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12 May 2015

GED to PHD: Is Greatness Possible For Everyone? Interview with Eric Thomas

Jairek Robbins

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Today I’m honored, thrilled, and humbled to interview a man who helps me start my day, everyday.

 

Dr. Eric Thomas and I are sitting down to answer some of life’s toughest questions and sharing them here with you today!

 

 

If you’ve ever felt stuck, like the odds were stacked against your, or that you were simply dealt the wrong cards that you MUST tune in and watch what this man has to say.

 

It’s not about comparing the stories, the adversity, or the obstacles that you face. This is about getting real and getting honest with yourself. It’s about raising your standards, and not waiting for opportunity but making opportunities happen.

 SEE ALSO: INTERVIEW WITH GARY VAYNERCHUK 

In today’s interview, you’ll learn so much. I encourage you to grab a paper, pen or simply your phone and take notes on some of this real and raw truth about life, success, and relationships!

[youtube_sc url=”https://youtu.be/DvV7vbUPSas” width=”540″ height=”340″]

Eric Thomas, or ET, as he is often referred to will share with us:

 

I really hope you love this interview. I know I did. This man speaks from his heart and soul and TRULY lives it!

Make sure to visit his web-site and check out his books, Mixtapes, Upcoming speaking events …etc. — Click here to visit his site! 

Let me know what you love, learned, and how you’re going to apply what you learned in the comments below.

To Your Success,
Jairek

 

 

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JRCtv transcription – connectingwith ET

Jairek: Hey everyoneJairek Robbins here, Thank you and welcome back to another episode of JRCtv and I’m a bit excited today, we get to speak with someone who I actually listen to in my headphones every single morning, when I’m on that treadmill right behind me looking at those vision boards, getting ready and preparing my mind, body and emotion for the day. And so this is someone thatI feel very close to,even though we’ve only briefly shaken hands once, when I saw him speak here in Tampa last week, but I’m really excited to have him on and this man has a message to share with you. So with no further ado, please say hello, everyone who’s watching, toMr. Eric Thomas.

Eric: Hey, what’s going on, Jairek?

Jairek: Thank you somuch. I want to surprise you, I bet you don’t know that you hang outin my headphones every morning, like…

Eric: I didn’t know that. Yeah, definitely a surprise, I didn’t know that and I hate that…and actually Tampa was one of the first time, it was so late, and I was concerned about my wife, you know and it was so funny because my wife said tome afterwards,“why did you rush? I’m doing great”and I’m like, I didn’t know, this is the first time but she is, ah you know, different work out, different medical regimen, etcetera. So she is a thousand times better, so I hate though that I didn’t get an opportunity to really sit down and get to talk to you but I’ll be back in Tampa, so I’m hoping we’ll have the opportunity.

Jairek: Absolutely! I look forward to it. Maybe you could do an extended interview for everyone.

Eric Thomas: Alright, please, let’s get it.

Jairek: And I appreciate what you said though,to have your priorities straight and to makeyour wife first, to do that is, it stands out to me because I see a lot of people who would be willing to stay for the fans or stay for the applause or stay for something else but to have those straight, which is something I want to ask you in the interview, butthat stands out, and if you wouldn’t mind, I’d love if you could give everyone just kind of a simple background on who you are and maybe what your number one focus in life and business right now is.

Eric: I guess who I am, that is, you know, an average individual,my mom,fortunately or unfortunately, I don’t know how she looks at it, but got pregnant when she was seventeen and my father wasn’t in my life at thattime or really wasn’t in her life at that time, mom was homeless for a while, my grandmother, you know, asked her to leave the house unfortunately, my grandmother had 14 kids,so she couldn’t afford to feed another mouth. And so being a single parent, my grandmother at that time, so my ams, man,really worked hard to finish high school, was able to get a job at FordMotor Company, where she did microfilm for about 30 years, so were just normal people but each generation my mom had said has to get better, so I kind of fail my way through life, fail my way to success, was a high school dropout, homeless for a while and you know, Jairek how it is, man,for some of us it takes a little longer, for us to see the positive, and some ofthe negativity, sowhen I was younger, I kind of fed into the negativity,my

father wasn’t in my life, my mother got pregnant early, I wasn’t appreciative of the fact that she got married. I didn’t really value the person she married who became my father, I just looked at life as a victim. You know, I was always, I didn’t get this break, I wasn’t born on the right side ofthe track, I didn’t get the greatest start, I’m notthe smartest kid, I really just (garbled), and then when I was about 17 or 18 years old, kind of change my environment, went to a church, and I tell this people all the time, when I talk about the church, I don’t talk about it, as religious institution, I really talk about it, you know, as a transforming environment, being around people who want you to go to College, dating someone who has dreams and goals, being around a minister who was in the military, who had fought in war, who was just a guy, was a victor, he was always about conquering and champion, so I got in that environment and they kind of challenged me, why didn’t you finish school? Why don’t you have any dreams? Why don’t you have any goals?Why are you hanging out with the people you are hanging out with? And I had never questioned my life before. I kind of lived life, I kind of accept it, the life that was given to me, you know, growing up in Detroit. I was from Chicago originally, but really grew up in Detroit, West side, so I did what everybody else did. They dropped out, I dropped out. They didn’t read, I didn’t read. They liked sports, I liked sports.

