SELF IMPROVEMENT – Motivational Speech for Success In Life 2017

I believe that there are three types of
people in life they’re winners they’re
losers and they’re winners who have not
discovered how to win yet and these
individuals it’s something about them
that drives them that that they will
invest in themselves they go to seminars
and workshops and lectures and they’re
seeking there’s something in them that
says I can do better than this that
they’re people who would be glad to be
where they are and would be happy but
they’re not how many of you know if you
had your life to live over again you can
do more than what you’ve done thus far
raise your hands I was reading a story
about George Bernard Shaw who was a very
brilliant man in his day and I’d love to
quote him but one of the things that was
asked George Bernard Shaw that really
resonated with me at the end of his life
somebody asked him if you had to be
anybody in the world
anybody throughout history if you had
the power to be born again who would you
like to come back as and without
blinking he said I’d like to be born as
the man I never was I’d like to be the
man I never was I never became seeking
to connect with that person there’s a
another person here that you’re looking
at there’s somebody else back there and
every chair in this place there are two
people in this place in every chair
you’re in the chair with somebody else
there’s another person back there you
know they’re back there and that person
is the person that you want to become
connected with and sometimes you do
sometimes you’ve had some experiences
where you said
I can’t believe I’m doing this how many
never done that please that you surprise
yourself when every time I speak I see
this as such a sacred opportunity and
I’m so happy sometimes I think I’m
dreaming because when I look back on my
life and this Les Brown that you see was
in bondage for so many years didn’t come
out too late in my life I had him under
arrest I was in bondage with fear I
wanted to do what I’m doing and I
thought about things I wanted to
accomplish and I held myself back
because I was afraid to fail I was
afraid to make mistakes I was afraid
that I would embarrass myself I was
intimidated by people who had college
degrees because I didn’t have a college
degree I still don’t have a college
degree and so I would think about the
things I wanted to do and then I would
start thinking about the fact unless you
can do that that’s what I told this guy
in me alas you can’t do that you don’t
have a college education less I hear
what you’re saying but come on be
logical
be practical you can’t do that I know
you feel good going to see Zig Ziglar
and tony robbins and the late dr. norman
vincent peale and Robert challan
I know they motivate you and inspire you
but get real you can’t do that you never
work for any major corporation come on
let’s be practical be logical oh yes I
know people told you you have a gift of
gab and you have a nice personality and
and you’re funny and you make people
feel good you make them laugh but you
become a speaker speak for corporations
train and teach people motivate people
to do something you’ve never done you’re
not rich you’re not successful you don’t
have any books you don’t have the
resources you don’t know the people you
don’t have the contacts you you can’t do
that Les Brown see my heart said I can
do that
and I looked at my dream and saw someone
doing what I love to do I love to help
people how many love to help people and
my heart said I can do that and then I
made a critical mistake I asked how the
mind became operative the mind came up
front and say let’s round I heard what
your heart said what I want to ask you
how will you do that and so I went from
my heart to my mind and I tried to
figure it out
how would I do that at that time I
wanted to earn $1,000 an hour my mind
said do you make $1,000 a week I said no
okay have you ever done this before I
said no okay well I’m not saying you
can’t do it but let me ask you some
other questions all right
have you any contacts with anybody that
can teach you how to do this no okay
well maybe there’s something else do you
have the money no do you have the
credentials no will anybody stand up for
you and say oh he’s done it for me and I
know he’s good
no well let me ask you do you really
think you could do this no there’s an
African proverb that says if there’s no
enemy within the enemy outside can do
you no harm
how many of you ever thought about
something you wanted to do you felt it
in your heart you couldn’t explain it
you found it in your heart and you
talked yourself out of it raise your
hands you know what I’m talking about
I talked myself out of it no one did it
to me but me the 40 of Reuters is not in
Our Stars but in ourselves that we are
underlings my first major goal was I
wanted to buy my mother a home and I
achieve that I’m adopted
I feel like Abraham Lincoln who said all
that I am and all that ever hope to be I
owe to my mother so sign once it said
God took me out of my biological
mother’s womb and placed me in the heart
of my adopted mother my mama was a good
woman she adopted seven children mama
only had a third great education but I
admired her her carrot I admired her
personality she never met strangers mama
met you right now she would talk your
head off you know she’s a funny well but
she always had a since humor mama walked
fast we walked with Mama downtown we had
to hold a dress mama
but walk fast we trying to keep up with
mama years later at the end of her life
she was 89 and suffering from breast
cancer we took her to a Furniture
Warehouse and she got out of the car
with my sister and she was holding my
arm and I said mama I say they have a
wheelchair here can I get this
wheelchair for you and I went got the
wheelchair and she looked at me she said
no boy I would walk this place myself I
said mama but it’s it’s so huge mom huh
oh I wrote me in a wheelchair she said
I’m fine and I saw her straighten
herself and she she walked it herself I
admired her strength I as oh mama you
know this morning I I got up and every
time something happens to me and I want
to get down and I want to surrender to
any of the challenges I encounter and I
got up this morning and the sadiq nerve
in this hell v and l4 My Lord disc the
protruding and I was in pain and
and my body said you can’t do this
speech today in and somebody said are
you gonna surrender to this pain are you
mamie’s boy get up and straighten your
back you can do that speech you can walk
that flow yourself when you start
walking you won’t feel anything but her
presence with you sometimes we have to
stand up inside ourselves sometimes we
have to fight ourselves sometimes you
have a dream and goal that you want to
achieve and you say oh I can’t do that
you got to tell yourself to shut up I
can do it don’t tell me I can’t do that
sometimes you got to talk to yourself I
can’t do I’m a nice boy oh I can do this
oh I will do it I have got to do this
what you think about your dream and I
want you to increase your dream
dramatically and I said you have
something special I’m telling you what I
know you have greatness in you you have
the ability to do more than you can ever
begin to imagine I don’t even know you
but I’m telling you what I know from our
own experience and greatness ladies and
gentlemen greatness it’s a choice it’s
not your destiny most people never
discover their greatness most people
ladies and gentlemen go to their graves
living a life of mediocrity living a
life far below their potential Oliver
Wendell Holmes said most men and women
