Kind: captions
Language: en
eric thomas over the next 60 minutes you
and i are going to give people the keys
to success you ready let's go awesome
all right guys you're going to want to
stick around to the end where i'm going
to give you what i think is the most
powerful eric thomas quote and you are
not going to want to miss it
right eric what is one thing that highly
successful people do every day that
helps them achieve greatness execute
execute on the things that they say they
wanted to get done not what you want me
to get done my mother wants me to get
done my coach wants me but the things
that i really feel like if i do these
things
i'm going to be successful execute on
the things that you said you were going
to execute on so then why don't most
people ever find success like if it
really is and i know what's hiding in
the word execute but most people do not
and i always tell people only execution
matters i see it but how do people get
good at that
so the first thing you got to do is you
got to get out of your feelings
like for me
these are great people who could blow up
like who could be successful whatever
they touch
but something happened that day you know
you woke up got into it with your spouse
or your kids call with something that
was going on or you were sick like
they're a group of people that feel like
it's okay not to execute because i'm not
feeling okay because today is not a good
day because all the stars didn't line up
and at the end of the day none of that
matt like to have a good day is great
but just because you have a good day you
still got to execute and so i think for
most people they go wrong because they
think it's a feeling when execution is a
fact
one of my favorite quotes from you is
about that that feelings basically
aren't facts and facts are the things
that are going to help you process
through your feelings that's a
paraphrase but it's pretty close
um and i got that actually from the book
uou which is absolutely phenomenal thank
you uh and what i love about it is this
idea of you need to take responsibility
for you
that there are gonna be difficult times
in your life there are gonna be times
where you have every reason to make an
excuse absolutely but that won't serve
you and i'm always telling people the
most insidious thing about excuses is
that they're valid like most people have
a real reason to say like hey this
didn't happen for me whatever
in fact tell us about inky which was
it's a really powerful story i've heard
you tell before yeah so you know first
of all for me the whole
inky
you know
i don't want to call it a disability i
don't want iggy to call me you know i
said but for one not to have the use of
their arm training every day for the nfl
going hard i think he was trying to get
out of some pretty dire circumstances
absolutely uh
multiple cousins living with them uh
they're shifting out to bed right so one
person sleeping in the bed one day
another person sleeping in bed and for
inky to lose everything but say to his
self like yo this doesn't matter what
matters is the success that i want what
i promised my grandmother what i
promised my mother what i promised my
wife what i promised myself and so
inky's thing was yo despite this
happening
i owe it to myself to still be the
person that i dreamed of being and this
setback will only be a setup for a
comeback
how do people cultivate that because so
i know your story my story certainly is
nowhere near as difficult as where you
started but even for me
there were times where i just felt like
oh my god like this is so hard there's
so much to overcome
the emotions kick in
you
and
i know firsthand that you can mistake
your feeling for i'm i'm just
recognizing an objective fact right so
inky training all this time to get into
the nfl is really excelling
ends up like severing an artery or
something crazy in his arm because he
hit somebody so hard
ends up losing use of his arm
at that point
he has to pivot like there is no more
nfl that's completely off the table
and so to say that it would be
justified
to say that
well
i had a shot it was my body to get out
god whatever way that you're going to
frame it does not see fit for that to
happen
how do you help people in that state
cultivate a different mindset is it by
just pointing out it's more effective is
it something else no it's you're already
in pain
get a reward for it
like you're already in pain so at the
end of the day you everything is already
messed up
so why would you go through all that
pain and not get something for it like
it doesn't make sense like it doesn't
make sense to put all those hours in
okay yeah it was football but it don't
make sense to put all those hours in and
not transfer those hours to something
else it doesn't make sense not to
recycle the pain
and get wealth or a successful life a
successful spouse like whatever have kid
whatever it is and so for me just going
through my go through i was like it
can't end here like bro it came in here
i've worked too hard i've i've i've done
i've read the books i've gone to the
conferences i went to the classes i i
got the degrees like it can't end with
just life is going to deal me this hand
you know and so i truly feel and i don't
want to um promote gambling you know but
i gamble you know as a as a young adult
to make money and i and i watched guys
who had a royal flush
lose because of the giddy and the
excitement i'm like oh he he got
something you know i'm saying okay take
what i have to leave but i also watch
people who had nothing in their head
with that poker face
actually act as if they had a royal
flush and win and so i i learned early
like yo it doesn't matter if you grow up
rich you still got to play your hand
it's not like life says all right you
rich so you're not going to have any
your parents will never get cancer you
know nobody in your family will ever
have multiple squirrels like you'll
never get covey you're rich it doesn't
work like that like you still have to do
life regardless of how you come into
life and i think some people feel well
if you come into life and everything is
great then that's the way you live life
but no it doesn't matter if you come in
great if you come in poorly it does not
matter
you have to do life and if you're smart
you do life on your terms and you don't
let life make you do it on its terms
so you were homeless at 16. let's say
let's let's you read the book so
honestly 13. okay so that's when you
first started running away at 13. at 16
i kind of felt like i did this a couple
times i got this i got this i can't i
can't handle this you know so
this is in detroit though this is the
detroit this is in detroit it's not
exactly warm in the winter in detroit
not at all so
start leaving at 13 and make it pretty
much permanent at 16.
