EP 212 - Success Ain’t Easy

Yo, what's up people? I'm your host Jay Will and I would like to welcome you to inspire guys people where we balance faith and business To guide you to your purpose. This is episode 212 success ain't easy That's right success ain't easy Whether you going after it or whether you in it and got it and trying to fight your way and navigate your way through it Look success is one of those things that a lot of people in life You know, I think they chase thinking that it's gonna make life just so much more breezy and better and beautiful And don't give me wrong that is the case that success obviously makes life Somewhat better in a lot of areas, but the purpose of this podcast is to really just speak on the fact that it doesn't mean that better Is easy you feel what I'm saying? And I think a lot of times in the world today we get the two mixed up where it's like oh, I'm gonna get better So better is gonna be easy so and so far so we're gonna kick it about a lot of that today But I got a couple things to get into before we get there We're gonna look at an article in entrepreneur.com or entrepreneur today whatever we'll give credit where credit is doing we get to that article That's gonna talk about the seven challenges of success That's that's gonna be dope when we get to that part because that's we're gonna really Kind of unpack on the seven challenges that you'll face if you're on a journey or path to success or if you are already are successful I can't talk people I can talk so we gonna unpack those seven challenges Well, I want to talk a little bit about Andre 3000.

I'm gonna look at two different articles from the same magazine I guess complex I don't know if you have like followed this or I'm not gonna say follow cuz I haven't followed it myself But I don't know if you've seen this Andre 3000 story where my man releases this album I guess it sounds like he's playing a flu I don't know it sounds like maybe he's doing jazz or something But it's the internet is an uproar pretty much for me I just like see people in my timeline talking about stuff and then I like it piques my interest I don't have time to like follow it and go down no rabbit holes But I do think there are two dynamics that is Andre 3000 conversation that are worth unpacking one is A portion of this intrigues me and I may have some like positive things to say about it And then there's another side of this where it's kind of like proceed with caution You know I'm saying where I'm just gonna like really lay out some things that he's saying and you know You're taking to do what you want to do with it But it makes a person like me proceed with caution Cool, so yeah Andre 3000 we got seven challenges to success. This is inspired guys people. Let's get into it people What's been up first of all let me just tell you this it's been about three weeks about three weeks since I've done a podcast I've tried to keep at least the YouTube going with the short clips or whatever But I'm gonna be real with y'all you know I'm saying like I try my best to be Transparent on my journey through faith and business It's kind of like help you you you know I'm saying give you some insight So for me what really led to this episode in the first place is the fact they're like yo I'm like really success ain't easy at all the more successful I become if I'm being honest five years into this podcast is like the more challenging it is Or becomes I can talk the more challenging it becomes to actually do the podcast you feel what I'm saying? Because I got so many other things going on so I'm gonna get you all the people here on the curtain at least when it's fire guys people Part of my goal is to try to be somewhat real You know I'm saying and not like try to just show y'all this like act perfect We're not only to be put on the pedestal look inspired guys people is so great and all this stuff look Here's the beautiful thing five years man.

I took over ten It was five years that we've been doing I'm saying we like maybe because it's us it's you it's me It's the listeners on Apple podcast and Spotify, but we've been going five years strong man when it's fire guys people And my life has changed a lot through those years almost every year if I'm being honest There's kind of a different level that I'm going through to and in business and my personal life Whatever it is right and some of those things have been great some of those things have been stressful some of those things have caused You know a little nervousness around like man, how can I keep doing this podcast? And so that's really the first part of what led me to do this episode in the first place is I'm kind of going through in my life This growth through the years and I'm like nobody ever really taught me how to be successful And that's one of those things that I think people throw things at you like you listen to some millionaires or gurus talk about this stuff or some You know billionaire business owner that you know like you hear all this stuff But nobody really tells you like what what you do when you get there They just tell you like how to be successful like alright You shouldn't make a million dollars you should do real estate invest all this stuff But nobody really tells you how to navigate it And I if I'm being honest have found that challenging in some ways in my life and we don't talk about a little bit of that today So that's that alright. That's what led us to the episode my bad. I feel like I was gonna love So here we are I've been on vacation.

So me and a wifey celebrating anniversary birthdays all that kind of stuff man I'm gonna tell y'all this one story. Oh man. Oh no should I be telling this it was a Bug got in our room, you know I mean my wife like I'm not gonna say like most women like a lot of women out there She doesn't like books and we were out in the Caribbean and she found herself on the balcony and You know Mr. Bug man found himself on the balcony with her and I'm looking like so I was in the room and you know She goes out there is dark It's pitch black out there is night, right?

And she likes to go out at the water and stuff like that cool good for her You know I'm saying that's why I try to take her to some water She liked being out there and seeing it so she out there and then I'm like seeing her through the you know balcony door kind of like losing it a little bit and I'm like well I know I know I can climb up here, you know, I'm saying I hope not so of course you panicking I open the door and lo and behold mr. Bug man flies in the room And so now I'm in the room She's still out on the balcony, but she's actually going crazier that the bug is in the room Then she was when the bug was on the balcony which makes a little bit of sense because the balcony is outside in the room You know saying so now I gotta fight this book now I gotta be dumb from fast and furious, you know every man has been through this if you married at some point of your marriage You've had to turn into Dom You've had to embrace and become the superhero from the movie and that was me on this vacation day one of the vacation at that And I'm fighting this like this giant the bug was huge I don't know what it was, you know, you get the traveling to other countries and stuff You don't you get the scene stuff is like bro, where'd you wear the regular mosquitoes that you know? This thing was like a look like a dinosaur grasshopper That's what I'm gonna call it It was like it looked like it was supposed to be a grasshopper and maybe like got some of the the hawk the gamma rays or something from the From the hawk got in that joint that it was huge and it wasn't down when I was hitting it fam So I'm gonna just be real I'm be real with you I was trying to kill this bug and I'm hitting the joint and it's like it's not done Then I got it on the ground and I put my foot foot on it and I'm like it's still alive So I had to dig in I had to crunch it up and then I had to take the bug wrap it up and and like I couldn't she Wouldn't let me put it in a trash can in the room even though it's like all the way there It's you like take that out there. So now I'm out in the hallways in the is people they looking like why my man Got this in his hand.

It was it was bad. I didn't I couldn't find a trash can so anyway That was the bug in the room it got rough on vacation with the bug in the room But that was day one from near a smooth sale that we had a good vacation So that's part of the reason I haven't done a podcast in a while any and others a lot going on at work I'm good stuff You know I'm saying in my professional career for those of y'all who rock with me and know that I've been you know I've been climbing the corporate ladder for some years at a fortune 50 60 whatever you want to call it one of the top 100 companies in the world and Been there for a while and you know some new opportunities and things that I can't talk about or developing and all this kind of stuff Let me not even get into that at all. That's not public knowledge yet You know internally is out there so but not public knowledge But some things some things brewing some some stuff that I guess I might talk about a little bit at some point in the future But yeah, so I got a lot going on It's been a lot of good stuff We reach over a thousand subscribers on YouTube for inspired guys people so that's what's been up with me fam You know I'm saying a thousand subscribers was you know It was one of my initial goals with building out this YouTube in the video because look if I'm being real we did four years Where we were audio only podcast we have listeners all across the world about 23 24 countries that listen to the show every week And then last year I make this pivot to try to like introduce a video and then start prioritizing video Which is strategically, you know a different approach and a challenge and a thousand subscribers was like my baseline I'm like alright I need to get a thousand subscribers and I'm gonna allow myself to do at least a thousand videos before I even allow myself to quit I think we have 600 videos so I got 400 videos before I could even Entertain the idea of quitting or moving on to something else So this has been challenging and pivoting and changing and my life has been changing And so that's what leads me to today's topic of success ain't easy and really my goal again is to try to Share some of the things I've learned along my journey And I'm continuing to learn right like I'm still on my journey on the path and my strategy and you know what I consider success I think it's important to know what you think success is because we're gonna talk about that a little bit with Andre 3000 because You can't let other people define what success is for you for me It's rooted in a Bible first foundational and like what I believe God wants me to do my purpose and the things He's blessed me with the people around me And you know me and my wife being on the same page and continuing to sharpen that you know become better in all these areas in life And there things that you know represent success for me and I've been on that path And I'm gonna be I'm just being all the way real with you all the thing with me is I know let me say this Let me look at these comments first. What are I how you feeling fam?

