fail early fail often fail forward you
know it's always a little bit
frustrating to me when people have a
negative relationship with failure
failure is a massive part of being able
to be successful you have to get
comfortable with failure yeah you have
to actually seek failure failure is
where all of the lessons are you know
when you go to the gym and you work out
you're actually seeking failure you want
to take your muscles to the point where
you get to failure because that's where
the the adaptation is that's where
growth is successful people who fail a
lot they fail a whole lot more than they
succeed but they extract the lessons
from the failure and they use that the
the energy and they use the wisdom to
come around to the next phase of success
you got to take a shot you have to live
at the edge of your capabilities you got
to live where you're almost certain
you're gonna fail that's the reason for
practice practice is controlled failure
you're getting to your limit getting to
your limit getting to your limit you
can't lift that you can't do that you
until you get to the point that all of a
sudden your body makes the adjustment
and then you can do it failure actually
helps you to recognize the areas where
you need to evolve so fail early fail
often fail forward I found myself in a
room with Arnold Schwarzenegger and I
was like okay I want to be the biggest
movie star in the world and Arnold
Schwarzenegger he said he said
the most important thing is that you
have a vision did you have a corn
because without that vision and without
that core again you're drifting around
if you're never gonna end up anywhere
people don't become successful just by
accident you know I mean maybe the guy
that found gold in California and
started the gold rush but don't count on
that that's a one-in-a-lifetime kind of
a situation so you got to really have a
specific order to me to have that vision
that I want to be mr. universe they
don't want to be the greatest
bodybuilder of all time that was a great
vision and that specifically would look
like reg Park and to be up there on that
stage and to lift the trophy overhead
and to win the championship over and
over and over again so that was a great
core you have to have a corner it
doesn't have to be that specific core
but it has they have some core this is
why I always recommend to people sit
down take your time instead thinking
about why do you want the workout what
is your core dreams without goals remain
dreams jet streams and ultimately fuel
disappointment dreams without goals
yearly goals like goals daily goals
monthly goals hourly gold
minute-by-minute gold dreams without
goals are just dreams and they
ultimately fuel disappointment goals on
the road to achievement cannot be
achieved without discipline and
consistency
successful people fail a lot they fail a
whole lot more than they succeed but
they extract the lessons from the
failure and they use that energy and
they use the wisdom to come around to
the next phase of success when you had
that third failure in a row did you
think I need to pack this in why not
I don't ever give up I mean I'd have to
be dead or absolutely incapacitated the
only thing that I see that is distinctly
different about me is I'm not afraid to
die on a treadmill I will not be be
outworked right period you know you
might have more talent than me
you might be smarter than me you might
be sexier than me you might be all of
those things you got it on me in nine
categories but if we get on the
treadmill together right there's two
things you're getting off first yeah or
I'm gonna die it's really that simple so
you've got to have some reasons that
when life knocks you down there's going
to hell oh it's guard to knock you down
when people disappoint you and that's
going to happen when they betray you and
that's gonna happen when they lie to you
and that's gonna happen they say oh you
can count on me and they won't show up
and that's going to happen when you want
to throw in the towel and give up
yourself and that's gonna happen when
life collapse on you and catch you on
the Blind Side it drops you to your
knees to start showing you what reason
can you remember that you can call on
that you can reach on that can make you
get back up find that reason
cuz alive it knocked me down I said life
I'm doing this because I want to make my
mama proud of me
I'm doing this because I want my
children to have a better life than what
I have
I'm doing this because all my life I've
been told I'd be a loser
that I wouldn't make it all my life I
heard people said made me take them back
to the welfare department I'm doing this
to make them Allah I believe like Frank
Sinatra he said the best revenge in life
is massive success so first we have to
define success for ourselves and then we
have to put in the work to maintain it
take that daily tally tend our garden
keep the things that are important to us
in good shape