you've got a lot of reasons to uh say
you know hand i've been dealt a bad hand
it's going to be difficult to play what
was the moment where you switched around
and decided you know what knows i'm not
going to tap out i'm not going to let
this be my future
so church
and not necessarily church because i
didn't grow up going to church so it
wasn't like the building ah it's magical
but the pastor there was a military man
i think he was an army man
you know so he had love
but it was tough love right and i'll
never forget he pulled me to the side
and he gave me something that i had
never had before and that was purpose
he gave me a sense of purpose and he
said to me you are a phenomenal speaker
you got to imagine i'm like 16 almost 17
high school dropout coming to church
smelling you know what i'm saying like i
think it's so funny like when people
like your story i think that's funny
they're like man you have a phenomenal
story i'm like i wish this was a story
like just my life so i'm literally
coming to church when i come haven't
brushed my teeth i haven't taken a
shower i i smell based on whatever was
the last time i had an opportunity to
take a shower you know i'm in a strained
relationship with my mom i'm on the
verge of getting kicked out of school i
have no bank account no credit cards and
this guy looks at me and says you're
going to be a phenomenal speaker like
you just you got that genesec
you have something about and i'm
thinking what first of all nobody's ever
said anything like that to me before and
nobody's definitely said it in this
state that i'm in and so for me i'm i'm
pulling for strings for something in
life and this guy's like yo you got it
and not only do you have it i believe in
you so much that i'm gonna use my name
at my alma mater to get you in school if
you could just get a high school diploma
or a ged we're gonna get you and so
i don't know if it was him i don't know
if it was the words
but this sense of purpose
and this identity like yo i you're right
i can't i i've never seen him speaking
in the way he saw it before i got in
trouble clowning in class telling jokes
but now he's saying that what i do with
martin luther king with malcolm x what
garvey what these people do you can you
have the ability to do it and it was at
that point i was no longer
i wasn't homeless and i don't think i've
ever said this before but i was i was
homeless but i wasn't discouraged at
that point anymore like it was the
craziest thing i was literally homeless
practicing
sermons i was literally homeless prac
visualizing being in college you know at
that time a different world uh was on a
spin-off you know from the cosby show
and like you could actually i was like
watching
a different world and seeing myself in
the cafeteria seeing myself in the dorm
room so this is the first time in my
life
that i had this sense of life this sense
of purpose that
yo i am not worthless despite the fact
that
what i considered my parents
they weren't married they didn't they
weren't in a long relationship like i
saw myself as an accident like these are
two kids you know what i'm saying uh i
don't know if it was in love and lust i
don't know what it was but i there
wasn't a nursery there wasn't a book
with names you know there wasn't uh a
baby shower you know i looked at myself
like i'm an accident and this is the
first person who spoke to me and said
really you're not in the accident
you you you really were designed to be
here and you have a phenomenal gift
that's going to change the world and it
was at that point i'm in abandoned
buildings seeing myself speak i'm i'm
i'm an abandoned buildings you know
seeing crowds i'm an abandoned building
seeing myself travel and it would it was
at that point i believe that this eric
thomas not this version i was definitely
the eric thomas 1.0 but it was at that
point that i began to see myself in a
way i'd never seen myself before all
right i want to put a few ideas together
that is really incredible
so it's all about execution we know
that's where we started meaning and
purpose so you talked about finally
having purpose to do this and then
somebody believing in you absolutely
i have the chills do you
so i know you do a lot of work with
at-risk youth you go into the prison
system
is part of why you do that helping
people find purpose and having that
spark a belief that somebody else
believes in them yeah but a part of that
is
feeling this i old
pastor and i owe all the people
that sort of helped me to get from where
i was to where i am now and i owe them
that tough love you know and i owe it to
them to believe in themselves and to
see that like i owe it to myself to
recreate
that moment between me and him
with as many people as i can as often as
i can because he said to me listen to me
there is absolutely nothing you can do
for me but pay it forward
and at that time i don't know i don't
know what period for it was i didn't see
the movie at the time you know but
afterwards i began to understand what he
meant and so i'd literally wake up every
day
believing that i owe the people who
didn't owe me anything
now again i i don't know this to be a
fact but i do believe that there are
people who believe that i have value
because of where i am you're talking
about people who
at my lowest point that believed in me
in the way somebody today would believe
in me based on what i do when i hadn't
done anything and so i'm like wow that's
rare people don't necessarily do that
and i just felt i'm obligated to do that
to as many people as i possibly can and
that's what i wake up like i wake up
every day with this all right i'm going
to win the nobel prize and it's not
about the nobel prize it's not about
norway it is about
if lebron and michael jordan are playing
for the finals and uh gretzky is playing
for the stanley cup and somebody else is
playing for the pin it like my my pin it
is the nobel prize because you don't get
that without helping millions of people
get from one place in their lives you
know to another
you need a goal you need something to
aim at i love that i love how often you
talk about winning a nobel peace prize i
think that's really cool
um
