[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
thank you hi my name is Marcus Johnson
and I am a lawyer an entrepreneur and
author a professor community activist
musician and deepest in my heart a dad
and some people may say I’m a little bit
crazy but I like to say that I am just a
guy who is doing my flow doing the
things that I love to do and flow has
many different meanings for me it’s FL o
with no W and generally means for the
love of
but for tonight’s purposes we’re going
to talk about being crazy crazy enough
to do all that stuff that I do try to do
and we’re going to look at flow in the
terms of F being crazy enough to have
fun l being crazy enough to love the
process and O being crazy enough that
once you get that down that you organize
with others so that you can change the
soul of the world and change the soul of
the universe so I always get asked the
question how do you do it you know I’m
an outlier I come from a family a very
traditional family
my oldest sister is a pharmacologist MBA
right after that entrepreneur my brother
is a OBGYN the sister beneath me is a
lawyer but one beneath her is a
pulmonologist so can you imagine when I
came home and I said I’m going to major
in music in college that’s exactly what
they said you’re out of your mind you’re
crazy so when I look at things in this
in this fashion about how you go about
being crazy the first thing you have to
do to be crazy enough to have fun and
you do that by committing yourself to I
say ideals that you stick by that that
are you
that you stand for who you are as a
person on this planet and you stand for
the passion that was given to you when
you were born
so I’m committed to proactivity and
accountability what does that mean
Marcus well that means that all this
stuff including success happiness love
fun is a choice and I’m very proactive
in my life to be a victim and and to not
be accountable to yourself at the same
time is the most disempowering thing
that you can do with your life I take
control of mine I make the choices and
as a result I can basically take credit
for my failures and I can take credit
for my successes after that you have to
be committed to pursuit of excellence
that means just doing your best pulling
all your resources together and saying
you know what I’m just going to leave it
all on the floor I don’t know if you
play sports or or whether it’s just
being you know just a family member but
it’s about making sure that each day
you’re committed to doing your best and
it’s not that the adjective excellence
it’s not the adverb excellence it is the
verb excellence you have to do this in
action every single day you have to be
committed to the idea that I’m going to
purge negativity from my life at all
costs we often hear about people who’ve
been diagnosed with diseases such as
cancer you have a mass we need to
eradicate it immediately what are you
going to do we’re going to schedule
surgery we’re going to have surgery day
after tomorrow no problem but life in
its insidious nature step-by-step
tortures us and rips us of our soul
almost by the fact that we will not
eradicate the things and people and
environments and habits in our life that
threaten us just as much as cancer man
you have to be committed to making sure
that you are willing to purge negativity
and that you will promote positivity
don’t overlook and take for granted the
people that you have in your life that
are
you not just oh yeah I love it I love it
yes yes yes
but the people that are giving you the
constructive criticism that help you
grow now once you do all that then I say
just be committed to doing your best
which is tied in with excellence because
this is the whole part of having fun fun
is not without structure the structure
that you have allows you to have fun
doing your best and let me tell you on
some days maybe after partying it’s not
the best or the same kind of best after
a good night’s sleep doing your best is
just that and it allows you to look at
it laugh at yourself and I’ll tell you
this I challenge you every day to be the
first person that winks at yourself in
the mirror before you leave because if
you’re not doing that nobody else is
going to do that that’s how you have fun
so once we are crazy enough to have fun
then we have to be crazy enough to love
the process now most of us think we’re
taught that life is from beginning to
end it’s a linear kind of process but it
really is cyclical on that linear kind
of vibe you know you have things where
you kind of dream it you kind of put it
in an environment you’re playing at you
you go out and do it you live it and
you’re listening and learn to it and it
just keeps going over and over and over
but it’s it’s a process the key
components of the process though are
that in order to be able to come up with
the dream and to think about the things
that you have fun with you actually have
to spend some time with you it may be at
the end of a runway like I do watching
planes land at National Airport you know
in the state’s at in Washington DC it
may be you know the fact that if you see
a man in a white Jeep Cherokee with
Maryland tags on it and he’s talking to
himself that’s me having my initial
audition with Oprah for our interview
that we’re going to have it is the idea
that if you don’t know who you are that
you can’t achieve any of this because
the worst thing on this planet is
unrealized potential and
of us again and I keep using so many of
us but but we put our passion under the
pillow each day to get in a car to sit
in traffic to go to a job we don’t like
doing things we don’t like with people
we don’t like to then get back in
traffic which we already you know
acknowledge we don’t like to go home to
a situation be it with somebody or by
yourself
that you don’t like that’s not a way to
live to me that’s crazy in the psychosis
kind of way not in the crazy kind of
like that dude is crazy that’s what I’m
talking about I don’t want you to live
that other life so you have to spend
time with yourself