let-let-let submit it we've all got to
wolves into some good one and a bad and
they both want to eat best I can tell we
just got to feed that gook
it is proven that the kids don't do as
well in school
that's subcultures of crime break out in
the community because if you don't see
better you don't do better what they
have learned over time is that mixed
income housing does the best so that the
kid who's on welfare
lives across the street from the kid
whose dad is a doctor because if you can
see up oh come on you you might not have
it but if you can see it in your
neighborhood you learn to put a demand
on life and expect more for yourself
because you say if he can't do it but if
you don't see anybody toward it you stop
reaching for
and you cannot receive anything you're
not reaching for if all you've ever seen
is poverty
if all you've ever seen this domestic
violence let me tell you you like that
idea of happily married but you will
pick somebody who's mean cuz the nice
guy is boring and the nice guy who fell
in love I don't know he's nice but I'm
just not attracted to him you're
attracted to what you're exposed to and
even though you say you don't want it
you end up warden what's your normal is
sometimes you've got to come a little
piece of yourself oh yeah
no matter how much you hurt
in order to crop
tell me I believe anything is possible
right I live in the world a possibility
and I also believe that anything we can
accomplish anything with our two hands
and just putting in the work with our
two hands and also you hear this often
but it's really really true you got to
find something if you love what you do
and find and be passionate about what
you do and find something that you'd be
passionate like it really helps you know
it gives you that motivation when you
wake up in the morning sometimes life's
gonna hit you in the head with a brick
don't lose faith I'm convinced that the
only thing that kept me going was that I
loved what I did you've got to find what
you love and that is this true for work
as it is for your lovers your work is
going to fill a large part of your life
and the only way to be truly satisfied
is to do what you believe is great work
and the only way to do great work is to
love what you do if you haven't found it
yet keep looking and don't settle as
with all matters of the heart you'll
know when you find it fail early fail
often fail forward you know it's always
a little bit frustrating to me when
people have a negative relationship with
failure failure is a massive part of
being able to be successful you have to
get comfortable with failure yet you
have to actually seek failure failure is
where all of the lessons are fail early
they'll often fail forward I'm not gonna
what I'm going to get destroyed but if I
can just be lucid if I can still be
standing on my feet
you know what life isn't so bad and I
think again symbolically at the very end
of our lives if we can still say you
know we were never humbled we were
knocked down but we got up and I can say
I lived life with integrity and I took
all the blows as the song says and I
still prevailed I think that's that's a
good epitaph for anyone
but how do you keep going why do you
keep going when the world says
everything else is supposed to be
opposite there's two sides of pain that
I don't think a lot of people really
understand right there's there's one
side of pain that's the suffering and
the discomfort side of pain that's why
everybody raised their hands when I
first acts do you have everything I've
ever been through pain because that
hurts you remember what that felt like
but then there's another side of pain
that's called effort
it's called glory
it's called if you can find a way to
push to pain there's something greater
on the other side of it and and and and
if you never tap into it it's because
the first time you felt that you backed
off first time you feel ah that burn the
first time you feel that happen it's too
much and we rationalize with ourselves
to where we automatically stop try bunch
of us give up so much in life so quickly
but suppose I told you the greatest pain
of my fight is the reason I'm standing
suppose I was able to share with you my
routine was so crazy man I was seeing
almost nine doctors for nine weeks 6:00
a.m.
full where you live
ten days ten days from tricep repair
surgery didn't have enough strength and
I sat down 30 minutes and made up in my
mind
stop crying make a choice like you just
decide what its gonna be who you're
gonna be how you're gonna do it just
decide and then from that point the
universe is going to get out your way
this lets water once it wants to move
and go around stuff you're not wish me
said auntie Oh mind be formless
shapeless like water now you put water
into a cup it becomes the cup you put
water into a bottle it becomes the
bottle you're putting in a teapot it
becomes the teapot now water can flow or
it can crash
be water my friend pain is temporary it