Thank you for watching appreciate you? Yes, sorry, yes, sir trying to try to try to hear from the Lord man and God is blessing Let me be all the way really before I get into today's topic like you know When it comes to success for me This is how I just how I look at like I'm a fairly private person I like to be low-key always tell people my strategy is public my lifestyle my life is private my strategy is public whatever It's like I'm not really on social media to talk about every little thing I did and every day It's good stuff is bad stuff. It's challenges is it's wins. It's losses that you know I don't social media is just not my public platform.

I would never walk in the middle of a mall and be like hey This is what happened to me today. It's like bro. Like you know, I'm sure people be like, okay, congratulations Congratulations to you buddy But for me it's more about sharing the things that I think are valuable and I want to share I've tried to share the things as they've happened That's the value of listening to inspire guys people is like you getting this stuff in real time from a person That's walking this path not from a person is like oh become a multi-million dollars and all this money and all million followers on YouTube And then you kind of like and then I'm telling you this is all you got to do to do it and you like well So you would just seem like it happened overnight But for y'all going through this journey with me through this podcast You can see where I had 50 subscribers when I just started YouTube or a hundred and you can see where I was excited when I got the 250 subscribers And you see now where I got excited because I got two a thousand subscribers or the you know most of the videos do a couple hundred or you know The good ones do over a thousand the bad ones only do 50 You know, I said 30 I got some videos with 30 views So it's like all these ups and downs in life And I'm not here to try to paint this picture that success is just this you know one size fits all Beautiful thing in life, but the reason it's important for you to define what success is because the one thing about success is that It's not what people think and I know that this is some people struggle with because I made this post on Facebook This week about like we're over shares like we're in this over sharing society And what happens is we start believing that our life is only what other people see So it's like we feel like we got a record every moment or document every moment where it didn't happen It's like no, I'm like I could I could win an award at work Never post it and it happened and you could think that I am one nothing you could think I'm a loser You could be like what this guy only got 500 followers. He's just this why would I listen to him and that's part of life?

That's cool. You don't you don't need validation to be successful So that's this is me talking like before we've been jumping to the content of the today show I'm just trying to give you some you know saying some thoughts behind the scenes, but I'll probably talk to it So let's jump into it Ryan. He's they keep doing what guys position to do appreciate it fam. Amen.

Keep sharing We'll do thank you for listening watching and showing up. All right, so man This Andre 3000 thing has been interesting to me. So we're gonna jump into first of all Let me share the scripture today. I shared this in a short video on YouTube today If you haven't seen it on inspire guys people subscribe to inspire guys people on YouTube like and subscribe You know share this video all that good stuff.

That's how we can continue to grow But today's scripture today comes from Proverbs chapter 4 verses 14 to 15 I'm reading from the new living translation and it says this Don't do as the wicked do and don't follow the path of evil doers. Don't even think about it Don't go that way turn away and keep moving yo listen to that the Bible says this is wisdom and Proverbs Sam Don't do as the wicked do and don't follow the path of evil doers now We talking about success this this scripture is very important because as it relates to the to success I can talk you go see a lot of wicked people be successful and in his life You're gonna have to try to determine like what is what is success to me versus what success in the world And how what can I learn so like you can learn things from successful people in the world right? People don't have to believe what you believe for you to learn something from their path to success But at the same time as a believer There are gonna be times that you're going to have to navigate in filtered through like oh no I don't want to copy their success or mirror their success in a particular way because they may have had to do ungodly things to get that success or Ungodly things to keep that success and so not all success is que created equal not all success is created equal There's a path that God wants you want and he doesn't want you just following the path of the world You can find that in so many scriptures in the Bible I'm not even gonna get started, but that's a foundational piece to success And also as a Christian part of the reason that success isn't easy It's because you can't just do everything that the world does What do I mean by that like if I have a podcast I can spy your guys people right? I can look at some people in the world and say oh I see how they doing it They got spent about whatever they talking about sex money drugs and they're kind of having these polarizing discussions They're not really messy in my personal opinion and don't actually Produce any good fruit They don't get anyone anywhere doesn't get anyone out of poverty It really is just entertaining and there are people that do that on podcast and they get millions of followers or hundreds of thousands of followers Right?

And so as a believer I'll have to sit back and say yo, I would love to continue to grow my podcast But I have some boundaries and some standards that I'm going to adhere to regardless And it's not going to be about trying to get the most people to listen or talk about the craziest thing If the craziest thing or the way to get the most people to listen is something that's outside of my personal value So that's one of the ways that when I talk about success and easy then it becomes How can I really build this podcast brick by brick from the ground up in a way that I can feel comfortable with 10 years from now? Five years from now, right? I don't have to have regrets or feel like yeah Well, I monetize the show and I made some bread But we kind of talked about a bunch of trash and maybe messed up somebody's relationship along the way because we got them thinking stupid about Their relationship so for me and about that, right? Success just represents something totally different.

All right Let's keep it moving from there. Um, all right. We did the scripture today. Not let's um, let's get it to this Andre 3000 the first uh, the first uh, let's see The first article all right.

I'm gonna share my screen real quick And we gonna we gonna kick it on this because I think this is uh interesting I'm gonna try to start with the first one that is Let's see why he's not really or yeah So the first one is this is more the positive side of it for me This isn't on complex calm in their music session section by Joe Price So, um, and this is from November 16th, right? So this is just a couple days ago Andre 3000 jokingly questions what he would rap about at 48 I gotta go get a colonoscopy, right? So Andre 3000 if you don't know from outcast, um, and then I guess he's done some solo work And honestly, I don't really follow these artists and all that so I don't know a whole lot I've heard none of his music since like so fresh and so clean Um, but I guess people love him. He's always somebody when you talk about the top lyricist He's always somebody that's thrown out there I wouldn't know that from a personal perspective, but um, I guess he can rap really really good You know again for me the performances and stuff from when I was in like younger in college and you know Just getting out of college and so fresh so clean all that kind of stuff That's what I remember, but um, let's get into it In this interview, um, he talked about this releasing this long awaited uh debut solo album, right?

Oh, so this is his his man his solo album debut. I didn't know that Um, and so he says let's see right here. He says the opening track of the album is entitled I swear I really wanted to make a rap Album, but this is literally the way the wind blew me this time. That's the title of the song.

Okay, buddy. All right All right, that's the title of the song. Okay, no problem I really I swear I really wanted to make a rap album, but this is literally the way the wind blew me this time I mean, maybe I swear I really want to make a rap album is it but anyway, um, he insisted he did try to record a rap record But it just didn't work out Uh, he goes on to talk about how you work with some of the newest and freshest and youngest producers He get all the beats. Um, let's see what else he says Um, people think oh, oh man, people think I'm just sitting on wraps and he's holding them hostage He says right here.