because this is your life guys and gals
this is your life this is not a dress
rehearsal so once you get to the point
where you love the process and you learn
and spend time with yourself then you
have to learn to be crazy enough to love
fear because really when we hear these
voices in the back of our head like you
know you’re going to do what from high
school to college being in music from
when I was in the music program to going
and saying I’m gonna go to law school
and I’m not just going to go to any law
school I’m gonna go to Georgetown Law
School one of the top you know law
schools in the country and I’m gonna get
my MBA at the same time and I’m gonna
teach there and I’m going to put out
some a couple of records while I’m there
what you’re not supposed to do that
you’re supposed to study 9,000 hours a
day no no no those are your fears
those are your thoughts about how your
life should be they don’t they take me
and when I’m in law school and bout to
graduate they’re like mr. Johnson you
have not had any on-campus interviews no
where are you going to work well I put
out 2 CDs and I’m going to start my
career I’m going on tour as soon as I
graduate well we can’t use those
statistics my bad that’s your problem
I’m doing my life I am living my life I
am not living Society that voice in the
back of your head and we all have it you
can’t you can’t deny it
it’s just going that society you have to
get back to the deeper voice
the one that tells you this is what you
are supposed to be doing and each and
every one of you all in here you know
that you know it so we love ourselves
spend time with me we listen to fear and
look it in the face and then you have to
love failure failure hurts failure is
painful one of the greatest moments of
my life was when I got my company
founded and funded by you know the
world’s first african-american
billionaire
Bob Johnson the worst day of my life to
that point was when I had to go in and
let my staff know that through all of
our valiant efforts all of our marketing
all of our belief in the artist that we
have put out that we had two weeks left
the payroll because the music industry
had changed and I can’t pay you after
two weeks I’ll help you go and let me
tell you about a guy who drove up and
down Georgia Avenue talking to my number
two with tears coming down my eyes
because I it hurt it’s the most
passionate thing that you will ever do
when you follow you but you should do it
anyway my dad said son you have been
beat up so much he’s like you took some
hits that uh I thought completely would
absolutely knock you out that’s when I
learned who I really was not in the good
time when I got the company funded but
in the fact that I was able to get my
behind kicked in business kicked in
family a failed marriage I’m not
supposed to do that kicked in other
respects in life and I get beat up all
the time I read Pollack whale all the
time but he says failure is inevitable
the key to success is making sure that
you fall down seven times and that you
get up eight or in my case 999 thousand
times and you get up ten
sometimes but I like failure because it
lets me know that I have this other
thing called resiliency and that is what
I’m out here doing I’ve learned
resiliency to be able to teach my little
four-year-old daughter when she falls
down or when somebody hits her she got a
black eye the other day maybe you got it
for right at the playground and like
only my daughter would want to go down
the slide
headfirst right again do you but
understand I tell her all the time look
sweetie if you want to play with the
boys you got to play like the boys play
have fun with it I may have talked to
the little guy at the same time but you
know teaching my daughter you got to get
back up dust yourself off which leads us
to the last part of our flow which is
being crazy enough to organize because
after all the failure I have trust me I
have many more stories of failure tears
cry and groan man sobbing I was able to
get over it and bounce back I was able
to do that because I had other people
that were helping me so as I continue on
I look forward to the idea of being
crazy enough to organize with others to
change the soul of the world it’s not
cool to do this alone nor should we nor
should you there are people here to help
you and my thought is with all of the
craziness going on on this planet right
now there’s one thing that’s missing and
that’s people looking into who they are
in their passion I hear cliche oh yeah
in the United States right now I hear a
lot of cliche right about you know who’s
doing what this group is doing that you
got to watch out for this group they may
harm you but but if you’re following
your passion I’ve never seen someone do
that and have time to hate on somebody
else that’s my mission to make sure that
we go out and hopefully one day have
some type of institution where we put
the flow together for the love of for
fun for the love of the process to
organize to make sure others realize and
recognize their passion which is my
passion because if people are doing that
we’re all better for it so I’ve gone
through a whole bunch of stuff I’ve
learned how to have fun I’ve learned how
to laugh at myself my mom said son don’t
take yourself so seriously laugh I laugh
and I have a lot to laugh at laugh to
keep from crying I spend a lot of time
with myself I spend a lot of time loving
the process I spend a lot of time
overcoming fear and and it’s remember
courageousness is not the absence of
fear it’s the ability to live your
passion in the face of it now I’m ready
to organize and make a difference I
bounced back to be able to do music I’ve
overcome failure to be able to write a
book I’ve taken the wisdom that I’ve
learned in these failures and successes
to go out and share and teaching that
that’s my flow what what’s your flow
going to be I’m Marcus Johnson and I do
things that make people say I am crazy I
invite you to do the same
[Music]
you
[Music]
you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
