The Resilient Mind - You Have Greatness Within You - Les Brown

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

Les Brown is a dynamic personality and highly-sought-after resource in business and professional circles for Fortune 500 CEOs, small business owners, non-profit and community leaders from all sectors of society looking to expand opportunity. Book: ⁠You've Got To Be HUNGRY: The GREATNESS Within to Win⁠Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to You Have Greatness in You with Les Brown. Get access to the Resilient Mind Journal by clicking the link in the show notes. Enjoy. How many have major goals you'd like to achieve? Raise your hands, please. Major goals you'd like to achieve. Fantastic.

Shakes the one's hand on your right and left. Look them in the eyes and say, you have something special. You have greatness within you. Do that right now, please. Very good. I'd like to ask audiences how many have major goals you'd like to achieve. And I want to ask you another question, because I've been reflecting on this. Last year, I had a reoccurrence of the Little C cancer.

Fifteen years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and given a two-to-three-year prognosis. One of the things I think that doctors should never tell someone when they're terminally ill. What they should say is my knowledge and ability to help you has terminated. But I've been reflecting on my life. life and I want to ask you, and I know you've done things you feel good about, things that you're proud of, but how many of you know if you had your life to live over again, you could have done more than what you've done thus far? Raise your hands, please. That proves a point that what we do and what we accomplish in life is only a tip of the iceberg of what's possible for us. So I want

to share some thoughts with you. I want you to think about three goals that you'd like to achieve in three areas of your life. Number one, what's one personal goal that you'd like to achieve? When did you think about that? My first personal goal was to buy my mother a home. I'm one of seven children that my adopted mother adopted. And I feel like Abraham Lincoln who said, all that I am and all that ever hoped to be, I owe to my mother.

She was a domestic worker on Miami Beach in the United States, and she cleaned homes and she kept children. And we wore the hand-me-down clothes of the children that she kept. She cooked for families, and we ate the food left over from the families that she cooked for. These were very kind and generous people. They would say, maybe whatever food is left over, you can pack it up and take it home to those children that you have adopted. And I used to walk around these big, beautiful mansions, and I said, Mama. And she said, what is it, Leslie?

When I become a man, I'm going to buy you a big, beautiful home, just like this. How many have somebody special you'd like to do something? for, raise your hands, please. Very good. We're going to show you how you can make that happen. Now, I want you to think about your financial goals, growing your business, of advancing your career, taking your life to the next level. I want you to think about the goals that you've set for yourself, why you've invested in yourself and being here. And whatever the goals are that you've set for yourself, and I hope you've raised the bar on yourself, I want you to multiply it a hundredfold. I've found that most people fail in life not because,

because they aim too high and miss. I found that most people fail in life because they do what I did for most of my life, aim too low and hit. And many never aim at all. Now I want you to think about your social contribution. What will be different because you showed up? Horace Mann said we should be ashamed to die

until we've made some major contribution to humankind. One of the goals I have is reduced the number of women who died from breast cancer. My mother was a 22-year breast cancer conqueror. How many men over 40? Raise your hands, please. Men over 40, very good. When it goes every time I speak, I encourage men to get their PSA test, which stands for prostate-Pacific Andergen and the digital rectal examination. And I'll be glad, Nick, and check our prostate by walking in our ears. It's got to be a better way. I'm turning red as I talk about it, but you can't see it.

A friend of mine was at a medical convention. Hey, Les, let me give you a free rectal. Said, no buddy, you too motivated. Homie don't roll like that, you know. When it goes I have is teaching people how to tell their story. How to grow their business, be the voice of their business, how to improve the customer service, how to develop their leadership voice, how to go from being local to being global.

I want you to think about the things that you want to do with your life the kind of impact that you want to make. And as you think about those three categories, let us say together with conviction, it's possible. Together, please. Everybody together, please. Say it's possible.

You know, the easiest thing I do is come up here, prepare to speak for you. But the most difficult thing that I've ever done and took me years to do was to believe that I could do it. Given my beginning, born an abandoned building on a floor in a poor section of Miami, Florida, called Liberty City with a twin brother, being adopted,

being labeled, educable, mentally retarded in the fifth grade, and put back from the fifth grade to the fourth grade, and failing again in the eighth grade, and not having any college education. And if both my birth parents stood up and said, hello, son, I would not know either one. You know, I saw a movie late one night and this movie called McNulia, Tom Cruise, and there was a line in there that said, we might be through with our past,

but our past is not through with us. How many of you know there are things that we've experienced that can impact the way we see ourselves? Raise your hand as you understand that. And so as you look at yourself and look at your goals, I want you to write this down. You don't get in life what you want, you get in life what you are.