I ain't got no wraps like that It actually feels sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don't have anything to talk about in that way And then he goes 100 goes out here and says I'm 48 years old And not to say the age is the thing that dick takes what you rap about but in the way it does He continues and things that happen in my life. What are you talking about? I gotta go get a colonoscopy My eyesight is going bad. Uh, so that is let me let me go back.

All right, so we're gonna take let's kicking about this, right? So, uh, this is Andre 3000 kind of explaining why, um, I guess he's releasing his solo He's a rapper his solo album doesn't have words. This is hilarious to me on several levels But let's talk about it again. I got another article or at least another piece of this interview that we gonna look at next That's gonna be the other side of this.

So hold on for that, right? But let me first deal with maybe the positive side of like if I'm being real with you, I kind of feel where he coming from, right? Like I'm I'm just gonna keep it extra crispy. I kind of feel where Andre 3000 is coming from, you know I'm younger than him by far, but he's saying he 48 years old and I'm just thinking off a principle when the concept of like, you know He been rapping for what 20 25 years probably.

So let's just say if he was rapping since he was 28 years old, um At 28 years old and so fresh so clean and outcast and I can't think of another other songs, uh, whatever it is But you know, I remember him being as fun Just kind of partying kind of weird dude like a centric is ever and so all right essentially Obviously in life you grow up you grow older it's no more chains and parties and and so people they don't it's like all right If that's what everybody wants because remember in a secular world of music really in the music industry No matter what genre gospel I'm saying secular just as the industry if you are an artist in the industry at the end of the day the fan the audience you're kind of A slave to that. Um, the companies need you to produce sales and so you have to do what people want, right? So you have to find a way to make people like what you're saying You're not really just rapping about what you want to rap about right? So I would imagine that could be tough especially when you have a fan base like him and sometimes fans Um, they kind of treat the artist like a slave if we be honest, right?

You are a slave to your fans meaning they have something they want from you and they want you to do it in the way that they want it to be Done and so now it ain't even just about like yo, I'm an artist and I want to express myself or I've grown up involved But I've changed people are holding you hostage to who you used to be Whoo, there's a lot of word and what I'm kicking. I'm like, I'm really giving y'all You know I'm saying like giving y'all the juice right now people want to hold you hostage for who you used to be I can talk let me try to say it one more time people want to hold you hostage for who you used to be So it's like their expectation is based on who you were and so they like bro give me the Andre 3000 from before and he feeling like man I didn't win in there and I didn't try to do that and I can't do it If I'm being real I kind of feel that um, I used to drop music every year I dropped at least one song a couple songs an album an EP every year for over 10 years straight And the last two or three years I haven't dropped nothing and it's like if I'm being honest It's because like I don't I can't find a way how can I say for me? It's like I can't find a way that I believe is relatable to say the things I want to say and so It's hard to keep rapping when you outgrow the listener And so it's like how do I like package something that people don't know now? Let me let me validate what I'm saying from my personal experience So it don't sound like I'm taking a shot and like obviously I am a underground nobody knows me artists I'm not comparing myself to know, you know famous artists and all like that But what I'm saying is like my last project I put out One of the last ones was 2020 and it was in May of 2020 believe it or not And that was just the date I had planned it was called to whom it may inspire and it was these four to five songs about um, you know this like to whom it may inspire like to whom it may concern like I'm writing a letter to people Whoever wants to be inspired and I remember that that project came out Um, just so happened to be the same week of the George Floyd situation I did not plan that and that was probably my least Like nobody I got almost no messages not literally but very little messages very little love It was like the world exploded and became triggered by race and all this stuff and the stuff I was talking about didn't matter to people It was like don't nobody want to hear you talk about being inspired and following your purpose and God and being united by faith When the whole world is telling them let's fight each other.

Let's protest less, you know That like it's just politically charged you got the republicans over here the democrats over here So we live in such a society where people have now been conditioned um to kind of communicate Um in this almost like civil rights type tone and if you're not talking like that Or either side if you're not like really like barking at people like people don't want to hear it So I saw a lot of people get you know A lot of the music started reflecting the world right like in the videos and stuff You'll have the protests and all those things and I ain't taking a shot at nobody or nothing I'm just saying like for me. That's not like my communication style. So it's like okay like people ain't really trying to hear that And then here's the other part. Oh I would imagine Andre 3000.

I don't know him. I don't know none about his life. Um But we talking about success ain't easy Once you're successful and you don't have to do something It's very challenging to to toe that line of like this is what people want me to do I don't really got to do that no more. And so what i'm saying is like i'm sure there was a point at Andre 3000's career where you know Whether he had a record deal or was hungry and trying to make money and we're trying to be famous Whatever his goal was whatever success represented to him.

He reached some level of success I don't know if he still has it or whatever but he obtained something and it's like i'm sure at some point He wanted to be the biggest artist or they wanted to be the biggest group or have a platinum album or there was something I was like pushing him and one of the challenges when you become successful is now like that thing has been accomplished And I was like oh like I don't really got a rap to like like so for me It's like I ain't trying to be famous rapping. It's really just my art and things I like and as I grow It's weird. I want to rap though. Like I do.

I actually want to rap. I got a song and I'm working on it I might want to do but I don't know it's not the same like the the the place I'm out of life like Music isn't a driving force for me like I love business I probably love business the way I used to love music And so whether it be building this podcast and talking about business in this way or working in corporate america And being a leader and kind of strategizing through business that way That's really what I love right and so sometimes in life you just outgrow what you used to be You feel me? What up taiisha says people want to hold you. Yes.

So who you used to be you feel me? And so At the end of the day um when andra 3000 says oh, I want to say this to about andra 3000 no Also kind of this is where I disagree with what he's saying about like he don't know how to talk about where he's at like And this is gonna sound hypocritical because I just kind of said it's similar to the same thing But this is where I challenged myself too like bro. You just have to like You have to just talk about it as you and I think about what other people want to hear or what they use to hear and or whether or not People go and be able to relate to it, but I think there's a struggle as an artist where you're struggling between Creating the art that's within you But delivering it in the way that people can digest it and understand it and I do think that's a balance because As an artist as a creator with anything you you want to share it with people so they play a part the listener plays a part in You creating music, but you also want to you want to be free to experiment I create experimental music out of time But again, there's very little risk because nobody knows me like as an artist I'm an underground artist so I have freedom to just like create whatever a lot of my songs are created that way if you go Listen, just look up J wheel music a lot of my music is it's experimental things songs like I would go like I got a lot of songs like purpose in the wild. They're not traditional hip-hop beats.

They're not traditional like My cadence isn't traditional. I'm not trying to spaz out on everything. It's more a message focus So again, I think there's a lot of interesting things that andra 3000 talked about and now I want to talk about I want to look at another article that andra 3000 Um an interview that he had I think it's the same interview just a different part where he's talking about this album And I think this is like uh like Proceed with caution in my mind like and you could do with it what you will let me just kind of share the information But it's kind of it's kind of kind of interesting Kind of interesting stuff you talk about so let's let's get into that Let me share my screen All right, so peak this man All right, this is on complex calm as well. Let me take a sip of my drink All right, andra 3000 says he turned into a panther Uh, where the hell I go fam?

Oh, he turned into a panther while tripping to Ayohah Ayohosh I don't even know how to say that but I never been there, you know, I'm saying I'm from Detroit fam I don't know what that place is. Um, he added the experience directly inspired one of the songs on his new solo album All right. Okay. All right.

This is an interesting story here. All right Um ahead of the release of his flute only solo. I'm sorry. It's just for me.

