The School of Greatness - Jason Derulo on Self-Mastery, Success & Unleashing Your Creative Genius EP 1460

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

The Summit of Greatness is back! Buy your tickets today – summitofgreatness.comJason Derulo is a global superstar whose music and personality transcend borders, generations, and genres. Since his debut single reached #1 in 2009, Jason has gone on to sell well over 250 million singles worldwide and earn 12 billion global streams. In 2020, with the viral sensation “Savage Love” Derulo joined the exclusive list of artists with a #1 song in three consecutive decades. He is one of TikTok’s top creators and has 57 million TikTok followers. Sing Your Name Out Loud: 15 Rules for Living Your Dream is Jason Derulo’s first book.In this episode you will learn,How to have a clear mission and wake up excited to chase your dreams.The insights and of going viral on TikTok and topping the music charts.The biggest fears and insecurities of a global pop superstar.How to silence negative criticism internally and externally.Keys to establishing non-negotiables and the habits needed to adhere to them.For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1460Wayne Brady on beating depression in a world of comedy: https://link.chtbl.com/1425-podSteven A. Smith on becoming sports TV’s biggest anchor: https://link.chtbl.com/1380-podYour personal masterclass to destroying insecurity: https://link.chtbl.com/1367-pod

Calling all conscious achievers who are seeking more community and connection, I've got an invitation for you. Join me at this year's Summit of Greatness this September 7th through 9th in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio to unleash your true greatness. This is the one time a year that I gather the greatness community together in person for a powerful transformative weekend. People come from all over the world and you can expect to hear from inspiring speakers like Inky Johnson, Jaspreet Singh, Vanessa Van Edwards, Jen Sincero, and many more. You'll also be able to

dance your heart out to live music, get your body moving with group workouts, and connect with others at our evening socials. So if you're ready to learn, heal, and grow alongside other incredible individuals in the greatness community, then you can learn more at lewishouse.com slash summit 2023. Make sure to grab your ticket, invite your friends, and I'll see you there. I think we're all put here for a specific purpose and the majority of what I do in my life is not for personal gain. It's for some sort of act of service to somebody else. I pray before every single show. I always mention the fact that I'm dedicating this show to anybody that's on the audience that needs to be inspired.

Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Congrats on everything. You've got a new book coming out. You've got a new single coming out. And I was just talking to you off camera about this,

about how brilliant your marketing and branding mind is in everything you do. You've been successful in music. Obviously, I think you're one of the most top 20 followed people in the world on social media, or at least on TikTok. I know that. And there's so much you're one of the most top 20 followed people in the world on social media, or at least on TikTok. I know that. And there's so much you're doing behind the scenes in terms of building your brand and spreading a to overcome constant criticism and challenges and adversity to being where you're at today. So congrats on everything. Thank you, man.

I appreciate that. It's exciting. You've got these 15 rules for living your dream. Yep. And I'm curious, what was the dream early on? Was it always to be a singer and a musician and a songwriter? Or did you have another dream before that dream came about? So my dream happened very early.

So I was four years old and I saw Michael Jackson for the first time. My dream was a little strange because my dream was to be Michael Jackson. You know, whatever that meant to me at that time. But I told my mom, that's what I want to be. I want to be him, you know. But yeah, you know, over the years, obviously, studying every dance move, every song that he'd ever done. And then I slowly started to develop my own voice

and started to develop my own style and swag. And then, yeah, man, the rest was history. Right. And you got into music pretty early, though, right? Very early. Was it your mom who was influencing you into that? Not at all. I don't come from a musical family.

I was kind of like the only, you know, the only Mohican. But, yeah, my mom was really supportive in the fact that she never led me to believe that it was impossible. And I think that was very gutsy. Um, and I, you know, I still take my head off to my mom for that. It's a hard thing to do to allow your kids to go for, you know, uh, the impossible dream quote unquote, you know? Now, what was the lesson she taught you that still stays with you today?

I think the biggest one is work ethic, really. She was doing everything I think I read about her, right? Yeah, just by leading by example. You know, she later in life, she went back to college, went to law school, um, was working two jobs at the same time. And I watched her juggle these three things while still making it home to cook us, um, spaghetti that I didn't like really much. Sorry, mom. I don't like the spaghetti. I ain't like it. I thought for years I didn't like spaghetti, but I actually do love spaghetti, but spaghetti was good. Um, but she cooks other things really great. Sure. Um, but yeah, man, just watching her, um, uh, as a, as a kid, I was just amazed at the fact that she could do all of these things, juggle all these things and do it so well. Right. What was your biggest fear or insecurity as a kid growing up? Oh, I had, I had plenty. I mean, I had a fat stage. So, you know, that was one of the things.

You know, I remember one night I'm talking to my brother. It was up late night and I was like, everything is wrong with me. I'm fat. I got asthma. I got acne. Everything is wrong with me. And my brother was like, jay you've got a chip how old were you um i had to be i don't know like 10 like like in that area and you know give or take a couple years fat acne asthma asthma it was it was the whole nine yards the asthma was it was was bad because you know even when i when i wanted to play, I mean, I could be in a pivotal moment. And I remember one time I was wide open for a touchdown and I couldn't do it.

I couldn't make it. Because of the asthma? Because of the asthma. Really? So I had asthma pretty bad and I just grew out of it. Wow. So what would you say was the biggest fear and insecurity when you started to get into the music business?

When people started to play your music, you started to do collaborations with other artists, you started to be on stages, what was that insecurity then? Was it a fear of failure? Was it the criticism that you weren't a certain way? Was it... You know, I feel like it's just so many.

Really. You know, it's not just one when you live your life in front of the world so to speak i mean everything becomes um a thing you know even things that you don't necessarily think are i think somebody will say something and you're like well damn they're probably right my finger does look weird there you know I'm saying so like right when you can have a million positive comments but that one person says one negative thing and then your focus just goes to that negative thing you know that's human nature and it's messed up that it's like that but over the years I became you know become

kind of like... I've grown like this bulletproof vest that just really doesn't get under my skin. So when you see criticisms online or you see something that's negative comments, does it affect you still, or do you... You know, it really doesn't affect me like it used to. It just really bounces off

um and and in this day and age i mean it's it's really tough because there's a lot of kids online obviously and um i know it's a lot of bullying going on and um i always say the easiest it's easy to say like don't worry about the negative things people say like they're just talking smack but it's really tough to be on the receiving end um and i've been on the receiving end a lot you know i'm saying um but the advice that i would give is you can let some things in, right? I wouldn't just shun every negative thing someone says. Why not? Because you can learn from it.