go to their graves with their music
still in them from the Mayan Dwight
pleasure
the eulogizing his his brother and
Chicago and I attended the funeral
Dwight powerful speaker he gives a
presentation called how to start over
again how to make it from scratch old
Dwight as powerful Dwight had lost his
life years to drugs and crack cocaine
lost everything and he came back again
he demonstrated come back power going
around the world changing people’s lives
and he was eulogizing
his brother he said and the room was
very quiet and very somber and he said
my brother was in the room in California
and they told me he died by himself and
he said and I submit to you that my
brother didn’t die by himself then with
my brother died a lot of Dreams with my
brother died a lot of potential my
brother had a lot of good ideas and my
brother was one of those guys there that
said one day I’m gonna and everybody
started laughing because they everybody
knew his brother was talking about
various things all the time one day I’m
gonna do this and one day I’m gonna do
that in one day I’m gonna do hit a lot
of good ideas that he never acted on and
when he died when he took his last
breath all those ideas and one day I’m
gone all of that went down in a grave
with him Henry David Thoreau come
forward what are your words he said Oh
God to reach the point of death only to
realize that you’ve never lived only to
realize that you’ve never scraped the
surface of your potential general and
come forth what would you say when the
end comes for you let it find you
conquering a new mountain not sliding
down and oh one hole no ladies and
gentlemen a lot of people die full full
of their dreams full of talent full of
ideas full of skills full of
intelligence and abilities that they
never reach for they never tapped
they’ve never got into they never used
it
never used it and so how do we do that
what isn’t it that blocks as well I
mentioned one what mine was fear here’s
another one I didn’t feel good enough I
just I was comparing myself to other
people I didn’t feel because I didn’t
have a college education and based upon
my failures and disappointments in the
past and things that I’d attempted to do
and they did not work out I’d built a
very practical realistic logical case on
why I couldn’t have my dream and so I
want whatever dream you have I want you
to expand it I want you to increase it
and I want to warn you don’t ask
yourself how you’re going to do it
how is none of your business don’t get
trapped there and don’t worry about
failing you’re going to fail you’re
going to make some mistakes you’re going
to look stupid wise call life
write this down make it okay to fail
Goethe says that which does not kill you
will make you stronger see where I found
that as the saying goes most people fail
in life not because they aim too high
and miss most people fail in life
because they aim too low and hit
and many don’t aim at all
many just survive they come to work
asking what time is it and they work
just hard enough to keep from being
fired and they are getting paid just
enough to keep them from quitting in
order to to reach your goals and do some
incredible things ladies and gentlemen I
said that you have something special you
have got to have faith and ignorance
you’ve got to believe in yourself you’ve
got to believe in what you’re doing
you’ve got to believe in your product
you’ve got to believe in your services
you’ve got to believe in a Power greater
than yourself you got to believe in the
power pursuit and you’ve got to be
ignorant enough to know that you don’t
know what you can’t do don’t rule
anything out for you I has not seen here
he’s not her nor has been at the heart
of humankind what God has in store for
you repeat after me please leave and
grow your wings on the way down
yes you have your good self or you’ve
got to be a risk-taker here’s something
else I tell you what you want one of the
keys what will separate great sales
professionals from people that are
mediocre I’ll tell you what I learned
this as a kid he used to sell newspapers
Sam Axelrod who was one of my early
mentors he used to every day he would
pick me up and I was the youngest one in
the group all old of individuals didn’t
mostly grown men and every day Sam would
get in and he would have a quote for
everybody in the car
Sam driving a station wagon he said
gentlemen yes he said this is the use of
a world and if you don’t use it in the
right way it’s a cruel world
and I would say thank you mr. Axelrod
nobody else paid attention to that I
don’t know why but I was the one it just
made sense to me and I kept these things
I remember Leslie yes sir because he
remembered that I was the only one that
responded I was the only one that took
notes when he spoke he’s had always
tried to get on top in life young man
because it’s the bottom that’s
overcrowded yes sir
thank you miss sucks miss X rod and but
he was baffled by me because he couldn’t
understand how that adults who were 10
15 years older than I was had more
experience how was it that I was selling
circles around them I didn’t have the
experience they were more mature how did
this little young kid come there and
I’ll sell them two to one in many cases
he couldn’t understand when at the
evening of the close of the day he would
look around and do a head count so wait
a minute somebody’s missing and never I
said you know who it is that Leslie guy
Leslie yes sir
hey come on nobody stole anything it’s
dead territory oh I can’t calm down Sam
why I haven’t sold anything Leslie no
one’s so do you think you guys sell
anything no sir
summit territories are dead Leslie Sam
yes sir I can’t come why I haven’t sold
anything Leslie no one sold anything
that’s them Sam oh I’ll get home all
right
I’ll be all right Leslie in order for
you to get from here back to over town
from Liberty City you’ve got to pass the
20th Street shops the 14th Street game
Leslie that’s dangerous young man Sam
I’ll be all right it’s late it’s late
it’s after 8 o’clock I’ll be all right
and the guys would say come on Sam he’s
a fool leaving leaving he won’t stop and
see these guys is just extra chump
change I guess I don’t know maybe to
have a new suit pay a little small bill
here and there for me it was different
my mother adopted seven children because
of Authority conditions she lost her job
so my reasons were different write this
down five reasons whatever he goes on
dreams are why you won’t fail five
reasons five reasons why you won’t feel
Nietzsche said if you know the why for
living you can endure almost any how
five reasons I couldn’t afford not to
make a sale I was out there to get
groceries for our family I had to make
money I had to to make enough money for
dr. Johnson when he had a prescription
for Mama I had to make money for the
bills for the light bills I had to work
mama was doing the best she could but
mama
our hero mama was sick we have no
relative she was an only child she
adopted seven children at age 46 I saw
my mother on the floor scrubbing floors
on her knees we ate the leftover food
from the families that she cooked for
they were very nice people said Mamie
whatever food is left over
you can take it home to those children
that you have adopted and I said mama
when I get strong enough I’m gonna buy
food for our families we want a
hand-me-down clothes of the children
that that she kept they would said Mamie
whatever clothes here that you could use
these children of mine don’t need these
take them home and let those kids wear
those clothes that you have adopted if
they were too large mama what’s old take
