Discipline Your Thoughts—And Unlock A Life You Never Thought Possible Motivational Speech
17:54 Share

Business taxes was stressing about all the time and all the money you spent on your taxes. This is my bill. Now business taxes is a TurboTax small business expert who does your taxes for you and offers year round advice at no additional cost so you can keep more money in your business. Now this is taxes into it. TurboTax get an expert now on TurboTax dot com slash business only available with TurboTax live full service.

It's time to do something significant. It's time to get up. It's time to get back into being significant. Just woke up. You gotta do what you gotta do. What are you gonna do today? To walk towards your goal. Everybody wants the prize, but nobody loves the process.

Everybody wants to be a champion, but nobody's willing to put in the work that it takes to be a champion. Everybody wants to hold up the trophy and say, man, I did it, but nobody's willing to put in the work that it takes to do it. I love the process. I love the thought of working for what I want. And I firmly believe you're never supposed to wish for it more than you're willing to work for it. Your expectation's never supposed to exist. But a lot of people, they wish, and they're not willing to work.

And the great thing about life, life has a funny way of testing all of us and seeing how bad we really want what it is that we say we want. If you're still talking about your dreams, if you're still talking about your goals, but you have not done anything, just take the first step. I'm asking you to take the first step. The first step is stop talking about it. The second step is just take one step toward it. And then the next day, take another step toward it.

You become the right person. I'm telling you, you can make whatever kind of money you want to make. You can have whatever you want to have. You can do whatever you want to do. Like there are no limitations. See, average people are too scared to shine a light, too self-conscious to be vulnerable. But it's from that place of vulnerability that you find greatness.

that you find your identity, that you find power, the kind of power that it takes to change the world. The deep is where the living is. And if you want to taste the greatness, you got to be willing to venture to the unknown, to that place that scares you. Stop tiptoeing into your destiny. Get out of that comfort zone and be all that God made you to be.

Whatever dream you have, use all your energy to make it into reality. Push yourself to become the person you are destined to become. It's not easy. It's hard changing your life.

I'm talking about a problem in my life. So for you, I don't know what it is, but that problem, you cannot ignore it. Why? It will not go away. It will not go away on its own. It will not. You won't just wake up one day and it won't be there anymore. It's going to be there and it will haunt you for the rest of your life. So I'm telling you from personal experience, deal with it.

Deal with it. And the sooner you deal with it and the sooner you overcome it, the sooner you get to your rewards, baby. The sooner you get on the other side of it, the sooner you begin to feel fulfillment. The sooner you get on the other side is self-actualization. Your dreams become a reality. The sooner you get on the other side of the problem is a wealth of success. The sooner you deal with the fact that you have test anxiety, deal with it. It's not the end of the world. Deal with it.

Because when you deal with it, you can create a solution for it and you can get over it. Deal with it that you and your children don't have the best relationship. Deal with it. Deal with the fact that you are procrastinator. Deal with the fact that it's hard for you to execute. Deal with the fact that every time something happens, you're worried about it. Deal with the fact that you have this anxiety that every time you're about to reach another level of success, every time you're about to go to another level,

And I was sleeping in my office. It was hard when just over three years ago in the Penobscot building in Detroit, Michigan, where I was operating my business and I fell on some hard times.

It was hard coming into the lobby and the security said, "Excuse me, Mr. Brown, can we see you for a moment?" And I said, "Yes." And I walked up to the counter and he gave me an envelope. And he said, "Would you mind reading it here?" And I opened the envelope and the envelope was from management that said, "This is an office tower. It's not a hotel. Please do not sleep in your office." And I said, "Excuse me, sir." I said, "I just work long hours."

and creating my business. I'm an entrepreneur and right now things are bad for me but they're not going to be this way always. I'm not trying to make this my home. And it was hard coming through the lobby and sometimes they would laugh. There's a guy talking about becoming successful and look at him. He's bathing in the bathroom upstairs on the 21st floor. He sleeps on the floor. Him and two other dreamers up there. Look at him. It was hard, ladies and gentlemen.

Coming to speak to people and I was facing financial difficulties in my own life. I was behind on my bills and my dreams and I'm saying to them, you can live your dream. It was hard, ladies and gentlemen. It was very difficult to pick myself up each day believing that I could do it. There were times that I doubted myself. I said, God, why is this happening to me? I'm just trying to take care of my children and my mother. I'm not trying to steal or rob from anybody. I'm just trying to take care of my children and my mother.

How did this have to happen to me? It was rough when I lost my job and I could not find a job. It was humiliating and embarrassing borrowing money and then I couldn't pay the money back when I told them I was. How people look at you, how they respond to you, it's very hard. Here's what I discovered that happens to you in life, that you will go through things and while you're going through them, you can't understand why it's happening.

But after you go through it, you get back and you look at it and you say, oh, now I understand why I needed that lesson. Then I saw that that was preparing me for bigger and better things. See, most people want it easy. See, easy come, easy what? Easy go. Learning those things that you don't like to do. But you know that in order for you to get where you want to go, this is one of the hoops that you have to flip through.

And I'm saying to you, whatever you got to do, do it because if you don't, life is going to whoop you until you surrender. How do you hang in there during the hard, difficult times? Les, you must have faith. You've got to believe in yourself. You've got to believe in your abilities. You've got to believe in your service, your company, your ideas. Unquestionably, you've got to have faith and that faith gives you patience.

that is not going to happen as quickly as you want it to happen. A lot of things are going to happen that will catch you off guard. And so therefore you've got to deal with and handle it as it comes. And not only that, but that faith and patience drives you into action. You've got to keep moving. Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.

Well, that really speaks to the power of being an original. It speaks to this concept of authenticity, being yourself. I mean, we live in a world where there has never been so much of a seduction to be like everyone else. There's never been so much influence and hypnosis through the social media and through society.

to talk in a certain way, to walk in a certain way, to buy certain things, to measure your success by the same philosophy. And what I'm encouraging you to do based on this Oscar Wilde quote is to be yourself. I mean, talk your talk, walk your walk. Take the time to reflect on your dream. Be true to your own values because life's greatest heartbreak is self-betrayal. - Never underestimate the power of influence.

What an important statement. The influence of those around us is so powerful. Many times we don't even realize we're being strongly influenced because it generally develops over an extended period of time. Peer pressure is an especially powerful form of influence because it is so subtle. If you're around people who spend all they make, chances are excellent that you'll spend all you make. If you are around people who go to more ball games than concerts,

Chances are excellent that you'll do the same. If you're around people who don't read many books, chances are excellent you won't read many books. People around us can keep nudging us off course a little at a time. Until finally, 10 years from now, we find ourselves asking, how did I get here? Those subtle influences need to be studied carefully if we really want our lives to turn out the way we planned. Now on this major point, let me give you three key questions to ask.

This may help you to make a better analysis of your current associations. Here is the first question. Who am I around? Good question. Make a mental study of the major people with whom you most often associate. You've got to evaluate everybody who is within the circle of being able to influence you. So, major question. Who am I around? Next question. What are they doing to me? That's a major question to ask.

What have they got me doing? What have they got me listening to? What have they got me reading? Where have they got me going? What have they got me thinking? How have they got me talking? And how have they got me feeling? What have they got me saying? You've just got to make a serious study of how others are influencing you, both negatively and positively.

Now, maybe the influence of all those around you is okay. But just ask yourself, it doesn't hurt to ask, who am I around and what are they doing to me? Now, here's the final question. Is that okay? Maybe the people you associate with and their collective influence is okay. But then again, maybe it's not. All I'm suggesting here is that you take a close and objective look.

Everything is worth a second look, especially the power of influence. Positive influence can have an incredible effect on your life, but so can negative influence. Both will take you somewhere, but only one will take you in the direction you truly wish to go. It's so easy just to dismiss the things that influence our lives. The man says, I live here, but I don't think it matters. I'm around these people, but I don't think it hurts. I would take another look at that. I've got a good phrase for you. Everything matters.

Now sure, some things matter more than others, but everything matters. Everything weighs something. So you've got to keep checking to find out whether associations are tipping the scales toward the positive or toward the negative. It doesn't hurt to look, right? Ignorance is never the best policy. Finding out is the best policy. Remember, part of the purpose of this program is to get us to say, "The days of kidding myself are over."

I really want to know what I have become and what I am becoming. I want to know where my strengths and my weaknesses lie. What has power over me? What's influencing me? What have I allowed to affect my life? More rewards, more savings. With American Express Business Gold, earn up to $395 back in annual statement credits on eligible purchases at select shipping, food delivery, and retail subscription merchants.

Enjoy the benefits of membership with the Amex Business Gold Card. Terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business dash gold. Amex Business Gold Card. Built for business by American Express.