And I've learned a lot from negative comments. I remember after my first couple of songs, I was receiving so much backlash about this auto-tune thing it was like a big stigma oh you can't really sing is auto-tune auto-tune so i was like oh wow like my next my next record i need to make sure that like i don't put all this auto-tune on the record so people understand like like i really do this like. Like, I really, like, I really sing. But, like, it took, I think it takes a bigger person to be on the receiving end and then just kind of

not just be like, oh, they hating, but maybe, you know, take some of it with a grain of salt. You know, you can apply things that you see that you can actually make a little change and, like yourself. Right. Right. Cause some of the feedback is valid and be like, okay, it's not working or resonating with this community of people. Maybe there's something I can do to improve. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So there's certain things when people, I used to take everything personally online when I started in kind of this business, I used to take every little comment personally. And then I had a coach one time say like,

why are you reacting and responding to these negative comments? Just say thank you for the feedback. See if any of it resonates and you can improve. Or just, they're just a hater or a critic and that's okay too. But you don't have to defend or react. But it sounds like you've done pretty good at it.

But there's also another approach of not looking at the comments at all. Right. But you're so big on social media. How do you do another approach of not looking at the comments at all. Right. But you're so big on social media. How do you do that? Just not look at the comments. Yeah. Like, you can post and, like,

you can even turn the comments off if you'd like. I've seen people do that. I don't know. I've even thought about doing that before, but, you know, it just doesn't really bother me anymore. So what's the voice in your head

that you hear the most for yourself? Is it a positive voice or is it a critical voice? I actively try to speak to myself kindly. So I see my self-conscious as my best friend. Um, what would I tell my best friend? Well, I think far too often we beat ourselves up. And then when our best friend comes in the room, we give them all the good. I think it's important to treat yourself kind as well. Like, why do you talk to yourself in those ways

and like beat yourself up? When you look in the mirror, you need to speak to your best friend in the world because nobody is closer to you than yourself. Did you always do that way or did you learn that over time? Did someone teach you that? I've learned it over time. Really?

But my mom instilled that in me in a way because I talk about this in the book. It's the power of your tongue, right? What we say is just so powerful. And my mom made a switch when I was a kid. And you know how you have the common phrases that are like, oh, this cheesecake is to die for. My mom would switch that and say, oh, no, this cheesecake is to live for. And those simple kind of things. Right. And I was

like, oh wow. Like my mom is like really taking, um, this spoken, uh, the words that she says really seriously. Uh, and I started to, uh, implement that in my life and started to speak more positively. Um, and then that continued to morph into, uh into talking to myself in a really empowering, empowering way and telling myself that I can do this. I can do anything. And I slowly started to see myself being able to do anything. Wow. Now, some people can do that before they become successful and have an audience and fame and money and all these people who are inspired by them. But once you started to, you know, accelerating your career and sometimes the comparison could

come out, were you just as kind to yourself then? Or were there times in the last decade where you have faltered back into negative criticism? Oh, I mean, every day, even today, like, of criticism oh i mean every day even today like um you know there's always going to be times where you have the little slip-ups but just you got to just catch yourself you know like what oh no you can't talk you can't you can't talk to me like that interesting you know because if someone else said it to you you wouldn't be okay with it so why are you okay with yourself telling yourself that yeah you know it's so interesting because i feel like a lot of the world has a lot of negative self-talk and binks themselves up a lot and if we recorded our inner thoughts and played it on a loudspeaker or played it to our parents or played it to our friends a lot of times they probably put us in a

mental hospital or something based on how we communicate to self and we would never speak to some our friend like you said like that and so it's so amazing that you have this you know mindset that allows you to be positive to you yeah i mean i i mean i i go really far with it too though so like how so so so far as i really see my body as the avatar in my mind is is the boss so for instance this morning i needed to get up at um five in the morning this morning but i went to bed at 4 30 oh my gosh i mean it was a really tough tough to do, but I knew I didn't have another time slot to go to the gym today. And I knew that was my only chance. Oh my gosh. Um, so, uh, when that alarm set off, it was painful and my body was like, no, no, we can't do this. You need sleep. Yeah. You need sleep, but we're going to get, we're going to get sleep eventually. This is one day. And this is a, this is a test to how strong we are. Wow. So my mind is the boss

and it tells my body, you have to get up. Like, and there's no choice that we don't, it's not a, it's not a negotiation. We got to get up right now. Um, so when I treat, when I treat my life, like, uh, when I treat my body as if it's, uh, the, the tool in my mind is the boss, everything else just kind of falls into place a little bit. And then I'm able to stick to, um, the regimen. Yeah. Regimen is really important. What is the routine that you feel like has helped you the most when you have a non-negotiable? Is it the way you communicate to yourself? Is it the relationships you have? Is it waking up at a certain time? What's the routine that has allowed you to be excelling at this level? So I can go back to three major moments in my life where my whole world kind of was slowed down that I was able to take a large

leap of growth. What was that? My first moment was when I got a publishing deal. Let me start with the most juicy one. The first one I want to talk about is when I broke my neck in 2014. I broke my neck in 2014. I broke my C2 vertebrae. I was about to go on a world tour. I was coming off, you know, a huge album, five platinum hits. And I broke my neck preparing for my tour. I slipped during a back tuck, crazy freak accident.

It's called a hangman's break. crazy freak accident. Um, it's called the hangman's brick. It was an accident that, uh, could have ended off very differently paralyzed or worse. Um, that's scary. Yeah. Super scary. And it totally like rocked my world. And it was like the whole world stopped, you know? Um, there was no touring, there was no interviews. There was nothing, right? So from going at my peak position in life, all going all the way back to zero. At this point, I was on my second album. I was making a lot of money. I was still living at my mom's house. That's how crazy my life was. I had millions of dollars in the bank and I was still living at my mom's house. I didn't even have a chance to go buy a house yet.

