[Music] what i'd like for you to do right now i want you to think about your dream because i'm in a room full of dreamers think about your dream right now what you think about it and envision it now ladies and gentlemen let me share something with you i do not believe that any of us have dreams that were not given to us for the purpose of accomplishing those particular dreams and i want to share something with you that has changed my life i started out as was indicated by jack it's very humble beginnings i
don't know what that dream is that you have i don't care how far fetched it might appear to be i don't care how disappointing it might have been as you've been working toward that dream but here's what i know that that dream that you're holding in your mind that it's possible let's say that together please it's possible see sometimes we can't say i can do that but what we can say that it's possible that i can have my dream as we run toward it as we work on it day in and day out no one
ladies and gentlemen could have convinced me when i started out just over six years ago working on my dream and i want you to think about whatever your dream is because i was willing to take a chance and most people won't do that most of the people that you talk to to try and bring them into the business these are not risk takers most people have done all that they're ever going to do they raise a family they earn a living and then they die but people who are running toward their dreams life has a
special kind of meaning and here's what i will share with you that in the process of working on your dreams you are going to incur incur a lot of disappointment a lot of failure a lot of pain a lot of setbacks a lot of defeats but in the process of doing that you will discover some things about yourself that you don't know right now what you will realize is that you have greatness within you what you'll realize is that you're more powerful than you can ever begin to imagine what you will realize is that you're
greater than your circumstances that you don't have to go through life being a victim as jack indicated i was born in miami florida an area called liberty city in an abandoned building on a hard linoleum floor with my twin brother we were six weeks of age we were adopted when i was in fifth grade i was identified as emr labeled educable mentally put back from the fifth grade into the fourth grade and stayed in that category until i got out of high school i don't have any college training but i met a high school teacher
who one day changed my life i was waiting on another student and when he came in he said to me young man go to the board and write what i'm about to tell you and i said i can't do that sir he said why not i said i'm not one of your students he said it doesn't matter follow my directions now i said i can't do that sir he said why not i said because i'm educable mentally and he came from behind his desk and he looked at me he said don't ever say that again
someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality and that man mr leroy washington did something for me he started planting seeds in my mind that enabled me to begin to dream as dexter has been doing for you and ladies and gentlemen i started working on my dream and most people don't work on their dreams why for many years i didn't one is because of fear the fear of failure what if things don't work out and the fear of success what if they do and i can't handle it the other thing is that
most people ladies and gentlemen they get comfortable they stop growing they stop working on themselves they stop stretching they stop pushing themselves and they end up becoming very cynical about life and they throw in the towel on themselves on their families and on their dreams and the other thing is that most people don't feel worthy what i'm doing now i could have been doing years ago but because i did not have a college education because i didn't believe in myself because i allowed other people's opinion of me to control my destiny i didn't act on
my ideas so i applaud you for your dreaming for your running towards your dream i applaud you for believing in yourself because that's what life is about stretching and challenging looking for ways that you can begin to improve yourself and ladies and gentlemen as a result of stretching out of acting on my dream and i don't know what that dream is for you i can tell you that it's possible no one could have convinced me that after just over six years i will have my own book entitled live your dreams just over six years i
would have five specials on public television just over six years i've done motivational speaking for a t procter gamble mcdonald's corporation xerox ibm just over six years i will now have my own talk show that will premiere on monday labor day i'm saying to you your dream is possible your dream is possible but not only is it important that you believe and begin to know that it's possible for you to live your dream as you run toward it but i've done something that i want to share with you called choosing your future in fact i've
developed a set of tapes talking about how to begin to create your own reality by choosing your future and not only is it important for you to know it's possible for you to choose your future but it's necessary that you work on yourself that you develop yourself it's necessary that you get the energy drainers out of your life people who don't want anything it's necessary to know that everybody won't see it that everybody won't join you that everybody won't have the vision it's necessary to know that that a lot of people like to complain but
