Eric Thomas - The Hip-Hop Preacher

Eric Thomas, Ph. D. is a critically acclaimed author, World-renowned speaker, educator, pastor and audible.com Audie Awards Finalist. ET, as he is better known, has taken the world by storm, with his creative style and high-energy messages. His words continue to impact tens of millions of people in several hundred countries across the planet! Through a significant social media presence and his recent domestic and international tours, “ET, The Hip Hop Preacher” has become a global phenomenon! Eric’s spiritual walk, tenacity and drive are the perfect example of his quote,“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you‘ll be successful.” At a recent business meeting, Eric had the opportunity to learn more ‘Secrets of Success’ from Mr. Warren Buffett. This invitation-only event, broadened his mind and further strengthened his resolve to empower others in their pursuit of greatness. Drawing from his own personal experiences as they relate to homelessness, the absence of his biological father, scholastic struggles, and various other obstacles, ET allows his life to be an “open book” from which radiates dynamic and inspiring messages that relate to many people across all strata. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time, too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff, borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig. On October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is.

• 1:12Speaker 02

  Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up.

• 1:16Speaker 01

  From the director of Birdman and the Revenant.

• 1:18Ed Mylett?

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Ed Mylett?

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent.

• 1:34Speaker 02

  This is The Ed Mylett Show.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  Recruit, build, lead, and compete.

• 1:46Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out with Ed Mylett. I got him. I got ET.

• 1:51Eric Thomas?

  Hey.

• 1:54Ed Mylett?

  We've been so glad to have you here. Thank you so much.

• 1:56Eric Thomas?

  Beautiful home, man.

• 1:57Ed Mylett?

  Thank you. Thank you.

• 1:58Eric Thomas?

  Beautiful family, man. I feel. Yeah, I don't do a lot of this, so those who know me know I've probably done two, three podcasts.

• 2:05Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, well, wow.

• 2:06Eric Thomas?

  So this is, yeah, this is special.

• 2:08Ed Mylett?

  And as good as it is to have you here, it's better to have DeeDee, your wife, here with you.

• 2:11Eric Thomas?

  Definitely.

• 2:12Ed Mylett?

  Figuring it all out.

• 2:12Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, yeah, no question.

• 2:14Ed Mylett?

  So, thank you.

• 2:14Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, thank you.

• 2:15Ed Mylett?

  So, this is Eric Thomas, as you all know, and in my opinion, you guys know that I've been speaking for a long time. I think this is an anointed, gifted, incredible communicator, because it comes from your heart. You're outstanding, so this, today, what I want to do, because I feel like people wanted to see me and you together. Well, they want to see you, right? And I get a chance, but you know what I'm saying? And I want to talk exclusively today about you and about winning, because that's what we want. I want to get to the point on it. So, I want to talk a little bit about you, because this man sitting next to me spoken, really, it's probably millions of people by this point, right? All over the place, and so, how does a guy who drops out of high school, right? You dropped out of high school, right? A guy that grew, talk a little bit about how you grew up, tell them about that a little bit?

• 2:58Ed Mylett?

  And then, how did you step into this space where you're this person of such a big influence?

• 3:03Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, you know what, man? I was talking yesterday for an event, and I was just asking people, like, yo, when you get in the car, what's the first thing you look for? Like, and I got a GED, so I'm trying to get deep, you know what I'm saying? Like, what's the first thing? And they said, well, you look to see how much gas is in the car, you know? And so, for me, that's what it's all about, fuel. And I didn't have a lot of it at 15, 16, because, you know, found out my mother lied. The person that was raising me wasn't my real father. I was actually raised by my real father, didn't know who he was. So, I was with my grandma, my aunts, my uncles, you know, I was with his family, all my cousins, but they just said he was a friend of the family. Yeah, so my mom was sweet with it, much respect for mom. Mom was sweet.

• 3:44Eric Thomas?

  Mom's realized at a young age, she got pregnant with me at 17, had me at 18, and she was just like, yo, he's not the best influence for you. You know, so she's like, we just gonna cut him off completely. You know what I'm saying? Like, he dead completely. So, I don't know how she pulled it off, but like, I would be around him, around my family, and it was always like, this guy was a friend of the family.

• 4:01Ed Mylett?

  How old were you when you found this out?

• 4:02Eric Thomas?

  Probably about 13, when I confronted my mom about it, you know, about 13. You know, so just homeless for a while. You know, sleeping in abandoned buildings, eating out of trash cans.

• 4:13Ed Mylett?

  Did you really?

• 4:13Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, eventually dropped out of high school. You know, it's like, yo, I was going to high school every day, but after a point, my boys was like, what are you going for? Like, you're not, you know, it's like-

• 4:21Ed Mylett?

  You were literally homeless, get up from wherever this homeless place was and went to high school. Then you're like, why am I doing this?

• 4:25Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, but I, I, I liked school just because, I mean, it was a safe place. You know, you got breakfast, you got lunch, you know what I'm saying? You don't have to worry about, you know, certain things happening when you're in school. Your friends, the social life was great, you know, but my boys and, and, and I'm not proud of it, but at that time, you know, guys were, you know, selling drugs and whatever. And they were just like, yo, E, we're out here making this money and you going to school for what? Like, what are you go- like, you're not doing anything. You're not going to Harvard, you're not going to Yale. You're not even going to community college with your grades. So you just need to just quit and let it go, you know? So eventually I dropped out and I started going to the church. And I, I'm not a religious person, like, we didn't grow up in church, you know, I didn't grow up praying and none of that. But I went to church just because, again, it was a safe environment.

• 5:07Eric Thomas?

  It was, and I think that was the first time I got turned on to inspiration. You know, you got this pastor and, you know, all, all that stuff is positive. You know, you got the, um, the choir, the praise team. It's a free meal after each, like, there's no meals, like, a- after church meals, you know? Uh, and so just being in church with my best friend in the whole wide world, he ended up introducing me to Dee Dee at the time. And I think when I started dating Dee Dee, that was the first time in my life, it was like, yo, fuel.

• 5:35Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 5:35Eric Thomas?

  You know, it was fuel. It was like, here's this girl that's saying like, yo, I got dreams and goals.

• 5:39Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 5:40Eric Thomas?

  You know?

• 5:40Ed Mylett?

  She was the one with the dreams and goals.

• 5:42Eric Thomas?

  Always, always went to school, did what she's supposed to, goody two shoes. Went to school, did what she was supposed to. She was an only child. It was just her and her mom. You know, she was very focused. And she was kind of like, yo, I like you. I'd like to have a future with you, but if we're gonna have a future together, like, I can't, I can't date a high school dropout. You know, like, I can't be with somebody. So she decided, she got accepted into college, I'm going to college. If you don't get your GED and follow me, like, it's a rap. So imagine, man, we are sixteen, seventeen, sitting on a curve. I'm homeless, high school dropout. Imagine being with this young lady and you're dreaming. And you, she's talking about, all right, when we get older, we're gonna have kids, we're gonna live in this house. I'm gonna be a nurse, you gonna whatever. And so for me, that was the first time in my life-

• 6:25Eric Thomas?