You have to create an achiever's mindset. You have to create that yourself. My favorite book says, be you not conform to this world, be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. And what you're doing right now is an indication of what's most important. As you begin to invest in yourself,

setting side of time to be here, this is the era of the late Peter Drucker calls, the era of the three Cs, accelerated change, overwhelming complexity, and tremendous competition. So as you look at yourself and look at your goals, setting aside time every day to work on your mindset, to expand your vision of what's possible for you. They did an interview with Warren Buffett, one of the richest men on the planet, as you're aware.

And they asked him, say, what's the most important investment people can make today? And this was in the middle of the recession in the United States. Here's a guy that has billions of dollars in real estate, billions of dollars in the stock market, and he said the most important investment you can make is in yourself. Everybody repeat after me please, live full. Die empty. Say it again, live full. Die empty.

After having 238 radiation seed implants, I was reading one night some words by Dr. Haworthar Thurman, who was a mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Albert Schweitzer, to Mahatma Gandhi. He wrote, Deep is to Hunger, the voice of the genuine, the sintering moment. As I was reflecting on his words, he said, The ideal situation for a man, a woman to die is that family members praying with them as they cross over.

He said, but imagine if you will being on your deathbed and standing around your bed, the ghost of the dreams, the ideas, the abilities, the talent given to you by life, but you for whatever reason, you never pursued those dreams. You never acted on those ideas. You never used those gifts. You never used those talents. And there they are staring at you as you're lying on your bed with large angry eyes saying, we came to you.

And only you could have given us life. And now we must die with you forever. And the question is, if you died today, what dreams? What talents? What abilities? What gifts? what ideas would die with you. One minister out of the Hamas said,

the wealth is placed on the planet. It's not in the four east where there's oil on the ground. It's not in South Africa where there are diamond mines. He said, the wealth is placed in the planet. It's the cemetery. There you see potential never realized. There you find books never written. There you find ideas never acted on.

Maybe that's why Henry David Rhodes said, Oh, God to reach the point of death, only to realize that you've never lived, only to realize that you've never scraped the surface of your potential. Let us say again, live full, die empty. And so as you think about your goals and dreams, I'm suggesting that you set aside time every day if you're not doing it already. Reading 10 to 15 pages of something positive every day, listening to audio programs, investing in yourself to expand your mind for what it's possible, to develop a spirit of optimism. And then the next thing is, let us say together, it's necessary.

You see, not only is it possible that you can live your dream and that you have to sell yourself on that every day. There's an African proverb that says, if there's no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm. I didn't do this for 14 years because I convinced myself I couldn't do it. I would go see the late Zig Ziglin, Jim Rowan, and the late Dr. Norman Vincent Peel, and I saw Tony Robbins, and my heart said, I could do that. How many like to help people, raise your hands, please? I said, I can do that. And then when I would go to the parking lot, my inner voice would become activated and say,

Les Brown, you can't do that. You don't have a college education. Les Brown, you can't do that. You've never worked for a major corporation. Les Brown, you can't do that. Who wants to hear anything you've got to say? How have you ever thought about something you wanted to do and you, you talk yourself out of it? Raise your hands, please.

And so that's why it's necessary that we work on ourselves and let us say together, OQP, only quality people. Write that down. As you think about your goals and dreams over the next two days, it's very important that you look at the people in your life and you ask a question, what is this relationship doing to me? MIT did a study. The study indicated that you earned within $2 to $3,000 of your closest friends. Whoa, when I heard that, I got a lot of broke people out of my life. My mama said, son, if you run around with nine broke people, I guarantee you you'll become number 10.

Dr. Dennis Kimbrough out of Atlanta said, if you're the smartest one in your group, you need to get a new group. So as you think about your goals and dreams, detoxify your life. Less cannot change them. No. It's a full-time job changing yourself. And there's some people that's so negative they can walk into a dark room and begin to develop. And so it's very important that you look at the people that's in your circle and begin to understand, are you growing mentally and emotionally and spiritually and professionally? Are there an asset to you or liability to you? The other thing is, as you look at your goals and look at your dreams,

Let us repeat this, please. Make you move before you're ready. Yeah, write that down. See, I said, well, I don't have a college education. I don't have any paper or alphabets behind my name. And I realize that if you want to make it in life, you want to make your mark, you've got to become a risk taker. Viscott said, if you're not willing to risk, you cannot grow.