so going back to the
going into the um the at-risk areas and
helping people so i've worked in the
inner cities a lot okay and
one thing for sure
i mean some of it on purpose some of it
accidental if i'm quite honest but it
put me in contact with
um the coming face-to-face with your zip
code as the number one predictor of your
future success and so i was like why is
that true and so i'm there i uh so my
whole thing is it doesn't matter who you
are today it only matters who you want
to become and the price you're willing
to pay to get there right so that's i
just believe that to the core of my
being and so my wife and i are building
our last company quest we're in the
inner cities because that's where you
manufacture and so i was like is this
really true or is this rhetoric that it
doesn't matter who you are today
and we're like it's real so if that's
true then i should be willing to employ
people that have a criminal record
and so i'm like cool put the word out
that you know regardless of felony
convictions we'll consider you for
employment and so we had just a ton of
people line up around the block just to
be interviewed it's crazy
and so we end up with these incredible
people some of them
really intelligent smarter than i am and
they're going nowhere i'm just like what
is going on and in your book you talk
about that
poverty isn't just about money you may
have even said it isn't about money but
it's about mindset it's how you think
and before we started rolling you said
to really help somebody you you'd have
to like go back to kindergarten and
start planning the right ideas in their
mind yeah
that idea of
it's a set of ideas now the earlier that
you can get them to people for sure the
better yeah but that it's a set of ideas
that end up holding people back i want
to talk about this idea of getting
people to believe in themselves the fact
that somebody could look at you and one
thing that i find interesting and i
don't know what you think about this i
imagine that meeting you at 16 you'd see
that glimmer of like whoa this person
can be something
but at the same time there's probably a
little bit of like
let me like blow on this ember and just
see what happens even if i don't know
that it's going to turn into a raging
inferno i want to give them a little bit
of oxygen absolutely what is that when
you try to give somebody oxygen what do
you say to them
is it just you can do it or
no you know i think for me
and as a speaker i try to start with
like where are you
so if you're in poverty
it's like okay i got to show you wealth
like in your own world
i've got to show you
that this ideology that you're holding
on to is probably not yours you know i
tell people all the time when i grew up
you know no it was no college why didn't
i want to go to college i was in detroit
in detroit you could make 25 an hour
working for ford
gm or chrysler so so when you were a kid
growing up in detroit like the goal the
apex is i got a job at ford motor
company i've got salary i've got uh uh
insurance i've got health benefits 401k
like i've got a career and so for you
you grown up in detroit you see ford
the bigger buildings are gm you see
chrysler iacocca like you see him on
magazines and books and he's he's on the
new york times best sellers list and
it's like whoa gm chrysler and so what i
do is i figure out where you are and i
dare you to come out of where you are to
if nobody ever influence you where would
you want to be
like what do you want what do you want
to do not what they want you to do if
you could dream
if like what would your best life look
like for you if you didn't have to
impress your mom or your dad if you
didn't have to go to college because
your parents went to college like what
would you really do and then if they can
tell me which most people can some
people are so dark that they don't even
know what light would look like but more
often than not a kid would tell me nba i
said no don't just be okay the nba is
over where you live where do you live
what are you are you married do you have
children what are you and if i can
figure out
where you want to go
at that point then i can snatch your
current reality and help you to build a
new reality to help you to get where you
go now i tell this to people all the
time
i just wanted a career i never i never
even heard the word billionaire before
i never heard anybody say the word i
never i was never i didn't even know
what that meant
and one day i was in the room with dan
gilbert and warren buffett
damn and i was like whoa
god why am i here like i'm not a
billionaire like i'm not like what would
i be in this like what did they call me
for why why did they invite me into this
room
and i started doing my homework who else
is in the picture went back i thought i
was um
you know a detective and i'm trying to
figure out okay who else is in the room
why are they in the room what's their
net worth and then one day it hit me
you're in the room
because you're going to be this one day
so everything you heard you didn't hear
it
just to hear it just to be wrong like
you heard it because you can do real
estate
like venture capital you can't do that
these are all humans in this room so for
me i was taken into a reality
that i didn't know exist and jamal says
it best
your level of exposure often determines
your level of success so i was exposed
to billionaires so what i try to get
kids to do is say look i want to expose
you you can go to la when i want to la
you put you can put the things on and go
to la you can you can go on a computer
you can read a book like you can get to
sunset without ever going and then once
you get to sunset here and get the
sunset here you can get the sunset here
so for me it's i gotta get in here and i
gotta get in here and if you let me into
these two spaces i can get you wherever
you're trying to get to okay you keep
getting the chills
dust so powerful so i was always freaked
out that uh you've got people in compton
that live
20 minutes from beverly hills and
they've never gone yeah and so back
at quest i used to high performers i
would take them to dinner
in beverly hills and then i would drive
