YOU Are Your Greatest Asset | Eric Thomas

Eric “ET” Thomas reveals the brutal truth he learned living homeless in Detroit: your greatest enemy isn't the world against you, it's you against yourself. He shares the moment he looked in the mirror and apologized to himself for the choices that led him to abandoned buildings and survival mode, and how that single act of taking ownership changed everything. This isn't about positive thinking or motivation. It's about taking back the keys to your life and refusing to give anyone else power over your future. Whether you're stuck in a good life that feels empty or drowning in circumstances you didn't choose, ET shows you how to stop blaming and start building the life you were meant to live. The path forward starts the moment you realize you are your greatest asset, and everything you need is already inside you. ET’s books:The Secret to SuccessGreatness Is Upon You: Laying the FoundationGreatness Is Upon You: Abandoning Average and Seizing GreatnessGreatness Is Upon You: How Sacrifice and Humility Positioned Me for GreatnessGreatness 21 (Character Bootcamp Book 1)You Owe You: Ignite Your Power, Your Purpose, and Your WhyIn this episode you will:Unlock your greatest potential by investing in yourself first before chasing external assets, careers, or relationshipsDiscover why taking full ownership of your life is the only path to freedom, even when others have genuinely hurt youTransform your relationship with yourself by becoming your own first best friend before seeking validation from othersBreak through the victim mindset that keeps you powerless by recognizing you are the common denominator in every situationMaster the difference between fact-based and feeling-based decisions that will determine whether you thrive or surviveFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1871For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Shaka Senghor & Christian HowesMuniba MazariMichelle Obama Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. If you want to succeed, as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful. We've got E T, the hip hop preacher in the house. My man, welcome back. It's been a while.

• 0:13Eric Thomas?

  It's been a minute. I gotta say this, congratulations, man. You know, I was saying when I was talking to you, it's like 10 years ago, you know, and I, I remember because you were like, E, I want you on the show and I hadn't really started doing podcasts. So that was like one of the first podcasts and I was like, uh, but my mother, uh, my godmother was dying of cancer. And so I was like, man, I can't leave and go, but I definitely want to. And you were gracious enough. Like, where you at, E? I was like, Embassy Suites.

• 0:44Lewis Howes?

  I like drove out to anywhere.

• 0:48Eric Thomas?

  And man, just to see your evolution, you know, over the years. And like I said, it was a lot of us that started during that timeframe and to see kind of where you are today and you survived the resilience.

• 1:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man.

• 1:02Eric Thomas?

  Bouncing back, getting bigger, stronger, better. Like you ready to go back to sports.

• 1:07Lewis Howes?

  Let's go, baby. Let's go.

• 1:08Eric Thomas?

  Yeah. So congrats, man. I've seen that, um, I mean, I, I can't name all the people, but Kobe, I seen uh, my girl Tab on the show, you know, and just to see all the people you had. And of course I watched the show and learn from it. So man, congratulations.

• 1:22Lewis Howes?

  Thanks, bro. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. I'm excited about this because I feel like you haven't been out there a lot. You've been doing a lot of your own stuff for a while. So I'm excited because there's probably a lot of people who don't know your full story and because you used to tell it a lot, 10, 5 years ago. So I kind of want to reintroduce you to the world.

• 1:42Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 1:44Lewis Howes?

  And I feel like the world is at such a unique place right now as we go into 2025.

• 1:50Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 1:51Lewis Howes?

  And it almost feels like there needs to be a massive mindset shift. For everyone to take back ownership of their life.

• 1:58Eric Thomas?

  Absolutely.

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  To take the full responsibility of their life, cannot rely on other people to give them opportunities, but to go own their own opportunities by creating and having a clear vision. And there's a few things that I want to talk about that you have, that I've seen you share some incredible strategies around mindset. I'm going to dive into in a second. But for those who don't know, you were at one point living homeless. You know, a long time ago, people probably don't even know this about you. Cause you used to talk about it, but it's like you had a season of life where you didn't have any money. You had no education. You had no opportunities. Essentially living homeless.

• 2:38Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 2:39Lewis Howes?

  Uh, struggling, trying to figure out what you're going to do with your life. And, and I don't think people remember this about you because they see the success. They see the, the coaching, the speaking, the, the massive following, the New York Times bestseller. They see all these things now, but 20 years ago, you weren't in this space.

• 2:55Eric Thomas?

  Nah, definitely wasn't.

• 2:56Lewis Howes?

  And what was, what was the space you were in back in the day when you were living, uh, you know, without the opportunities you have now? And what was the moment you switched your mindset? That allowed you to take different actions to start creating your own opportunities?

• 3:12Eric Thomas?