So this was nine years ago, right? 2014, you said? Mom. So yeah. So when I break my neck, I go to my mom's house. My mom is nursing me back to health. Um, and, uh, I have a girlfriend I had at the time. Um, and this was one of my lowest lows in life. I couldn't tie my shoes. I couldn't bathe myself. I had to sleep on my, learn to sleep on my back. I always slept on my stomach my entire life. Um, those things were just, it just like my whole psyche was off, but there was like a calming.

There was a calming. And in that calming, I was able to develop a routine. And I woke up at a certain time. I went to the gym at a certain time, even though I couldn't do much. I walked on the treadmill at a certain time for a certain amount of time. Then I went to the studio for a certain amount of time and wrote song after song after song and then rinse and repeat every single day for seven months. And then after that period of time is when I dropped my biggest album ever.

I had five platinum hits and it was one of the uh our biggest albums in terms of of how many platinum songs come off of one album wow and it's because of that focused energy that i had there was no nothing else it was just the routine the routine the routine routine routine then another time um the first time that this happened was when i got assigned a publishing deal in Los Angeles by a company called Beluga Heights. And what year is that? That was 2008. Uh-huh. Flew out to Los Angeles, me and my cousin.

And literally, we had no friends. No, we knew nobody in in Los Angeles so same thing we had a routine we had a time for the gym had a time for the studio we had a time for dinner um doing your laundry whatever it was yeah every single day the same thing every day for months and months on end and that's when I wrote my first album wow um so that was a big one and then the final one that i wanted to just touch on really quick is the pandemic the pandemic i i created this whole social media thing during the pandemic my entire career i struggled with social media i had sold 200 million records but i had barely had any followers on any social media.

I was social media dumb. During the pandemic, I made it my mission to try this new thing out and just like focus my energy on socials. And in the pandemic, I became one of the most followed people on the planet because every single day i posted six times six six videos per day and every day i would wake up i went to the gym i went to the gym and i worked out i should say not went to the gym because we were all locked in the backyard yeah i worked out and then i shot a gang of videos um six a day i posted six a day so before 2020 you weren't really that active or even known on social media is that right yeah i want to i want to go as far as like saying i was one of the most famous unfamous people on the planet because no one was following you on social media but they

knew your music but it was like my music but didn't know my face really. But it was just like such a disconnect. I had sold 200 million records, but like some people wouldn't, couldn't pick me out of a crowd. Really? You know what I'm saying? It was the weirdest thing in the world. But like social media is such a huge tool for that, right? Like it connects all the dots and the dots was not connecting

for your boy until the pen injured why do you think so the theme that i'm hearing is kind of three moments where there was adversity that caused you to accelerate in some area of your life the broken neck caused you seven to nine months of a routine reflection rest recovery yeah realignment on your vision and then boom biggest album yep uh the publishing deal coming out here you know getting a deal which is exciting but also don't know anyone no one knows you like probably things aren't moving clubs exactly have no money to go out on dinners like it was just like work but the routine set you up for the next thing and then the breakdown of the pandemic that everyone went through and you not having any social media on desk,

but that focused energy and routine allowed you to break through into another level of success. 100%. So these three kind of breakdown moments got you clear on what you wanted. Yeah. I think a lot of people are in breakdown now,

but they have a hard time getting clear on what they want and where they want to go. How did you get clear? Like, okay, I know I want to do social media now and I'm going to go all in on it for this year. I know I want to go and do this music. And so I'm going to go all in on the studio every single day. How did you get clear to even execute that routine on the vision i can answer that in a couple ways um i'm a guy who feels like you should work on your strengths and you work on your weaknesses this is one of your 15 rules in your book yeah so um and my music my falsetto is probably one of my strengths right it's like one of the things that

i feel something set me apart so i work on my falsetto and i utilize it you know and um that's something that i you know will just continue to work on because i feel like that kind of sets me apart um and something that i was weak at was social media, right? So like that was a perfect opportunity to like be like, let me utilize this time to like, to, you know, to really kind of see if I can knock this out of the park. Now, were you also thinking like, okay, TikTok is this new thing. Let me start on TikTok and here's an opportunity. Or were you like, let me do, you know, YouTube and Instagram and everywhere else where people are already at? Or were you like, here's an opportunity. I see some people starting to pop off. Maybe I could start here. Was that the strategy? So what I don't want to do on this show is lie. I want to be completely and utterly honest. I'm not going to give you the pop star

answer. Give it to me. I'm going to give you the honest answer. I genuinely saw that there was an opening in the tiktok space genuinely so this is how i saw it it's because i saw my nieces and nephews on it they were very young all day right day obsessing i was like it was an app called musically at the time yes and i was like what is this app why do you like this this is not even like what why like you slow down and like proof of lip dancing and then like doing like lip syncs i'm like how this is not how social media works you're supposed to show your life um so i was like let me give it a try uh, my marketing director at the time was like, uh, he showed me the app and then I saw my, my nieces and nephews on it. So I was like, okay, two, two,

now this is two different situations. And then I did a live and then like, I had a lot of people in my live. I was like, wow. On TikTok. On, on Musical.ly at the time. On Musical.ly. Yeah. And how many followers did you have at that time? You know, maybe like 2 something okay gotcha yeah so you had an audience yeah i had an audience yeah two is a lot yeah yeah i mean not for somebody that was you know sure sure but it was it was it was decent it was a base yeah it was a good base so um but the engagement was crazy it was different it was different i was getting more engagement with my two million followers here, and I had like 4 million on Instagram at the time. And you weren't getting the engagement yet. And I wasn't getting that engagement.

So I saw something. So I never talked about this before. This is the first time I'm talking about this. Wow, by the way. Because I always give like the pop-up star answers. Sure. It's like, oh, yeah, I was trying on a new thing. But so, yeah, so I saw that the engagement was different.

So this was like a a new kind of app um so the pandemic hit i was like i've been meaning to like really dig my teeth in this app this is the perfect opportunity let me try it out so i was posting one time a day then i went from two times a day and then like, then went to three and then all of a sudden when I posted six times in a day, the number started to explode. My following, my followers started to explode and it got to the point where I was receiving over a billion views a month on my TikTok.

So it was, it was wild. And it got to a crazy, I i mean i'm obviously i don't have that kind of time anymore um but like when that focused energy hits it's different man but like i go nuts with it like i i i know i have to be obsessive to be the best at anything it has you have to do way more than anybody else is going to do. So I knew I had to. Okay, Charli D'Amelio is posting like five, six times a day. I know I have to post that.