them around bel air now at the time i'm
not making a lot of money either but i
was like yo you've got to dream to your
point about getting in somebody's head
getting them to believe like you have to
imagine it and i was like you hey i i
need you to know that this kind of stuff
exists i need you to know that like a
waiter will seat you and be kind to you
and like try to take great care of you
and that there are fancy beautiful
places that you can go that are free
there are malls that are just nice that
you can walk around and see and enjoy
and that to get them to expand their you
know sense of the world absolutely and
that so few people do it so one thing
watching your talks that i
love man and like i think is what makes
you so effective
to your point about getting in their
heart
is you take people's excuses away from
them
and get them to really start
recognizing that they owe themselves
something absolutely that man owe
yourself something that really hits me
like that is a really cool idea but you
you take their excuses and you get them
to start dreaming about what they want
one thing i want to ask you there was a
talk and you may do this all the time
but i saw it in one talk and i was like
damn like that's really out of fashion
right now but to me i was like standing
up and i want to clap
you were like i want everybody in this
room you live in you the us and i want
you to say with me usa and you like got
the crowd like channing usa
why do you get people to do that
because
people have to understand and this was
um utah
you know this was a group of guys 25 to
40 years old
and it was like guys you got to
understand
the opportunities that you have you know
i've been to third world countries where
it does not matter how early you wake up
it does not matter how long you stay up
it doesn't matter what your skill sets
are it doesn't matter
you don't have opportunity you have
people all over the world who are dying
to get here
literally dying to get here
you have an opportunity of a lifetime
and where much is given much is required
so if you have an opportunity to be
wealthy to build phenomenal
relationships to start a business like
you just you got llc non-profit you know
s corp like you got opportunities you
got banks that you can get loans from uh
you can go online and sell stuff from
online like you don't have to have a
store anymore a storefront like you can
literally become rich from your watch so
it's like yo instead of you looking at
everything that's not look at what is so
absolutely is there's some stuff to
complain about one thousand percent it's
a whole bunch of stuff i can complain
about it's a lot of stuff that i can be
angry about but
man my grandmother died at 93 and a
month later my other grandmother died at
90.
i didn't realize how quick life was
i'm like yo my grandmother was 93 i
spent 51 years with both of them they're
gone it's over i will never be able to
talk to my grandmother again and i'm
next
so because life is short i don't have
time to focus on what's not i've got to
focus on what it is then get up and go
get it
and and for me it's like guys some of
you in this room
have opportunities that i don't have
some of you in this room have
connections or network i don't have
and and i'm killing the game and you're
not so i need you to i need you to
understand where you are
america's not perfect i don't know if
there's a place on planet earth that is
so we're not looking for perfect but we
are looking for opportunity and we have
it so it's like yo
say it because i need you to understand
what you have
and then i need you to appreciate what
you have and then i need you to go after
everything that's got your name on it
with no excuses because some man when i
pulled up and i saw you know the scholar
i was like yo do you know there were
people 400 years ago 300 years ago
who were in the process of building this
and it was a vision and they never got
to experience it
i know you know you know do you know
what type of mindset you have to have to
build something that you know that
you're not going to get to enjoy but yet
you put energy into it because you're
thinking about the next generation
you've got this vision that's gonna
outlast you like that's that's that's
rare and so now it's been built go fly
first class it's been built
go live on the people why do you live on
the east coast and then you live on the
west coast because it's too cold
that's why and if i can get a house in
the gold coast i'm going there so it's
like yo we have opportunity whatever you
do don't waste it don't cry about it get
up and go make it happen what is up my
friend tom bilyu here and i have a big
question to ask you how would you rate
your level of personal discipline on a
scale of one to ten if your answer is
anything less than a ten i've got
something cool for you and let me tell
you right now discipline by its very
nature means compelling yourself to do
difficult things that are stressful
boring which is what kills most people
or possibly scary or even painful now
here is the thing achieving huge goals
and stretching to reach your potential
requires you to do those challenging
stressful things and to stick with them
even when it gets boring and it will get
boring building your levels of personal
discipline is not easy but let me tell
you it pays off in fact i will tell you
you're never going to achieve anything
meaningful unless you develop discipline
all right i've just released a class
from impact theory university called how
to build iron-clad discipline that
teaches you the process of building
yourself up in this area so that you can
push yourself to do the hard things that
greatness is going to require of you
right click the link on the screen
register for this class right now and
let's get to work i will see you inside
this workshop from impact theory
university until then my friends be
legendary peace out
the get up and go make it happen this is
where you really shift into another gear
i heard an interview that you were doing
you and your business partner and your
business partner was telling a story
about when he was 21 years old and you
told him he needed to give up sex yes
