Eric Thomas

I never even realized I was where I was because of who I was. And I was actually getting the physical manifestations of my thoughts, of my feelings, my emotions. I was creating this. Somebody asked me the other day, like, what's one of the hardest things you ever done? The hardest thing I've ever done was look in the mirror and tell myself I was sorry.

Yeah, I'm glad you said that. Okay, so I got you. So that's the outside, inside. So that's the, you had everything against you. No, the greatest problem was I was against me. Oh.

They have the potential only to hold you down because you're allowing them to hold you down. And you're seeing that they're holding down. Let me tell you the one thing I wish I can go back. All my mentors, everybody, everybody told me and they were right. Look, I'm not saying that they were wrong. You need to get a degree. You need to make some money. You need to do whatever.

But what they taught me was that my greatest assets were real estate. My greatest asset was a degree or a career. Nobody ever told me I was my greatest asset. Yeah. I'm my greatest asset. It doesn't matter. Look, people act as if if you grow up in a house where your parents are rich, you're automatically... Bro, we can look at people who grew up in wealth. And are messed up.

But I definitely want to. And you were gracious enough. Like, where you at, E? I was like, Embassy Suites. I like drove out to anywhere.

They own drugs, too. They make bad decisions, too. Unfortunately, they take their lives as well. They check out... Bro, it does not... So people think... a money environment or you have both your parents in it and you get, so you think your story is, it doesn't matter where you come from. If you don't activate you, the environment doesn't matter anyway. Great environment, bad environment.

If you're not activated, if you, I sit here sometimes and I could whip myself. My grandma used to whip, I could whip myself. And why do I say that? Well, I'm sitting in the school of greatness. Like, no, we were together 10 years ago. I'm still standing. I'm mad at me because, like you said, I got a PhD at 44. I could have got one when I was 34. I just didn't.

I thought, you know, and when I go into the schools, I tell all the... Everybody leave. Principals, counselors, everybody leave. Listen to me, kids. This is 2024. Y'all got the internet. Y'all on TikTok. Y'all blew TikTok up. And I knew it because adults are on LinkedIn and Instagram. Instagram, yeah. LinkedIn made no money. TikTok, billionaire. Instagram, why?

Because these young people are there. I said, when you show up to anything, it blows up. Here's my problem. You're in the school and you're failing. Why? Because you're waiting for the teacher to teach you. The teacher didn't teach you TikTok. The teacher didn't teach you how to play YouTube or Call of Duty. They didn't teach you how to do that. You did it on your own. Why?

And man, just to see your evolution over the years. And like I said, it was a lot of us that started during that timeframe and to see kind of where you are today and you survived the resilience. Bouncing back, getting bigger, stronger, better. They're like, you ready to go back to sports? Let's go, baby. Let's go. Yeah, so congrats, man. I've seen it.

Because you wanted to do it. And anything you activate, anything you do for you, it's going to blow out. But you're waiting for some teacher to teach you. When you can pick up a book, you can go online and learn on your own. So in this environment, you are absolutely... You're not reaching your fullest potential because you're sitting back, oh, it's the teacher's job.

It's the counselor's job to tell me when I'm supposed to graduate and what classes I'm supposed to take. And then what degree to get and then what job to get and put me in the right job. But she's not calling duty. There's no school counselor. There's no teacher. There's no principal. And you're on there with people from all over the world. And y'all playing and communicating, competing.

And listen to me. These kids are so dope and they don't realize how dope they are. They did something with video games that we never did. They turned it into a career. I hate to date myself, but joysticks. But when it was joysticks, you couldn't make millions doing it. Now, because of these kids and they're taking this thing and giving it a life that it never had before.

Anything you touch when you know who you are, believe who you are. I got a PhD. I don't say that like on the bragging. I say that because if I got a PhD, that means I could have finished high school. But I wasn't in school. I was just there because my mother dropped me off. I wasn't immersed in it. I wasn't excited about it. I wasn't enthused about it.

And so it's like now I'm enthused about life and my life. And now I realize, yo, your mama don't got no... Whatever she did, that was just to get you started. It's like on the swing when somebody push you and get out the way. They don't... The swing doesn't work if that person keeps pushing you back and forth. It only works if they push you, they get out the way and you do your feet.

And so it's like when I showed up and said, Eric, The government, the way you come from, your dad not being in your life, your mom being young, that has absolutely nothing to do with why you can't read. You can't read because you are lazy. You can't read because you don't take it as serious as you take playing air and metal football. You shouldn't be playing air and metal football.

You should be studying. And so when I started taking my life serious, yeah. Again, I mean, I say this with all... you know, sincerity, I'm in one of the best podcasts in the world. And not only that, when people were asking about it, I was like, oh no, I got a relationship. Like, this ain't what you think it is. This is not, to your point, I don't do podcasts.

Like, I don't have that media schedule where I, you don't see Eric Thomas on different shows. And I remind people, don't get it twisted, I can't be on shows. I, That's just not my thing. So I'm not here to date just on some, I'm going to hit. Then I got this. That's not what this is about. This is about a friendship that I'm tapping into and saying, man, it's good to see you alive.

It's good to see that we made it. And it's good. I still remember the red shoes with the red shorts. And we're in there just kicking it. And now I'm like, yo, this is... This is an enterprise now. This is on a whole nother level. Not saying what you did two years ago with me was nothing. Sure, sure, sure. I'm saying this and to still be alive and to still be welcome. Yeah, man.

It's beautiful, man. This is what happens when you realize you're your greatest asset and you tap into you. Nothing wrong with real estate. Nothing wrong with investing, the S&P 500. But at the end of the day, you have to be the first person thing that you invest in.

I mean, I can't name all the people, but Kobe, I've seen. My girl Tab on the show, you know, and just to see all the people you've had. Of course, I watch the show and learn from it. So, man, congratulations.

Yeah, I say both and, but to your point on the discipline, you need to be more disciplined about your minds. What do people need to be thinking about with their minds? So here's the deal. you're already in pain. Get a reward for it. It's just like, look, do me a favor. Everything you say, you're right.

But why go through life with whatever people did to you when you were younger or a young adult, and then you have to live with it for the next 40, 50 years? Why would you sit here and all the stuff that you said was absolutely right? My daddy wasn't there. My mama did this. This person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life? Let's go. Why would you let them own you?

Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you not define the rest of your life? It's like, no, I was in pain. It's real. But get a reward for it. So for me, walking into, first of all, driving here in a car service, getting to LA, walking in this beautiful facility, seeing the other businesses that are here, I'm like, I'm proud of you, bro. You made it. You could have stopped.

That's the homeless boy. And nobody would have tripped. Your daddy wasn't there. Your mom was 17 when she got pregnant. All the negative that happened to you, Eric, we understand. Bump understand. Let me tell you, One of the things that just blew my mind the other day. So, you know, we were fortunate to own a home in California on the Hill. Right. So we got this property.

We got the basketball court logo, all the companies that whatever. And I go outside yesterday and I see my wife and my son playing basketball. And I'm thinking to myself in California, only looking at all these beautiful properties. My wife and my son are outside.

My wife was like, I want to work out. My son was like, I didn't even know. She was like, I'm going to play basketball. I'm like, I can't do it right now. And I'm listening to a voice. He came home, heard the basketball, went out with his mom. I'm like, yo, my son, 29 years old, is spending time with his mom as an adult male. He could be anywhere doing anything. He's with his mom.

her first born, they got this bond that I don't have. And they're out here hooping. And as I look at the property, I'm like, yo, what if the 16 year old Eric Thomas would have stayed the 16 year old Eric Thomas? So I'm saying for those who are listening, get a reward for it and then do me a favor. Don't just think about you. Like, do you know that my son, In his mind, this is where you start.

He got the side of the pool to work on. He's starting somewhere I never started. The cars, the Rolls Royce, the Escalade. He's starting somewhere I didn't start. Why? Because I didn't stop where I started. I didn't stop. I was like, okay, this is where we started, but this is not about to be my end. And so his beginnings look dope. My man went to Michigan State and was a general manager for Enzo.

He traveled the world. He's got a Final Four win and an Elite Eight win. He's got the jacket. He sat under Coach Enzo, Hall of Fame coach for four years. Wow. Coach OG. Wow. He sat under these guys. Like his boys, some of his boys went to the league. There's some of them still in the league. Like he got that because I didn't go. I quit because my mom, my dad did. So I quit. I give up.

This is worst thing ever happened. I was like, mm-mm. You get a reward for it. And so to see my son, I'm coming to a concert tonight with my daughter. Listen to me, I didn't give up. And so I'm saying to everybody, we all go through pain. Some of us go through pain and it becomes our tombstone. Some of us go through pain and it's a scar. And we live a life of reward. So I'm just gonna say, again,

2025, do me a favor, check you. So you're in the ballot box and you're looking at all these options, doctor, lawyer, teacher, whatever you see, president, mayor, governor, do me a favor. Before you check off any of that S&P 500 real estate, before you check any of that, check you. Before you check anything, check you and go look yourself in the mirror and go, yo, I'm my lottery ticket.

I'm my ticket out of the neighborhood or, you know, I'm the broken curse. Like whatever you want to call yourself. But the day I stopped saying my mom, my dad, this person, the police, the cop, the day I stopped doing that, the day I said you.

You know why? Because what I didn't realize as a young adult is that when you say it to somebody else, whether you mean to do it or not, you give them the keys to your life. You give them power over you. They got your whole life in their hand. Because you said it. You said it. They didn't do this because they didn't. They got the keys. Now, I'll be honest.

The reason why we don't want to take the keys is because we got to drive fast. We got to drive, and I told you. Today, I was like, I got too much to do. I normally drive. I'm like, I got too much to do. And it felt good to be in the car driven. It felt good. Yeah. Like, I'm on the phone talking to my wife. We having worship, doing our thing, making a couple business calls.

Like, I don't have the responsibility of the traffic. Paying attention. I got paid attention. He moved over and got, I was like, why is he stopping in the middle of, But it was a fire truck was coming. So he had to move up. I didn't know what was going on because it was the first time in my life that I wasn't really responsible because I normally drive.

And that's why people don't want to drive in their lives. They don't want to be responsible. It's so much easier to say, my life is messed up because you did this and you did that. Once you take the keys down, you got to go anything. But I'm going to tell you this. This is why I like it. While it's more responsibility, it's more freedom. It's more independence. It's more control. Opportunities.

They limit it. But the limit is when you take the keys. And so I took the keys in my life and said, my, thanks. Dad, thanks for not being there for me. You gave me a dog. You gave me a passion. You gave me resilience. You taught me how to make it when the very thing that's supposed to be there for you isn't there for you. And I tell people what I want.

Some kid asked me the other day, he's like, man, when you say your son is lucky because you're in his life and his mom is in his life. I said, yes and no. I said, yes, he's blessed to have his mom and dad. But he ain't got that dog. He doesn't have the hunger? He ain't got that dog. Oh, man. My son is a great kid. But he doesn't have the drive. He ain't got the same drive I got.

