Way It Should Be

So, if you wanna make things six figures you can't just be talking about you wanna make six figures. Do you know what I'm saying to you tonight. If you do the three things I tell you to do tonight I guarantee you whatever it is you wanna do in life you'll be able to do. You'll be able to accomplish whatever you want to academically, financially, relationally whatever so three things. Alright I will tell you this story I gotta get out of here and the story is about you guys are probably heard about this before it was a it was a young man who you know he wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to this Guru right, and he told the Guru, " You know I want to go to same level you on " and so the Guru said, " If you want to be on the same level I'm on I'll meet you tomorrow at the beach at 4 am". He's like, "the beach? I said I wanna make money, I don't wanna swim". Guru said, " If you wanna make money I'll meet you tomorrow, 4 am". So the young man got there 4 am he already to rock n' roll, got on a suit he should have worn shorts. The old man grabs his hand and said, " How bad do you want to be successful", he said, " Real bad". He said, " Walk on out in the water". So he walks out into the water, watch this, when he walks out into the water he goes waist deep. So he like this guy crazy, like I wanna make money he got me out here swimming. I didn't ask to be a lifeguard, I wanna make money. He got me in so he said come on a little further. He walked out a little further then he had a right around this area the shoulder area. So this old man crazy he making money but he crazy. Said come out a little further, he came out a little further it was right at his mouth. My man like I'm about to go back in here this guy out of his mind. So the old man said, " I thought you said you wanted to be successful", he said " I do". He said, " Walk a little further". He came and drop his head in held him down hold him down, my man keep scratching holding down I got you, I know you've brush it out but I got you. He had him held down I need you for illustration, he had him held down gently for my man was about to pass out. He raise him up he said I got a question for you, somebody answer the question for me. He said when you were underwater what did you want to do. Live. I'm looking for a different word though than live. What's that word? Breathe. He said he wanted to breathe. He told the guy he said when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe then you'll be successful. I don't know how many ya'll got asthma here today but if you ever had an asthma attack before your short breath. As it'll be short as a breath you wheezing (wheezing sound). The only thing you're trying to do is get some air. You don't care about no basketball games, you don't care what's on TV, you don't care about nobody calling you, you don't care about a party. The only thing you care about when you trying to breathe is to get some fresh air that's it and when you get to the point where all you wanna do is be successful as bad as you wanna breathe then you'll be successful. And I'm here to tell you number one that most of you say you want to be successful but you don't want it bad. You just kinda want it. You don't want it bad than you want it party you don't want it as much as you wanna be cool. Most of you don't want success as much as you want to sleep. Some of you love sleep more than you love success and I'm here to tell you today. If you're going to be successful you gotta be willing to give up sleep. You gotta be willing to work off for three hours of sleep, two hours, if you really want to be successful. Some day you have to stay up three days in a row because if you go to sleep you might miss the opportunity to be successful. That's how bad you gotta want it. You gotta go days without, listen to me, you gotta want to be successful so bad that you forget to eat. Beyonce says once she was on a set doing her thing three days had gone by she forgot she didn't eat cause she was engaged. I never forget when 50 Cent was doing his movie I did a little research on 50 and 50 said that when he wasn't doing the movie he was doing a soundtrack and they he said when do you sleep 50? Sleep he says sleep sleep is for those people who are broke I don't sleep. Said I got opportunity make a dream into reality. Football players, how many football players? Got any body like football in here raise your hand. Anybody like football? Emmitt Smith I use to be a cowboy fan before they did my boy Tom Landry wrong. I use to be a cowboy fan and watch this. There was a commercial Emmitt Smith had won his first Super Bowl and he had this commercial where he was lifting weights. I don't know if you saw that commercial when he lifting and he said he said Emmitt said, " You know what I won the Super Bowl so I can rest now". He had he was doing his bench-press so he said, " I won a Super Bowl so I can rest now". So he throws up about 325 boom and he rest for about two seconds then he Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom. Just see that he already won Super Bowl. He said, " I think Ima take a rest" and he rests for how long? One second. Most of you won't be successful because when you're studying and you get tired you quit. And I'm here to tell you today if you gotta somebody came to my office the other day crying. I said, " Look don't cry to give up, cry to keep going". Don't cry and quit you already in pain you already hurt get a reward from it. Don't go to sleep and until you succeed. Listen to me I'm here to tell you today that you could come here, you can jump up, you can do flips, you can be exciting when we give away money but listen to me you will never be successful until I don't have to give you a dime to do what you do. You won't be successful until you say I don't need that money cause I got in here. So, listen to me Emmitt Smith said this at the end of the commercial, Emmitt Smith said, " All men are created equal some work harder in pre-season". Ima say it again because you might have missed it " All men are created equal some work harder in pre-season". So, that means that they are some people who are going to see the professor going to see the T. A and even when the professor says, " I don't meet with you my T. A meet with you". You say, " I don't want to talk to your T. I don't pay the T. A I pay you to teach me. So you will have to find some time to meet me if I gotta meet you at the mall if I gotta meet you at your house you are going to see me". Listen to me all men are created equal some work harder in pre-season. When I went to college, guys were way smarter than me. 4. 0's, 3. 