What do you do when it seems like suffering won't stop? What do you do when it feels like your weaknesses continue to worsen? Maybe you've taken a knockdown concerning your finances lately.
You're laying on the mat, gasping and you don't know what you're gonna do. Maybe it's with your kids. Maybe with your marriage.
Maybe with your health. Maybe some other arena of life. You didn't see it coming.
And you feel like you've been knocked down. But we're not destroyed. The last chapter of your story has not been written yet.
The fact that you're here today is a testament to the fact that whatever you're up against hasn't been able to destroy you. Don't give in. Don't be like everybody else.
Don't give up. Don't settle because things are hard. Now, will it be turbulent?
Yes. Will it be easy? No.
Will I make a lot of mistakes? Yes. Will I get hurt?
Yes. Pain is everywhere. Most people spend their life not wanting to deal with the pain of rejection, the pain of defeat, the pain of losing, the pain of failure, the pain, the pain, the pain.
That's called life. Life is full of pain. But there's no gain without pain.
We're being pressed from every side. By troubles. But we're not crushed.
We're not boxed in. We're not left without a way out. We are not cornered.
So the problems are coming in from every angle, but there is always a way of escape. You want me to tell you to give up? Huh, you want me to tell you to quit?
It's all right to give up. It's all right to surrender. That's what you want me to say?
I can't tell you that. But what I can tell you is this, that I did it. And I got here from my mind and I envisioned it.
I saw myself when I was still homeless, when I was still a high school dropout, when I was sleeping in abandoned buildings, I saw myself one day being where I am right now. I don't care where you are, use what you got to get what you want. Use your mind.
Use your vision. Use your dream. I dreamed my way out the hood.
I dreamed my way out. And then I saw it, and then I would get up every day and I would grind. Heart.
You got to have a why. You got to have a reason for why you do what you do. If you don't know what your why is and your why isn't strong, you're gonna get knocked out every single day.
But when you know what your why is, you can make it. You've got to activate the thinker in you. Don't allow your emotions to control you.
We are emotional, but you want to begin to discipline your emotion. If you don't discipline and contain your emotions, they will use you. What if you lose?
What if you fail? 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.
50% of winning is showing up for the fight. The fight is half over when you show up. You will never win a fight you don't show up for.
I'm showing up for the fight. Here I am, ready for duty. I'm going to face this head on and let the chips fall where they may.
Every one of my successes is stacked on top of failures. The joy is not in the success, the joy is in trying. The joy is in the process.
That I'm going to keep working, I'm going to keep going at it. See, failure is forming my future. Failure is just another peg in the ladder for me to go higher.
It's been rough. It's been hard. But I've made up in my mind that I will get a reward for the pain that I go through.
You will not stop me. "It's hard. " I know it's hard, but do it hard.
The greatest test is in transition. If you are being tested, you are in transition. And you gotta get it in your brain that where you are right now is not the end.
It's just a transition. Stop letting stuff derail you. Stop getting stuck.
Every time life don't go your way, stop quitting. Stop giving up. Keep fighting in the midst of the struggle.
Keep fighting. Keep thinking positive. You only lose when you quit.
You gotta put up the dukes, baby, and you got to be willing to fight that thing out. If you would be willing to fight your way through this battle, fight your way through cancer, fight your way through that academic struggle, fight your way through divorce, fight your way through that singing career, fight your way through boxing, fight your way through football, I'm telling you at the end of the fight is going to come victory. Recycle your pain.
You can decide the shape, the form, you can decide the product that comes from your pain. And maybe you've been knocked down in your life and it seems like, hey, the fight is over. It is not over if you've been knocked down, it's only over if you quit.
We may be knocked down, but we're never knocked out. We get up again and we keep going. If you make the decision to get up one more time, I'm telling you, you will win the fight.