And that drive came without some stuff that I had. That stuff came from lack. And so I say to anybody, you got to understand, it could go either way. But when you take the, it's like I walk into a school and I ask, how many of y'all, 50 kids, how many of you kids in here? A thousand kids. How many of your dads, one in your life, was not living in the house? 90% raised their hand. And guess what?

I automatically can relate to them. That's the je ne sais quoi that my daddy wasn't there. That's the it factor. If my father hadn't been there, I might not be able to go in here and relate on my videos and go viral. People are like, okay, maybe if I just had Eric's voice or if I just screamed and I just looked passionate.

Bro, that's not what it is. It's when I speak, you hear it because I've been through what you've been through. And so you recognize that voice. You recognize the pain. You recognize the struggle. But you recognize I overcame it. And that's why you're like, I want to rock with this dude.

Because this one ain't, some kind of way, Eric ain't the one that's making us feel like, oh, it's okay that you went through this, and it's okay that this, and it's okay if you don't want to grow, and it's okay if you don't want, no. What you're hearing from me is a coach that's saying, Jordan, you got six rings in you, but you got to stop playing this way, and you got to start playing this way.

Kobe, you got great, but you got to do it this way. Serena, you got to, Venus, you got to, that, Richard Williams is saying, he's not out there just, He's teaching, training, but he's also correcting. And so for me, they hear my voice. I'm not letting you get away with murder because greatness is in you. The greatness is in you. And now it's time to go to school.

It's time to go to work and bring that greatness out of you. So yes, anybody, anybody could be successful. But as long as you're playing the blame game, You have given permission, the license, registration, the keys, you give it all over to somebody else. And the day you take it, is the day that you can start deciding which direction you wanna go. Wow.

So that sounds like step one, take the keys back to your life.

Like, get to know you. We're so busy wanting to be in a community that we don't realize we are a community. Right? And look, I'm not trying to be deep. You know, people could, you know, you believe this, you don't believe this. But what I was taught, you know, in school, especially Catholic school, it seemed like Adam was by himself first. It doesn't seem like it was like somebody else.

It was like Adam was first and then whatever happened after that. So the first man was by himself. And I think that's important for those of us who study that. Why? Because all of us think we have to have somebody to be somebody. And this guy started his journey on his own before he connected with somebody. Whatever. He knew his purpose. You know, he walked in his confidence.

And a lot of us are going, I hear people say all the time, well, I'm not doing good in life. Why not? I don't have nobody. I'm not in a relationship. I'm saying, you're telling me. No, listen to me very closely. Do you think for one minute. that getting in a relationship with somebody, it can't be the key because so many people have gotten in relationships and gotten out of it.

So that can't be the key. Now, two healthy people, not perfect, but two healthy people coming together, oh, no, that's different. It's expansive.

You can be with this. So we even messing each other up when we have two dysfunctional people trying to connect with each other because we think two functional people don't come together and make each other happy. It's not going to work.

So I just think the first step after the first step is you got to figure out who you are and love you and feel good about you and show up in the room, you and not care what nobody think about you. And that's why this relationship has worked so well for me over the years because when we're together, it's never been a thing of, E, why you do that? E, why you do that? Or E, why you do that?

It's always been like, E, you have a unique set of skills that make you great. You have a unique set. And so we've always focused on what's our unique skills and what do you know that I don't know and how can you help me get there? And so a lot of these young kids are...

joining things they shouldn't join and being with people because they think their happiness is going to come from being with somebody else. And I just think if you, if you be, eagles aren't trying to, they just are, they not trying, lions aren't, what do you think about me? What do you think about my roar? You think I'm too loud when I roar? That's not a concern.

And so I think step two, figure out who you are, love you, and step three, Figure out your North Star and wake up every single day going after your North Star. Because when you have a North Star, you know, and the people that you love and you spend time with have a North Star, have a purpose. And their purpose might be We both have people whose purpose is to help us with our purpose.

They don't necessarily have an individual purpose. They were called to help us with our mission. That's it. So we need a North Star so they can know what their North Star is. So that would be my third one. It's like, you've got to figure out what makes you happy. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. First time, I did a behind the scenes coming in here.

Just because I was like, to my Patreon community, like, yo, y'all need to understand where I am and what's going on. But I don't, if you follow me on Instagram or TikTok, wherever I'm on, you don't see behind the scenes. I think that's a phenomenal tool to show other people what, but my wife is private. So for us, that does not work. She does not want to be seen in the limelight.

She doesn't want to be in Dubai and stop and go, let's take a, let's document what we're doing. She doesn't like that. So for some people it works, but I don't have to do that to still find a space, right? There's some people, you know, they do tours, right? I don't do tours. That's not my thing. I used to do them. I don't do them now. There's some people that write books.

Some people don't write books. Like it doesn't matter. But what matters is, You have to find a thing that wakes you up at 3 o'clock or 6 o'clock or 10 o'clock. You got to find the thing that brings the life out of you, the joy out of you, the happiness out of you. And you can't do that following somebody else's north star.

So my last one would be, man, figure out what you was put on this earth to do. And I mean, every single chance you have to do it, do it. And when you're not doing it, enjoy your life. My son was like, Dad, I'm tired. I said, you tired? You burnt out for what? Look at your mom and dad. You work for the family company. What are you doing? Well, I've been up the last six days working 10, 12 hours.

I said, for what? What would you be doing that for? Like, why wouldn't you take advantage of the, he said, what should I be doing? I said, you should figure out what it is you do. He's a designer, right? You should be designing clothes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever, five, six hours a day.

And then Saturday, Sunday, or Friday, Saturday, because of your family, you should get a trip somewhere and go spend it with a friend. You should go to Italy. You should go to Rome, son. You should go to South Africa, son. You should go to the Gold Coast. In Australia, son, what are you, like, you should, what are you doing? Like, you should work. But a part of work also is, where's your play?

You should play. We worked hard so you could be balanced. So don't be like us. We grew up in a working class home. We grew up in Detroit. We grew up blue collar. You're not blue collar. So go enjoy your life. Be balanced. So I'm not just saying find your North Star in terms of what you've been called to do for others, but there should be a

healthy amount of time that you spend enjoying your life and enjoying the little time that you have here with us. We both know we won't be doing this podcast 100 years from now. We don't know how much longer we have, but I won't be 154 sitting down talking to you. So however much time I have left, I need to work hard and I need to enjoy that time.

I want to use the term that you use and you say create. And I just think so many of us have stepped into careers that group. We have worshiped careers more than we worship create. And so the first thing I would say to that group is what would life look like if you did it on your terms? Because right now you're really not doing it on your terms. What you've done is say, yo, if I want to survive,

if I want to strive, this is what I have to do. And you have allowed people to tell you, okay, you need to be an engineer or you need to be a, and you need to move in. So you've done a phenomenal job in being obedient. You've done a phenomenal job in complying. Like you've done a phenomenal job. You follow the rules. Yes. Congratulations. You know what I'm saying? Like, you didn't rob a bank.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you haven't done anything illegal. You did exactly what a good child should do. And I have a daughter that I have to get on her sometimes because she's that child that's like, yo, dad, what do you guys want me to do? She's obedient.

I said, do me a favor. Don't always be obedient. You need to sit down and ask yourself, if you weren't thinking about the family's name, if Eric Thomas, ET, the hip hop preacher, was not your father, what would you be doing? What would you be doing if you didn't have to worry about honoring, you know, the dynasty? And you do a phenomenal job of honoring this dynasty. I'm not saying anything.

Went to school, handled your business. You've never been in trouble before. We've never had to spend money doing anything. You've been a phenomenal child. But what would you do if you live life on your terms and you were able to go where you want to do? And so that's the first thing I would ask them to do. I want you to think about your life instead of their life.

Because that's what you've been thinking about, the life. Now think about your life, and I want you to start putting it everywhere. Now, the next thing I want you to do is I want you to know that if you have the ability, like I'll never forget, CJ was like, okay, E, you know what you're missing? That the big boy, all the big boy speakers, you know what you're missing? I was like, no.

He was like, the New York Times bestseller. Now, I'm not telling you you got to do it, but I'm saying that's what's missing. You got it. So he was like, first of all, do you want it? Do you want it? Don't do it because I'm saying you need it. But do you want it? And he could elevate you, but do you want it? And I was like, yeah, I want it. The next question becomes, what does it take to do it?

And then am I willing to do what it takes to get it?

Because it's a lot. It's a lot. But here's the thing. I believe if you think about it, it is only because somewhere inside of you, you have what it takes. Now, capacity is there. Willingness is something totally different. Yes. That's different. But I want every human to know. You wouldn't be watching or listening to the school of greatness if you didn't believe you were great. For real.

You wouldn't be spending time with this man on a regular basis. I'm telling you, I wouldn't be going to Columbus. I drove to Columbus.

Like, I had a victim mindset. You know, it was... My mom got pregnant at 17. My biological father wasn't in my life. I didn't go to the best schools in Detroit. I wasn't in this environment. Everything was about somebody else. It was like the outside, inside theory, which is terrible.

bro it's not a trust me when i tell you it's not a you don't get off the freeway like it's not 65 you get up why did i go because this man is great and greats want to hang with greats i need y'all to understand look y'all may not know listen to me i've got no mad suitcases that i still carry this day because he gave them to me like i i didn't buy a new one i've carried the exact same

ones that he gave me, and my son bought a set because I had a set, because it reminds me of him when I travel. It's like greatness, great. So you wouldn't be watching, you wouldn't be locked in, something in your spirit has you tuned into this band, because you know you're great. Now you gotta say to yourself, am I willing to cooperate with the greatness that's in me? And then once you do,

and you start consistently operating in that, you're going to feel good about it. Here's what you have to do. You have to understand. Andre DeShields, I think, said, the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next. Wow. So you get to the top of the mountain, but you understand the GED was just one. The four-year degree was just one. The math was just, after the PhD was the New York Times.

After that, it's the assessments, it's the training, it's the coaching. I'm in masterminds. I get coached, right? And so it's this idea of yesterday's greatness can't be enough because I'm alive today. So if I'm alive today, it must be some more greatness in me. And it's my job, like the toothpaste, It's my job not to just lose.

I don't know about you, but I would just use a little bit of it and get another one. He getting the last drop.

I got money. I'm squeezing that toothpaste. Why? Because I'm trying to get everything out the tube before I go to another one. And with my life, before I get out of here, which is why I could murder myself. that I didn't realize at 12 that I was great. And that's why I say you got to check in 2025, you 2025, right? Because I didn't know I was great.

And once I checked in and realized how great I was, I was like, bro, we going to keep doing this. And to the day we die. And so I would just say to you, you're watching, you're in this space, you're reading his books, you're going to his conferences because you know it's in you and it's time to stop being lazy and it's time to activate it.