She's uberly successful. I got to do it too. Addison Rae is doing it. I mean, there's the blueprint. Right. But you had a lot going on still. Even though it was a pandemic, you still got a business, you got music, you got things you got to do. How are you doing everything else you're doing and your routine and working out and doing

six videos a day? Prioritizing the videos. I prioritize the videos before anything else. Really? You did those first? Yeah. And, and a lot of people thought I was out of my mind. You did those first.

Yeah. And a lot of people thought I was out of my mind. People don't remember this, but like people laughed at me from being on TikTok. It was a real thing. People don't remember that. But like I was an artist. I was supposed to be in like this world renowned singer. And I was on TikTok.

With like 12 year olds. Yeah, exactly. And they're like, this is for 12 year olds. What's he doing? Exactly. Literally. Like 12-year-olds. Yeah, exactly. And they're like, this is for 12-year-olds. What's he doing? Exactly. Interesting. So how did you quiet that? The critics in the music industry and other celebrity friends were like, what are you doing, Jason?

How did you- I didn't want to quiet that. I didn't care. Because I knew in the back of my mind that those 15-year-olds in five years were going to be 20 years old. Right. So even if the elders didn't join the party, the 15-year-olds were going to be 20 years old right so even if the the elders didn't join the party those the 15 year olds were going to be 20 in five years so like like it would make sense in five years thankfully it all happened

way faster than that and it worked out um but yeah that was a huge gamble you know it could have went either way it could have the interesting thing is you know because i remember watching because i was kind of like trying to talk a little bit then as well trying to figure it out i wish i would have went all in because i like just dabbled yeah i would go all in for like a week and then just didn't go all in but i remember thinking like it's really smart what you're doing because i saw you get to like 10 million followers really quick and then 15 and 20 and he just kept showing up every i was just like sure you're it felt like you were everywhere yeah and when you're doing six videos a day and it's getting featured and recommended you are everywhere every it was every you're on everyone's phone

around the world now the time and i can and i can only imagine how many people thought you were crazy. But now the interesting thing, everyone's trying to replicate what you've done, especially in the music industry. Everyone's saying, look what he was able to do with his music during the pandemic on TikTok and blow it up to the top of the charts. How do I get into this? So sometimes we do things where people might laugh at us, but later they're replicating us. 100%. And that's what people have been trying to do with you. Yeah. TikTok is now the gatekeeper of the music industry.

It went from being something that people laughed at in the music industry to being the gatekeeper. It's like the- Where people pop off now. Yeah. The top 12 songs of last year, the top 13 songs of last year 12 of them had a major um social campaign like a trend to them yes really yeah those numbers are staggering so i mean but i don't even think this is this is not music specific social media now is for everyone like everybody is a brand now. It doesn't matter if you're a doctor, if you're a lawyer, if you are a fireman, if you're a beekeeper, like these are all businesses

and you personally are a brand. And until you can see yourself as a brand, you are totally selling yourself short. And I, and I'm, I'm so sick and tired of people hearing, people saying, it's not for me. I'm too old. Like, are you living under a rock? Like, do you not see that's happening in the world? It's all about social media. Every single brand out there is scrambling, trying to figure this thing out. And I love when brands come to me and trying to act like they know what's going on. You know what's going on. Nobody does like this thing is, this thing is brand new. We're all figuring it out right now. But if anybody knows it's the creators, it's not the brands. Cause at the end of the day, they're just hiring somebody

that, that sounds like they know what they're talking about, but they don't. Cause they don't even have following themselves. I know. Why are you listening to that person? It's brilliant, man. It's really exciting. What was the three biggest things that came out of the growth of your social media, the three best things that have happened for you since rising to social media stardom? to social media stardom?

The number one biggest thing is what I can produce from an ad. The money that comes from that is substantial. It's really, really life-changing. I've been doing music my whole life. You mean an ad from a sponsorship that someone's sponsoring you to do a promotion or yeah brand deal brand deal yeah uh-huh so it's basically like a commercial without being a commercial right um because i mean look at it right if you are a huge brand your blue-trick brand and you're looking for eyeballs eyeballs

are on socials right and it used to be where they would go and get a commercial or they would go and like put it you know put it on the radio or something but now socials are the biggest thing in the world right and the viewership that I get on my page i mean you can't you can't get that everywhere you know can't get that on tv you can't because the biggest shows in the world are only getting like four or five million views i mean you know like my videos are in the double digits all the time you know so it's become like this crazy thing that i never expected was going to happen i i was just trying to, honestly,

I was trying to connect the dots with everything. And I was like, if people got to know me better, they'd probably... Listen to your music more. Yeah. But I never thought that my social business would be as big as my music business. Really?

It's insane. It's almost there now or it's the same size? Arguably bigger. What? It's insane. It's almost there now or it's the same size? Arguably bigger. What? Arguably bigger. Holy cow. How else are you monetizing

besides, I guess, brand deals? Are you selling your own stuff now? Are you building your own businesses on the back end that are either silent

or public? What else are you doing? Because I know you're a mastermind in business and I think a lot of people think you're just an artist or just, you know, an entertainer, a musician.

But I can see the moves you make and how you think brilliantly about your brand, the marketing, the messaging. Even when it seems silly or not thoughtful, I know it is. And so what are the businesses you're building or the other revenue streams you're generating beyond the brand deals. So now when a, uh, any company comes my way, if they are not, you know, the biggest companies in the world, I don't want to mention any brands, but they're not the biggest brands in the world. They have to come with some sort of equity uh conversation like that now you know

so it's like they can't they can't um humbly speaking they can't afford one post exactly so they got to give you something bigger yeah so if i believe in a brand like i can get ownership in so many different brands you know like this um and they come every day. It's like a new thing, you know, and you never, you never seen a deal that you didn't like. Right. So they all look amazing. They all look amazing. But you got to go for the ones that you personally love. Um, but, um, that's a huge, huge, uh, win from socials as well, obviously. Um, but I, the, the best thing that I like, man, honestly, honestly um and i'm not giving you a pop star answer like i've talked about before but i love the fact that people got a real insight to my life