It's hilarious. Um, look man Create the music that's true to you. I can respect that. Um, this part though causes a little concern I haven't heard this album.

I've no desire to listen to it. This isn't about that I'm not about to listen to a flute album But again, I wasn't listening to his music before the end nothing against him Just not like I'm not a big music person, you know, like most people I don't listen to a lot of music So um, andra 3000 opened up um about this trip in Hawaii. This is called a Hawaii. Okay.

Ayohoshka. I don't know I'm sorry. I'm clearly I never been there. Um directly influenced one of his new songs All right, so in the interview with Rodney Carmichael It was suggested to him at the song title that night in Hawaii where I turned into a panther and started making these low register Pern tones that couldn't control s was wild.

Okay. Oh, Ayohah, what? That must be a drug or something fam, uh, hallucinator or something. Okay.

Oh, no, I'm so funny to myself right now I'm sorry, bro. The outcast rapper and actor said is because exactly what I was talking about That's exactly what I was talking about. Okay. Uh, so let's see.

Oh, so it's a drug. He took his drug I was actually a Hawaiian. It was my second night of the first time I'd ever taken his drug We did it like a three night kind of face. Okay.

The first night was inviting and beautiful in the most powerful Love and connection with all things I've ever been in my life. The second night was different Everybody knows that I will do that to you in that way. Okay. All right.

Um, the second night my stomach was hurting My mouth contorted like a panther and I actually turned into a panther and I was doing like a like that kind of thing. Okay All right. Um, he goes on to say I actually turned into a panther It was doing this thing called toning. Toning is another way of purging and purging is where you make these vibrational noises that you can't control It started playing me like an instrument and continue I started as a panther and then it would make me do these long kind of tones.

Oh Right then Okay, I'm gonna stop sharing So let's talk about this. Andre 3000 says that he turned into a panther after doing some drug. What is that? Oh, no, I need to I don't I'm sorry.

I don't do drugs. So I don't really know what I don't know what that is. Let me see Ayahuasca ayahuasca. Okay, a plant based psychedelic psychedelic suffix affects the sin.

Oh, okay, so All right. So Andre 3000 Does this plant based psychedelic and says that he turned into a panther literally so these are his words not my I'm just real Be real as a believer Kind of weird to me. All right weird to me out enough that I don't need to hear the flute the piano anything else that you're playing buddy You can keep that away from me. Why I'm gonna make it as simple as possible in the bible There was a time where saw was being tormented by evil spirits and david came to play the harp the anointed musician, right?

David came to play the harp a harp for the spirits that were tormented and saw and when he played it saw actually begin to be delivered, right? So I'm one of those people that do believe in the power of music and that it's not just useless, right? Music moves more people than arguably anything in the world You feel what I'm saying? Which is like this whole topic is about this artist who won't rap and people are moved and mad enough said so we have in this conversation So to tell me that music means nothing.

I just can't do that and especially like okay now you've taken something Multiple nights three nights in a row and it's turning you into something. Okay to me. It sounds like a Marvel movie I'm just gonna keep it a hundred with you, right? So um if a person tells me I took something that turned me into an animal and then I went and made an like a Album off of it and I can't I'm not even rapping like I'm now I'm like bro, you can turn into a panther, but you can't rap like you see this is where it just goes all the way left for me So at the end of the day for me, this is where I'm like, yeah I'm good on this one, buddy So y'all can have the flute album and the soothing sounds from the psychedelic drug that turned homie into a panther These are his words not mine music is very powerful.

What else should I tell you don't assist her? So when my man is saying that he turned into a panther looking at his words and I'm like we gotta look at it again I think his worth like maybe I should even look a little deeper into I went away. Hold on. Oh, you know here Go like my man.

This is like he says it. He says he turned into a panther and literally said I was doing the girl kind of thing um Yeah, it's um For me now now I'm being concerned now now I'm transitioning into pure concern not like look You're an adult. You got to do what's right for yourself. You got to make your own decision I'm not here to make decisions for people that's not what this show is about But what I can tell you is that I do think we should take warnings from people when they are telling us because like if I'm being real I grew up this is the difference between how I grew up in the social media era when I grew up everything was taboo People didn't really say stuff used to hear stuff like uh really the Illuminati or something We used to hear weird stuff like that like yeah, such and such is this or celebrities do weird stuff You kind of hear about it and nobody ever say it right?

They come on tv cameras They smile you don't know nothing about it and people used to be like man whatever I'm gonna keep listening because that ain't real bro like oh y'all making stuff up right cool I'm cool with that because there was an element of like bro like it is hard to believe right if I would have told You this and he didn't say it itself you would have thought I was out of my mind but for me now It's like okay This isn't a conspiracy. This isn't no hate. I don't I have nothing like I'm just reading an article My man says he took this stuff and turned into a panther and then gave y'all a flute album I'm just I'm just I'm just on a sideline I'm just on a sideline. This is an observation on the outside looking in Seems like something is a little different here, right?

It if I've been rapping for 20 years Then tell you I turned into a panther and then gave you a flute album influenced partially by this panther Uh, I don't never have to hear this album as a matter of fact I don't want to hear this out you get what I'm saying because to me music is powerful I don't need none of the panther. I'm good on that. So that's my perspective on the Andre 3000 Look on my hand. I feel it.

I understand like bro. You 48 years old. Uh, you don't want to rap Just rap I was with him until he turned into the panther like to me if it was just like Yo, I just want to play the flute and I'm like oh like let my man play the flute if you don't like it move to the next one Like and that's I'm being real like that's what that's about to me But then once you say I turned into a panther Grrrr. I'm done.

That's when the interview's over with me I'm out of here turn that track off because I don't want to turn into what you turned into buddy And I don't want like maybe you lost your ability. Look, I'm just being honest This sounds literally like this should be in a spider-man multiverse movie or something It's like okay, so he turned into a panther and then he lost his rap powers He can't rap. He don't it's not because you 48 years old. It's because you are now a panther This is crazy.

So all right. So I'm dealt with that Very very concerned situation for me. Uh, you all can have a lot of times on stuff I said on the sideline. I'm like, you all can have that bro.

I will say this right and all seriousness When it comes to celebrities man, we have to stop putting these people on the pedestal They regular people right and I think we follow celebrities like they're super human or something on it They're regular people who seem to get involved in some very tricky stuff like He said he turned into a panther. Um Kv banks whatever I'm good on the new black panther. There would be no child listen, bruh listen Well, con don't I am straight on that, bruh. You ain't lying like that I ain't trying to hear it all and then as believers we got to think about it like this We'd be in church and praise and worship and we'd be like the anointing the music is so powerful and If music is so powerful in a good way and it's probably powerful in a bad way I'm gonna give you the most simple example ever if you see me with a hammer hammer and a nail And you're like man that hammer looks powerful great.

We'll put your finger under there The same way it's powerful to do something good that hammer is powerful to do something bad That's how I look at music. Um, not really a controversy to me. Nothing too deep is just my man said he turned into a panther I'm out of here buddy. All right.

Well, con don't um, so let's uh, let's look at these seven challenges to success Right today. Uh, episode is entitled um success ain't easy And uh, one of the things I really want to kick it about and give people is like if you on this path and it's journey And you're trying to be successful Let me level set a couple of things first and foremost if you knew to this show or my content Then you got to understand that success to me isn't what success to the world I'm gonna give you the most normal example. Um, I was listening to this millionaire on this video from like a year and a half ago This is multi-millionaire. He owns all this real estate and investing all these things and the guy was saying And he was like man when I made my first million dollars my car only cost $500 He says today, um, I have you know a real estate portfolio and you know millions of dollars But because I'm investing and I'm doing these other things my shoes if my shoes get a hole in the bottom and the soul I just wrap tape around them.