them up if they were too small she would
let them out and now mama was sick I
said mama what boy I’m gonna take care
of you how to worry mama and I sold
newspapers and I sold televisions that’s
it huh I used to collect copper and
aluminum from garbage cans and junk
piles and I would bend them together and
and and put them in a bag and out of our
box being food we had take him to
Peppa’s junkyard over in Overtown in
11th terrorism and in 4th Avenue and
they put him on a scale and give us $5 I
would stand on the corner hey we need
some boys to come move some stuff hey
you too small oh I’m small but I’m
strong you see my muscle man I’m strong
okay boy you got a lot of mouth you
better be able to be strong yeah and
I’ll be grunting stuff and care and
stuff you know how I was determined I
wasn’t going to steal that was not an
option mama worked too hard I promised
my mama mama I never get in trouble I’m
I’m gonna do the right thing I’m I’m so
proud of you I’m so glad that you
decided to adopt us I love you so much
I’m gonna take care of you mama I’m
gonna work hard just like you just like
isn’t interesting how kids can be in the
same family raised by the same same
parents same circumstances end up
dramatically different what is that
never I said that you have something
special I believe it people go to
seminars and workshops they have that it
that’s something I don’t know what it is
it’s just something about us that we’re
different we don’t know why we just got
to have more we don’t know why we have
this restlessness and say to ourselves
this just can’t be it there’s got to be
something better we don’t know we just
got
do this we just got to keep on
stretching got to keep on learning we
don’t care about feeling I read
something that was in my first book by
dr. Benjamin Mays he was a great man
great motivator I wanted mentions of dr.
Martin Luther King jr. dr. Benjamin
Isaiah Mays says it must be borne in
mind that the tragedy of life does not
lie and not reaching your goals
the tragedy lies are not having any
goals to reach it isn’t a calamity to
die with dreams unfulfilled but is a
calamity not to dream it’s not a
disaster to be unable to capture your
ideas but it is a disaster to have no
ideas to capture it’s not a disgrace not
to reach for the stars but it is a
disgrace to have no stars to reach I say
you got goals and dreams things that
you’re reaching for things that will
make you stretch things that will
challenge you I say don’t lose that
passion and that drive for life it will
keep you alive I’m telling you what I
know doctors looked at me eight years
ago and said you have cancer eight years
ago they gave me two and a half years I
was still here I told my group of
speakers that I trained I said I’m gonna
beat this and this is a year all of them
said hokay letter we believe you man we
believing in you and then they start
calling the person who manages my
speaking program and say will we get a
free fund when he dies because they were
believing the numbers because the PSA
one to four is normal 119 that’s serious
I’d went to the MD Anderson which is
number one in the world sloan-kettering
Johns Hopkins Howard University went to
all type of doctors and urologist an
oncologist and I said mr. Brown I’m
sorry young man but um we’ve done all we
can do and let me share something with
you write this down work on yourself see
the people that are going to reach their
goals and dreams not only do they have
compelling reasons that drive them
because the thing that drove
II that kept me ahead of everybody else
I had some compelling reasons why I was
selling television sets no money down I
had some compelling reasons that I’d go
to a door at ten o’clock at night and
not going to do hello yes who is that hi
would you like to buy a nice working
television set no money down board do
you know what time it is yes I do it’s
10 o’clock at night and I’d take care of
my mama and I’m going to sell the
television set tonight to somebody and
it might as well be you and finally
somebody said food come on and it better
be a good one
you got to have some reasons reasons
will drive you reasons will give you
come back power one of my good friends
Willy jolly has a saying one of his
books that like that if you did not know
he says a setback is a setup for a
comeback
a setback is a setup for a comeback when
I said you have cancer one of the things
that was different for me than everybody
else and I just finished doing a
presentation called
you are more powerful than cancer was
because in fact that I listened to so
many positive things I went to so many
lectures I talked to so many people that
were cancer conquerors I asked them what
did you do and when people said to me oh
my uncle died of prostate cancer my
father died from prostate cancer my mind
said well that has nothing to do with me
I don’t want to hear nothing about that
I’m not being insensitive but don’t tell
me that that’s not my destiny I got too
much work to do I got things and I’m
supposed to accomplish and so I had a
mindset that hey I can beat this I can
get past this oh no I’m not going out
like this
so you got to stand up in yourself you
got to fight you will have opposition
things gonna happen to you in life it’s
called life and it’s not personal stuffs
gonna happen and if you make it to the
40-yard line if you can make it to age
40 between 40 and 60 it begins to
intensify all kind of things happen
between 40 and 60 my mother was
diagnosed with breast cancer and finally
between 40 and 60 I was diagnosed with
prostate cancer between 40 and 60
I between I went through a divorce from
someone that I loved very much between
40 and 60 my best friend died waiting or
a liver transplant between 40 and 60 had
a nationally syndicated talk show
highs rated fastest cancelled talk show
in a history of television between 40
and 60 Oh life put a whooping hold be my
comedy y’all had yours already tell how
many you know what I’m talking about
hey personal don’t say why did this have
to happen to me why not you it’s called
life and here’s what the key to it that
you have to work on yourself I read
every book I could on how to heal
yourself I listened to every speech I
talked to people I went to lectures I
mean everything dealing with healing I
fed my mind
same thing in sales focus on your mind
when your sales dropped focus on your
mind not your techniques not just
strategy not your clothes focus on your
mind what you do what you accomplish
what you’re able to sell is a direct
direct relationship to what you believe
and the story that you playing in your
head that’s what that’s what blocks you
as sales professionals I’m telling you
what I know I’m telling you what I’ve
earned billions of dollars doing I’m
telling you what got me from being born
an abandoned building on a floor and
being labeled educable mentally retarded
put back from the fifth grade to the
fourth grade failing in the eighth grade
and being able to give a lecture at
Saint Albert Hall and London England or
speaking at Harvard University I’m
telling you what got me here what
brought me to the party the speaking
into Georgia don’t to over 80,000 people
was my belief and the story in my head
the story used to be I couldn’t do that
but by listening to lectures over and
over again faith comes by hearing and
hearing and hearing by reading and
feeding my mind language is a software
the MA
how many of you
since I’ve been speaking to you your
energy level is higher raise your hands
please yes how many of you can feel me
in your heart raise your hands please