You need to be more disciplined about your minds. And all the stuff that you said was absolutely right. My daddy wasn't there. My mama did this. This person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life? Let's go. Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you not define?

People don't take it serious. This is the time to get control of your mind. And for most of us, our mind is in control of us. So when you talk about meditating, it's like this is a habit of the greats. And one of the habits of those individuals who are not where they want to be is, I'm not trying to be funny, but it's like lazy. To absolutely meditate regularly is a discipline. It is, man.

It's like everything that's supposed to blow me up and take me to the next level is somebody else's responsibility. Like it's something that is going to happen or somebody and it's going to. And it was like, yo, E, like, why are you in this abandoned building? Like your mom's not here. Your biological father, no, he's not in your life, but he didn't get pulled over by the police officer.

It's not easy. It's not easy to get control of your... I'm like, where did that thought come from? Right? So guys, let's go back to the 12-year-old that found the birth certificate. Right? We found the birth certificate. We found the birth certificate in the emotional state. We found it in the emotional state. Listen to me. I'm not the first kid who has ever gone through this experience.

And you know what? I had to ask myself in that mirror at 16, 17, 18. I had to keep asking myself, when you saw it, why did you see it that way? Why did you not call your mom and say, mom, do you want to talk about this? Why didn't you go, hey, mom, the counselor, can we go sit down and talk to the counselor? Hey, mom, call dad. Can we just sit down? And listen to me.

I went from, I can't believe that you would do me like this. I went from a ball of emotions to living in abandoned buildings. It was the stupidest decision I had probably ever made. I put myself in so much danger as a 12-year-old, 13-year-old, homeless. Based on emotions. On emotions. So the same document, nothing changed about it.

But if I could go back as this adult and look at that, I would look at his facts and go, wow, your mother protected you. Wow, your mom loved you so much that she didn't want you with your biological father because she thought he could be a threat. Right, wrong, or indifferent. Your mom didn't do this because she was trying to hurt you. Your mom did this because she was trying to protect you.

Your mom brought you into a family. Your mom didn't try to hide the identity. She wanted this man to be your father. He changed your name and gave you his last name. Wow, he treated me as if I was his own. Wow, he didn't lie.

He made his family treat me as if I was, and don't ever say anything about my past because my past has nothing to do with him making a decision at the courthouse to be my dad. It's the same document. What? Emotional? The other one is factual. Your mother loves you. Your mother cares for you. Your mother's trying to put you in a healthy environment. Your mother has a job.

Your mother married somebody who was a former GM. He has a job. He has a college degree. He played basketball. He's a responsible man. He protects his family. Take care. But emotion wouldn't let me be rational. Emotional wouldn't let me think rationally. It had me irrational. So I would say when you make emotional decisions, you get emotional consequences. But it takes meditation.

It takes controlling of the mind to say, how should I behave? How should I think in this situation? And what's going to give me the best outcomes? And I'm going to be honest. I've learned we can save the emotions for when I'm looking at the Nomad bag and going, man, that's my boy. Thank you. Why would you even buy me? Like, what would make you think of? And this is a perfect gift.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't think to buy suitcases for myself. That's where the emotion should be. Me coming in, seeing you, hugging you. What's up, fam? But when it comes to business, when it comes to being a leader and a decision maker, we're not doing emotions. We're doing empirical evidence. Wow. We're doing facts. What does the fact say? What does the research say?

What does the evidence say? OK. And based on the research and the evidence, this is the game plan. Let's go. It doesn't matter how you feel. Yeah. Yeah. Don't matter how you feel.

Listen to me. I never even thought about being a multimillionaire or a billionaire until I was in a room with Warren Buffett. I never even... I didn't even know how much it was worth when I was in the ruins afterwards. And then this all started making sense. Okay, now that I know who I am, you, 2025, like, check, I know who I am. Now it's, oh, oh, real estate is a way?

And the police officer doesn't know the counselor or the principal that kicked you out. It's like, but there's a common denominator here. That's you. There's a common denominator. And you homeless. Your mom's not homeless. Your biological father's probably married with a family somewhere. Like, yo, is that right or wrong? Who cares? You are living in this abandoned building. High school dropout.

Oh, so you mean to tell me that being a blue collar, okay, that's what my parents knew, but you don't make a whole bunch of money working. You make more money when you put your money to work. Oh, that's real estate? Oh, helping kids who are talented figure out their talent and taking a percentage? Oh, okay. I didn't even know this stuff existed. Got it. And so it is important.

Bob Proctor pulling me to the side. How much do you charge? You should be charging. Les Brown calling me and said, I'll meet you in Orlando. Les Brown sitting me down, talking to me. Listen to me, coaching is everything. Why? Because I just said, think of Michael Jordan without Phil Jackson. Right. Think of Venus and Serena without Richard Williams.

Like, yo, I just want you to picture Kobe without Phil Jackson. Think about Tim Brooke without Mike, without Tim.

Here's what's going to blow your mind. When you get to our level, you really need more coaching. Because we didn't exhaust it, all the stuff. You really need coaching.

I'm almost sure it's true that LeBron, look at LeBron, what he's doing right now.

Bro, 40?

Whoever had the arguments, you know what I'm saying? Because there were those of us who was alive. Yeah. We watched Jordan do his thing. But, bro, what LeBron is doing right now, but when I do my research and not emotional about, oh, how is he doing it? No, when I do my research, he's spending $1.5 million. Yeah.

on his body, meaning recovery coaches, meaning dietary coaches, meaning mental and emotional coaches, acting coaches, like he got on. And so you see the decision he made and you see, okay, yeah, he was great. But that investment that he made in himself, And now look, his son is in. And then he got another son. These are decisions that he's making. He's not emotional.

These decisions are based on facts of experts. And then we're seeing the outcomes of it. We're seeing the numbers that he's putting up at this age versus the... And nobody's ever put these kind of numbers up at this particular age. So we all need coaches. And so that's why I've made the decision that E...

The one area that you need to step up in, speaking is good, traveling the world, but you gotta, the same way people open up doors for you and walk you through, You have got to do the same thing. And I've literally, the last two years, have had a small group of people that every morning I wake up with and I train them for an hour every single morning. It's amazing.

And what's amazing about that is to see the difference between people I coach and people who watch me online. Wow. It's a difference. You're watching me online. You're getting the motivation, but you're not getting the daily schedule. You're not getting the things to do list. You're not getting the mindset. You're not getting the analytics. You're not getting the blueprint.

So it's like you're watching and then you are in turn. And this is why I think audio books are good. But I think. Training with our books are good because people will read our books and interpret them in a way that we didn't intend for them to be interpreted.

You're on your way to. And so when I look back, All the anger and the frustration and the hurt, it was all blaming. Everything was about this person or that person or this person. Nothing had anything. I never even realized I was where I was because of who I was. And I was actually getting the physical manifestations of my thoughts, of my feelings, my emotions.

So when we do the training or they get to come to a conference where they get to watch the podcast, they're really investing more to what was he really saying? And if they can do what you're saying, that habit, they can get the outcomes that me and you get.

Schedule what I actually do, not just the passion and stuff you hear online, but the actual, and for free. I'm going to walk you through how many steps I take a day, what I'm drinking, why did I decide to wake up at this time, why am I doing this, so that you can start the year off. And I used to do it in like January-ish. And I'm like, E, you from Detroit. The 2025 come out in September, October.

Of 2024. They don't wait to bring, they don't bring 2025 out in January. They bring it out. And so I was like, E, don't do that. Let's start in November. Let's take it into December and let's give them the energy and the strategy to go into the new year. That's right. Knowing that they are their greatest asset and they need to tap into the grace.

There should be like in class, especially you go to college. It should be like you. UOU 101, UOU 215, UOU 312. Literally, you get to sit down and go, who am I? What are my skills? What are the things that I'm challenged with? What industries would I be best in? We spend so much time trying to get that. I don't think we spend enough time who we are. Who should we become?

Really? Yeah, because I was an extremist. Everything I did, I did it to the fullest. So I think I would be dead, honestly. I would say this to simplify for people, because sometimes when you talk spirituality, for some people it's just too deep. I would say to you, what happened when I made a commitment to God

is that I connected with the person that made me, that knew me like nobody else knew me. And he coached me from the 12 year old to now. He coached me. He's like, bro, I know you, I made you inside out. I know what's the best environments for you. I know who's good for you, who's not good for you. I know your temptations. I know your vices.

I know your good habits, your bad habits, and just let me teach you. And so it was maybe five, six years of fighting

Resisting, you know, because he introduced himself to me at eight. And I guess maybe it was too young, but homeless. I was like at 16, like, okay, I'm ready to get coached. Where's that coaching program you said you had? I'm ready for that coach.

Like, I was creating this and didn't even realize. I thought my mom created it. I thought my father created it. I was like, no, E, you created this. And I'm going to tell you, the moment I realized, You are the greatest common denominator. You're probably the least greatest. You're the common denominator. Once that realization hit me, it was like, oh, okay. You got some confessing to do, bruh.

And so from 16 to maybe 25, you know, it was like, okay, I'm going to come to coaching some days, some days I'm not, some days I'm going in, some days I'm not. And then my son was born. I was almost 25 years old. Jalen was born. And Jalen was born in 1995. I turned 25 in September. He was born July 20th.

And when Jalen was born, it was the day coach said to me, this is why I've been trying to train you. Because I wanted you to be the best father you could be. And so you missed some classes. You missed some lessons. Your son is here now. He needs the best version of you. We can't repeat the mistakes of the past. And so... I need you to hurry up.

And so when Jalen was born, from that day forward, I remember when he was born, I held him. It was kind of like he looked at me like, you the person that's going to take care of me? Wow. And that was the day. And this is what a lot of you are running from. It's the R word. And I get it because it's tough. Responsibility.

That was the day where it's like, oh, you got to be responsible for somebody else. Yeah. You cannot... You got, I've never played a video game since Jalen was born. Wow. I've read more books since Jalen was born. That first year or two that I ever read in my life. I took my career seriously speaking. I start, you know, Zig Ziglar, you know, Nightingale, you know, Og Mendino. Yeah.

Oh, bro. You name him. Dennis Kimbrough. Like I went, I went. deep. I went heavy, you know, Arthur Ashe, you know, days are great. And I read everything. I was in the library like an addict, just studying and studying and studying. And it was because I didn't want the I didn't want some of the consequences of the past to come in this generation, you know?

And so for me, it was like, yo, your son's here, you gotta handle your business. And I just heard, I was more attentive. I started getting up at six and then I'd play this game. Daylight saving times would come. I would, okay, say, don't follow it. Stay up at five, there's the new. And then the next year, the four. And then I got started getting up at three.

And I started getting up at three o'clock in the morning because it was still, there was no dogs outside. Nobody was driving around. The family was asleep. And I was like, okay, coach, I'm sorry. Let's go back over the lessons I didn't get. And let's go over the new lessons. Like coach me, show me, show me. Nobody knows me. And I tell people I had a brand new Cadillac, man.