  Yeah. So I'd say it's, it's the mindset. Like I had a victim mindset. You know, it was, uh, my mom got pregnant at 17. You know, my biological father wasn't in my life. You know, I didn't go to the best schools in Detroit, you know, um, I wasn't in this environment. I didn't have, like, everything was about somebody else. You know, it was like the outside inside theory. You know what I'm saying? Which is terrible. It's like everything that's supposed to blow me up and take me to the next level has, is somebody else's responsibility. Like it's something that is going to happen or somebody and it's going to, and it was like, yo, E. Like, why are you in this abandoned building? Like, your mom's not here.

• 3:55Eric Thomas?

  Your biological father, no, he's not in your life, but he didn't get pulled over by the police officer. And the police officer doesn't know the counselor or the principal that kicked you out. It's like, but there's a common denominator here. You. There's a common denominator. And you homeless, your mom's not homeless, your biological father's probably married with a family somewhere. Like, yo, is that right or wrong? Who cares? You are living in this abandoned building. High school dropout, you're on your way to. And so, when I look back, all the anger and the frustration and the hurt, it was all blaming. Everything was about this person or that person or this person. Nothing had anything. I never even realized I was where I was because of who I was.

• 4:40Eric Thomas?

  And I was actually getting the physical manifestations of my thoughts, of my feelings, my emotions. Like, I was creating this and didn't even realize. I thought my mom created it. I thought my father created it. It's like, no, E, you created this. And I'm gonna tell you, the moment I realized you are the greatest common denominator, you probably the least greatest. Like, you the common denominator. Once that realization hit me, it was like, oh, okay, you got some confessing to do, bruh. Like, and I'm gonna tell you the hardest thing that I've ever done. Somebody asked me the other day, like, what's one of the hardest things you've ever done? The hardest thing I've ever done was look in the mirror and tell myself I was sorry. And that was a hardest. Sorry for what? I was sorry for what I've got myself into, the choices that I made.

• 5:25Eric Thomas?

  You know, okay, yeah. You, 12 years old, when you find out that the person that's raising you is not your biological father and your mother lied. Absolutely, bruh, that's not necessarily the best circumstances, you know, for a child to be born in. Like, your mom lied about who your father is, and you know your father and don't even know you know your father. Like, you've been around your father. But you didn't know he was your father? I didn't even know he was my father. I'm with his mother, my grandma, and me like this. I'm with his sisters, I'm with his brothers, my aunts and uncles. I'm hanging out with them every day. And so, the realization of like, yo, not only did you get lied to, like... It's been manipulative, it's been deceitful. But what do I do, how I I run away from home at twelve?

• 6:10Eric Thomas?

  And I'm living in um garages and living in my friends homes. And I this vicious cycle of every time something goes wrong or every time, you know, I'm confronted by this reality, that's not your father. It's run away from home, it's run away from home. And at sixteen, it's like, okay, ma, you just flat out lied to me. Everybody told me you lied. You keep telling me you didn't lie. You go tell me when I got older, I'm like, I'm out. But it's like, E, when I looked in the mirror, it's like, why did you have to take? Why'd you have to leave? Your mom, you had counselors. Why, why when you sat down with a counselor? And they tried to walk you through the tools and the strategies? To get on the other side of this, why were you in? Don't talk to me, you ain't my mom, don't talk to me. You ain't my daddy, don't talk to me, I don't want to talk to y'all.

• 6:54Eric Thomas?

  That these are professional counselors. Who are saying, yo, we get it, you you going through a lot. But we here to help. I don't want counselors at school, principals, teachers. I'm just now insubordinate. I'm evil, mean, mad. And I looked at myself in the mirror, it's like, why was that the choice? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you gotta talk to me. I know why you made the choice. But why did you make that choice? We know what the choice was, you run away from home. You always run from conflict. You always blame somebody, but why? And and the reason why? Is because it was easier to put it on my mom and my dad than for me to have to do the work. And so and so the Eric Thomas that you've seen?

• 7:36Eric Thomas?

  The, you know, NFL, NBA, commercials, whatever. That dude is the dude that looked himself in the mirror, it's like, yo, you owe yourself an apology. And not only that, you owe yourself correction. You owe yourself change. Wow. You you you need to be taught, you need to be trained. You need to become a better human. And that was the that was one of the most difficult days of my life. Was looking at myself, um correcting myself, telling myself I was sorry. And then moving forward, saying, now, what are we gonna do from this point? So so so the growth you see is the response to if you are. Are you are you repentful, meaning you're about to change or are you sorry? And I'm like, no, I'm not sorry, I I want to repent. And I want I want a better version of me because I shouldn't.

• 8:20Eric Thomas?