At about 17 was the first time in my life thatI started asking questions, why am I here? What’s my purpose? Do I haveany gifts? What do I want in the next 5, 10 years? So,that’s kind of who I am, got my GED and the GED opened up doors, because it allowed me to leave Detroit and go to a small historically black college in Huntsville, Alabama and from there Michigan State University, so ET was a victim at one time and now I’m a victor and I see life, I’ll be honest with you and say that really, contrary to popular belief, life hasn’t changed. I’m still anAfrican-American male whose father wasn’t in his life, whose mom had him at 17, who grew up in Detroit, nothing has really changed other than my perspective of life. I see life differently, I look at life through a different lens. I don’t got to, I get to. I just have an attitude of gratitude. I understand we live in a great country with great opportunities and nobody’s going to give you anything, there are no free lunches in life, so I just changed my perspective and as result of changing my perspective,somehow my life kind of changed in the process.

Jairek: That’s awesome, man!And I’m curious, just a question on that, cause there’s a lot of people I run

into from time to time andwe hear from and I’m sure you meet them to but,they’re struggling in a moment in their life and 2 things, you know, what’s the no.1 piece of advice you would give to someone in that transitionary period of their life, where they might hate their job, they might hate life, they might not like what they’re doing, they might be frustrated, they might trying to be start a business but it doesn’t seem like its working and a two-fold question, one, what was the spark that helped you ignite that transition in your life, like what was the thought,the moment, the idea, the piece that when that happened it was like whoa!maybe I should take this differently? And what would you say, what’s the number 1 piece you’d give to that person who’s stuck in that moment right now?

Eric: You know for that and this might be hard, Jairek, this might be harsh, but suck it up, man! Nobody cares, you know and I really had to deal with the fact that nobody cares that my mother got pregnant when she was young.Nobody cares that my father wasn’t in my life, nobody cares, man! At the end of the day, nobody is going to support you in that victim mentality, like suck it up! Shut up! And move on with the rest of your life. You can have, you can be, you can do whatever you want to do once you make the decision, so that would be my greatest piece of advice, is like, get over it! Something bad is happening to everybody, people would think like, Yo! ET you’re doing great for yourself, I know you got all these breaks. I did! People, would think for you, Jairek, you got all these breaksin life, you did! Like, the reality is stuff is happen to all of us.We all have some bad breaks, you know when I start experiencing the otherside of life, I say, out ofthe Taj Rocket, you know what was crazy for me, Jairek, is

I realize that people who even grew up in wealth,they are humans! They have problems like, they get the flu, they get cold, and they get sick,they get cancer, people in their families die. You know, stuff happens,they get into car accidents. They have loved oneswho get divorced. They go through life. Just because you have a gift or you have a talent or you have money, it doesn’t mean that red carpet is going to be rolled outfor you,that it’s automatic that’s going to happen good for you, it doesn’t happen that way. So I’ve come to realize that people, who are successful havehad to do something. Now, I don’t know how many steps it took, a hundred,two hundred, I don’t know! That’s not important, what’s important is that we all go through life. Life happens to all of us. It’s not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us that really decides if we’re going to be victims or if we’re going to get and

have everything we’ve ever dreamed of. I tell people like, yo!At the greatest night of my life, my wife has MS! So, its not like, yo, ET is a great speaker,so nothing is going to happen to his wife, nothing is going to happen to his son, my son for a semester was on academic probation. He’s got ET, the hip hop preacher as his father but he’s still 18 years old, he’s still a 19 year old kid who has to experience life for himself, who has to make decisions and so yes, he’ll graduate,maybe in four years but he will have a time when he has to say “I was on academic probation, I had to go to summer school. I had to take the ACT twice”, you know what I’m saying,so I would just say to people, just suck it up man!I don’t care. Now, do I care about you? Yes. ButI only have somany hours in a day. So I don’t havetime to er, er, er, er! (doing a motion like playing a violin), but if you want to do something with your life, yeah I can support you. Yup, I can be there to give you all the information and all the knowledge. And I think Jairek, honestly what changed for me and I tell a couple of different stories about you know what sparked me, butI’ll be real, on a basic level, I’m going to say, getting in a new environment.When I got around people who wanted something in life, and these kids were 19, 20, 21 in College, you know but they wanted to be doctors and lawyers, and I’ve never wanted to be a doctor, I’ve never wanted to be an engineer, I’ve never had that goal, but when you’re around people who are successful, you kind of feel some type of way like, I don’t want to be a doctor or lawyer butI do want to be successful. And when you start seeing people getting up and going to class. You know, people putting on suits, people walking around with briefcases, people buying cars, people graduating from College, people getting fellowships. I didn’t want