It had 10,000 miles and the engine blew. And I immediately took it back to Cadillac. I didn't take it to BMW. I didn't take it to Honda. I took it straight to Cadillac. And I went right back to the creators like, yo, you made me and I'm tearing this car up. I'm not putting oil in it. I'm not changing the, rotating the tires. I'm not putting fluid in it. Show me how to take care of this.

And he began to show me how to do it. And it's just like amazing to see When we're on one accord and I'm following, he told me, he's like, yo, it's time. I think I called you maybe last year. I'm like, yo, I need to. And he was like, no, no, you're just supposed to call and say what's up. You know, and then this time it was like, yep, you need to do it.

You know, I was like, all right, I got it, Brandon. I think. And I was like, all right, you know what I'm saying? So just listen to him doing what he's telling me to do and let him coach me. So I would say, you know, don't spiritualize it and make it too ridiculous. It's the coach. And just get a relationship with the coach.

Let the coach get a relationship with you and just do what he tells you to do and you're going to love the results.

And I'm going to tell you the hardest thing that I've ever done. Somebody asked me the other day, what's one of the hardest things you've ever done? The hardest thing I've ever done was look in the mirror and tell myself I was sorry.

This, this, this, this. This is what God is saying. You spent all of your mature life pouring into people who can't do a whole lot for you.

you spent some kind of way in your soul you feel like because of where you were and all these people that help you get to where so it's like you like you feel like you owe people to not be able to mutual relationships like you feel like you so blessed and you have so much it's almost a survivor of guilt and now you just gotta be with people who you gotta pull and you gotta be with people that you got to beg to and you gotta be with people who you just gotta bless and you may not get nothing back he like no no no no

in this season, these relationships have always been there for you. But you haven't taken advantage of them because it's like, I got to help and I got to fix and I got to be a savior complex. I got to help you and help you and help you because somebody helped me and I wouldn't be here. And CJ said to me, Eric, no, the only reason it worked is because you wanted it to work.

Those mentors didn't do nothing for you. They did, but you had to want it. You're helping people that don't even want to be helped. They want a handout. They don't want to be helped. Now, the rest of your life, son, be in relationships where it's mutual. Just, bro, this might seem insignificant to you, but they called me and was like, yo, let us know when you get here.

And I was like, all right, I'll be there, whatever. And they was like, no, no, no, tell us when you pull up. I'm like, tell you when I pull up. I can get upstairs on my own. They're like, no, no, no, tell us when you get there. We're going to meet you downstairs. Oh, and you want anything from Starbucks? No. I'm like, nah, I'm good. I didn't say anything to her. I was like, nah, I'm good.

I can get my own Starbucks. And he said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm trying to teach you something. She didn't ask you if you had money to buy Starbucks. She asked you, did you want something from Starbucks? And I said, you know what? I even texted her and said, you know, I normally say no. I don't say yes to this kind of stuff, but you know what? Yes.

Sorry for what? I was sorry for what I've got myself into the choices that I made, you know. OK, yeah. You 12 years old when you find out that the person is raising you is not your biological father and your mother lie. Absolutely. But it's not necessarily the best circumstances, you know, for a child to be born in. Like your mom lied about who your father is and. You know your father.

I'd like a grande medicine ball with no honey, but three agave. You know? And she was like, okay, you want to get, you need to use the restroom, you need to do whatever. And he was like, yo, this is the season. You pouring out so much. Receive. Get some. Receive. Get in these mutual relationships and get something. So that's what I'm hearing him say. You know, as I come today, it's like,

you, these relationships have been there for you and you've done your part to make sure you stay alive, but you don't always, you don't always allow people to reciprocate, you know? So that's the season for me is like, Hey, bless the world. And Hey, if you don't ever put out another video, there's enough videos and all kinds of content for people to, Now look out for Eric Thomas.

Now go to the weddings. Stop working all the time. Now go to the events. Stop just working all the time. And stop just you and your wife or your little... No, no. There are other communities that are waiting to bless you in the way you've blessed others. And it's time for you to enjoy that. So that's what he's telling me.

You know what I mean? And you know what? I've got people in my life who have, you know, my guy Chuck to church. E, what you need? I have people who've been there and I haven't even allowed. And so it's like, no, there are a few people already in your circle who've tried. You gotta let them fully. And then there are other people not in your circle of influence who are, who've been trying to.

And you gotta receive.

Okay, so you can, by emailing.

And don't even know you know your father, Lyle. Like, you've been around your father. But you didn't know he was your father. I didn't even know he was my father. Wow. I'm with his mother. My grandma and me like this. I'm with his sisters. I'm with his brothers, my aunts and uncles. I'm hanging out with them every day.

So the first one is unplug. Unplug, man. Unplug from everybody. You know, unplug from everybody. I don't know if this is one, but unplug from everybody and plug with the creator, man. Like, plug with the person that brought you into this space, knows you, loves you. You know, unplug. Number two... man, fine love. Didi, man, Didi, it's just been so rich being in a healthy relationship.

Because it shows you who you're not. Like, it's not what you think. It's not just this warm, fuzzy, but Didi has been like, hey, you're a great human, but you gotta work on this. And then the last one, man, Love, you know, love. It's so easy to see our differences. It's so easy to, you know, the things that are, you know, polar opposite. You grew up here. I believe in this.

I believe that you vote this way. You vote this way. I believe this. I believe it. It's so easy to let one or two things separate you when it's about 100 things. that you guys have in common, because you're human, you know? And so it's just like love. And I think of a lot of my friends,

who've never gotten to go out of our community, never meet anybody outside of our little world, and to be in Dubai or New Zealand or wherever. Travel in love. See, that's the last one. Love, but don't love in your little pocket. Get out and meet different people who come from different spaces and places and just see how dope the creator is by by being around the people who he created.

your life at the end of the day you have to be the first thing that you invest in before you check anything check you and go look yourself in the mirror and go yo i'm my lottery ticket we have worship careers more than we worship create and so the first thing i would say to that group is what would life look like if you did it on your terms i want you to think about your life instead of the life what would the next couple steps be to set up the mindset for success i would say

And so the realization of like, yo, not only did you get lied to, like, it's been manipulative. It's been deceitful. But what do I do, Lyle? I run away from home at 12. And I'm living in garages and living in my friends' homes. And this vicious cycle of every time something goes wrong or every time I'm confronted by this reality that's not your father, it's run away from home.

Because he created you and not like me. And so there's so much dopeness around you that I can get into, but I do. I have a lot of friends. You know, the thing I love about you is I've done podcasts with people. It's dope because people are energetic. But I always know when I'm with you, it's not about energy. It's about inward.

And you make me go inward in a way that I don't have to do with a lot of people. So many people are surface. They don't make you go inward. Whenever I'm with you, it's like, oh, E, let's have a meaningful. We may only be together for an hour, but let's make it meaningful and meaningful.

deep so when i walk out of here my wife is about to get a new version of me so i'll say love would travel and meet all the different people from all the different walks of life eat different food see the world different live in different spaces and just see how good the creator is by introducing yourself to the ones he created wow that's beautiful i love those yeah final question what's your definition of greatness man um i'll just say this verse

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few, I make you rule over many. To me, greatness is fulfilling the purpose of the manufacturer. So if I made this cup, I wanna put whatever I wanna put in the cup. I don't want the cup telling me, I don't wanna do that. And so for me, it's like, what is it that you want me to do?

And there was a time you wanted me to save the world. Now you want me to save myself. So if that's what you want now, if that's the new thing you're asking me to do, I just want to make the manufacturer go, I created this for this use and I am utilizing it in the way

that it should be used and that's you know of course you gotta evolve and grow and do all the stuff you have to do but yeah that's to me that's what greatness is the creator getting everything out of you not just you because i feel like if you're creating everything out of me i'm gonna have a great life too but it doesn't necessarily mean i've been married for a while i've been happy and my wife was like i'm not as happy as you are i'm like what we happy no no you're happy

but there's some things I need you to do that you're not doing. I'm like, well, you're doing everything. It's like that two things can be true, but you're not. And so I don't want to just be happy. I want the creator to go, yeah, I'm grateful that I created you. And I see you're doing in the world what it was that I wanted you to do.

And now also for yourself, what I wanted you to do, because I wanted you to be happy too. I didn't want your life to just be about work and being a blessing. I wanted you to be blessed as well. So that's it. My man, E.T., my brother.

It's run away from home. And at 16, it's like, OK, ma, you just flat out lied to me. Everybody told me you lied. You keep telling me you didn't lie. You go tell me when I got older. I'm like, I'm out. But it's like, ee. When I looked in the mirror, it's like, why did you have to take? Why'd you have to leave? Your mom, you had counselors.

Why when you sat down with a counselor and they tried to walk you through the tools and the strategies to get on the other side of this, why were you in, don't talk to me. You ain't my mom. Don't talk to me. You ain't my daddy. Don't talk to me. I don't want to talk to y'all. These are professional counselors. who are saying, yo, we get it. You're going through a lot, but we're here to help.

I don't want counselors at school, principals, teachers. I'm just now insubordinate. I'm evil, mean, mad. And I looked at myself in the mirror and was like, why was that the choice? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got to talk to me. I know why you made the choice. But why did you make that choice? We know what the choice was. You're always wrong. You always run from conflict.

You always blame somebody. But why? And the reason why is because it was easier to put it on my mom and my dad than for me to have to do the work. And so the Eric Thomas that you've seen, the NFL, NBA, commercials, whatever, that dude is the dude that looked himself in the mirror and was like, yo, you owe yourself an apology. And not only that, you owe yourself correction. You owe yourself change.

Wow. You need to be taught. You need to be trained. You need to become a better human. And that was one of the most difficult days of my life, was looking at myself

correcting myself telling myself i was sorry and then moving forward saying now what are we going to do from this point so so so the growth you see is the response to if you are are you are you repentful meaning you're about to change or are you sorry and i'm like no i'm not sorry i want to repent and i want to i want a better version of me because wow what 16 year old should be living in abandoned buildings eating out of trash cans like that's not it's not healthy one

It's not safe in Detroit to be in abandoned buildings walking around. It's not safe. And I had put myself in so many situations where guns were pulled out on me. You know, people would break into the abandoned building and take my belongings from me. It's like, ee, what are you doing? Like, come on, bro.

So I always think it's a combination, right? So it is. It is a rock bottom, but- This is a blessing because rock bottom turned into go to church with my boy, right? And go to church with my boy turned into I started dating this girl. Right? And I fall in love with this girl, you know? And this girl becomes almost like my first coach, you know? And she's saying to me, man, I'll never forget.

She called me to her home. She's like, my mom's not here. I'm like, praise God. She's like, can you come to the house? I was like, well, sure.

