Discipline Your Thinking—The Mental Reset You’ve Been Waiting For Motivational Speech
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I'm not what I think I am. I'm not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am. So we live in this perception of a perception of ourselves. Hence, my identity is made by what my parents think I should be. My identity is made up by what my college or university thinks I should achieve. While you're living in that bubble and that echo chamber, getting to what you really want to do is impossible.

We bring to our experience our own stereotypes and expectations and we color the world with our own interpretation. And so it's this notion that our experience of the world is kind of a dance or kind of like a collaboration between what's coming in and what we're bringing to the table. And so what that tells us is no, we don't have a direct experience of reality. We don't have an empirical experience of reality. We don't see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.

You have to be intentional with what you do and who you are. The more valid reasons you have to accomplish a dream, the higher the odds are that you will. The first question is, is your dream really your dream? If your dream isn't really your dream, it ain't going to work. I'm coming, y'all. I've been thinking. I've been making cars.

That's what I'm asking you to do. What fuels you? The reason why you're so lazy is not because you don't have the ability. You're so lazy because your dream is so small. Stand out today. Be different. Become something different. Stop lying to yourself and stand up and become something with worth. Something with more than you've ever been. Your goals, your goals that you set for yourself, that's your power. Your ambition is your power.

Having time is so powerful. You are powerful. Set out what you believe in. Lay out the power you have. Actually, lay out the power that you have always had. Use this, become this, and have this. Your power can take you, put you on your path to your success, to the place where you succeed, where you can become more than just ordinary people.

figure out who you are, don't apologize for who you are, and then become even greater than you naturally are at what you are. Once you understand that every time you lose, it's an opportunity for you to not only learn that lesson, but take it a plus one step past the lesson, you'll start to appreciate those lessons. I dare you to work on yourself for six months. I dare you to shut out the world.

I dare you to shut out all the distractions. I dare you to give up everything that is keeping you from your dream. It's been important for me to empower my children, but not only my children, but thousands of young people across the country. And education is the key for a lot of people. But when I speak at colleges and stuff, I tell people, number one thing in your world is not your education. It's your dream. So what you dreaming about y'all? What you still dreaming about?

No matter how terrible a situation is, no matter how bad it is, there's still going to be a rose that grows from that concrete. Every person on this planet is capable of changing the world by changing themselves. I've always had friends who are older than me, and I could see a lot of them in the most successful careers, successful jobs, beautiful partners, whatever it was. But I saw a sense of lack of fulfillment, meaning and purpose in their lives.

And I've always been an observer and I would see these people who are like five years older than me, seven years older than me, maybe 10 years older than me. And I'd be watching them and go, is that the life I want? And often the advice I give to people today is fast forward where you are, look at yourself in 10, 15, 20 years time and ask yourself the question, is that where I want to be?

If you're in a company, look at the person who's 20 years ahead of you and ask yourself, is that where I want to be? If you're in a startup, look at where other startups have got to in similar roles and go, is that where I want to be? And if the answer is no, then you need to find a new path. You set the small goals. You achieve those goals. Then set some more and achieve those. Set some more goals, maybe a little bit bigger, but not that much bigger. You pay attention to the progress. Just start with it.

Start small. Start with changing tomorrow morning. Just tomorrow morning. Get that squared away. And then move on to the next day and the next and move your life to a better place. One little step. One little victory at a time. You should dream outlandish dreams. If it's in your imagination, it's possible. Do you know that you can't think of something that can't happen? You know it's impossible to think of the impossibles.

It's not possible. So if you think it, it's possible. And if you live your life in possibilities instead of probabilities, you have a greater chance of finding happiness.

Guess what I had to do at age 25 in order to change my own future? I had to change my mind. I had to change my thinking. I had to change my philosophy. I was messed up on what was causing my problem. Once I got that straightened out, that all the stuff I blamed, the government, taxes, marketplace, the economy, things cost too much, negative relatives, cynical neighbors. Once I got rid of that and started going for where the real problem was, which was me, I'm telling you, my life exploded into chains.

My bank account changed immediately. My income changed immediately. My whole life took on a whole new look and color immediately. And the early results I got from making these philosophical changes tasted so good. I've never stopped the process in that day. What I'm sharing with you is stuff that everybody can apply today. If you're sitting in here thinking that you're too old to listen to what Steve... Hell, I'm 60. I'm 60 years old. But I still rely on my imagination.

See if you think you're too old to make it, let me give you a prime example. Colonel Sanders. Colonel Sanders has been frying chicken his whole life. He was telling everybody he had the best chicken in the world. Ain't nobody believing him. They turned him down everywhere. Colonel Sanders didn't get a franchise till he was in his 60s. Kentucky Fried Chicken sell more chicken than anybody in the world today.

So if you're sitting there thinking cause you got a little gray on you, you too late. As long as God waking you up in the morning, that's the sign that he ain't through with you. So what you tripping for? You sitting up in here like, like God can't do nothing for you cause you 60. Man, you know what I'm asking God for right now? And I'm 60. If you could see my vision board, you would be blown away.

Another fringe benefit of setting goals is what it does for your ability to manage your time effectively. This is no small thing.

We'll look at time management in detail in a later session, but now, while we're talking about goals, I'd like to share a few ways your use of time are affected by or influence the achievement of your goals. Have you ever thought that without some very clear written goals, you never even need to consider managing your time? Time essentials come from objectives well defined. Time can't be critical if objectives aren't defined.

Now you might be one of those uniquely fortunate individuals who can keep all their objectives and purposes clearly defined in their minds and operate from that. But I wouldn't take the chance. Write your goals down and set careful priorities. Sometimes priorities are determined by the season. For a farmer in springtime, the season dictates his most important activities. During the spring, a farmer must work around the clock.

Burn the midnight oil and keep the equipment running because he has only this small window of time for the planting of his crops. One of the difficulties of living in an industrialized society is the losing of the sense of seasons. When to pour it on, when to ease back, when to take advantage. It's easy to keep going from nine to five year in and year out and lose a natural sense of priorities and appropriate time. Don't let one year just blend into the next.

Keep an eye on your own seasons, lest you lose track of values and substance.