Eric Thomas - The Secret to Success

Bermuda

It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life. “In preparation for landing, please discontinue the use of all electronic devises; close your tray tables and fasten your seatbelts. We will be landing in Bermuda shortly,” the flight attendant advised. “We will be circling the island so for our first time visitors please take out your cameras.”

Seconds later, the plane turned as it made its initial decent. Suddenly, I saw the bluest water I have ever seen in my life. As the pilot landed the plane I could see pink, blue and yellow homes, it was unreal. I spent a little over two weeks on the island doing a small speaking tour for Bermuda’s school system. I spent the first half of the day speaking to middle and high school students. I tried to drill in their minds the importance of having a dream, setting goals and making the most out of their lives. In the afternoons, I visited at-risk students in youth detention facilities. I was somewhat surprised to see that the kids on the island faced some of the same challenges our innercity youth experienced. Shocked or not, I didn’t hold back one bit. My message was simple and straight to the point: stop the madness. I let them have it and I challenged them to appreciate the opportunities they had. I spent the evenings at a church conducting a youth revival. Talk about an upgrade, my self-esteem and my skill set grew exponentially. My presentations grew stronger after each school visit. I can’t explain the feeling I had walking into that auditorium and seeing students staring into my eyes and listening closely to every word I said. When I got back on the plane and headed back to the States, I felt like a millionaire. Less than 4 years ago I was a homeless high school dropout and now I was becoming a successful, international motivational speaker. My thoughts were that, if I can reach the youth and impress the teachers and staff in Bermuda, I should be able to hold my own in the States too.

Don’t be content

When I returned to the States, I was hungry for success. I had a taste of the good life, the beach, the food, the money, and I wasn’t about to go back to Huntsville and settle for mediocrity. As soon as I landed I got on my grind. I took my G.E.D class to another level. I recruited more volunteers, I purchased more software and I took my recruitment efforts to another level. However, there was one problem. I was putting so much of my time and effort into my speaking career and my community service work that my grades were suffering. By the end of the fall semester of my junior year, I was dismissed from college. From the outside looking in, it may have appeared to be a major setback. In reality, it was a blessing in disguise because neither my head nor heart was in school. Now that I had been dismissed, I had 24 hours a day to invest in my career. Even though I took a lot of flack for getting kicked out, I was determined to prove all of my doubters wrong.

CHAPTER

16

You Gotta Want It As Bad As You Want To Breathe

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.’ Jimmy Johnson

Just when I thought I was doing everything I could do to position myself for greatness, my boy Marcus Flowers came out of nowhere and burst my bubble.

Marcus shared an excerpt of this book that blew my mind and challenged me to reevaluate the meaning of giving 100%. I had just finished speaking at a summer youth camp when I noticed Marcus walking towards me, which was strange because he had already graduated from OC and moved to Atlanta. He was the type of dude that was on his grind so serious that I didn’t expect to see him on campus just hanging out. He had recently become a big time promoter in Atlanta. He ran towards me yelling, “E, you gotta read this book. It’s off the chain…no, E, you have to read this book like yesterday.”

“What’s the name of the book?” Before I could get the whole question out of my mouth, he replied, “Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice by Dennis Kimbro.” He then started reading this section out of the book about this guru and a young man. The following is my interpretation of the “Guru” story as seen on YouTube’s “Eric Thomas-Secrets to Success” video:

The story is about a young man, who wanted to make a lot of money and he decided to go to this guru. He told the guru that, “I want to be on the same level you’re on.” 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 four a.m.” “The beach?”, the young man asked, puzzled. “I said I want to make money; I don’t want to learn how to swim.”

The guru said, “If you want to make money, I’ll meet you tomorrow at four a.m.”

The young man got there at four a.m. ready to rock and roll, he’s got on a suit, (he should have worn shorts), the old man grabs his hand and says, “How bad do you want to be successful?” The young man says, “Real bad.” The guru says, “Walk on out into the water.” So the young man walks out into the water (watch this), when he walks out into the water it goes waist deep. The young man is thinking,”… this guy is crazy… I want to make money and you got me out here swimming, I didn’t ask to be a life guard, I want to make money. You got me in…” The guru interrupted the young man’s thoughts and said, “Come out a little further.” The young man walked out a little further, the water was right around his shoulder area. The young man is thinking again, “… this man is crazy , he’s making money, but he’s crazy.” The guru said, “Come on out a little further.” The young man came out a little further, the water was right at his mouth. My guy is like, “I’m about to go back… this guy is out his mind!”

So the old man said, “I thought you said you want to be successful?”

The young man said, “I do.” The guru commanded, “Walk a little further.” The young man came and the guru reached down and dropped his head in, holding him down, the young man starts beating and slapping the water. He had him held down and just before the young man was about to pass out, the guru raised him up. He said, “I got a question for you. When you were under water, what did you want to do?” The young man said, “I wanted to breathe.” The guru told the guy, “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”

That one small excerpt changed my outlook on life forever. I thought I was on my A game until I heard that story but I realized in seconds that I had not put out the type of effort the guru was referring to. I talked the talk, I watched the motivation videos, I visited the library on a consistent basis but I just “kind of” wanted it. I did not want it as bad as I wanted to breathe. I had to be honest with myself; there were several areas that I hadn’t been giving 120%, and if I wanted to be successful for real, I was going to have to push myself much harder.

There were two areas in particular that I tried to ignore. I hoped that if I worked hard enough on my strengths that it would compensate for, and somehow offset my weaknesses. However, I knew deep down inside that at some point I was going to have to man up and deal with my academic struggles and with the pain associated with my biological father. In fact, after the birth of my first child Jalen, I felt this overwhelming pressure to stop avoiding both. I could no longer ignore the fact that my academic challenges and my unwillingness to forgive my biological father for not being in my life were somehow keeping me from going to that next level in my life. I knew neither would be easy to confront but I wanted to succeed as bad as I wanted to breathe, and if it meant tackling two of the biggest obstacles in my life, then I was willing to do just that.