We're like, finally, this church girl. And finally, you know, so it's like, y'all come to the house now. This was payphone day. I get to the house. And she comes outside, and I'm confused, like, why are you coming outside? And she's like, I want to talk to you. I was like, OK, we could talk, but can we talk inside? In the bedroom. You know, and so she's like, no, no, I'm serious.

I'm like, I'm serious. She said, do you love me? And I was like, whoa. Like, we kids. I'm like 17, almost 18. Like, do I love you? Like, I don't have no other girlfriends, if that's what you're asking me, but I don't, do you love, she said, no, no, no, do you love me? Like, is this serious? And I was like, yeah, it's serious. She said, well, I just got my acceptance letter and she showed me.

And she said, when I go to college, if you don't come up, come with me, I'm breaking up with you. And so it was twofold. It was, I was robbed. But this relationship was like hope. Like, when I was with Dee Dee, it was almost like I wasn't homeless for that time frame that we were together. Wow. You know, we were in church together. You know, I got a job because she made me get a job.

It was just, you know, we would do stuff together, concerts. We would do stuff together as kids. We were downtown Detroit. It's a restaurant called Nikki's, right? Greek town. So we were in Greek town on the weekends. Like, I was living life. And I was like, whoa, she's elevating your life. I'm like, bro, you rock bottom. And the only life you have in your life is saying they gone.

And they're not, look bro, I'm just being real. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm not stupid. She's not gonna go away and get a degree and come back looking for a homeless kid four years from now. It's not going to happen. No. You know, and so it was rock bottom. She saw greatness in you. Oh, bruh. But you had to do the work. I had to do the work. And I did the work.

I went to night school. I got the GED. I followed her to Oakwood. And we've been married over 34 years.

You feel me? And so it was like, it was a combination of rock bottom and hope. And when you put those two together, it was like I had something to wake up to, something to look forward to. So I'm going to be real. That's why it took me 12 years to get a 40 degree, because I never went to college for college. I went to college for Dee Dee.

That's why I went to college. And so once I got to college and we got married, I was like, yo, I got what I wanted. And she was like, OK, we're going to have to do this again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't be with you if you don't finish what you start.

So then I had to go ahead and do this business again. Wow.

One of the dangerous things is the outside-inside theory. It's dangerous. Because what you're doing, whether you know it or not, you are comparing your journey and your life to somebody else's journey and somebody else's life. Like, you don't even have... Let's just be honest. You don't even have the right context to do that. You don't know why they're doing what they're doing.

You don't know what their strengths and weaknesses are. So you're comparing yourself to somebody that may have strengths that you don't have. They're nowhere near who you are. And so you're comparing yourself. So this is why I believe For those of us who finally get it, it's the inside out. Like everything we do starts from the inside.

I got to say this. Congratulations, man. You know, I was saying when I was talking to you, it's like, 10 years ago. And I remember, because you were like, E, I want you on the show. And I hadn't really started doing podcasts yet. So that was like one of the first podcasts. And I was like, but my mother, my godmother was dying of cancer. And so I was like, man, I can't leave and go.

And then from there, we kind of say, oh, okay, I see my boy Louie, he doing X, Y, and Z, but I'm not doing it because you're doing it, but I'm calling you, you're kind of saying, and the industry is, so I'm using the information you're giving me to build my journey, not I'm trying to be you.

And so what I realized was, yeah, there's some kids that can come and graduate in four years because they took K through 12 series. Or, not to be disrespectful, there are some kids that can come and graduate for four years because they're going to get a job.

You can't come and graduate in four years, one, because you didn't take K through 12 years, and you're about to be one of the greatest speakers ever. It's going to take a little longer. It's going to take a little bit longer to develop you. So my man on the four-year plan, but he might, no disrespect, but he may settle into a traditional life And so for the four years, that's all it takes.

But if you are about to be Eric Thomas, that I didn't even know I had the capacity. Dude, you're talking about the school of greatness. God was like, you have to be in the school of greatness a little bit longer. You have to be in the school of greatness a little. Why?

I always say, you know, and everybody knows it, but when you're doing a swing shot, the further you pull it back, when you let it go. So for me, it was like, I was like, mm-mm. It's going to take 12, not because you're behind. It's going to take 12 because that's how much time it's going to take to develop you.

So once I release you into the world, now you're going to be able to do phenomenal stuff.

So I can't compare myself to the dude that's just going to get a job somewhere, who's just going to settle, and all he's caring about is his life. He's not necessarily creating content or writing books that are going to change the world. He's just trying to take care of his family. So 40 years works for him.

So now I'm comparing my life to a person who is not even trying to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish. That's dangerous.

I'm squeezing.

I got money. I'm squeezing that toothpaste. Why? Because I'm trying to get everything out the tube before I go to another one. And with my life, before I get out of here, which is why I could murder myself. that I didn't realize at 12 that I was great. And that's why I say you got to check in 2025, you 2025, right? Because I didn't know I was great.

And once I checked in and realized how great I was, I was like, bro, we're going to keep doing this. And to the day we die. And so I would just say to you, you're watching, you're in this space, you're reading his books, you're going to his conferences because you know it's in you and it's time to stop being lazy. And it's time to activate.

And that's why people don't want to drive in their lives. They don't want to be responsible. It's so much easier to say, my life is messed up because you did this and you did that. Once you take the keys down, you got to go anything. But I'm going to tell you this. This is why I like it. While it's more responsibility, it's more freedom. It's more independence. It's more control. Opportunities.

People don't take it serious. This is the time to get control of your mind. And for most of us, our mind is in control of us. So when you talk about meditating, it's like this is a habit of the greats. And one of the habits of those individuals who are not where they want to be is, I'm not trying to be funny, but it's like lazy. To absolutely meditate regularly is a discipline. It is, man.

It's not easy. It's not easy to get control of your... I'm like, where did that thought come from? Right? So guys, let's go back to the 12-year-old that found the birth certificate. Right? We found the birth certificate. We found the birth certificate in the emotional state. We found it in the emotional state. Listen to me. I'm not the first kid who has ever gone through this experience.

And you know what? I had to ask myself in that mirror at 16, 17, 18. I had to keep asking myself, when you saw it, why did you see it that way? Why did you not call your mom and say, mom, you wouldn't talk about this? Why didn't you go, hey mom, the counselor, can we go sit down and talk to the counselor? Hey mom, call dad, can we just sit down?

And listen to me, I went from, I can't believe that you would do me like this. I went from a ball of emotions to living in abandoned buildings. It was the most, it was the stupidest decision I had probably ever made. I put myself in so much danger as a 12 year old, 13 years old, homeless. Based on emotions. On emotions. So the same document, nothing changed about it.

But if I could go back as this adult and look at that, I would look at his facts and go, wow, your mother protected you. Wow, your mom loved you so much that she didn't want you with your biological father because she thought he could be a threat. Right, wrong, or indifferent. Your mom didn't do this because she was trying to hurt you. Your mom did this because she was trying to protect you.

Your mom brought you into a family. Your mom didn't try to hide the identity. She wanted this man.

to be your father he didn't he changed your name and gave you his last name wow he treated me as if i was his own wow he didn't lie he made his family treat me as if i was and don't ever say anything about my past because my past has nothing to do with him making a decision at the courthouse to be my dad it's the same document What? Emotional? The other one is factual. Your mother loves you.

Your mother cares for you. Your mother's trying to put you in a healthy environment. Your mother has a job. Your mother married somebody who was a foreman at GM. He has a job. He has a college degree. He played basketball. He's a responsible man. He protects us from taking emotion. Wouldn't let me be rational. Emotional wouldn't let me think rationally. It had me irrational.

So I would say when you make emotional decisions, you get emotional consequences. But it takes meditation. It takes controlling of the mind to say, how should I behave? How should I think in this situation? And what's going to give me the best outcome? And I'm going to be honest. I've learned we can save the emotions for when I'm looking at the Nomad badge and going, man, that's my boy. Thank you.

They limit it. But the limitless win. You take the keys. And so I took the keys in my life and said, my, thanks. Dad, thanks for not being there for me. You gave me a dog. You gave me a passion. You gave me resilience. You taught me how to make it when the very thing that's supposed to be there for you isn't there for you. And I tell people,

Why would you even buy me? Like what would make you think of, and this is a perfect gift. You know what I'm saying? Like I didn't think to buy suitcases for myself. That's where the emotion should be. Me coming in and seeing you, hugging you. What's up fam? But when it comes to business, when it comes to being a leader and a decision maker, we not doing emotions. We're doing empirical evidence.

We're doing facts. What does the fact say? What does the research say? What does the evidence say? Okay. And based on the research and the evidence, this is the game plan. Let's go. It doesn't matter how you feel. Yeah. Yeah. Don't matter how you feel. Man, I love this. Yeah.

Listen to me. I never even thought about being a multimillionaire or a billionaire until I was in a room with Warren Buffett. I didn't even know how much it was worth when I was in the ruins afterwards. And then this all started making sense. Okay, now that I know who I am, you, 2025, like, check, I know who I am. Now it's, oh, oh, real estate is a way?

Oh, so you mean to tell me that being a blue collar, okay, that's what my parents knew, but you don't make a whole bunch of money working. You make more money when you put your money to work. Oh, that's real estate? Oh, helping kids who are talented figure out their talent and taking a percentage?

oh okay i didn't even know this stuff exists got it and so it is it is important bob proctor pulling me to the side how much do you charge you should be charging les brown calling me and said i'll meet you in orlando les brown sitting me down talking to listen to me coaching is everything why because i just said think of michael jordan without phil jackson right think of venus and cerulean uh venus and serena without richard williams

Like, yo, I just want you to picture Kobe without Phil Jackson. Think about Tim Grook without, Mike without.

Come on, not Tim. So coaching is critical, and here's what's going to blow your mind. When you get to our level, you really need more coaching. We didn't exhausted all the stuff. You really need coaching.

They said, they said, I read it, but it's research. I'm almost sure it's true that LeBron, look at LeBron, what he's doing right now.

Whoever had the arguments, you know what I'm saying? Because there were those of us who was alive. Yeah. We watched Jordan do his thing. But, bro, what LeBron is doing right now, but when I do my research and not emotional about, oh, how is he doing this? No, when I do my research, he's spending $1.5 million.

Some kid asked me the other day, he's like, man, wouldn't you say your son is lucky because you're in his life and his mom is in his life? I said yes and no. I said yes, he's blessed to have his mom and dad. Well, he ain't got that dog. He doesn't have the hunger? He ain't got that dog. Oh, man. My son is a great kid. But he doesn't have the drive. He ain't got the same drive I got.

on his body, meaning recovery coaches, meaning dietary coaches, meaning mental and emotional coaches, acting coaches, like he got on. And so you see the decision he made and you see, okay, yeah, he was great. But that investment that he made in himself, And now look, his son is in. And then he got another son. These are decisions that he's making. He's not emotional.

