so if you want to make six figures you can't just be talking about you want to make six figures you hear what I'm saying to you tonight if you do the three things I tell you to do tonight I guarantee you whatever it is you want to do in life you'll be able to do you will be able to accomplish whatever you want to acad mically financially relationally whatever so three things all right I'm going to tell you the story I got to get out of here and the story is about you guys have probably heard about this before it was a it was a young man who you know he wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to this Guru right and he told the guru you know I want to be on the same level you on and so the guru said if you want to be on the same level I'm on I'll meet you tomorrow at the beach at 4:00 a.m. he like the beach I said I want to make money I don't want to swim Guru said if you want to make money I'll meet you tomorrow 4:00 a.m. so the young man got there at 4:00 a.m. he already to rock and roll got on the suit should have wore shorts the old man grabs his hand said how bad do you want to be successful he said real bad he said walk on out in the water so he walks out into the water watch this when he walks out into the water it goes way deep so he like this guy crazy a he like I want to make money he got me out here swimming I didn't ask to be a lifeguard I want to make money he got me so he said come out a little further walked out a little further then he had it right around this area St the area so this old man crazy he making money but he crazy he said come on out a little further he came out a little further was right at his mouth my man like I'm about to go back in here this God is mine so the old man said I thought you said you wanted to be successful he said I do he said walk a little further he came dropped his head in held him down hold him down my man getting scratching holding him down I got you I know you brushed it out but I got you he had him held down I need you for an illustration he had him held down just before my man was about to pass out he raised him up he said I got a question for you somebody answered a question for me he said when you were underwater what did you want to do Lee I'm looking for a different word though L what's that word said I wanted to breathe he told the guy he said when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe then you'll be [Music] successful I don't know how many y'all got asthma in here today but if you ever had an asthma attack before you short of breath so shortness of breath you wheezing the only thing you trying to do is get some air you don't care about no basketball game you don't care what's on TV you don't care about nobody calling you you don't care about a party the only thing you care about when you're trying to breathe is to get some fresh air that's it and when when you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to breathe then you'll be successful and I'm here to tell you number one that most of you say you want to be successful but you don't want it bad you just kind of want it you don't want it bad than you want a party you don't want it as much as you want to be cool you most of you don't want success as much as you want to sleep some of you love sleep more than you love success and I'm here to tell you today if you're going to be successful you got to be willing to give up sleep you got to be willing to work off for 3 hours of sleep 2 hours if you really want to be successful some days you going to have to stay up 3 days in a row because if you go to sleep you might miss the opportunity to be successful that's how bad you got to want it you got to go D without listen to me you got to want to be successful so bad that you forget to eat Beyonce said once she was on the set doing her thing three days had gone by she forgot she didn't eat CU he was engaged I never forget when 50 c was doing his movie I did a little research on 50 and 50 said that when he wasn't doing the movie he was doing the soundtrack and they said when do you sleep 50 sleep he said sleep sleep is for those people who are broke I don't sleep said I got an opportunity to make a dream become a reality football players how many football players got anybody like football in here raise your hand anybody like football em SMI I used to be a Cowboy fan before they did my boy Tom Landry wrong I used to be a Cowboy fan and watch this there was a commercial em Smith had won his first Super Bowl and he had this commercial one he was lifting weights I don't know if you saw the commercial one he was lifting and he said he said em said you know what I want a Super Bowl so I can rest now he doing his bch press so he said I want a Super Bowl so I can rest now so he throws up about 325 boom and he rest for about 2 seconds and he boom boom boom did you see that he'd already want a super ball he said I think I'm going to take a rest and he rest for how long one second most of you won't be successful because when you're studying and you get tired you quit and I'm here to tell you today if you got to somebody came in my office the other day crying I said look don't cry to give up cry to keep going don't cry to quit you already in pain you already hurt get a reward from it don't go to sleep until you succeed listen to me I'm here to tell you today that you can come here you can jump up you can do flips you can be excited when we give away money but listen to me you'll never be successful until I don't have to give you a dime to do what you [Music] do you won't be successful until you say I don't need that money cuz I got it in here so listen to me em Smith said this at the end of the commercial em Smith said all men are created equal some work harder in pre-season I'm going say it again because you might have missed it all men are created equal some work harder in pre-season so that means that there are some people who are going to see the professor going to see the TA and even when the professor says I don't meet with you my ta meet with you you say I don't want to talk to your ta that's I don't pay the TA I pay you to teach me so you going to have to find some time to meet me if I got to meet you at the mall if I got to meet you at your house you are going to see me listen to me all men are created equal some work hard in preseason when I went to college guys were way smarter than me 4.0 3.0 they went to the ivy league high schools came to Oakwood from these great high schools most of them are not doing what I'm doing why cuz it's not about where you come from it's about heart you come to a place where you know being smart ain't enough you got to have heart that's number one watch number two number two catch number two I wrote it down I want to make sure you got it it says to be watch this watch this we're talking about