Living Life on Your Terms with Eric Thomas

What’s Holding You Back From Your True Potential? Today, I’m sitting down with the one and only Eric Thomas—a man whose energy and wisdom can shift your entire perspective. Known as the hip-hop preacher, ET has impacted millions, but today, we’re taking it deeper. If you’ve ever felt stuck, unsure, or like your potential is just out of reach, this conversation is for you. Eric opens up about the power of taking ownership of your life. He shares his journey from homelessness to becoming one of the most recognized voices in the world. The secret? Shifting from victimhood to victory. “When you take responsibility, you take the power back,” Eric reminds us. It’s not about ignoring the obstacles; it’s about recognizing that your greatest asset is already within you, waiting to be activated. We dive into the discipline it takes to achieve greatness—how effort can’t be conditional on circumstances, and why consistency matters more than talent. Eric’s transparency about his struggles and triumphs reveals the hard truth: growth requires doing the hard things, breaking through resistance, and keeping your promises to yourself, even when it’s inconvenient. One of the most moving parts of our conversation is Eric’s take on faith. He talks about finding strength in a higher purpose and using that relationship as an anchor to stay grounded, focused, and inspired. “God doesn’t give you a purpose without giving you the tools to fulfill it,” he says. This isn’t just motivation—it’s a call to action to tap into the gifts already inside you. Key Takeaways: Ownership Equals Freedom: Stop giving others control over your life. Take full responsibility for your actions and choices. Activate Your Potential: The greatness you’re searching for isn’t outside of you; it’s already within. You just need to access it. The Grind Has Levels: Talent can only take you so far. True success comes from systems, discipline, and relentless effort. Faith as Fuel: A strong connection with your purpose and a higher power can transform the way you live and lead. Consistent Action: Success is built day by day, habit by habit, moment by moment. Stay consistent and watch your life change. This is your reminder that no matter where you are, your next level is waiting. It’s time to step into your power, own your story, and become the person you were always meant to be. Let this episode ignite your greatness. It’s not too late to start—activate it today! 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?

  So hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive. And the question is, how do you find a way to get an edge? I'm a big believer that if you're getting mentoring or you're in an environment that causes growth, a growth-based environment, that you're much more likely to grow and you're going to grow faster. And that's why I love Growth Day. Growth Day is an app that my friend Brendan Burchard has created that I'm a big fan of. Write this down, growthday.com/ed. So if you want to be more productive, by the way, he's asked me, I post videos in there every single Monday that gets your day off to the right start. He's got about $5,000, $10,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content in there on a regular basis, like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free, tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well. So you get a free event out of it also. So go to growthday.com/ed. That's growthday.com/ed. 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.

• 1:30Ed Mylett?

  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. 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.

• 2:04Speaker 01

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• 2:38Speaker 02

  This is the Ed Meyer Show.

• 2:43Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to the show, everybody. Well, I wish this was in person, but it'll still be fire today. I'm with, uh, there is no better motivational speaker of all time. That's what you all know him for. But I got to know him a little better and I'm gonna tell you one thing about him. I don't know a better man. I wish I was around him more so I could tell you more stories. But I will tell you this, when my book came out, very few people stepped forward and said, "Hey, brother, how can I help you?" And this man stepped forward in a way like nobody else did and helped me in ways that I will never forget till the day I die. His support for me and my family. And as great of a communicator as he is, I admire him. I look up to him as a husband, as a father, as a friend and as an entrepreneur as well.

• 3:27Ed Mylett?

  But particularly as a man of faith and as a husband and a father, I know no better man than him and I could give somebody no bigger compliment, man to man, than I'm giving him right now. So ET, Eric Thomas, welcome back to the show. I love you and it's great to have you here.

• 3:41Eric Thomas?

  What's up fam? Man, I love you as well. And, um, yeah, you know, it's a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of people in the business world, you know, but when you run across a couple of people, man, who share the same, you know, values that you share, you know, trying to leave their mark on the world, you know? And so, yeah, likewise, man, just coming to the house the first time, I remember. My wife still talks about it in Laguna Beach. He's like, "Hey, before we die, you need to give me a house, a beachfront house." And I was like, "Okay, I'll try."

• 4:12Ed Mylett?

  You know, but, uh, You could do it.

• 4:14Eric Thomas?

  You know, just, yeah, where your family was, man, and just the love and support. It's just been, uh, rich and there are opportunities I've had and business things that I've done, you know, because of this relationship, man, and I'm, uh, I'm grateful for. You know what I love the most? It's while it's public. You know, it's private, you know, it's not one of those things where you have to walk around and be like boom, boom, boom, you know, so I I'm just grateful for you, man, publicly and, you know, privately, bro.

• 4:40Ed Mylett?

  Thank you, brother. Likewise. And I don't know why I'm getting emotional to start for some reason. I remember standing in my driveway having that conversation when we first met long time ago. You changed people's lives and I'm so grateful that we're going to talk about something that ET has out right now in a few minutes that will change your life. Literally 365 days a year. But before we do that, I wanted to ask you, there's so much in the world today, you know, there's all this strife and elections and all this stuff and you and I are definitely not going there. But one thing I don't like when I'm watching either party is sort of it's their fault, it's their fault. No, it's their fault. No, it's their fault. And I just feel like that's a dangerous way to live your life, even when it's true. So like you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Obviously, there's

• 5:25Ed Mylett?

  things that are harder in your life about the way you grew up, color of your skin, background, whatever it might be. I grew up with a drug addict and alcoholic in my house. Those are legitimate things that don't put us on second base to start out in our lives. Yet I don't know that it serves us to feel that way. So talk about not being a victim or the the negatives of perceiving that you're a victim starting out in life day to day.

• 5:49Eric Thomas?

  You know, I'm gonna be honest, man. I have been blessed to live both realities. You know what I'm saying? Because sometimes, you know, people speak on things and they speak passionately about stuff they've never experienced, you know? I've been blessed to have once been a victim. Like I lived that. My daddy wasn't in my life. My mom got pregnant, you know, at 17 and I didn't get this and I didn't get that. I have literally had a chance to see my life and the outcomes of my life having that philosophy. Like living in that mindset. I know exactly what it feels like. And I'm talking about homeless. You know, and again, you know, I just want people to understand when I talk about homelessness,

• 6:31Eric Thomas?

  I'm really talking about, um, you know, instability, you know, the, the not feeling safe because you're either sleeping outside or sleeping in an abandoned building. I'm talking about the estranged relationship with my mom, not talking to my mom, not hugging my mom, not loving on my mom and not realizing, yo, that all of that has nothing to do with how you were born. That all of that has everything to do with your mindset. And because you see everybody as the reason why you're not where you're supposed to be, they have the power and they not, they don't even want the power. But that whole victim, and man, I promise you the day I gave my life to Christ

• 7:12Eric Thomas?

  and I start really like understanding ownership, like, E, this on you. Like you only homeless because that's the choice you made. Nobody really kick you out. You just didn't want to follow the rules. Nobody kick you out of school. You just weren't doing what you were supposed to do when you want to do it. And I tell everybody who's a victim and who doesn't like it, man, wait till you become a victor. And I'm not buck money, the, the ownership and the freedom. You know what I'm saying? Like you can live life on your terms. Like I'm, I'm doing a podcast, podcast with Ed Mylett. That's what I chose to do and I'm hurt that I couldn't be there in person. Why? I just was blessed with so many gigs and I'm, I'm in Chicago. My mom, Ed is speaking with me. I got my mom on stage.