These decisions are based on facts of experts. And then we're seeing the outcomes of it. We're seeing the numbers that he's putting up at this age versus the... And nobody's ever put these kind of numbers up at this particular age. So we all need coaches. And so that's why I've made the decision that E...

The one area that you need to step up in, speaking is good, traveling the world, but you gotta, the same way people open up doors for you and walk you through, You have got to do the same thing. And I've literally the last two years have had a small group of people that every morning I wake up with and I train them for an hour every single morning.

And what's amazing about that is to see the difference between people I coach and people who watch me online. It's a difference. You watching me online, you getting the motivation, but you're not getting the daily schedule. You're not getting the things to do list. You're not getting the mindset. You're not getting the analytics. You're not getting the blueprint.

So it's like you're watching and then you are interpreting. And this is why I think audio books are good, but I think training with our books are good because people will read our books and interpret them in a way that we didn't intend for them to be interpreted.

So when we do the training or they get to come to a conference where they get to watch the podcast, they're really investing more to what was, What was he really saying? And if they can do what you're saying, that habit, they can get the outcomes that me and you get.

Coaching, teaching, mentoring. Schedule. What I actually do, not just the passion and stuff you hear it online, but the actual, and for free. I'm going to walk you through how many steps I take a day. What I'm drinking. Why did I decide to wake up at this time? Why am I doing this? So that you can start the year off.

There should be like in class, especially if you go to college, it should be like UOU 101, UOU 215, UOU 312. Literally, you get to sit down and go, who am I? What are my skills? What are the things that I'm challenged with? What industries would I be best in? We spend so much time trying to get that. I don't think we spend a significant enough time who we are, like who should we become?

And that drive came without some stuff that I had. That stuff came from lack. And so I say to anybody, you got to understand, it could go either way. But when you take the, it's like I walk into a school and I ask, how many of y'all, 50 kids? How many of you kids in here? 1,000 kids. How many of your dads, one in your life, was not living in the house? 90% raised their hand. And guess what?

I'd say either dead. I'd say dead. Really? Yeah, because I was an extremist. You know, everything I did, I did it to the fullest. You know, so I think I would be dead, honestly. I would say this to simplify for people, because sometimes when you talk spirituality, for some people it's just too deep. I would say to you, what happened when I made a commitment to God

is that I connected with the person that made me, that knew me like nobody else knew me. And he coached me from the 12 year old to now. He coached me. He's like, bro, I know you, I made you. I know what's the best environments for you. I know who's good for you, who's not good for you. I know your temptations. I know your vices. I know your good habits, your bad habits, and just let me teach you.

And so it was maybe five, six years of fighting Resisting. Resisting, you know, because he introduced himself to me at eight. And I guess maybe it was too young, but homeless. I was like at 16, like, OK, I'm ready to get coached. Where's that coaching program? I'm ready for that coach.

And so from 16 to maybe 25, you know, it was like, OK, I'm going to come to coaching some days, some days I'm not, some days I'm going in, some days I'm not. And then my son was born. I was almost 25 years old. Jalen was born. And Jalen was born in 1995. I turned 25 in September. He was born July 20.

And when Jalen was born, it was the day coach said to me, this is why I've been trying to train you. Because I wanted you to be the best father you could be. And so you miss some classes. You miss some lessons. Your son is here now. He needs the best version of you. We can't repeat the mistakes of the past. I need you to hurry up.

And so when Jalen was born, from that day forward, I remember when he was born, I held him. It was kind of like he looked at me like, you're the person that's going to take care of me? Wow. And that was the day. And this is what a lot of you are running from. It's the R word. And I get it because it's tough. Responsibility.

That was the day where it's like, oh, you got to be responsible for somebody else. Yeah. You cannot... You got, I've never played a video game since Jalen was born. Wow. I've read more books since Jalen was born. That first year or two that I ever read in my life. I took my career seriously speaking. I start, you know, Zig Ziglar, you know, Nightingale, you know, Og Mendino. Yeah. Bob Proctor.

Oh, bro. You name him. Dennis Kimbrough. Like I went, I went. I went heavy, you know, Arthur Ashe, you know, days are great. And I read everything. I was in the library like an addict, just studying and studying and studying. And it was because I didn't want the I didn't want some of the consequences of the past to come in this generation, you know?

And so for me, it was like, yo, your son's here. You gotta handle your business. And I just heard, I was more attentive. I started getting up at six and then I'd play this game. Daylight saving times would come. I would, okay, say, don't follow it. Stay up at five is the new. And then the next year, the four. And then I got started getting up at three.

and i started getting up at three o'clock in the morning because it was still there was no dogs outside nobody was driving around the family was sleep and i was like okay coach i'm sorry let's go back over the lessons i didn't get and let's go over the new lessons like coach me show me show me nobody knows me and i tell people i had a brand new cadillac man it had 10 000 miles and the engine blew

I automatically can relate to them. That's the je ne sais quoi that my daddy wasn't there. That's the it factor. If my father hadn't been there, I might not be able to go in here and relate on my videos and go viral. People are like, okay, maybe if I just had Eric's voice or if I just screamed and I just looked passionate.

And I immediately took it back to Cadillac. I didn't take it to BMW. I didn't take it to Honda. I took it straight to Cadillac. And I went right back to the creator. I was like, yo, you made me. And I'm tearing this car up. I'm not putting oil in it. I'm not changing the, rotating the tires. I'm not putting fluid in it. Show me how to take care of this. And he began to show me how to do it.

And it's just like amazing to see when we're on one accord and I'm following the... He told me, he's like, yo, it's time. I think I called you maybe last year. I'm like, yo, I need to... And he was like, no, no, you're just supposed to call and say what's up. You know, and then this time it was like, yep, you need to do it. You know, I was like, all right, I got it, Brandon. I think...

And I was like, all right. You know what I'm saying? So just listening to him, doing what he's telling me to do, and let him coach me. So I would say, you know, don't spiritualize it and make it too ridiculous. It's the coach. And just get a relationship with the coach. Let the coach get a relationship with you. And just do what he tells you to do, and you're going to love the results.

And so I don't want to just be happy. I want the creator to go. yeah i'm grateful that i created you and i see you're doing in the world what it was that i wanted you to do and now also for yourself what i wanted you to do because i wanted you to be happy too i didn't want your life to just be about work and being a blessing i wanted you to be blessed as well so that's that's it

Yeah, yeah.

Bro, that's not what it is. It's when I speak, you hear it because I've been through what you've been through. And so you recognize that voice. You recognize the pain. You recognize the struggle. But you recognize I overcame it. And that's why you're like, I want to rock with this dude.

Because this one ain't, some kind of way, Eric ain't the one that's making us feel like, oh, it's okay that you went through this, and it's okay that this, and it's okay if you don't want to grow, and it's okay if you don't want, no. What you're hearing from me is a coach that's saying, Jordan, you got six rings in you, but you got to stop playing this way, and you got to start playing this way.

Kobe, you got great, but you got to do it this way. Serena, you got Venus, you got that. Richard Williams is saying, he's not out there just, He's teaching, training, but he's also correcting. And so for me, they hear my voice. I'm not letting you get away with murder because greatness is in you. The greatness is in you. And now it's time to go to school.

It's time to go to work and bring that greatness out of you. So yes, anybody, anybody could be successful. But as long as you're playing the blame game, You have given permission, the license, registration, the keys, you give it all over to somebody else. And the day you take it, is the day that you can start deciding which direction you want to go. Wow.

So it sounds like step one, take the keys back to your life. Take the keys back.

With your husband.

Like, get to know you. We're so busy wanting to be in a community that we don't realize we are a community. Right? And look, I'm not trying to be deep. You know, people could, you know, you believe this, you don't believe this. But what I was taught, you know, in school, especially Catholic school, it seemed like Adam was by himself first. It doesn't seem like it was like somebody else.

It's like Adam was first and then whatever happened after that. So the first man was by himself. And I think that's important for those of us who study that. Why? Because all of us think we have to have somebody to be somebody. And this guy started his journey on his own before he connected with somebody. Whatever. He knew his purpose. You know, he walked in his confidence.

Right.

And a lot of us are going, I hear people all the time, well, I'm not doing good in life. Why not? I don't have nobody. I'm not in a relationship. I'm saying, you're telling me, no, listen to me very closely. Do you think for one minute... that getting in a relationship with somebody, it can't be the key because so many people have gotten in relationships and got out of it.

Some new thing, yeah.

It's okay.

So that can't be the key. Now, two healthy people, not perfect, but two healthy people coming together, oh, no, that's difficult. It's expansive. But guess what has to happen? You've got to be healthy with you. You can be with this.

So we even messing each other up when we have two dysfunctional people trying to connect with each other because we think two functional people don't come together and make each other. It's not going to work.

So I just think the first step after the first step is you got to figure out who you are and love you and feel good about you and show up in the ring you and not care what nobody think about you. And that's why this relationship has worked so well for me over the years because when we were together, it's never been a thing of, E, why you do that? E, why you do that? Or E, why you do that?

It's always been like, E, you have a unique set of skills that make you great. You have a unique set. And so we've always focused on what's our unique skills and what do you know that I don't know and how can you help me get there? And so a lot of these young kids are

joining things they shouldn't join and being with people because they think their happiness is going to come from being with somebody else. And I just think if you be, eagles aren't trying to, they just are, lions aren't, what do you think about me? What do you think about my roar? You think I'm too loud when I roar? That's not a concern.

And so I think step two, figure out who you are, love you, and step three, Figure out your North Star and wake up every single day going after your North Star. Because when you have a North Star, you know, and the people that you love and you spend time with have a North Star, have a purpose, and their purpose might be We both have people whose purpose is to help us with our purpose.

They don't necessarily have an individual purpose. They were called to help us with our mission. That's it. So we need a North Star so they can know what their North Star is. So that would be my third one. It's like, you've got to figure out what makes you happy. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it.

First time I did a behind the scenes coming in here, just because I was like, to my Patreon community, like, yo, y'all need to understand where I am and what's going on. But I don't, if you follow me on Instagram or TikTok, wherever I'm on, you don't see behind the scenes. I think that's a phenomenal tool to show other people what, but my wife is private. So for us, that does not work.

No. No. You know why? Because what I didn't realize as a young adult is that when you say it to somebody else, whether you mean to do it or not, you give them the keys to your life. You give them power over you. They got your whole life in their hand. Because you said it. You said it. They didn't do this because they didn't. They got the keys. Now, I'll be honest.

She does not want to be seen in the limelight. She doesn't want to be in Dubai and stop and go, let's take a, let's document what we're doing. She doesn't like that. Yeah, yeah. So for some people it works, but I don't have to do that to still find a space, right? There's some people, you know, they do tours, right? I don't do tours. That's not my thing. I used to do them. I don't do them now.