And if you cannot grow, you can't become your best. And if you can't become your best, you can't be happy. And if you can't be happy, then what else is there? I like what Helen Keller says. She said, life is short and unpredictable. Eat the dessert first. So you have something special. You are here because there's something in your heart of hearts that said, I want more.

I can do more. You are here because you're different. How many of you know people who should be here? Raise your hands, please. Yeah, so you're here because you're different. You're uncommon. One man said, I choose not to be a common man. It's my right to be uncommon if I can.

I seek opportunity, not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen humbled and dull by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk, to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to live from hand to mouth. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence. The thrill of fulfillment to the still calm of utopia. I would never call before any master, nor been to any threat. It's my heritage to stand direct, proud and unafraid to face the world boldly and say, this I have done. Give yourselves a round of applause for having an uncommon desire to reach your goals, to achieve something great with your life.

Bring your level of energy up. So as you look at yourself, not only must we begin to upgrade our relationships, but the other thing is, as you look at your goals and look at your dreams, write this down. You will fail your way to success. See, 85% of people allow their fear of failure to outweigh their desire to succeed. You're going to make some mistakes, and it's okay. Anything that's worth doing is worth doing badly. is worth doing right if you know how to do it,

but if you don't know how to do it, it's worth doing badly until you get it right. You have to be willing to experiment with life. I've done a variety of things that I had absolutely no idea. I have the ability to do those things. Here's what I can say about you, and I don't even know you. You've got greatness within you, but you will not discover your greatness in your comfort zone.

You've got to be willing to get outside of your comfort zone, because in order to do something you've never done, you've got to become someone you've never been. And most people, they go to their graves with their greatness still in them. Maybe that's why one woman said in a moment of anguish, what if you live your whole life only to discover that it was wrong? Here's something else as you think about your goals and dreams. What's your why? Why do you want to do it?

What drives you? This is my mother. She was 46 years old when she adopted first Wesley and I and then five other children. And she was a driving force in my life. Which one am I? On the right or the left. I'm the cute one. Which one am I now? I'm the one on the left.

All right, yes, thee. And as you think about your goals and dreams, think about somebody that you love, that inspired you, someone that you love that you admire. And I think about my background. And this is Wesley and I eating sugar cane. You see, we were not born with a silver spoon in our mouths there. Do you all eat sugar cane here in Australia? Anybody ever had sugar cane?

Most of you have not just two people here. Yeah, it's sweet. It's interesting. You know, we were born in the area of Florida where you eat sugar cane, Donald Trump, father gave him $200 million to become successful. How many of you know if I give you $200 million, you got a good shot of becoming successful? Raise your hands, please. My mama gave us two pieces of sugar cane, and we had an advantage.

Room always get quiet when I say that. Donald Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. If you had a choice between eating a silver spoon and eating sugar cane, which one would you eat? Sugar cane, I told you we had an advantage. That's what I'm talking about. And then I met someone who changed my life. See, what we do and what we accomplish in life is a result of the story we believe about ourselves.

And I met this friend. I was a disc jockey at the time. And he said, Les Brown, you're more than a disc jockey. Less Brown, you're more than a paycheck. Less Brown, you can do more. How many of you had somebody see something in you you didn't see it yourself. Raise your hands, please. And I couldn't see it at the time. But he continued to talk to me. Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing. And eventually,

I became an entrepreneur. I began to book concerts and not just doing a radio show, but I invited entertainers to come to town. And these little guys came in 1973. There I am standing in the back. That's Michael Jackson there at 10 years of age. 1973. I didn't know who they were going to become. They didn't know who I was going to become. The hand that you shook in the audience, you have no idea whose hand you just shook. You don't know who they are. I has not seen. Ear has not heard. Nor has entered a heart of mankind what God has in store. For that person whose hand you just shook, that person, they have greatness within them. And you have greatness within you. And to prove it, you were chosen one out of 400

million sperm. There's something in you. And God said, I want you, I want you, I want you, I want you, I want you. There's something you have that the world needs not. If you don't give it to us, we will all be deprived. And so as you think about your goals and dreams, how many of you like to make a difference in your community? Raise your hands, please. You have the ability to do that. I ran for the Ohio legislature. Had no idea, had the ability to do that. Pass 14 bills my first term. You have greatness within you. You can make more impact than you can ever begin to imagine when you're willing to challenge yourself. Let us say together, leap. Everybody together say leap and grow your wings on the way down. Yeah, see, one of the things about life, you're going to get hurt, you're going to make