• 7:57Eric Thomas?

  My mom's talking about being a teenage mom, growing up in Chicago, you know, um, growing up on deep south, Chicago, Glenwood and 43rd and how she had to get herself, grandma wanted her own welfare. And she was like, no, I'd rather be homeless. I'd rather start from the bottom and put my son in a better situation to be third generation, you know, welfare. And so I'm like, man, I would have been a victor a long time ago had I known. Now, I'm not gonna lie to y'all, it is the most challenging thing to do to take responsibility for everything that's going on in your life. It's tough. Especially going, I'm not gonna blame him or him or her, and they do have something to do with it.

• 8:40Eric Thomas?

  But I'm, I'm, I'm freeing them up completely. I'm freeing them up completely. Why? Because when I take ownership. I take the power back to live like I want to live, to have what I want to have, to do what I want to do. So I'm not gonna lie here and say I've always been this dude, understand ownership, who understands responsibility. But I'm so grateful for the men in my life, the women in my life, who steered me in that direction. And, and warned me to get from that other one where I wasn't eating. You know, where, where I was in an abandoned building alone, where I wasn't progressing, there was no growth. You know, I was bitter, I was angry, I was resentful, I didn't have a spirit of forgiveness.

• 9:25Eric Thomas?

  And then once I became an owner of my own life and I became an asset and not a liability. Oh, everything changed. So give me the responsibility, but give me the check on the other side that goes with it as well.

• 9:38Ed Mylett?

  Do you ever, you ever listen to somebody, everyone, and the vibration in their voice just moves you? That's ET. Once he gets going, you're like, we, we haven't even talked for like seven minutes. And I would literally, I'm relatively sure be able to knock this wall down right now and run through it. And it's just because of the, the man that he is. I want you to all picture this for a minute, though. Imagine this, you do grow up, your dad's not in your life. It's obviously not like the pedigree that you would think everything's going to be easy. He ends up homeless, literally ate out of the trash, took him a long time, finally gets educated, goes to college. Took him a long time to complete that. And now you can't go anywhere on this planet where somebody of influence doesn't seem to quote this man or hasn't been influenced by him.

• 10:20Ed Mylett?

  It's not just the normal places, ET. I wanted to just tell you this now on the show recording it. Obviously, if I go anywhere in the sports world or the motivational space, they know you, they quote you. But I have to tell you, I was, I won't say who, but I was with, I'll be, I was with someone who used to run our country. Used to run our country and they were talking about all the books they read and I'll tell you off camera who it was, but and I asked him, you know, do you ever listen to anything to get you going and guess who they brought up? You. They knew that I knew you and brought you up. You think about that. The leader of the free world is quoting you.

• 10:58Eric Thomas?

  Jimmy Carter, I said hello.

• 11:01Eric Thomas?

  I know he just made it to 100 years old.

• 11:05Ed Mylett?

  Maybe it's because of you. No, but I want to ask you something that made me emotional reading. So I, most people know the story if they don't, but ET was homeless and, you know, ended up going to school for a long time, finally got his degree, one of the most educated people we've ever had on the show. But is this true? I'm just picturing this. I pictured this just last night knowing we were going to meet and do this. Did you tell them how long it took you to graduate from when you started and when you finished? And is it true that you would go to graduations every year of other men and watch them graduate as you weren't for like over a decade? Is that true?

• 11:36Eric Thomas?

  Over a decade.

• 11:37Ed Mylett?

  Tell us about that.

• 11:39Eric Thomas?

  It's so true. So yes, it took me 12 years to get a four year degree. Right? But one of the beautiful things about Oakwood, you know, is that it is a small college, you know, and it's, it's family, like, you know, their brothers, younger brothers coming, cousins coming, their moms, dads have gone there, their grandparents, you know, so graduation was, you know, a part of the culture. It's like for people going to homecoming. It's like, you know, we like, we go to graduation and I'll be honest, Ed, you know, as a freshman going to a graduation, that's cool. You know, a sophomore, that's cool. You know, by your fifth year, you still there. Ah, it starts to not be okay. By the seventh year, it stains.

• 12:20Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 12:21Eric Thomas?

  One of the things Ed, I did was I kept going because I knew it was supposed to be me. And one of the things, and guys, this is where I talk about being a victim. So when you're a victim, you try your hardest to withdraw from responsibility, anything that looks, anything like responsibility, you know, you try to remove yourself. Why? Because you don't want. The accountability, like you, you don't want anybody to say anything to you. You, you, you don't want to be corrected, you know, you don't, you know? And so I found myself, you know, by year eight, staying nine, staying. But it was like, E, you gotta stay here. Why? Because every year I would go, naturally, people weren't trying to, you know,

• 13:03Eric Thomas?

  belittle me or haunt me, you know, verbally, they just would ask, hey, E, did you graduate yet? You know, like, I graduated four years ago. I see you at the graduation. Did I miss your graduation? And, and, and it was like, no, I didn't graduate. Yep, and no, I don't see myself graduating in the next one. But I would keep going and keep going and keep going. And more importantly, by the time I had taken responsibility academically and was like, yep, I'm gonna finally finish. And I did phenomenal, maybe the ninth year, eighth or ninth year. But because I messed up so bad, when I finally got, uh, someone at the university to show love,

• 13:43Eric Thomas?

  Dr. Frazier, and paid for me to go to school, well, he ended up leaving and going to get, uh, his PhD. So of course, when he left, there was a new king that knew not Joseph. You know, it was a new director. He didn't know ET, so he didn't let me in. So it took three years for me to get the money to be able to come back. Wow. And watch this, here's the cool thing. I got to a point where that same graduation ceremony, I started doing it in my house. So whenever I would feel down and out and I wanted to quit and I would give up, I literally would pretend I had a cap and gown on. I saw myself with the academic regalia and they would play the duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. I would play the song and I would just walk through my house.

• 14:26Eric Thomas?

  And with the degree in business from hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Eric Thomas. And I would just play it and play it and play it. And lo and behold, crazy speak, you know, they say, uh, uh, uh, uh, you know, don't speak what you see, speak what you seek, right? Until you see what you say. And I just kept saying, I'm gonna graduate, I'm gonna graduate. And then one day, I was literally in the line and my mom was there and my grandma was there and my wife was there, my son and my daughter was there. And although it hurt. I think it hurts more when you remove yourself from responsibility. When you remove yourself from people who are doing great things. When you remove yourself from an atmosphere that pushes you and pulls you.

• 15:10Eric Thomas?

  Because it makes you like, again, you don't have to deal with the accountability. But you also don't get the privilege of finally getting the reward. And man, when I got that degree, you could, when they said my name, I fell on the ground. I praised God. You weren't supposed to do that, but I fell and kissed the ground and just told God, thank you. So yes, it's true. I did it and I did it as a means to push myself.

• 15:31Ed Mylett?

  Hey guys, that's one of the best all time stories. 12 years going to graduation purposely to make sure he kind of felt the pain of being there and also keep the vision. Think about that for a second. 12 years. That's easy. When you hear a story, it's like one thing, but that's every single year. ET, did you graduate yet? ET, did you graduate yet? And a lot of you that are entrepreneurs out there, hey, you make your first million yet? Hey, you make your first million yet? I had this uncle, you make your first million yet? I remember that every holiday, just to beat me up in front of the family. And finally, one Thanksgiving, I won't say his name. I was waiting finally. It's one Thanksgiving. I knew he'd ask me every year and he goes, he goes, did you make your first million yet? I go, well, I'm glad you asked because matter of fact, I did.