like people ask me how my dog is people ask me how my son is like i think that's just like a beautiful thing like i'd never met a person in my life and they'll come and ask me how like like these personal things about me and i just think that's really cool that's beautiful i feel like people have like a real inside now that's beautiful man what is the thing that people don't know about you that you wish they knew because they see a certain side of you yes they see a more personal behind the scenes side but what is the thing that most people still don't know about you that you're either proud of um that you want them to know um i don't think people realize the uh the business side yeah as of yet um and i'm okay i'm okay with i'm okay with that i think i think it's a little soon for people to know exactly uh how deep it's going um but i'm i'm just in a totally different uh

headspace when i'm when i'm in that business that that business guru mode it's it's it's really cool man um but i just really enjoy building things from nothing um i think that's my that's my passion and so like writing a song is like building something scratch um uh real estate i love you know building things from the ground up um uh businesses is the same way i love building the businesses from the ground up and that's kind of been like my last like five years is just like starting something from scratch and then just yeah you know watching it grow something you've done that has always impressed me and inspired me from the beginning of hearing i think your first song that kind of

took off what was that 2008 2010 what was that uh nine two thousand not yet around that time um when i noticed it i'm assuming a lot of people noticed it but that's something i noticed right away was you singing your name uh-huh and i recognize a lot of songs but i never know the face of the singer or the name i'm like yeah that's a catchy song but i don't know who they are. I'm not in the music world that much to like understand it. I'm like, oh yeah, I know that song. Who is that person?

But I would never know their name or their face. Where did you get that from? That kind of like, because a lot of people are doing that now. And I feel like you were one of the first to do that. Where did that come from? Why has that been powerful for you in personal brand? Because I really feel like it's branded you personally in a beautiful way.

Before personal branding was a thing. So where did that come from? It was my first song. I was about to release What You Say and the song was done. It was originally a song. I was about to release What You Say and the song was done. It was originally a song for Sean Kingston. We had written it for Sean Kingston. Actually, Sean co-wrote on it as well. And the label didn't want it. His label didn't want the song. So we were like, that's making my first single. And had completed the song. It was all done. And I was just like, this could be my one chance, like, for the world to hear me. Like, if this song is going to be heard by all these people, at least like, if I can get like a couple of

million people to like hear my name, like I'll be, I'll, I'll still be building. I'll get myself to the next level. Even if this song doesn't become a hit, you know? Um, and that's where the idea came from. So I played around with like different ways to do it. And, um, the, what you, what you hear now is the one that stuck. And boy, I didn't think that it was going to stick like that. It stuck, man.

It is stuck big. It's almost like, I'm not referring this in this way, but in a relatable way, it's almost like when you secure a commercial, jingle over and over again. The way you say your name is a context similar to like memorizing it

and you wanting to sing it that way. You know, the audience wanting to sing it that way, which is brilliant. Thank you, man. Yeah.

So you tried it in a bunch of different ways? Oh, yeah. Like, what was it like? You're trying to sing it deep, you're trying to like just say the name and not...

Jay. Nah. Jay. Nah. Jay. Hey. Jason. Jason DeRose. Jason DeRose. That's it.

Really? Something like that. Wow, man. But I was in the booth. Now, when you did it on the song, was the label like, okay, that's cool? Or they were like, nah, we don't want your name in it. Like it messes with the song. Oh, nah, there was no mention of that.

Like, nah. I did my whole first album with one guy. Okay. JR Rodham, who was also the CEO of the record label that I was on. So we did the whole thing together. So, I mean, there was no egos or anything now did you get did people comment on that during that time where they're like oh that's really cool you should keep doing that or is that more in your vision i want to keep saying my name for

people to remember it well after the first song came out it was such a thing that i was like dang i should probably do it in my next joint wow so. So I did it again in my next song, which was In My Head. And then when Riding Solo came about, I was like, I'm going to chill. I'm not going to do it on this song. That's how to do. Yeah, it was great. Still did great. Yeah. But I feel like people know you from that as well. It's like another signature move of yours. 100%. You know, I guess signature dance move, it's like a signature audio move or something. Yeah, I mean, I called the books, you know, Sing Your Name Out Loud. But the reason I called it that is,

I mean, of course there's correlation to that, but it's from, you know, speaking things into existence and using the power of the tongue, you know, just like speaking things out loud, you know, but I put it together with the singing. I think it's beautiful, man. Thank you. I think it's beautiful, man.

Now, I'm also curious, because you are so gifted as a singer, like you mentioned, I think you were classically trained or you did opera training, you did some different things. I've seen a lot of your singing on different shows of you doing that stuff.

But you did more on the auto tune thing in the first song why didn't you lead with your voice uh without that in the first song was there a reason it's an artistic choice yeah you know um the uh sample the emulsion heap sample was a vocoder so like it matched so well with the vocoder you know um so i mean that was that was you know the idea behind it but it just seemed like it was a crush i mean like it was a crutch but people thought oh he can't sing and that was just around the time of like death of auto to it at all kind of crazy i was like on the tail tail end of that whole, like right at the beginning of that whole thing. So it was just like bad timing.

I mean, the song did great. Yeah, it did great. It worked. Because nobody thinks of, when you think of Daft Punk, you don't think like, one more time, you don't think like, oh, like, he probably can't sing. You know, you're thinking like, oh, that's an artistic choice. he probably can't sing. You know, you're thinking like, oh, that's an artistic choice.

But I think it was just the time period, you know, with the whole death of Otto Toon, it was just like bad time. Wow. It still did well though. It did amazing. Now you talked about these kind of three moments that, you know, were essentially breakdowns

that led to breakthroughs in the last 12 years. Mm-hmm. Was there a time that you doubted yourself the most either during this or in any other moments? And if so, or a time where you just had other struggles with friends or family or just other stuff in life happening where you really doubted yourself? And if so, how did you overcome that doubt?

Right at the tail end of the pandemic, I told myself, I talked really, really down to myself, and I said, you've done so well in your life. You should probably just like, you should probably coast. It's time to coast time to coast chill yeah you've done so much you've gave you've given so much like relax chill um and what that meant to me um just so i'm clear so i'm clear to everybody else it was was like giving up. It was like, um, this is the end. Um,

and the end to me is when you're not pushing for the next level. You're not pushing to, to gain something else. Um, and a couple of weeks passed and a couple of months passed and I was really, you know, putting my energy into TikTok. It was just like, okay, I'm not really messing with music. So I wasn't really like writing very many songs. Um, and then I was like, when I was a kid, I dreamed of this place that I'm in right now. Of getting to this place. And my starting point was here.