So my point is this um, a lot of times, um, I grew up I'm gonna speak about myself because I don't know you uh, a lot of times like in a culture I grew up in We've used success as whatever you could show me, right? So whatever you saw on people like the people who drove through in a new car when I grew up in my neighborhood I was a dope dealers They had the new cars. I remember the first time I saw Ford explore for the expedition like any new car that came out the neighborhood drug dealers had them And it was impressive, right? And so that's how we grew up culturally where it's like yo when people get money they show you stuff And then I got older and I started studying millionaires and successful people and the most interesting thing to me is that the level headed Real millionaires real successful people not somebody who got a couple thousand dollars and put it on Instagram Not somebody who got a um, you know, a tax refund check and want to go buy some Gucci bags with it I'm talking about people who have millions these people don't wear their money They don't try to do things to convince you that they have money because the reality of it is whether you think they have money or not They have money and on the flip side even if you're broke and people think you have money You don't have money now money is just the example in this money isn't all success We're not just only talking about money, right?

I want to give something so you that you can actually relate to so let's check out this article Um about you know, the seven challenges that will make you more successful. All right, so let me make sure i'm showing up, right? Cool This is on entrepreneur.com. This article is actually from valentines day 2017 Now if you know me, you know a lot of times I like to find old articles because I like to find things that have stood the test of time and sometimes in real time People have political agendas or different things reasons that they're talking about stuff So I really like to go before 2020 a lot of times when i'm getting articles and resources Because I want to hear how people were talking before the world drastically change, right?

So this is by Travis Bradberry. We're gonna look in depth in this and he says opinions express. Oh, okay, that ain't what i'm talking about Uh, oh Maintaining the success mindset isn't easy. So this is seven challenges that will make you more successful So let's dig into it, right?

We're gonna just glance at some of these. The first one is age Alright, so here says age really is just a number Successful people don't let their age define who they are and what they're capable of. All right, I got a pause real quick Now as we talking about andrey 3000 in his whole like excuse for not wrapping is based around being 48 years old Cool good for andrey just ain't a shot at him But ironically the very first thing in this article is one of the challenges of success is that you need to eliminate your age from How you're viewing what success is now? What's your actual self?

Why is this important? Why is it important for me to eliminate my age? Because age does something really weird, okay? Um, if I if I throw out the age 16, all right, what are you supposed to do by the time you 16 years old?

Take a second to think about that share a comment if you will like what are you supposed to be like if you 16 years old? What should you be doing by now, right? Again, if you're 18 years old, what should you be doing by now? If you're 21 years old, what can you be doing by now?

Now I'm gonna give you a couple examples, right? 16 years old you probably should be driving in most states, right? That's this at least in Michigan that was the age where you can get your license So you turn 16 and it's all about getting your license, right? You turn 18 is all about graduating high school, right?

You should be graduating high school at 18 years old at 21. You can drink, right? You can drink alcohol now. You can.

So my point with age age does this weird thing where it almost sets these standards for you that sometimes you can meet and sometimes you can't but the problem becomes the longer you live life, the more that that idea is kind of blurred of like where should you be at 35? Where should you be at 33? What about 43? Where should you be in life, right?

And oh my god, you're 65. It's all over. You should. These are the things in life in that age.

If you don't get control of your age, your age will just mess you up because in most cases when you're young, you feel like you have forever. So you're gonna waste a lot of time not realizing you could have gotten ahead. And then the older you get, the further you feel behind, right? Because you're looking like, well man, I'm 38 and these 34 years old, he's 34 and he own a million-dollar business.

Hey, I'm behind. So the first thing that successful people do is they overcome age. Age is not your enemy, right? It is not something that is here to tell you that if you are at this point and you haven't done this, that you can't do it.

You can be successful regardless of how old you are, regardless of how young you are, you can be successful. Okay, so that's age. Like, let's not make our age an excuse. Let's go back to the article and look at the next challenge.

That was challenge number one. All right, with that negativity. All right, life won't always go the way you want it, but when it comes down to it, you have the same 24 hours in the day as everyone else does. Successful people make their time count.

Instead of complaining about how things could have been or should have been, they reflect on everything that they have to be grateful for. Then they find the best solution available, tackle the problem, and move on. All right, this, look, I'm just being real with y'all. This is one of the biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people that I noticed, and it's their mindset.

And it's the fact that a lot of times people who are not successful, they're just super negative about everything. And this is what I've learned in life, whether you are successful or not. Life is life, right? That means life brings challenges, brings health challenges, family challenges.

There's things like a pandemic that affected us no matter what, things like 9-11, no matter whether you have money or not. So a lot of times people who are not successful like to create excuses to make themselves comfortable. And you can kind of take on a super negative kind of approach to everything. It's like, yeah, why you ain't doing this?

Well, man, I'm not even going to make up examples because somebody might feel like I'm talking about them, but it's always a mountain that you're creating this mountain. And successful people do the opposite. They have problems. They have a lot of problems because success ain't easy, but what they do is they focus more on the solution than a problem.

And that is the biggest difference. A person who isn't successful and having problems finding success spends most of their time looking at the problem. And what happens when you look at something? It's like you're glamorizing it.

You're making it a delight. The problem gets bigger and bigger the longer you look at it. But what about the solution? If you focus on the solution, then the solution begins to outgrow the problem.

And then the beautiful thing about the solution, it's literally the answer to how you overcome the thing that you're complaining about. And if you keep complaining about it, it will never cease to exist. So that's the crazy thing about being a complainer is like, bro, the longer you complain about it, the longer you're going to be dealing with it. So that was the second one.

Let's keep it moving. Keep it moving. Let's go to the next challenge. All right.

Number three, toxic people. Toxic people, man. This one right here is like, all right, successful people believe in a simple notion. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Just think about it. Some of the most successful companies in recent history were founded by brilliant payers, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple lived in the same neighborhood. Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft met in prep school, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google met at Stanford. Just as great people help you reach your full potential.

Listen, it is toxic people drag you right now with them, whether it's negativity, cruelty, the victim syndrome or just playing craziness, turning into a panther, toxic people create stress and strife that should be avoided at all costs. If you're unhappy with where you are in life, just take a look around. More often than not, the people you've surrounded yourself with are the root of your problems. You'll never reach your peak until you surround yourself with the right people.

Oh, man, I know this, this is a tough one, right? When you think about the people around you, it's tough. I'm gonna tell you why. The reality of it is the more you grow in life, the more different you become from people you once knew because we don't know I grow at the same pace and we don't all even desire desire to grow in the same way.

So if me and you met in the same neighborhood when we were in middle school, right, and we grew up in middle school together and it's like the thing we had in common was that we were in the same neighborhood and we had the same class. Well, the older we get in life, we gravitate towards different hobbies, desires, ambitions, motivations. So let's say if I, the older I got one at the fight and wanted to steal cars or do like commit these crimes and you were like, man, I'm more focused on Wall Street. My dream is to make it to Wall Street to be a financial advisor or whatever, I don't know, like whatever on Wall Street to be a trader, I want to be a stock trader on Wall Street, right?

And that was your life's goal. Well, the closer you get to your goal as a trader and the closer I get to my goal as a thief, the more different our lives become in the gap widens, widens between us. And so then we find ourselves in a place where a decision has to be made. It's like it ain't that you don't love me no more, but it's that like, yo, I have this goal that I'm going after in life.