• 16:14Ed Mylett?

  And you know what? I've always wanted to ask you, have you made your first million yet? And of course he hadn't after all these years.

• 16:21Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, yeah. He couldn't say anything.

• 16:22Ed Mylett?

  But sometimes the, that struggle, I don't know, makes it sweeter somehow, makes it sweeter. So hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth. And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow. And also taking a look at the future, if you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented. You're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second. Growth day.com forward slash ed. My friend Brendon Burchard has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability.

• 17:05Ed Mylett?

  Journaling, courses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute, as do a whole bunch of other influencers. It's like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers. So go check it out. My friend Brennan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com/ed. That's growthday.com/ed.

• 17:31Ed Mylett?

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• 18:14Ed Mylett?

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• 18:58Ed Mylett?

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• 19:36Ed Mylett?

  One of the things that you've done though, that I think it's funny because you're the hip hop preacher, but I don't think most people, I think if I say your name to most people, they're like intense motivator, lights me up. I don't know that the average person who knows you knows how deeply your faith educates your life and affects it. I do, but I don't think most people do. And, and Eric has something out, ET has something out now called UOU 365 devotional. Hold it up for the YouTubers. Tell us what this is and because this is a daily thing, changing your life is daily. It's not like one podcast. And then also just how much your faith has informed and affected your life overall.

• 20:20Eric Thomas?

  You know, man, and people ask me all the time, like, E, you know, why don't you talk more about, you know, it's like talking about my love life with my wife. It's just so intimate, bro. It's like, it's not that I'm trying to hide none, but my life with, I've been with DD since I was 16 years old. It's just some details. I'm just, you know what I'm saying? It's like, you wouldn't understand if I told you anyway. Like you just wouldn't understand what she means to me. Like you wouldn't get it, right? And so my relationship with God, man, is so intimate. It's so personal. And you talked about it earlier. I don't know why this is the truth, especially in America, but it's like sometimes religion, you know, spirituality, whatever you want to call it,

• 21:00Eric Thomas?

  a relationship with God, it's, it causes so much division, you know, and because my faith is so personal and God has done so much for him. It's like, bro, I'm not trying to, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not a salesman. I'm not trying to get you to believe what I believe, bro. It's like, I was homeless. He was there for me. Like I felt angels in my presence. Like there were people who would try to bust in the house and rob me or shoot and kill me. And I saw God protect me. I saw God pull a gun out on me from across the street and shoot it and it missed me. I ran home and they didn't catch me. So I already know who God is. And so I don't want to get in these debates about God, these debates about religion, but I know God is my anchor with my own mother and bless her

• 21:45Eric Thomas?

  heart. She, if I'm not trying to act like she didn't have reason for being mad at me. She did, right? But when my own mother was like, yo, I'm done. I'm through with you. God was just getting started with me. Y'all gotta understand something. When you look at who I am today, there was a pastor who saw this version of me, bless his soul, rest his soul, he probably died about three, four years ago, Pastor Willis, he saw this version of me before I saw it. So what does that mean? Like God invested in me broke. He invested in me when I was a high school dropout. He invested in me when I was homeless. Like even before I knew who he was, he gave me this voice and his energy and his passion. I was doing this when I was a teenager. I just wasn't doing it for

• 22:28Eric Thomas?

  the right reason, you know? And so my relationship with God is so intimate. And what I realized is, even when I used to speak, I was a better speaker when I mentioned God. I'm just saying, you know what I'm saying? I was just a better speaker. You know what I'm saying? People used to say all the time, like, E, I love your motivation, bruh. But whoa, when you start talking about God, like you go to a different place. And I was like, oh, what does that mean? There's like, yo, I can't explain it. I'm the listener. But I'm telling you, when you mention God and your relationship with God. So I wrote the 365 Day Journal, a devotional, because I realized that when Eric Thomas was not this version of himself all year, okay, we already got time for that.

• 23:11Eric Thomas?

  But it might have been like six months, he was this dude, another six months, he was the other dude. I realized, okay, E, here's what's going wrong. When you're at your best, there are certain biblical habits that you are embracing and it's causing you to act a certain way, talk a certain way, attract, attract certain people. Look, bro, I'm just being real. I'm blessed, bro. Check how many podcasts I do a year. I just don't do it. I don't do it, y'all. But there are certain people, every year or every other year, when it's like, man, I'm feeling like connecting, we do podcasts. I probably do five podcasts a year. If it's 10, I doubt it very seriously. It's probably five.

• 23:56Eric Thomas?

  Why? Because I'm so blessed that I just get to work with and attract. That's the one thing when I was with Warren Buffett that he said that blew my mind. Of all the things he said, when they asked Hey, being a billionaire, what are the things that you get to do that no, most people don't get to do? He was like, yo, I get to, y'all not gonna believe this, but I get to work with the people that I wanna work with. I don't have to work with people I don't wanna work with. I was like, ooh wee, think of how many people going to work every day and you can't stand the people at your job. And they literally irk you, get on your last nerve, like they make the, they take the experience of your job. And so for me, man, when I speak, and then when I do, I bring God in it. So I was like, E, you gotta share with them

• 24:41Eric Thomas?

  that when you really got on, things start clicking for you, you was more the man that God wanted you to be than you weren't. And that was read my Bible every day, praying every day. And I don't know religious stuff. I was just like, man, I gotta meet the man that gave me these gifts. I gotta meet the man that when nobody else didn't want me, he's still pouring into me. Like, I gotta meet the guy that stopped me from getting shot and killed. I gotta meet the guy that got me off the streets of Detroit, sent me to church, introduced me to Dee Dee at the church. We've been married over thirty-four years now. Like, yo, I gotta, I gotta meet the, I gotta get to know this guy. Because if he's doing all this for me, and we don't even really have no relationship, man, what's gonna happen when we have a relationship?

• 25:26Eric Thomas?

  So for me, it's not just the habits that, you know, Ed talk about, you know, in the power, you know, of one more. Not, and that's why I went to go do it, because I know Ed's story and I know, I just knew when his book comes out, y'all, one more day? Bruh, what, what, like, one more forgiveness, one more try, one more rep? I was like, oh, no, no, no. And if you can do that one more, and you can do that three hundred and sixty-five days? It's like, bruh, that mindset is going to allow you to see a version of yourself that you would never see. So that's what it's about. I don't need you to do it in January, I don't need you to do it in February, I need you to do it January, February, March, April, May.

• 26:06Eric Thomas?

  And if you can read this book every day and see these habits and start practicing them, man, I guarantee, I do have to say this to Ed. I gotta give Dennis Kimbrough his credit. So he wrote a devotional, um, Daily Motivation for African American Success. What he did that I thought was genius, um, and I think we've probably all, you know, read, you know, the book. But he wrote a book, um, man, it's, it's, I, I can't believe I can't remember the book right now. But it was a spin off, right, of, um, um, man, what's the book? I'll think about it later.

• 26:38Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 26:38Eric Thomas?

  It'll hit me. And so then what he did was from that book, he wrote this devotional, right?

• 26:43Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 26:44Eric Thomas?