  What sixteen year old should be living in abandoned buildings? Eating out of trash cans. Like, that's not, it's not healthy, one. It's not safe in Detroit to be in abandoned buildings, walking on, it's not safe. And I had put myself in so many situations where guns were pulled out on me. You know, um, people would break into the abandoned building and take my belongings from me. It's like, E, what are you doing? Like, come on, bro. The, this version of me had gone all the way. It was like, if you don't, if you don't stop.

• 8:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 8:51Eric Thomas?

  And so, yeah, that's, I'm glad you did, because like I said, I don't talk about that anymore.

• 8:54Lewis Howes?

  So you're, it's interesting you just said that, because the, the future you

• 8:58Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 8:58Lewis Howes?

  had to have wisdom and kind of speak to the younger you. This version of you at this age, you know, 20, 10, 20, 30, 40 years later, or whatever, is speaking to the younger you and saying, wake up.

• 9:10Eric Thomas?

  Wake up.

• 9:11Lewis Howes?

  Wake up.

• 9:12Eric Thomas?

  Greatness is in you.

• 9:13Lewis Howes?

  Dang, man. This is fascinating, man. What, um, was it like an intuition that got you to wake up? Or was it like just rock bottom? That was like, okay, I can't go any lower in my life. Now I need to, to, to wake up.

• 9:26Eric Thomas?

  Okay, okay, so I always think it's a combination, right? So it is. It is a rock bottom. But, but this is, this is a blessing, because rock bottom turned into go to church with my boy.

• 9:39Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 9:39Eric Thomas?

  Right? And go to church with my boy turned into, I started dating this girl. Right? And I fall in love with this girl, you know? And this girl becomes almost like my first coach, you know? And she said to me, now, I'll never forget, she called me to her home. She's like, my mom's not here. I'm like, praise God. She's like, can you come to the house? I was like, well, sure.

• 10:00Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah. That's how fun, I'm 16, 17.

• 10:02Eric Thomas?

  I'm like, man, this church girl, and finally, you know, so she's like, y'all come to the house now. This was payphone day. I get to the house and she comes outside and I'm confused, like, why are you coming outside? And she's like, I want to talk to you. I was like, okay, we could talk, but can we talk?

• 10:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, in the bedroom.

• 10:19Eric Thomas?

  You know, and so she's like, no, no, I'm serious. I'm like, I'm serious. I, you, she said, do you love me? And I was like, whoa. Like, we kids, I'm like 17, almost 18, like, do I love you? Like, I don't have no other girlfriends, if that's what you're asking me, but I don't. Do you love? She said, no, no, no, do you love me? Like, is this serious? And I was like, yeah, it's serious. She said, well, I just got my acceptance letter, and she showed me. And she said, when I go to college, if you don't come up, come with me, I'm breaking up with you.

• 10:47Eric Thomas?

  And so it was twofold. It was, I was rock bottom. But this relationship was like hope. Like when I was with Dee Dee, it was almost like I wasn't homeless for that timeframe that we were together.

• 10:59Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 10:59Eric Thomas?

  You know, we were in church together, you know, um, I got a job because she made me get a job. It was just, you know, we would do stuff together, concerts, we would do stuff together as kids. We were downtown Detroit. Um, it's a restaurant called Nikki's, right? Greek Town. So we were in Greek Town on the weekends. Like, I was living life and I was like, whoa.

• 11:16Lewis Howes?

  She's elevating your life.

• 11:18Eric Thomas?

  I'm like, bro, you rock bottom. And the only life you have in your life is saying they gone. And they're not, and look, look, bro, I'm just being real. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm not, I'm not stupid. She's not gonna go away and get a degree. And come back looking for a homeless kid four years from now. It's not gonna happen. No. You know, and so it was, it was rock.

• 11:39Lewis Howes?

  She saw a grade in a senior.

• 11:41Eric Thomas?

  Bruh.

• 11:41Lewis Howes?

  But you had to do the work.

• 11:42Eric Thomas?

  I had to do the work and I did the work. I went to night school. I got the GED. I followed her to Oakland and we've been married over thirty-four years.

• 11:50Lewis Howes?

  Crazy, man.

• 11:51Eric Thomas?

  You feel me? And so it was like, it was a combination of rock, rock bottom and hope. And when you put those two together, it was like, I had something to wake up to, something to look forward to. So I'm gonna be real. That's why it took me twelve years to get a forty degree, because I never went to college for college. I went to college for Dee Dee.

• 12:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 12:06Eric Thomas?

  That's why I went to college. And so once I got to college and we got married, I was like, yo, I got what I wanted. And she was like, okay, we're gonna have to do this again.

• 12:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 12:14Eric Thomas?

  I can't be with you if you don't finish what you start.

• 12:16Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 12:17Eric Thomas?