There's some people that write books. Some people don't write books. Like it doesn't matter. But what matters is,

you have to find a thing that wakes you up yes at three o'clock or six o'clock or ten o'clock like you got to find the thing that brings the life out of you the joy out of you the happiness out of you and you can't do that following somebody else's north style so my last one will be mad figure out what you was put on this earth to do and i mean every single chance you have to do it do it and when you're not doing it enjoy your life my my son was like damn um i'm tired i say you tired

You burnt out for what? Look at your mom and dad. You work for the family company. What are you doing? Well, I've been up the last six days working 10, 12 hours. I said, for what? What would you be doing that for? Like, why wouldn't you take advantage of the, he said, what should I be doing? I said, you should figure out what it is you do. He's a designer, right?

You should be designing clothes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whenever, five, six hours a day. And then Saturday, Sunday, or Friday, Saturday, because of your family, you should get a trip somewhere and go spend it with a friend. You should go to Italy. You should go to Rome, son. You should go to South Africa, son. You should go to the Gold Coast in Australia, son. What are you doing?

You should work. But a part of work also is where is your play? You should play. We worked hard so you could be back. So don't be like us. We grew up in a working class home. We grew up in Detroit. We grew up. You're not blue collar. So go enjoy your life. Be balanced. So I'm not just saying find your no star in terms of what you've been called to do for others. But there should be a.

healthy amount of time that you spend enjoying your life and enjoying the little time that you have here with us. We both know we won't be doing this podcast 100 years from now. Sure. We don't know how much longer we have, but I won't be 154 sitting down talking to you. So however much time I have left, I need to work hard and I need to enjoy that time. Absolutely. Those are beautiful, man.

The reason why we don't want to take the keys is because we got to drive. We got to drive. And I told you, today I was like, I got too much to do. I normally drive. I'm like, I got too much to do. And it felt good to be in the car driven. It felt good. Like, I'm on the phone talking to my wife. We having worship, doing our thing, making a couple of business calls.

I want to use the term that you use and you say create. And I just think so many of us have stepped into careers that group. We have worshiped careers more than we worship create. And so the first thing I would say to that group is, what would life look like if you did it on your terms? Because right now you're really not doing it on your terms. What you've done is say, yo, if I want to survive,

if I want to strive, this is what I have to do. And you have allowed people to tell you, okay, you need to be an engineer or you need to be a, and you need to move in. So you've done a phenomenal job in being obedient. You've done a phenomenal job in complying. Like you've done a phenomenal job. You follow the rules. Congratulations. You know what I'm saying? Like, you didn't rob a bank.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you haven't done anything illegal. You did exactly what a good child should do. And I have a daughter that I have to get on her sometimes because she's that child that's like, yo, dad, what do you guys want me to do? She's obedient. She's obedient. I said, do me a favor. Don't always be obedient.

You need to sit down and ask yourself, if you weren't thinking about the family's name, if Eric Thomas, ET, the hip hop preacher, was not your father, what would you be doing? What would you be doing if you didn't have to worry about honoring, you know, the dynasty? And you do a phenomenal job of honoring this dynasty. I'm not saying anything. Went to school, handled your business.

You've never been in trouble before. We've never had to spend money doing anything. You've been a phenomenal child. But what would you do if you lived life on your terms and you were able to go where you were able to do? And so that's the first thing I would ask them to do. I want you to think about your life instead of their life. Because that's what you've been thinking about, the life.

Now think about your life, and I want you to start putting it everywhere. Now, the next thing I want you to do is I want you to know that if you have the ability, like I'll never forget, CJ was like, okay, E, you know what you're missing? That the big boy, all the big boy speakers, you know what you're missing? I was like, no. He was like, the New York Times bestseller.

Now, I'm not telling you gotta do it, but I'm saying, that's one of the, you know, and you got it. And so he was like, first of all, do you want it? Do you want it? Don't do it, because I'm saying you need it. But do you want it? And he could elevate you, but do you want it? And I was like, yeah, I want it. The next question becomes, what does it take to do it?

Like, I don't have the responsibility of the traffic. Paying attention. I got paid attention. He moved over and got, I was like, why is he stopping in the middle of, But it was a fire truck was coming. So he had to move up. I didn't know what was going on because it was the first time in my life that I wasn't really responsible because I normally drive.

And then am I willing to do what it takes to get it? That's it. Because it's a lot. It's a lot. But here's the thing. I believe if you think about it, it is only because somewhere inside of you, you have what it takes. Now, capacity is there. Willingness is something totally different. Yes. That's different. But I want every human to know.

you wouldn't be watching the school you wouldn't be watching or listening to the school of greatness if you didn't believe you were great i'm just i'm just for real you you wouldn't be spending time with this man on the regular i'm telling you i wouldn't be uh going to columbus right i drove to columbus

bro it's not a trust me when i tell you it's not a you don't get off the freeway it's not 65 you get up why did i go because this man is great and greats want to hang with greats i need y'all to understand look y'all may not know listen to me i've got no mad suitcases that i still carry this day because he gave them to me like i i i didn't buy a new one i've carried the exact same

ones that he gave me. And my son bought a set because I had a set because it reminds me of him when I travel. It's like greatness. So you wouldn't be watching. You wouldn't be locked in. Something in your spirit has you tuned into this band because you know you're great. Now you got to say to yourself, am I willing to cooperate with the greatness that's in me? And then once you do,

and you start consistently operating in that you're gonna feel good about it here's what you have to do you have to understand andre de shields i think said the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next wow so so so you get to the top of the mountain but you understand the the g the ged was just one the the foreign degree was just one the master just after the phd was the new york top after that it's the assessments it's the training it's the coaching i i'm i'm in masterminds

I get coached, right? And so it's this idea of yesterday's greatness can't be enough because I'm alive today. So if I'm alive today, it must be some more greatness in me. And it's my job, like the toothpaste, It's my job not to just lose. I don't know about you, but I would just use a little bit of it and get another one. He getting the last drop.

Yeah, I say both. And but to your point on the discipline. You need to be more disciplined about your minds. What do people need to be thinking about with their minds? So here's the deal. You're already in pain. Get a reward for it. It's just like, look, do me a favor. Everything you say, you're right.

But why go through life with whatever people did to you when you were younger or a young adult, and then you have to live with it for the next 40, 50 years? Why would you sit here and all the stuff that you said was absolutely right? My daddy wasn't there, my mama did this, this person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life? Why would you let them own you?

Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you not define your life? It's like, no, I was in pain. It's real. but get a reward for it. So for me, walking into, first of all, driving here in a car service, getting to L.A., walking in this beautiful facility, seeing the other businesses that are here, I'm like, I'm proud of you, bro. You made it.

You could have stopped at the homeless board and nobody would have tripped. Your daddy wasn't there. Your mom was 17 when she got pregnant. All the negative that happened to you. Eric, we understand. Bob, understand. Let me tell you. One of the things that just blew my mind the other day. So, you know, we were fortunate to own a home in California on the hill, right?

So we got this property, we got the basketball court with the logo, all the companies that, whatever. And I go outside yesterday and I see my wife and my son playing basketball. And I'm thinking to myself, in California, on the hill, looking at all these beautiful properties. My wife and my son are outside hooping. Dream life. My wife was like, I want to work out.

My son was like, I didn't even know. She was like, I'm going to play basketball. I'm like, I can't do it right now. And I'm listening to a voice. He came home, heard the basketball, went out with his mom. I'm like, yo, my son, 29 years old, is spending time with his mom as an adult male. Wow. He could be anywhere doing anything. He's with his mom, her firstborn.

They got this bond that I don't have. And they're out here hoping. And as I look at the property, I'm like, yo, what if the 16 year old Eric Thomas would have stayed the 16 year old Eric Thomas? So I'm saying for those who listen, get a reward for it and then do me a favor. Don't just think about you. Like, do you know that my son? In his mind, this is where you start.

He got the sauna, the pool, the whirlpool. He's starting somewhere I never started. The cars, the Rolls Royce, the Escalade. He's starting somewhere I didn't start. Why? Because I didn't stop where I started. I didn't stop. I was like, okay, this is where we started, but this is not about to be my end. And so his beginnings look dope.

My man went to Michigan State and was a general manager for Enzo. He traveled the world. He's got a Final Four win and an Elite Eight win. He's got the jacket. He sat under Coach Enzo, Hall of Fame coach for four years. Coach OG. He sat under these guys. Like his boys, some of his boys went to the league. There's some of them still in the league. Like he got that because I didn't go.

I quit because my mom, my dad did. So I quit. I give up. This is worst thing ever happened. I was like, you get a reward for it. And so to see my son, I'm coming to a concert tonight with my daughter. Listen to me. Like I didn't give up. And so I'm saying to everybody, we all go through pain. Some of us go through pain and it becomes our tombstone.

Some of us go through pain and it's a scar and we live a life of reward. So I'm just going to say again, 2025, do me a favor, check you. So you're in the ballot box and you're looking at all these options, doctor, lawyer, teacher, whatever you see, president, mayor, governor, do me a favor. Before you check off any of that S&P 500 real estate, before you check any of that, check you.

Before you check anything, check you and go look yourself in the mirror and go, yo, I'm my lottery ticket. I'm my ticket out of the neighborhood or, you know, I'm the broken curse. Like whatever you want to call yourself. But the day I stopped saying my mom, my dad, this person, the police, the cop, the day I stopped doing that, the day I said. You.

No. No. You know why? Because what I didn't realize as a young adult is that when you say it to somebody else, whether you mean to do it or not, you give them the keys to your life. You give them power over you. They got your whole life in their hand. Because you said it. You said it. They didn't do this because they didn't. They got the keys. Now, I'll be honest.

The reason why we don't want to take the keys is because we got to drive. We got to drive. And I told you today, I was like, I got too much to do. I normally drive. I'm like, I got too much to do. And it felt good to be in the car driven. It felt good. Yeah. Like I'm going to phone, talking to my wife. We have a worship doing our thing, making a couple of business calls.

Like I don't have the responsibility of the traffic. Paying attention. I got paid attention. He moved over and got, I was like, why is he stopping in the middle of, But it was a fire truck was coming. So he had to move up. I didn't know what was going on because it was the first time in my life that I wasn't really like responsible because I normally drive.

And that's why people don't want to drive in their lives. They don't want to be responsible. It's so much easier to say my life is messed up because you did this and you did that. Once you take the keys now, you got to go anything. But I'm going to tell you this. This is why I like it. While it's more responsibility, it's more freedom. It's more independence. It's more control. Opportunities.

They limit it. But the limitless win. You take the keys. And so I took the keys in my life and said, my, thanks. Dang, thanks for not being there for me. You gave me a dog. You gave me a passion. You gave me a resilience. You taught me how to make it when the very thing that's supposed to be there for you isn't there for you. And I tell people what I want.