yeah dr. norman vincent peale spoke he
gave me goose pimples when Earl
Nightingale said all of us are self-made
but only the successful will admit it
mr. sidarsky you like that one huh yeah
mr. sidarsky family that we work for in
Miami Beach he did not know why I spent
so much time in his office shining his
shoes because he listened to the
strangest secret in the world by her
alighting Hill and I was listening to
this and as he was playing those tapes
called lead the field I was hearing
these things and then and what not shiny
he said well that’s good enough I said
well let me dust let me let me do
killing I do love a star well that looks
real clean last night oh look at the
books of crooked let me and I’d win it
early and messed him up so I could stay
because I were to be in there while he
was taking this time to work them and
say he was a multi-millionaire my dream
and vision was one day I’m going to be a
millionaire like mr. sidarsky one day
because I was young I had faith and I
was young and ignorant I didn’t know I
couldn’t do it I didn’t know I couldn’t
have a mansion I was like the bumblebee
according to the laws of aerodynamics a
bumblebee isn’t supposed to fly because
the body is too large to be held up by
his little puny wings but the bumblebee
doesn’t know it it’s intelligently
ignorant so it keeps on flying anyhow
you have to read write this down
something positive every day for an hour
you have to put yourself and you’ve got
those five PS in a personal development
regimen take an hour every day I do it
even now I take two because my goals are
higher every day
read at least a chapter something
positive everyday listen to a
motivational message every day language
it’s a software the mine why because it
will change the straw story that’s in
your head see what we do what we
accomplish is a result as I said earlier
or what we believe and the story that’s
in our head see most people go so far
and then they park they stop their
income their achievement level their
Commission’s what they do in life just
tapers off they Park because of the
story in their head is this is it it’s
not conscious guess well I got so busy
and so consuming where I was I stopped
reading I stopped listening to tapes
that which got me there I stopped doing
it the mine ladies and gentlemen it’s
like a god if you have a garden you have
a yard you have weeds you just can’t go
out there but one can of weed killer
write this down Steve Duncan’s had said
this powerful statement put it someplace
you can apply to your health you can
apply it to your sales you can apply to
your business you can apply to your life
he said life is a fight for territory
and once you stop fighting for what you
want what you don’t want will
automatically take over life is a fight
for territory
and once you stop fighting for what you
want what you don’t want will
automatically take over I have to
exercise every day I have to drop out of
my bed and do 100 pushups every day I
have to discipline my eating I have to
turn off the news I can’t watch the news
I’m not going to have a reoccurrence of
cancer in my body I have to eat 80% raw
vegetables I have to drink 12 glasses of
water a day I have to take my zinc in my
saw palmetto about hill and 951 I have
to take my wheatgrass I hate it but life
of the fight fraternity I’m fighting for
my health I have to what working on
yourself does by sending us our time to
work on your mind to go seminars and
workshops it causes you to begin to
reflect on yourself to take personal
inventory and to upgrade your game plan
and your strategy but also it increases
your faith see I believe it is something
that continues to grow what I earn is a
reflection of what I believe
subconsciously that I deserve they did
this study with these senior citizens in
their 80s and 90s and said do you look
back on your life what do you like to
say right now you know they said the
majority have said they have regrets of
the things they thought about they they
didn’t do and now they’re going to their
graves not knowing if they could have
done it that’s why I said live for diam
do what if you lose what have you failed
what if things don’t work out so so what
it’s not about the goals that you reach
it’s about what you become in the
process that’s what it’s about
I’ve lost a lot of deals that’s okay
I’ve made a lot but I’ve lost more deals
I get more rejections you get close to
me there’s a callus on my it looks like
a mole I’ve made over a hundred cold
calls in a day to convince people to
bring
yeah who are you my name is les brown
have an experience no I don’t but if you
will let me work for you I work real
hard I’ll have you as my client that
will brag about me
oh no you let us know when you do it for
somebody okay yes I will
calling calling calling call finally
somebody said yes write this down you
will win if you don’t quit
Oh sales you got to have stamina you’ve
got to have staying power you want to be
successful in sale you’ve got to make
know your vitamin oh you can’t be a whip
someone says no that’s when we get
excited house what a sales professional
get start everybody said yes we wouldn’t
be needed let us say together it’s
possible see the people that are going
to increase their sales the people that
are going to change their lives the
people that are going to recover their
health the people that are going to
build their lives and start all over
again from scratch of people who believe
it’s possible the people who fail are
the people who suffer from possibility
blindness repeat after me please go all
out yeah write that down
see when you want to increase your
performance in life they say the people
that are successful in any area of life
you must be willing to do the things a
day others won’t do in order to have the
things tomorrow others won’t have if you
want to make it in any area in life
you’ve got to go all out I was always
the top seller where I was because I
made more calls I made more
presentations than anybody else I always
have had a goal to earn $100,000 a year
I set my site and I had a plan of action
to make enough calls create enough
prospects to earn four hundred thousand
dollars why I had to give Murphy’s his
if I shot for a hundred thousand I knew
I would fall short but if I shot
realistically and practically and work
like I was working for four hundred
thousand I wouldn’t drop down to a
hundred thousand and even if I dropped
that two hundred thousand I’m still
ahead of the game
yeah William said all you can do is all
you can do and all you can do is enough
but make sure you do all you can do
right this now you want to make it a day
you got to out fake and outwork the
competition I’ll think you’re not
working we’re going to take a break in
and I’m gonna share with you some other
strategies that will give you the
competitive edge I don’t kill what
you’re doing I’ll work with my
competition when I decided to become a
motivational speaker
my goal was not to be just another guide
here I train speakers and I say let me
tell you what has governed the industry
the Dale Carnegie course which is a
great course tell them what you’re going
to tell them tell them and tell them
what you told them I said you want to be
successful and speaking or anything else
I said listen to me my favorite book
says and all thy getting get
understanding you want to be successful
in any business and any sales first
thing you want to do is know your
customer I tell people spend more time
listening to them asking questions
finding out what they need don’t go in
running your mouth some people talk
their way in and talk their way out have