  That it was like, yo, it go, phew, like, yo, I could be something, I could do something, so, yeah, that, for me, that was, and it was like, yo, your dad is a high school dropout, your grandfather was, and no disrespect, because my father and I have a relationship now. So, you know what I'm saying, no disrespect to him, but he dropped out, he had kids by different, you know, my grandfather didn't finish, he had, and I just was like, yo, I want to win, bro.

• 6:46Ed Mylett?

  Whoa.

• 6:46Eric Thomas?

  I want to win.

• 6:47Ed Mylett?

  This woman who believes in you, sees this greatness in you, as a little girl still, really, though, right? That's, that's bananas.

• 6:54Eric Thomas?

  Probably more than, than now.

• 6:56Ed Mylett?

  I doubt that, not after being a rad.

• 6:59Ed Mylett?

  She's seeing it now. But were you, how do you, I'm just curious, I want to understand the story for me. So, you dropped out, she's going away to college, how do you end up graduating from Michigan State then? Like, that's not a little school, right?

• 7:09Eric Thomas?

  So, so, you know, for me, what happens, one, you know, and I, and I want people to understand this, dream big, but get small wins, though. You know what I'm saying? You can dream big, but get the small wins. And those small, I never forget hearing John Elway speak once, you know, John Elway was like, yo, I became great by being good over a long period of time, you know, and so for me, it was, alright, Diddy's leaving, she's going to college, if I can get my GED, that's, that's all I need to focus on right now, is let me get the GED. And here's the thing, I never realized, by having a girlfriend, it was like, I'm not dating anybody that's selling dope, I'm not dating anybody that's, you know, violent, you know, I'm not dating nobody that's carrying a gun, so for me,

• 7:52Ed Mylett?

  Those were wins.

• 7:53Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, so for me, it was like, I didn't even know about being with her, it stopped me from doing some of the stuff that had I not had a purpose, I probably would have been doing what my boys were doing, because I was with them, I just wasn't doing what they were doing. You know, so the GED was the first win, then I ended up following her, going to college, now, first college was Oakland, went to a very small school in Alabama, but then after I finished that, and I was speaking at the time, and so now universities are like, University of Cincinnati saw me, University of Louisville, Michigan State, so Michigan State came and said, hey, all these, these guys like you, but we want to court you. Like, we want you to come, get a degree, and eventually work for the university. So I'm thinking, high school dropout, you know, I got a four-year degree, I go to Michigan State, like, I can make my mama proud again. From Detroit, so it's U of M or it's Michigan State.

• 8:38Eric Thomas?

  And so I'm like, yo, I can reverse this thing. My little sister went to U of M. So if I go to Michigan State, my mom, that's like house money. You know what I'm saying? It's like mom could be proud of me again because you know, of course, leaving home. You know, we get into it, you know, there's a point where my mom was kind of discouraged, like I didn't raise you like this. You know, so to go to Michigan State, get a master's degree. It's like, yo, I can make mama proud. And then when she came to the graduation all excited. I'm like, hey, I might as well get the PhD, you know, let's, let's just finish it up, bring her back one more time. And some of the pain that I caused her, I'm sure another degree is only gonna make her that, you know, much more. So I just say, man, start with the small wins.

• 9:13Ed Mylett?

  Wow, those end up being, you have your PhD.

• 9:15Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 9:15Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, those are some big wins.

• 9:16Eric Thomas?

  Uh, I don't know, you know, I don't do the PhD, I don't talk about that and do that. But when I'm in school, I use that in educational environment because it kind of helps me, you know, leverage my platform.

• 9:25Ed Mylett?

  So I'm curious, obviously watching you right now, there's an anointing, a giftedness with the way you speak and communicate. Yeah, and you're good and you've worked on that gift too. One of the things I love that you talk about, talk about this for a second, then I might ask you about your speaking, but gifts like Dee Dee. Right? Or like other gifts in your life, don't always show up, as you say, in the packages you expect them to, right? Or perfectly gift wrapped. Some of the biggest gifts I've had in my life did not show up the way I expected them to, right? Speak about that a little bit in people's lives.

• 9:53Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, I think for real, man, most of them, you know, and you gotta be humble. You know, and I think too many of us who've been blessed like we've been blessed. People watch us and don't see the humility. Like they would prefer to see, you know, the confidence in us, you know, the passion and overlook like the humility. But when you're humble, that's how you see things that other people don't see. Like when you're humble, you see, you're out running water. You know what I'm saying? I've been to other countries where they don't have running water. You know, um, you know, we all have a roof already. This is a different type of roof. You know what I'm saying? But, but you can look at this every day and see the water and just go like, yo, this is a gift. Because how many people have tried to do the exact same thing you tried to do?

• 10:37Eric Thomas?

  In the exact same way you tried to do it and it didn't end up like this. So I wake up every day like, yo, E, you've been married twenty, somebody, you've been married almost 28 years, like somebody. I took a chance on you, you know what I'm saying? And I'm being real, like her mom was like, don't do it. Her father was like, don't do it. Like, what does he have? He doesn't have anything. That's a gift when somebody loves you, when you don't have absolutely anything. And then now it's a gift to be with somebody who's not with me because I'm ET the hip hop preacher. But really has been with me like in the good, the bad, the ugly. So I know this is my, my ride or die. So I think gifts are all around us, but some people aren't humble enough to say, yeah, I did work for this one, but this one, let's just be honest. I didn't work for this one. This was a gift from God.

• 11:21Eric Thomas?

  This was given to me and I, and I gotta be humble and be grateful for it.

• 11:24Ed Mylett?

  I gotta tell you how similar you and I are, cause I know you haven't seen this, but like, it's about running water and be having humility, right? Because when people see outwardly confident people, they can mistake that. I think sometimes dudes like you and I that have this outward confidence, it's because we've had to work on ourselves so damn much too, right? Like I was not born super confident, right? I had enough things in my life, but when I was early on in business, when Chrissy and I were first married, I got my power turned off, car repo'd, all that stuff that can happen to you. I went backwards first, but the worst thing that happened was my water got turned off. So you could have power turned off, phone turned off, you can survive. You get no water, let me tell you. You can't bathe, you can't cook and we would have to get up in the mornings. I'm a newlywed, we'd have to get up in our apartment. I'd walk my new bride down the stairs.

• 12:09Ed Mylett?

  We would take a shower at the pool and just like I'd stand in front of there because there was no curtain. It's freezing cold so that we could shower in the morning. And then we would get up, right? And I'd have to go out to work that day and pretend like some successful dude. But the point is like if the ocean here, clearly I go, that's a gift. But there are a lot of mornings, not every morning, I'm not gonna lie to you, but a lot of mornings, honestly, the gift is I pull that shower faucet and water comes out of it. I'm serious and I go, man, thank you, Lord, right?

• 12:35Eric Thomas?

  Because you didn't have it, now you're, you know, you're able to reflect.

• 12:38Ed Mylett?

  Hundred percent. I just want to emphasize how awesome that point is because I've lived that and I still live it. And even before we on camera, you and I are talking about our speaking and we're critical of ourselves. We're trying to get better all the time, fight for that little bit of a difference. When did you know you had this? Cause I, I look at someone like you. There's a gift there, okay? The Lord sowed into you the gift of speaking, of communicating, of... And I don't even think it's that. I think it's the gift of transferring of energy, transferring of spirit, of information to people. You're gifted at that. But you got great at it by refining that gift. When did you know, hey, this is something different about me? I can really speak here. This is something unique.

• 13:16Eric Thomas?

  Freshman year in college, don't laugh. All right? Freshman year in college, me and my boys start like this, like Christian, like organizations. So every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, we'd speak. Now, they didn't let me speak initially.

• 13:29Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 13:30Eric Thomas?

  Because I was a high school dropout, rough around the edges. Like, I wasn't really polished, right? And so, but here's the good thing is, you know, you stay humble. It's a gift. So we did it every Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday. So at some point, the guys couldn't make the appointment. So I was like always the host of the show. So when they didn't show up,

• 13:49Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 13:49Eric Thomas?

  They like, well, we're bringing so-and-so to speak. I'm like, nah, no, you're not. I'm hosted, so this is my shot right here.

• 13:56Ed Mylett?

  The best ability is availability, right?

• 13:58Eric Thomas?

  Herb wasn't there, Trey wasn't there. I'm like, finally, three, four months into it, I'm like, I'm, no, I'm in, because they not there. So I'm in. Like, don't put me in, I'm in. You know? And my first message was, pimping ain't easy, but somebody's gotta do it. That was my first message.

• 14:14Ed Mylett?

  Church meeting.

• 14:15Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, the church meeting. Pimping ain't easy, but somebody's gotta do it. That's why I said, don't laugh. But, but this is how I knew I had something, because people were like, yo, nobody's ever... And so I talked about how the devil's trying to pimp us.

• 14:30Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 14:31Eric Thomas?

  And, and, and, you know, and I just took that whole angle. And then my second message just blew up, was how many licks does it take to get to the sin of a sucker? You know? And so everybody was just like, yo, bro, this is different. Like, this is not a normal preacher. It's not a normal delivery. The energy is kind of different. So while adults weren't really fooling with me, a lot of guys who were like, yo, we don't even do that church stuff. Like, we don't do that kind of stuff. We're not into that. And what was unique about, and I'm glad you asked, nobody's ever asked me this. What was unique is that we did it at the Bell Tower, which was in the center of the campus. So you had to pass it to go anywhere. So it was cash, like, yo, I wasn't coming to no spiritual event. But I would hear that loud voice and that passion. And I heard...

• 15:14Eric Thomas?

  Pimpin', pimpin', pimpin', are you talking about pimpin' at church? You know, so they would just walk over like, yo, what is he talking about pimpin' ain't easy? And it was at that point when I saw non-church, regular people, jeans, t-shirts coming by. And when I would speak, stop, I was like, yo, E, you got, you got something. Yeah, you got something.

• 15:37Ed Mylett?

  You knew it then?

• 15:38Eric Thomas?

  Yup.

• 15:39Ed Mylett?

  And ever since then, you've been using that?

• 15:40Eric Thomas?

  I've been working.

• 15:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I feel like, I feel like all, people ask me all the time, like about speaking too. I want you to talk about this for a minute. I think great communicators move energy somehow, right? They can be, but you can't, when I listen to you speak, even right now, like you can't give me that which you're not experiencing yourself, right? So, people ask me all the time, if I have you on the show, and I'll at least ask you this one thing, because we're going to want to know this, someone said, hey, I want to communicate, I want to speak better. Not like you, you know, you are you. What would you tell them about communicate? Even if it's just like, one-on-one, or in a group of people? What's the key thing for you when you communicate with people?

• 16:12Eric Thomas?

  You can't, you can't communicate with a person when you don't know them. You know? And I think what people do wrong when they speak, is they want to come and give you what they want. Like, they studied something, their life experience, they just want to come and give you that. You know, and I don't know about you, but some of the best restaurants have been where I've been able to go and order. Like, you know, when my money changed a little bit, I was able to start going to restaurants and say like, yo, I don't want that. You know, say like, this is what I want. Well, the jasmine rice comes with the, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, I don't want jasmine rice. Like, this, this is what I want, you know? And so, for me, it's like, when you get around people, and you spend enough time with people, to see what people want, and then you give them what they need? To me, that's what it's all about, you know?

• 16:55Eric Thomas?

  So, it's like, we got to get out of this, this is what I want to talk about, or this is what I want to say, or this is how I want it. It's like, no, my idols, Mother Teresa. Like, I used to just to watch her movement, right? And she was the lowest of the pecking order, when you talk about preaching, wasn't an Archbishop, she wasn't a Pope, she was a nun. But yet, you know who she is. And I would watch her, and she would see, okay, here are the needs of the people. When I watched Martin Luther King, this dude could have easily been like a millionaire living in a, he moved with the people, and said, hey, I'm gonna give up my life and what I wanna do to help. So for me, it's like, you can't affect a person if you don't know what they want. So you gotta spend enough time with people, just chilling with people, hanging out with people. That's why I was geeked, it's like, it's not a studio.

• 17:38Eric Thomas?

  I'm like, yo, we're Edge's crib, it's gonna be phenomenal, just because the ethos, like, we, we in your house. This where you live, like you said, there's energy already in the, in the space, you know, and spirits, you know, already in the place. So, for me, it's like, you gotta get to know the people, spend time with the people, and then once you find out what they need, you like a cow, you chew it up, chew it up, chew it up, chew it up, you study it, you study, and then when you get to them, you give them what they need. And of course, they're gonna be excited, it's because of what they need.

• 18:06Ed Mylett?

  I love that. So, speaking of getting to know people, tell me about you. What's your day like now? What's a day in the life? What's your world like now?

• 18:12Eric Thomas?

  Well, it's not fair.

• 18:13Ed Mylett?

  Know that about you.

• 18:14Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, yeah, so I should probably tell them about 10 years ago, it's not fair now.

• 18:17Ed Mylett?

  Hey, we know, but people know, like, you talk about, look, I was homeless.

• 18:20Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I say, well, my life now, if you look at it, it's like, it's not fair. Dee Dee retired back in March of last year. And so now, our day is just our day, man, you know, our day is just, man, I'm free, man. It's a great feeling. I do wanna say this to those of you who are watching, who are not yet where you wanna be, like, keep going. Like, keep going, don't quit, you already in pain, you already struggling, like, get something for your pain. It don't make sense to go through pain and then not get nothing on the other side of it. So since you already struggling, you already going through it, get on the other side. So what does my day look like? Like, yo, Dee and I got up at 3 o'clock, you know, she called the prayer line, you know, I have my own little prayer line I call.

• 19:00Eric Thomas?

  Uh, we breakfast, or a little smaller breakfast, just sitting there, talking to each other, we having worship with each other, just, like, talking about the goodness, like, we can't believe we're here, you know what I'm saying? We went from Detroit to, you know, the world, um, you know, we're going to the movies later on in the day, going out to eat, driving around, so it's not fair to talk about my day now, you know, but my day now is, I promised her when we were younger, 'cause she worked first, and supported my dream, and I told her one day, we gonna flip it, you know, and I'm, I'm, you gonna stop working, and I'm, I'm gonna spoil you and take care of you. So I'm like at a point in my life now where I'm getting to make good on my promise. You know, and we're debt free right now, man, and just, just traveling the world, man.

• 19:43Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, owe no man nothing. And we're able to help kids go to college. We got a church we're building right now. My son just graduated. My daughter's a sophomore. So we're just enjoying each other, you know, and it's a great feeling, man.

• 19:56Ed Mylett?

  Face change. I love seeing somebody being their authentic self, like living their real destiny. Like, it's one, you know, your faith makes you happy, right? Material things don't really make you happy. One of the things that really, I find happy people is they're kind of living their life on their destiny. They're on the track. The other thing too that makes us happy in life is like, the Lord gave you certain gifts, whether it's your discernment, your brain, your articulation, how you nurture people. These gifts were all uniquely given. Happy people spend a lot of their life using those gifts. The reason you're so happy is you're in a state of using your giftedness. If you're good at math, use those gifts, right? If you're, you're a great athlete, use those gifts, right? A great thinker, great person of faith, like use your giftedness. It'll make you happy. It was sewn into you for a reason.

• 20:36Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, it opened up rooms for you, yeah.

• 20:38Ed Mylett?

  I love this thing you talk about though. So we're both free now. But you talk a lot about how important routine is to getting you to freedom, right? So speak to routine a little bit because I, we both agree about this. You say it in a more powerful way than I do. But for someone listening to this, talk about routine. Cause if you want, everyone wants to be free. One of the challenges, they act free before they are. You know what I mean? Like, you, you, there's a certain amount of disciplines and routine and habits and rituals you gotta have that could get you free at one point. Talk about that for a second.

• 21:07Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, I'm gonna say honestly, man, you know, I, I came to the realization one day, and again, love my biological father, you know, much respect, much respect for the person that raised me. But I realized at some point, when I looked at my family's history, I was like, some things I don't want. There's some things I want, but there's some things I don't want. And then I, I remember having to say one thing to myself, like, yo, you are your father's child. Like yo, even though you didn't, he didn't raise you, even though in the beginning you guys had, you know, whatever little stuff y'all need to get through, E, don't lie. You are lazy at times. You know what I'm saying? Like, E, you are super social and you'd rather talk than work. You know what I'm saying? I just had to grow up one day and just be real with myself and just say,

• 21:51Eric Thomas?

  E, the only way you're gonna be successful is you gotta discipline yourself. You know, when you look at, uh, when you look at a horse, I'm talking about a thoroughbred, it still needs that, what is that thing called that they put on it? It, it, he still, he needs that without, you know, you can't, you, you gotta control him. You know, he got a lot of juice, got a lot of energy, he can go for it, but you, you gotta, you gotta hone that. Yeah. And so I realized like, yo, E, you'd sleep in, you'd play video games, don't lie to yourself. You, you are powerful, but you have some vices. Yeah. And you have some vices that'll take you down a crazy road. Like, you are your father, you are your grandfather, you are your mother, you are your grandmother. Like, it's real. And so I started saying, okay, E, you gotta discipline yourself. And this is for me, this ain't for everybody. I started getting up at three o'clock in the morning.

• 22:36Eric Thomas?

  It was like, yo, you're gonna have to get up a little bit earlier because you didn't finish school. You didn't take care of your business. So you can't get up the same time another man who gets up, who handle his business. So you need to get up at three if you're gonna catch the greats. You gotta get up at three, you gotta go to bed early. This is why I said I never drank or smoked because the men in my life who did it were extremists. I had an uncle who died, so roasts us a liver. You know, I had other uncles who drank and, and my father, bless his heart, but he was strung out on drugs for about 14 years. And I was just like, yo, E, you can see that they don't know how to do it casually. Like, they ain't social drinkers. Like, they ain't social on some, they taking it to a whole other level. And so for me, it was like, E, you gotta discipline yourself.

• 23:18Eric Thomas?

  You're not gonna die if you never know what alcohol tastes like. But if you taste it, you might have the same experience they had. So you just gotta discipline yourself. You know, I do vegan most of the time, you know what I'm saying? And I tell people all the time, I love fried chicken. I love macaroni and cheese. I love a lot of dessert. But in my family, it's diabetes. So it's like, yo, E, if you do what they do, then you gonna get the results they got. So you, yeah, chicken is good and macaroni and cheese, where my grandfather? Grandma make it is great and yes, the pound cake is phenomenal. But if you want to be with Didi for the next thirty, forty years, you want to be able to walk. You know what I'm saying? You don't want to be on the cruise. I was just on the cruise and they a couple of people, you know, was on the motor scooter. You know what I'm saying? People with the canes and the walkers and I'm not mad at them, but I'm like, I don't want that. I want to be able to walk at sixty.

• 24:01Eric Thomas?

  At seventy, I want to be independent at eighty if I can be. So I'm gonna have to make some sacrifices now for the long run. I would drink pop every day if I could.

• 24:10Ed Mylett?

  Is everybody hearing this though? Like, I mean, this and all of us that want to win, like you already said, like, I gotta get up at three o'clock more if I'm gonna catch the greats. Cause I started with some deficiency. Successful people are very self-aware. Like, they don't BS themselves, right? Like, I have laziness too. I love laying around. I love sleep, right? No, but before, I wouldn't have got to sleep here if I, if I was just me. I had to get these rituals and habits and disciplines. And people think, sometimes they listen to me and they were so intentional, like, these dudes are freaks. I'm not a freak. But you know what I said, eh? Because it makes it easier for them to say, I, I can't do it if they freaks, then I can't do it.

• 24:50Ed Mylett?

  That's their out. You're exactly right. And I'm not gonna give you that out. Neither are you. Like, I'm lazy. I gotta get up early. I gotta get up because if I don't get up by like, I get up at four thirty-five. But if I don't get up by then, I will be in bed at eight o'clock. I have to get up. I have to move my body. So I'm with you a hundred percent. If I said to you obsession, what's that mean to you?

• 25:06Eric Thomas?

  Uh, it means wanting to succeed as bad as I want to breathe. You know what I'm saying? It's like, whatever it is I say I want, I want it like air. You know, and air is one of those things that, you know, cause people always say, well, why you say, why you say air? Like, why you even say? Cause you go without that for a few seconds, my friend, it's a rap. It's done. So there are people who want stuff, but you kind of want it. Or you want it bad, but you don't want it as bad as you want to breathe. So to me, obsession is wanting something so bad that, you know, I go to bed with it. I wake up to it. I make whatever sacrifice. I grind. Like, it's like, I can't live without it. And so there are people who fantasize, romanticize about stuff, but like, they're not obsessed with it.

• 25:45Eric Thomas?

  And when you're obsessed with it, yup, Didi, Didi's not working now, cause I was obsessed with, I got her, I got her. She had to end up getting a chronic illness. I'm like, yo, this not gonna define us. Didi had MS. But you can't tell because we changed the diet, she's not working, we living, you know, in peace. So I said to myself, like, yo, I can't. And, and look, my wife tells me, you talk too much. But I just say this, there are people who. Also had MS, but their spouses didn't put them in a position to retire.

• 26:15Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 26:15Eric Thomas?

  And so they're not doing as well because they still gotta get up and do forty, fifty hours. So for me, I was obsessed with, no, you're not gonna go to work for somebody that's gonna stress you out. And the only thing we know about your disease is that stress, we know that it's stress related. So we gonna get all the stress, I tell my kid, don't call your mama with that. You got a problem, you call me. So I'm obsessed with making sure Diddy's healthy. So, when they say fried chicken or the salmon, I'm like, I don't really like salmon like that, but salmon. Or the vegan burger, alright, give me the vegan burger. You know, and that's not what I wanna eat, but I'm obsessed with Diddy's health. I'm obsessed with our marriage, I'm obsessed with the love, I'm obsessed with her. So I'll do whatever, I'll do whatever it takes. That's what obsession means to me.

• 26:58Eric Thomas?

  Not saying it or dreaming or offending, but I'll do whatever it takes to make that dream become a reality.

• 27:05Ed Mylett?

  I just like, I told you what this is gonna be. I told you guys, right? So, so the, I hope it's it. This is it, this is it. This is on, and multiples of it. So your obsession becomes your possession for sure, right? And one of the things that I, I see in you, obviously I see this intensity level. But like, that's the other thing people gonna say, well, they're just super intense, that's why they want. Well, that is part of it, right? Like, I think you can will some stuff to happen in your life. But you give like practical stuff if people are listening, right? And so, one of the things you and I are both freaks about, but I want you to teach this just for a second is, write stuff down, right? Like, it's one thing to just say something, but you forget stuff, right? And part of being obsessed has to do with writing stuff down. Speak to that for a second.

• 27:44Eric Thomas?

  Let me tell you something, man, I don't know what happens, you know, but when I dream something, it's got a little juice to it. It does. Like, like, it's got a level of energy to it. So let's just say on a scale of one to ten, ten being the highest, when I'm dreaming, I'm like seven, you know, I'm at a seven. I wake up sometimes, I might forget it, you know what I'm saying? I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm talking to my homie, it's got an eight, eight and a half, but when I write it down. It's like I'm making a, it's like I'm making a commitment to myself now.

• 28:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 28:10Eric Thomas?

  It's the weirdest thing, when I start writing, it's like up the, the, the next level ET comes out and looks at this ET and say, yo, bro, this is it. We writing it down now. Like, it's a commitment. Like, it's sealed. When you was talking before, it wasn't no need for me to come out. But now that you wrote it down, like, you are making a promise to ET, like, the powerful ET. You know, that, you know, that, so then what I, this is the new thing I started doing last year. I take a picture of what I wrote down and send it to my accountability partner.

• 28:41Ed Mylett?

  Love it.

• 28:41Eric Thomas?

  So now my accountability partner is like, yo, E, I know you wrote it down, I know you're pretty strong, but where are you today with it? So, so one of my accountability partner hit me yesterday, was like, yo, E, you did exactly what you said, exactly how you said it, but you did in the afternoon. You told me you was gonna do it in the morning. And I'm like, yo, I got it done. Like, you did a great job, but you told me you was gonna do it in the morning. You did it in the afternoon. So, so I'm gonna give you a 9.2 because you did it, but you, when you, when you wrote it down and sent it to me, you said the morning. So to me, that's that next level of practicality, is not only writing it down, boom, taking a picture of it, and then sending it to the people that you love the most.

• 29:20Ed Mylett?

  I love this because, you know, blows my mind is that, and I, I, I say this with love to people too, but like, people don't do this even after we say it. It's like, hey, listen, do these things. These things actually matter. They're not incidental. We're not telling you these things, but out of our own health. We're telling you because this is what builds wealth, right? And so, one thing I've noticed about you, this is your talking, so I just wanna make mention of this to you, because it made me think of something I've heard you say before. So good. You have big ass reasons for everything you do.

• 29:48Eric Thomas?

  Absolutely.

• 29:48Ed Mylett?

  Like, and this one person keeps running theme through everything. Dee Dee keeps running through this, right? Like, but you have these big reasons. To me, you write stuff down, you get obsessed, but what drives you through, your habits, all that stuff, but then you gotta have some big old reasons. And like what you said, oxygen, you gotta want it like air, right? But I love this analogy you have, I've never heard before. Some people have heard it, but I want you to speak to this. Cause big old reasons, you talk about the difference between a gazelle and a lion, and it's their reasons, their purpose, right? Speak to that for a second.

• 30:20Eric Thomas?

  And the reason why I'm so big on that is because as I've been, you know, speaking for over 20 years, I study people. And I'm like, yo, my man graduated Magnum cum laude, summa cum laude. Why is he broke? Right. I'm just like, I was thinking if I was that smart, Right. It would seem like I would just own half the world. Exactly. But what I realized is it doesn't make a difference if you're smart, born in a wealthy family, born broke. I realized what makes people different is the energy level that they have. And the energy level is because of what's driving them. You feel me? So if you got a Ford Focus, that's a baby engine. That, it's just, it's nothing wrong with a Ford Focus, it's just a baby engine. And when I was coming around here, I could tell it's not gonna make it, you know, in all these neighborhoods right here. You know what I'm saying?

• 31:02Eric Thomas?

  But when you, you look at a F-150, that engine is, it can pull a lot. You can put bricks in there, you can, construction, you can, if you, uh, snowboard, whatever you wanna do. You can put a vehicle on that sucker and drive it because of the engine. And so what I try to explain to people is like, yo, you gotta understand that if you got these big old dreams with these little small engines, you got these big old dreams with double A batteries, bruh. Big old engine, I mean, big old dreams with a D battery. You can't power nothing with that. So when I say D D, that's like, oh, that's a big, that's a V-12. That's like, don't give me all, so you got 87 octane, you know, you got 89, you got 93. It's all, it's all gas, but it's different. And so when I say a Gazelle,

• 31:47Eric Thomas?

  like a Gazelle is only driven by, I don't wanna get caught. You know what I'm saying? I just don't wanna get caught. So, so, so when you're running because you don't wanna get caught versus you chasing because you gotta feed your fam, you got cubs. It's just a difference. So after running for so long, first of all, I didn't even have no plans on running. So that's number one, like, I didn't even have no plans on running. So now you got me running when I didn't even have no plans on running. So guess what? After so long to run it? And you still behind me? I'm about to give up. Because I didn't have no plans on running. So now it's like I'm running, running, running, running. I'm looking at you and you still behind me. And I'm just like, you know what? Since I'm not running toward nothing anyway. I just get weak and give up.

• 32:30Eric Thomas?

  But if I'm running towards you and saying, my wife gotta eat. My son gotta eat. My daughter gotta eat. And they not gonna make it if I don't come back with something. Then I'm not gonna stop until I get that thing. So that's why I'm saying like, yo, what's pushing you? What's driving you? And if the right stuff ain't dri- look, you can't come back to Diddy and say, yo, Dee, I'm sorry, I ain't catch nothing today. You can't say that to Diddy. Diddy don't wanna hear. Diddy like, alright, go back out and get it then. Don't come back until you get it. And because I wanna be with her. I'm like, Giselle, it's just a matter, yup. It's you go, like, look, look, I don't even have to be strong. I'm just gonna keep running. And you gonna stop sooner or later. And I'm not gonna stop. And I'm gonna eat you, take you back to the crib.

• 33:12Ed Mylett?

  Such a huge thing, because people go, well, never quit. And you just explained why you never quit, right? Like, because have you ever heard someone say, I'm in the hunt? That's the definition of being in the hunt. And people, people struggle sometimes. I mean, I just love you.

• 33:25Eric Thomas?

  Right, likewise, I'm feeling this.

• 33:26Ed Mylett?

  I'm feeling this. One people say to me all the time, well, I don't know what my reason is. I'm gonna give you a little secret. He's giving it to you. Almost always, your, your reason is other people. Almost always, your reason is faith or other people. Those are always the biggies. It's not stuff, right? It's not stuff. By the way, stuff's great. You should, you should get stuff.

• 33:45Eric Thomas?

  You should get stuff.

• 33:45Ed Mylett?

  There's stuff, get some. Right? I've been happy poor, and I've been happy rich. Happy rich is way better than happy poor.

• 33:53Eric Thomas?

  I promise you. I promise you. Yeah, and you know what, guys? This is so big because, you know, Diddy and I. Man, we love our home. We bought our home before I blew up. And this is why you need to be hanging with Ed, right? That's why you need to be hanging with Ed. Because Diddy and I were just talking, it was like, yo, we love our home. We love our whatever, you know what I'm saying? Great church family. We love everybody, Michigan, you know, whatever. Just wanna get out when it's cold. But then I came here today. I came here to, and listen to me, y'all gotta understand something. This is not the first time I've been in a house. Like, you gotta, it's not my first time. Like, yo, I walked through this and it wasn't a museum. Like, I've been to houses before. It's like, oh, it's a museum. I'm good on that.

• 34:34Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, right.

• 34:35Eric Thomas?

  I'm just like, I'm for real, I'm good on that. I'm like, I'm, I'm good on showing people how much money I got. I'm good on that. When I walked in here, especially when I was like, yo, this is like, yo, I could do this. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, and maybe I can't. I don't know yet. You know what I'm saying? We'll talk later. You know what I'm saying? But no, for real, I'm just sitting here like, yo, bro. So this is why this is important. And this is probably why I don't do podcasts a lot because I'm not really interested in just, you know, being on somebody's show. But I feel like you said, like, there's a reason why I'm here today. And I'm about to go, like, yo, I'm about to go to another level myself. You understand what I'm saying? Like, I'm about to leave and say, like, yo, E, like, yeah, you, you doing this, you doing that, you doing that. But like, E, like, it's enough for you and Dee Dee, y'all gotta chase something together now.

• 35:16Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 35:16Eric Thomas?

  Cause before you was chasing for Dee.

• 35:18Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 35:18Eric Thomas?

  Now that Dee retired, now you and Dee need to link up and they need to see, yeah, thanks, man.

• 35:24Ed Mylett?

  And honest to God, I'm not kidding you. I prayed about us meeting today. I'm not kidding you. Man, this makes me almost emotional. I literally prayed that you would tell me today that something happened today where you wanted to go to a new level and you got cleared out. I swear to you on anything important to me. That was my hope for today. That was.

• 35:40Eric Thomas?

  Your prayer was answered. So amazing. I'm telling you, we don't do this. I was speaking in Irvine. And, and I called and I said, Dee Dee, you cool? Cause it's her time now.

• 35:49Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 35:50Eric Thomas?

  I'm like, you cool with it? She like, yeah, let's roll. And I'm coming. Like normally she'll be like, drop me off at the coastal mall and let me walk around and I catch up with y'all when I catch up. And then you even saw her. She was in the car. She's like, I'm good. You go in, do your thing. I'll meet you when you come back out. She came in and then God just wanted us to see that.

• 36:08Ed Mylett?

  Awesome.

• 36:09Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, we need, I've been not together. They gonna see us now. We're chasing them together now.

• 36:14Ed Mylett?

  And the reason is, is cause once you pick that next thing, you'll go get it. And the reason is, is that you're what I would call like a dominator. Like, I think you know how to do, you can dominate a room. You dominate anything you want, right?

• 36:25Eric Thomas?

  But Dee Dee.

• 36:26Ed Mylett?

  But Dee, that's for, I can already tell you for a fact. That's never going to happen. Like you know about energy? Forget it. I'm already tell you right now. I can tell. A hundred percent. But talk to these, we don't have that much time. Like this is literally flying by, isn't it? Right? So like, but talk to them a little bit about like, so there's the group that wants to get their dreams going, right? You've given them great advice. Then there's the group here is like, hey, I have some stuff going, right? And I want to go to that one percent. I want to get there. I want to, I think people sometimes give themselves a break like, I just want to win. Why don't you just want to dominate? Just take over, right? So talk about that a little bit, like the power of just dominating.

