00:00It kind of reminds me of the story of the old man that was fishing in the lake.
00:03And there was an old man fishing in the lake and he was catching big fish and little fish
00:06and big fish and little fish.
00:07And there was a little boy off of the shore watching the man fish.
00:11Every time he caught that big fish, he would throw the big fish back.
00:14Every time he caught that little fish, he put that little fish on ice in his cooler.
00:17So this man's doing this for hours.
00:19He's catching big fish and little fish and big fish and little fish.
00:21So after a few hours, the storms begin to come in.
00:23So he brings the boat back and he begins to walk home.
00:25And the little boy runs up to the man and says, sir, hold on, hold on.
00:27You can't go home yet.
00:28I've been watching you for hours.
00:29You were catching big fish and little fish and big fish and little fish.
00:33And every time you caught that big fish, you throw that big fish.
00:36And every time you caught that little bitty fish, you put that little fish on ice in your
00:39cooler.
00:40And I don't understand why you did that.
00:43He reached into his book bag.
00:44He said, son, I hate the fact that every time I caught that big fish, I had to throw that
00:47big fish back.
00:48But you see, back at home, I only have a little itty bitty frying pan.
00:55And before you laugh too hard, many of us can't seize our potential because we throw
01:02back big opportunities.
01:04We throw back big doors and we hold on to the little things, y'all come on somebody,
01:08the small stuff that fits in our frying pan, the little stuff that fits in our comfort
01:14zone, the little stuff that fits in our background, the little stuff that fits in our pedigree,
01:18the little stuff that fits with our bank account, the little stuff that fits with the people
01:21that we grew up in and around.
01:24And we don't understand that there's big mega opportunities out there that we're supposed
01:29to be taking full advantage of if we would just be willing to seize our potential and
01:35take our lives to the next level.
01:36I learned a whole lot about potential from my parents.
01:39My mom raised me and my older brother, Michael, as a single parent.
01:42She struggled every day, all the time to make ends meet.
01:45I love my mom.
01:46She was my first mentor.
01:47She was my first coach.
01:48My mother was a Sunday school teacher.
01:50She was an English teacher.
01:51If you were going to be Olivia's kid, you had to be able to talk.
01:54So from the time I was in the third, fourth, and fifth grade, I got the longest parts in
01:57the Easter play and the Christmas play.
01:58I had to play Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Isaac.
01:59All of my friends got little stuff.
02:00Jesus, what?
02:01I got five pages of lines I had to memorize.
02:02And it was frustrating.
02:03But my mom would sit on the second, third row of church and she'd say, I can't hear you.
02:10Project more.
02:11Use your hands.
02:13My dad helped me realize my potential because my father's been in a wheelchair longer than
02:18I've been alive.
02:19And I know what it's like to go through the biggest pain of all for my mentor, my coach,
02:22my mom, who raised me way more than a parent, a mentor, a coach, a friend, an advisor to
02:28pass away on April 30th, 2013, 5.30 PM Eastern.
02:32Heart failure.
02:33We were caregiving for my mom every single day.
02:37We decided to go home and change clothes, me and my older brother, Michael.
02:39And by the time we got back home and changed clothes, we got a call from the hospital said,
02:42you better come back.
02:43By the time we got back to the hospital, she was already gone.
02:45We didn't get a chance to say goodbye.
02:49People say that time heals.
02:51I believe that time helps, but you have to learn to live with that loss.
02:54Anybody in this room ever lost a loved one?
02:56One of the greatest lessons that I learned about overcoming pain is to shift to gratitude.
03:02So I began to start writing in a gratitude journal every single day.
03:05My mom's favorite expression was, I'm blessed.
03:08So every morning I write in a gratitude journal and I write things that I'm grateful for.
03:11And I make a list of all the amazing things that I have to be grateful for in my life.
03:15My mentor taught me in college.
03:16He said, listen, the bottom line of results and anything else is rhetoric.
03:19Learn to focus on pursuing your passion.
03:21My friends, I want you to understand something.
03:22Here's what I've learned and realized.
03:24People are going to sum up your life with one word.
03:26You know what that one word is?
03:27Your primary passion.
03:29If I say Henry Ford, you say the automobile.
03:31Come on somebody.
03:32If I say Oprah Winfrey, you say television.
03:33Does that make sense?
03:34Every single one of us have a powerful passion.
03:36Slow down the word, pass I on.
03:38How do you pass yourself on to someone else?
03:40How do you learn how to be like a stamp and stick to one thing until it delivers?
03:44One of the biggest lessons that I learned and one of the biggest things that I realized
03:47that stops people from living their passion is the fact that we have inner voices in our
03:50head that stop us from going after the things we want and we don't understand that there's
03:55big mega opportunities out there that we're supposed to be taking full advantage of if
04:00we would just be willing to seize our potential and take our lives to the next level.
04:06The next time those voices come in your head and tell you what you're not good enough to
04:09do, you're not smart enough, you're not fast enough, you're not tall enough, you're not
04:12gifted enough, you're not connected enough, you're not networked enough, celebrate your
04:15uniqueness, fall in love with you, appreciate you.
04:19When you try to be like anybody else, the best you can be is second place.
04:24Understand how unique you are because if two of us are the same, one of us is unnecessary.
04:29My friend, be you.
Comments