they don't want to do anything about their situation that you are an uncommon breed you know you have to know within yourself that i can do this even if no one else sees it for me i must see it for myself that's necessary it's also ladies and gentlemen necessary that you be creative when you're working on your ideas that you understand the importance of changing up of readjusting your strategies many times we can have a great idea but if you're not advancing it in the right way and things don't happen you become discouraged and think
the idea doesn't work no that's not true it's necessary that we become creative i remember when i was in new york walking down the street and a guy approached me and said hey mister can i shine your shoes and i said no i'm in a hurry i don't have time i kept walking someone else said hey man your shoes look clutty my shiny shoes i said no i don't have time i'm sorry i'm busy and i was walking fast and many people solicited me for my business and then finally a young man stepped in front
of me and he's excuse me and he started counting 97 98 99 100 he said sir i said yes he said come here please i said what is it he said today is my birthday and every year just to thank god for another year of life the 100th person who passes my shoeshine stand i offer them a free shoe shine would you give me the honors i said why sure i got up on the shoeshine stan george and i sat there and he shined my shoes diligently and when i got down i looked at them
they were sparkling and i was walking away and i said thank you and i stopped i said excuse me but how much do you usually charge he said only two dollars i said tell you what today's your birthday here's five keep the change he said thank you as i was walking away looking in the opposite direction and other people coming he started counting again 97 98 99 100. it's necessary that you be flexible that you are always thinking of how can i improve this better this is a customer driven economy it's necessary for you to
always explore various ways in which you can improve the quality of service that you're providing for the people in your organization i remember something a major company had talked about the extra value service they were providing for their customers and the lady who had the news conference summarized it this way she said it's not our intention to satisfy our customers or to please our customers our intention is to amaze them it's necessary if you're going to compete today that you look for ways to amaze your customers by being one of those individuals that keep your
commitments they keep your word that's relentless it's necessary as you work with the people that you bring into all your organization that they see that you're a good example of a person to work with because you model integrity and determination and ambition and truth and honesty and the way in which you conduct business the next step is that is you that is you that no one can do it for you but you and even though you face disappointments even though you will experience some setbacks it goes with the territory you must understand that i remember
i was playing a game with my nine-year-old son john leslie and i beat him ten straight games in a game called connect four and finally i said john leslie i'm bored i don't want to play you anymore and i got up i said i'm ready to go to sleep now and repeat after me please let's say to this together it's not over until i win john leslie said no you can't go now dad i said why he said it's not over until i win that was his attitude we sat down and we played several other
games and finally after the 11th game john leslie won and he got up and he yawned and he said i'm ready to go to sleep now and i'm saying to you what if all of us took that attitude after we face a rejection and a no or we have a meeting and no one shows up or somebody say you can count on me and they don't come through what if we have that kind of attitude the cause repossessed nobody believes in you you've lost again and again and again the lights are cut off but you're
still looking at your dream reviewing it every day and say to yourself it's not over until i win life will yield to you now here's the next step repeat after me please it's possible i can live my dream it's necessary i work on myself surround myself with winners become creative it's me i've got to make it happen it's not over until i win the next thing that's important to know yes it's possible that you can choose your future and direct the course of your life as you run towards your dream it's necessary that you have
goals that you write those goals down that you plan that you think constantly of how you can begin to improve what it is that you're doing if it's your presentations if it's your recruiting skills whatever that is it's also necessary that you look for ways to always find a way to pull it out when everybody else thinks you are defeated that you've got to take personal responsibility to know that in order to become successful you've got to make it your personal business to do it but the next thing ladies and gentlemen i want to share
with you that some of you already know that it's hard it's not easy it's hard changing your life it was hard when just over three years ago in the penobscot building in detroit michigan where i was operating my business and i fell on some hard times and i was sleeping in my office it was hard coming into the lobby and the security said excuse me mr brown can we see you for a moment and i said yes and i walked up to the counter and he gave me an envelope and he said would you mind