sacrifice now the important thing is this you're right why I'm saying it cuz I only have about three more minutes listen to me the most important thing is this to be able at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you will [Music] become that's the number two thing you got to catch that one to be able to listen to me at any moment some of you you can make sacrifices when Monday Night Football is not on you can make a sacrifice but when the game come on for some reason you just attached to it for some of you when your favorite show come on you you can be you can make sacrifices on Sunday when ain't nothing going on but when your favorite show comes on Monday B some of you you focusing to the phone ring and you like I got to answer if I don't answer the phone I'm going to die I'm saying to you today that there are some of you if you give up your cell phone you would be successful but your cell phone is more important to you than your success I'm going say it again I'mma hurt somebody I'mma hurt somebody some of you need to give up your cell phone because the time you spend on your cell phone could be used for your success the time you could be using to be successful you're using it on the sale and the cell phone is not bringing you nothing but a bill and somebody has told you you couldn't live without it I'm talking about going deep now giving up stuff watch what it says to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could be I don't do well in math you're right you ain't never studied I'm not good in writing cuz you have never written before but I dare you to fail in writing for a whole year to see if you can get to the end I dare you to fail I dare you to take that same class over and over I dare you to stop dropping classes like you soft always want to give up I'm dropping why you dropping I'm so grateful that the slaves didn't drop and quit say I'm just going to stop I'm a slave I'm just going to be a slave I'mma quit listen to me the slave said we will live because one day we will become we won't always be slaves so today although we're slaves we going to act like we free and one day our children will be free if the slaves would have just said we quit we give up we would have died in the middle passage but some slaves said I don't care what we go through we going to survive this 400 years of slavery we going to get through this and you can't get through a 1825 you can't get through a writing class and you got tutor after tutor resource after resource the problem is you ain't never felt no pain before you're soft it's a soft generation you quit on everything our people did not quit harri and told me not only made it she went back I can got some more she said you know what I made it but I'm I'm going to walk all listen to me sh not ride the bus I'm going walk all the way back down to the South to get some more and you quitting on [Music] 1825 now watch this you quit after you listen to me you get a sleeping bag and you wait for him you wait for the first instructor to come in and you come out just sleeping back I need help you quit after you do that you quit after you had listen to me a a w party I'm I'm having a party everybody come over I got fol everything and let them get over there let it be all the best writers all right I fol y'all I want to have a writing [Music] party I'm serious you quitting you ain't even tried yet last one I'm sorry last one listen to me pain is temporary it may last for a minute or an hour or a day or even a year but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place if I quit however it will last forever listen to me I'm telling you as I leave telling you as I leave I was homeless for 2 and 1/2 years and the problem with most of you you never felt no pain before yall spoiled y'all spoil some of y'all spoil just bottom line your parents have done everything for you you never had to do nothing for yourself you're spoiler we going to keep it real tonight some of you are spoiled brats every time you ever got in trouble somebody in your house got you out of it every time you done something you're not supposed to do people say Eric your mother's a tyrant you're right she kicked me out you're right she's mean but she developed a man because she put me out there and said you going to have to grow up and some of you have never learn to grow up and so every time something get hard you quit you call Mama I dare you to take a little pain I dare you I dare you not to go home somebody said I I going go home I feel bad go go through it you ain't going to die at the end of pain and success you're not going to die because you feeling a little pain I'm not eating like I eat at home that's why you're about to go to the next level cuz if you keep eating like you ate at home you'll keep being a boy or a girl it's time to become man woman so don't don't worry about a little pain my greatest asset is I was homeless so I can't feel a whole lot of pain I've already been alone there not a whole lot it's notot not a whole lot of hurt I can feel on a little paper on a little test so I leave you I leave you listen to me we have gotten to a point where it's midterms and we moving forward the days of you getting money I'm not saying we quitting but I'm saying a day has got to go from external to internal you have to give it everything you got no more TV no more parties no more playing if you don't have a 4.0 what you need to be doing is studying get off the phone I I I'm sorry I'm not available until the end of this [Music] year no I'm for real you reached the right number but you called me at the wrong time call me back January 1st I'm about to get busy now huh I want you to have a countdown of your own and say when the countdown is over with a real sh watching me cuz when I was homeless I knew something was wrong I knew that wasn't the best of me and one day I said well a real Eric Thomas please stand up with a real Eric Thomas please stand up stop being this High School Dropout stop giving up stop sleeping on the street stop walking up and down FCO Avenue like you ain't got nothing and get your GED stop being afraid to take a test stop being afraid to go to cop cuz your daddy didn't go and your mama didn't go stop being afraid and be the best air time you can be but listen to me it's going to be hard it took me 12 years to get a 4-year degree but I got it and guess what on a degree it don't have dates so if it took you four and it took me 12 it don't show up nowhere but I'm exactly where I want to be because I realize I got to commit my very being to this thing I got to I got to breathe it I got to eat it I got to sleep it and until you get there you'll never be a successful in life but once you get there I guarantee you the world is yours so work hard and you can have whatever it is you want thank you guys for your [Applause] time