may last for a minute or an hour or a
day or even a year but eventually it
will subside and something else will
take its place if I quit however it will
last forever courage courage is the key
to life itself
a lot of people who were born in
situation of us if I just I'll never get
out of this so they won't I say to
people say well I would like to have
done so and so on so somebody could have
done it so but I couldn't get out of
here man the bus runs every day
successful people fail a lot they fail a
whole lot more than they succeed but
they extract the lessons from the
failure and they use that the the energy
and they use the wisdom to come around
to the next phase of success I'm not
afraid to fail I'm not afraid to fall
over make a mistake that often time
cripples people on the onset of getting
too into anything the first time ever
picked up the DJ decks was horrible
horrible now but I'm not afraid of that
I'm not afraid of that feeling it
actually propels me works quite the
opposite I believe desire and will to
win is everything I don't know why I'm
like I am but my butt's always burning
there's always something say are
dadgummit you're supposed to go far
apart dadgummit you're supposed to be
somebody you're supposed to make a
difference with you lie what does the
$500,000 your person do the $50,000 your
person doesn't do you're looking outside
and study those two individuals
everything seems to be the same they
both are the same sex they both are the
same age have the same training the same
positions the same contract the same
friends benefits
they both are successful they work hard
they're good family people
make tough commitments but what's the
difference what does the $500,000 person
do the $50,000 your person doesn't do he
pays the price a little bit more he
works Harding a little bit more he's
loyal to the cutting a little bit more
he believes in a little bit more he
makes Maine a little bit more he saves
money a little bit more leadership is
everything you show me anything in these
United States that win I'll show you a
leader at work you show me a successful
church Boy Scout troop club football
team business I'll show you something
a run by leader sissy I thought at one
time in my life you had to be smart to
win I used to have these smart people
that dress so pretty and talk so pretty
and use these big words they just
intimidated me and I said aren't you
can't ever be that good why don't you
just throw in the towel and going back
coach football for living and I found
two things out about smart people I
think it's almost impossible for a smart
person to win in Fitness in America
today because I find smart people spend
their whole lifetime figuring things out
they always trying to figure out an
easier way in a quicker way and another
thing I found out about smart people's
they just don't get around to doing
nothing they see something I like art
Williams everybody said what he can't do
and somebody like that can't do it but
he does it see folks I want you to know
almost everybody in America almost does
enough to win they almost get there they
almost over the hump they almost have it
going they almost in everything they do
almost as a way of life to almost
everybody in America but the winners do
it what do they do they do whatever it
takes to get the job done they do it and
do it and do it and do it and do it
until the job gets done and then they
talk about how great it is to be
somebody they're proud of we need
leaders in America who can do it if you
want to become somebody do it if you
want to go and finish for yourself do it
if you are of a company it's independent
do it I hear too much talk in these
United States everybody can talk a good
game we need people in America who can
do it I go all over this country with Al
waves and I have people say hard you you
count on me
wonderful just do it hi cutie this is my
life last stop I'm gonna win now
SuperDuper just do it all right if I
could just have one good month and get
the ball going I know I could make it
big super just do it if I can just pay
all this dad I can really go
just do it I'm gonna sell the house do
it but healthy sell it do it anyway
I'm not making any money what can I do
you just do it do what are you do it and
do it and do it hard I can't ever win
this contest
SuperDuper just do it I'm over the hump
now watch my smoke graze
just do it hard I'm gonna make you so
bad I tasted what I do you just do it
part of a vice president now can I quit
doing it no
No thank you Paul keeping order I'm
really hurt what I do
did you just do it but do what art you
do it and do it and do it smart all my
life I want to be somebody important
well what do it then I will save money
so I don't have to go through this again
great just do it I don't feel like I've
had enough training what I do you just
do it
my heart my manager don't give me no
help what I do you just do it my heart's
you don't understand I was mr.