to be a doctor, I don’t want to get into med school, I didn’t want to get into law school butI realize that Ido want to do something and I don’t want to be a failure forever. I don’t want to be known as the kid who dropped outof high school, as a kid who was homeless. I don’t mind that being a chapter of my life, butI don’t want it to be my entire life. And so when I got around people who wanted something in life, people who are reading books, learning new words, writing papers, public speaking. For real man, I was like, E, you’re going to have to do something, if you want to be like these people, you’re going to have to do what they’re doing. And so I think man,maybe about 18 almost 19 when I got my GED and went down south and gotin a different environment, when people who had dreams and goals, who had vision boards, who was hitting thattreadmill, when I starting hangingoutwith people like that, I’m just going to be honest, I’m human and I don’t know, If youwant to call it competing because I wasn’t competing against thembut I did havea competitive spirit and I wanted to be able to live a different life than the life thatwas handed to me when I was born.

Jairek: I like that,that’s huge. Along the…

Erik: And that’s long…I’msorry it tookme so long to answer. You said sure but I…

Jairek: No, that’s a straight answer, that’s real. You know, you talk to people all the time and you’re right, it doesn’t really matter where they came from, they’re human and they’re going to face stuff and I think the scariest place to be, isn’t always not having everything sometimesit’s the people who are given thingsthat they never knew how to earn themselves and now they live in fear their whole lives worrying that if I messthis up I will never know how to get it back and oneof the greatest thingsmy dad every taught me was it doesn’t matter about the end result piece, it matters, do you havethe skills, have you learned what it takes to get there because if you do, you can earn your way back. If you don’t, you’re going to live in fear your whole life, freaked out, if you ever mess it up, you’ll never have the opportunity again because you don’t know what it takesto get there. That was the lesson I learned, what was the greatest lesson you learned along your journey so far? Something that just stood out,that’s like wow!

This is so,so, so important.

ET: You know and I don’t mean to be disrespectful Jairek, somebody would take thisthe wrong way. When I talk about, go fund me is the, in some respects to me, I’m not generalizing but I say sometimes, that the go fund me is the new welfare system and what I mean by that Jairek, of course,there are people who do that very legitimately, they havea business plan, etcetera, but here are some people Jairek, who just believe that you’re supposed to finance their dream. You know and that’s the biggest lesson I learned, like E, this is yours!Nobody’s going to, you know, be as passionate about your dream and your life as you are. Nobody owes you anything and at an early age, I remember trying to get a grant I remember sending all these letters and recommendations and asking people to fund me and asking people to help and asking people to do stuff for me, Jairek thatis my responsibility. That’s like me having a child and asking somebody else to raise them, you know, it doesn’t work like that. And oneof the thingsI’ll be honest I’ve never shared this, on any interview, I’ve never shared this publicly and for whatever reason today I just feel impressed but for me one of the greatest challenges is knowing that my biological last name, I never got that,so I never used that name, I’ve never been privileged to use it because the personwho brought me in thisworld was notthere for me and so the person that was there for me, I took on their last name, but you’ve gotto understand that you’re talking 30-40 generations from now, there’ll be family members thatmay not even know that I was related to them because I didn’t get the last name. So,somebody else took that responsibility and my father didn’t take that,so some of the things that he was supposed to get and some thingsI was supposed to happen for us generationally got cut off because the person that was supposed to be responsible wasn’t and that’s the biggest lesson for me, Erik! Nobody else owes you anything. Your success is not dependent upon a board of advisers, it’s not dependent upon motivational speakers who’ve gone before you,they’re living their lives, they’re taking care of their family, they’re doing what they have to do to be successful, nobody owes you anything, that was the biggest lesson for me, like Eric, don’t sit here waiting for some knightin shining armor, go learn how to ride a horse. Learn how to saddle a horse.Go like, learn how to put the armor up and on and you get on, and you become your knight in shining armor. I’m not preaching this, you do it by your own bootstraps. No, we all need supporters, we all need inspirers, we all need to be motivated, but I realize you cannot ask them to do for you, what it is your responsibility to do for yourself. You can ask them to support you but you can’t ask them to do it for you. So that’s the biggest lessonsI’ve learned, Eric, it is your dream, you do not need a business loan, you do not need the support of others, you need to do what you need to do and when you become, what do I want to call the word, like legitimate, when people see that you are real, then people will support you, but you can’t ask them to take a risk on you.