  And so I remember like, wow, I'm, I'm, I'm really messed up. I love this book, but I can't get past January. Every year I get it, it'd be January, then February. It probably took me about six years before I read every single day. And I realized something about who I was as a man and who I was as a person, that I wasn't consistent, right? That I didn't follow through, right? That's what that book did for me. And so I was like, you know what? One of these days you're gonna have to read a three, you have to write a 365 dev- uh, devotional. So that people can read it every day and learn about themselves. How dedicated can I be to this small 10, 15 minutes a day? Like, how dedicated can I be?

• 27:24Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 27:24Eric Thomas?

  To, to this practice? How, how often can I do this? Not make an excuse, even if I don't feel good, can I still wake up and dedicate this five or 10? And so for me, it's, can you do it for 365 days? And when you can finally get to that point, man, it's just a, it's a, it's a total different experience.

• 27:42Ed Mylett?

  How do they get it, ET?

• 27:44Eric Thomas?

  U2025.com, there, there it is. U2025.com, and why you? Cause we just believe you owe you. That's it, you owe you. And so when people ask me about the politics, I say, let me tell you very closely. I just left a school in Chicago. I'm telling y'all, when Bush was in office, he didn't come to my school. Okay, he had a lot going on, right? When Obama was president, uh, when Trump was president, whoever becomes Trump, uh, president now, listen to me very closely. They're not coming to my neighborhood. They, they, they're not taking care of Dee Dee. They're not gonna take care of Jalen and Jada. They're, they're politicians, they're gonna do their work from the White House. You owe you, right?

• 28:29Eric Thomas?

  No party owes you. You owe you. And so U2025, why? Because when you read this book, we want. You to discover you, you to figure out who you are, you to see your greatness, you to see you're an asset, you, like you to unleash the greatness in you. And so you 2025.com.

• 28:50Ed Mylett?

  I love it. By the way, everybody ET does more work in schools than any successful entrepreneur speaker that's probably ever lived. And I always tell you all, you're most qualified in life to help those that you used to be.

• 29:03Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 29:03Ed Mylett?

  And I got to tell you something, isn't it ironic that he comes back to the same neighborhoods, but also that his struggle wasn't school, that one of the things ET struggled with was school, yet he spends time helping children that are in school over and over again. One of the things with my faith, I'll meet you in the middle on that. Just as I've gotten older, it's like, there's just been plenty of times in my life where I was inadequate on my own. And I learned it ends with me, it has to be, it's got to begin somewhere other than me. And I've always had God in my life that's been there for me. I literally have these pictures of people ask me, when you've become successful, how did it happen? I can give you a step this one, two, three, four. But then I can also tell you that there's been so many times in my life, I don't even know what happened. I just woke up and God

• 29:45Ed Mylett?

  had picked me up and carried me for a while. And I can only conclude that that's what happened because I don't know how it happened otherwise. And if you don't mind talking about it, you've kind of experienced some of that in life. I think a lot of people think, well, once I'm successful, all the trials and tribulations of my life will end. And they don't. And different ones present themselves. And in your life with Dee Dee, who's been with you basically most of your life, and you know that I relate to that in my marriage as well. You guys were kind of have been kind of under attack a little bit with a real difficulty in your family. So, talk a little bit about what's taken place there, if you don't mind with Dee Dee, and then how it's affected you and how you've handled it, and maybe God's rolling that.

• 30:23Eric Thomas?

  I was just saying to my church the other day, I never really, I didn't think about this, and you know, man, reading the Bible, you can read the same chapter or story and God's gonna keep showing you stuff that you never like. It's like, where was that at the last time, the last 20 times I read that, where was that? And so, of course, you know, most of you know Dee Dee was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And here, here, here's the part that's dope about that. That oftentimes, when you look at something like that, like you go, man, he had a video, you know, the Guru story, over a hundred million hits, you know, and this celebrity made one like it, and this celebrity posted it, and this thing blew up, and he became... But do you know with the same

• 31:06Eric Thomas?

  energy you say that, is the same energy you need to say, and Didi was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis? Because oftentimes, what you would consider to be a curse is God's way of elevating you and taking you to another level. You know, and let me explain what I mean by that. I recently read in the book, um, I think it's, uh, the Book of Samuel, right? And it was talking about, uh, David. I never noticed this before, but David started his ministry off with Jonathan. Well, first he started, of course, in the palace, but he had Jonathan. This dude loved him with the love. David said that this relationship was so tough. He said that he loved, you know, uh, and I don't know how

• 31:50Eric Thomas?

  it's possible, but he said he loved Jonathan, you know, more than that of a woman. They were, their platonic relationship, they were, the bond was so strong. But then he had Saul, who caded his guts and tried to kill him in the same house. And so what we have to understand is, there is this unique balance between sabotage and support that makes us who we are. And let me tell you something, when Didi got MS, I ain't never prayed to God like that in my life, not even for myself. I prayed for Didi in a way, in our union, in a way that I had never even prayed when

• 32:29Eric Thomas?

  I was homeless. Didi's MS drew me closer to God, and God was able to show up and show me a part of Him that I had never seen before. He was like, you think I did something in school? You think I helped you academically? You think I learned to help you to speak? Watch what I do in your relationship. And I'm telling y'all, if y'all see Didi now, you would not even know Didi has MS. I promise you, you wouldn't know. And so what that situation did was it draw, it drew me and DeeDee closer. It made my kids, who didn't even realize they were entitled. It made them see how blessed they were to have a mother who was healthy and diagnosed MS. It, it made us hug her harder. It made us not take her for granted all those years.

• 33:14Eric Thomas?

  She ran the house and took care of everything. It was like, whoa, they shifted. Mom needs us. Man, it changed everything. And more importantly, DeeDee left her job, which she never wanted to leave. DeeDee would probably be retiring either last year or this year. And that was over 10 years ago. And DeeDee and I have done ministry together. We built a church together. We're, we're together pretty much every day, you know, doing ministry together. And so if DeeDee hadn't gotten MS, none of this would be what it is right now. She would have kept her job. She's a nurse. She went to school to be a nurse. She loves doing it. She was like, I never wanted to work with you. You know what I'm saying? I never wanted to work with you. I never wanted to be with you every day.

• 33:54Eric Thomas?

  But, but God took what the enemy meant for bad, and he turned it for good. So Ed, that situation taught me that you can't bake a cake. You can't bake a cake. Even your favorite cake. You can't bake a cake with just sugar. Like you can't make a cake with just sugar, y'all. As much as you like to believe that's what a cake is made of, it's not made of just sugar. And it has some salt in it, and it has some other ingredients, eggs, that are not sweet. But in order to get sweet, you gotta, you gotta, God's gotta mix it up. And so DeeDee getting MS was a part of the mixture that made our life as rich as our lives are now.

• 34:32Ed Mylett?

  Oh my gosh, that's just unreal. I'm so glad that she's doing well, brother.

• 34:36Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 34:36Ed Mylett?

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• 35:21Ed Mylett?

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• 36:02Ed Mylett?

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• 36:45Ed Mylett?

  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

• 36:50Ed Mylett?

  So one of my favorite stories in the Bible is the parable of the sower. One of the reasons I love that parable is that it does talk about you actually planting seeds for God to provide a harvest. The birds are going to get some, the weather's going to get some, et cetera. And I think you've, you've been around lots of highly successful people and you are one. And one of the things that I think most people don't know is the level of work required of effort. Meaning like, I don't know, I, I, I think if someone spent the last five years with me in business and they, I'm not trying to brag, but like if they thought they worked hard, there's levels to this game. Or like in the speaking game, you and I talked when the, the stuff hit the last couple of years.