and i was like damn say what
and i just thought okay
eric isn't around
this really is about execution
why did you ask him to give up sex and
why on god's green earth as a single man
at 21 did he agree now that part i can't
that part i don't know but i'm grateful
you trust me i saw at that time
that it was a distraction for him
that
as much potential as he had and i knew
in his eyes when he said
i'm going to make you a household name
like he was adamant about yo i can't
believe you just gave that guru story
and we can't book you for a free gig at
a school he was like cj was like yo i
just can't believe this so his thing was
you don't have a problem
it's the fact that you don't have
celebrity people don't know you so we
gotta we gotta do the brand and so i'm
listening to a kid who's like yo we
gotta go make it happen but then i'm
looking at a kid who's spending hours
in
in relationships i'm i'm looking at a
kid who you know is coming to work but
after work some of the energy is going
to i'm like bro you won't have to get
that up because that is a distraction of
where we're going and not only is it the
distraction of where we're going
if we get to where
i believe you can take us you go
you you can turn back on sex as much
like you're going to be all right but
it is a distraction
it is allowing you not to be as
disciplined as you possibly can be
and we have an opportunity of a lifetime
the two of us like we can really create
something together and so if you can
lock in if you can give me 120
for the next few years cj i believe and
we're here
like we did it but there were it was a
distraction
it was constantly on his mind when he
wasn't actually
engaged in it it was just like bro
it's taking up way too much real estate
for us to be able to go where we're
trying to go i need you to get focused i
need you to get locked in
yeah that story really hit me because i
was the fact that he didn't really hit
me well yeah that he did it that
certainly is a testament to his faith in
you but it also i think is a testament
to it works
and getting focused and um really
deciding what what is it that i'm trying
to be great at and put in the hours and
the energy to get great at that thing
there's two stories that i want to bring
together here you're either going to
think i'm crazy or we're going to help
people really understand what it takes
to be something let's go so i'm not
religious okay but i respond it's
interesting that you say that because
you've been as a true preacher
formerly at a church
um now i think you refer to it as a
ministry absolutely
so
you approach religion in a way that i
think really resonates in terms of
religion has survived for thousands of
years for a reason right and my
hypothesis is that the reason is that it
gives us something that's very effective
absolutely and that you have a
god-shaped hole in your heart that
you're going to fill with something
you could fill it with god you could
fill it with
a marriage you can fill it with a
business whatever many people fill it
with
things that are not very useful
absolutely um but the stories that i
want to bring together are so you tell
your partner that he needs to give up on
sex
and
when he was explaining why he listened
to you he told another story
and the story that he has the chills
just remembering it the story that he
told was
there was you guys were on the streets
of harlem and this really big guy was
like he said he was like six five
280 pounds or something and he was like
barreling down the street he's on the
phone yelling at this guy telling him
that he's gonna kill him and all this
stuff
and he jumps back up onto the stoop to
not be in the way of this freight train
coming down the street and he said you
wouldn't move and he's trying to get
your attention you're just standing in
the guy's path and the guy gets up to
you you grab him by the wrist he looks
at you like he's going to punch a hole
in your head and you tell him to get off
the cell phone you take him by both
wrists and you start praying
and by the end of it the guy gets down
on his knees with you and is sobbing and
crying and i was like damn okay now the
reason that
i got it immediately when he was telling
that story
is one of your quotes which is the only
thing standing in your way is you that's
it
and once you understand that this is a
game that you're playing here and you're
playing here and that you have to and
for people that are i'm just listening
i'm pointing at my head in my heart
that
once you
take control of what you're trying to
achieve you're thinking execution mode
you've got meaning and purpose now that
transitions us to the heart and we're
thinking about okay how do i get my
emotions in check and then how do i
proceed towards something that means
something to me
um
that
that is to me somebody who really
understands what the path to success is
that you have to get yourself under
control
one i really want to understand
what what is it that you picked up on in
that guy like what did you see that made
you go there's a
a thing here that that we could have a
breakthrough or whatever like
that's
you know in life man some things
some things you you know mathematically
you can explain it's like it's succinct
right it's linear
but other things is like frequency like
vibe
and so as he was walking toward me i
felt me i felt that darkness
that dark place that i was once in
i felt that you know but i felt okay
like he's on the phone saying he's gonna
do whatever but he's still on the phone
like you like if it was that deep you
just hang up the phone and you just go
do whatever you say you you're still
talking about it and you're still
talking about it because whoever you're
having this conversation with some kind
of way you still care enough so i could
hear this battle that he was personally
going through and when i saw him like yo
e.t 16 year old 12 13 year old e.t a 16
year old out of control e.t and i i saw
the rank the rage and the anger and the
darkness and i was like yo you gotta
take a chance why cause somebody took a
chance on you like i wasn't tom i wasn't
the dude that was sitting with a poster
saying help me i'm i'm messed up i was