You’ve got to take the risk on yourself, if that makes sense.

Jairek: That’s huge,that’s huge. That’s the difference maker, it’s the person willing to take that first step. I like what you said, own responsibility and I’ve never thought about it in a generational way like that but that’s deep and that’s meaningful for people to own that and if you do something in the world, take responsibility and find a way to make it work. I think some people get in their heads and they have that perspective like you talked about in the beginning where they don’t think it can work and the biggest thing that needs a change, I’m guessing is their mindset and if they change their mindset, they can take control of that right there.

Erik: Absolutely.

Jairek: So, here’s a question, I realized, you inspire millions of people aroundthe world, you inspire me every day, whether you like it or not, you’re in my headphones.Who inspires you, who moves you, who brings your to life when you need it?

Erik: (garbled) I’m a little different, you know, these types of interviews, you know meeting people in person. I can’t explain it butit’s almostlike it works, like its valuable and you got to understand,man,my situation is a lot different from, you know, Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Zig Ziglar. I’m in a different generation in terms ofsocial media. Hey, I’m talking to a camera in a basement. You don’t say, I’m in a basementtalking to a camera. There’s no live audience, there’s no studio, I’m talking to a camera and so when I meet somebody like yourself, who’s married, who’s doingwhat you’re doing, it’s like yo! E, you can now…when I come to the basementthere is a face with the camera now. There was a guy I met when I shot in the TampaAirport, kid got his GED, I’mtalking to him on a TGIM, it’s almost like an avatar and I’ve come up with a name, I’ve come up with some needs, I’ve come up with a scenario and now I’m talking with all these energy because I’m talking to somebody. Where in if you go back to my first TGIM, I’m nottalking to anybody. Every time I read an IG, a direct message or a post and the post you puton about, you’ve gotto understand I’m asking a question but because I’m asking a question, it’s an isolation, butwhen I read your comment, now I can reflect on the question and really what that questionmeant. What it means to a marriage, what it meansto a young man who’s really struggling to know the balance. You guys havebeen my inspiration andMother Teresa, Martin Luther King,Gandhi, people who went before and had this overwhelming desire to be in people’s lives and let’s keep it 100 and even though I never saw myself here, in the last year or two, people are comparingme to, Tony Robbins of the world, the Les Browns, the Robert Kiyosaki’s, the Dale Hardings, and I’ll be honest, it’s humbling. When you’re in a basement, when you’re in high schools, when you do what I do, you never really put yourself on that level. These are people that you listen to,“Waking the Giant Within”, Les Brown, Hoe Gree (?), Zig Ziglar and how Zig was really able to stay focused with his family, with his Christian beliefs. Robert Kiyosaki has a book, I’ve read his book,“Rich Dad, Poor Dad.”So for me, I now feel a level of responsibility to this art form that I’ve never felt before. I’ve never really categorize myself, I’ve never really felt that I was on those individual’s levels but now that I am, I’m saying, ET, what they have done to the game, what are you going to do, every day I wake up knowing that there’s a group of young people, you that go yo! Yo! Waddup,“it’s your boy Rishan,”“it’s your boy Pierre”“it’s your…”, I realize that it’s the genre now, being transparent you know. I got 3 pointsfor you, you’ve got to listen. Like I realize that unbenounced (?)to me, I’m creating a genre, making a group of people feel like, okay, it used to just be rap. Yap, it used to just be baskeball. Yap, doctor, lawyer, but now, there’s a group of people who feel like I can be a baseball cap, t-shirt, blue jean wearing motivationalspeaker and tell my story and change the world. So this new responsibility also inspires me and wakes me up and say people like you are listening to me, when I know you know motivation, you know what it is and so if I can inspire you then that motivates me to keep going and see if I can win 3 championships, 4, 5, 6, I don’t know, butthis inspires me as well.

Jairek: Awesome! That’s awesome, man. I remember one of my favorite phrasesI learned and I always tell people, everyone inspires me on this planet. It doesn’t matter if it’s someone who’s struggling in the moment, someone who’s advanced in the moment, it doesn’t matter where they are. I picked somewhere along the way, I think it was Dad that told me, everyone you meet in life is either an example or a warning. If you learn from them, either learn what to do, or learn what not to do, everyone has a lesson. So, I look through everybody and it’s a surprise, sometimeswhere you think the lesson is going to come from isn’t always where the lesson comes from.