And the problem is I can't get to Wall Street from Yall Street. You feel what I'm saying? And so it's like, I'm trying to go to Wall Yall on Yall Street. And it's like, all right, over here, I might get killed.

You know what I'm saying? Over here, I might get caught up in a case or something that can send me to jail hanging around Yall and prevent me from reaching my goal. And so it becomes tough in life to try to navigate, sharing people off in the right way to do it. And it's not always even the right thing to do, because then sometimes there are people that you will help that will gravitate to you.

And they may not know the answers, right? They grew up just like you. They may not have the ambition, but then you might have to mentor them to get them on board if they have that desire. And then sometimes it's just family, bro.

Like at the end of the day, the Thanksgiving coming up, like, bro, you're going to go to the Thanksgiving dinner at your cousin, Korea, even though he live on Yall Street and you from Wall Street. And the reality is you're successful, but you might go in that environment. And you can't bring good and that's life. That's how it works.

But at the end of the day, if you're going to be successful, you're going to have to figure out how do I navigate people? How do I shed off people or keep people at bay or create boundaries with people in order to reach my goals and not allow people to make me feel guilty for having goals? Because one of the things that happens when you become successful is that certain people who are more comfortable in their laziness in their lack of success, they will try to make you feel like you are wrong or you forgot what you came from because you want something greater. It's like, no, bro, I want something greater because I know where I came from.

And I know that guy gave me an opportunity to be alive and to go after more. So I'm going to do that. Like I'm not going to sit around and do nothing and just stay where I'm at to make other people happy. You feel what I'm saying?

So shading toxic people? That's a challenge. Let's keep it moving though. All right, what's next?

We're looking at seven challenges that will help you be more successful. Ooh, this kind of goes right into it. Number four is what other people think. When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own destiny.

While it's impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don't have to hold up your accomplishments, accomplishments. I can talk to anyone else's and you can always take people's opinion with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within. Successful people know that caring about what other people think is a waste of time and energy.

When successful people feel good about something that they've done, they don't let anyone's opinions take that away from them. No matter what other people think of you at any particular moment, you're never as good or bad as they say you are. Man, I really think this is important, y'all. Trying to navigate what other people think.

If you want to be successful, it's just a part of it. And I love that last line and it's the fact that you ain't never really as good or as bad as everybody think you are. That's with me, you and everybody else. You don't know everything about me.

I don't know everything about you. It's some things that I've done that's worst thing you could ever imagine. It's some things that I've done that are better than you can ever imagine. And the whole idea of this is why I don't like fame.

I don't chase fame. I don't want celebrity. It's because it's this illusion and maybe delusion that these people are different than you are. It's not the case.

We're all human. And in a lot of cases, people get successful. Let me use an example. Let's say, all right, you, I'm the broke person.

I'm unsuccessful and I got an alcohol problem, right? So I'm broke, but I'm always drunk. And I don't got money, but I find money to drink. I mean, we see people on the streets all the time.

God bless them. This is no shade of people on the streets. But you see people addicted to drugs and things and that addiction drove them there. All right.

Cool. Like, well, you got people as well, like in Hollywood who have addictions and to think that the person in Hollywood is better than the alcoholic on the street. It's just, it's not wise, right? Because the person in Hollywood could actually could be worse because they have more accessibility, some more drugs, more drinks, more crazy things.

I mean, they might have access to a drug that turns them into a panther. You get what I'm saying? And so my point is really no, doesn't matter if you're broke with a problem. If you're rich with a problem, we all have problems.

Now, I think part of what's happened in the world over the past few years, that there's, there's so much pointing at each other where everybody wants to create the idea that the other person is worse than them, that we're forgetting to look in the mirror. You feel what I'm saying? And so the reality of it for me is like, yo, I can't really base my life around what people think. And I don't want to create a lifestyle that is based on the validation of what people think and validation from others.

Because what happens, I think it's a cycle. Now, let me say this too. I think to some extent, most of us, if not all of us, struggle with this and one way or another, you get what I'm saying? I struggle with that at times in certain ways.

Like there are going to be times that you are thinking about, well, what are people going to think? So it's not that you may not struggle with it. It's not that it may not be a challenge. That's why these are seven challenges.

It's just that this is something that you need to try to overcome, fam. This is something that you can't give in to and allow yourself to fall into the trap of being a slave to other people's thoughts. The reality of it is no matter what you think of me, if I'm broke, I'm broke. No matter what you think of me, if I got money, I got money.

So it's like other people's thoughts don't change your reality. And I think that's where we get misconstrued in this era of social media and oversharing. We think like, yo, if I can post enough stuff to make these people think I have money, then it's kind of like I have money, but shit, don't. You feel what I'm saying?

Your reality is your reality, good or bad. We all have good and bad in that reality and has nothing to do with people think. And the last part about this is that you should not allow other people in their thoughts to stop you from growing. And this is something that I've seen in life just in general.

I'll give you an example. Growing up in high school, fam, I was a class clown. There's some people that follow me on social media right now. It's like, the media, they remember, they probably look at me like, they probably like, where's he out in there?

Where's he out in there? Because I was a class clown in high school, let me tell you something. It was probably more important in my mind to be the class clown and make people laugh than to do my homework or anything else. Now I was naturally smart.

So I was able in like 11 grade as an example to pull out a 3.6 average that entire year. And you know, I did that because in 10th grade, I'll pray at a 2.4. And the counselor told me, well, the most important year for getting accepted in college is 11th grade. They all look at 11th grade by 12th grade.

You're already accepting in colleges. So you'll be good. I was like, oh, real cool. 11th grade, I'll try.

I did well. Got accepted to all the applied to, not that I applied to any I believes or anything. I knew my limits. But I was able to accomplish that.

But my place, if a person knew me from me and they see me now, and I'm thinking about trying to live up to them, like, I'm not trying to like be what somebody expected me to be. Like, yeah, I was the class clown. Now I'm a corporate businessman, and I have a podcast on a faith in business. And this is who I am, regardless of what you think or what you thought.

And I still got jokes like go to my Facebook page. I'm still gonna sprinkle a little something in there, fam. It's just that I'm not standing up in the middle of my job at a meeting the way I did in class. Like, hey, why did the chicken drop the rope?

It's like, no, you're in the meeting. We're discussing $50 million of a partnership right now. There's no time to find out why the chicken crossed the rope. All right, let's keep it moving, fam.

Let's go to the next one. All right, what we got, what we got, these seven challenges that will make you more successful. Oh, fear number five, y'all fear. Fear is nothing more than a lingering emotion that's fueled by your imagination.

Danger is real. It's the uncomfortable rush of adrenaline you get when you almost step in front of a bus. Fear is a choice. Successful people know this better than anyone does.

So they flip fear on its head. They are addicted to the euphoric feeling that they get from conquering their fears. Don't ever hold back in life just because you feel scared. Man, I like that.

Don't ever hold back in life just because you feel scared. Don't ever hold back in life just because you feel scared. The reality of it is the most successful people in the world feel the same fear you feel. But it's the choice to accept it and allow it to cripple you that's holding you back.

And it was their choice to overcome that fear that is allowing them to go to the next level. The thing that's crazy about fear to me is most times it's made up. It's something that you made up in your mind as an imaginary reason that you shouldn't do what God calls you to do. And that thing is holding you back from living a life of abundance, a life of freedom.

You know what I'm saying? A life of goodness. Like this is what you're the reason we're talking about godly success. And there is a godly success.

Don't make me go to the buying boat on this. I will go to the Bible. You do realize that these concepts like that we talk about on this show, it's founded in Scripture. I ain't saying I'm 100% accurate in every opinion that I ever pass.