some mistakes, you're going to fail your way to success. But you've got to be willing to experiment. You've got to be willing to push yourself. You've got to be willing to challenge yourself by putting yourself in a perpetual state of discomfort. And so the things happen in life. When you have goals and dreams, things happen. Had no idea. Midway of my third term, my mother became ill. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. And my brothers and sisters called me and said they're going to put her in a nursing home. And I said, no. They said, we thought you would say that. We've interviewed the best nursing homes in Dade County. I said, I said no. So I had a problem. How can one woman raise seven children who couldn't take care of themselves, but seven grown people couldn't take care of one woman?

I had a problem with that. And I said, no. So I resigned from the Ohio legislature, and I came back to Miami to take care of Mama and took care of until 89. And there are things as you have your goals. Things are going to happen to you that you can't anticipate. some of you in the eye of the storm now, things are going to happen. And don't say, why does this have to happen to me? Why not you?

Who would you suggest? You want to give us some names or email addresses? That's really what I said the second time I got cancer. They told me that cancer had metastasized the seven areas of my body. I started laughing. He said, why are you laughing? Are you in denial? I said, no, I feel like Mother Teresa.

He said, what do you mean? She said, Lord, I know you know how much I can bear. I just wish you didn't have so much confidence in me. There's times in your life when things are going to happen, that you've got to begin to put your dream on hold. And you might have to reinvent yourself. How many have already gone through that? Raise your hands, please.

It's called life. And don't tell everybody about it. 80% don't care. And 20% glad is you. You have to suck it up. and handle it. That's what it called being in business, being an entrepreneur, being a risk taker, walking by faith and not by sight. Stuff happens to you. And so I had to go in a new direction. And I decided to tell my story. How many of you got a story? Raise your hands,

please. How many of you gone through some things in life that you can teach some other people, raise your hands, please. How many of you like me had periods in your life when you were temporarily insane? Raised. See, there are some people. I wonder those I have a training 100,000 voices of hope outside of politics and outside of religion, both of which I believe unwittingly polarize and divide people and teach people how to deliver a message of hope and give people methods and techniques that will help them to change their lives and begin to move their lives to another level. You have something special. You have greatness within you. That story that you have can impact people's lives. Mike Williams talked to me and it changed my life. It began

to expand my vision. How many of you have a college education? Raise your hands, please. Very good. Over 90 percent. How many ever give a lecture at Harvard University? Raise your hands please. No hands up. That's in your future. Shake somebody's hand on your right and left and say, that's in my future. That's in my future. Everybody point at me right now. Point at me right now. Point at me lovingly right now. Say, Les Brown. Everybody together, say, Les Brown.

If you can do it, I can do it. And this time when you say, I can do it, said with conviction, point at me again, Les Brown. If you can do it,

I can do it. Shake someone's hand and you're ready to left and say, I'm ready to play a bigger game. Do that right now. So I'm ready to play a bigger game. Absolutely. Yes.

It says you look at yourself and look at your goals. There are some things that you can do when you challenge yourself, when you go outside your comfort zone, there are things that will come in the direction of your life that you can't even begin to imagine, that you're going to begin to evolve and go to new levels that will amaze you. And I tell you these things, not to impress you, but to impress upon you, you have something special.

You have greatness within you. You have the ability to do more than you can ever begin to imagine. And so what I am suggesting that you do is to stretch yourself. that you constantly look for ways as an entrepreneur, how can you begin to set yourself apart from the competition? What is it that you can do that can make you stand out? What are the market takeaways that you can do? One of the things that I learn as a speaker, as a trainer,

as an entrepreneur, and a small business operator, is that you've got to find something that you love and that you master that. Henry David Thoreau said, do not go where the path may lead, but go where there's no path and leave a trail. As you look at yourself as a business operator, as you look at yourself as an entrepreneur, as you look at yourself as a person that want to make a mark with your life, that want to leave a legacy. You've got to be hungry.

Let us say together, I'm hungry to do more. I'm hungry to stretch myself. I'm hungry to take my life to another level. I never forget this gentleman that I'm going to talk with tomorrow. in his 90s, he's blind from glaucoma. And I never forget. He said, young man, go to the board and work this problem out for me. And I said, sir, I can't do that.