thank you hi my name is Marcus Johnson
and I am a lawyer an entrepreneur and
author a professor community activist
musician and deepest in my heart a dad
and some people may say I’m a little bit
crazy but I like to say that I am just a
guy who is doing my flow doing the
things that I love to do and flow has
many different meanings for me it’s FL o
with no W and generally means for the
love of
but for tonight’s purposes we’re going
to talk about being crazy crazy enough
to do all that stuff that I do try to do
and we’re going to look at flow in the
terms of F being crazy enough to have
fun l being crazy enough to love the
process and O being crazy enough that
once you get that down that you organize
with others so that you can change the
soul of the world and change the soul of
the universe so I always get asked the
question how do you do it you know I’m
an outlier I come from a family a very
traditional family
my oldest sister is a pharmacologist MBA
right after that entrepreneur my brother
is a OBGYN the sister beneath me is a
lawyer but one beneath her is a
pulmonologist so can you imagine when I
came home and I said I’m going to major
in music in college that’s exactly what
they said you’re out of your mind you’re
crazy so when I look at things in this
in this fashion about how you go about
being crazy the first thing you have to
do to be crazy enough to have fun and
you do that by committing yourself to I
say ideals that you stick by that that
are you
that you stand for who you are as a
person on this planet and you stand for
the passion that was given to you when
you were born
so I’m committed to proactivity and
accountability what does that mean
Marcus well that means that all this
stuff including success happiness love
fun is a choice and I’m very proactive
in my life to be a victim and and to not
be accountable to yourself at the same
time is the most disempowering thing
that you can do with your life I take
control of mine I make the choices and
as a result I can basically take credit
for my failures and I can take credit
for my successes after that you have to
be committed to pursuit of excellence
that means just doing your best pulling
all your resources together and saying
you know what I’m just going to leave it
all on the floor I don’t know if you
play sports or or whether it’s just
being you know just a family member but
it’s about making sure that each day
you’re committed to doing your best and
it’s not that the adjective excellence
it’s not the adverb excellence it is the
verb excellence you have to do this in
action every single day you have to be
committed to the idea that I’m going to
purge negativity from my life at all
costs we often hear about people who’ve
been diagnosed with diseases such as
cancer you have a mass we need to
eradicate it immediately what are you
going to do we’re going to schedule
surgery we’re going to have surgery day
after tomorrow no problem but life in
its insidious nature step-by-step
tortures us and rips us of our soul
almost by the fact that we will not
eradicate the things and people and
environments and habits in our life that
threaten us just as much as cancer man
you have to be committed to making sure
that you are willing to purge negativity
and that you will promote positivity
don’t overlook and take for granted the
people that you have in your life that
are
you not just oh yeah I love it I love it
yes yes yes
but the people that are giving you the
constructive criticism that help you
grow now once you do all that then I say
just be committed to doing your best
which is tied in with excellence because
this is the whole part of having fun fun
is not without structure the structure
that you have allows you to have fun
doing your best and let me tell you on
some days maybe after partying it’s not
the best or the same kind of best after
a good night’s sleep doing your best is
just that and it allows you to look at
it laugh at yourself and I’ll tell you
this I challenge you every day to be the
first person that winks at yourself in
the mirror before you leave because if
you’re not doing that nobody else is
going to do that that’s how you have fun
so once we are crazy enough to have fun
then we have to be crazy enough to love
the process now most of us think we’re
taught that life is from beginning to
end it’s a linear kind of process but it
really is cyclical on that linear kind
of vibe you know you have things where
you kind of dream it you kind of put it
in an environment you’re playing at you
you go out and do it you live it and
you’re listening and learn to it and it
just keeps going over and over and over
but it’s it’s a process the key
components of the process though are
that in order to be able to come up with
the dream and to think about the things
that you have fun with you actually have
to spend some time with you it may be at
the end of a runway like I do watching
planes land at National Airport you know
in the state’s at in Washington DC it
may be you know the fact that if you see
a man in a white Jeep Cherokee with
Maryland tags on it and he’s talking to
himself that’s me having my initial
audition with Oprah for our interview
that we’re going to have it is the idea
that if you don’t know who you are that
you can’t achieve any of this because
the worst thing on this planet is
unrealized potential and
of us again and I keep using so many of
us but but we put our passion under the
pillow each day to get in a car to sit
in traffic to go to a job we don’t like
doing things we don’t like with people
we don’t like to then get back in
traffic which we already you know
acknowledge we don’t like to go home to
a situation be it with somebody or by
yourself
that you don’t like that’s not a way to
live to me that’s crazy in the psychosis
kind of way not in the crazy kind of
like that dude is crazy that’s what I’m
talking about I don’t want you to live
that other life so you have to spend
time with yourself
because this is your life guys and gals
