THE ED MYLETT SHOW - The Secret to Success is Not What You Think | Ed Mylett

Episode Date: September 20, 2025

The Real Secret Behind Success That Nobody Talks About What if success wasn’t about talent, luck, or even hard work—but about who you become in the process? In this mashup, I bring together three powerhouse voices—Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins, Maria Shriver, and Percy “Master P” Miller—to reveal the truth about success that most people overlook. These aren’t theories. These are battle-tested lessons born from pain, reinvention, and the courage to carve your own lane when the world tells you it’s impossible. Jeezy takes us inside the moment he left the streets behind to bet it all on music—and how life’s hardest hits, from losing his voice to battling Bell’s palsy, forced him to confront who he really was. His story is a raw reminder that success isn’t about avoiding setbacks, but about finding strength and faith in the middle of them. Maria Shriver opens up about growing up in a legendary family where confidence wasn’t inherited—it had to be earned . She shares the lessons she’s learned about self-worth, identity, and how breaking free from old beliefs can open the door to your true calling . Her honesty is a masterclass in building a life not defined by other people’s expectations, but by your own truth. And then there’s Master P—an icon who turned “No Limit” from a mindset into a movement. From selling music out of his trunk to building generational wealth, he breaks down why consistency beats talent, why faith without work is dead, and why not all money is good money . His wisdom on integrity, entrepreneurship, and refusing to accept “headache money” will challenge you to raise your standards in life and business . Every story in this episode points back to one truth: Success isn’t what you think. It’s not a destination, a bank account, or a title. It’s about transformation—becoming your “other self” on the other side of adversity . And that’s a secret most people will never understand. Key Takeaways: Why the hardest seasons of your life are preparing you for your “other self.” How Jeezy rebuilt his life by walking away from the streets and facing failure head-on. Maria Shriver’s powerful perspective on earning self-confidence and breaking free from limiting beliefs. Master P’s blueprint for entrepreneurship: consistency, faith, and turning down “headache money.” Why success is less about what you get and more about who you become. This is one of those episodes you’ll want to play more than once, because the wisdom in it doesn’t just inspire—it transforms. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ←  ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEBSITE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. The name of today's show, what I want you to write down, I think this will just, you know, potentially really serve you, is that this, write this down.

Success requires no apologies, failure permits, no alibis. Success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis. Where did I get that from? It's not mine. It's actually out of the book, Think and Grow Rich, that I've just referenced earlier. One of the original versions, I'm holding up my dear friend Robin Sharma sent to me. And so that is not my quote. I can't stand when people use my content and quotes and don't give me credit. That's not my quote. That's out of think and grow rich. But the theme of

today is that, listen, success requires no apologies and failure permits no alibis. We can't be making an alibis. And so how do we create change in our life? How do we make moves through this difficult times? Because no matter what time you're listening to this, it'll be trying. There's always things to overcome. That's what life's about. One of the things in think and grow rich that I love is in the book, this is so profound and I hope this gives you hope that in the book, he talks about going through adversity, going through trials and tribulations. And he ends up saying in the book that if you can get to the other side of these trials, if you don't quit, that you get introduced to your other self, your other self. And so what if it is that all of the tragedies, trials,

tribulations, difficulties in our lives are all set up there so that on the other side of it, there's another version of it. So on the other side of it, we get introduced to our other self. I'm 51 years old when this comes out, and I must tell you that I've been introduced to many different versions of me. And the only way I got to those versions of me was to have to go through something difficult that tried me, that pushed me, that caused me to question myself, doubt myself, almost give in, almost resist. If you think about it for you, the things you have achieved in your life, where you are today, this version of you has been put together, has been developed, has been created because of the things you learned, the things you went through, the lessons you

gained through difficult times. So when you're hitting these difficult times, just remember on the other side of this time, whatever it is for you is your other self. How beautiful is that? And when you step back and look at one's entire life, even if you have children and you all were a child at one point, think about the difficult things and you got introduced to that other version of you. I remember going to high school so scared. There was this whole thing when I was going to high school, they would put the freshman in trash cans, you know, and I didn't know anybody. And, you know, was anybody going to like me? But the person who walked in my freshman year high school, I think you'll agree.

A totally different person walked out my senior year. I got introduced to my other self. And then when I started my business journey, you know, there's one guy that started. And then after the first trial and tribulation I pushed through, I got introduced to another self of me. And then another self and then another self. In relationships, you've been introduced to other selves of you once you've gotten through them or learned from them.

And so what you're going through right now, the beauty of it is, it's preparing this other self, this better version of you. And you've got to remind yourself of this because it's so easy not to want to outlast the temporary. I did a big long coaching call with Artae Syndicate on this. I'm not going to get into what I covered there. I'm going to cover different things today. But I just want you to think about this for a second.

Without it, it's just you all the way through life. There's no change. There's no growth. So this trial, this thing that you're going through, or maybe just this thing you're trying to accomplish. Maybe it doesn't even feel trying. Maybe we're just trying to accomplish something that. It's difficult, right? The other self is on the other side of that. And I just want to tell you,

chase that version of you, chase that person, embrace it. And when you see this adversity coming at you, right, see it for what it really is. It's this introduction to the new you waiting for you on the other side of it. I love one of the things. I'm going to read to you out of Napoleon Hill's book a little bit right here. But he says, and again, a lot of this stuff was written for, you know, back in the day where he would say men instead of people. But he says, if the first plan which you adopt does not work successfully, replace it with a new plan. If this plan fails to work, replace it and in turn with it another and so on until you find a plan which does work. Right here is at the point at which the majority of men, people, meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new

plans to take the place of the old ones which fail. The most intelligent man living cannot succeed in accumulating money nor to any other undertaking without plans, which are practical and workable. And his point in the chapter was, this is where most people quit. This is where most people give in. They surrender at the sign of adversity rather than pivot, rather than innovate, rather than create a new plan, they give in. And what costs you when you give in is you rob the world and you of this other self. Those are my words, not him in this case. But that's what gets robbed and quitting becomes a habit. It's habitual. When you quit on one thing, you'll quit on other things. And so finish, adopt, adapt all the time in your life. I want to share something with you.

Why do we get so worked up? Why do we, let me share something with you. You have emotions that you're familiar with. Okay. And some of these emotions serve you and some of them don't serve you. It's called your emotional home is what I call it. And oftentimes in our lives, we will find a way to get that emotion we're addicted to. Our heart and our emotions move towards what we are most familiar with. I'm going to cover this in two places today for you. And I hope that this is one of these life-changing shows. You're like, yeah, man, I'm glad he didn't interview somebody today.

This is better. So I have to say this to you. You have an emotional home. And it's important to take an inventory of what is that home? Because you find a way to get it every week, whatever those emotions are. They could be peace, joy, ecstasy, passion, right? all those great emotions that you could have. And by the way, they aren't good and bad.

Just some service and some don't. Then there's other ones, pain, fear, anxiety, worry, depression, frustration, anger. You all know people as I described those emotions you thought of different people, didn't you? When I said anger, you thought of someone, you know, who was regularly angry. When I said fearful or depressed, you thought of somebody. Maybe you thought of you. And so if you have this primary emotion that you're getting on a regular basis, you find a way to get it, don't you? You do. No matter what's going on, you find a way at some point during your week to get your fear. Why? Because it's familiar. We move towards what's familiar. This is how human beings are. So the reason we want to go through difficulties is because if at the other end of that we can get another self, maybe we can get another emotion. Because self is really emotions. What you really don't want is a jet or cash. You want how you think that will make you feel. What you really don't want is just a relationship. It's how you think the relationship will make you feel.

You don't just want to win that contest you're in right now. It's how you think it'll make you feel. So what you're chasing is the emotions. See, I know people with absolutely no money who feel rich. I know a bunch of people with a lot of money who feel broke, right? So what we're really chasing is our emotions. So for me, how do you do that? You become very intentional about what they are.

You become intentional. My primary emotion I'm chasing right now that I can experience anytime I want, but I don't have to chase it. That word's probably not well said. I can experience any time I want because it exists within me is peace. And when I'm not getting peace, I get intentional about seeking it. I'm not going to do things in my life anymore that on the other end of it can't acquire me more peace. I may lack some as I do it, but I'm going to get more of it on the other side of it,

starting to become intentional. And I'll share with you, we all have emotions that don't serve us. We all do. One of mine is chaos. I love chaos. Isn't that interesting? I love chaos. And I just realized this is an adult.

Like, I always create chaos. I'm like, why, I thrive. I always live in chaos because I do. I'm familiar with it. Why do I always create chaos? Even when things are great, it's like, nope, I got to do this, I got to do that. I get create a chaotic state. I create chaos around me.