messed up and somebody saw me and went
yo we gotta salvage this kid like some
kind of way this this past i don't know
if it's everybody maybe he did it
whatever i don't know he made me feel
like it was just me and now when i look
at my life i'm like wow he really did
he really did save thousands and
thousands of people's lives i could have
easily been in prison or dead this guy
by rescuing me you know how many people
i've inspired i don't know how many
people i've inspired but it's got
looking at the videos and algorithm it's
got to be a couple hundred you know what
i'm saying so a couple hundred thousand
you know maybe some millions so i'm
looking at this guy like yo e you got a
chance to do the exact same thing so
being selfish it might have been more of
me just
like yo he he go a big one baby like
this this the finals like this the super
bowl like go for it you know and
his response
i'm nervous i'm scared just like you
know they don't know i'm nervous and i'm
scared but i'm too scared not to try
like i'm too scared not to take the risk
i'm all in now i've been watching him
paying attention and listening so boom i
go in and his response falling on his
knees and crying was like
okay
maybe i am story could have been real
this can go good or bad there's no
middle ground and so for me it's i saw
eric a young
hurt eric thomas it was like e here's
your chance to do for this guy you know
what somebody did for you
do you remember what the what did you
say to him that that gave him the
breakthrough i don't remember
the only thing i do know is the hug
you know is is the
the command of bruh you gotta get
control of yourself like you walking up
and down the street like you're just out
of control like
what are you doing you're screaming and
hollering cussing this is a church
i didn't even grow up in church but like
bro you got to have respect there's kids
out here like come on bro like not you
you're like i'm not hurt that you're
fussing and cussing at the church i'm
hurting for you out of control like your
emotions got the better of you and bro
you need to you need to get a grip and
so whatever we said other than i don't
know hug get control and then before i
know it you know he's bawling and i'm
like yo this thing works and this is
before
the hip-hop preacher just e.t at that
time this is no videos you know we
hadn't really blown up at that time but
for me i thought it was great because it
was like yo pastor said hey yo it's
working
and it's working on real people with
real problems this isn't this isn't you
know um the studio e.t like this isn't
uh huh you know the e.t that's it you
know putting powder on it you know like
no we out in the streets like anything
could have happened in new york this is
new york this is harlem it could have
went a total different way so i even
felt a sense of like yo i
i can you know like i can't do this i
did people do respond and i had to speak
that night and i spoke with more energy
probably not spoken a long time because
it was like yo if it don't work in here
it's okay because out there
it works out there and again i felt good
about myself i think people get confused
sometimes
when we do what we do a part of it is
for
us and our life and our vitality and our
belief in confidence in ourselves sound
like lisa now our confidence in
ourselves
i love it man see to me that's the whole
idea of you owe it to you yeah it's it's
kind of a hard message it's tough love
it's direct it's and i think that's a
big part that's certainly a big part of
what um i think people respond to in me
is that i'm not letting myself off the
hook and therefore i'm not letting
anybody else off the hook that there are
opportunities you either capitalize on
them or you don't all of us are going to
get kicked in the face at some point or
another and it's really about how you
respond to it and so by
it's interesting because i actually
didn't know because the time that you
told that story they didn't ask what you
said to him so i had no idea but i'm not
at all surprised that the punch line was
like you're out of control
get it under control which one having
somebody hold you accountable it's
really interesting in fact man i really
want to know your thoughts on this so
they've looked at what why is it that
kids that grow up with a single mom do
worse than kids that grow up in a
two-parent household and look i'm sure
it would be equally bad if you only grew
up with a father there's just a lot less
statistics
so when looking at it it's and this is a
thought my wife and i don't have kids
but this is a thousand percent us
you've got the mom who's like
totally empathetic they want you to go
to bed because they know what's better
for you but oh like they don't want to
upset you and so you end up going to bed
late the dad's like no no you're going
to bed and if i have to drag you by the
ankle if i said it's nine o'clock it's
nine o'clock and that's that and when
you don't have somebody that holds you
accountable there's there's a sense of
like i'm not seen i'm not checked like
somebody doesn't
i don't know if it's that they don't
love me because you know your mom loves
you but like you you want somebody to
absolutely check you yeah you know
i tell people it's crazy my biological
father wasn't in my life and me and my
mom struggled because i knew my mom
didn't want me to go after him
because of what it meant in her life
whatever the pain
remnant whatever it was and so i kind of
never shared that
i miss i want to know who my dad is i
want to you know it's crazy it's like i
was an adult
and i still
i wanted my daddy
you know i i wanted to know who my
father was and i don't mean i knew who
he was by name but like yo who are you
how am i like you you know what i'm
saying what were your goals and aspire
what was your struggles what are your
challenges and so i feel that like you
said with mom you know that love is
there you know moms will die for you
she'll do anything for you but with dad
it is that damn what am i capable of i
remember my daughter
she loves her mom they have the best
relationship but she would get dressed
and walk right past her mom and be like
dad