you seen them do it raise your hand find
out who they are
find out what do they want ask questions
give a presentation from their point of
view not from your point of view let
them see you as a resource as a
consultant as a strategic partner don’t
go in selling bill relationships
they would say people don’t care how
much you know until they know how much
you care
here’s something else and whatever you
want to do in becoming successful
writing this down master your knowledge
of the marketplace and the product when
I decided to become a major player in
this industry I started reading one book
a week you must be willing to do the
things a day others won’t do in order
having things tomorrow others won’t have
the average American reads one book a
year if you decide to become an expert
professional in your area and becoming
knowledgeable about your customer about
the product about the industry about the
competition you just study and read one
book a month and five years from the
average American read five books you
read 60 books it will make you an expert
here’s the other thing that we talk
about when we come back write this down
we’ll start off this with presentation
power the difference between successful
and unsuccessful sales professionals is
the power to present mr. Washington said
mr. Brown yes sir man changed my life I
was in his class waiting on another
student he said young man go to board
work this problem out for me I said well
sir I can’t do that say why not I said
I’m not one of his to say look at me yes
sir go to the board and work the problem
out anyhow I can’t do that sir why not
sir because my magica bula mentally
retarded sermon special education and as
the students erupting and laughed he
came from behind his desk he looked at
me he said don’t you ever say that again
someone’s opinion of you does not have
to become your reality
on one hand I was humiliated but on the
other hand I was liberated because he
looked at me with the eyes of Goethe and
said look at a man that weighed headed
he is he only becomes worse but look at
him as if he were what he could be then
it becomes what he should be and he said
mr. brown
he said develop your mind and develop
your communication skills because once
you open your mouth you tell the world
who you are and with that we will take
time out this has been mrs. Mamie
Brown’s baby boy it’s been a plum
pleasing pleasure as well as a privilege
thank you
this stage of my life I’m reinventing
myself I’m training people how to become
a part of this fifty eight billion
dollar industry and one of the things
that I think that that top sales
performers have going for them is the
ability to present and that is either on
the telephone or 101 or in small group
settings making the presentation or
speaking before a large audience it’s
something that can be learned and
something that some keys I’d like to
share with you and the training that we
provide that will give you a competitive
edge how many of you think that that
will they have some value and and
learning strategies that can impact your
presentation style raise your hands
please how many of you have ever been in
a situation that you know that had you
been more effective in terms of how you
presented yourself that you would have
done better raise your hands please have
you ever been in a situation this has
happened to me where you choked raise
your hand where I just choked dearly
just could not remember anything my mind
went blank you want to master your
knowledge you want to know when you open
your mouth that you know what you’re
talking about the reason that I said you
have to work on
yourself and write this down before you
sneak power presentation before you
speak see a lot of people just worry
about good at getting up and speaking
and presenting before you speak there’s
work you’ve got to do on you because I
don’t care how good you are in your
presentation in your knowledge how
well-organized it is I don’t care about
your PowerPoint presentation who you are
behind the words will be more powerful
than the words you speak when you come
into the room you’ve got to have a
spirit and energy about you that you
expect this deal to happen you have to
come in the room and you have to look at
them and your look must be the only
reason you were spared from birth
control was to give me this deal
before you speak your body language when
you come and watch your posture your
mind said before you speak listen to
positive motivational messages before
you speak read 10 to 15 pages of
something positive why it increases your
energy we’re all connected ladies and
gentlemen haven’t you felt people’s
energy that some people you’ll get
around them and and you just said
there’s something about that person I
don’t know what it is but I don’t like
their energy how many of you have been
like come here I’ve walked into a deal
and you know the deal was done before
you took the contract out raise your
hand please you know it
you knew it because you knew you’re in
the zone you knew you’re in your place
you knew you were in sync mentally and
emotionally and spiritually and your
information you knew you were ready it
was ready it was game time you knew it
and I’m saying from the time you get out
of the car and walk in from the time you
make eye contact and shake their hand
from the time when you say hello you
have to be closed you have to close the
deal in your voice your mindset must be
this is it stick a fork in it it’s done
you’re not going anyplace else this is
it one stop one deal it’s mine
I do market takeaways against the
brightest and the best I don’t care
about the credentials Envy a PhD only
means piled high and deep that’s all
[Music]
no disrespect I don’t care I’m gonna
prepare you’re not going to out think
and outwork me I’m gonna know everything
there is to know about my customer about
what their needs are I’d like what this
lady said and she said talking about the
added value her company was providing
for her customers she said it’s not our
intention to please our customers or to
satisfy our customers our intention is
to amaze them when I decide to become a
speaker I noticed that you hear most of
my heroes they gave the same speech
it’s a memorized script they give it
everywhere I decided I was going to make
myself different what is different about
you you’ve got to have something that
makes you stand out when you are in a
situation and people make decisions with
their dollars in a time when the economy
is tight at a time when budgets are
tight you don’t have the option of not
believing in yourself if there’s any
doubt as an ounce of doubt and trust me
ninety nine and a half won’t get it if
there’s any doubt of you intimidated by
the competition I charged more than 99
percent of the speakers they said hey
you know you charge too much no you just
don’t have enough money I don’t charge
too much you get well I’ve got a speaker
that will come in for fifteen thousand
dollars I said then get that then you
get a fifteen thousand dollar speaker
and you get the results or whatever they
produce but when you want the best you
call me and I might be at the same level
okay no no we know anybody else we want
you very good then write the check you
have to believe in yourself you have to
believe in your product you have to
believe in your service and you have to
sell you every day that’s the biggest
sale you have to make the biggest sale
ladies and gentlemen that I make every
day that Les Brown you can do this the
biggest sale I had to make when I left
the doctor’s office and they said mr.