I've become aware of this. Why? Because chaos is familiar to me. Why is chaos familiar to me? Because to some extent in my childhood, it was chaotic. Most of you know that my dad was an alcoholic, greatest guy in the world, sober for 35 years after that. But in my early upbringing, it was chaotic. It was unstable. I didn't know. Is he coming home? Is he not coming on? What moods are you going to be in? A mom and dad going to

stay married, you know, all those kinds of things. And it was chaotic. And I became familiar with chaos. And so I find a way in my given week or my month or my day to find chaos, don't I? And I do. Anybody that knows me knows that's true. And I thrive in it. Chaos, by the way, can be used positively. Chaos has caused me to become wealthy. Chaos has caused me to not want to be overweight and to be fit. Sometimes that chaos, I learned to thrive in it. But you have to ask yourself, and I had to ask myself, do I want to live all my life in chaos? No. And then I got intentional.

If chaos doesn't serve me that way, what emotions do I want? I want more joy. I want more laughter. I want more peace. And so I'm intentional about getting it. And I'm aware when I'm starting to generate chaos unintentionally. And that awareness for me, that awareness causes it to lose its power. over me. So in your case, I would ask you, what emotion is your emotional home that you get the

most regularly? Is it really joy? Is it really peace? Is it really ecstasy? Passion? Right? Or do you get a little bit familiar with worry, anger, frustration, melancholy, whatever you want to call it? Fear, right? And once you know that, ask yourself, what are the emotions I would want to to experience on a regular basis and get intentional about them and become a where when you're doing the ones you don't think serve you, all right? And then ask yourself this, what would I have to think or believe in order to generate that emotion? Right? Because a lot of times we have thoughts that don't serve us. Thoughts generate emotions, right? It's not an event that generates the quality of our life. There's an event. Then there is our perception of the

event, our thought about it, which creates the emotion. So it's not the events of our lives. You can be going through a very difficult time and have peace. You can go through a very difficult time and feel strong. It's being intentional about it. And so I would challenge you to begin to think about, what would I need to think? What do I normally think that causes me? And I'm going to tell you in a minute, what do I normally think that causes me to get this emotion that creates stress for me?

And what would I need to think in order to get the ones I want when the same stimulus happens? So in think and grow rich, he says there are six basic fears. by the way, in the power of one more, I show you how to overcome these fears with daily strategies. So it's not just the thought. It's the action you would take. I mirror the thought in congruency with the action. And that's why the power of one more is such a really unique book. Having said that, these are the six basic fears according to Napoleon Hill. And they're really interesting. He says, there are six basic fears with some combination of which every human suffers at one time or another. Most people are fortunate if they do not suffer from the entire six. named in the order of their most common appearance, they are. This is interesting in sequence. The number one fear is the fear of poverty. It just processed that.

Do you have the fear of poverty? Do you have the fear that whatever you're going through right now, you're going to be broke? You're going to fear that you're going to run out of money, that you're not going to eat or whatever it might be. The fear of poverty. Number two, the fear of criticism, right? By the way, these are the bottom, not the top, excuse me.

The fear of criticism. do you have any of that the fear of ill health okay so those are the bottom three not the top three bottom three fourth fear the fear of loss of love of someone in other words someone you love will no longer love you okay five the fear of old age getting old and missing your prime missing your moment, missing your life. And then lastly, the fear of death. And so those are the six fears. Poverty criticism, bad health, loss of the love of someone, old age, and death. And usually, I think you'll find that when you're experiencing stress and anxiety, it's born out of one of those fears. And I know you're sitting there going, Ed, this is damn good. Thank you for doing the show today.

I hope you are. And if you do feel that, share it. Fastest growing show in the world. Share it. So I'm aware of the fears that I have. And that's why success requires no apologies. I'm not worried about criticism. And failure permits no alibis. There are no alibis. There are no excuses. There just aren't any.

And you go, but Ed, you don't understand. I do have this excuse. I do have this issue. I do have this situation that isn't fair for me. By the way, you're probably right. And if you think it, you're definitely right. What you have to ask yourself is, does it serve you to believe that? or what would you need to believe in spite of that?

If you say, well, hey, I started too late. I don't have enough money. What if you started to think, man, what a story this is going to be that I started with no money? Or you know what? I'm a particular group of people that's marginalized and it's more difficult for me. I would just submit to you that isn't the story going to be sweeter when you do win? Isn't it going to even be more inspiring when you do win? Isn't it going to move more people?

Isn't your test going to be your testimony? Whatever this thing is, that is the alibi that you have, your life, whatever it is. Someone hurt me. This overcame. I'm in this situation. You don't understand my health situation. Listen, if it serves you to believe that, keep believing it. But as your friend and your coach and a mentor to you and someone who loves you and cares about you, I would say this does not serve you, even if it's true, even if it's true. What would you need to believe about it that now gives you power instead of kryptonite? And you begin to ask yourself these questions. So, you know, you're going to show up. So that's one thing. You're going to show

up 20 years from now somewhere. The question is where? And what I would submit to you is that one of the ways out of difficult times is huge, bold, God-sized dreams. Like, what is your huge, the one you're embarrassed to tell people, the huge, bold, God-sized dream in your life. And the more of it you can to project into that dream state of what you want in your life, the more it gives you the inspiration. If your dreams are bigger than the adversity, you'll get through it. But the minute that adversity, those emotions are bigger than where you're going, bigger than your dreams, you're toast. You've got to reevaluate that. You've got to look at it. You've got to say, wait a minute, what's my big dream? What's my big goal? What's that big emotion? What's that thing?

What's that place? What's that person? What's that contribution? Whatever it might be. And you've got to begin to obsess about it because what I said earlier is true. Your mind moves towards what it's most familiar with. So if you're most familiar with your fears, those six fears, or these emotions you don't want, or your problems, or your setbacks, or the things that are not in your favor, then you're going to move towards them. Let me say that to you again. You may be right about this adversity. You may be right about your circumstance. You may be right about all that. But does it serve you to believe it? Because the way the mind works is it moves towards what it's most familiar with. And the reason some people are successful and most aren't is the successful people have the

ability to begin to program into their mind the things they want, the dreams they have over and over and over because they know this to be true. They belong in their dreams. Their dreams are not some hallucination. They're not a joke. God gave you those dreams as a glimpse as a preview of what's possible in your life. And the more you understand, these dreams don't just come from me. How do I have these dreams? Where'd they come from? They come from God in your life or whatever you believe about that. I'm a Christian. I believe they come straight from Jesus, straight from God. But whatever your faith is, the universe, whatever you believe, they come from outside of you and they're not a joke. They're a preview of what's possible. And the more you move towards those thoughts, those dreams in faith boldly, strong, and not towards the six fears you have or this circumstance. And I'm not talking about don't deal with reality. I'm not saying, I already said, You need to pivot. You need to course correct. You need a better plan. Clearly you need a better plan. But what you don't need is to be moving towards the thoughts that don't serve you because you keep getting them, don't you? You keep drawing the circumstances into your life that don't serve you because your mind moves you towards what you're familiar with. Please, sister, I love you. Please, brother, listen to what I'm saying. Begin to feed these thoughts to you regularly and begin to take the actions in congruency with them. And when you begin to think and act in congruency. You become a force in the world that is unstoppable eventually if you can outlast the temporary, not right away. See, there's two things people lack. The Bible says where there is no vision

the people perish. People lack vision, but oftentimes when they get a vision, the other thing that they suffer from is depth perception issues. They think it's further than it is. They think they're further away than they really are. And so they pace themselves and they act like it and they don't let their mind go there regularly. And so they constantly stay in a perpetual state of being far from it. The premise of my book, the power of one more is very simple when you get it. And it's this, you're a lot closer to your dreams than you think. You're a lot closer to these emotions, these feelings, that life, that other self than you think you are. Let me tell you what you are. You're one decision away, one possible meeting, one relationship, one thought, one emotion,

one strategy in my new book, away from changing it. You're a lot closer than you think. so stop thinking it so far away and stop thinking about all the things all the time that don't serve you right by the way what is thinking and how do I think better what's a thought a thought is the process of asking yourself a question and answering it so ask yourself better questions and you will have better thoughts and better answers so if you do have this detriment that's this this thing that's it's a hindrance and you know it's a hindrance and it's a challenge or you're going through something right that's okay The question is, ask yourself a better question about it.