Eric: Absolutely

Jairek. Usually the more important lessons come from the places you never expect. You sir, certainly, an example of what’s possible. Two questions, just to wrap up, I do want to be respectful of your time.

Eric: Yap, I love it, just makesure we do it again.

(laughter)

Jairek: Two of them there, but one, maybe 3, there’s an important one I want to endwith but,my wife

and Isaw you speaking in Tampa recently last week and you’ve madea great point,there was a young

man who raised his hand and asked a question, he was there with his wife and he asked a question and

he said, you know I’m in a startup business, I’m building my business, and I’ve got to sacrifice time with

my family to build my business, because building my business gives you the money to be able to care of

my famly and I don’t know what to do and you had one ofthe best responses I’ve everseen. I posted it

and ton of people responded to it in a great way. But I’d love for you to share, if someone is in that

moment and they’re just startingup their business and they’re saying,Hey, I’m going to sacrifice my

family, I’m going to sacrifice my relationship for the moment cause I’ve got to build my business first.

What’s your response there? Is it okay to sacrifice family time or is there another approach that’s

probably more useful?

Erick: You know, and again I’m grateful that we have time to flush it out and I hope we can even add to

what my response was but at the end ofthe day, you haveto make your priority, priority. Somany

people think thatif you compromise thatwhich is a priority at some point you’ll get back to your priority.

And I’ll just be honest, at 44, I just haven’t seen it work. I just haven’t seen somebody sacrifice their

family and say give me 4-5 years and I’m going to come back. Well, 4-5 years, youmissed 4-5 years, your

child is walking, talking, your wife has become a different person, you can’t afford to sacrifice what’s

mostimportant, forsomething that’s not as important.Now, let’s be real, money has a role, but for

those of uswho’s been blessed to havesome, we understand it’s not what people make it. It’s not as

deep as people make it. You know, ET, I want to get a Bentley, I want to get a house. A house is great but

a house is not a home. A car is a car, after about a month or two of driving it, it kind of loses its new car

smell and it just comes a car. So, I would say to those of youwho are in the moment, you’re struggling,

trying to find that balance, you need to makesure that your priorities stay your priority. If that’s your

wife or your husband or your child, whatever. The priority need to be a priority. I think what you can do,

is we can communicate, so I say to my wife, “Sweetheart, I’ll need about 2 weeks go horror(?) or I’ve got

get this audio booked up butI promise you that if I go horror (?) for two weeks on the 3

go to Hawaii for a week,right? And my wife understandsstill that she is the number 1 priority. I

communicate to her, that this is what I need to get done. I have allowed her, Jairek, to be a stakeholder

and I’m asking her, hey, how do you feel about the two weeks, I’m going to need to do, 8-7 I’m going to

need to do 8-8, 12 hours, what we can do is get up earlier and do breakfast together, I promiseafter 8,

we can do Uno, we can put a puzzle together.We can go for a walk. These are things thatshe likes Jairek.

Jairek: That’s important.

Eric: Yeah, I can’t play Unowith you for, I can only get beat up, you know, maybe 1 game, I can’t let you

beat me up for 4 hours. You know, thenmy wife and I discussit. You know, say what, take 3 weeks and

you know take 8-8 and I’llsacrifice the first couple of weeks, me and mymomwould go somewhere or

me and the kids, butI’m communicating with my wife and I’m letting her know, you are first because

honestly what is happening in somemarriages in those 4 years where you are building a business and

your wife has someneeds that you couldn’t meet, somebody else can…I always say unmet needs will be

met, they may not be met by you.

Jairek: The hard truth butit’s real.

Eric: Yeah, I can keep her wanted, unmet needswill be met somehow and so I just believe thatwhile you’

re doing your business, don’t miss your wife’s needs, don’t miss your husband’s needs because when you

come back they might not need you anymore. Don’t miss your kid’s needs,they might join a gang or they

might get involved in activities that will not be beneficial to them,so makesure you make time for them

and that doesn’t mean that we’ll always be able to take trips, it don’t mean that were going to be sitting

in kitchen table together and eat dinner together all the time, but it does mean I’ll text you, it doesmean

a 30 second call or a minute call and I’ll let you know howmuch I care for you, I’ll let you know howmuch