My ending point was here. I had to jump from here to here. I have way less of a climb to be the best in the world here than from here to here. Right. Why stop right here? That's like stopping at 90, 97 pushups. What are you doing? You gotta, you gotta hit those last three reps bro you have to hit those last three reps like you can't stop at 97 um and then in that realization is when i was like i have to get off of this record label that i'm on i have to um uh get a new deal and go with a team that like really believes in me so that like i'm hearing you know great things

from other people as well i feel like i had too much negativity in my ears and when all of this negativity is coming your way and then you're talking down to yourself it just weaves you down so i needed like new energy interesting um and then when i uh was able to get off the label finally after a battle um i thought the world was going to be off the label, finally, after a battle, I thought the world was going to be my oyster, and it was just going to be like open arms, just like everybody's going to want to sign me. It was the craziest thing in the world.

Again, I had sold 200 million records at that point, and crickets. It was just like... No one wanted to sign you? No one wanted to sign me. But you were like the biggest social media star and selling albums and i was i was really on the rise of social media yes but there was no music uh there was no music since like swala um what year was that swala was like 2017 oh so it'd been yeah four or five years 2017 2018 something like that um so yeah so it was like can he still does he still have it yeah this is probably the end of the road for him you know like that kind of vibe you know they didn't say that but like i was feeling it you

know what i'm saying so i i thought i was gonna be able to go to this lady it was it was crickets it was like oh he's too expensive I mean yeah we don't know if we want to go in that direction oh we already have this person it's a little too it was like that conversation so that that put the biggest fire in my heart that you could possibly imagine. Wow. I was like, okay, I'm going to do this myself. I'm going to do it myself. So that's when I went on a run and I put out Savage Love as a independent song. That was huge.

I was taking Tisha Dancing as an independent song and I was just dropping things independently. And TikTok was blowing them up too. It was just dropping things independently and and tick tock was blowing them up too it was just like exactly so i was the biggest independent artist on the planet and then all those scenes of actual labels was like hey what's up yes i was like nah i'm straight i'm straight i'm straight i'm straight straight i'm not i'm not messing you guys um so i went with um atl Atlantic who, um, I felt, you know, was aligned with, uh, my creative, they were aligned with, um, what I wanted to do business

wise and on my masters and, um, it'd be a partner, not, not just signing to you, but we're going to be 50, 50 partners in this. And I'm, I'm, I'm going to be the label as well. So, yeah, so, like, it was that blow that took me. Again, you know, sometimes it's your lowest lows that get you to your highest highs. Man. Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of people, when they get money, fame, success,

eventually they crumble. Or they don't know how to manage it, or their ego gets too big or they start treating people poorly or just they kind of climb and then they fall yep how have you learned to be like consistently climbing while also maintaining your sanity your inner peace your you know self-love and self-care um as opposed to letting it all get to you too much where you crash and burn. I think people stop and smell the roses too much.

Like, we know the roses are beautiful. We know they smell great, but... We're on a path, we're on a journey. Life is a journey. And it's a life journey. There's no destination because we can always be better, we can always be greater,

we can always be a better version of us. And what happens is everybody usually makes their first, their first steps are usually the great ones, right? When you're hungry, you don't necessarily know where your next meal is coming from you're down in the dumps you don't like how people are treating you you want to be better in life you want to have this you want to have that you want girls to look at you a different way um you know you want to drive nice things boom boom boom but then when you arrive and you get those things,

even though it may be temporary, when you get them, it's like, oh, I'm good. I'm lit. I made it. And then you take a deep breath and you're like, oh, yeah, this is what I've been waiting on. But what you're forgetting is success is never owned. It's rented. There's somebody hungry always.

There's always somebody younger, hungrier, more talented, more driven than you are. So they're not going to stop coming. That competition doesn't stop coming at you. that competition doesn't stop coming at you just because you've arrived here doesn't mean there's not millions of people just on your neck and waiting on that

slot to open up. I love the one of your rules for your dreams is I think it's the rule number four in the book success is for rent and you'll never pay it off. The rent is due every single day. If you want to stay at that level or get to the next level. Definitely. Did you ever feel like

there was a moment when you stopped paying rent and you saw, oh, this is really affecting me in a negative way? Um, or have you always been consistent in some way in your life? I've always been really consistent in some way. Honestly speaking, I think my greatest gift is my work ethic. Mm-hmm. And I was blessed with a lot of things, but my biggest gift, I feel like, was that. Yeah. How do you manage fame now?

Because you had a certain level of fame before, sold over 200 million records before the social media fame but now you're like a whole nother level of people knowing you and connected to you in a different way how did you manage it then versus how do you manage it now with people more people in your business now um i mean i'm i'm kind of like an average joe kind of guy yeah i got the i got the green hair i got the yeah i got the thing i got that i got a 100 million followers you know just kind of average kind of guy no what i mean is like i i'm not really like i'm not like really sensitive or like super emotional emotional. I'm just kind of like a regular, average dude. Yeah, yeah.

So I just want to be respected just like everybody else. And I know when I'm meeting people for the first time, it might be their only chance to ever meet me. So I generally try to make it the best situation that they could have had, right? Because it's the one chance um i just have a couple rules um when i'm eating i don't do it when i'm eating uh when i'm with my son i don't do it when i'm with my son um at the age that he's at now, maybe down the line, you know, when he's a little older. And, yeah, besides that, it's all good.

Oh, when I'm working out, it's 50-50. I saw you at the gym recently. We were both there. You were working out, and I think you were the trainer or a friend. Yeah. And I knew you were going to be coming on, but I was like, oh, he looks pretty focused. I'm like, oh, next time. After we meet on the show,

then I'll say hi next time. That's my guy. I'm curious. Love is something that I feel like a lot of people want. They crave and they don't know how to manage. When do you feel the most loved in your life? In a relationship or? Anything.