  So I had to go ahead and do this business again.

• 12:18Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 12:19Eric Thomas?

  Start, and I started the speaking career, you know, in the middle of that as well.

• 12:22Lewis Howes?

  This is, there's a lot of like pressure for people to accomplish certain, certain things by certain agents. But it took you twelve years to graduate college, right? So you're in your thirties or whatever.

• 12:33Eric Thomas?

  Thirty, absolutely.

• 12:34Lewis Howes?

  And then you're forty-four when you got a PhD.

• 12:37Eric Thomas?

  Yep.

• 12:38Lewis Howes?

  What do you say to some of the younger generation that feels like they're a failure? If they don't accomplish things by 20 or 25 that they feel like they're supposed to accomplish?

• 12:48Eric Thomas?

  So here's where I went with that. One of the dangerous things is the outside inside theory. It's dangerous because what you're doing, whether you know it or not, you are comparing your journey and your life to somebody else's journey and somebody else's life. Like you don't even have, let's just be honest. You don't even have the right context to do that. You don't know why they're doing what they're doing. You don't know like what their strengths and weaknesses are. So you're comparing yourself to somebody that may have strengths that you don't have. Like they're nowhere near who you are.

• 13:21Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 13:21Eric Thomas?

  And so you're comparing yourself. So this is why I believe for those of us who finally get it, it's the inside out. Like everything we do starts from the inside. And then from there, we kind of say, oh, okay. I see my boy Lou, he doing X, Y, Z, but I'm not doing it because you're doing it. But I'm calling you, you're kind of saying, E, and the industry is. And so I'm using the information you're giving me to build my journey. Not, I'm trying to be you. And so what I realized was, yeah, there's some kids that can come and graduate in four years because they took K through 12 serious. Or, not to be disrespectful, there's some kids that can come and graduate for four years because they're going to get a job. You can't come and graduate in four years, one, because you didn't take K through 12 series. And you're about to be one of the greatest speakers ever.

• 14:06Eric Thomas?

  It's going to take a little longer.

• 14:07Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 14:08Eric Thomas?

  It's going to take a little bit longer to develop you. So my man on the four year plan, but he might, no disrespect, but he may settle into a traditional life. And so for the four years, that's all it takes. But if you are about to be Eric Thomas, that I didn't even know I had the capacity. You're talking about the school of greatness. God was like, you have to be in the school of greatness a little bit longer. You have to be in the school of greatness a little. Why? I always say, you know, and everybody knows it, but when you're doing a swing shot, the further you pull it back, when you let it go.

• 14:37Lewis Howes?

  Boom.

• 14:38Eric Thomas?

  So for me, it was like, I was like, uh-uh. It's gonna take 12, not because you're behind, it's gonna take 12 because that's how much time it's gonna take to develop you. So, once I release you into the world, now you're gonna be able to do phenomenal stuff.

• 14:51Lewis Howes?

  Let's go.

• 14:52Eric Thomas?

  So, so, so, so, I can't compare myself to the dude that's just gonna get a job somewhere, who's just gonna settle, and all he's caring about is his life, you know, but he's not necessarily creating content or writing books that are gonna change the world, he's just trying to take every step. So, 40 years works for him. So, now I'm comparing my life to, to a person who is not even trying to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish. That's dangerous, dangerous.

• 15:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 15:19Lewis Howes?

  But, I mean, what about the people, I ain't going back to kind of your story of the victim mindset.

• 15:23Eric Thomas?

  Yep.

• 15:24Lewis Howes?

  You know, your, your mom lies to you about your dad, you don't see your dad, you know, abandoned warehouses, you know, all the problems, inner-city kids, struggle, getting kicked out of school, struggling. You had everything against you, right? And...

• 15:38Eric Thomas?

  Oh, don't even know, see, yeah, I just say that. Okay, so I got you, so that's the outside, inside, so that's the, you had everything against you. No, the greatest problem was I was against me.

• 15:49Lewis Howes?

  Oh.

• 15:50Eric Thomas?

  That was the bigger challenge.

• 15:52Lewis Howes?

  Well, most people, most people have both of that, uh, I wouldn't say most people, but a lot of people might be listening or watching who might feel like the outside has been holding them down.

• 16:01Eric Thomas?

  No question, yes.

• 16:02Lewis Howes?

  Their parents have been holding them down, their school, their teacher, their coach doesn't give them the opportunity.

• 16:07Eric Thomas?

  No question.

• 16:08Lewis Howes?

  Their boss is holding them, whatever might be, the economy is holding them down.

• 16:12Eric Thomas?

  1,000%.

• 16:13Lewis Howes?

  The, where I live is holding me down, the president, the whole, the president, the government, it's all holding me down.