Instead of saying, that's why I'm going to lose, it's, hey, how can I overcome this? What are the answer to this? Who are people like me that have won? Who's over, what is my story going to look like when I win? How's it going to feel when I get there? What's the tactic or strategy that I need to implement to overcome this that other people don't, but I'm going to because I deserve to get there because these dreams are a preview of who I'm supposed to be? So get these familiar thoughts, get these familiar emotions, know that all pain is temporary,

outlast the temporary, right? And remember this, you're going to arrive to this place in 20 years. You're going to arrive there. The question is, who are you going to be when you get there? What's your life going to look like? What are you going to look like? Who have you have helped? What will you have achieved? What will the memories be you had? And most importantly, what will the emotions be that you get to possess at that time? And by the time you get there, who is that other self? I'll submit to you, there's four characters for the most part, could show up as in four years, or excuse me, in 20 years. There's four characters. Most people show up in their lives as. I'll give you who I think they are. Number one person they show up as in

20 years is invisible. They're invisible. No one knows them. No one knows anything they've achieved. No one's kept a record of their life. And I'm not talking about big things. I'm talking about small things. It's that kind phone call that you make in the morning to a friend you haven't talked to in a long time. You're no longer invisible to them. It's that helping somebody in need when no one will see you doing it. When it's an invisible gesture, you're no longer invisible because you're making deposits in this other self. You're making deposits in this dream version of you. You are reaping what you sow. But many people show up in their lives, their entire life is invisible. That's one person you could show up as. Ask yourself, am I willing to let whatever I'm

going through right now or what's ever going on in the world, what's ever going on in the economy, what's ever going on in my mind, what's ever going on in my family, cause me to show up 20 years from now invisibly. No one knows me. I've made no difference in other people's lives. Is that what you were born to do? Is that that glimpse of the dream in your life? Absolutely not. Remind you of something. You were born to do something great with your life. I am no different than you. No or woman is different than you. We're the child of the same God. We're all born to do something great with our lives in big ways and in what most people think are small ways. These quiet gestures you do every day for other people that the rest of the world doesn't see on Instagram

and it doesn't get you on YouTube and it doesn't get a million views. But you're not invisible to them. You are not born to be invisible. Second person you could show up as in 20 years is a victim. You could have this story in 20 years. I was a victim, a victim of people, a victim of my life, a victim of my circumstances, a victim, a victim. And if you believe that about yourself and you keep moving towards those thoughts, you will surely repeat them. And you will show up 20 years in your life and as an example to your family,

people who believed in you, your children, your grandchildren, your parents, your grandparents, your ancestors, and you will show up in 20 years as a victim. Something tells me that's not what you were born to be. Something tells me you were born to do something great, and you are not a victim, and you're going to rise above. And the fact that you rose above, whatever you have to rise above, that divorce, that setback, that lack of education, that whatever, that marginalized group, that setback, that bankruptcy, that bad decision you've made, you're going to have one heck of a story. And you are not going to be a victim. And you're going to inspire a bunch of people who are invisible, who feel like victims, aren't you? That's the power of what you're going through. What if you were given this because there's an other self of you that's even greater than most people could imagine? Remember, the extent to what you have to overcome is a degree of who that other self is. The extent to what you have to overcome is in direct correlation to the degree of that other self. So the more you overcome, the greater that other self is. Third person you could show up as is a hero. And that's a pretty good thing. You show up people, you're not invisible. You're not a victim.

people know you. You got whatever it is. You got the great body. You got the great relationship. You got the big jet. You got the money. You show up as a hero. Many people in life aspire to be the hero of their story. See, we're always telling ourselves a story about our lives, aren't we? We're the lead character in the story of our lives. And so many people keep telling the story from the past and they repeat that story because they move towards it. Or they tell the story of the victim or the story of the invisible. And they repeat this character over and over again. But then a lot of people start to tell the story of the hero. I'm going to be a hero. I'm going to win. I'm going to make something great with my life. And that's a powerful time in our lives. And a lot of people can get there. You see them on social media. You see them on television. You see them at your church. You see them in your community. You see them as the coach. You see them as the teacher. They become a hero in their life. You could show up as a hero. And that's a darn good life. And it's an option you could pursue. See, a lot of times in families, when you look at families that have won in your life, you go, man, that family's rich. You see this house living on these people living on the beach or they're traveling here or so. And you go, man, who are these

people. I think, who are these people? You just remember this. Happy and successful families, eventually, rich families, eventually they came from someone who wasn't rich, who wasn't happy. All people that you see that are rich, happy, or successful, eventually there's someone way back in their family who wasn't. And then the one showed up. Then the one, I've talked about this before. The one person shows up in a family who says, nope, I'm the hero. I'm the one. I change our family tree forever. I make my family proud of me. I change our generational well. I change our emotions. I change the example. People in our family are going to want to be like me. I'm the one. And guys, I'll tell you, in my family, I'm the damn one. And you know what? Not only about getting rich, not only about making a difference, but people in my family now think differently than they used to think. They don't think the same like they used to. They think bigger thoughts. They think about serving people. They think about making a difference. They believe their life can be great because I refuse to be invisible. I refuse to be a victim. Yeah, I'm the son of an alcoholic. You. You Yeah, I had a difficult upbringing.

Yeah, nobody knew my family. Yeah, we weren't rich. Yeah, not a lot of education in my family. Yeah, well, I'm not invisible. And well, I'm not a victim. And I became a hero in my family, and so can you. You could be the one. You can be the one.

When you start hitting that wall, you start thinking, no, I'm the one. I'm the one who doesn't quit. I'm the one who doesn't give in. I'm the one who keeps growing. I'm the one who keeps dreaming when everyone thinks I'm crazy. I'm the one. And you hold on to that being the one. You become the hero.

That's an amazing life. You change your family tree forever. It's not the wealth, although it is. It's not the options and the choices. It's the memories. It's the moments. It's the contribution. But most importantly, it's the identity of your family.

They don't think the same anymore. They got different thoughts. They operate differently. Their view of the world is different. Who they think they can become as different because of your example. See, I'll give you the fourth one in a minute. But let me tell you, there's really, there's four stages of people in life. there's the people that are just kind of, you know, they're just going through life, unaware,

not concerned. Then there's people who become motivational. Motivational people achieve things. They play to motives. Motives like get a car. You know, if you do this, you get a car, you get a house, you get money, you get a body. Motivational people are awesome. The level beyond that, though, is inspirational. Inspirational people, move people like I hope I'm doing with you today. The root of inspiration is to be in spirit, to move people spiritually, to touch their heart, to move their emotions, to lend yourself, to move them with their higher other self, not just their motives of stuff, but things in spirit, making a difference in people's lives, inspirational people are very, very rare. See, most people are that dead stage that is drift through

life. Then there's a very small percentage that are motivated people and they achieve things and they have a good life. Much smaller group is inspirational. They inspire. They move people. You can't feel it. It's an energy. You feel. You can't describe it, but you feel it. It's inspirational. And then there's a really small group that's reserved for the highest level, which is aspirational people. Aspirational people aren't just motivational or inspiration. They're aspirational, meaning that you want to be and aspire to be like them. Those are the people that change the world. The people that change the world aren't motivational. They're not quite inspirational anymore. They've moved past that. They do. motivate, they do inspire, but they aspire. People aspire to be like them. That's who I want to

be like. That's who I want to act like. That's the kind of person I want to be. And I would challenge you to move through these stages. If you're not motivated, become motivational and inspirational and eventually aspirational. And when you become the one for your family, when you become the hero, which is level three, you've moved into an aspirational space in your life. And then the fourth level is awesome. And that's called servant leader. And that's when you get to a point in your life where you're no longer invisible. You've moved all kinds of people in their dreams. You've become the hero for your family. And then you determine you want to dedicate your life in the service of other people exclusively. You want to aspire, inspire and aspire people to be like you. And this is

where I would challenge you to want to move. Become an aspirational person and eventually become a servant leader in your life. That's the highest level of the other self. You wrote one about adversity. Yes. And I'm like, because this is a ton of topics. You could have done about, you know, overcoming limiting beliefs, overcoming your environment. Because you had, you transcended an environment, which is very rare in life.

Why is adversity the topic of the book? And why did you think this is the thing I want to talk about? Oh, wow. That's a great question. That's what I pride myself in. You know what I'm saying? I would be the adversity specialist, if you will. That's what keeps me going.

That's my purpose. My purpose is to continue to evolve no matter what, but to continue to give that information back to my culture and to my people and to be an example of what it's like to come out of that. Because every situation that I've been in, and it's funny that we was talking about God, I don't care how crazy it got. He always put somebody in my life around the time

that I needed some information or a ear or a connection or just the process. It never fails, right? And I truly believe that he does that for me to show people that you can maintain your integrity and be a solid, individual and still survive, right? Love it.