I value you and then listen to me guys, thisis what I told the youngman, and I learned it late, but I’ve

truly come to realize that when youmake your priority your priority and you start doing secondary

things you can get those things done in less time if youmake your priority a priority. What I mean by that

is there somepeople that’s taken a year to write a book, you could have gotthat book done in 6 months

if youwent all in, if youwere focused, if youwere motivated. It took you 4 years to get a degree that it

could havetaken you two years to get, so all I’m saying to you is, thatwhich takes 3 weeks to do, do it in

3 weeks, don’t let it drag outto 6 weeks, in 9 weeks and you put your family on the back burner. Nobody

wants to sit the bench, nobody wants to ride the bench, butI don’t mind riding the bench if coach has a

plan to putme in. I won’t have a bout riding the bench if I’m still an intrical part of the scheme ofthe

game. So I would just say,family is not something you can get back, time is not something you can get

back,Jairek and I both can tell you, you can get a car back, you can get money back,these are things you

can get back, but you can’t get yourson’s 6

School, you can’t get that back. You can’t get his senior year basketball game back, your daughter’s

senior yearsoccer game back, you can’t! And I’m going to say this and stop. I’m not bragging but you

guys know my schedule, I just want to show you thatit can be done, I never miss any of my daughter’s

basketball games. I schedule, I toldmy agent, here are the games, if the company really wants me, they

can do it another time. I never missmy son’s football game, I made a commitment, thatI will not,that

my daughter will look and after every rebound she’ll see her dad in the stands. I will not be the world’s

motivator, the world’s inspiratorand my kids’say we don’t get that at home. So am I telling you it’s easy,

no, I’m not, butI’m telling you it can be done. Now, I have to say thisto you to, if you’re average, you’ll

not be able to get this allowances, this is why you haveto be excellent at what you do, because if your

excellent at what you do, people will work with you in ways they won’t work with youwhen you’re

average. So I just had a university thatI was scheduled to speak at, my daughter’s springbreak came up,

Tampa opened up, I told them I couldn’t do it, we need to re-schedule because I wanted, this is the last

spring break that I’ll everspendwith my daughter in high schoolshe’s going to be a senior next yearso I

know she’s not going to be with me during seniorspring break. So guess what they did, they re-
scheduled,they pushed it back a week or two, that’s what happened when you operate in a spirit of

th birthday party back, you can’t back his first year in High

excellence, people will work with you. So, I need you to make your family priority, keep thema priority,

let them know that they are priority, communicate that they are priority and theymight even help you

get some ofthe stuff that you need to get done, done, so you can do it quicker, so that’smy response to

finding that balance, Jairek and again I’m not saying it’s going to be easy butif it was easy everybody

would do it.

Jairek: I love that and its going to be worth it, I like it.

Eric: Oh, I love that, it’s going to be worth it.

Jairek: I have a couple of questions.

Eric: Okay.

Jairek: Obviously, people tuning in, I’m sure they are loving this as much as I am, I keep you in my

headphones as much I possible just because you keep my spirit alive, you re-in fire me from the inside-
out every day. Isthere a way that if someone wants to tap into, weekly or monthly, in someway shape

or form that they can? I remember youmention a programat the end ofthe conversation in Tampa,

would youmind telling people what that is and how they can grab it? I’ll make sure thatthey have links

and everything in the video.

Eric: So again,for those people who are just looking for a little motivation. Every Monday I come up with

what’s called “ThankGod it’s Monday”and it’s just a shot in the arm, this is meth (?) man,to keep those

of us who are already pumped up and motivated, keep the coal on the fire a little bit longer and then of

course, etinspires.com, I’ve got mix tapes, about 3 mix tapes, it just mymotivation mixed with some of

the music thatI love. And I’d love for you to listen to them because some people will be shocked at some

ofthe music that I listen to, thatinspires me and then I believe thatmy first book “When You Want To

Succeed as Bad As You Want To Breathe –Your Secrets to Success”is very motivational. My next book, I

wrote thatfor people Jairek like us, but for those of youwho are just looking forsome motivation and

that first book, I think will really give you the hope that you need that you don’t haveto be great to get

started butto be great, you definitely, Les would say you got to get started. And for those who are ready

to take it to another level, I’m so grateful for people like Bob Proctor, who sat down with me and said, E,

like for real, there’s a group of people out there, they are willing to make an investment to know the ins

and outs,so with our Breathe University, there are different levels, but there is a level in Breathe

University, diamond level, where I just had a young lady who’s working on a book andwe just talk. So for

people like her, you know, E, I need to talk to you, I want to be able to get on a phone and spend some

time with you, I don’t necessarily want to do,the general meeting, I want some one on one time, do