• 16:20Eric Thomas?

  It's holding you down.

• 16:21Lewis Howes?

  How does someone get to a place, and maybe it's true, that things are holding them down?

• 16:27Eric Thomas?

  They, they're absolutely true.

• 16:29Lewis Howes?

  Right, maybe it's true.

• 16:30Eric Thomas?

  Yep.

• 16:31Lewis Howes?

  But what I'm hearing you say, that living in a, a victim mindset, or living in an outside-inside theory will not help you get to where you want to be.

• 16:39Eric Thomas?

  All I'm saying is this. They have the potential only to hold you down because you're allowing them to hold you down. And you're seeing that they're holding down. Let me tell you the one thing I wish I can go back. All my mentors, everybody, everybody told me, and they were right. Look, bruh, I'm not saying that they were wrong. You need to get a degree. You need to make some money. You need to do whatever. But what they taught me was that my greatest assets were, um, real estate. My greatest asset was a degree or a career. Nobody ever told me I was my greatest asset. Yeah. I'm my greatest asset. Yeah. It doesn't matter. What, look, people act as if if you grow up in a house where your parents are rich, you're automatically, bruh, we can look at people who grew up in wealth.

• 17:24Eric Thomas?

  And are messed up. Bruh, they messed up. They own drugs too. Yeah. They, they make bad decisions too. Unfortunately, they take their lives as well. They, they, they check out, bruh, it, it does not. So people think of money environment, or you have both your parents in it, and you get, so you think your story is on, it doesn't matter where you come from. If you don't activate you, the environment doesn't matter anyway. Great environment, bad environment, if you're not activated, if you, bruh, I sit here sometimes, and I could whip myself, my grandma used to whip, I could whip myself. And why do I say that? Bruh, I'm sitting in the school of greatness. Like, no, we were together 10 years ago. I'm still standing. I'm mad at me because I, like you said, I got a PhD at 44. I could have got one when I was 34.

• 18:07Eric Thomas?

  I just didn't, I, I thought, you know, and I, when I go into the schools, I tell all us, everybody leave. Principals, counselors, everybody leave. Listen to me, kids. This is 2024. Y'all got the internet. Y'all on TikTok, y'all blew TikTok up. And I knew it because adults are on LinkedIn and, and that LinkedIn. LinkedIn made no money. TikTok, billionaire. Uh, Instagram, why? Cause these young people are there. I said, when you show up to anything, it blows up. Here's my problem. You're in the school and you're failing. Why? Because you waiting for the teacher to teach you. The teacher to teach you TikTok. The teacher didn't teach you how to play. YouTube or Call of Duty. They didn't teach you how to do that? You did it on your own. Why? Because you wanted to do it.

• 18:51Eric Thomas?

  And anything you activate, anything you do for you, it's gonna blow out. But you waiting for some teacher to teach you. When you can pick up a book, you can go online and learn on your own. So in this environment, you are absolutely, you're not reaching your fullest potential because you sitting back, oh, it's the teacher's job. It's the counselor's job to tell me when I'm supposed to graduate and what classes I'm supposed to take. And then what, did you get a degree to get, and then what, what job to get and put me in the right job? But she not Call of Duty. There's no school council. There's no teacher. There's no principal. And you on there with people from all over the world and y'all playing and communicating. Competing. And, and, and listen to me. These kids are so dope and they don't realize how dope they are.

• 19:33Eric Thomas?

  They did something with video games that we never did. They turned it into a career. You can make money without playing video games. Hate to date myself, but joysticks. But when it was joysticks, you couldn't make millions doing it now because of these kids. And they're taking this thing and giving it a life that it never had before. Anything you touch, when you know who you are, believe who you are, could have PhD. I don't say that like, I don't know, bragging. I say that because if I got a PhD, that means I could have finished high school. But I wasn't in school. I was just there because my mother dropped me off. Like, I, I wasn't immersed in it. I wasn't excited about it. I wasn't enthused about it. And so it's like now I'm enthused about life and my life and now I realize,

• 20:17Eric Thomas?

  yo, your momma don't got no, whatever she did, that was just to get you started. It's like on the swing. When somebody push you and get out the way, you, you, they don't, the swing doesn't work if that person keeps pushing you back and forth. It only works if they push you, they get out the way and you do your feet. And so it's like when I showed up and said, Eric, the government, the, the, where you come from, your dad not been in your mind, like your mom been a young, that has absolutely to do with why you can't read. You can't read because you are lazy. You can't read because you don't take it as serious as you take playing instrumental football. You shouldn't be playing instrumental football. You, he should be studying. And so when I start taking my life serious. Wow. Yeah.

• 21:00Eric Thomas?