Brown your PSA is still going up the
biggest sale I had to make as I was
walking out of the office I can beat
this I can beat this it doesn’t matter
about what they say about their numbers
I’m not going to listen to that report
home no absolutely not they are not God
they don’t know the future they don’t
know who I am I’ve got to fight this at
the cellular level Oh No
other people have beated over 9 million
I can beat this son stronger than cancer
if other people can do it then it’s
possible that I can do it it’s not my
town no they don’t know who I am
oh I can make this sale absolutely no I
don’t have the credentials no I can’t do
a slide presentation can’t even turn on
a computer I still have my 8-track oh
but I’m gonna get this deal
you got to sell yourself every day and
sometimes you get scared I like what I’m
Ambrose Redmoon said that courage is not
the absence of fear courage is the
judgment that what you want is more
important than your fear I used to be
intimidated by people because they had
more education because they had more
money because they had credentials
because they had contacts because they
had four color brochures because they
had books and I didn’t have all these
things because they had infomercials and
they had television explosion I didn’t
have all those things but the judgement
that providing for my family
was more important than my feeling
inferior more important in my fears the
judgment that I have to control my
future the judgment that I want to be
able to take care of my mother that when
my mother becomes ill I want to be in a
position to do more than just pray for
her Oh No whatever she needs medically I
will be able to write the check the
judgment that my children will have a
choice to go to the College of their
choice to give them a competitive edge
in the future the judgment that hold
know one day I’m gonna be able to have
vacations I will go to Paris I’ll go to
Tahiti I will go to Jamaica
I will go to Hawaii the judgment I have
more time for myself the judgment that
I’m gonna secure my grandchildren’s
future and my great-grandchildren the
judgment of those things that make life
worth living was more important than my
fear what is it
that will make it worth it for you to
face the rejections what is it that will
make it work worth it for you the
brainstorm and not be intimidated and
say I can do this what is it that will
make it worth of it of you to raise the
bar on yourself and say I’ve got some
more stuff in me oh I haven’t even got
my biggest deal yet what is it that will
make it worth it for you to go back to a
customer who slammed a door in your face
what is it that will make it worth it
for you to make know your vitamin that
you become empowered by it what is it I
will make it for you when you want to
give up you can’t buy a sale and things
are working against you and you get
close to making your numbers and then
they double your quota what is it you’ve
got a sales manager breathing down your
neck don’t give you the tools don’t give
you the resources that you need you’re
working in a toxic environment and
rather than working together they’re
working against you what is it that will
make it worth it for you to get out of
the car
when you want to keep driving past the
office because of the stress what is it
that gives you the strength in the power
gotta sing on one of my tapes and life
knocks you down try to land on your back
because if you can look up you can get
it what is it that will help you get
back up again can you feel me up in here
love it here come on get over a round of
applause
[Applause]
when you are involved in any area of
life let us say you got to have Drive
together you got to have Drive let us
say kick it up a notch yeah see when you
are presenting I tell and train my
speakers you’ve got to kick it up a
notch you’ve got to have power feeling
and conviction you can’t be casual see
if you’re casual about your dream you
will end up a casual team if you’re
casual about your product if you’re
casual about what it is you’re
presenting if you don’t internalize it
if they can’t feel that you are excited
that you are sold yourself
they don’t care you’ve got to give
people enough emotional energy to say
wait a minute I know this have cost less
but is something about this this person
I’m gonna go with them I’m gonna go with
them I’m telling what I know I’ve had
companies say no look here I know we
have these other peoples but I want
somebody in here that’s on fire about
our stuff I talked to this guy he’s
already done his research he knows about
us I saw him speak and he’s so custom
designer we thought he was in the real
estate industry we thought he was
involved in finance what is it that’s
gonna set you apart you gotta care
enough to do your research you got to
know what you know and they got to know
that you know that you know and when you
speak how you speak before the words the
spirit of who you are will touch them
give you the competitive advantage if
you’re going to be successful today
write this down you’ve got to be
flexible you’ve got to be versatile and
you’ve got to be adaptable you’ve got to
deal with circumstances such as you find
them why because a lot of stuff is going
to be thrown at you many times you’re
not gonna have time to prepare sometimes
people come out of nowhere with stuff
and you’ve got to stand up inside of
yourself and handle it
see ladies and gentlemen we’ve been
blessed to be dropped off on this part
of the planet because we have choices
some people don’t have choices they
don’t have the option I’ve been abroad
well I stood in line waiting to cross
the border singing god Bless America
they called me to my room did mr. Brown
did you call yes I just turned on my
shower and it didn’t come on and I tried
to flush the toilet in it it didn’t
flush oh well you ought to be back on at
five o’clock five o’clock no problem at
all there is a problem I want to flush
the toilet oh I don’t want to sit up in
here and it smell that all day oh no it
ain’t that kind of party there is or I
want to take a shower there’s a problem
up in here oh no we do this every day
well you don’t have enough water to have
it running all day long we take that for
granted
the granite coming to the grocery store
had this woman crying out on another
aisle I go around thinking she fell or
something and she just been brought here
from Prussia and she’d never seen so
much food and oh my god has she turned
to the lady that took in the store she
said you have a slaw blew your vast blue
means I love you thank you for bringing
me here I love you safely take for
granted how is it that immigrants coming
to this country can’t speak the language
and and run circles around our children
academically and have a 4-time greater
chance of becoming millionaires than the
average Americans why why because they
are not casual about making it they
don’t come here wanting to live their
dreams they expect to live their dreams
when you out swim shots or you sneak
over here through some ship cargo or in
the belly of a plane oh let me tell you
something you come here Ronnie
and have a passion to win to win to do
whatever is required if we’re going to
maintain ha dominance globally in this
era that Peter Drucker calls the era the
three C’s accelerated change
overwhelming complexity and tremendous
competition we’ve got to kick it up a