reading it here and i opened the envelope and the envelope was from management that says this is an office tower it's not a hotel please do not sleep in your office and i said excuse me sir i said i just worked long hours in creating my business i'm an entrepreneur and right now things are bad for me but they're not going to be this way always and i just asked for the opportunity to continue to operate like i'm doing i'm not trying to make this my home and it was hard coming through the lobby and
sometimes they would laugh there's a guy talking about becoming successful and look at him he's bathing in the bathroom upstairs on the 21st floor he sleeps on the floor him and two other dreamers up there look at him it was hard ladies and gentlemen coming to speak to people and i was facing financial difficulties in my own life i was behind on my bills and my dreams and i'm saying to them you can live your dream it was hard ladies and gentlemen it was very difficult to pick myself up each day believing that i could
do it there were times that i doubted myself i said god why why is this happening to me i'm just trying to take care of my children and my mother i'm not trying to steal a rob from anybody how did this have to happen to me it was very hard and here's what i want to say to you for those of you that have experienced some hardships don't give up on your dream no one could have convinced me by holding on by continuing to push forward by continuing to run toward my dream that one day
i would have my own talk show it's a long shot ladies and gentlemen from liberty city an abandoned building on a floor never knowing my mother or father it's a long shot being here with you today in this dome in atlanta it's a long shot no college training labeled educable mentally but i kept running toward my dreams don't stop don't stop don't stop running towards your dream it's very important as you hold on to that dream there are moments when you're going to doubt yourself their rough times are going to come but they have not
come to stay they have come to pass it's very important for you to know that don't say i'm having a bad day say i'm having a character building day [Applause] it's very important for you to believe that you are the one to make this happen i remember this high school teacher mr leroy washington at the end of school one june it was just a few days before we were supposed to leave and i just got my report card and it indicated that i'd failed history and i failed english and i would have to go to
summer school and i was feeling within myself that i was a failure that i i'm slower than most people and getting paperwork and and i was feeling down on myself and and very negative and mr washington was giving a speech to the graduating seniors and i was in 11th grade and even though i wasn't supposed to be in there i went in there because the speech he was giving that speech was for me and as he talked my heart began to beat fast tears began to run by my eyes and i was in the back
just listening to him because he said and he was a very dramatic man i still talk to him to this day he said as graduating seniors of booker t washington high school i want you to know that you're blessed and highly favored and that as you go toward the future begin to know that you have greatness within you and if just one of you here begin to envision yourselves as being blessed and highly favored to reach your goals if just one of you capture the essence of what that means that you have greatness within you
in responsibility to manifest that greatness that you can make your parents proud you can make your school proud you can touch millions of people's lives and the world will never be the same again because you came this way and the students gave him a rousing standing ovation and as he left the auditorium i ran down the steps and i caught him in the parking lot i said mr washington he said yes i said do you remember me sir he said no i said uh my name is leslie brown my mother she works in the cafeteria
here i'm one of the twins leslie wesley i said mr washington but you know you know i got these big dreams you know i like talking to people i love people i said i want to work with people and i got this dream of buying my mama home could could i do that mr washington he said it's possible mr brown and as he walked away i called him again i said mr washington he said what do you want now i said um i'm the one sir i said i'm the one you you remember me sir
i'm this maybe brown's boy i'm the wife i'm the one and you must feel that that that's why you're here because you are the one and i remember when pbs first played one of my specials called you deserve one sunday afternoon in miami florida i had some friends call him to tell him to tune in and he watched the program he called me in detroit and i answered the phone i said hello he said may i speak to les brown please i said who's calling he said you know who this is i said oh mr
washington it's you he said you were the one weren't you i said yes sir he said and you were so crazy i said i know but i'm rich now ladies and gentlemen it's not going to be easy it was hard laying on the floor of the penobscot building looking out of the window daydreaming saying les can you do this can you make this happen i used to listen to tates day in and day out about see you at the top my my great friend zig and and dennis waitland different other motivational speakers and dr norman