• 37:32Ed Mylett?

  There's just levels to the work ethic and the grind, the things you gotta do. You look at a Steph Curry in basketball, oh, he's such a gifted shooter. Actually, he's not. Actually, it's the grind. Actually, Tiger and Jack Nicklaus, the amount of golf balls they hit. Actually Judge and Otani in baseball, you have no idea the amount of work. And even in coaching, you and I've been around all these great college football coaches, but I think it's one of the hardest jobs in the world. There's a level to where Saban played at, Dabo Sweeney, who I know you've been with, like. So I think most people are like it about, and you talk about this a lot, like maybe the 50, 60% of their capacity or effort. And that is not going to get it done, no matter how much you sit around and do other things that serve you.

• 38:14Ed Mylett?

  There's a level to this thing and you've been close to it and you are at it. Talk about that for a minute.

• 38:19Eric Thomas?

  Look, I, I want to say this to everybody that's listening. Here's what I think would be the easier thing to do. Just lower your expectations. I'm just being real. Like, you know, when I was with Ed and he was doing the book launch, I'm just being real. I did a book launch, it would probably 70% on that level in terms of, I wasn't just in the rub. Don't get it twisted. I'm not a good guy. Okay. God makes me a better man. I was in the room learning. I wouldn't, I, I promise y'all, I wasn't just in there talking. I, listen to me. I don't even know if Ed knows this. After, before I did my thing and after I did my thing, I was all the way in the back sitting down. I didn't know that. I was all the way at the back of the room with a pen and a pad. I didn't know that.

• 39:04Eric Thomas?

  Like studying, like yo, E, bruh, this is being real. You not on this level. Like you're not, you're not, one, you're not on this level in terms of like maximizing, you know, your network. Like you're not, you're not, you're not on that. The, the space that we were in. Listen to me. I don't know if I told you this, but your, your, your guy, he end up helping me, um, about what, what would you call it? Like renovate the church and put beautiful sign on it. He don't even live here. I did not know that. He, he, he helped, he helped me. He made some phone calls. He called up. He's like, E, if I gotta leave Charlotte and come down there,

• 39:44Eric Thomas?

  I got you, but I, I'ma try to find somebody. This is what I'm talking about, y'all. Like, so I was in the building, learning, seeing who Ed was connecting with, then connecting with them afterward. Look, so here's my deal. When I was in the room, I had to say to myself, E, if you want some of this stuff Ed got, E, you gonna have to, gotta raise your game some. So you got an option. You could even go, A, me being in the room with Ed and watching what Ed was doing, this, this is strictly for recreational purposes. You feel me? It's like, hey, this recreational purpose, bruh. Go ahead, get out of here. Or, A, E, you, you, God showed it to you. He showed it to you. He showed you a level. Are you ready?

• 40:27Eric Thomas?

  And so for me, it was like, absolutely, I'm ready. So I just want to say this to you guys. Either lower your expectations because you don't have to do everything you see other people do. You don't have to do it. You could just go, man, I, I, it's like going to a basketball game. You're not trying to suit up and do what Curry does, but when you look at it, eh, eh, you kind of thinking, oh, he human, like I'm human, so I can't. Watch yourself, okay? Watch yourself. You might not want to put them sneakers on. You might not want to get in that gym. And when I saw Ed do, when I went back, I was like, okay. E, number one, you gotta get more organized. So like you got passion, you got energy. But what you saw in Ed, you saw a system, you saw a structure. You saw people over here and people over here and people doing it and people in the back.

• 41:12Eric Thomas?

  And when you get in, people in the parking. So it's like, E, when you get to the crib, from a speaking standpoint, you you definitely give it 1,000%. Right. But from a structural standpoint, you're not giving 1,000%. Then I look at the packages in the dick and I was like, E, you don't got. So y'all might have saw, if you watched it, it was a group in here, then it was a group out there. And then the level of men that was on stage, who are also dominant in their particular area. For I was with people who I've only seen in a podcast. I only see these dudes on social media. I ain't never been in a room with them before. I was in a room with them. And so, yes, you know, I had to come home, not necessarily get up earlier, not necessarily grind physically harder, but I had to take my mental game to another level.

• 41:57Eric Thomas?

  I had to take my systems game to another level. I had to, this is a grind that you probably don't know. I had to remove people, which hurts, to bring in a different group of people to take me where I wanted to go because I realized a group that was with me, phenomenal group of humans, phenomenal group of people. They probably would get to heaven before I get there. But in order to take me from number four to number one, they weren't necessarily the people that could do that. So to Ed's point, I personally went home and and did a um, an evaluation on ET. I personally studied ET and said, yeah, you got it going over here. But this seed is an apple seed, an orange seed. This is not a watermelon seed.

• 42:40Eric Thomas?

  And these seeds that you're planting will never get you watermelon. So so yep, you got some dynamic. Are you posting every day? You putting out dynamic stuff? But that will not get what you saw Ed do in terms of systems. And so you gotta come home and your new grind is system. I don't know what your grind is, but I'm telling you, I had to start reading books. I had to go to conferences. I had to shift what I was watching online. I had to shift who I was following. Great humans, great people. They were only going to help me sustain this energy. They weren't going to help me with the structure. Here's what I realized. E, nobody's better than you, but there are some people who's got better systems than you.

• 43:22Eric Thomas?

  And so if you want to see growth, you gotta start grinding on the systems level. So don't, I don't want you to get what Ed said and you miss it. You like, oh, I gotta get up earlier. I gotta grind. Maybe you don't have to get up earlier to accomplish what you've already accomplished. But to get this done, you do have to make some adjustments. And that's what the grind looked like. And that's what the hustle looked like. And can I say this, Ed? I'm mad, I don't even know if I ever said this before, but sometimes, and I don't know if you've experienced this. Sometimes, bruh, you putting up forty with thirty rebounds and you like whatever. And then you go somewhere, God shows you. And I was talking to my son the other day and he, he kinda was hurt.

• 44:03Eric Thomas?

  Cause he was like, dad, you know, you, you, you acting like I'm, and I said, hold up, I'm sorry. You putting up thirty, you putting up ten, but the thirty points and the ten rebounds have nothing to do with the assist. You don't get credit for assists because you scored and you got rebounds. They, they don't, they don't take your points and go, well, we gonna put those over and rebound. They don't take your rebounds and go, we gonna put those with your assist. And when I left you, you know, I, I, there was a part of me that was like, God, you want me to do more?

• 44:34Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 44:35Eric Thomas?

  You want me to do more? Am I not grinding enough? He was like, absolutely. And every seed you planted is gonna grow. But you just looked at what Ed was doing and you saw there was a gap. So you have a choice to make here. You got rebounds, you got points, but the assists, son, you, you at zero. So what do you want to do? And there was a, there was a moment where I had to go.

• 45:03Eric Thomas?

  You're not overwhelmed. You're just rising to the level that God is asking you to rise.

• 45:08Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 45:08Eric Thomas?

  There's no anxiety. The Bible said, be anxious for nothing, but in all things through prayer and supplication, make your request known to God. But there was a 32nd boy was like, man, God, how am I gonna be blessed? When I, he said, how? One, that's your boy. So you can just call.

• 45:26Ed Mylett?

  Of course.

• 45:26Eric Thomas?