• 37:03Eric Thomas?

  Yeah. So, so for those of you who can't get to that level, one of the things I think is the bigger problem is that you have began, you've begun to compare yourself to the people that's around you. And like you killing your brother. I mean, you killing your brother, whatever your little expectations were. Yeah. I mean, you dominating your little sister.

• 37:21Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 37:21Eric Thomas?

  You know, the people that you went to high school with, the people in your neighborhood, you killing them. And so what happens is subconscious, you don't get it. But because you're better than everybody that you around, there's something in you that's like, yo, chill out. You, you, you don't, you that one, you don't need to. So even though you're saying you want to go to that next level, everything around you was saying you made it, you've arrived. That's why you gotta come to Ed's show. That's why you gotta come to a place that you haven't been before to go, yo, it's more. It's more. And you start getting around people that you not, you not, and, and we're not going to use the term better because we're all strong in our certain areas, right? But you do get around certain people and you see like, oh, I could turn it up. And not only turn it up.

• 38:04Eric Thomas?

  You know, the, the cool thing about this show before we started, people don't, you know, they don't know what we talked about. But you said to me like, yo, E, how can I help? Like where you need to go to the next level, right? I'm just being honest. You know, Les gave me a figure, like less, like you need to charge this. So I spent a couple of years like, oh, Les, if that's what you getting, if that's what the big boys get, let's go for it. And I got there. And I was like, okay, I'm making that. So I commanded said a gig. I probably do about three or four gigs now. I got to whatever. But as I was talking to you and you were talking about, all right, I'm gonna do this event, 50,000 people here. I'm gonna do this. And then E, we do this and we do that. I was like, yo E, maybe you did need to do the four and take off for a year. You and Diddy get close, but now it might be time, E, to set another goal.

• 38:49Eric Thomas?

  Cause I've reached, like I said, me and Diddy was 16.

• 38:51Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 38:51Eric Thomas?

  So you can only imagine the goals that we set at 16. I mean, they were okay, but they weren't like what we can set now. And so I'm thinking, me and Diddy need to have a sit down and say, you know what, you right, we did do everything we said we was gonna do. But is there more to do? And when I say more, I'm not talking about the Nobel Prize. I already said that. I, I, I'm not talking about saving kids. I do that every day. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about me and you setting goals for us where we can relax and we can go the next level. You, you know what I'm saying?

• 39:24Ed Mylett?

  I do. And by the way, it's reciprocal because like you do this for me. And I'm gonna tell you, first watching you did it, but now knowing you is totally different. Because I pride myself on trying to get better at be able to serve people, about being able to help them, of being able to communicate my message, bringing energy. Now I'm in your presence and I go, hold on a minute. There's a whole other level of being able to bring energy to people, bring value, be able to communicate. And it's not that I'm comparing myself to you. I'm going, wait a minute, that's another level right there, right? Like this is something I need to get. And the other piece of it, I think, is, is like, I try to help people privately too. The main reason I invited ET on the show was some mutual friends of ours have told me about all the work you do with people when there's no cameras around. When you go travel into a city and you just show up at a school and speak to children, there's no camera, you're not being paid, you just wanna help people. Because it's who you really, really are.

• 40:09Ed Mylett?

  So I just wanna acknowledge that, just so you all know about this man and his wife. This is a good man, right? This man does a whole bunch of stuff you will never know about that's good for other people. And so you're helping me do that too. I just want you to know that, like.

• 40:21Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, and let me put some flesh on it, cause you know, people are like, no, they're not used to hearing me say stuff. But as I sat, as I, well, before we started, I said to myself, the energy that I have in going to these schools and what I'm able to do from 30 degrees in Michigan. You understand, from snow and hail, from only sun about four months out of the year. So I need you to understand what I'm saying. I'm saying as I look here, I'm like, yo E, if you were walking and talking with the Lord at 3 o'clock in the morning here.

• 40:52Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 40:54Eric Thomas?

  No, I need them to understand what I'm saying, because I don't want them to think, you know, like I want them to get what I'm saying. I'm walking at 3 o'clock in the morning in like concrete. If I was walking and talking with the Lord here, this is where Jesus was doing it. This is where he was walking. He wasn't in concrete. This is where he was at. He was water on a regular basis. If I was meditating here, if I was, Dee Dee and I were drinking our, our, our, our smoothies and water here, and then I go there, they're about to get a whole different energy. So that's, so for real, like when I'm sitting here, I'm not on like what they just stuff. I'm like, yo, this environment, if this is the environment that I was in, or just set myself up, and then I went to schools from this, it's a whole nother. So I just want to make sure they're clear on, yeah.

• 41:39Ed Mylett?

  I do too, because you and I both share that message too. It's like neither one of us are, I mean honestly, I already know from knowing you, neither one's like, hey, I'd like a nicer this. Like, but if it makes me better, if it puts me in a better state, if I've got more, I don't know what you call it, evidence, because I will tell you that, like, I mean, I mean this really sincerely too. Like, I think that people that, all of us that are people of faith, and we both share that kind of as a group of people, I think it's important that everybody knows this. Like, listen, my opinion is that the Lord wants your children in safe schools too. The Lord would love your family to be able to afford a great education and to be in a secure place, and for you to be able to be a better tither in your church, and to make a difference where you are, and to spread the good things in the world that you want to spread. And so, there's nothing wrong

• 42:21Ed Mylett?

  with you being able to monetize that stuff. And, and I, there's a line that we all need to be careful of in our life, where it's stuff and not stuff. You're not anywhere near that line. I just want them to all know that. I'm not anywhere near that line either. And so, but it is, it is good to want to have increase in your life. The Lord wants increase in your life for you. He wants to bless you. He wants your family to be more successful. So, just out of curiosity, first off, because I'm such a big believer of yours, I want my folks here to know where to find you and to get help from you. One, you are absolutely out of your mind if you bring a speaker and it's not this guy. I can tell you that straight up. You want to move people. You want to change their state. Look at me right now, right? I sit here with a lot of people, right? Trust me, this man will change your state. So how do they find you for your Programs for speaking, for social media, all that.

• 43:06Eric Thomas?

  I just say every ET inspires.com is all access, you know, because I don't really keep up with all the the so many handles, but ET inspires.com, that's pretty much where you can go to book me to get all the free videos, go through our programs, whatever.

• 43:22Ed Mylett?

  Okay, so Mike, you can put that at the bottom of the screen here, right? So we're going to put that on the screen when they watch this thing. Let me ask you this last, what do you want to do the next five or 10 years of your life? I know it's not have more stuff for sure, but like what are some of the things like you said, hey, you're 30, you're 47, we're the same age, I'll be 47 next month. So when I find you at 60, let's say, I give you a decade plus a couple, what do you want to have accomplished? What are some of the things you'd like to have done in your life?