vincent peale and dex is saying don't let nobody steal your dream i used to ask myself can i do this and something said within me you're the one you're the one and let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen while you're here and before you go back home to your respective cities and communities write down at least five reasons on why you deserve your dream and why you won't give up what's going to make you unstoppable why you must be unreasonable because logical practical thinking says you can't do it today but if you want to
produce unreasonable results in your life like living your dreaming taking charge of your destiny you've got to be an unreasonable person you've got to be an uncommon person so write down the reasons of why you're here my first major goal was to buy my mother a home and let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen what what will reasons do less nietzsche said if you know the why for doing you can endure almost anyhow what do you mean by that if you know why you're doing something when the hard times come and they're going to
come when the disappointments and the rejections come and they're going to come by the truckloads your reasons will be your rod and staff to comfort you to pick you up once again i got a saying on one of my tapes if life knocks you down try and land on your back because if you can look up you can get up let your reasons get you back up i remember when i i bought the home from my mother and she came out of the car when i opened the door i said mom i think i know
these people in this house that was my first major goal and then i couldn't conceal it anymore i said mom i got this for you and as she went from room to room looking at the house and saying thank you jesus thank you lord no one ever could have convinced me that this could have happened to me and she looked at me she said leslie and you cost me so much problems as a boy you were always into stuff she said no one could have convinced me that day when i walked in that house and
this lady was holding you and your brother and she said ma'am i want you to promise me two things and she said what is it she says juan promise me that you won't separate them she said i want them raised together i want them to know each other i got pregnant while my husband was away in the war and i can't keep them promise me that you won't separate them she said i promise i would i've never had children i promise i won't separate him and she said promise me that you'll never tell him about
who i am because if my husband ever found out he would kill me she said i promise and she said that she gave them to us and and she kind of cried and she was walking out the door and she looked at my adopted mother she said remember don't you separate them she said i swear to god i won't i won't separate them i'll keep them together and she said as i held you all in my arms i never had any children my own i didn't know how i was going to do it but i
knew with the help of god i will do it and ladies and gentlemen my mother had a dream of having children and raising us she didn't know how she's going to do it you're going to be just like that and some of you are already there well you don't know how you're going to make this happen but you just feel within yourself some way somehow with the help of god i'm going to make it happen repeat after me please no matter how bad it is or how bad it gets i'm going to make it i'm
going to make it shake somebody's hand on your right and left and say you got the right stuff so yes it's possible for you to live your dream it's necessary that you associate with winners that you work your system that you are relentless that you never give up it's you you've got to take personal responsibility you've got to make it your personal business to make it happen and you've got to resolve within yourself that i can do this that it's hard but you've got to save i'm the one i'm the one to make this happen
i'm the one to become successful in this business as you work to help other people to become successful that feeds your success but you know it's going to be hard but find out what will make it worth it for you so ladies and gentlemen if you want to make your dream become reality the people that are running at their dreams know that it's possible that you can live your dream that it's necessary that you're relentless that you have a plan of action that you are creative the people that are living their dream of finding winners
to attach themselves to the people that are living their dreams of a people that know that it's if it's going to happen it's up to them and they're resolving within themselves it's not over until i win the people that are running after their dream know they're gonna have hard times they keep on running because they're saying within themselves i'm the one i'm the one no matter how bad it is or how bad it gets i'm going to make it the people that are running after their dreams are the people that are hungry shake somebody's hand
on your right and left and say you gotta be hungry and as you run towards your dream i want to dedicate this to you that i love very much i want to thank dexter and all of you it's something that i'm known by it's on our tapes called choosing your future that says simply this that if you want a thing 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 your dream and scheme is about
it and life seems useless and worthless without it and if you gladly 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 stirring pertinacity if neither cold poverty famish or gulf sickness or pain or body and brain can keep you away from the thing that you want if dogged and grim you besiege and beset it with the help of god you'll get
it this is mrs amy brown's baby boy leslie calvin brown saying it's been a plum pleasing pleasure as well as a privilege thank you you