everything at my former company you
don't mean I have to start Dani the bomb
and do it do you yep you really got to
do it
Boozer's the one at the winners do it
they do it
until the job gets done I represent hard
work mm-hmm
determination motivation I think without
without a doubt if anything else by
watching me it's simply an example of
hard work pays off that's what you put
into your craft you can get out to it if
you put a hundred and ten percent into
it and I'm just an example of it the guy
who was willing to hustle the most he's
gonna be the guy that just gets that
loose ball my biological mother found
out later that my mother had never
graduated from college and my father had
never graduated from high school she
refused to sign the final adoption
papers she only relented a few months
later when my parents promised that I
would go to college I had no idea what I
wanted to do with my life and no idea
how college was going to help me figure
it out and here I was spending all the
money my parents had saved their entire
life so I decided to drop out and trust
that it would all work out okay it was
pretty scary at the time but looking
back it was one of the best decisions I
ever made I didn't have a dorm room so I
slept on the floor in friends rooms I
returned coke bottles for the five cent
deposits to buy food with
and I would walk the seven miles across
town every Sunday night to get one good
meal a week at the Hari Krishna temple I
loved it everybody wants to prize but
nobody loves the process everybody wants
to be a champion but nobody's willing to
put in the work that it takes to be a
champion everybody wants to hold up the
trophy and say man I did it but nobody's
willing to put in the work that it takes
to do it I love the process I love the
thought of working for what I wallet and
I firmly believed you never supposed to
wish for it more than you're willing to
work for it your expectations never
supposed to exceed your effort but a lot
of people they wish and they're not
willing to work and the great thing
about life life has a funny way of
testing all of us and seeing how bad we
really want what it is that we say we
want because the thing I know about
people people can talk to talk and
people do it very well but life is going
to hit you with a certain level of
opposition life is going to hit you with
a certain level of that versity and life
is going to say to you you said you
wanted it now let's see how bad you
really want it but the great thing about
it if you love the process when
opposition in that verse see hitch you
will have two we have been racing it and
using it not only for yourself well you
will use it to make everybody that's
connected to you stronger because your
vision has to be larger than yourself if
everything that you do is just about you
and for your personal gain
something's gonna come up and get you
that's gonna be a lot tougher than you
and if you're just about to the moment
you hit it
you're gonna quit and give up every time
stop being this high school dropout stop
giving up stop sleeping on the streets
stop walking up and down freako Avenue
like you ain't got none and get your GED
stop being afraid to take a test stop
being afraid to go to college because
your daddy didn't go and your mama
didn't go stop being afraid and be the
best Eric Thomas you can be but listen
to me it's gonna be hard it took me 12
years to get a four-year degree but I
got it and guess what on a degree they
don't have dates so if it took you 4
that took me 12 then 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 got a boot I
gotta breathe it I gotta eat it I gotta
sleep it and until you get there you'll
never be a successful in life but once
you get there i guarantee you the world
is yours so work hard and you can have
whatever it is you want massive action
is the cure-all massive action is the
cure-all if you're having a difficult
time with something your relationship
isn't where you want it to be your
finances are not where you want to be
your body's not where you want to be
your business network wanna be you need
to take massive action and if that
doesn't work try something else if
that's his work try something else keep
going with massive action and you will
find the way because it will give you
momentum
sometimes some people just make up their
mind and he's just crying and say they
hate with man cuz sometime that's all
you can do there's no other blue ain't
got no other secrets to tell y'all today
I ain't come here for nothing else but
to tell you if you want to do something
fuck what I am is a guy who's got 19
plus years of the word no mm-hmm
you know like people people just see the
last five years I got 19 years of no
mm-hmm not good enough nope nope you can
spend your whole life imagining ghosts
worrying about the pathway to the future
but all there will ever be is what's
happening here in the decisions we make
in this moment which are based in either
love or fear so many of us choose our
path out of fear disguised as
practicality
what we really want seems impossibly out
of reach and ridiculous to expect so we
never dare to ask the universe for it
I'm saying I'm the proof that you can
ask the universe for it
my father could've been a great comedian
but he didn't believe that that was
possible for him and so he made a
conservative choice instead he got a
safe job as an accountant and when I was
12 years old he was let go from that
safe job and our family had to do
whatever we could to survive I learned
many great lessons from my father not
the least of which was that you can fail
but don't look so you might as well take
a chance on doing what you love ever
tried ever failed no matter
try again fail again fail better
the world is yours treat everyone kindly
and light of the night our deepest fear
is not that we are inadequate our
deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure it is our light not our
darkness that most frightens us your
playing small does not serve the world
there was nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people won't
feel insecure around you we were all
meant to shine as children do it's not
just in some of us it's in everyone and
as we let our own light shine we
unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same as we are
liberated from our own fear our presence
automatically liberates others