He says, why not? I said, I'm not one of your students. He said, look at me, yes, sir. Go to the board and work the problem out anyhow. I said, I can't, sir. And the other student started laughing. And say, he's Leslie. He's got a twin brother Wesley.

Wesley is smart. He's D.T. He said, what's D.T? He's the dumb twin. And I said, I am, sir. As the students laughed as some of you did. And he came from behind his desk. He looked at me.

He said, don't you ever say that again? Someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. And that was a turning point in my life. On one hand, I was humiliated. But on the other hand, I was liberated. Because he looked at me with the eyes of Gertr who said, look at a man the way that he is. He only becomes word.

But look at him as if he were what he could be, then he becomes what he should be. He said, young man, what do you want to do with your life? I said, sir, I want to make my mother proud, sir. He said, how do you plan to do that? I said, when I get out of high school, I'd like to be a disjockey. Is that right? I said, yes, sir. He says, good.

I'm going to tell you some things to do. I said, what is? He says, number one, he said, I want you to work on your mind. He said, here's some motivation materials. I want you to listen to by Dr. Norman Vincent Peel and Earl Nightingale. Train your thinking. Write this down. This is very important.

What you think about, you bring about. He said, I want you to train your mind to serve you. And I want you to focus on becoming a disc jockey every day. I want you to see yourself on the radio talking to thousands of people. I want you to see yourself doing the things that you want to accomplish. Hold the vision. And I encourage you to do the same thing. Whatever area, whatever you want to do, whatever business that you're in, wherever industry that you're in,

you want to see yourself there and hold the picture of what it is you want to accomplish. And I said, sir, I said, I want to be a disjockey, but I don't have a job yet. And then he quoted Whitney Young. He said, young man, it's better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared. He said, you've got to be hungry. I said, I am hungry, sir. He said, good. Here are my car keys. At 12 noon, I want you to go on my car

and turn on the radio and listen to Paul Harvey. Who is Paul Harvey, sir? He's the world's greatest communicator. He said, whatever you want to do, you want to find people who master that because success leaves clues. And that's the same thing I'm suggesting to you. Whatever area that you want to go in,

and it's finances and business, insurance industry, whatever area that you were interested in, find the people who are mastering that and follow their example. He said, and let me share something else. I said, yes, sir. He said, watch your relationships. They're nourishing relationships and they're toxic relationships. Nourishing relationships, they bring the best out of you.

They inspire you. Toxic relationships, they drain you. I said, I will, sir. I do exactly what you're telling me to do, sir. And then he said, Mr. Brown. Yes, sir. I've given you everything I can give you. You've got to go out into the marketplace and face the music. I said, thank you, sir. I went to apply for a job on Miami Beach. Milton Butterball Smith was a program director. Hello, Mr. Butterball. How are you, sir? My name is Les Brown, sir. I like to be a disc jockey. Young man, do you have any journalism in your background? No, sir, I don't. Do you have experience in broadcasting? No, sir, but I visualize myself being on the air every day, sir. I practice. All I want is a shot. Just give me a shot. He says, no, we don't have any job for you. How have you ever been rejected?

Raise your hands, please. I was devastated with rejection. I went back and I said, hey, Mr. Washington, they said, no. He said, don't take it personally. Most people are so negative, they have to say no seven times before they say yes. He said, you got to be hungry. Go back again. I said, yes, sir.

Hello, Mr. Butterfall. How are you, sir? My name is Les Braun, sir. I like to be a disc jockey. Young man, weren't you here yesterday? Yes, sir? Didn't I tell you no yesterday? Yes, sir. Then why are you back today? Well, sir, I didn't know whether or not somebody was laid off or somebody was fired, sir. Nobody was laid off of fire. Now, get on out of here. I came back the next day.

Hello, Mr. Butterball. How are you, sir? My name is Les Brown, sir. I like to be a disjockey. I know what your name is. Weren't you here the last two days? Yes, sir. Didn't I tell you know the last two days? Yes, sir. Then why are you back? today. Well, sir, I don't know whether or not someone got sick or someone died, sir. No one got sick or died. No one was laid off a fire. Now, don't you come back here again? I came back the next day, talking loud, looking happy, like I was seeing him for the first time. I said, hello, Mr. Verval. How are you? He looked at me with rage. He says, go get me some coffee. I said, yes, sir. My favorite book says, the greatest among you will be your servant. How many of you are serious by reaching your raise your hands please here's something I encourage you to write this down provide

more service than you get paid for thank you for tuning in continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes