Inspiration, now in session. Thank you to the faithful listeners. Y'all don't know how much I appreciate how grateful I am for the Inspire Guys people family. As I venture off and you know you do new things like video, a couple new people come along and join the family.
I welcome new people as well. But y'all know we are those ones that have been rocking and it's been emailing. I don't want to say names number one because I don't know if you want your name being said in the public. But also just because you know you name some people you forget others.
But I mean people who donate who have consistently donated. Even we don't ask for donations. I am grateful for them. Grateful for your contribution.
That's how we've done things in the past. Get the camera or get money towards things for the show or investing. Whatever it is. There's stuff costing a lot of money.
By the grace of God though, we're able to make it happen but we appreciate those who show love. That's the whole point of that. Not to make more people give a donation or something. But to just make those who have reached out and have shown love.
Also the people who email, we've had a lot of dialogue and back and forth feedback from the show. So thank you. I want to say this especially to the faithful guys, Inspire Guys people listeners. Right now I'm in an interesting season right now because I've been really busy.
I've been stressed to be honest. If I'm being real, I've been really stressed. It's just been a lot. And when I get in seasons like this, I'm not saying this to complain by the way.
I like to be honest about the journey because when you listen back to the show where I've had new people come and be like, all right, I'm starting to episode one or they started to begin it. And I want them to have an honest understanding of the things of the process. Right? And also like y'all to know that as much as I'm telling y'all that, hey, it's a part of the process and you got to grow and keep going.
I'm also in the process. There's a lot of growth. One day I'll write a book or something. There's a lot of things I don't talk about.
Some of those being great things and good things that happens in my life. But it's not about that. I try to keep it about the principles versus like, oh, this happened or whatever. So I don't go too far in depth about a lot of things because I really want people listening to this show for the substance and not because I dangle to carry it.
And it's like, oh, look at this. Look what I got or look what I did. Now you're going to listen to me because that's fake love to me. But these principles are life changing.
But I'm just sharing it right and also documenting for myself when we listen back to episode 171. It's been a lot of transition man. This year has been a super busy year to be honest. Like just moving around, business travel, adapting steel to a hybrid work life of post-COVID.
There's just been a lot. And also, y'all, for those who've been listening to this show, we've been doing this show before years old, October 10th. And I think I've had three job promotions since we've been doing this show. And some of them, a couple of latter move.
Either way ago, I've gone on to do new things in the corporate world. I've gone from local to regional to national to one side of organization to the other. And you don't have a big job. So that comes with a lot of stress, a lot of pressure.
And I enjoy what I do. But also, when you, how can I say this? I'm trying to be crafty with how I talk because number one, we talking about business, right? And so you got to be careful.
This is public. These are the public airwaves. So I'll say it this way. I'm the type of person when I come into a new job.
I also look for what contribution can I make to this role. So every job that I've had, I've been a high performer and I also feel that I've left, oh, we tell my legacy. This works. I didn't know I was going to talk like this.
But I've left somewhat of a legacy, if you will. That may be a strong word for work, you know. But I have. I've left, made an impact in every role that I've had.
And I found a way, A, to stand out and to be a high performer and excel, but also put the people who follow me in a very strong position. That's something I take pride in. And in the job that I'm in, now I'm working in a new area of the organization, same organization, but new area or department or whatever. It's not called a department, a channel of business is what it is.
And it's, you know, how you come in and like things are done in a way where I feel like things could be more efficient. And the one thing I'll say about the organization where I work is that there can be a culture of like, because there are super, there is a culture of high performers, very smart people, people with the big schools, got big degrees, auto type of things, very competitive. You know, most of these people say that they're type A personality mean it. And my point is that doesn't mean it's efficient though.
And see, I can be a, I'm a unique leader. I'm a unique person. I bring something a unique perspective to things. And sometimes that goes against what people are used to or want to happen.
And so right now I'm just in a position where I'm sorting things out, building some strategy to execute, but doing it in a way to me that is a little more efficient. But when you're at the organization, there's a certain culture of like, I think some people, this is what I could say. Some people feel productive when they're overworked. So they feel productive when they have way too many things to do.
And we call it multitasking. Well, I'm the type of person that likes to be very present in what I'm doing. So multitasking to me, you know, it's not really a great thing. I don't like multitasking, if I'm being honest.
Because my whole thing is, well, if I'm present in doing what I'm doing and I'm focused on it, then anything that distracts me from doing that task in that moment, like it's not multitasking. It's a distraction and it makes me less efficient. So I'm still filtering through in my new role and having such a big responsibility in the account that I manage. Like being able to sort through those things.
Like what can I change? Where can I get people to be in? And where do I just have to accept that as long as you're in this role, this is going to be the culture. It is going to be a culture of, you know, having absolutely way too much to do in a very irrational way.
Now, here's the thing that I will say in a very short amount of time I've already identified where I'm going to make impact and I've already started to do that. My focus is execution because I think execution is where the team hasn't maybe focused as strong before. And so I've looked at that opportunity. Whenever I go into a new job, I look at where the opportunities are and then I focus there to strengthen that.
But also understand I have weaknesses. I'm not strong in every area in the world, right? So I'm looking at where can I make the impact and also bring the company dollars. Where is going to have the greatest revenue impact?
And I believe that that happens through execution. And that's the area that I think they maybe have overlooked. And so that's what I'm focusing on. But with all that being said, I am busy.
And I mean busy and it's crazy and I'm not complaining. Do not take this as complaining, please. But I'm sharing this with you so that you understand when we're in this show and we're talking about the process and we're talking about growing and when you get to another level and it's not just going to be easy. You know, I share these things because as I'm talking about them, I am telling you the things that I've talked about and inspired guys people.
I've lived them. I'm living them. And I see the fruit of my labor. And I know that even everything that I'm enduring right now in this season of like feeling just a little over exerted and things like that.
I know that it's just a season number one. I know that because I'm not a settler. I'm not complaining. I am a resolutions oriented person.
So if I got to a particular point, like there will be a resolution. Regardless of what that is, there is a resolution where there's a wheel here as a way. So I'm not complaining, but I'm sharing that with you so that you understand like, hey, I still have to figure out how do I produce the podcast and I just started doing video and all these responsibilities. So make sure that I'm not misstepping in my household.
My wife has everything she needs. Obviously, she's a great support to me during this time. So shout out to TIFF. I appreciate you.
Super grateful for her in my life. So other than that, and I love my family, like my family is dope. You know, my family is like, I get around them and I enjoy myself. So, with that said, I think I'm traveling next week.
I don't even know where I'm at next week. I'm somewhere next week. So I don't know where a witch day of podcast will come out. I could talk.
But I think I'm talking enough. We're like a 12 minute introduction. So that's not great. Especially when I got an hour of life changing content forthcoming.
Jermaine, be quiet. So did Jermaine from the live stream the other night? Last night? Yeah, last night.
That was you. Jermaine. Let that Jermaine talk and this Jermaine be quiet. I love y'all so much.
Him, you have Jermaine Wilson music at gmail.com if you have questions, thoughts, concerns, topics, guess you want to see. Please subscribe on YouTube. Just look at the description. The link is in the description of this show.
Regardless of what you're looking at, look in the description, you're going to see our YouTube link. Subscribe. We up to 181, baby. 181, baby.
I take it off. Let's get it off. Let's get it off. What is your legacy?
Yo, yo, yo, yo, what's up people. I ain't your host. Jay Will, this is Inspire Guys people where we balance faith and business to guide you to your purpose. Tonight, I'm going to be asking a simple question.
We're going to jump into it. We're going to unpack this thing like crazy. Simply what is your legacy? A lot of people, we think about what our purpose is or what our quote unquote, why is you know what I'm saying?
You heard that a lot, which is dope. That's all dope stuff. But what is your legacy is a lot different than what your purpose or your why is you know what I'm saying? I'll give you an example.
This before we even jump into the content. I'm already jumping in. But like, when I think about like what my why is as an example, I'm going to be a little bit more focused on what I'm saying. I'm going to be a little bit more focused on what I'm saying.
I'm going to be quiet. I'm going to be quiet. I'm going to be quiet. I'm going to be quiet.
I can tell you that like my wife is my why, she's one of the reasons why I do what I do. Now you're why it's something that motivates you. It inspires you. It encourages you.
Sometimes you got to think about your why, you know what I'm saying as you're like going through the rough days and you're doubting things like that. But you know why it's not your legacy. And I'm going to tell you why because when we're going to talk about what a legacy is, but when I think about a legacy off top, I think about something being left behind. I can try and leave my wife behind for nobody.
You give what I'm saying. So you're what, you're why, whether your legacy? Is a lot different, you know? What drives you versus what you're actually leaving people behind?
So we go talk a lot about legacy tonight. And before I jump into that, you know, I really want to talk to you all about, you know, knowing your value. Now, there's something like, let me say this, man, I've been, first of all, it's been stressed, man. I've been, I've been stressed.
I've been super busy at work. It's just been crazy. And as you were thinking about your purpose and, you know, for me inspiring guys, people, this is important to me, from the videos to the music to the audio podcast, like it's all important. But the reality is life comes up and you have to navigate these ins and outs.
And that, you know, as a lot of times we don't want to talk about or deal with the fact that like, you know, every day in life ain't just the easiest day ever, but you still have to find a way to navigate it. Now, one of the things I think is important as we talk about all this is knowing your value. This, I've been kicking it with people about just on a personal level a lot lately. It's like knowing your value.
Now, I made a post recently to say something like, what did it say? It was something along the line of like, you know, when you don't know, once somebody realizes that you don't know your value, they take that almost as like, I can talk, permission, you know, I got my little cup. I can talk. Feel me?
I can't talk people since my guys people cut. But once somebody knows that you don't know your value, then they look at it as permission for them, basically to not treat you like you have any value either. And I've seen this at different points in my life, even for myself personally, if at different times when if I was struggling with like knowing my value or my worth in a particular situation, I would notice like, yo, the reality is people treat you how you present yourself. So if you present yourself like you're not really worth anything, then a lot of times I is like, people going to look at that like, why would I think it was worth anything?
Now again, let me just give you an example. If you think of something that you charge and money for like, so for me, I make it personal. As an example, I've gone around a different place of speaking, right? So I've spoken at schools, churches, all types of different places.
A lot of them are churches or ministry related events, things like that. I've gone and I've spoken to different people. And here's what I've realized that there were times, especially, you know, when you first start talking, and you got to take this before I say this, you got to take this, you got to take both sides of this because the idea of what I'm about to say isn't for you to overvalue yourself either. The Bible says don't think too highly of yourself.
And I do think some people, they overvalue themselves when they have it, they have no credentials or experience. So I'm not telling you to go and overcharge people. I'm really telling you to know your actual value and really be able to capitalize and leverage that as you go along the way and not allow people to manipulate or overlook you when you do have value. So as an example, for me, when I've gone out and spoken or even performed music, now again, and this ain't no shade because I've done a whole bunch of stuff.
You got to be careful when you are doing videos and stuff and people watching people tend to take things personally. This is an example of talking about nobody in particular if you ever booked me. I've been a whole bunch of places. So but here's the reality.
You know what I'm saying? The shoe might fit. Here's the thing. There are times when I was coming up along the way where people would tell you things like, Oh, well, can you do it for free for this?
And I'll let you say you see these or whatever, whatever it might be. And I remember in the beginning, I was okay. That was cool. Like, okay, I'll come speak, you know, for $50.
But the problem became, and I'm just being real. I remember I got started getting book places to speak and I know how I'm trying to be careful how I word this, but I know like, let's say in the church world, or I'm just be real. This is the podcast. That's what we do in the church world.
You know, a lot of times people value and this is not a shot at the church. I'm just, I'm really just talking on what I know, but a lot of times people value like the main service versus a youth service. So as an example, somebody might book a speaker, especially if somebody's a bishop or something like they can book them and pay them. I don't want to talk dollars, but like people will get paid to speak, right?
And then if it's like you are looked at or like, oh, you the youth speaker or whatever, whatever, it's like, okay, we give you $150. Now this is what I started doing and I don't mean no shame by this. I probably should not even be talking about this. What's up, Tonya?
How you feeling? Good to see you tonight on here. I probably shouldn't be talking about this, but there were times for me where I started sitting and listening to like the person that was getting paid way more. I did this with music too.
People would book people for music and they would be getting paid all this money and I'm looking like, he ain't something about nothing. I'll be looking trying to take notes in a notebook is empty. And again, this is not the throw shade. I know it sounds like I know this sound like.
I apologize, but my point is on some real stuff like I started having to be like, wait a minute. You have to know your value because that person ain't talking about nothing you ain't talking about. And I know for me when I speak somewhere, I take it very seriously, right? So I'm trying to help you with something.
I started having to know my value, which allowed me to start creating certain boundaries and barriers around what kind of, you know, what type of engagements I would even accept what I would have to pass on because it's like, yo, I've done all the free stuff I've been there. I've done that, but I also know that when I come to speak somewhere and I'm not trying to say, you know, I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything. I put in an effort though. I literally try my best.
I like from taking time away from maybe my family, my wife, not going out the night before or something like that, where I'm putting in time and effort to really bring value when I go speak or I talk somewhere. So for me, that is worth something. So I had to start valuing my own time, valuing my own effort and energy. And it wasn't until I started doing that where people like people see that and they're like, okay, this person values themselves and they will offer you more and things like that.
And I'm not saying that's not like I'm some like highly sought after a paid speaker. I'm not trying to front. But what I'm saying is that I value myself. So if you want me, I don't care if I do one event every five years.
If you want me to come to an event and I'm not saying this arrogantly, I'm just saying I put so much in, it has to be worth what I bring. You feel what I'm saying? And so Katrina, how you feeling? So, so ultimately for me, like I had to start understanding that I have to know my value in order for other people.
Sometimes we don't realize, but people really see how you see yourself. They see how you treat yourself. And again, a lot of times we give people permission to mistreat us because we mistreat ourselves. I heard Jordan Peterson say something like, how did he say it?
Jordan Peterson has doped me. He said something to the extent of like, you should treat yourself like somebody you care about. And I was like, you know what? That's crazy.
Like, a lot of times we don't even treat ourselves like someone that we care about. And when he said that again, it is allows me to start thinking through like, all right, how do I treat myself? How do I carry myself? Again, at the end of the day though, if you are, when you do value yourself, I'm not talking about being arrogant.
I'm not talking about treating people nasty. Because a lot of times, you know, you say this type of things and people will take your points and run with them and try to make a whole different point. What up, Johnny? How you feeling, bro?
But the point I'm making is, yo, when I know my value and I treat myself like someone I care about, I wouldn't tell someone I care about. Hey, study for five or six hours, you know, take away time for your family, your wife, whatever. And then go somewhere and speak and let them give you $150 and then give some dude $1,500 because he from Atlanta. And again, I'm not throwing a shade at people.
I'm just telling you how it goes. And a lot of times it takes you being bold enough to see your value first because unfortunately I'll say this and then we're going to jump into the topic of what is a legacy. We ain't even got into the topic yet, y'all. A lot of times people see you like a stock.
So, you know, anybody who knows me knows that I love investing, I love stocks, cryptocurrencies. I'm just very intrigued at the idea of investing. I'm going to tell you why I love investing so much because I love the idea of finding something before everybody else does. Number one, I've always been like this.
I just have learned how to quantify it. I love finding things that other people are overlooking and finding value in them. So even the way I interact with people, whether it's social media, whatever, I don't interact with people based on how many followers you got. Somebody can have five followers and I respond to a message.
It doesn't matter to me because I have learned how to see value in a way that I want to see value versus just following what everyone else sees as valuable. Now, but you got to understand the way people see you is like a stock and I'll give you an idea, Amazon. Today, everybody knows what Amazon is. Everybody understands that Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the world.
Everybody knows who Jeff Bezos is or most people do, but you know about Amazon, right? If somebody came to you, if you invested in Amazon stock today, you are not discovering something before everyone else. You're jumping on a bandwagon. But what you have to understand is that there was a point in time.
And, you know, I think Amazon came around on the stock market, maybe 98, 99, if I'm not mistaken, don't quote me on that. But there was a point in time in, let's say, the early 2000s. Had you been someone who saw value in Amazon, people would have laughed at you. They would have been like, what's that?
Because you got to understand how most people are. They can't see value until value is there. Now, you got to really hear what I'm saying. You have to see yourself different than that.
You have to see yourself and see the potential in you and see the opportunity, but you have to be working towards the opportunity. Although understanding the stock market today is up, you know why it's up? Because the market is up because the Fed only raised the interest rates, what, 0.75%. So people were expecting a whole point.
Some people were saying they were going to raise it a point and a half. And so, you know, the Fed got up and they spoke and they sounded a little positive. And so today, today, the stock market and financial markets are up and people are feeling good. But here's the reality.
Something crazy could happen in the news tomorrow. Somebody could do something crazy or, you know, you never know any and guess what'll happen. Something that is valued today at $150 could be valued tomorrow at $110. Now, here's why I'm using this example.
And this is what I want you to think about. If I gave you an Amazon stock today and today is worth $112 and tomorrow is worth $105, how much is it worth? Now, I know that's deep. What I'm telling you is people see you like a stock.
If something, if things are going well, today they see you as positive and they see you as worth something. And if you have a bad day, people see you as worth nothing. And what you have to understand is that that's how people are. So some people, they go to your page.
If you got 10,000 followers, they actually increase the way they see you in their value. If they go to your page and you got 300 followers, then they're looking like, oh, maybe this person isn't worth nothing. But what if you had 300 today and 30,000 in 12 months? And then what you'll notice when you get to 30,000 is you have to now figure out how am I going to navigate people treating me differently because they value me differently based on these metrics or things like that, right?
What I'm essentially talking about is that you have to learn how to create and see value in yourself, regardless of the ups and downs. And sometimes you got to treat yourself like a stock that you call early and you got to be like, I'm Amazon in 1999. I'm catching on. Y'all might not see it in 2000.
You might not see it in 2005. In 2012, you might say I'm crazy. But in 2022, I'll be one of the biggest companies in the world. And this isn't about me telling you you're going to be big or blow up.
But I'm talking about your value and your worth in which you got to learn how to do is understand if there is a process to becoming great at anything. I don't care if you let me tell you something. I bought a PlayStation 5 recently, right? Just I really bought it for like when if my nephews and nieces come over the house because I don't really have a kid friendly house.
You know, I'm just being real like my like our space is more like a dot like don't touch nothing. Don't break nothing. Look, don't break that. I don't really have no walls.
You can put your hands on. When kids come over my house, I'm like, Hey, whoa, hold on. What's that? What you doing, buddy?
Hey, little buddy, put put the vos down. Put the vos down little buddy because people kids. Listen, people, I know this is super sad. But people bringing kids over your house and I'm like, Whoa, wait a minute.
You can't you can't watch them like you watching at your house. It's a whole different way you got to watch your kids at my house. Right. So anyway, I bought a PS5 recently and I haven't played a video game and over.
I think the last time I had a PlayStation or something was 10 or 12 years ago. So of course I pay all this money for this PS5. I'm like, Well, I need to play it sometimes. So I hit up my boy, me, you know what I'm saying?
And me, came and played to PS5 with me. And me, is a video game player. You know what I'm saying? So he came over a couple times and played the PS5 with me.
And I'm going to be real with you. I think he was beating me by 75 points. I went time. We just went NBA with 2K.
And I literally think this man was beating me by 175 points. Like the score was something like 2,100. He was kicking my tail, right? But the thing was I had not actually played the game.
I hadn't, I hadn't practiced. I hadn't touched the joystick in 10 years. Well, guess what? You know, over the last month or so, I've, you know, I haven't played a lot, but over the month or the last month or so I made it my business.
Let's go in here and increase your value, increase your skill set in this video game. And I'm planning to invite me over in the next week so I can go and test my value now. Like, Okay, you beat me by 75 before. I actually think I can beat him now because I learned some things.
What's my point with all of this? My point with this is that you have to understand that when you first start, you might be getting your book. You might be down. You might be like, man, dog, like it could be anything you wanted to do.
You could be like, all right, I said that I wanted to, you know, create a brand. I wanted to create a brand that I want to be an inspirational speaker. Let's just say that. I want to be an inspirational speaker.
I go out to do my first couple gigs. Nobody claps. The room is quiet. Like we was in church and I think somebody boo.
You know what I'm saying? My point with all of that is you have to be willing to go through that experience with yourself. Because let me tell you something I've been there. When you start something off is you and you.
It's just you and you. Okay, nobody else experienced that stage which you know, we can get deep and we can say God and all that. I'm not trying to be deep right now. I'm just trying to talk to you real when I remember.
Again, I like to give real examples. I remember what six years ago, maybe six, seven years now because of COVID was about seven years ago. When my father first came to me and he wanted me to preach every fourth Sunday in church. Like I want you to be up every month, right?
And I did this for five years straight. Actually, I think I'm going to miss two Sundays for five years. And I was preaching every fourth Sunday and I'm going to tell you something. I got all my messages.
I remember the first couple. I remember one of the first messages I was preaching about Daniel. And in the Lions, the end the thing was number one because I like to buy boy. I had way too much scripture.
My tone was kind of dry. Like I remember like, but like I had I had to experience that for me. And it's like when you on stage and you in front of people and they looking like, and I'm like, wait a minute, bro, you sleep and I just started. But but I'm at the beginning.
Excuse me, sir. I'm at the beginning and you wake up, please listen, but you got you have to experience that. Some people think they want to be an expert at the beginning. It ain't gonna happen.
Go through that experience with yourself. Increase your value. And over time, right? Because now, all right, for five years, I got up in front of the church and I spoke for every single month.
Not on top of that. I was going other places and speaking and then on top of that. I continue to grow in corporate America year after year. I've taken bigger and bigger jobs and guess what I have to do at work.
I've had to present this week. Two days ago. I presented it was a zoom call, but it was what 200 and some people are presenting on zoom calls with 400 500 people. My point is at the end of the day, once you go out there and get dirty, you know what I'm saying?
And go through those experiences for yourself. You learn things. You get comfortable. You figure yourself out.
You got to be willing to go through that. Opportunity. You know what I'm lying. Nobody.
You write. Oh, they didn't boo me. I don't know why I said that. I think I think I just lied.
No, now they have slept on me. I don't care what you say, bro. They have definitely slept on me. Listen, tired.
Don't judge me. All right. So today we want to talk about. I got a simple question for you all, man.
What is your legacy, right? Y'all know how I do it. Y'all know we got to jump into. We got to jump into some.
What do you call these things? Some slides. We got to jump into some slides. What is your legacy?
It is a very, very simple question. But when we dig into it, you're going to understand that it's more to it. All right. So for anybody who is new to the program, I have a format.
Not a format. There's something I've created called the purpose guy, right? So a lot of things I talk about are really based on this five step process to finding your purpose. So what it is is learn, plan, do become, become, build, and build.
Those are the five steps to finding your purpose that I have outlined. Learn, plan, do, become, be, right? And so a lot of things that I talk about fall within a certain part of that process. And so my point with that is today, we're going to be talking about what is your legacy and the things we're going to talk about today fall under do.
So we're in the middle of this process when it comes to finding your purpose, finding your purpose. Oh, let me also say, if you want to learn more about the purpose guy, check out episode 118 of Inspire Guys, people to podcast. Listen, y'all, I got over 180 episodes of podcast like this. I just started doing video about four to six weeks ago, four or five weeks, whatever it is, we've done four or five episodes on video.
And look, we just at the beginning, we talk about figuring out, I'm still figuring out things how I want this to go, like what I wanted to feel like, look like all those type of things. I haven't even done different angles and different. I got all kind of ideas, right? But you got to start somewhere.
So this is just me and me right now. If you hate this show, it's just me and me figuring myself out. But notice, I know that I bring value. I know that.
I literally believe, let me look you in your eyes until you. I literally believe that this podcast is life-changing. I've seen it happen. I've seen people not have a business or be scared to have a business and jump out and take a look at it.
I believe I have a business. We have testimonies. There are people all over the world, people in Sweden, people in Austria, all type of countries. I don't even know where these places are at.
And people email me and they're like, yo, this is life-changing. I started a business, all these things. But these are people who've been rocking with me through the process. I'm going to tell you something.
A lot of the content I bring, listen, I give you the short clips on YouTube to check out YouTube if you want to know. But the content I bring is for the people who are serious, the people who are willing to go through the whole process. I don't really have to get rich quick. Watch this one video.
You're going to get it. Talk about it. We got 180 episodes on Apple Podcast. You can check out.
And again, we just recently started YouTube. We're trying to grow that. I think we have to like, what? A few weeks, I got 180 subscribers.
I'm taking it all. You know what I'm saying? I had a video to hit 500 last week. I'm like, let's go.
Because I got a couple videos before views as well. You know what I'm saying? You got to just be real with yourself. It's like, I'm like, who is this?
My mom and my aunt, my wife watched this video. Come on now. But that's all part of the process. I embrace it all.
I know who I am. I know what I bring to the table. But I'm willing to go through the rough phases to get to where I'm going. By the grace of God, this podcast is before years old in October, October 10.
And on the audio, we've been killing it. The audio is crazy. Like, man, we hit our goals and now we're trying to grow with this video. Why did I talk about all that?
I have no idea. All right. First name is first. Let's look at what legacy actually is.
You know me? Look, man, I'm going to be real with you. I'm a person that loves to look at definitions of words and really just unpack them and figure out what it's all about. So you got to go on this journey with me.
Stop being lazy people. Legacy. All right. First, a gift by will, especially of money or other personal property.
Now, I think we all understand legacy from this perspective of like somebody leaving money behind. That's what most of us want. Like, leave me the money. Leave me the money.
Leave me the money that leave me that leave me that leave me that leave me that leave me that leave me that people love your money, bro. That's unfortunate. Like they love your money more than they love you sometimes, but that ain't y'all. Y'all don't feel that way.
All right. Second definition is something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or form or from the past. So something from the past. This could be, look, it says the legacy of ancient philosophers, the war left the legacy of pain and suffering.
So one of the things I love about legacy, it is not just monetary things. Sometimes legacy ain't even just what you touch. Oh, man, Derek, Gregor, what up, dawg? How you feeling, brother?
Thank you for checking out the podcast. You know, I'm putting I'm applying pressure on the whole timeline on Facebook, Instagram, wherever you act. So I'm happy y'all letting me know y'all in a spot. You know what I'm saying?
Look, but I'm only applying pressure. Listen, oh, I'm applying pressure because I genuinely believe that this is life changer. I'm not joking. When I be making these posts, like, look, your baby mamas in and the child support money on a Gucci bag, because you don't listen to the podcast.
You ain't getting this information that you can maybe go back and have a reasonable conversation with her. I didn't hit you with something on one of these episodes. We got this. No, no, no, no.
Let me get back into this. All right. So the third one is a candidate for membership in an organization such as a school of fraternal order who was given special status because of a family relationship, a familial relationship to a member. So think about like, you feel me?
Tell us. So like think about like, I said, legacies, children of alumni, but children of alumni are three times more likely to be accepted to Harvard than other high school graduates with the same and sometimes better scores. I need you to hear this people. Children of alumni are three times have a three times better chance of getting accepted to Harvard than their peers were even people who are better than them or have better scores than them.
Sometimes your legacy brings value. So the question today, and we bought the unpacked thing in a way that you weren't even expecting. The question today is what is your legacy? I'm asking this question because you need to be thinking while you're living while you're alive.
What is my legacy? And I truly believe that there are people out there that are wasting their time in life that are waking up and not taking life serious because they don't understand the value of a legacy. I don't understand no person on earth who has children and ain't thinking about legacy. I don't even have kids, but legacy goes deeper than kids, right?
Legacy sometimes is even honoring the people who came before you. My parents, like, thank God for them, my grandparents, like my grandmother who passed. Let me tell you this, my grandmother passed in the year 2000. And I still think about her and remember her every day like it was yesterday.
You get what I'm saying? And the reason is because I value my grandmother, my grandfather who passed, like people who came before me who gave me something. Again, it ain't always property. It ain't always money.
Sometimes a legacy is love. A legacy is definitely Christ. Those people in my, you know, my parents who are still here, thank God, introduced me to Christ, raised me up to fear the Lord and things like that. Those are legacies.
You need to be thinking today, what am I doing? What is my legacy? You don't listen. You don't wait till you, till you're about to go.
You just 106 years old on your dime, and you're like, I think I know what it is now. No, brother, you're 106 years old. The reason you need to be thinking about your legacy now is so that you work in it. Look, y'all, in this life, I'm telling you, man, I know a lot of us, you know, people can come from tough situations.
I know so many people who we from the hood, like we, but look, you got to stop glorifying where you came from. Some of us make the monster seem bigger than a savior. And at the end of the day, David Slugelive. So, yeah, with some people, oh, the champion, Philist, oh, he's so great, whatever.
But it took somebody who did not see him as a threat in that manner to come and defeat him. Now, again, you got to respect your adversary. You got to understand what they're capable of, but you don't have to fear them. And what I'm telling you today is that some of us, we elevate and romanticize our struggle so much that the struggle becomes your legacy.
You don't want to leave us a legacy of struggle to the people behind you. Like, that ain't your man, I get it. You grew up rough, bro. You was broken.
You know, you're from the hood or whatever it is, but dang, that's what you're leaving me to. Your legacy is something that you leave to improve the next generation or generations. And too many of us, if we being real, if we look at ourselves in the mirror, we're leaving a legacy of our struggles. Look, I'm sorry.
Look, you know what I like about Dr. Martin Luther King? Martin Luther King had a dream. He might have lived a nightmare, but he left the legacy of a dream.
And some of us glorify struggle so much. Our legacy is a nightmare. Oh, we talk, look, I'm going to just be real, talk. Look, people who you feel me.
Oh, like some people who I'm going to give the example. I got to be real. I got to keep it a being with you all. You feel me?
All right. So, you know, grow up in the hood, you know, Detroit East Side. Like, you got some people who, who I like, Oh, turn up, turn a page. The book is still being written, get unstuck.
I love that, bro. I love that. You got some people when I was growing up. I want to just, I want to make it real, real plain for y'all.
Where, where I come from, you don't just automatically make it. You give what I'm saying. And I'm not trying to say like I made it. I'm not, I'm not flexing.
What I'm saying though is you don't automatically just make it out of where I came from. You feel what I'm saying? And some people didn't make it. Some people didn't live to make it.
You have to be intentional. But here's something I knew at a young age. There were, there were people when I was growing up who would blame their problems on other people. Now, this is a tricky thing.
And I'm a, I'm a, I'm a trade lightly here. I don't think I want to go pat down this path for real. But as an example, there were people when I was growing up that I saw that blamed everything on the white man, right? And I would look at them and I'm like, all right, I've experienced racism.
I've experienced some unfortunate situations at times where people did me wrong. I've been passed up for opportunities and things like that. But I'm like, dang, man, you letting, you letting their value of you become your value of you. You're letting their vision of you become a reality.
And one thing I never understood is people who gave the power of the vision of their own lives to other people. I don't spend a lot of time talking about how other people think about me. It's not because I haven't been devalued or it's not because that sometimes I haven't been overlooked. It's because I refuse to give that more power than my future.
You feel me? Oh, and we don't automatically make it where we come from, bro. But by the grace of God, what I've noticed is the people that I'm looking at now, like my man, oh, I'm looking at people who from where I'm from, who some have greater struggles than I did, right? Because no, we all got our different levels of struggling life.