I can't explain why I shine and no one
else shows I think everybody shines and
different things and a lot of things I
can't do I can't play basketball like
every other black person in America but
I can act not to go to that church by
myself because I'm there every day I
could be me I could be whoever because
I'm true to me I can go to neutral
easily a lot of people black white
Mexican young or old fat or skin you
have a problem being true to their self
they have a problem looking in the
mirror and looking directly into their
own souls the reason I sell six million
records the reason I can go to jail and
come out without a scratch
the reason I can walk around the reason
I am lying today is because I can look
directly into my face and find my soul
yeah it's not sold I didn't sell it it's
still within me I still feel it my heart
is still connected to my body I was just
having a debate with a friend of mine
and we got stuck on the difference
between fault and responsibility she
kept talked about how some was
somebody's father somebody's really no
matter whose fault it is that something
is broken if it's your responsibility to
fix oh it's not somebody's fault if
their father was an abusive alcoholic
but it's for damn sure their
responsibility to figure out how they're
gonna do with those traumas and try to
make a life your fault
if your partner cheated and ruined your
marriage but it is for damn sure your
responsibility to figure out how to take
that pain and how to overcome that and
build a happy life for yourself and
responsibility do not go together it
sucks but they don't when something is
somebody's fault we want them to suffer
we want them punished we want them to
pay their responsibility to fix it but
that's that's not how it works
especially when it's your heart heart
your life your happiness is your
responsibility and your responsibility
along is weird pointing a finger and
then and stuck in whose fault
something is we're jammed and trapped
into victim mode when you're in victim
oh you're stuck in South Loop
is in taking responsibility your heart
your life your happiness is your
responsibility and your responsibility
alone let me give you the day that turns
your life around as quickly as I can I
got four parts to the day that turns
your life around and then we're finished
for the day
number one disgust disgust disgust is a
negative emotion but it can have a very
positive powerful effect disgust says
I've had it what an important day that
could be had I met a beautiful powerful
accomplished executive lady in New York
company invited me to come in this lady
was the vice president extraordinary
lady I got to know her and I found out
her story I said how did you get here
big income and she never went to high
seven to college never went to
university I said how did you get here
Snagit even powerful income she said the
way let me tell you part of the scenario
she said when I was a young mother a few
years ago she said one day I asked my
husband for $10 and he said what for
she said
before that day was over I decided I
would never ever ask again
she said I started studying opportunity
found it took the classes put myself
through the schools did the scenario now
I'm vice president I make a lot of money
and she said I kept my promise I've
never ever had to ask again it's called
a life-changing day the day you say
enough
now if you can add an act to your
disgust it helps the man takes a shotgun
to his car blows out every window
destroys every tire puts a hundred
rounds in it and says I've driven this
embarrassing thing for the last time
and then he saves it he says and later
when somebody says how did you become
rich and powerful he says let me show
you this car
one day I'd had it up to here I blew it
to smithereens
enough is enough here's the last three
next is decision decision making is a
life-changing day if you went home today
and in the next few days cleaned up a
list of decisions it could furnish
enough inspiration for the next five
years ten years what an inspiring day
the day you can bring yourself to decide
and here's the third one desire wanting
too bad enough who knows the mystery of
that we don't know but here's something
I do know sometimes desire waits for a
trigger waits for something to happen
who knows what the happening maybe a
song the lyrics a movie the dialogue
seminar a sermon a book an experienced
confrontation with an enemy
a conversation with a friend who find
the levels with you whatever the
experience it is is so valuable and
here's my best advice welcome all
experiences you never know which one is
gonna turn everything don't put up the
walls the same wall that keeps out
disappointment keeps out happiness take
down the walls go for the experience let
it teach you and here's the last one
resolve resolve says I will to the most
powerful words in the language Benjamin
Disraeli said nothing can resist a human
will that will stake its existence on
its purpose shortly put I'll do it or
die best definition of resolve I got
from a little junior high girl Foster
City California I'm going through some
words one day I got to this one I asked
the kids who can tell me what resolve
means some didn't know some tried
interesting the last one was the best
little girl about three rows back she
said I think I know mr. Owen I said what
she said I think resolve means promising
yourself you will never give up I said
that's the best I've ever heard
she's probably giving seminars somewhere
today right I mean that's the best I've
heard I asked the kids how long should a
baby try to learn how to walk how long
would you give your average baby before
you say hey enough is enough
no any mother in the world would say
you're crazy my baby is gonna keep
trying what until what a magic word I
want you to write it down until promise
yourself you'll read the books until
your skills change you'll go to seminars
until you get a handle on it you'll
listen to it until it makes sense you'll
go for it until you understand it you'll
practice it until you develop the skill
never give up until however long that is
step by step piece by piece book by book
word by word Apple by Apple walk around
the block walk around the block go for
it don't miss the chance to grow and
resolve that you'll paid the price until
you learn change grow become then you'll
discover some of life's best treasures
when you pay that price