  Then I had Rory in the back interviewing me. God like, yo, you don't have to do it. You could just, and then just, and I did just that. My relationship with Rory, you know, went from a person that, you know, respects him, to sitting at his feet, to listen to the podcast, to studying you guys. And I can honestly say, after that event, system wise, you know, I've gone to another level. So to me, that's what it looks like when your expectations, your dreams, your goals, and your grind match. And if y'all not ready to work, it doesn't make you a bad human. Just lower your expectations.

• 46:00Ed Mylett?

  Gosh, that's so, so good. And that idea of the grind, I want to say one thing, everybody, when he's talking about rebounds and points, the application of that for you is this, is that if you're average, you keep giving yourself credit for the things you're already doing. But if you want to be extraordinary, you gotta go, what's the thing? Like the power of one more in the book, I talk about you're one decision away. I think all of you listening to this right now, if I could be honest with you, you already know what it is. You know, the thing you're not doing, you need to be doing, that would change your life and your business. You already know what it is. It's having the guts, the courage, the faith to call the shot. Like in ET's case, I'm gonna go back, I need to work harder. I gotta get more systematic. Maybe I could even work less hard if I put these systems in place. For you, it might be something you are doing, or that you need to stop doing to get your life to the next level.

• 46:45Ed Mylett?

  Here's what you have in place, though, ET, that most don't. And so, everyone's, oh, I'm so motivated when I listen to ET. Listen, everybody, I want you to talk about that. I don't remember, I don't know if anyone's ever asked you this before, if you've even covered this, but there's like a subtle thing, I even watched this in sports. And it's what I would call like conditional effort. I'm gonna make my full effort if the conditions present themselves the way that I want them. So like in football, if I'm starting and we're, we're up in a close game, you're gonna get my best effort to run to that tackle. But if we're down 26, maybe I won't take that hit. Or if I'm the third string guy, I'm not gonna prep to my maximum level. My prep is conditional on how much I'm gonna play.

• 47:28Ed Mylett?

  Or in business, it's conditional on what the market place is. Or it's conditional on how my, I feel today. And you and I, if there's something we both do well, and then I find with elite people is their effort is not conditional. Has he ever talked about that before and do you agree?

• 47:47Eric Thomas?

  You know, I, I haven't. I do wanna say this, I wanna go back to the last point and what you said was dope. Listen to me, guys, there are those of you that you're great at something. And what you do is you do more of the great that you're doing. And it's almost the law of, what is it diminishing returns? It's the law of diminishing return. It's like you got an area that you dope at, that's like me speaking. And I'm just gonna keep speaking and not get systematic. And the reason why you do that is because it's easier to do more of what you're great at. Right? Than to stop at a certain level of greatness and then go work on something that could really move the needle. And you being more of a great speaker, that's not about the,

• 48:29Eric Thomas?

  Eric Thomas getting more passionate is not about to move the needle. I promise you it's not. But Eric Thomas becoming more of a, of a strategist? Eric Thomas becoming more of a sharpshooter and not just all over the place? Oh, bro, you put systems with this energy, this synergy? It's a rap. So I do wanna challenge those of you who try to read more. Bro, you reading enough. You need to go, go apply some stuff that you read now. Stop reading all them books and balance it off. Now, I don't normally say names, but I wanna say a name. Because again, no, nobody's ever asked me this before. But my boy, Terion Arnold, he's a.

• 49:11Eric Thomas?

  He plays defense for the Detroit Lions, right? And we had a conversation. Okay, so he comes in, you know, he from Bama, bruh. He all said, so he like, we winning this, I'm going for the Super Bowl. Like, he big, he won. And so I told this kid, I love you. Because, you know, it's a difference between the NFL and I don't care what level you play in college. In the NFL, it's all one percenters. It's not necessarily one percenters every weekend in college football, right? You might be playing some guys, we don't even know the name of the team, right? So, so week one and week two, bruh, he keeps getting these, you know, what do they call it? Interference, right? And he's so aggressive and he's doing his thing. And I was like, bro, I love you, bruh.

• 49:53Eric Thomas?

  I love the fact that they're calling, I'm sorry, pass interference on you. They calling pass interference, like, he's aggressive, he's doing his thing. And I'm like, yo, the fact that they calling pass interference and you keep going after it. I love it. Because a lot of kids, freshmen, rookies, you would be like, man, they keep calling pass interference. You know, and so I'm gonna get passive or I'm gonna back off, I'm gonna back down. I was like, hey, my suggestion is you, whatever you doing, you keep doing that. Because either the, the, the refs gonna get used to you or you gonna figure it out. But the last thing we need you to do is to back down.

• 50:33Eric Thomas?

  And I'm telling y'all, what you don't realize is that the conditions be in the beginning will try to change you. The conditions in the beginning will try to funk you. The conditions in the beginning will try to back you down. But when you show life that you not playing, that you serious and it doesn't matter. This is why I love Michael Jordan. Again, I won't get into debate with everybody, but I like Mike because it didn't matter if it was a good team, he went after you. It didn't matter if you were average team, he went after you. It didn't matter if you was a bad team, he went after you every single time, every single game. He went after you. He didn't care about the conditions. And when you get to a point that you no longer care about the conditions, I don't know what happens if it's God.

• 51:17Eric Thomas?

  I don't know if it's human, I don't know. But i- i- i- there's a shift that Happens where the conditions now just start to be in your favor. I don't know how it happens, but in the beginning, you know, my luck, bro, whatever you want to call it. I was planting bad seeds, making bad seeds. I don't know. I was up and down, up and down. But I'm telling y'all now. It just seems like wherever I go, it just works out. It just seems like what like I I'm getting off the plane. I gotta catch another flight. And and I'm not supposed to make it and I land in some kind of way, something happened. And so now they I got fifteen, twenty minutes to get to my gate. I I just get the gig. Somebody didn't show up to a gig in uh in the Middle East and I just end up getting like.

• 51:59Eric Thomas?

  But we got companies that are looking for people who the drug and I just get in the cup. I I just like the stuff that used to happen to me when I gave up too quick. Or when the weather wasn't right. That life, it just seems like it was a fifty fifty. This I don't I don't I don't gamble no more. I feel like this was this life is seven eleven. It just seemed like everything I touch, everything I do is blessed. And even when it's not blessed, some kind of way, all things still work together for the good. For them that love the Lord and the call according to his purpose. So I would just say to you, keep going. And one day you gonna break the circumstances and it's everything is gonna start to lean towards your favor.

• 52:44Eric Thomas?

  And it's gonna work out in your favor, but it will never happen if it's, well, you know, Monday I didn't know. Get a workout regimen. You ain't gonna feel like it every single day. But when you do it, when you don't feel like doing it, you probably gonna get more out of it the day you don't feel like it. Then the days you did when you let me tell you something. I when I I I run now, I run further the days I don't feel like it. Then the days that I feel like I don't, I can't understand it. But the days I don't want to do it and I still put on my shoes and I still go out. I'm running not on my uh uh uh on my strength, not on my ability. When I go out there, when I don't feel like running, it's something within. It's something else that clicks. It's something else that happens.

• 53:28Eric Thomas?

  So do me a favor, man, just make up in your mind. You're gonna be committed to being a millionaire. You're gonna be committed to changing the world. You're gonna be committed to being a good father, a good, I don't know. But just commit to it and somehow you will break the circumstances. And you'll wake up one day and everything will be going in your favor.

• 53:48Ed Mylett?

  Woo, so good, so good. We have ET on every week. I feel good right now. You know, I was thinking-

• 53:57Eric Thomas?