  Again, I mean, I say this with all, you know, sincerity. I'm in one of the best podcasts in the world. And not only that, when people were asking about it, I was like, oh no, I got a relationship. Like this ain't what you think it is. This is not, to your point, I don't do podcasts. Like, I don't have that media schedule where I, you don't see Eric Thomas on different shows. And I remind people, don't get it twisted, I can't be on shows. That's just not my thing. So I'm not here today just on some, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit. Lew but then I got this podcast, this, that, that. That's not what this is about. This is about a friendship that I'm tapping into. And saying, man, it's good to see you alive. It's good to see that we made it and it's good. I still remember the red shoes with the red shoes.

• 21:45Eric Thomas?

  With the red and we're in there just kicking it. And now I'm like, yo, this is a, this is an enterprise now. This is on a whole nother level. Not saying what you did years ago with me was nothing. I'm saying this and to still be alive and to still be welcome.

• 22:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man.

• 22:03Eric Thomas?

  It's like, yeah.

• 22:03Lewis Howes?

  It's beautiful, man.

• 22:04Eric Thomas?

  But this is what happens when you realize you're your greatest asset and you tap into you. Nothing wrong with real estate. Nothing wrong with investing, the S and P 500. But at the end of the day, you have to be the first thing that you invest in. And if you invest in you, I just believe there's nothing that can stop you.

• 22:23Lewis Howes?

  Hundred percent. And investing in you and being willing to stay consistent in the long run.

• 22:28Eric Thomas?

  Absolutely.

• 22:29Lewis Howes?

  Because we were just talking beforehand, it's, you know, we, we met 10 years ago. We've done a lot of stuff together. You've been on the show a few times. I've been to your events, you've spoken at my events, we've helped each other with book launches and all that stuff. And just been fans of each other over 10 years. And we've seen a lot of people in this space come and go. We've seen people try to come and they get a big hit and then they fall off and they don't stay consistent. And we've continued to stay consistent. And I think what both of us do really well is we have a vision of our, of a future that for ourselves and the world that we live into. We speak into that and we constantly invest in our own personal growth. You know, you're always growing, evolving, transforming, changing, whatever you want to call it.

• 23:13Lewis Howes?

  And I feel like we have to hold ourselves to that standard. Otherwise, it could all go away. Um, if we don't. And so it's and I'm, and I'm curious, you know, for those that are listening or watching that are still thinking, you know what, it's just too hard for me. The world's against me. Like, I hear what you're saying, E.T. I know you did it. I know people like Oprah did it, like all these kind of outliers. It's like, that's only for a few people who can really break through and create the life they want. My parents really didn't show up for me. Or I was abandoned, or I got cheated on and abused, and sexual abuse and physical abuse. And I know what you went through was pretty hard and it was tough in inner city. But what I'm going through is even harder. And it's just, it's too much of a weight. It's too hard.

• 23:58Lewis Howes?

  It's too much friction to eat healthier, to get up earlier, to be consistent. It's just too hard then.

• 24:05Lewis Howes?

  Do people need to think about motivation in order to overcome themselves and their problems and their challenges? Or do they need to think about being more disciplined to overcome the weight of the world they're feeling?

• 24:21Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, I say both ends, but to your point on the discipline, you need to be more disciplined about your minds.

• 24:27Lewis Howes?

  What do people need to be thinking about with their minds?

• 24:29Eric Thomas?

  So, so here's the deal.

• 24:32Eric Thomas?

  You already in pain. Get a reward for it. It's just like, look, do me a favor. Everything you say, you're right. But why go through life with whatever people did to you when you were younger or a young adult? And then you have to live with it for the next forty, fifty years? Like, why would you, why would you sit here and all the stuff that you said was absolutely right? My daddy wasn't there, my mama did it, this person did to me. Why would you let them destroy your life?

• 24:57Lewis Howes?

  Let's go.

• 24:58Eric Thomas?

  Why would they, why would you let them own you? Why would you allow that thing they did to hurt you not define the rest of your life?

• 25:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:05Eric Thomas?

  It's like, no, I was in pain. It's real. But get a reward for it. So for me, walking into, first of all, driving here in a car service, getting to LA, walking in this beautiful facility, seeing the other businesses that are here, I'm like, E, I'm proud of you, bro. You made it, E. You could have stopped at the homeless boy and nobody would have tripped. Your daddy wasn't there. Your mom was seventeen when she got pregnant. All the negative that happened to you, Eric, we understand. But understand, let me tell you, one of the things that just blew my mind the other day. So, you know, we were fortunate to own a home in California, on the hill, right? So we got this property, we got the basketball court with the logo, all the companies that,

• 25:50Eric Thomas?

  whatever. And I go outside yesterday and I see my wife and my son playing basketball.