notch we’ve gotten too comfortable oh no
it’s a different game now we’ve gone
from a domestic economy to a global
economy
oh no we can be replaced replaced in a
heartbeat today you either expand as
Robert Schuller says or you are
expendable you’ve got to kick it up but
not oh it will never be like it once was
Oh known today oh that’s not in my job
description it’s not well you better put
it in there you’ve got to do more and do
it faster and do it better you got to
kick it up a notch it’s a brand new day
see if you ask those people do you want
more sales do you want more of life do
you want to earn more money do you want
that home do you want to lose weight see
won’t shows up in conversation
expectation shows up in behavior in
choices how you manage your time how you
manage your energy it shows up in your
intention it’s not lip service so I know
the people who expect to lose weight why
because they know they’ve done as much
as they could by themselves and so they
get a trainer they get some help they go
to the gym they have an exercise program
they get a nutritionist because they
realize my best thinking has produced
this body
I know people who want to earn more how
do you know that when they realize what
Einstein realized the thinking that has
brought me this far has created some
problems that this thinking can’t solve
as you look at yourself look at your
goals one of the things that’s very
important that I’ve learned from people
who are high achievers they have coaches
why what I have I hired Mike Williams
for the past 35 years because
you can’t see the picture when you’re in
the frame why is it that I got watered
my fitness program with a trainer than I
did by myself because a trainer can pull
more out of me than I can pull out of
myself people will become top achievers
never stop learning and they have
coaches Michael Jordan had Phil Jackson
Muhammad Ali had Angelo Dundee I don’t
care who the great saw somebody was in
their corner looking over their
shoulders helping them why you can’t see
the fight when you in it Mike said
unless you got to do this less you got
to do this less you got to do this and I
had to be willing to listen most people
fail because they don’t know that they
don’t know and they think they know in
life here’s what I want you to do
write this down please you gotta trust
that you’re gonna be all right you have
no evidence to support it it doesn’t
make sense you can’t point anything to
say well this is why there’s no logic in
it there’s no there’s no way in which
you can logically and practically and
realistically support it and prove it
that’s why you got to have faith and you
got to have trust somehow someway you’ve
got to have that that you’re going to
come through and I can tell you
some things will begin to happen that
you will not even anticipate the phone
will begin to ring deal will come out of
nowhere somebody will recommend you
someone you talked to years ago and gave
them a brochure and put it on a desk and
somebody in their office came in and
picked up your car I picked up your
brochure and called you out of the blue
I remember years ago I read an interview
by James Brown at that time he was
recognized as a hardest-working man and
show business and it was my senior year
1963 and an interview they asked him
what was your greatest performance at
that time is his number one song was
please please please please
they had a cape and put it on his back
baby please don’t go and he would throw
the cape off and run back onstage he’d
do the Jade rasa and he said in that
interview when they asked him what was
your greatest performance and he said
the last one the last one see you’re
always in competition with yourself I’m
working on being the best presenter I
have never been you’re working on being
the best salesperson you’ve never been
you’re working on being the best father
the best mother you’ve never been the
best entrepreneur you’ve never been
there’s somebody else in you back there
and as you work toward becoming that
person who you are right now I must die
daily you’ve got to kill that person or
you’ve got to be willing to give up who
you’ve been for who you can become to
release what a brilliant Elizabeth
browning call the imprisoned splendor
the road will come as you take each step
that you’re going to go into uncharted
territory you’re going to do what Henry
David Thoreau said do not go where the
path may lead but go where there’s no
path and leave a trail you’re going to
break records you’re going to do some
things when you challenge yourself when
you work on your
because you don’t get in life what you
want you get in life what you are
most people don’t know if you want to
improve your income you want to improve
your circumstances you want to improve
your Commission’s you want to improve
your life you got to first improve
yourself you got to first take the time
to work on you Zig talks about a
lumberjack whose wood production dropped
by 40% because he wouldn’t take the time
to sharpen his axe write this down
sometimes you have to believe in
somebody’s belief in you until your
belief kicks in sometimes you have to
believe in somebody’s belief in you
until your belief kicks in I want you to
think about your best year earning your
best year of sales your best year of
accomplishment your best year of
achievement here’s what I know about you
and I don’t know you but from people
that I’ve worked with and from things
that I’ve learned and in my own life
example here’s what I know about you
whatever you have done is only a tip of
the iceberg of what’s possible for you
you can do four to five times more than
whatever you have done if anybody had
told me given my circumstances born an
abandoned building on a floor with a
twin brother in a poor section of Miami
Florida called Liberty City if both my
parents stood up now in the audience and
say hey we’re your parents I would not
know either one being adopted labeled
educable mentally retarded failing twice
in school if anybody told me that in my
future I would be speaking to you in my
future I would write books in my future
even though I don’t have a college
education
I would produce six different specials
for PBS and earn millions of dollars in
my future I would have a nationally
syndicated talk show in my future I
would travel around the world and speak
to over 80,000 people in
the Georgia Dome nobody could have
convinced me when I was working at Sears
as a salespersons person when I was
working for the Miami sanitation
department as a garbage collector making
$8 an hour no one could have looked at
me when I was walking to empty their
garbage and pushing it that can forward
and kicking it and getting up under it
and moving it and straighten my back and
walking with it to empty that stinking
garbage in a truck with other men older
than me and stronger than me I did not
know that this let’s round that you see
now existed I didn’t know I didn’t know
I I’m still working hi I know there’s
something else back here I feel that
there’s something bigger for my life and
I feel that at this stage of my life
only certain kind of people come see me
people that that show up because we were
cut from the same cloth
we’re branches of the same tree people
who feel me and they’re hard people who
are strange people like me you’re
strange
that’s why you’re here you’re different
you’re different mr. Washington mr.