I feel really loved in a relationship when my girl or whoever I'm seeing cooks for me. Really? Yeah, it's like a real thing. I don't know if I'm old-fashioned or what it is but like i am really i just appreciate it so much like on a different level i think because um it seems like so underrated to other people but i'm just like like you feel taken care of or loved yeah yeah that that's like the ultimate love to me i i just

you know it's true um the way to my heart is through my stomach for sure um i don't know if that's the fat boy in me or what it is but like i'm like oh yes she she really messes with me i she great she cares she cares she put her heart and soul into this. I really, yeah. So that's my favorite. Interesting. And in my career? Just in life, when do you feel loved the most? When do you feel the most loved? Is it when you're having an idea,

like you talked about, I've got this idea and I'm going to go work on this song or this video or this business in the process? Is it when you've created something and people are resonating they're sharing it they're singing your music is it you know positive comments is it just hanging with your friends is when your dog is laying on you like when is that time yeah i think when i feel the most love is when i'm with my family um Um, and we just have our moments.

And I think it's usually around food and drinks. So food. How do you stay so fit, though, with all this food and drinks? I work out a lot, man. Because you're shredded, man. Oh, thank you, man. How does a fat kid stay shredded?

Don't eat. Nah. Are you pretty regimen the one your your food intake and your calorie intake or how do you so i i i've yo-yoed i've done every diet i've done every fat every single thing fasting to keto to paleo to whatever yeah seven meals a day several two meals a day salmon shakes yeah liquid diet fruit diet literally everything under the sun so i know exactly how each thing reacts to my body and how it works um and uh i really try to now have a sustainable, um, like asking my, my body, not asking too much of my body in terms of what I'm eating. Right. So I need, I need some sort of pleasure. I enjoy having a drink or two.

Um, I'm not willing to just go cold turkey and not have any drinks. So I know that in the back of my mind, I'm going to have some carbs that are not great for me. So I need to do this, this, this, this, and this so that I can offset that. Um, and I think it's the same for, I mean, I make these milly meals, um, which are these crazy desserts and people are saying, how do you eat those? And then what is a milly meal? A milly meal is every time I get a million followers.

I think I've seen this like a big bucket of ice cream or something, or what are you? I mean, all kinds of like, I mean, I've made like a fried ice cream tacos. Like I made like, um,

humongous ice cream, chocolate chip sandwiches, everything you can imagine. A cotton candy sandwich, all kinds of crazy. So when you hit a million followers, a million more followers, you'll do a big celebration with food.

So I'm doing a lot of them. You got to invite me over for one of those, man. For sure. I know you're not going to finish it all. For sure. I don't, man. I don't, but I usually invite people over for one of those, man. For sure. I know you're not gonna finish it all. For sure. I don't, man. I don't. But I usually invite people over to have it.

And it's nine times out of 10, really, really good. Sometimes it's not great. Wow. But yeah, it's all about trying to, you know, it's a balance. You know, if I know I'm gonna have that meal, I might fast, you know, or I might have bone broth with some veggies in it balance you know if i know i'm gonna have that million meal and i might i might fast you know or i might have bone broth with some veggies in it you know um and that's that's

usually been the game changer for me but if i'm trying to like get shredded for something then i go crazy so like for instance i'm going to bali you know in a couple of days and i'm gonna shoot i'm gonna shoot a music video for glad you came, my new song that's about to come out. So I want to look like super duper, like, I want to look like a bug. Wow. So you're eating like 1,000 calories a day and doing cardio and lifting. Yeah, I'm doing bone broth. That's it?

Yeah, I have like a little something, something. So like earlier today I had like some popcorn. Okay. And I got a couple of grapes and like horseradish and watermelon. and then like bone broth with veggies in it so it's not terrible right right it's not terrible watermelon and popcorn game changers wow barely any calories just lit um i've got a couple final questions for you this has been really inspiring and i'm so glad that you're opening up about all these different areas of your life and business and branding. So much has happened for you in the last really 12 years with these, well, I guess 14 years with these kind of three big moments. It's 2013, 2023. Where do you see the next seven years?

What's the vision you have for the next seven years of what you want to be doing with your time, have for the next seven years of what you want to be doing with your time the things you want to be creating in the world and the impact you want to have by 2030 i asked a lot of um really high level people to give me a quote advice to the reader right and how they could help the reader succeed and I asked a lot of really high-level people that I didn't think would respond or do it and they did there's a lot of amazing people in there you know from Will Smith to Ellen DeGeneres to David Guetta, all kinds of amazing people. And I asked, there's like some white billionaires in there that I really respect.

And I asked two people that it was really important for me to have two high level black guys with high net worths. So I asked Tyler Perry. He's inspiring. Yeah. And I asked Magic Johnson. And they didn't give me the quotes, man. Really?

Why not? That really did something to me for because I specifically said as a young black man when I before I became you know Who I am today and I was reading this book and was trying to be inspired, I would want to hear from somebody that I thought was overly successful to know that I can do it as well. And I said that to them. I said, listen, it's really important for you, for our community, for you to like to say something, share something. It can be literally any anything could be five words five words it would just it would just mean a lot to that young black kid to hear from you um and they and they didn't respond interesting um but that just put a little

more fuel to my fire to now like i i have to become i have to become that guy wow because like i need i need to be that i because i. Because I need to be that. Because I want to be that voice. I really want to inspire and let them know that it's a possibility. You know, the kids are where I'm from. You know what I'm saying? So I want to be able to speak those words myself if I couldn't get it from somebody else. Brian, that's beautiful, man.

Yeah, thank you, thank you. That's inspiring. What do you want people to say about you? And how you want to be remembered? I hope people understand that the majority of the things that I do is as a act of service. I think we're all put here for a specific purpose. And, um, the majority of what I do in my life is not for personal gain. It's for, um, uh, some sort of, of act of service to somebody else.

Even before I pray before every single show, I always mention the fact that I'm dedicating this show to anybody that's on the audience that needs to be inspired, that needs, that's going through something that like needs a pick me up. So like, it's always like, you know, it's like, what can I do for somebody else? Like, what is the, how is this going to impact somebody? How is this going to, going to be a small part of their life to help better them? You know what I'm saying? Um, so I hope that, um, I can be remembered as, as that someone who is always thinking about, uh, the next person. Wow. That's beautiful, man. I love it. Uh, I've got three final questions for you before we get into

them. Sing your name out loud, 15 rules for living your dream. We'll have it up here on the video. We'll have it in the audio description and everything. Make sure you guys get a copy. I've gone through a lot of it. Really inspiring. I love your rules.