  One more podcast, give me one more podcast.

• 53:59Ed Mylett?

  One more. We're doing the next one in person, I'm gonna tell you that.

• 54:02Eric Thomas?

  All right, yes, yes, yes, yes.

• 54:04Ed Mylett?

  You know.

• 54:08Speaker 01

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the fastest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 54:38Ed Mylett?

  I was thinking about what's my kryptonite? Obviously, my kryptonite is anytime I think it's all about me and not God. That's obvious, that's an easy kryptonite for me.

• 54:45Eric Thomas?

  Absolutely.

• 54:45Ed Mylett?

  But another one for me, like my super strength, I I I think this is true of all humans, but I want you to speak to it. When I know why I'm doing something.

• 54:56Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 54:56Ed Mylett?

  Man, there is a supernatural force I feel like is behind me when I know why. And I let me be more specific. However, there there's times where like you kind of used to know why you're doing something. But it's just been a long time since you've revisited why you're doing it. You haven't checked in with yourself in a while. Like even speaking for you and I, we're depending on the list. It's usually you or me or another dude on the list, right? So but like when I'm really on my game, I it's weird. Like sometimes you go, I gotta go do a meet and greet and take pictures or something. And it's that very thing. You'll meet one person that reminds you, oh, this is why I do this. And all of a sudden, especially if that meet and greets before I speak.

• 55:40Ed Mylett?

  There's a whole new level and a lot of times in my life, when I forget why, or those of you that are listening to this, maybe it's just been like a year or two since you've looked at why you do your business, or why you are going to the gym. You're just going to the gym now, where at one point you went because you were going to get down to 10% body fat, or lose 20 pounds, or make your kids proud of you. And so I think a lot of people are walking around not knowing why, and if they would discover that, they'd be at a different level. Do you, what do you think about whys? I know it sounds general, but it's a huge thing even in my own life.

• 56:14Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, no, no, no. And I, and I, and I want to take it here. My kryptonite,

• 56:23Eric Thomas?

  and I, and I, and I truly want to say every day, you know, I'm getting a little bit beyond it, you know, and I'm doing what God would have me to do. But I think one of the challenges with my biological father not being there is somehow, you know, this whole,

• 56:43Eric Thomas?

  the need to be affirmed thing happened, you know, and I don't, I don't know how old I was. I don't really know, but like, I'm going to class now and I'm looking for my boys to, oh, that was a great joke, you know, or I need to be in the crew or with, you know, and so in my adult life, realizing that, you know, my kryptonite was why they think I should be doing, right? Like, like, like, is your, do your mama think you should be doing this? Or, you know, in, in the club with a crowd, and you talked about the schools, I'll be honest, Ed, there was a time where it was like, I love doing that. I know that's what God called me to do. And that's why I gotta go, God, why? Why are you asking me to do this? And I gotta stay connected to God. Why are you at? Because,

• 57:25Eric Thomas?

  bro, when you talk about putting up on the internet, you know, you at some middle school kids event, brother, it just doesn't go as well on social media as when you at a big event with the superstars. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not the same when, when, when, you know, you've got a chance to do Good Morning America, what a show, and like, you don't show up and do it. Like, even though you may be able to do some kids podcast, who only got about 5,000 followers, being on, you know, a big network is something totally different when you start posting, you know? And so for me, it's like, okay, E, you gotta be careful. That's why they do it. That's why they do it, E. That's not why God is asking you to do it. And you have to be careful not to be so concerned with why they want you to do it.

• 58:10Eric Thomas?

  Because when you were homeless, they weren't there. But God was. So why does he need you with middle schools? There's a reason, E. And here's the crazy part. You just said it. Like, you sparked something. You talked about, okay, maybe the signing before, the picture taken before, meet and greet before or after certain things happen. I'm not, you know, I wouldn't lie to you. There are kids, I got a kid who's a judge. Who is a judge, who was like, no, you came to my school when I was in middle school. You said something in middle school that lit a fire up under me. High school, I went, E, you came to my college and I went to some little small school that nobody know about. You didn't think, because I didn't say anything to you afterwards, but bruh,

• 58:56Eric Thomas?

  you hit me with that father thing and I took ownership of my life. And it's like, when I do why God wanted me to do it, it doesn't always look attractive in the beginning, but then doors start opening for me. People start blessing me. I'm at a restaurant. I can't even hardly pay now when I go to a restaurant. Somebody paid for you over there. Or Mr. Thomas, this dude say he follow you online. He won't say nothing to you. You was with Dee Dee, he didn't want to disrupt. And it's like, okay, okay, sometimes. I like, E, I saw you, but you was at a middle school. E, I saw you, but, E, you're not doing the big gig this year. You're not doing this. You're not doing that. And it's like, that's why you want me to do it. But this is why God wants me to do it.

• 59:41Eric Thomas?

  And yeah, I'm doing what God wants me to do, but I'm not gonna lie. You called it kryptonite, which means that it's out there. You know what I'm saying? Kryptonite, well, you know Superman, it wasn't in his living room. It wasn't up the block, but it did exist somewhere. And there were people who knew that they could get it and use it against them. And I'd still have to pray every day, God, I love you and I want to do it for the reason why you want me to do it. But I still live in a world sometimes, God, where it seems like if I do it your way, is it gonna, you know what I'm saying? Like, am I gonna be blessed? Because if I do it their way, I can see how I could be immediately. And he like, uh-uh, son, trust me, you want to do it my way. You don't want to do it their way.

• 1:00:22Eric Thomas?

  So for me, it's staying locked in with, yeah, I got a why, but am I doing it for why? He wants me to do it, or am I doing it to make sure I eat? I stay on top, you know what I'm saying? If I do, am I doing it for that reason? And I just have to be careful that I'm locked in with God and I'm doing it for the right reason. And even though I pray and believe in God, it's still, I was still born in sin and shaped in iniquity. And so there's still this challenge every now and then to do it for the wrong reason. And I, but I just gotta stay locked in and, and I, and I gotta try to do what he's calling me to do.

• 1:00:53Ed Mylett?

  What an amazing answer. And by the way, I have, by the way, that's the ultimate why. You hit something there. I didn't think you were gonna say, and that was great. You know, the other thing too, I have thought about that when I watch your posts, like, you, just so you know, when you're the greatest speaker in the world and ET is that for me, you know, you, uh, it'd be easy just to flex all the time in these big arenas. And just so you know, like online, when you're talking to 62 kids at a school, that's what the, that's what the D-list guys doing on the come up to get some footage done, right? And, and ET posts that stuff all the time because it's not about what you think. It's not about what it looks like. It's about his calling. And I really admire that about you, ET, very much. All right, last question.

• 1:01:33Eric Thomas?

  All right.

• 1:01:34Ed Mylett?

  This flew by, like flew by. I wa, I said a minute ago that, you know, when I do these meet and greets, that's when the magic comes for me is when I meet a human who just says, hey, you impacted me here. You made this difference or whatever it might be. And it reminds me of why I do it. But I want to ask you this, um, I want you to pour into somebody. I want you to imagine someone's listening to this right now. And for a lot of people, they'll hear it coming into the new year, but they may hear it at any time. They hear it two years from when we recorded it. But they're, they're just not where they want to be in their life. So let's just say that I, we're in a coffee shop or I walked into an elevator and it's just me and you. And I said, oh my gosh, ET, you've changed my life online. And you go, how are you? You know, and I said to you, not so good.