Breathe University. I do somethingweekly on a conference call and then I makeavailable one on one

time with individuals. There are multiple levels and I don’t push, I guess, Tampawas the first time. My

team was like yo! E, come on, it’s like 90 minute appeal after the great message, I guess, butI never want

people to think that I’m trying to pushing anything on them, butthose are the levels and like I said, it’s as,

you can be as intrusive as you like or you don’t even have to know me, like Jairek said, I didn’t know he

was listening tome. So through the mix tapes and through the videos on YouTube, you can have ET

unlimited. I think there are about close to 360 free videos that are online and now we’re coming upwith

YouTube, a more spiritual, inspiration type of YouTube Channel, where it’s just some ofthe message that

I’ve done, like faith based messages,that’s some more free stuff comingup. Mix tape is coming out,

hopefully in May. CJ told me, E, until you finish your PhD, nomore mix tapes, I’m tired of hearing you say,

you’re working on your PhD, you’ve gotto get that done. So I didmy part, the end of January, I finished

with the PhD,so during my graduation, I think at the gala, that I’ll open up to the world, I think we’re

going to release the mix tape then, and then were going to release it to the world sometime like end of

May,first part of June.

Jairek: That’s awesome. So if you are watching this, on our blog, on our YouTube channel or if you’re on

podcast, look at the show notes. Everywhere thatthis is going to be, we’ll make sure we have all the links

there and exactly what they go to. I’m going to check it outmyself and I’m going to see if my wife’s okay

with us grabbing the weekly check in. Ithink it’s cool I already listen to you butI figure if there’s new

content coming and there’s fresh stuff every week, I’m excited to check it out and hear what else is there

because I like what’s inside.

Eric: Tell her we can barter, we can barter

Jairek: Deal! We’ll find a way to make it work, butfor everyone tuning in, definitely, check outthe links

on the blog, click them, buy them, check it out, join in, whether it’s a book, a mix tape, whether its

joining in Breathe University,find the piece that fits for you and do it. Let’s see, there’s a big final

question I want to ask and its two parts, one has to dowith your legacy of how youwant to be

remembered, and two is something that I remember youmentioning is important to you and I want to

know how we can help. First, what do youwant your legacy to be, what do youwant that ripple in the

universe to be because youwere here?

Eric: I kind of see myself, a mentorof mine, before she passed on with cancer, call me the refresher, she

called me a refresher, shefelt like I was that guy, when people lost their way in life, she used to say, you’

re like that big truck and you take your battery and put cables on your battery and you connect it to their

dead battery and then vroom, with a push ofthe engine, the turn of a key, you get those people fired

back up and I think that’s what I want to do, those people have lost hope, two groups, onegroup they

have putin the work Jairek and you how thisis, they’ve done everything they were told to do,they did

everything the right way, and the marriage still didn’t work out, the degree didn’t work out,the

profession still didn’t work out, I want to give them hope, to say stop scoreboardwatching, you aren’t

doing this for a reward in the first place. You were doing this for you that’s who you are you know and I

want you to get back to loving life. You know and then for that group that has been hurt and they stop

believing in people, they don’t believe that there are good people in the world anymore, they don’t

believe in doing good deeds anymore. They actually became the negativity thatthey weren’t. The hurt

that they hated, they became that hurt, I want themto love again, I want to inspire them to believe

again, I want to inspire them to hope again. I don’t want them to be strung outon drugs or just to give up

hope, become hermits and just to give up on life. There are no good people in life, nothing good is ever

going to happen to me. I don’t even know why I should try. I want to inspire those people and say dream

again, hope again, believe again. Get married again, get in your child’s life, sowhat, your child hung up

on you the last 3 times, give it a 4

and that’s the only way to say it Jairek, to awaken for real, the giant within, to awaken the human again,

to awaken the greatness within, the phenomenal within, that’s what I want to be known for, this guy

gave me hope when I was hopeless, he charged me when I didn’t havea charge. Thatto me, that’s what I

want my legacy to be.

th

shot, give it a 5

Jairek: That’s beautiful man and I like that. I like the example ofthe truck too, hooking it up and lighting it

back up,that’s amazing.

Eric: You might not need thatin Tampa as much aswe need it in Michigan, I don’t know where we need

it.

Jairek: My wife was born in Michigan State, she went to Michigan U, she’s a Spartan as well and she grew

up in Balibar (?)

(some shouting, cheers)

Jairek: We’re heading back up to see family in just a few weeks here.

Eric: Wow, (garbled) go white!