Brown you say you want to be successful
yes sir don’t follow what other people
do I feel like a stranger when I have
family unions reunions with my family
when I go to my reunions with my
classmates they talk about retirement
life is about change
human beings were built for change
animals can’t changed an alligator can’t
be anything but an alligator tree can’t
be anything but a true human feeds we
were built for change to reinvent
ourselves you must be born again there’s
something in you you’re pregnant with
unlimited possibilities you’re pregnant
with greatness there’s some things in
you
in this room some entrepreneurs in this
room some millionaires in this room some
great ideas great strategies in this
room some great concepts for business in
this room great father’s great mothers
great community activists and
policymakers in this room his greatness
in this room I don’t know what your
goals are I don’t know what you want to
do here’s what I feel
here’s what I have coming to me in my
mind that I feel from you and while
you’ve taken this slice of your life to
spend its time with me to honor me with
your presence because time is so
important I believe that there’s
somebody in here that it’s your time
I remember when mr. Washington gave a
speech and I just failed math and
history in English and I had to go to
summer school for the fifth straight
year he was speaking to the graduating
seniors I was going to have to be
involved in at some school program to to
go to the to the 12th grade he was
giving this speech I heard his voice and
I came in the auditorium I stood in the
back as he spoke and I felt he was
speaking to me
people were jammed around the auditorium
because mr. Washington he’s in his 80s
now he for he’s still very eloquent he
was he was a great orator and as he
spoke he said I was brought here from
Braden Brighton’s in Florida and I
believe when I was brought here
I came to develop greatness you have
greatness within you you have the
ability to do more than what you can
ever begin to imagine and as you
graduate from Booker T Washington high
school if you leave here with a sense of
greatness is just one of you have that
vision of yourself then mr. Charles L
Williams your principal and the school
board and all the people that were
involved
in recruiting me to bring me here their
efforts would not have been in vain if
just one of you have the vision a larger
vision of yourself doing more impacting
people’s lives changing the course of
history creating a brand brighter
tomorrow that my being brought here
would not have been in vain and they
gave him a rousing standing ovation and
as he left and went down the auditorium
steps I followed him and I said huh mr.
Washington he said yes I said do you
remember me sir he said no I said my
mother mrs. Mamie Brown she works in the
cafeteria now she got started she’s the
one that fixed the great sweet-potato
pies that everybody talked about
I’m the twin Leslie remember I was in
your class waiting on my Carver Stevens
and and and you told me to do something
I told you couldn’t do it you and and I
told you I was in special education I
was educable mentally retarded and you
said to me somebody’s opinion of me does
not have to become our reality
he said yes I wrote that down sir I see
that every day when I get up it’s on my
bathroom window sir on my mirror in my
bathroom I repeat that to myself it
doesn’t bother me anymore that people
call me D T for dumb twin he said I’m
glad to hear that mr. Brown I said sir
he said yes you said that if um if
anybody just one person in there got a
larger vision of themselves that you are
being brought here would not have been
in vain he said yes well sir uh-huh
I’m the one sir you are yes sir
I’m the one one day sir you are going to
hear my name
what will you do I I don’t know sir foot
one day you watch you’re gonna hear my
name again he said okay he said it’s
possible yes sir
he started walking away I said mister
washed he said what do you want now I
said don’t forget my face sir don’t
forgive me I’m this mamie’s boy I’m a
baby boy people to hold that she should
take me back to the welfare department
but um my mama kept beany how I’m the
one he said okay he started walking away
and said don’t forget don’t you forget
here and he’d even bother answering he
just kept walking years later I produced
a special many years ago on PBS called
you deserved in Detroit and I call
friends and have them to call him to
tell him to turn on public television
when they’re doing their fundraising and
when the announcement came on and said
ladies and gentlemen you deserve with
Les Brown he was in the kitchen and he
came out and he saw me come up on the
screen
he said Edith look it’s the dumb twit
and he called me in Detroit and this was
and I cannot wait to tell you the story
how I used to sleep on the floor the
Penobscot building and building my
business you know during the good times
you put in your pocket during the tough
times you put it in your heart and so he
said may I speak to mr. Brown please I
said who’s calling he said you know who
this is
I said Oh mr. Washington is you he said
you were the one weren’t you I said yes
sir he said but you were so crazy I said
I
but I’m rich now I don’t know what you
goes I’d like to leave this with you you
have greatness within you you have a
part of yourself in you that if you
reach for it if you work at it you will
discover some uncommon moments that
other people only dream about if you
work to to live full and to die empty I
saw something recently they said I
refuse to die an unlived life and I’d
like to leave this with you to the
greatness in you that’s what I’m
speaking to now I don’t care what you’re
going through I don’t care where you are
I don’t care about your failures I don’t
care about your disappointments whatever
you’re going through you’re greater than
anything that has ever happened to you
and I’d like to leave this with you that
my mother used to love to hear me say
she said Leslie I said yes my mama said
I think for me boy that makes me feel
good your mama fought breast cancer for
22 years she’s a 22-year breast cancer
Conqueror mama was a fighter you got to
fight for your dream I learned a fight
from my mama mama was a fighter and I
dedicate this unit it says simply this
if you want to thank bad enough to go
out and fight for it to work day and
night for it to give up your time your
peace and your sleep for it if all that
you dream and scheme is about it and
life seemed useless and worthless
without it and if your garden is sweat
for it and fret for it and plan for it
and lose all your terror of the
opposition for it and if you simply go
after that thing that you want with all
of your capacity strength and sagacity
Faith Hope and confidence and stern
pertinacity if neither cold poverty
famish a gulp sickness of pain or body
and brain can keep you away from the
thing that you want have dogged and grim
you beseech envis said it with the help
of God you’ll get it this has been mrs.
Mamie Brown’s baby boy god bless you god
bless your dream and God bless america
thank you very much
[Applause]
you