0's they went to the Ivy league high schools came to Oakwood from these great high school. Most of them are not doing what I'm doing, why? Cause is not about where you come from, it's about heart. You come to a place where you know being smart ain't enough you gotta have heart. That's number one. What's number two? Number two, catch number two, I wrote it down, I wanna make sure you got it. It says to be, watch this watch this, we talking about sacrifice now. The important thing is this, you right of what I'm saying cause I only have like three more minutes. Listen to me the most important thing is this to be able at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you will become. That's a number two thing you gotta catch that one. To be able listen to me at any moment some of you you can make sacrifices when Monday night football is not on. You can make a sacrifice but when the game come on for some reason you just attached to it. For some of you when your favourite show come on you can make sacrifices on Sunday but when you're favourite show comes on Monday, some of you you focus until the phone ring and then you're like, " I gotta answer, If I don't answer the phone I'm going to die". I'm saying to you today that there's some of you if you give up your cell phone you would be successful but your cell phone is more important to you than you success. Ima say it again Ima hurt somebody Ima hurt somebody. Some of you need to give up your cellphone because the time you spend on your cell phone could be use for your success. The time you could be using to be successful you're using it on the cell and the cell phone is not bringing you nothing but a bill and some body has told you you couldn't live without it. I'm talking about going deep now giving up stuff. Watch what it says " To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could be". I don't do well in math, you're right. You ain't never studied. I'm not good in writing cause you have never written before, but I dare you to fail in writing for a whole year to see if you can get to the end. I dare you to fail, I dare you to take that same class over and over again. I dare you to stop dropping classes like you soft. Always wanting to give up, " I'm dropping". Why are you dropping? I'm so grateful that the slaves didn't drop and quit saying " I'm just gonna stop, I'ma slave, I'm just going to be a slave, Ima quit". Listen to me the slaves said, " We will live because one day we will become". " We won't always be slaves so today although we're slaves we gonna act like we free and one day our children will be free", if the slaves would have just said, " We quit we give up". We would have died in the middle passage but some slaves said, " I don't care what we go through we gonna survive this". Four hundred years of slavery we gonna get through this and you can't get through eighteen through twenty five you can't through a writing class and you got tutor after tutor, resource after resource. The problem is you ain't never felt no pain before you're soft. This is a soft generation you quit on everything. Our people did not quit. Harriet Tubman not only made it she went back and got some more. She said, " You know what I made it but I'm going to walk all". Listen to me (shshsh) not ride the bus, " Ima walk all the way back down to the south to get some more" and you quitting on eighteen twenty-five. Now watch this, you quit after you listen to me you get a sleeping back and wait for em'. You wait for the first WIA instructor to come in and you come out your sleeping back, I need help. You quit after you do that you quit after you have, listen to me, a WRA party. " I'm having a party everybody come over. I got food everything". And let them get over there let it be all the best writers. " Alright, I fooled ya'll. I wanna have a writing party". I'm serious, you're quitting and you ain't even trying. Last one last one I'm sorry. Listen to me, pain is temporary. It may last for a minute or a hour or a day or even a year but eventually it will subside and something else will take his place. If I quit however it will last forever. Listen to me I'm telling you guys I leave. Telling you guys I'll leave. I was homeless for two and a half years and the problem with most of you, you have never have felt no pain before. Ya'll spoiled. Ya'll spoiled some of ya'll spoiled just bottom line. Your parents have done everything for you. You have never have done nothing for yourself you're spoiled. We gonna keep it real tonight some of you are spoiled brats. Every time you ever gotten trouble somebody your house got you out of it. Every time you done something you're not suppose to do people say, " Eric your mother is a tyrant". You're right! She kicked me out you're right she's mean but she developed the man because she put me out there and said, " You gonna have to grow up" and some of you have never learn to grow up and so every time some get hard you quit you call momma. I dare you to take a little pain I dare you, I dare you not to go home. Somebody said, " I gotta go home I feel bad". Go go through it, you ain't gonna die at the end of the pain is success. You're not gonna die because you feel a little pain. I'm not eaten like I eat at home that's why you bought to go to the next level cause if you keep eating like you eat at home you'll keep being a boy or a girl. It's time to become men, women. So, don't worry about the little pain. My greatest asset I was homeless so I can't feel a whole lot of pain. I already been alone they're not a whole a lot of hurt I can feel on a little paper or a little test. So I leave you I'll leave you, listen to me, we have gotten to a point where is midterms and we're moving forward. The days have you getting money I'm not saying we're quitting but I'm saying the day is gotta go from external to internal. You have to give it everything you got no more t. V, no more parties, no more playing if you have a 4. 0 What you need to be doing is studying. Get off the phone, " I'm sorry I'm not available until the end of this year". No I'm for real, " You reached the right number but you called me at the wrong time. Call me back January 1st. I'm about to get busy now," huh? I want you to have a countdown of your own and say when the countdown is over we're the real (shshsh) watch me cause when I was homeless I knew something was wrong I knew that wasn't the best of me and one day I said, " Where the real Eric Thomas please stand up, will the real Eric Thomas please stand up". Stop being this high school drop out stop giving up stop sleeping on the streets being afraid to take a test, stop being afraid to go to college cause your daddy didn't go and your momma didn't go. Stop being afraid and being the best Eric Thomas you can be but listen to me this is gonna be hard it took me twelve years to get a four year degree but I got it and guess what but on a degree it don't have dates. So if took you four it took me twelve it don't show up nowhere but I'm exactly where I want to be because I realized I gotta commit my very being to this thing. I gotta breath it, I gotta eat it, I gotta sleep it and until you get there you will never be a successful in life but once you get there I guarantee you the world is yours so work hard and you could have whatever it.