't plan for events. 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 gotta rely on nobody to get off average but 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 that nature in you that you know? And you had a power to be great. It's in you, you're capable of it. Now, you have to understand if you stay average, 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, something great. It's not the family you was born into. It has 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 father created. 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 going to 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've seen, 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. I 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's 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 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-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 minds. 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? Now I'm defining 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 reward. So 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, E, I'm scared.

What if I do it and I fail? E, I'm scared, E. E, I want to do it. 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 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, fight of your life you can't be afraid to fight all right some things don't come they just not gonna come to you because you want it as bad as you want to breathe after you wanted as bad as you you got to put up the dudes baby and you got to be willing to fight that thing up are you hearing 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 a scarity 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 gotta fight the fear because guess what? Fear is 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 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 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 were just embrace it. Michael

George 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 fighting and even when he wasn't on the team, he was still fighting and fight 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 Booie I don't even know who that is right Sam Bowie 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 was 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 HW listen to me these brothers have shown me that nothing is impossible he said ET it's not 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 understand when somebody say impossible is nothing you still talk 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's my thought process because I'm gonna keep it real with you. It's past possible. Oh, you not hear me. It's past possible, meaning that not only can you do it, ah, you're gonna go way beyond that. It means that the probability of you doing it is greater than you not doing it. You're not hear 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 masters 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 was 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 know 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 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 lead everybody want to take care of their family everybody want to be be a celebrity or whatever you want to be right what are you willing to give up for it what are you willing to sacrifice that's 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 so i'm ready to make another sacrifice i'm ready to go somewhere everybody else's way 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 For perfects. Don't mean you got to be perfect but strive for people tell me all 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 cared for. If you really want to be happy, getting that vision. You think a car going to make you happy, I promise you it won't. You think a house going to make you think status. You think, you think, I promise you, I promise you, you get in that vision, you're going to sleep so well at night.

When you're going to 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 to what I'm saying? Like 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 depending 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, 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've 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 deep is the impression. Never ever, ever, never, never. Let your dream die. I can't Because I can 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 pick it back up There's a dream you left two three years ago

Somebody told you you couldn't do it And you internalized that foolish then Stop listening to the haters, shut them down, shut up, shut up, You want to shut your aiders 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 learned.

Nothing succeeds like success. And so pick your dream back up, pick your goals back up. Kill a, 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 people. 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. You've 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 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 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 it the time you put in you're about to get a reward Are you hearing me you about to get a reward baby so don't quit don't give up There's some blessings that come in life after regulation they come in overtime they come in extra in So for some of y'all, you're gonna have to learn to wrestle with it. You're gonna have to learn to fight with it

That's what wrestling means. That's what I'm talking about. You're gonna 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 I'm we go we go do this thing all night long We go do it all night long, but I'm telling you that I'm not gonna let you go until you bless me But you got you got a fight with that thing and tell that thing you will quit before I 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 strict them. Hurt people, hurt people.

And so I need you to do me in favor. Never, ever. Never, never, never, never ever, never ever 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 without a time.

Not time to be party no more. 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 a state of depression You just 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 Nobody 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 need 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, all right?

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 a 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 saying before. You better get a reward. I behaved like a child. But when I became a man, I put away child this thing. Cut it off. Cut it off.

Cut it off. Cut her off. So what? She's going to get attitude. Cut her off. So what? But bump 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 their approval.

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 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 going to take this legacy to the next level. 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 delusional. I'm nice to you, you're nice to me. Don't always work like that.

Sometimes it's nice to me and I take advantage of you. So some of y'all, you delusional. I just need you 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 gotta 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 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.

You already know that job. Your boss ain't about to catch 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 should 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 is 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 live, 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 starting 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, I am. One, two, three, I am. 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. 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, It's 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 Greatness. 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 call 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 to traditional route. But greatness is upon you.

You gotta keep going. You gotta keep going. You gotta keep going. In the 12 years to get the four year degree turned into a master's degree. And the master's degree turned into a PhD. Guys, I can't believe it. I went from being a high school dropout from being a high school dropout from being a high school. 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, all right. Let's stop on three. One, two, three. I am. One, two, three. One, two, three.

One, two, three. I am.