what do you think you know and i'm like
wow this is crazy my son would play
football and you could see he you know
picked up a fumble and he i'm like run
but he's like
hey did you see me with the i'm like
yeah we could talk about it afterwards
and so i i i think there is an
affirmation
in father's along with that correction
but you said something earlier that i
thought was important you know what
bothers me is
individuals ability to check and hold
people accountable like i'm like yo it's
crazy
if you weren't wired to check people or
when somebody can't you know like didn't
meet your expectations i would be like
yo don't hold yourself accountable but
like i look i literally look at humans
when somebody don't pay them back on
time or somebody picks them up later
somebody doesn't keep their promise like
you feel this why didn't you how dare
you and i'm like well how do you pass
you in the mirror
like yo i'm not mad that you held him
accountable but how can you hold another
human that responsible but you don't
hold yourself responsible like how is
that possible like somebody
doesn't do what you think they should do
and you go off but then you give you a
pass
like you don't go off on you i'm like yo
if you go off on my man that's cool but
when are you gonna go in the mirror and
check yourself like why are you giving
yourself a pass why are you giving
yourself a out that same energy you have
to let others know about themselves you
cuz my man out you i mean he he didn't
whatever it was he was supposed to do he
didn't do he almost ran into your car
like you cussed my man out like you went
off but then you didn't finish school or
you didn't write the book or you didn't
do the album or or you didn't go back to
school or you told yourself you was
gonna lose weight and you just let you
just let yourself off the hook like well
you didn't do it poor you i'm saying no
do me a favor with that same energy you
use to hold somebody else accountable
hold yourself accountable because here's
the deal
you hold me accountable and i change how
do you benefit from that like how do you
benefit from getting on me and making me
make adjustments and corrections
you don't benefit from that you don't
get the money that i make when my
business blows up or when i get my
degree and i've seen people get on me
eric you need to finish school i'm like
bad but you got some stuff that you need
to overcome i lit i literally listened
to you
you got on me and you checked me about
not finishing what i started okay well i
finished what i started but you still
haven't checked you about some of the
character defects you have so that's why
i get a little
taken back because i'm saying use that
same energy you use on others i'm not
saying don't hold people accountable but
i'm saying use that same energy on
yourself and you'd be shocked
how much further you'd be in life if you
just punish yourself if you put you on
punishment that's what i like about you
man you put you on blood put you on
punishment
uh what i like about you is that the
very reason that you want
them to hold themselves accountable is
because they would be shocked at how
much better off their life would be
that to me is like the interesting part
so we're living through a weird moment
right now where
there's this idea in race car driving
where they say don't look at the wall
because you're going to go where you
look and so even though the wall is the
thing you're worried about because you
don't want to crash into it if you look
at it that's actually what you're going
to hit now if you pay attention to the
turn and the other cars then you've got
a shot
i always thought that was really
interesting when you apply that to
yourself if you're looking for all the
things that are wrong you're going to
find them and there will be a litany of
them
if you're looking for excuses you're
going to find them and they're going to
be valid and you're going to have every
reason to give up and you talk about the
darkness a lot dude that's really
important for people to understand you
can think your way into any state
you can think your way into negativity
and you will find it everywhere you can
think your way into positivity and
despite the fact there are a thousand
things stacked against you
you'll see the path forward and it will
make your life better like that's the
thing that i'm really fiendish about and
so i want to ask you like given the
the way that
right now people especially in the u.s
are looking at the way things are
working against them what do you say to
somebody like that because it's not like
there aren't things to complain about
but how do you get them to
refocus that energy on the things that
they can control man i say i say
this world is fascinated with sports
so we are consumed with
hours upon hours of just watching sports
so i say hey guys if you're gonna be
watching all this sports like use the
sports world in your world because
you're spending all this time watching
it
what kid
and i i don't even know if i wanted to
go you know and play in the majors but i
remember being with my boys on the block
and just a couple of us and i would
dream that i was on the plate
two outs
two strikes
three balls bases loaded we down by
three and i'm on the plate
we all you're on the free throw line
your team's down by one you get to shoot
two free throws at zero
time on the clock game seven of the nba
final like we all dream of that but then
we get in real life we want to be punks
we get in real life we solve it's like
yo
let the gas go up i'm gonna make more
money
let the inflation go up
game seven
like this game seven in life let's go
if it was easy everybody would do it i
don't even want it to be easy everybody
would get a phd if it was easy to get a
phd then it wouldn't be valuable you
could just open up the door so i tell
people
like look look at the tragedies and say
yo you thought well enough for me to
come at me
batman you you you you trained in the
dark man say i was born in the dark
this is what i do cut all the lights off
if you want to you're not going to stop
me because you got all the lights like
out this is this is where i thrive and