• 25:55Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 25:56Eric Thomas?

  And I'm thinking to myself, in California, on the hill, looking at all these beautiful properties.

• 26:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man.

• 26:01Eric Thomas?

  My, my, my wife and my son are outside hooping.

• 26:05Lewis Howes?

  Dream, dream life.

• 26:06Eric Thomas?

  Wow. My wife was like, I want to work out. My son was like, I didn't even know. She was like, I'm going to play basketball. I'm like, I can't do it right now. And I'm listening to a voice. He came home, heard the basketball, went out with his mom. I'm like, yo, my son, twenty-nine years old, is spending time with his mom as an adult male.

• 26:22Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 26:22Eric Thomas?

  He could be anywhere doing anything. He's with his mom, her firstborn. They got this bond that I don't have. And they're out here hooping. And as I look at the property, I'm like, yo, what if the sixteen-year-old Eric Thomas would have stayed the sixteen-year-old Eric Thomas?

• 26:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 26:41Eric Thomas?

  So I'm saying for those who are listening, get a reward for it and then do me a favor. Don't just think about you. Like, do you know that my son, in his mind, this is where you, like, this where you start. Like, he got the sign of the pool to work for. He's starting somewhere I never started. The cars, the Rolls Royce, the Escalade. Like, he's starting somewhere I didn't start. Why? Because I didn't stop where I started. I didn't stop. I, I was like, okay, this is where we started, but this not about to be my end. And so. His, his beginnings looked dope. My man went to Michigan State and was a, a general manager for Izzo. He traveled the world. He's got a final four ring and a lead eight ring. He's got the, he got the jack. He sat under Coach Izzo, Hall of Fame coach for four years. Coach OG.

• 27:25Eric Thomas?

  He sat under these guys. Like his boys, some of his boys went to the league. There's some of them still in the league. Like, he got that because I didn't go, I quit because my mom, my dad did, so I quit. I give up. This is worst thing ever happened. I was like, mm-mm. You get a reward for it. And so to see my son, I'm coming to a concert tonight with my daughter. Listen to me like I didn't give up. And so I'm saying to everybody, we all go through pain. Some of us go through pain. And it becomes our tombstone. Some of us go through pain and it's a, it's a scar. And we, and we live a life of reward. So I'm just gonna say, again, twenty twenty-five, do me a favor. Check you. So you're in the ballot box and you're looking at all these options, doctor, lawyer, teacher, whatever.

• 28:08Eric Thomas?

  Whatever you see, president, mayor, governor, do me a favor. Before you check off any of that, SMP, five hundred, real estate, before you check any of that, check you. Before you check anything, check you and go look yourself in the mirror and go, yo, I'm my lottery ticket. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm my ticket out of the neighborhood or, but you know, I'm the broken curse. Like whatever you want to call yourself. But the day I stopped saying my mom, my dad, this person, the police, the cop. The day I stopped doing that, the day I said, you.

• 28:41Lewis Howes?

  Do you think anyone can have a beautiful, amazing life if they live in a blaming mindset?

• 28:48Eric Thomas?

  No, no. You know why? Because what I didn't realize as a young adult is that when you say it's somebody else, whether you mean to do it or not, you give them the keys to your life. You give them power over you. They got your whole life in their hand. Cause you said it, you said it. They didn't do this and because they didn't, they got the keys. Now, I'll be honest, the reason why we don't want to take the keys because we got to drive. We gotta drive. Scary. Today, I was like, I got too much to do. I normally drive. I'm like, I got too much to do. And it felt good to be in the car driven. It felt good. Yeah. Like I'm on the phone, talking to my wife, we having worship, doing our thing, making a couple of business calls. Like, I don't have the responsibility of the traffic. Paying attention. I gotta pay attention.

• 29:30Eric Thomas?

  He moved over and got, I was like, why is he stopping in the middle of, on the, but it was a, uh, a truck. So he had to move over. I didn't know what was going on because it was the first time in my life that I wasn't really like responsible. Cause I normally drive and that's why people don't want to drive in their lives. They don't want to be responsible. It's so much easier to say, my life is messed up because you did this and you did that. Once you take the keys now, you gotta go anything. But I'm gonna tell you this, this is why I like it. While it's more responsibility, it's more freedom. Ooh. It's more independence, it's more control. Opportunities. More opportunities. They limit it. But the limit is when you take the keys. And so I took the keys in my life and said, Ma, thanks. Dad, thanks for not being there for me.

• 30:14Eric Thomas?