You know, without doing anything that would go against who you are as a man and then your legacy. Because, you know, when you think about some of the great leaders, they did great things, right? But their integrity is what kept you locked into them, right? Because you got people that's successful, but they did a lot of foul things. And when you hear people talk about them, you're like, wow, I never knew that. I know. And adversity to me is that small.

small glare of hope because if I tell you what I went through in this book your life might be totally different but you might be up against the same odds I can tell you that that's the truth my life is totally different than yours right but I see great storytellers tell me stories with a you meaning right so as I read your work I didn't grow up like that but I have my version of it in my life right and so the lessons in the book the lessons in this conversation I don't care what someone's life story is. These are facts. Like, you said something so important that God has sent you that person when you needed him, the information, the insight, whatever it might be. I want everybody to hear this man said this. And the reason that I want you to hear it is he does that for you too. The difference is you need to be an expectation that he's going to and aware that he's going

to because he has probably sent those people to you previously in your life. And if you're not aware he's doing it or open to the possibility he's doing it, you will miss them. Yeah. You will miss them. It's like that analogy of the people that are sitting on the roof during the flood. Someone comes by and says, hey, jump on the boat. Nope, I'm waiting for God to save me. Somebody else comes behind a boat. I'm waiting for God to save me. Third guy comes by in a boat. I'm waiting for God to save me. Then they drowned and they get to heaven and they go, God, I thought you're going to save me. He goes, I sent three damn people in a boat. Three boats in a damn boat, right? And so there's a, there's some, there's, you have to be an

expectation that God is going to send you a blessing at some point. But if you're not looking forward and expecting it. You don't hear them or see them or feel them and then you miss them. You have to be in a good place too, though. You have to be in a good place with yourself. I really realized that because it was times that I wasn't in a good place for myself and it was just a bunch of noise. I let things on the outside of me control my emotions, how I felt. You know what I'm saying? I just had to come to a place where, and I'm not there yet, of course, But I just started to understand what peace was like to get a little taste of that.

And I started to understand what going inward was about. Because the minute I started going inward, everything changed, right? Because now I'm not, I can't fault anyone in my life for what they've done to me. I have to look inside and see how I reacted or what I've done to contribute to that, right? And I can't blame anyone else. right and for me when I started to understand that is when things started to slow

down right yes I wasn't present I go have conversations with people it's all in the surface yeah it's all good whatever I'm gone but then I started taking time like to look people in their eyes and be like are you all right man how you feeling like what's going on and it started to have conversations where I wasn't you know leading all of the conversation like you know just tell me you know how you're feeling what's going on and when people came to me I you know I you know I And I pride myself on having a lot of advice. That's just like my thing.

You know, I think I'm like, you know, the therapist among the crew. You know what I'm saying? You are. You know, I ask them now, though I say, you know, one is, you know, do you want me to just listen? You know what I'm saying? Two is, do you want me to tell you what I think? Or three is, do you want me to decide with you?

Because I could do that too. You know what I'm saying? So I could be like, oh, that's crazy. That should have never happened. And I started to understand because, you know, where we come from, it's hard for somebody to tell you how they really feel. It took me until I was 40 to tell somebody to tell somebody I was, I was sad, well, I was depressed.

You know what I'm saying? Think about that. Or I don't feel confident about this. You know what I'm saying? Or that I might be, you know, concerned. Yeah. Because when you're that guy, you have to... Can't show weakness.

Yeah, you can't show anything. You said earlier, I'm depressed. I'm drinking. Right. I'm drinking a bottle of champagne in the morning. Right. I'm drinking. You're heavy.

Right. You're eating. You're heavy. Yeah. Right. You're stressed. You're worried. You're running.

You're running. Is there any one thing you did? Or was there any one moment? Or was it just an accumulation? of things you're like that's enough i can't do this anymore i would say this i didn't have a purpose before then i was just chasing money and trying to get out of my situation and he did that god did that for me took me out of my situation and i'm four albums in about eight million records sold crazy like but what am i doing for him what how am i continuing his message what what am i doing

he he took me out of a situation where i could have a life sentence it was there i i said i still don't know how I stashed that by the way I think about that all the time but it was there right and I've lost you know so many people and I sat there and I'm just like

yo like you know right now I'm the issue I need to work on myself because the things that I have going on the side of me is no way to lead anyone right and I'm making music so I got millions of people

listening to me and listening to what I'm saying I'm not a saint but I do got common sense right and it's just like I'm saying things that might affect people in different ways but I'm like and my thing is the audio got a master video right so I'm saying you know what I'm saying this stuff but I'm doing something else right and I got to get on line with what I'm saying right so now I'm walking into and it was the scariest thing in my life and by the way this will be clear like I was met with a moment

where I knew it was a moment meaning I was I was my first album came out I was selling and this is a statute of limitations by the way anybody listen I'm good I talked to my lawyers about it and I had to make I had to make a decision which was one of the biggest decisions I had to make a decision what I was going to do because I was trying to balance the streets and music and I had some small piece of success and I had to walk away cold turkey from the streets now mind you That means depend on music, right? And when I did that,

I had three of those next-tailed turp phones. That's what we used to talk on. And all those phones had a lot of money on them. Like, people owed me money. And I woke up, and I just said, I'm not doing this no more. I put the phones in the bag, threw them in the trash bin in my building, and I walked away, right? And that was like my first, like, okay, I'm going to do this music stuff.

Now, mind you, about eight months later, I'm performing at a show and tear my vocal cords now I can't talk I got a record deal with a major label I can't talk I got shows booked up from here

to 2000 whatever I can't go on the stage and that was the first time he humbled me he humbled me he humbled me he humbled me and I had to really look at this and go I'm so close this could happen what do I need to do and that was just a lot of praying

lot of confusion and then he let me live I got a throat surgery that I didn't have insurance at the time imagine I had Lamborghinis all this stuff and no no health insurance imagine that so I had to pay for my surgery with cash and then I got back out there and I started the same same thing and then that's when he hit me again with Bell's palsy oh my he hit me with Bell's palsy in my face for real yeah I got crooked and my mouth was and it was like my eye was shut so that from stress that was God because he let me live again and I went back out and started doing the same thing and was going about it the same way and after that I was just like you know what man I got to

change something because I've been too blessed you know what I'm saying and and now I'm looking at it and I'm going like the next thing might not even be something I can recover from and that's what started me to just start to understand that I got to start fixing some of my ways and at first started with like a lot of my personal stuff I would do. Like, you know, just, you know, I came from a situation where if you sit down with somebody, it's like sitting down and you're being interrogated, I'm not going to tell you the truth.

You know what I'm saying? I can't. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it gets the cold and it might get me in a lot of trouble. But then I started to notice that a grown man should never lie, even if it's gonna get him out of trouble. You know what I'm saying?

So now I gotta change this, you know, and that wasn't easy to do because I was taught to say whatever I had to say to get out of any situation. And now I'm having to work through this. And that was like the first step, and then it started going on different steps, different steps. And when I got to a place where I started to answer your question,

when I started to realize that I got to do some work, right? I didn't know where. I didn't know where to start. I just started YouTube and stuff, talking to older people, telling I had my business partner, now he's been my business partner for like 20 years. I was just go sit with him and tell him what's really going on. I'm like, man, I got about five people trying to kill me.

I got beef with these guys over here. and that and then this is happening that was I was in the shootout last week and now this is that and I got to go to California and this is happening and he's just like okay okay just calm down

okay what are you concerned about most and then we started to like work through proms and he's like okay well you have you ever thought about reaching out to them and you know just having a conversation but my thing was you know they're the opposition so I got

I got a press because I can't let my guys think that I'm trying to sort all these things out and I just started to understand that there is a such thing thing called Conflict Resolution. So that started to help me out a little bit as far as my life. And now I got in a space where I started having a little piece and I was able to start

like working on myself, like my health and reading books and just all these different things. And that thirst for knowledge kicked back in because I hate learning in school. When I was in school, like I dropped out of school in the sixth grade. I got my GED when I was in boot camp. That's crazy. Right. And then when like in around that time, it just hit me again. I just had this thirst for like knowledge and I just started going around asking people questions and think about this now it went from me asking you know somebody that I knew that worked at a restaurant that I just felt like was had some type of prestige from that point to me calling John Maxwell I'm going hey I got seven questions I need to ask you you know John he like shoot him at me

to that to Robert Green you know to Robin Sherma to all these different people Tony Tony Robbins and all these and not to like names Robber but it's It's just like, I'm getting this information now to give back to the coach. Yep. Because I'm able to go outside of my comfort zone and get it. But this stuff helps me with my life as well.

Like we was talking about Lewis earlier. Like, but I've always been that type of person. So, the answer to your question, I got the information from the people that I respected at the time that I was able to mingle with. And I don't come as a, you know, my reputation exceeds me,

meaning like I don't come. And by the way, the most gangst guys weren't from are the coolest guys you ever see they're not loud, they're not poister they're like Denzel and American gangster they're real smooth

but they will reach out and touch you I can tell you this is like an all-time great conversation it's all-time great conversation a lot of things about you that I notice one is like how self-aware you are just driving out here it's like I think you're here today

like there's millions of people and be like oh my God this unbelievable but at the same time lately on this show God sends me the right person in that seat for me. Like I was, I've got some stuff going on in my life right now that's not great and, um, some of its betrayal stuff with other people like we're talking about. Wow. However, I was just talking to somebody, actually someone that's producing a TV show I'm doing right now. Literally before you got here, I was driving out here. And I said, I want to figure out

what God's trying to teach me with this lesson. And that's one of the things you said earlier is like, what am I supposed to be learning from this? What am I supposed to be? I'm not going to get nothing for, Eric Thomas says all the time. You better get something for your pain. Right. You know, And the other thing you do very well is a lot of times when you begin to teach things you're learning, you begin to own them more. So a lot of you that are learning things listening to the show, you don't teach it enough to other people. And the more you begin to teach it, the more you actually begin to live it. People think, I can't teach any of this until I'm living it. No, you could say, look, I'm not good at this yet, but this is what I'm learning.