i'm saying if you're a real human
because we are a little different than
some of the other things that were
created we have a will there's some
things that we have i'm like activated
instead of crying and quitting and
giving up again
we're going to go through pain all of us
won't get a reward from it i got a
reward for mine like
i have worked so hard when i die
i will physically be dead but you'll
still be knowing about eric thomas the
videos will still be out the books will
be out whatever businesses we set up
kids will still be going to college
they'll be going to the super bowl every
year through my foundation they'll be
taking a trip to dubai i i you know i
tell people all the time
they're like what what motivates you now
because you have what you want what
motivate
i said i did it but can i duplicate
myself can i scale this reality you know
can i scale positivity can i scale
getting through pain can i scale taking
a bad hand and turn that joke into a
royal flush can i can i scale that so
for me it's not this is happening this
has happened this has happened i look at
it game seven this is going this way
this is where the michael jordans are
made this this is where the magic
johnsons the larry birds like this is
where the real ballers this is when the
real ballers come out okay you won game
one okay you won game two okay we won
two then you were three one three two
and we came back and beat you like we
don't go we're down two we go
this is what i signed up for that's what
all the weights were for this is the
eating right this is getting up early
going this the trainers like this is why
i went to this school this is why i got
this coach like this i long for this and
i live for this and some people i don't
know are you not cut out for it i don't
know but for me when i see trials and
tribulations i go it's showtime with a
real eric thomas with a game seven eric
thomas please stand up activate
grand slam
grand slam activated and shape of e.t
and
boom it's out of here so i just look at
it as hey if you want to complain go for
it i will rise to the level of the
challenge
did i love that so much it it is the
only path forward like
everything that i've seen about life
tells me there just isn't another option
again the excuses are valid you can take
them but your life is going to be worse
what do you teach your kids about racism
because i've heard you say racism is
real it exists
but yeah
i say to my kids
for every challenge that exists prepare
yourself for it
don't go into it don't go into it
unprepared the man or woman who's
unprepared for a challenge would
probably not come out of it the way he
or she wants to come out of it you have
a better chance i'm not telling you that
stuff can't happen to you but you have a
better chance if you are prepared for it
um which is why i wouldn't got a phd why
because i felt like talent-wise you were
prepared to be one of the greatest
speakers in this generation
but language-wise you're not prepared to
be one of the greatest speakers
diversity-wise you are not prepared you
grew up in detroit which is probably the
most segregated city united states of
america you're not prepared to be
diverse because you've not been in an
environment that was diverse you need to
go to michigan state you need to prepare
yourself for where you want to be so for
my children you will run into some of
the greatest humans in life prepare
yourself to get the most out of that
relationship i was just with somebody
recently i was like yo i love you more
in person than i did on the videos
that's not by accident like that's why i
walk in the room your personality i'm
gonna be my authentic self i'm going to
bet got it i'm not walking in the room
like uh
uh lisa hello i'm just sitting there 10
and whatever no i'm like yo this is what
presented itself in the room you're a
hugger i'm a hugger let's go and so to
my children yo prepare for everything
it doesn't mean that you're gonna win
because you're prepared but you have a
better chance of winning if you are
prepared so they got mad at me i sent
them to when they were younger they
might have gone to a um 50 50 school in
terms of diversity when they got older
they've been they were the minority why
are we in a high school where in
mid-north cause you're going to michigan
state
so we're not going to prepare you when
you get there we're going to prepare you
now so now they're like okay dad when
they travel the world oh we are prepared
why because we went to school with we
have friends that are our teachers were
this was the environment so i say
racism
um economic struggles marriage parenting
prepare yourself in advance for these
situations so that when they come
you have a better chance of controlling
those situations and not letting those
situations control you one thing that
you said in a video and i was like this
just cannot be said enough
is you were saying like imagine somebody
i don't remember the amount of time that
you gave but like 50 years ago they
don't have the internet yeah or 300
years ago when we're embroiled in the
just absolute travesty of slavery
like that's like a whole thing that now
you could take right now a course from
stanford university on your phone for
free you can take mit courses on your
phone for free and so to not prepare
yourself by taking advantage of those
things like at some point it's you owe
yourself to get in that to learn that
stuff to prepare yourself push your
education
that to me is like that's so powerful
encouraging people to invest in turning
their potential into skill sets
absolutely you get one life you know
it's funny somebody would say well how
do you prepare yourself for
well when i was younger i thought i had
to address every human that said
something to me
now depending on that person's
intelligence
and depending on that person's ideology
i don't have to enter i don't have to
entertain you i'm not i'm not forced
because you made a statement i'm not
forced to respond i tell my son all the
time
bro somebody if you're on the road in
this road rage
drive home
you don't have to get into it with that
person because they almost hit their car
because here's the deal son that pers