• 43:47Eric Thomas?

  So, so when I look at some of the people that I look up to,

• 43:50Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 43:51Eric Thomas?

  What they did not do that I felt Jesus as a leader did, they didn't duplicate themselves, you know, and I, and I, I made it out of some, you know, challenging circumstances. But what I want to be able to do is teach other people how to really do that, you know? So over the next couple of years, I've just started to breathe university and I legitimately want to help entrepreneurs who don't really have a network, you know, who don't know anybody, parents, you know, for whatever reason, didn't make some decisions or couldn't, and they couldn't set them up for that. Like, I want a disciple, you know, I just want to really help, you know, hundreds of people literally become great at whatever. I want to help fathers, like, yo, you could do this, you can travel the world and be a good father and be a good husband.

• 44:36Eric Thomas?

  Like, don't believe the hype, you, you can balance, like, it's possible, you know? I, I want to teach them, you know, how to build stuff, like, for me, it's schools, because that's where I fail. And I end up getting a PhD and I know how important, not school, like, not degrees, but you meet people there. Your, your mind can change there, you can do it from anywhere.

• 44:53Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 44:54Eric Thomas?

  But, but a lot of kids, like, that is the only gateway, they don't have other opportunities, you know? So my, so the next few years, man, I just want to help. I just wanna help people like the people who helped me. And, and, and, and, and I wanna say this. The people who helped me helped me. And it was no strings attached. You know?

• 45:13Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 45:13Eric Thomas?

  They helped me and it wasn't ET sign here when you blow up. It was just pay it forward, kid. You know, and, and I find that there are a lot of people who are helping people. But there's so many strings attached and I'm not saying it shouldn't be mutualism. Uh, definitely should be mutual. No society can survive without mutualism, but this whole, if I do something for you, you know, you owe me your life. You know, those people that do something for you.

• 45:35Ed Mylett?

  I do.

• 45:36Eric Thomas?

  You can never like, you gonna owe them to you the day you die.

• 45:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 45:39Eric Thomas?

  I don't, I just wanna be the person that helps a kid. And he's like, why'd you do, matter of fact, it was crazy. It's a small. We paid for a kid at Chipotle and I went the wrong way. I tried to go one way and I didn't realize you couldn't get out that way. And so I had to pass him and he grabbed me. It was like I bought him a car or something. He was like, why'd you do that? I said, what do you mean? He was like, why'd you do that? Why'd you buy my food? I'm like, bro, it's food. It's an eight dollar burrito.

• 46:03Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 46:03Eric Thomas?

  He was like, no, no, no, no. Give me your name and number. Please, I wanna pay it forward. But I feel like we live in a world where so many people are so selfish and America's about. It, we got here, it's about giving. It's, it's not about just taking, right? And so I wanna do so much for people that it's not strange when somebody pays for your meal. Or somebody puts you through college. Like, it's not strange. It's like, yo, this, these people are blessed. Like you said, they have increase.

• 46:29Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 46:29Eric Thomas?

  And they, they wanna pay it forward. So that's what I wanna do. And you know, you got the Vince Lombardi trophy for football. You got the NBA finals. I want the Nobel Prize, not because I want the prize.

• 46:40Ed Mylett?

  That's a big damn goal.

• 46:42Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, but I want it because it represents. You had to do a lot of good in the world. To go to Norway.

• 46:48Ed Mylett?

  I actually feel the truth in that what you're saying.

• 46:50Eric Thomas?

  No question. I believe it.

• 46:52Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 46:52Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, people are like, E, you said Nobel. No, no, no, bro, I'm serious. Like, I, I did my homework. If you're going to reach thousands and thousands and thousands of people. And you do good to them, this is what Mother Teresa, this is what Gandhi got, this is what Martin Luther King. This is what they got. This is what Desmond Tutu. This is what Nelson Mandela. Like, these, this is what they got. And so I'm not gonna play basketball. I'm not gonna ever win in football. I'm not gonna get in a Stanley Cup. You know what I'm saying? But for me, when my grandbabies come to my house, hopefully I'm alive and they look on the wall and say, "Wow, we got a Nobel Prize in our family."

• 47:26Ed Mylett?

  My gosh. If I could ever help you in any way with that,

• 47:29Eric Thomas?

  We'll talk.

• 47:29Ed Mylett?

  I'm here to help you.

• 47:30Eric Thomas?

  You can.

• 47:30Ed Mylett?

  I'd love to. I gotta tell you, it always comes back to family with you. And you and Didi both are just these wonderful, big, beautiful spirits. Like, I could just feel that from you. One thing I just want to say about you, for everybody that's listening to this too, I try to put people like ET in front of you, there's just not a lot of them in the world. Right? You're, it's a big word, but he's congruent. There's congruency. In other words, he walks the walk, to put it simply, right? And I want to follow people who have already been on the journey. There's a lot of people in this space of like, advice, or let me tell you what to do, that have never done any of these things, right? And you've walked out of that, charged out of that situation you were in. So there's, there's a track record of doing these things. And when you meet someone like that, they go, "Let me tell you how I did this. Let me tell you what I learned." And they do it from like, a humble space. Like, "Here's the mistakes I made.

• 48:15Ed Mylett?

  Let me save you some time and some pain," right? You're congruent. Like, there's a power to that. That's why your energy's so bananas crazy. Because it's real energy. It's not fake energy. Because of your experience, right? So, just want to acknowledge that. Like, honestly, you exceeded my expectations. I knew this would be good, but I didn't know it would be this good.

• 48:35Eric Thomas?

  And I never met an interviewer. Lewis Howes, don't get mad, that's my dude. But this is, you know what I'm saying? Like, this energy is like, I'm like, you know, most of the people I'm talking to, I gotta, you know what I'm saying? Like, relax, E, you know, but you're giving me a chat. Ahhh! Yeah.

• 48:50Ed Mylett?

  We're gonna, we're gonna do some things together. So, I know you love this today, right? So, do me a favor. First off, thank you so much, brother. Like, really.

• 48:58Eric Thomas?

  I know it's the camera.

• 48:58Ed Mylett?

  I give you a hug, give you a hug.

• 48:59Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, I enjoyed this.

• 49:00Ed Mylett?

  So much. Seriously. All right, everybody, listen. I bring you unbelievable people like this man here, and I know how you're feeling after you've seen this. There's not another man like this. So just do me the favor. All this is free. We're just here to serve you, make a difference. If you get a chance, if you're on iTunes, leave a review. If you're on YouTube, make a comment and subscribe. And continue to follow both of us out there. We're both bringing some great value to you. God bless you, and max out, everybody.

• 49:33Speaker 02

  Ed Milat is the premier inspirational speaker, life coach, and peak performance expert in the United States today.