And the more you begin to teach something, I've found in my own life. Like, not everything I've taught all the time I was doing at the time, but I was honest enough to say I wasn't. Right. This isn't me yet. But let me tell you, this is what so-and-so gave me advice on or what I know I need to change about me. And the more I taught things, the more I own them. The other thing I've always wanted to know about you, because – and I know the answer because it's in the book and in interviews you've done. But of all the people you collaborated with, one of the other things that holds people back in addition to – and by the way, I want to step back.

You play such an important role in culture right now because of what you just said. There are not enough people reaching people in the communities you come from or young people. Right. with this knowledge and information. The world's different. This isn't 30 years ago where you could just get a Tony Robbins tape. There are dudes like me,

guys like you, people like John, that this information's there. But it's not what most people from these communities are consuming on their feet every single day. And the fact that you're saying,

hey, listen, I come from this, let me teach you this. And this could be someone from a particular culture, a particular age group, particular part of the world. That's why I do this.

This isn't podcasting is not a big source of revenue for me. I'm like, I got businesses. That's real. Right? But what it is for me is, and by the way, serious, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. We're in the middle of a negotiation right now.

That's a whole other story. But having said that, but I want to make sure that acknowledge you and the role that you're playing. And again, this combination. I received that. It's a fact. And the combination of your humility with your confidence is crazy. Having said that on the confidence thing, I always wanted to know this. You mentioned self-confidence twice pretty early on.

And it's interesting. I would think that when people look at you, you come from a successful family. My dear friends, I'm allowed to say this. You're a beautiful, articulate, successful person. I would think self-confidence was really something you had. Is that something you've struggled with or had to work on yourself in your life? Yeah, I think anybody, I try to say to my kid, self-confidence, you have to earn self-confidence. You have to earn self-esteem. Nobody just bestows it on you and says, here it is, you know, take it and go. I think particularly if you are in a family where people are excelling at the level, they were excelling in my family. It's pretty big, you know, excelling. So I was pretty much everybody in

my house and in my cousins era, they were, everybody was running for president. So, you know, that's how people were excelling. So I think you have to, and I would adjust that to, maybe everybody in your family is a doctor or a preacher or, you know, a pastor, whatever it is, a real estate person, everybody, I think, has to find their own self-confidence and earn it. And I was an only girl, four brothers, and I was raised in a very testosterone-dominated arena. Yeah. I knew that if I wanted to get my parents' attention, if I wanted to single myself out in, this larger clan that I was in. I was going to have to find my own thing. I was going to have

to work my ass off. And I was going to have to develop my own self-confidence in who I was separate from being somebody's niece or daughter or cousin. And that was a really driving force in my life and has been, you know, for pretty much all my life, you know, that I would be my own person, my own name, my own journey. And that took a lot for me to craft that out. But with it came self-confidence. Yeah. Thank God you did that because I don't, I don't know that if you don't, I think you can't give somebody something that you're not experiencing. It's pretty difficult to give you, give the gift of that. And thank God you developed that because you ended up creating a family that was very similar in the sense of achievement.

and public achievement and those things. And I've met your children. One of them, Patrick, I know far better than all the other ones, but they all seem to have that same sense of contribution, making their own way. They've sort of modeled your, Maria has this very beautiful nuance of very strong, but a kindness that comes with it simultaneously.

And I think that's reflected in your children too, but they've all made their own way and are making their own way, even though they come from a family that's achieving. True, you probably had to instill that in them. Well, I tried to talk to them about that. I tried to acknowledge that that was going to be challenging for them, that they had a very famous last name. They came from, they had famous parents. They came from kind of a long lineage and people would assume certain things about them and that I understood that, that I had come from the same place. That might be something their dad hadn't understood because I think it's very different when you're the one. making the legacy, this is the one inheriting it and having to uphold it and then trying to carve out your own version. And so I grew up in a legacy. I grew up with a family that said, here, look what we've done, match it, deal with it, honor it, take care of it, uphold it. What are you going to do

with it? And then I think Arnold built his own legacy, right? And so our kids have had to deal with like, okay, here it is. Do you want to honor it? Do you want to uphold it? Do you want to have anything to do with it? Do you want to be free from it? And so I've tried to have that conversation with them. You don't have to have anything to do with this if you don't want to. You can go off and do whatever you want to do. I think we were both very united in saying to them, you don't have to do what we're doing. You don't have to do what your grandmother, your grandfather did, but you have to do something. You have to find some way to give back to the world. You have to work. You have to develop a work ethic. You have to craft your own life, design your own life, but you don't have

to carry what your dad's done, what your mom has done, what your grandmother, your grandfather have done if you don't want to. If you do, great. I think, I mean, interrupt you, Maria, but I really think this is so important because the people that listen to the show, by and large, people that are breaking, they're becoming the one in their family for the most. I call it the one where you do sort of change your family tree forever, right? You're an achiever. And so most of you, you know, maybe you're not going to be the president or the governor, but you're the breakaway person in your family. And then if you're going to be raising children in that environment, this lesson's huge, that these conversations have to happen. I noticed even with my son Max when he was

younger, I started to sense this pressure that I wasn't putting on him, but our conditions put on him that he had to live up to what dad did or if I have an average life, it's going to be miserable because of what I came from. And I remember having these conversations with him very similar to what you've had. So you parents that are listening to this that are the achiever in your family, this is a really, really big deal. And if some of you don't know, I mean, you know, Marie was first lady of California when Arnold was the governor. And then she's also a Kennedy and a Shriver. And so there's a lot going on in that family. And, you know, when you have uncles that are the president of the United States.

And there's kind of a big version of what we're describing in our lives. But I just wanted to ask you that. And on that, it's like, I'm going to go to your books because I just recommend everybody, you should read these books, many of them. And by the way, you should read her Sunday paper every Sunday that comes out. It's awesome. It's your personal development person, there's so much richness in this experience. And Maria approaches it, she said testosterone earlier.

She even reminds me sometimes, dial that down a little bit. you know, there's a, there's a, there's not a lot of, I think often in self-help personal development. I don't know what I would call it. I don't even really believe in these things, but sort of a feminine energy to the same topics that brings a nuance in a perspective. Don't you agree that's different from someone else again? You bring that. Well, thank you.

And I think I just wanted to pick up on your thing about you're speaking to, quote, the one, people who are the one in the family who are breaking away, the achievers. I think there's so many ways that we don't talk about to, quote, break away or break a cycle. And it doesn't always have to be in being the, quote, successful one. There are so many different ways to break a cycle of silence that might exist in a family, a cycle of shame that might exist in a family. a cycle of, you know, shame, anger, all of these things that exist in families, there's a way to break those cycles as well and be the one in that respect.

So the one isn't necessarily the one making all the money. It's the one who is following their path, I think, who has the courage and the bravery to chart their own course. And I think that's really, you know, when we talk about feminine, strength. I think for I grew up in a time. My mother was certainly an incredibly strong woman started Special Olympics, was tough, but she dressed like a man. She only had male friends. She went to work with a briefcase like a guy. She was fighting all the time to be at that table. She smoked cigars. She only just kind of, you know, she was a force, right? And I came into journalism

when there were no women in it, right? And women were coming in and you had to wear a power suit and you had to work twice as hard. And if you had a baby, you had to come back in a week and you had to do a lot of things that perhaps this generation doesn't have to do. So I think what is the model of feminine, all-encompassing feminine strength?

And I try to speak a lot to the ideal of holding these qualities of tenderness and toughness strength and sexiness, feminine beauty and vulnerability, but also being aware that anger is in there, strength is in there, intelligence is in there, as is these other kind of more traditionally feminine qualities. And I think that's the conversation when we think about feminine power that I'd like to be having this generation and others to have. So it's kind of being able to take care of yourself but also need someone else and lean on someone else and be able to celebrate your femininity and your sexuality, but also hold your ground and have boundaries. And these are

things you learned through life, but that was not part of the conversation when I was in my 20s or 30s. By the way, I don't think, first off, everybody listening to this, you need to go rewind that part back and send that to your favorite woman not listening to the show right now. By the way, I want to just say, I don't think it's being said right now very much, which you just said, which is why you're so, so important. I think people know you, I know the multiple sides. I think a lot of people are getting exposed to this side of you, maybe on my show for the first time, this, this person who really reflects on life, really cares about human beings.