Just not that ain't what I'm saying but I'm saying like generally speaking the foundation of the things we talk about in this show. Don't let the words turn you off. Success, money, greatness, you know, inspiration. People hear those things and they get scared but I'm talking about them in a biblically founded fashion in a way that I believe is in alignment with the word of God in its proper context.

Meaning that I'm not bending the rules to make these things acceptable, right? That I'm reading the word in this proper context and this is what I'm coming up with. You feel me? All right, let's keep it moving.

What's the next thing? We talked about fear, never leave self-explanatory. It's not being scarred. Ooh, the past or the future.

Number six. Like fear, the past and the future are products of your mind. No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future. Successful people know this and they focus on living in the present moment.

It's impossible to reach your full potential if you're constantly somewhere else, unable to fully embrace the reality good or bad of this very moment. To live in a moment, you must do two things. Accept your past. Number one, if you don't make peace with your past, it will never leave you and it will create your future.

Successful people know the only good time to look at the past is to see how far you've come. Two, let's get this ad out of here. Accept the uncertainty of the future and don't place unnecessary expectations upon yourself. Weary has no place in the here and now.

As Mark Twain once said, wearing is like paying a debt. You don't owe. All right, the past and the future is holding a lot of people back. All let's think about that, the past, right?

I'll use myself. Let's say how I just said about being a class clown. All right, let's be real. A class clown isn't like some academic achievement, right?

There's a lot of good and bad that comes with that. Now, first of all, for me in high school in particular when I really was just a clown and that was because I stopped playing sports. See, before that, I was like a basketball player in a clown and the basketball player weighs it out and you get the credentials of a basketball player. But when you're just a class clown, it's like, okay, cool.

Everybody likes you. So I never really had no problems in high school with people to my face, not liking me. Later on, I might find out people say stuff about me. I started having a girlfriend in high school and it was like, once you get a girlfriend, people got to hate and you're like weird stuff like that.

Before that, nobody ever really said none to me. Number one, I think a lot of people were scared that I was going to say something. See, you know, your words are weapons and I was aware of that in high school. Now, I wasn't the class clown that talked about people though.

I made people laugh. I found joy in making you laugh, but I had a skill set if and when needed to embarrass you. Now, again, if I think about my past, well, what does that mean? Like, all right, people thought of me as a clown.

Now, let's be real. A clown, okay, you can have Kevin Hart as a clown, a comedian. If I wanted to be a comedian and he was looking at me like a clown, that might be a great thing because comedians can make millions of dollars or Steve Harvey be on TV and game shows or whatever. But the reality is I didn't make it in any of those areas.

So if I was focused on my past and what somebody think about my past, they might not understand my capabilities. They just looking like, oh, my man, a clown. Like, all I remember from him was he's a class clown. It was like, all right, cool.

Well, you haven't been around for a long time, bro. I'm a businessman. I'm a business man. You feel me?

And so that's the past. That's an example of I'm just throwing out that like you can't let the past and what other people think about you based on your past based on a particular moment in time that they knew you in life, and near my time froze and you're still that person. But let's say if 15 years went by, well, in 15 years, you lived life and you had a lot of opportunity to not be a clown. The reality of it is like, I still got a little bit of jokes.

You know, I can get in my zone, especially around family, please believe me, like, it's still in me. But I ain't even as funny as I used to be. You feel me? Because back then, it was important to be funny.

Like, nah, it's like, bro, like, I don't care about making you laugh. Like, that's your problem, fam. I'm silly, just because I'm silly now. And so my whole purpose, but even wanting to laugh is different.

Whereas in high school, I was trying to make people laugh. And now it's like, yo, if you laugh, like cool, but like, you don't own me, like, I ain't got to make you laugh, man. I'm trying to get this success over here. Now, let's think about the future.

A lot of us get anxiety from the future because it's the fear of the unknown, right? And I call it the hope of the unknown when I think about the future. So it's just a mindset change to say, when I think about the future, I'm going to think about it in the sense of hope versus anxiety. I've replaced anxiety with hope because I think of the future and I'd be like, ooh, that uncertainty, like that means, yo, it's some good stuff that like, like, I don't even know some good stuff that's going to happen, right?

Whereas like, let's say if you take, say if you take an investment, right? I remember, so I'm going to give a real example. We bought our first house, you know, 10 years ago. I bought my first house 10 years ago, me and my wife.

And it's like, I had all these ideas about, like, all right, I'm about this property. And I bought this property on the border of two cities, right? And the city that I technically lived in was a lesser city than a city across the street. So this is an example.

I went and I scoured and looked and I'm like, okay, we live at the border line. The house is same square footage comparable houses across the street, across this road, cost 65 to $70,000 more than a house right here. Because I'm in a lesser city. But my thought process and my strategy, right?

Unno, no, keep in mind, I don't know what's going to happen. But my thought process and my strategy was, well, I'm willing to bet because this is a new home. It's a new build that it's going to be a lot of people that's trying to get close to this good city on the border of the, I'm not going to call it bad city, but just lesser city as far as amenities, resources, money, auto staying school, all that. So I'm like, I'm going to live at the border and I'm willing to bet that in a couple years, my guess was five years and five years I would be able to make X amount of money because my home home value would go up and people would be targeting this area because you had the grocery stores and the rec centers and all the amenities of the better neighborhood without the price.

Well, guess what? It was uncertain. I ain't going to feel it's going to happen, but I didn't let the uncertainty stop me. I sometimes in life to be successful, you have to take risks.

You have to take educated risks, but you have to like, you got to make a call. That's business. Like if you want to be a business person to walk around timid, like you're not going to be successful. Sometimes you got to call a shot like, yo, this is what I'm doing.

And when you've done the research and you're educated, I'm not saying do this be in be ignorant and you ain't researching and studying. I read a lot of books, I did a lot of research and I called my shot and what I thought was going to take five years happened in three years. That's the uncertainty, the hope of the unknown. And so I embraced the unknown, called a shot, made an investment and it paid off in three years.

And I was able to sell that house, me and my wife sold it and moved on from there and did it again. And this is what happened. So my point is that that uncertainty is a tool. It's an asset.

If you use it properly, that uncertainty is like, because if it was certain, it would have took me five years. But because it was uncertain and you make the right type of decision, sometimes success comes sooner. It could have came in six years though. I had a, I'll say this and move on from this.

I had a strategy with this home where it was like, all right, my goal is to live here five years, right? That was my goal. But I'm only going to buy a house that I'm good with living in for 15 years. I uttered these words back to you 10 years ago.

I was like, we're going to buy a house and plan to live here five years. But it has to be a house that's good enough to live in for 15 years because of the uncertainty. You see, you can plan for that uncertainty. All of this is easy for me to say because it already happened.

So I can talk about this story and sound like a superhero. But the reality is while it was happening, I was telling my wife, I was trying to make sure she knew like, I don't know if they like, we might be here 15 years. You got to know that. Now, lo and behold, she didn't want to sell it when I was trying to sell it because she liked the house.

You get what I'm saying? So anyway, that uncertainty could be an asset for your life. Let's move on to the next thing. Last one.

We are looking at the seven challenges that will make you successful. This is maybe my favorite one. The state of the world. Keep your eyes on the news for any length of time and you'll see it's just one endless cycle of war, violent attacks, fragile economies, failing companies and environmental disasters.

It's easy to think the world is headed downhill fast. I want you to think about something. This article was written in 2017 in February 2017. So it's almost seven years ago in a couple months and it literally says that like if you look at the news, it just seems like an endless cycle of war attacks.