And I love how you talk about each one of these. We only talked about a few of them today. We'll have to get you back on in the future and talk about more, but so many powerful nuggets with inspiring lessons that I think anyone could resonate with. And again, it's really cool to see you, where you've come from to build the business, the platform, the health, the life that you have using these rules. Yeah, for sure. And so I want people to get a copy, give them to your friends, get a few copies, and make

sure to check it out. Again, we'll have it all linked up. You've also got a new song. Depending when this comes out, it's either out right now or it'll be coming out soon. Yeah. I heard it before. It's really catchy, man. All your stuff has been super catchy.

Thank you, brother. But tell us about that and the best place for us to listen to it. I'm so glad you came, man. It's one of my favorite songs that I've done in a long time and one of my favorite songs I've ever written in general. It talked about the power of destiny and how one moment can kind of change your life forever. You know, the fact that I met this girl in in this location at this club if i would have never

danced with her that whole night she would have never been my girl you know we were just in the right place at the right time um so yeah it's it's a it's a beautiful love story that talks about the power of uh of destiny wow um so yeah i really i really love this i'm excited for people to you know sink their teeth into it it has like an 80s vibe to it where's the best place for us to listen

oh you know it's a mail-in yeah where do you like to send people though to wherever they're Spotify the best Spotify

that's a spot right now yeah yeah check it out very excited man we're going to have everything linked up obviously if you're not following Jason

on social media Jason Derulo everywhere on social media so So make sure you're following. If you're the seven people that haven't followed him yet, make sure to check out one of his platforms. This is a question I ask everyone at the end called the three truths. So imagine a hypothetical scenario. It is your last day on earth, many years away. Yeah. You live as long as you want to live and you get to accomplish every dream you have. All your rules, you keep putting them into practice to accomplish every dream. Yep. But for whatever reason in this hypothetical scenario, you got to take all of your music,

your books, this conversation, it all disappears. So no one has access to your content anymore. All your social media content, everything you've ever said, for whatever reason is gone hypothetically. But you get one final message to share with the world. It could be a song with three lessons that you would share, three truths. And this is all we have to remember you by, what would be those three lessons or three truths that you would want the world to know? Wow. So basically my, it's like my commandments. Yes. Three of them. Um, I would say, I always say first, life is short.

Don't spend your life doing something that you don't love, that you're not obsessed with, that you are not waking up every day excited to do. It's not about the money, because at the end of the day, I've been on both sides. And it's not the destination that's the great part. It's the journey. I've had the best time of my life creating this path, like on the journey.

My favorite times that I can remember are the times where I was laid up at night, writing a song, not getting any sleep. Those are the moments. It's not driving in a Rolls Royce. That's not like a dope memory to me. I'm not like, remember that time we drove in a... Never. When it's all said and done and your life is over and you want to be like, oh, I spent my life doing the things that I love that's like a one from Rwani number two protect your peace that's the circle that you have around you the people that are around you you are you are some of those people. And if they are feeding you negative energy, and if they're feeding you negative comments that can easily soak into yourself and you can start

believing the things that they say. You need people around you that, that, that think that you're greater than you think you are so that you can continue bringing yourself up but your peace of mind is more important than any relationship than any uh amount of money peace of mind man so protect your peace if somebody if you think somebody's off like dead died make sure that you can continue to move um in a in a way that is your zen. Whatever your zen is, stay in there. Okay, and then number three, oh, that works for your job as well. You know, if you have a toxic boss or you have, you know,

toxic other employees that work with you, like you need to escape that situation in some way or another because you don't want to bring that kind employees that work with you like you you need to escape that situation in some way or another because you don't want to bring that kind of energy home with you i don't think i've ever heard you talk like this publicly sharing this type of stuff you know i probably haven't actually you know honestly writing this book i feel like really changed me as well in a way um because it forced me to like remember all of the things all of the positive things that i've done and all the negative things and all the times that i've fallen on my face and all of the times that i succeeded and like what those things were like

forced me to really dig down deep it was like oh that was that moment that i i failed because of that and oh i won that because I was doing this. Like it really kind of took me on a memory lane. So I even learned a lot about myself and about life through writing this book. Like this couple of years writing this book has been really eye-opening. And sometimes when you know something and you teach it, you know it a lot better 100 yeah yeah um so third truth this is a personal one for me this one you can take or leave but this is personal to me in my life family over everything i have had many girlfriends in my life i've had many girlfriends in my life.

I've had many friends in my life. People come into my life, come and go. And my family has always been there, you know. And through my lowest times, those are the people that I can count on the most, is my blood, my flesh and blood, my inner, I should say, my specific household, my household that I grew up in. The moments when I broke my neck and there was no sign of, we didn't know whether

I was going to be able to get back on the road and like be successful anymore. And like, we didn't know what was next. Um, but like I was able to turn to, to family, you know what I'm saying? Growing up, I was always really more drawn to my family than my friends. And I, and I had a, really more drawn to my family than my friends. And I had a pretty big family, so I was blessed in that area. But yeah, friends can get you in trouble. And at the end of the day,

if you had some bones buried somewhere, who are the people that you think that you could trust to tell? You know, or if you had like some buried treasure somewhere, who is the person that you think could go and help you and like wouldn't tell anybody else? Like who are those people in your life? Keep those people as close as possible because they don't come to the bottom of the dozen. You know? Right. So that's beautiful. Family over everything.

I love that. Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Jason, for opening up, man, for being super real and authentic. Again, I think a lot of people see short content from you, which is inspiring and entertaining, but I've never heard a long form interview with you,

really, in this way. I hate, you know, five minute stuff. It's you, man. You got that special, that special judge, man. You get it out of people. But I appreciate and acknowledge you for how you inspire people,

how you show up consistently, how you, you know, dedicate to your craft, how you continue to strive for excellence. So I want to acknowledge you for everything you've done and everything you're gonna keep doing, man. It's really inspiring to watch. And next time I'll join in the gym. Get some reps in with you.

Absolutely. Final question, what's your definition of greatness? Definition of greatness. The definition of greatness to me is thriving at the highest level in any arena. Whether it's math or whether it's music or whether it's social media. Being able to consistently, I gotta use that word, consistently thrive at the highest level. I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Thrive at the highest level. channel on Apple Podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend. Leave us a review over on Apple Podcast and let me know what you learned

over on our social media channels at Lewis Howes. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.