And I think there's, I don't know, I think one thing we share in common is like we, we, we take our life seriously. I don't take myself, maybe sometimes I take myself too seriously. you take this gift of being here pretty darn seriously like i i want to yeah i always call it maxing out but i i want to contribute as much as i can i want to grow as much as i can i want to i want to pause as much as i can at this stage of my life too that's become much more important but one thing i did do because my dad was good at this my father could care less about material things achievement it was not even really discussed it was who are you going to be not what are you going to be and i that's

something that my dad said over and over. So I'm researching more about my friend here. And I read this quote. You said, I've learned that asking ourselves not just what we want to be. I'm like, this is my father said this to me. But who do we want to be is important at every stage also of our lives. And she has this book called Just Who Will You Be? Right. But would you talk about that? And this changes, Maria. Wouldn't you agree at different stages of our lives? But not enough people ask the question. I think absolutely. I think, you know, it's a good time to ask it coming out of this pandemic. We're all very different people than we were before this pandemic. How are we coming out? How are we taking the gift of coming out and going out into the world? What have we learned?

How have we changed? What did we notice during that time, right? Who checked in on us? Who did we check in on? Who turned out to be important? What turned out to be important? So I think it's, you know, I used to always say that I noticed growing up in a political family, it was the only profession that penalized you if you changed your mind, and still does, by the way. It doesn't allow for you to have been affected by life, to change the mind. You're always, oh, you're a flip-flopper, you're a changer. And I don't want to, you know, to me, what's really troublesome, somebody at 50 who's exactly the same as they were at 30. Me too. That's a problem, because that means that for 20 years, nothing made you think, nothing made you reevaluate, nothing impacted you. How could that be?

How could that be? Right. And so like in that last book I wrote, I've been thinking I write a lot about all the things that I was wrong about that I've changed my ideas about because life has happened to me, right? My parents are both dead. I got separated after being with one person for 34 years. My kids are grown up. They've left their house. I've achieved certain things in my journalism career that, you know, propelled me. So I've got to be different at this age than I was in my 20s. That was one of my questions, Maria. What is one thing you used to really believe about life that you no longer believe? Just one thing. Oh my God. I mean, I used to think that, you know, weakness was kindness. I used to think that, you know, being,

gentle was a sign of weakness. I used to believe, oh my God, I have so many things I used to believe. I used to believe you had to earn your way into your parents' heart. I really believed that if I did well in my professional career, that my parents would love me. And if I didn't do well, they wouldn't. I was wrong about so many things. I believed that divorce was a huge sin. I believed that I grew up as a Catholic, you know, I believed that, you know, priests were infallible. I believed that women should be secretary citizens in the church. So today I'm angry at my church. I believed that the Democratic Party was the only way. I resigned from the Democratic Party. I believed, you know, I never believed I'd be sitting here single at my age. I would have thought

that that was like, what's up with that girl? That she's single. at that age, that she'd not have anybody who loves her. What's wrong with her? So there's a lot of stuff that I thought if I were that 30-something-year-old, 35, 40-year-old girl looking at me that I would have made a judgment about. Wow. How much of it is talent and is it something else? How much would you say? 10%. 10% is talent. 90% is the business. Wow. And what's the business to you? Is that the Hustle part, the persistence, so it's not just the hustles, but think about this, right? So at that time, I couldn't afford billboards. Okay.

I made it with T-shirts. I print up all these T-shirts, put them on homeless people, gave them a weight of people. There was my walking billboards. Then I couldn't afford the big, big billboards, and I say, what can I do? Since I got a sale to the students, I created this thing called bus benches. You just see all the stuff with the lawyers, information. They know, I'm about to put my music. stuff on that. You did. And that's what I did. So those things back then was like

$15, $25 a bus bench. And that's how I flood up the market. Wow. And so the business part of what I said, why it's 90%, then you got to go to the retail stores to sell your products. So back then it was the best buys, the Walmonds, the Targets, all those type of things, right? So then you got to go to the radio side. So now you got to have a sales team to go do all that so you could have one of the best my record could be one of the best records in the world but without people hearing it getting this on the radio building those relationships and having people go into that and actually bringing this and saying why you should play this so if you look at some of the biggest artists in the world why they sell out because they don't

understand the business part of this yeah and so by me being independently and say you know then i have to have a strong team and so that's when a sports thing kick in so i got to have my team members just as strong as me that's going to go out and represent this. So the 10% is on the artist. I can find a great artist, but it don't mean nothing if I don't have a machine to go and bring this play all the way to where it's a touchdown or it's a dunk. You know, you see what I'm saying? That's the difference between take a guy like, like God rest is DMX. Take a guy like him. With all due respect, is that one of the separators was your ability to have a team around you in a business?

Yeah. Well, also, too, if you're going to run a business, you can't have too many bad habits. Okay. And so, because now you've got all this stuff, so DMX was one of the greatest in the world. But he got all this other stuff that he carrying with him. Like, because everybody go through something. But now you got it, because the people looking for you to think.

So imagine, man, that's probably one of the, when I think about DMX is almost like with the things that he says. and how he believed in God and all this stuff, man, it's like a terrible loss for us. So imagine if he had the mindset right to not dibble and dabble into the negativity, he would have been dangerous. And so he had to use their system to be successful.

So they just used them as an artist. So it's a difference. That's why I keep telling people, and everybody ain't meant to be a boss or entrepreneur. So some people are meant to be workers. they might be better workers. And I think when you understand that, how you program.

So I was programmed from a kid. So even at five, six years old, I was carrying the elderly groceries. I was cutting grass. I was thinking like an entrepreneur. And so what I found out in the music business, right? So I started watching the A-Bone lady. The A-Bone lady selling her stuff out the trunk of a car.

Yes. That made me want to sell my CDs and cassettes out the trunk of the car. Just watching the Abolian lady. The Abolian lady's like, what do you keep watching me for you? You know, the police? I said, no, I was just trying to see what you do.

You say, I'm legit. I said, oh, she legit. I sell my stuff by the trunk of my car. Come on. That's incredible. That's what I started doing. You know, I've done, I don't know how many shows, hundreds of shows.

And when I asked somebody about success, you know that no one's ever said what you just said and you're so right. Sometimes it's not what you need to do more of. It's eliminating the one or two or three things you do that keeps setting you back. Yeah. Maybe it's, it could be

that you drink too much, you party too much. It could be subtle, though. It could be like you don't consistently make your contacts. You don't consistently make phone calls. So I love what you just said. See, that word, consistency. I tell people all the time, right? So consistency is the key.

That's where the dedication got to kick in, the sacrifice. But consistency is what's going to get you to the next level. It's doing something every day. And people might not even see the result. but you know I'm doing this every day. I'm going to get there no matter what. No matter who tell me no. Like you talked about Stephen A. Smith.

When I talked to Stephen A. Smith about my sons, you were like, oh, yeah, they could play. But how many people really believe? And then, you know, when you start capturing the moment and seeing that my kids get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, I know the ball family did it, why we can't do it. We've seen this happen. And so now people are starting to believe.

This is our message to the world to make the non-believers believe. That's what we do. My kids, me, we are going to make the non-believers believe. They don't have to do it right now. It might be 10 years from now. We're going to put in that much work till you be like, man, I remember those kids.

I remember this man. I remember him coming. Oh, everywhere you go, you got a cereal. People say, well, why you promote your stuff? Guess what? If you own it, every chance you get, you should be promoting it. Thank you.

Thank you. If you're a real business, man, you're a real entrepreneur. So what's going to make me want to buy it if you don't believe it? You know what's crazy that you just say that. I have friends that are in the financial business, right? And you go to an event with them and they'll leave. And then when they leave, people ask me, what's that guy do? I'm like, how did you come to this whole thing?

Yeah. You didn't tell anybody here. You miss your moment. You got to tell everybody what you do all the time. Social media, posting, texting, conversations, meetings. You can't be embarrassed to talk about your business with people. No, you can also be like, oh, this is too much. Right.

Wait a what's too much? What's too much? Thank you. If you have a business and a brand and you believe in it, I don't care where I'm going at, right? Thank you. You've got to act like you've got the cure for cancer. You had the cure for cancer. Would you keep it quiet?

Right? Gosh, thank you. That shows me, right? I tell people all the time, how are you going to sell me something if you don't believe in it? How are you going to sell me some shoes if you're not wearing it? Yes. Let's be honest. You're so right.

You're a bad salesman. If you ask me, why would I want to be a part of whatever you're doing? And guess what? you're not going to be my trainer to help me get in shape if you're not in shape. Thank you. Thank you. It's exactly right. Let's be honest. You're wasting my time.

You're showing me that you're just doing this for money. Because you're not dedicated to it. The only reason I want to be it with you because I'm thinking, okay, well, I need to get myself together the way you got yourself together. Master P just told you, listen to me, everybody. This is a man who's built one of the most iconic brands ever in the history of the rap, hip-hop game, number one.