Jairek: Final question. I know youmentioned,that onemajor goal and this is a big one, butI think, I don’t

know, someone might be listening thatmight be able to help in someway shape or form, but you

mention the Nobel prize, that being noble was something that’s important to you and taking time to say

hello and taking time to communicate and I watch you on Instagram now and you really do, you take

time to connect with people, if you haveto miss a flight, youmiss a flight, you do it. It’s beautiful and

amazingbut is there any way or how can we help you and specifically how can we help you win that

Nobel prize?

Eric: I’ll be honest with you, nobody’s ever askedme that before. I’m a practitioner at heart,Jairek, I’m a

practitioner, I’ll be honest and say thatI don’t know that I havethe system. I kind of feel like Michael

Jordan, when Mike first came in the league, he was putting up 60 and electrifying the crowd and bringing

the love of basketball back in the hearts of people. I feel like I’m that Michael Jordan but I don’t have that

Phil Jackson right now, I feel like I don’t have those people who are movers and shakers in the world,

who can make a phone call and allow me to get into the schoolsystems to help me to put those kind of

fund raising eventstogether where I can raise the millions of dollars tomy non-profit organization and

be able to buy kids computers, etcetera. It was funny, I was sitting down with Warren Buffet in a meeting

nottoo long ago that Dan Gilbert invited me to. I’m sitting there and like wow, I’m in this roomwith all

these people and I didn’t have anything to give them to say, thisis how I do education, I want to change

the world. I didn’t have that format and I look at someone like Bill Gates, wow! Bill Gates left Microsoft,

he started the millennium scholarship and I know people personally who’ve gone to school as a result.

There were a group of people who helped him sit down and put thatframework together. I feel like

when you talk about Nobel, when you talk about shaking their hands, and getting into people’s lives, I

can do that part butthe systems, I’m not a systems guy and the system its going to take for me to be

able to change the world globally.

It was funny,my wife said, wow! You fly Delta all the time, you got your kidsflying delta all the time, you

can’t get them to sponsor you. And I say, you know what sweetheart, I don’t know, I don’t know how to

do that. I’m a practitioner, I’m not an administrator, I don’t do that part. You’re the first person that’s

ever askedme that, andmaybe because I probably can’t even articulate it, what I needed maybe 6

months ago. But after finishing the PhD, I’m still in love with the GED man, it opened up the whole world

to me butjust recently after finishing the PhD andmoving on and now concentrating on the Nobel Peace

Prize, I think I kind of know the strengths I haveand the weaknesses and that’s probably a weakness, I’m

not a systems guy and I probably need somebody to sit down with me and take my vision and help me

putit on paper and share it with other individualswho can possibly help me make that a reality.

Jairek: I like that.Well, I know somesystems people, so, I’ll domy best. If you’re listening in and you’re a

systems person,feel free to reach outto me and I’ll be happy to pass the messageforward and I want to

sure that you get the right systems people and notsystem people that are trying to sell you their systems.

Eric: No, we don’t want that.

Jairek: You can email me and I willsort through you andmake sure that if we find the right systems

people we will get them to you. I will do my best, I havesome friendswho might be those systems

people and maybe offline we can chat andmaybe I can offer that in any way for you. But I just want to

say,thank you, thank you, thank you…

Eric: Absolutely

Jairek: For taking the time to join us and say hello to everyone and share this message with them.

Definitely looking forward to crossing pathsin person sometime and being able to hangout and say hello.

Eric: Absolutely.

Jairek: And..

Eric: Especially if you’re watching (garbled), I’ll see you in Houston next year. Final 4, baby!

Jairek: She was so excited, she had this party gear on, we were up the street here and she was screaming

and yelling. I knew she was excited about life, butthe first time there was a Spartan football game on,

and Isaw her running in place on the bed while the runningback was runningdown the field and when

he got tackled, she dove backwards into the pillows and went uuggghhh!!!At that point, I knew how

passionate about sparty.

Eric: You know, favorite football game, basketball game, as Chit knows (?) I work with the team, I know

you guys are up there doing your thingbut in one ofthe first games ofthe season of football I’d like for

us to do it together, so please let’s make that happen.

Jairek: We will find a way to make that happen,that will be an amazing gift and shewill be out of her

mind excited.We almostwent last year but it was negative something degrees outside, so we watched a

few blocks away on the TV (laughter)

Eric: Alright, let’s make it.

Jairek: So for everyone who tuned in,thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to watch this.

Make sure to click the links below on ourblog, makesure to click the links on the show notes or the

video. Check out Breathe University, check outthe mix tapes, check out his awesome books, and will do

our bestto see if we can get him back on for another episode of JRCTv, for those of you tuning in I hope

you have an amazingweek, we look forward to seeing you next week. And again Mr. Eric Thomas, thank

you thank you, thank you for joining us.

Eric: Thanks man, I appreciate you.

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