Some kid asked me the other day, he's like, man, when you say your son is lucky because you're in his life and his mom is in his life, I say yes and no. I say, yes, he's blessed to have his mom and dad. But he ain't got that dog. He doesn't have the hunger? He ain't got that dog. Oh, man. My son is a great kid. But he doesn't have the drive. He ain't got the same drive I got.

And that drive came without some stuff that I had. Lack. That stuff came from lack. And so I say to anybody, you got to understand it could go either way. But when you take the, it's like I walk into a school and I ask, how many of y'all? 50 kids. How many of you kids in here? A thousand kids. How many of you dads one in your life was not living in the house? 90% raised their hand. And guess what?

I automatically can relate to them. That's the je ne sais quoi that my daddy wasn't there. That's the it factor. If my father hadn't been there, I might not be able to go in here and relate on my videos that go viral. People are like, okay, maybe if I just had air voice or if I just scream and I just look passionate.

bro, that's not what it is. It's when I speak, you hear it because I've been through what you've been through. And so you recognize that voice. You recognize the pain. You recognize the struggle. But you recognize I overcame it. And that's why you're like, I want to rock with this dude.

Because this one ain't, some kind of way, Eric ain't the one that's making us feel like, oh, it's okay that you went through this. And it's okay that this, and it's okay if you don't want to grow. And it's okay if you don't want, No, what you hear from me is a coach that's saying, Jordan, you got six rings in you, but you got to stop playing this way and you got to start playing this way.

Kobe, you got great, but you got to do it this way. Serena, you got Venus, you got that. Richard Williams is saying, he's not out there just... He's teaching, training, but he's also correcting. And so for me, they hear my voice. I'm not letting you get away with murder because greatness is in you. The greatness is in you. And now it's time to go to school. It's time to go to work.

and bring that greatness out. So just anybody, anybody could be successful. But as long as you're playing the blame game, you have you have given permission, the license, registration, the keys, you give it all over to somebody else. And the day you take it is the day that you can start deciding which direction you want to go. Wow. So that sounds like step one. Take the keys back to your life.

I would say step two. And I don't know why they don't teach this in school. I be your first best friend, you know, like get to know you. We're so busy. wanting to be in a community that we don't realize we are a community, right? And look, I'm not trying to be deep.

You know, people could, you know, you believe this, you don't believe in this, but what I was taught, you know, in school, especially Catholic school, it seemed like Adam was by himself first. It doesn't seem like it was like somebody else. It was like Adam was first and then whatever happened after that. So the first man was by himself. And I think that's important for those of us who study that.

Why? Because all of us think we have to have somebody to be somebody. And this guy started on it. He started his journey on his own before he connected with somebody, whatever. He knew his purpose. You know, he walked with his confidence. He walked. And a lot of us are going. I hear people all the time. Well, I'm not doing good life. Why not? I don't have nobody. I'm not in a relationship.

I'm saying you're telling me. No, listen to me very closely. Do you think for one minute? that getting in a relationship with somebody, it can't be the key because so many people have gotten in relationships and got out of it. So that can't be the key. Now, two healthy people, not perfect, but two healthy people coming together. Oh, no, that's different. It's expansive.

But guess what has to happen? You've got to be healthy with you.

people you could be with this so we even messing each other up when we have two dysfunctional people trying to connect with each other because we think two functional people don't come together and make each other it's not gonna work so i just think the first step after the first step is you got to figure out who you are and love you and feel good about you and show up in the ring you and not care what nobody think about you

And that's why this relationship has worked so well for me over the years, because when we're together, it's never been a thing of, E, why you do that? E, why you do that? Or E, why you do that? It's always been like, E, you have a unique set of skills that make you great. You have a unique set. And so we've always focused on what's our unique skills? And what do you know that I don't know?

And how can you help me get there? And so a lot of these young kids are

joining things they shouldn't join and being with people because they think their happiness is going to come from being with somebody else and i just think if you if you be eagles aren't trying to they just are eat they're not trying lions aren't what do you think about me right what do you think about my war you think i'm too loud when i roar they're not concerned and so i think step two figure out who you are love you and step three

Figure out your North Star and wake up every single day going after your North Star. Because when you have a North Star, you know, and the people that you love and you spend time with have a North Star, have a purpose. And look, that purpose might be We both have people whose purpose is to help us with our purpose. They don't necessarily have an individual purpose.

Like they were called to help us with our mission.

So we need a North Star so they can know what their North Star is. So that would be my third one. It's like, you gotta figure out what makes you happy. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with, first time I did a behind the scenes coming in here, just because I was like, to my Patreon community, like, yo, y'all need to understand where I am and what's going on.

But I don't if you follow me on Instagram or wherever I'm on, you don't see behind the scenes. I think that's a phenomenal tool to show other people what what my wife is private. So so for us, that does not work. She does not want to be seen in the line. She doesn't want to be in Dubai and stop and go. Let's take a let's document what she doesn't like that. So for some people, it works.

But I don't have to do that to still find a space. Right. There's some people, you know, they do tours. Right. I don't do tours. That's not my thing. I used to do them. I don't do them now. There's some people that write books. Some people don't write books like it doesn't matter. But what matters is you have to find a thing that wakes you up. Yeah. At 3 o'clock or 6 o'clock or 10 o'clock.

You got to find the thing that brings the life out of you, the joy out of you, the happiness out of you. And you can't do that following somebody else's north star. So my last one would be, man, figure out what you was put on this earth to do. And I mean, every single chance you have to do it, do it. And when you're not doing it, enjoy your life. My son was like, Dad, I'm tired. I said, you tired?

you burnt out for what look at your mom and dad you work for the family what are you doing well i've been up the last six days working 10 12 hours i said for what what would you be doing that for like why wouldn't you take advantage of the you said what should i be doing i said you should figure out what it is you do he's a designer right you should be designing clothes monday tuesday wednesday whenever five six hours a day

And then Saturday, Sunday or Friday, Saturday, because of your family, you should get a trip somewhere and go spend it with a friend. You should go see. You should go to Italy. You should go to Rome. So you should go to South Africa. So you should go to the Gold Coast in Australia. Son, what are you like? You should. What are you doing? Like. You should work.

But a part of work also is where is your play? You should play. We worked hard so you could be back. So don't be like us. We grew up in a working class home. We grew up in Detroit. We grew up blue collar. You're not blue collar. So go enjoy your life. Be balanced. So I'm not just saying find your no star in terms of what you've been called to do for others. But there should be a.

healthy amount of time that you spend enjoying your life and enjoying the little time that you have here. We both know we won't be doing this podcast 100 years from now. We don't know how much longer we have, but I won't be 154 sitting down talking to you. So however much time I have left, I need to work hard and I need to enjoy that time. Absolutely. Those are beautiful, man.

I want to use the term that you use, and you said create. And I just think so many of us have stepped into careers, that group. We have worshipped careers more than we worship create. And so the first thing I would say to that group is what would life look like if you did it on your terms? Because right now you're really not doing it on your terms.

What you've done is say, yo, if I want to survive, if I want to strive, this is what I have to do. And you have allowed people to tell you, okay, you need to be an engineer or you need to be a, and you need to move in. So you've done a phenomenal job in being obedient. You've done a phenomenal job in complying. Like you've done a phenomenal job. You follow the rules. Congratulations.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you didn't rob a bank. You know what I'm saying? Like, you haven't done anything illegal. You did exactly what a good child should do. And I have a daughter that I have to get on her sometimes because she's that child that's like, yo, dad, what do you guys want me to do? She's obedient. She's obedient. I said, do me a favor. Don't always be obedient.

Like you need to sit down and ask yourself, if you weren't thinking about the family's name, if you didn't, if Eric Thomas, ET Hip Hop Preacher was not your father, what would you be doing? What would you be doing if you didn't have to worry about honoring, you know, the dynasty? And you do a phenomenal job of honoring this dynasty. I'm not saying anything. Went to school, handled your business.

You've never been in trouble before. We've never had to spend money doing anything. You've been a phenomenal child. But what would you do if you lived life on your terms and you were able to go where you were able to do? And so that's the first thing I would ask them to do. I want you to think about your life instead of their life. because that's what you've been thinking about, the life.

Now think about your life, and I want you to start putting it everywhere. Now, the next thing I want you to do is I want you to know that if you have the ability, like I'll never forget, CJ was like, okay, E, you know what you're missing? That the big boy, all the big boy speakers, you know what you're missing? I was like, no. He was like, the New York Times bestseller.

Now, I'm not telling you you got to do it, but I'm saying that's what's missing. You got it. So he was like, first of all, do you want it? Do you want it? Don't do it because I'm saying you need it. But do you want it? And he could elevate you, but do you want it? And I was like, yeah, I want it. The next question becomes, what does it take to do it?

And then am I willing to do what it takes to get it? That's it. Because it's a lot. It's a lot. But here's the thing. I believe if you think about it, it is only because somewhere inside of you, you have what it takes. Now, capacity is there. Willingness is something totally different. That's different. But I want every human to know You wouldn't be watching the school.

You wouldn't be watching or listening to the school of greatness if you didn't believe you were great. I'm just I'm just for real. You wouldn't be spending time with this man on a regular basis. I'm telling you, I wouldn't be going to Columbus. Right. I drove to Columbus.

bro it's not a trust me when i tell you it's not a you don't get off the freeway it's not 65 you get up why did i go because this man is great and greats want to hang with greats i need y'all to understand look y'all may not know listen to me i've got no mad suitcases that i still carry this day because he gave them to me like i i i didn't buy a new one i've carried the exact same

ones that he gave me, and my son bought a set because I had a set, because it reminds me of him when I travel. It's like greatness, so you wouldn't be watching, you wouldn't be locked in, something in your spirit has you tuned into this band, because you know you're great. Now you gotta say to yourself, am I willing to cooperate with the greatness that's in me? And then once you do,

and you start consistently operating in that, you're gonna feel good about it. Here's what you have to do. You have to understand, Andre DeShields I think said, the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next. So you get to the top of the mountain, but you understand the GED was just one, The foreign degree was just one. The master's just after the PhD was the New York Times.

After that, it's the assessments, it's the training, it's the coaching. I'm in masterminds. I get coached, right? And so it's this idea of Yesterday's greatness can't be enough because I'm alive today.

So if I'm alive today, it must be some more greatness in me, and it's my job, like the toothpaste, it's my job not to just lose, I don't know about you, but I would just use a little bit of it and get another one. I'm squeezing, and I ain't got money, and I'm squeezing that toothpaste, why?

Because I'm trying to get everything out the tube before I go to another one, and with my life before I get out of here, which is why I could murder myself. that I didn't realize at 12 that I was great. And that's why I said, you gotta check in 2025, you 2025, right? Because I didn't know I was great. And once I checked in and realized how great I was, I was like, bro, we gonna keep doing this.

And to the day we die. And so I would just say to you, you're watching, you're in this space, you're reading his books, you're going to his conferences because you know it's in you and it's time to stop being lazy and it's time to activate it. I love that, man.