Number two, NBA Talent. level basketball player number three prolific entrepreneur and he just told you it isn't too much you got you know this you all have this you about to go out to a little dinner party or something like that your wife's like hey don't come on too strong tonight about business you know let's keep don't listen to this stuff you guys there's not too much you I know when I was coming up as an entrepreneur even now people like I'm friends of mine like here he goes again well there we go that's what I do exactly think about how you think the mother company's got big as they are somebody believed in it

maybe it wasn't a boss it was somebody that took alone and said I got to go do my part what did you what did you what were you like earlier so clearly to me this is a man by the way I'm a sinner say by the grace of God

too let's be very clear but this is a man who's you know has God in his life his sons are remarkable young men that is not by mistake to be so proud of that and obviously you've built

this incredible business life I have to think in your industry there was a lot of dudes who went to excess and were you the guy who like would leave a little early and go home and get rest

so you got to go up the next day and still work or did you go through a stage in your life where you're a little bit lost too to be honest with you I told you I come from nothing I had no time to party or play or hang with those guys

really so I didn't get that type of childhood I didn't get that type of even me being successful in the music industry. I've always thinking I need to outthink these other people. I know if I sit down here and party and play with them, I'm done. They want to catch me slipping. They are not going to catch me slipping because I know what the ultimate goal is. I got to get, if I'm going to be better, I got to do better, I got to work, I got to get out here, I got to outwork them, I got to outthink of them.

I need to be 10 steps ahead of them. I need to be playing chess while they're playing checkers. And I got to show them that, no, I'm not just no dumb black guy. that you're going to just throw around because this is a white man business that I'm in, the music industry. Think about it. I'm in their game.

There's nobody looked like me that's making the type of money I'm making. I went from having nothing to being the top under 40 in Forbes because of that type of mindset saying I can't play with them. They want to catch me slipping. So you've got to realize anybody that's listening to this,

if you had something that you really want to make it in, people are looking for your downfall. And I don't care. In life, I told you, success is like a seesaw go up and down, but you're not going to beat me mentally. You're not going to catch me out there and play me and take me down. I don't care, like, even in the Bible, like, say God or make your enemies your footstool. Even if somebody says something negative about you, God will use that for something good

that they thought was going to be for evil. So you just got to keep going and keep doing the right thing. I always tell people it's accountability. And so, and accountability and integrity is all about doing what's right when nobody's looking. And so I couldn't worry about what they was doing. I already knew, especially as a black man,

I shouldn't be in this anyway. I should be an artist. Right. So I need to take my, I should be talent. I should be talent. So now if I'm going to be a boss, I got to take myself home early. If I'm going there, I'm not going no well

unless that it's going to benefit me. Like, you're going to pay me my work. You know, you're not going to look down on me. And I'm not about, so to me, I think that's what we mess up at, thinking that you want to play in a game where you're not wanting. I'm only there because, yes, my talent has got me into this room. My success has got me into this room, but do they really want me here? No.

So that means I got to work 10 times harder than them. I got to outdo them. And when they go home, they got to be like, man, that black man over there, man, he's still working. His computer's still low. He's still in the gym. And that's what I teach my kids. It's like, you know what, we're the underdogs.

My company name no limit, but guess what? I'm the underdog. I come from nothing. They don't think I'm smarter. They don't think I'm, you know, I know more than them. Because think about it, right? It's these traditional business, older gentlemen that think they understand the game.

And it's like, the game has changed. You got to have an open mind to the youth to what's going on. That's why my business is so strong right now. That's why I'm still relevant. because I have an open mind for the next generation. These people live all of tradition. That's why we're able to have Snoop cereal, Brodus Food, because they think a tradition.

We're thinking, you know what, we could beat y'all with social media. Yes. We could get this to every kid in the world, every person that loved, because they say 90% of the world is cereal. So now I've got to figure out how to get this same way I did with the music. So when you look at it, right, we sold 100 million records, but that wasn't just to African-American. When I started going to my shows and seeing that,

I did a show in Tyler, Texas. It was 35,000 white kids. And I'm asking the promoter, you show this my show. You say, P, they love you. They sung it word for word. That's when I knew that I crossed over. That I have business people now that I go into these rooms that I don't look at color.

So when I looked at, okay, well, I saw. how many to, when I first got on the label with the distribution deal with prod. They told me I was going to sell, if I sell 10,000 records, we could pop bottles. 10,000. My first week, if you sell 10,000, we could pop bottles. I put the Ice Cream Man album out.

But I've already then went to all these cities, put t-shirts, visit all these places. I did all the street team market on my own. So I was putting up posters and I have my hoodie on and they'd be like, oh, oh, you look like the guy on that pa I said nah man that ain't me man we all look like dead in Louisiana so I'm putting my stuff up but I believe I couldn't lit nobody else somebody would have threw my posters in the garbage can I need to get out here and do

it you did it yourself I physically did it myself and guess what that first week we sold 50 something thousand units nobody knew who I was they couldn't believe it it it was like the next thing you know 100000 200 000 went platinum and that's when they had NW they had they had ice cube they had the ghetto boys this was all on one label they had Jay Z all these guys was on one label

man wow and so that's why I put my trust in faith and God it's not about me that's why I say I'm going me because without that faith I wouldn't be here but faith without works is dead like you said earlier and I had to get and put the work in you know what and two faith is first because when you have faith that you'll put the work

in that there'll be a harvest parable of the sower right in the Bible And you know what this is This is no pun intended I mean this this is a master class Yes People will be watching this interview I'm serious 10 years from now

This is this is that level I'm gonna tell you something I love my people And I want to educate the ones That want to listen Because they are some people That don't want to listen They're like well

I'm gonna do it this way I'm saying you know what Look at my mistakes And look at my success And then choose Talk about your mistakes for a minute Do you don't have to tell me What they were

But I'm sure you've had I've had failures in business All the time. Have you learned from them and what have you learned from the times you failed? I learned so much and I'm excited.

I know like think about that first people thought you just need to get money to be successful. I learned importance of credit that's your report card. I could go get whatever I want with credit.

I don't even need the money. Most of these big deals are not done with money. It's done on your word, done on credit. Oh, my. My gosh, that's so good. And everybody's going to feel.

Don't be afraid to get back up. If you look at some of the best people in the world that are successful, I don't care what you look at from the Brian James, go look at the Brian James as example. He didn't win a high school championship to his last year. Go look at Michael Jordan, he got cut from the high school team and he ended up being one of the greatest players in the world. Brady was a backup quarterback on his high school team. Brady was a backup quarterback.

Think about it. One of the ghosts now. And so when you look at this stuff, it amazed you knowing that everybody come from something where they had to, I look at Damon Little right now, right? He was number 1,000 and something. No one believed in him.

Steph Curry was 1,000 and something. These guys, some of the. the top players in the NBA, 6-2. How could you be running a franchise at 6-2? That's what I tell my kids. I'm like, don't get caught up by the numbers. We don't care about rankings. We don't care about none of that.

It cannot be hard work. Hard work is going to see that. Do not try to cheat the game. They got people who don't realize that failures is going to get you to where you need to be at. So use that. Use that.

It's not a race. It's a marathon. Nipsey Hustle said it the best. And when you look at that, if you're in a rush, that's like being, so you get up driving. I come in my neighborhood, somebody flying past me, trying to get to where they're going, then I catch them at the light.

I'm like, you did all that to go nowhere. And my thing is, what I learned, stop running in place. Because most people think they're going somewhere, but if you're running in place, you're not going nowhere. You can't just live your. life on the treadmill. If you're going to run around the block

or the park or the gym or whatever, get out there and run. Running and place gets you nowhere. And the most important thing that I realize, a turkey and an eagle look alike, but it's not the same. A turkey on the ground,

he can't fly. A eagle fly high. And most of the time, eagles fly alone. Don't be afraid to be alone. Don't be afraid to be alone because think about it. He always says, alone at the top, yeah, because nobody else really want to work. People want to come eat the bread. I'll tell you all the time,

you know what, if you don't come in here and bake the bread and get your hands dirty with me and get all this dough all on you, they don't come to the party to eat the bread. You're not invited. You're not, because I'm going hard. Every day, I'm working hard. I'm building something. They're not going to say that we wasn't working.

They're not going to say that we wasn't trying to do the right thing. You know, I wake up in the morning saying, I'm going out and better myself. I don't care if I'm super on top, because I know one thing is somebody else working, too. And when you get comfortable, that's when you fall. That's a million percent, right.

I think there's three people, three types. There's people who just, they're not busy at all. Then there's people who are, like, busy. That's different than doing the work that moves the needle. What you mean about running in place. A lot of you out there, and I mean this is all due respect, you're like, no, I put a lot of hours in your seat. What did you actually do?