this is your life this is not a dress
rehearsal so once you get to the point
where you love the process and you learn
and spend time with yourself then you
have to learn to be crazy enough to love
fear because really when we hear these
voices in the back of our head like you
know you’re going to do what from high
school to college being in music from
when I was in the music program to going
and saying I’m gonna go to law school
and I’m not just going to go to any law
school I’m gonna go to Georgetown Law
School one of the top you know law
schools in the country and I’m gonna get
my MBA at the same time and I’m gonna
teach there and I’m going to put out
some a couple of records while I’m there
what you’re not supposed to do that
you’re supposed to study 9,000 hours a
day no no no those are your fears
those are your thoughts about how your
life should be they don’t they take me
and when I’m in law school and bout to
graduate they’re like mr. Johnson you
have not had any on-campus interviews no
where are you going to work well I put
out 2 CDs and I’m going to start my
career I’m going on tour as soon as I
graduate well we can’t use those
statistics my bad that’s your problem
I’m doing my life I am living my life I
am not living Society that voice in the
back of your head and we all have it you
can’t you can’t deny it
it’s just going that society you have to
get back to the deeper voice
the one that tells you this is what you
are supposed to be doing and each and
every one of you all in here you know
that you know it so we love ourselves
spend time with me we listen to fear and
look it in the face and then you have to
love failure failure hurts failure is
painful one of the greatest moments of
my life was when I got my company
founded and funded by you know the
world’s first african-american
billionaire
Bob Johnson the worst day of my life to
that point was when I had to go in and
let my staff know that through all of
our valiant efforts all of our marketing
all of our belief in the artist that we
have put out that we had two weeks left
the payroll because the music industry
had changed and I can’t pay you after
two weeks I’ll help you go and let me
tell you about a guy who drove up and
down Georgia Avenue talking to my number
two with tears coming down my eyes
because I it hurt it’s the most
passionate thing that you will ever do
when you follow you but you should do it
anyway my dad said son you have been
beat up so much he’s like you took some
hits that uh I thought completely would
absolutely knock you out that’s when I
learned who I really was not in the good
time when I got the company funded but
in the fact that I was able to get my
behind kicked in business kicked in
family a failed marriage I’m not
supposed to do that kicked in other
respects in life and I get beat up all
the time I read Pollack whale all the
time but he says failure is inevitable
the key to success is making sure that
you fall down seven times and that you
get up eight or in my case 999 thousand
times and you get up ten
sometimes but I like failure because it
lets me know that I have this other
thing called resiliency and that is what
I’m out here doing I’ve learned
resiliency to be able to teach my little
four-year-old daughter when she falls
down or when somebody hits her she got a
black eye the other day maybe you got it
for right at the playground and like
only my daughter would want to go down
the slide
headfirst right again do you but
understand I tell her all the time look
sweetie if you want to play with the
boys you got to play like the boys play
have fun with it I may have talked to
the little guy at the same time but you
know teaching my daughter you got to get
back up dust yourself off which leads us
to the last part of our flow which is
being crazy enough to organize because
after all the failure I have trust me I
have many more stories of failure tears
cry and groan man sobbing I was able to
get over it and bounce back I was able
to do that because I had other people
that were helping me so as I continue on
I look forward to the idea of being
crazy enough to organize with others to
change the soul of the world it’s not
cool to do this alone nor should we nor
should you there are people here to help
you and my thought is with all of the
craziness going on on this planet right
now there’s one thing that’s missing and
that’s people looking into who they are
in their passion I hear cliche oh yeah
in the United States right now I hear a
lot of cliche right about you know who’s
doing what this group is doing that you
got to watch out for this group they may
harm you but but if you’re following
your passion I’ve never seen someone do
that and have time to hate on somebody
else that’s my mission to make sure that
we go out and hopefully one day have
some type of institution where we put
the flow together for the love of for
fun for the love of the process to
organize to make sure others realize and
recognize their passion which is my
passion because if people are doing that
we’re all better for it so I’ve gone
through a whole bunch of stuff I’ve
learned how to have fun I’ve learned how
to laugh at myself my mom said son don’t
take yourself so seriously laugh I laugh
and I have a lot to laugh at laugh to
keep from crying I spend a lot of time
with myself I spend a lot of time loving
the process I spend a lot of time
overcoming fear and and it’s remember
courageousness is not the absence of
fear it’s the ability to live your
passion in the face of it now I’m ready
to organize and make a difference I
bounced back to be able to do music I’ve
overcome failure to be able to write a
book I’ve taken the wisdom that I’ve
learned in these failures and successes
to go out and share and teaching that
that’s my flow what what’s your flow
going to be I’m Marcus Johnson and I do
things that make people say I am crazy I
invite you to do the same
[Music]
you
[Music]
you
[Applause]
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