And I'm looking at people who are overcomers. I'm looking at people make it to places and positions that are amazing. And I'm saying to myself, I'm also looking at some people who waking up every day in the same spot, standing still, but they blaming everything on somebody else. Listen, somebody might actually be wrong.
They might have actually did something wrong to you. But are you going to stop there? All right, I got a couple of scriches for you. Oh, I got a couple of scriches for you.
Hey, man. All right, so I just want to jump into a couple of proverbs. And let me say this, the reason I like proverbs is like the reason I like proverbs is because it's not it's wisdom. It's not a storyline.
A lot of times sometimes it's a few of them group together to make a storyline point. But a lot of times it's wisdom. And the way I believe that, you know, I try to take in proverbs is I try to meditate on them. So when I when I find a really good proverb that speaks to me, I don't just read it one time.
I go back to it. I go back to it again. I really think deeply about what it's saying. So my goal today isn't just to say something to you that just gets you excited in a moment.
I'm going to share a couple proverbs when we talk in legacy right now, as you're thinking about what your legacy is. These are things that I actually want you to go read again for yourself and really think deeply about the point that's being made in these scriptures. All right, so Proverbs 1322. This is a good man, leave it in inheritance to his children's children.
All right, that's the first part. And then the second part says, and the wealth of the center is laid up for the just now. The first part said a good man leave it in inheritance for his children's chip. Like, well, wait a minute.
So you getting so deep with legacy that you telling me right now, I should be leaving a legacy, not just for my next generation, but I should be so deep into what God is calling me to do. I should be so deep and heavy in my purpose and maximizing every ounce of life that God has given me that the things that I'm doing today should start should one day benefit people who ain't even born yet. You know how powerful that is? You know how powerful it is that today you can do something to benefit someone who hasn't even been created yet.
That is the power of legacy. I started this video talking about the difference of your why and your legacy. And again, your why is here now. It's present.
Your why is hard for your why to be something that don't exist yet. But you can leave a legacy for something that ain't even here. You could leave a legacy for somebody who don't even realize the impact. I look at my little nephews and nieces, they kids, they don't know.
But they don't know what I'm out here doing. I could be doing something to benefit them. All church people says the wealth of the wicked. You feel me.
Do you feel me? Time you like we say the second part. Everybody say the second part. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just.
But we leave out the first part and see. Oh man, this is so deep. Because I want to get into your psychology. You got to ask yourself, why do we focus on the second part of that scripture while ignoring the first?
And it's because the second part of that scripture makes it sound like you don't have to put in no effort. So people quote the second part because on the surface, the second part sounds like a handout. And the first part sounds like work. But the reality of it is, yo, a good man, leaving some inheritance for his children's children.
I mean, you was already putting in work before the wealth of the wicked was laid up for you. So the wealth of the wicked ain't laid up for no lazy person. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the dude that's working, that's digging. You want to find a treasure, you got to dig for it.
And we quote that second part because we lazy, yo. You feel me? We lazy. And so my whole thing is like we got to take the whole Bible.
Like we be taking half of the Bible, fam. Let's jump back into it. Proverbs 13 and 4 says lazy people are we just said it. We just win.
We're just said it. But this was full. I ain't put these in order. I just put them on here.
Lazy people want much but get little. But those who work hard will prosper. Lazy people, these proverbs be heavy to me. All right, a lazy person.
They want a lot, but they work a little. You want a lot, but you work a little work. Five hours want to be paid for 10. But those who work hard will prosper.
Hard work pays off y'all. And we don't have time to be lazy as people are God until you right now. We do not have time to be lazy. I don't care how young you are.
You are the youngest. You will ever be in your life right now. And no matter how young you are, you about to get older. You're older.
You're older than you were five seconds ago. And so my point is you don't have time. Like, all right, what I'm about to say, I think is deep. I've said this.
You probably haven't heard me say it because you don't listen to all my podcast episodes. That's your problem. That's your problem, people. A lot of times we look at age and how young you are, old you are based on your age.
So for instance, we would look at a 16 year old and we would say they're young. That's tough because none of us know how old we're going to be when we die. So if a person, because let's talk about, let's use something in the past. There are been people that died at 16 years old, unfortunately.
When that person was 15, they weren't young. They only had 16 years. So that person was old at teen at 11. They was, they was like a 90 year old.
So my whole thing is we walk around playing around with life, making people think they got forever. Oh, you can figure it out. When I was your age, well, our age is different because you don't know how old you going to be when you pass. You can be the same age as me and I could be younger.