Like we've been through all this in the last three or four years and this was written in 2017. So nothing has changed the state of the world. Let's see what it says. And who knows?

Maybe it is. Maybe the world is going downhill. But successful people don't worry about that because they don't get caught up in things they can't control. Instead, they focus their energy on directing the two things that are completely within their power, their attention and their effort.

They focus their attention on all the things they're grateful for and they look for the good that's happening around the world. They focus their effort on doing what they can every single day to improve their own lives in the world around them because these small steps are all it takes to make the world a better place. They focus their attention on all the things they're grateful for. All right, the state of the world.

Now, as you see, the state of the world is going to be a challenge to your success. Why? The article stated, bro, some people watching news. I've said this on the show a million times.

I can't be responsible for everything happening in the world. I'm here. I'm where I'm at. I'm not God.

Like, it's just unnecessary and impossible for me to watch every news story get triggered, protest for every single thing in the world be mad at everybody in the world is different to me. It's like, I don't have the time and for the energy to do it. But I do want to make the world better by living in the world, by being a contributing citizen to society, into the country, right? To being a positive impact on my world economy in the world that I'm in.

I think the problem with a lot of us and the reason we're unsuccessful is because we sit up, watch the news all day, scroll social media all day, look at everything that's happening in the world, make it our own personal problem, become more triggered about what's happening in the world than what's happening in our own homes. Some of us are mad about in protest and about wars in other country. And there's a war in your children's bedroom that you haven't even addressed. And so it's like there are things that are happening under your own roof.

Your roof, your house is your country. And there are some people whose country has economic problems like the GDP is low, the key is grades is messed up, the education system in your house ain't right, the department of transportation in your house ain't right. Your home has a whole economy with your family and your children. And some of us ain't even addressing that.

But you are marching for something that's happening halfway across the world as if it's your own. And I'm not like here to say don't march or don't do that. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying there's a priority that has to happen.

And I think successful people understand this priority of like it starts with my life. It starts with my ability to live my life. Because even when you think about from a biblical perspective, right, the Bible says Jesus said, and Luke, pick up your cross, deny yourself and follow me. That's things you have to control for you.

It'll say like pick up everybody cross, deny everybody, and then make everybody follow me. No, first you have to follow Christ. First you have to be on a path, right? You have to look within yourself.

You have to repent. There's so much that you have to do before you worry about everyone else. And the problem is some of us have skipped the U-step and we have went to the day step and we spent in our whole life worrying about what everybody else is doing right wrong or indifferent. And we haven't even addressed our own household.

There's a war in your kitchen. Your dishes is dirty. You feel what I'm saying? There's a war in your living room.

The feathers from the pillows is all over the place. You ain't even clean them up. You get what I'm saying? There's a war in your kids room.

They playing video games and they did their homework. Some of us have become so consumed with the outside world that we can't even be successful if we wanted to in our own lives. So look, today was all about really laying out how success ain't easy. Here's the last thing I'll say about it.

At the end of the day success really ain't easy, fam. And so if you thought that you was going to get successful and in life was just going to be easy or if you thought that getting to success was going to be easy, neither one of those things ain't true. Because the reality of it is once you become successful then there's a heightened responsibility. And I can tell you from experience when you become responsible for more your whole life has to adjust because you're carrying or you're responsible, you're in leadership or something and you're like, oh, all right, I ain't ever led this before.

Let me give you an illustration off the top of my head. Let's say I started out on a surfboard. Typically on a surfboard is just one person, right? It's just me out here on a surfboard.

And let's say from there I get a kayak or a canoe. It's like, oh man, I'm responsible for a canoe now. Now it's me and another person or a kayak. Now it's me and another person.

The let's say from there I get a speedboat. I get promoted to like captain of the speedboat. And I'm like, whoa, wow, five people can fit on here. That's a little more than a canoe or a surfboard.

And so now I'm not just responsible for my safety, but not responsible for the safety and getting these other people from point A to point B. Let's say from there, you know, I get a, what is it, a catamaran? Is that what it's called? No, it's eight of us on the catamaran.

And then maybe we go to a yacht. And now me, little old me, who used to only be responsible for being on a surfboard, has found myself to be the captain of a yacht. And now when it's yacht, now think about the things that are happening on a yacht that ain't happening on a surfboard. On a yacht, people dancing, it's people cooking and eating, it's waitresses, it's like, well, it might be a whole live band playing on it's like, I came from managing surfboards.

My life is so different. And then let's say I go from a yacht to now I'm the captain of a cruise ship. There's 5,000 people on here. There's shows and music and dancing and pools.

And there's so much more on a cruise ship than there is on a surfboard, even though we in the same water. And so what happens with a lot of us is we don't realize maybe that client to be in the captain of a cruise ship, yeah, you're going to make more money. Maybe it has more many of these and more luxury, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility. It's not easy being responsible for 6,000 people versus one, right?

It's not easy turning that cruise ship around versus turning a surfboard around. You get what I'm saying? There's a lot more that has to be considered. It's not easy loading the cruise ship or embarking or de embarking, whatever, getting on and off, right?

So my point is that's a representation of how I've used success. There's these climbs and these levels that you're trying to get to at different stages. And every level you get to, like, yeah, maybe you could go a lot faster in a speedboat than you could on a surfboard. And maybe you can go a lot further on a yacht than you could on a canoe.

But the reality of it is with all of those blessings and those amenities and resources in the further distance and a longer distance, whatever it may be, it also comes a lot more responsibility. Success isn't easy, but a lot of people don't talk about it like that. And so we talk about success and we think, like, oh, man, he got this amount of money. Oh, she got this.

Oh, yeah, she cool. She come from this kind of family. She good at family. Like, oh, bro, you're not there.

You don't know. You've been riding a surfboard your whole life. Challenge yourself and get on a canoe and see how much harder it is. Challenge yourself and get on a yacht and be the captain of a yacht and see how much more challenging it is versus looking at the captain of a yacht and being like, oh, your life is so good.

You left because you got a yacht. It's like a yacht represents something not responsible for it. You know, you don't clean your surfboard. I clean my yacht.

You get what I'm saying? And so that's how I view success. It's not easy, but we got to keep going, keep striving, keep growing. Look, man, at the end of the day, it's a blessing to be where we are.

And look, I hope you enjoyed this show. I hope that you like, share, comment, all that stuff. Subscribe on YouTube and to inspire guys, people. Look, we reached over a thousand subscribers in the last week or two.

And I'm excited to keep growing from here, right? This is the path to 1500, right? We're going to 1500 subscribers and you're going to help us get there by telling somebody about the show. Look, I'm just going to be real with you all.

I'm continuing to try to build this show as my life as I go from, you know, the surfboard to the kayak and the canoe and all it. As I grow in my life, I'm trying to continue to grow this show and figure out what that looks like. I don't have all the answers though. I'm just being 100% real, which you like, I don't have all the answers about how to continue to properly navigate as I get busier in other areas of my life, as I get busier in business, as I take on more leadership responsibilities.

And I have to prioritize certain things. But I think what that does mean is that the quality and the substance of this content will continue to get richer. That's something I believe in. And that's something I know is because at the end of the day, we've given you all great A content.

It may not be the gossip. It ain't going to go viral because we ain't talking about all the juicy stuff. But we talking about the stuff that will guide you to your purpose and literally change your life. You can stamp that.

I literally believe that if you apply the things on this podcast to your life, that it will be changed. Thank you so much for watching. Y'all have an amazing, amazing, amazing day. Look,