• 1:02:18Ed Mylett?

  I've not accomplished in my life what I wanted to. I'm not as happy as I thought I would be. Maybe I'm even a little bit lost right now. I'm not feeling great. I don't even know why I'm here. I'm kind of just wondering why I was even born. I'm just kind of existing. And when I see you, I don't want to be that person. You make me not want to be the way that I feel most of the time. And if you just looked into that person's eyes, what would you say to them, not knowing them as a person, but knowing they're a child of God? What would you say if you could pour into somebody who's got that feeling or question right now?

• 1:02:50Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, I would say to them, and please, you know, forgive me, guys, for using this, you know, as an example, but I remember being a teenager on my way to college and somebody gave me, you know, I don't remember, I think it was Coles. Coles gave me a $2,000 charge card. And I was so excited because, you know, I wasn't really making that kind of money. You know, Didi and I were going to college together. I wanted to get the outfits to match. You know, I wanted to make sure when we went to college, people knew she was with me, you know, and I remember going to Coles and buying all the stuff. I got her a guest watch that she has to this day. All my stuff is lost. Didi still got all her stuff, you know? And I remember going to the counter, you know, and they, you know, they rang all my stuff up, swiped the card.

• 1:03:35Eric Thomas?

  And I remember the lady telling me it was declining, you know, and I was just confused. I was, I was confused. I was like, yo, they sent me this card. They gave me this whatever. It's like, what in the world? You know, I said, can you ring it? Do it one more time. She did it one more time. It's still declining. And I was like, okay, well, can you figure out why? Like, there's got to be a why. Why, why is it that my card is empty? Like, why is it that I don't have access to this stuff? And she's like, oh, okay, I'll check it out. And then she said, oh, come to find out, you were right. You do have a credit limit, but you didn't activate it. Right? You didn't, you didn't activate it. So once you go call and activate it, you good. Listen to me. Here's what I would tell you. God already put it in you.

• 1:04:17Eric Thomas?

  You know what I'm saying? Like, like, there's no up, like, you have to understand something. And this is where you guys, we just, as humans, we make the greatest mistake. My father wasn't there for me. My mother was a teenage mother. Do you understand that the one thing I learned from God about Eric Thomas is, brother, you, your greatest asset, your greatest asset is not outside of you. Your greatest asset is not a house. You gotta buy the house. The house don't buy you. You gotta buy the car. You gotta make the investment. The investment doesn't come to you, you come to, like, you have to understand that you are your greatest asset. And so you shouldn't be worried or you shouldn't feel any anxiety or any stress. Why? Because it's already in you. You just haven't activated it yet.

• 1:04:58Eric Thomas?

  And you have the ability, whenever you ready to, you have the ability to stop complaining and stop whining and stop looking at the negative and stop blaming. You literally have the ability, whenever you want to, just like me, take your butt to school. So what it take 12 years to graduate? Then go get your M.A.T. See if you can get your PhD. Worst thing you can do is fail. But, but whatever you do, don't not tap into it. Don't not see what's inside of there. Every day when you wake up, push yourself. Surround yourself with other people. The credit limit, there is no credit limit. Like, you talking about a whale? You talking about a lion? Like, you're talking about the stars of the sky? You can't even count them. You talking about the water, the depths of the sea?

• 1:05:40Eric Thomas?

  And God says of everything I made, there's nothing as dynamic as humans. There's, there's no creature I've ever made that tops man. And so you got everything. Now, I don't know why you're looking out and you're thinking that by looking out, something's gonna happen to you. I dare you to look within. I dare you, I dare you to go within. I dare you to go, how am I great? What did God call me to do? What's my purpose on earth? And I'm telling you, once you do that. It's unlimited. And that's why I'm telling you, you know, Ed just talked about it. There's a list of us. It's real. It's like, okay, I'm gonna go here, here, here. I said, I just got a gig was like, okay, this person was on it, but they can't be there. You could be there.

• 1:06:25Eric Thomas?

  Look, you don't have to compete when you're with, like, there's no, we don't have limits. That's why we run together. That's how, it's no, it, it, it, it's like two juggernauts coming together. There is no limit. There's no, we don't have to fight. There's not a lack of resource that they, they printing money on a regular basis. There, there's not enough people on earth that don't need motivation or don't need a podcast or don't need us to write books. It, it, we can all write them. But the people who don't realize that it starts within, you want the people to like you. You want to get in a certain community. You want to get into, no, they don't make you great. You make that community great. And so I would just say, like that credit card, huh? You talk about embarrassment.

• 1:07:10Eric Thomas?

  You talk about depleted. You talk about, and then within a second, she said, baby, all you gotta do is go call this number that's on the back. Call that number on the back and tell them you accept. And once you accept the terms and the conditions, the money is yours. Go to the creator and tell him you accept. I accept the greatness that you called me to be. I accept. I accept it. I'm ready for it. I'm ready. And then boom, he gonna release it. And let me tell you something, he has not lack concerning his promises. He has no limitations. And so just go accept. Get out of, get from around humans, go in a quiet space in a quiet room, get centered

• 1:07:52Eric Thomas?

  and just cry out to the father and say, I'm ready to accept the version of me that you saw when you created me. Not the version that I've become because of this world. But whatever you saw in the beginning, when you created me, I want to be that version. And let me tell y'all something. All the money and all that other stuff. I told somebody the other day, eh, if you paid me a hundred million dollars to never use my gift again and never walk in my calling, I wouldn't accept it.

• 1:08:20Ed Mylett?

  No way.

• 1:08:20Eric Thomas?

  I wouldn't take your hundred mil.

• 1:08:21Ed Mylett?

  No way.

• 1:08:22Eric Thomas?

  Why? Because it's not, now, I'm grateful for the resources that I have, but what a feeling when you on stage and your mama looking at you on stage, your auntie looking at you on sta- your cousins are in the arena, your wife is staring at you when you on stage, and you got people leaving saying, you know what, I'm in the fifth grade, I'm an asset, I'm not a liability, why am I getting in trouble in school, why am I not doing X1, I gotta do better. Oh, that's the greatest feeling in the world. And yes, it's been great to pay my bills and buy a car, but there's no greater feeling going to bed at night and hearing, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You went and talked to some elementary kids for me, some middle school kids, and, and, and, and, and you

• 1:09:06Eric Thomas?

  made them realize who they were at a young age. And so that's what I would tell them, man, activate it.

• 1:09:12Ed Mylett?

  I love you. Accept the terms and conditions. By the way, this podcast today was especially designed for you to be activated. If this did not activate you today, you gotta call a different number, because this was unbelievable. Um, I love you and I'm proud of you and I'm grateful for you.

• 1:09:30Eric Thomas?

  Thank you.

• 1:09:30Ed Mylett?

  Everybody, I want you to go get UOU365 devotional at U2025.com. And by the way, every day you can spend those 10 or 15 minutes making deposits in your future and deposits in heaven, more importantly. So, ET, incredible podcast, brother.

• 1:09:47Eric Thomas?

  Thank you, man. As always, hey, let, let it be known, every podcast I do is not as incredible. People watch the one we did before and they'll send it to me, talk about, you, you do, you, you bring something out of me. They're like, when you get air energy and Eric's energy in the same room, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's electric.

• 1:10:06Ed Mylett?

  It's electric. It should activate you, everybody. Activate your greatness. I love today. Dang it, I wish this wasn't over. All right, brother, I love you. Max out, everybody. God bless you.