Like, you actually handed the shirts out. You actually worked out of the truck. Most people want to be supervisors. They do. That's exactly it. You don't want to be a boss. You want to be a supervisor. Exactly.

But you want the boss paycheck. Yes. Yes. And all you want to do is sit around and complain and talk about the boss. I'm not talking about the boss. When I had to be the worker, yes, sir, boss. Thank you, boss. I appreciate your boss because you're giving me an opportunity.

And don't be mad at me that I turned into the boss. because I watch what the boss do. And I learned from the boss mistakes and then I was able to apply that game with what I'm doing and say what to do and what not to do. And then if I don't like what the boss saying, then I need to go create my own.

That's what entrepreneurs do. Like we don't get mad. We don't play a hate on people. We just like, you know what? Okay, this don't work for me. Instead of me working for you, I need to go create something for me. And that's all I've done.

So if somebody get mad or jealous of me, it's like, you know what? I don't know everything and I don't need to know everything I don't even need to know where this company or with his brand like I'll say how many are we gonna sell

I've never looked at it like that I love the process I'm gonna get out here and work and create this because I told you wealth is created by ideas so I created something I'm happy with it

I'm gonna get out there I'm gonna go put it to the world and then I'm not gonna say oh we're gonna sell a billion of these no I want to sell one first I'm the same way I'm not gonna even tell you nothing like that oh we're going to make billions of no I'm not doing that but I'm going

to tell you one thing I'm going to make the best product it's going to taste the best I got a great system I got the best distribution and then I'm going to let God do the rest and then God has that in store for me for this to be one of the biggest brands in the world then it will be but I didn't did my part because we just talked about that earlier fate without work is dead I don't put the work in but I'm not trying to count the chickens for the egg hatch and so that's the mentality that I have. I just keep out there grinding, keep going, never looking back. When they tell me no, they say you can't do it, P.O. Well, you ain't going to make it. I'm like, man, y'all crazy because I came from nothing and watch what I'm about to do. You thought that

what I did 10, 20 years ago? You ain't seen nothing because I'm just getting started. So you say, what makes you get up in the morning and go so hard? I feel like I'm just getting started. Especially in this game. I've never done this before. I've mastered the music industry. Now I've got to go master the food industry. So I got to educate myself. I got to with people I got to study the game I'm constantly reading because I tell you all the time if you don't understand business you have to do more studying than anything else like you need to know what you do you need to know what you sell it you need to know your product you need to know the people you

putting out there to represent you you know the mistake most people make they go yeah I do I'm like no it never ends no right do you know it's okay not to know right that's why you seeking the information that's why you study like think about it so I tell I tell my kids You want to be great basketball players? Go study the game. I don't care if you're doing all kind of dunks, you can shoot whatever.

Guess what? The thing, what they're looking at your IQ. They got guys 6-2 that ain't that big, but their basketball IQ is incredible. That's why they're making the money they make it. That's why Steph Curry making the money. He's an expert. He ain't come out the hood.

Now, I told my kids, y'all are in the best world now because you could go get all these top trainers and you could be just as good as a kid in the hood. I had to go off of, I don't have nothing. My passion drove me, but now you could really go off of, let me put the work in. No matter if you live in a mansion or you live in the projects, it don't even matter. If your work ethic is the same and you really love what you're doing and you're passionate about, you can make it. You can make that two percent.

Now, now if you're thinking that now, you just got to be from the projects to have heart. No. You know what my kids said the other day on a talk show about basketball, he in high school. Matt Barnes asked him, so one word, describe your game. He said, I'm a dog. Dog, I love it. And that's what I create. I love it.

Like, we dogs. That's how I get up in the morning. I say, look, with this Boxing series, I say, well, what people are? I'm a dog. When I come in, I don't care what salesperson you have, here I go. The dog is here, nothing. That's what I told Snoop. We dogs.

Like, we, the cats ain't going to make it. Always bet on the dog. Bet on it. Always. Listen to me, everybody. By the way, this is one of the greatest conversations of all time, just so you know. I just so you know, and I have to tell you, always bet on the dog. People tell me that when I hire people, even like, I don't even always hire the smartest or most talented people.

I will take this person who will outwork everybody every single time. Because, by the way, it might not even be in that. That work with your sons might be in basketball. That might turn in something else. I came from basketball. Look at where I met now. That can travel. I tell my son that all the time.

I call my son a gladiator, but I tell them that all the time. And by the way, he grew up in some comfort, too, unlike how I grew up. Tell him that all the time. That will travel. You might not be in golf. Maybe it'll be in business. Maybe it'll be as a father. I don't know.

But I know that hard work, that living with integrity stuff, that wins eventually. Because it is a long game. Life is a long game. Now, some people take the long game and go, well, I'm pacing myself. It's a sprint the whole marathon, right? So let me tell you something, right? Nothing is going to be easy. even with our kids

we got to let them overcome their adverse I don't care you might live in a nice house but you're still going to deal with some adversity I don't care whether it's at school might be with the players on your team we have to let them go through their adversity and that's what we was able to go through our own adversity

and so when I look at life I said wow if you do the right thing you're going to come out on top if you don't none of us ain't going like we can't stop our kids from going through whatever they got to go through. Even though we might try them, give them a nice life and do this,

you can still walk out of that dough and go be an a-ho. Think about it. See, people always say money change, people know money enhance who you are. It's a magnifier. It do. And so I've always had a good heart

to help people, even when I had no money. So what do you think I'm going to do what I have money? But I'm not going to let people use me. So what I focus on, I focus on the young kids and the elderly. Because I feel like I want the people that want a hand up, not out. And so most people, they come in with a hand out.

I'm like, nobody gave me nothing. Like if I had died in them projects, if I went to prison, you wouldn't care about me. Think about it. I decided to do right and change my life now. Oh, with Pia, you think I'm going to change your life? No, I can't just change a person's life. I'm not God.

Only God could do that. But what I can do is I can give you the right advice. I can show you. I could help you. If we decide to do things together and build something, a partnership of business, then that's fine. But the Bible say, no man, oh, no man, nothing but love. That's it.

And if you do that and be there for your neighbors, don't wait until it's too late. So my whole thing is, if I could stay on that path, everything else is going to be okay all going to take care of rest and that's how I live I have to tell you something brother you were just talking

I literally I don't even know why it happened I just said a prayer I just said I feel so blessed that I'm in this conversation I do and I'm so blessed I'm so blessed that this is like millions of people are going to hear this from you like I knew this was well no I didn't I hope today was going to be good

well the thing about it is like for me I keep telling you I don't need to know everything I don't need to know how things are going to go I really just let go or leave me on the journey I'm on like even when people want to hate on me

or want to stop me right my thing is the thing that we have to realize there's people hate is from a distance you can see that that motivate me when somebody know or don't know me

and they're trying to stop me from getting somewhere or do something okay that's hate that's motivation but when it's in your circle it's en being jealousy that's the part that I don't like we got to stop that self-hate to where if you're in somebody circle

and you hate on somebody that's trying to help that's just going to come back on you that end being jealousy never going to get you no one God always showed me like okay and on that journey because I would tell you this is a journey

I like to see that okay man I give people money to leave because I don't want I want you to go in where I'm about to go at. We're going to a whole other level now. I had to pay family members. I had an uncle.

I told my grandma, I said, he ain't good for my business. His customer service is bad. He just think this because we got money. He talked to people in any kind of way. I say, oh, he'll go a couple of dollars, go do whatever you want to do, start your own business. I don't need you in my business. Wow.

Because you're going to mess up my business. To get out of the circle. Get out the circle. My circle is small. Me too. But you know why it's small? I don't, so I don't have time to explain to people that really don't have the integrity to go on the journey with me.

I feel like I'm wasting time. I'm not wasting time no more, so I'm good with saying, look, this is not for you. This is not, you're not on a journey that's going to last a lifetime with us. You was on the season. You're right. You're season over with nothing. And I think the longer you keep someone like that around you, the more it grows. It can have a big, once you sense someone shouldn't be in your circle or in your business,

The sooner you get that out, the better because it can start to spread. I tell you, I don't want headache money. I don't care how big your idea is and you're going to go and we're going to make all of them. I say, you know, I don't want headache money. Man, I want some money that I could be like, man, I'm happy to work with this person. I can't wait to see you. Let's go get this done. Headache money is the worst kind of money because you need aspirin.

I don't want no headache money, man. I'm cool on that. Y'all can keep your headache. my tip you all the time all money ain't good money i don't turn down so many deals that was the one thing my grandfather taught me before he passed he said he says son never do a deal when you're desperate and i don't and never do business with shaking people because if it started off shaking you're going to end shaking the wisdom coming out of you is just so profound everything you say i got to tell you the other thing you said earlier about by the way i'm stealing that from you i know the

headache money thing. That's mine. Just so you know, that's mine. But the other thing I got to tell you is this idea about not needing to know everything. Yeah.