  You gave me a dog. You gave me a passion. You gave me resilience. You taught me how to make it when the very thing that's supposed to be there for you, isn't there for you. And I tell people, what I want, some kid asked me the other day, he's like, man, wouldn't you say your son is lucky because you're in his life and his mom is in his life? I said, yes and no. I said, yes, he's blessed to have his mom and dad, but he ain't got that dog. He doesn't have the hunger? He ain't got that dog. My son is a great kid. But he doesn't have the drive. He ain't got the same drive I got. And that drive came without, some stuff that I, that stuff came from lack. And so I say to anybody, you gotta, you gotta understand, it could go either way.

• 30:58Eric Thomas?

  But when you take the, you take the, it's like I walk into a school and I ask, how many of y'all? Fifty kids. How many kids in here? A thousand kids. How many of your dads, one in your life was not living in the house? Ninety percent raised that. Wow. And guess what? I automatically can relate to them. I, that, that's, that's the je ne sais quoi, that my daddy wasn't there. That's the it factor. If my father had been there, I might not be able to go in. Hear and relate or my videos that go viral. People like, okay, maybe if I just had Eric voice. Or if I just scream and I just. Bro, that's not what, that's not what it is. It's when I speak, you hear it. Because I've been through what you've been through. And so you, you recognize that voice. You recognize the pain. You recognize the struggle. But you recognize I overcame it.

• 31:44Eric Thomas?

  And that's why you're like, I want to rock with this dude. Cause this one ain't, some kind of way Eric ain't the one that's making us feel like, oh, it's okay that you went through this. And it's okay that this, and you, it's okay if you don't want to grow. And it's okay if you don't want, no. What you hear from me is a coach that's saying, Jordan, you got six rings in you, but. You got to stop playing this way and you gotta start playing this way. Kobe, you got great, but you gotta, you gotta do it this way. Serena, you got a Venus, you got a that, Richard Williams is saying, he not out there just.

• 32:17Eric Thomas?

  He's, he's teaching, training, but he's also correcting. And so for me, they hear my voice. I'm not letting you get away with murder. Because greatness is in you. The greatness is in you and now it's time to go to school. It's time to go to work and bring that greatness out of you. So just anybody, anybody could be successful. But as long as you're playing the blame game. You have, you have given permission, the license, registration, the keys. You give it all over to somebody else. And the day you take it is the day that you could start deciding which direction you want to go.

• 32:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow, so that sounds like step one, take the keys back.

• 32:54Eric Thomas?

  Take the keys back.

• 32:55Lewis Howes?

  What would steps two and three be for setting people up for their ultimate life? What would that beginning process, is it, is it get clear on a goal? Is it start with motivation, start with discipline, like change your habits? What would the next couple of steps be to set up the mindset for success?

• 33:11Eric Thomas?

  I, I would say step two, and, and I don't know why they don't teach this in school.

• 33:17Eric Thomas?

  Be your first best friend.

• 33:21Eric Thomas?

  Like get to know you. We're so busy wanting to be in a community that we don't realize we are a community. Hmm. Right? And look, I'm not trying to be deep, you know, people could, you know, you believe this, you don't believe in this. But what I was taught, you know, in school, especially Catholic school, it seemed like Adam was by himself first. Hmm. It doesn't seem like it was like a somebody else. It was like Adam was first and then whatever happened after that. So the first man was by himself. And I think that's important for those of us who study that. Why? Because all of us think we have to have somebody to be somebody. And this guy started on his, he started his journey on his own.

• 34:01Eric Thomas?

  Before he connected with somebody, whatever. He knew his purpose. You know, he, he walked in his confidence. He walked in and a lot of us are going, I hear people all the time, ah, well, I'm not doing good life. Why not? I don't have nobody. I'm not in a relationship. I'm saying, you, you telling me, no, listen to me very closely. Do you think for one minute that getting in a relationship with somebody is, it can't be the key? Because so many people have gotten in relationships and gotten out of it. So that, that can't be the key. Now, two healthy people, not perfect, but two healthy people coming together. Oh, no, that's different. It's expansive. But, but guess what has to happen? You gotta be healthy with you. You first before you can be with this. So we even messing each other up when we have two dysfunctional people. Yeah. Trying to connect with each other because we think two functional people gonna come together and make each other happy. It's not gonna work.

• 34:46Eric Thomas?

  So I just think the, the first step after the first step is you gotta figure out who you are and love you. And feel good about you and show up in the ring. Hmm. You and not care what nobody think about you. And that's, that's why this, this relationship has worked so well for me over the years. Because when we're together, it's never been a thing of E, why you do that? E, why you do that? Or E, why you do that? It's always been like, E, you have a unique set of skills that make you great. Hmm. You have a unique set. And so we've always focused on what's our unique skills? And what do you know that I don't know? And how can you help me get there? And so a lot of these young kids are joining things they shouldn't join and being with people. Because they think their happiness is going to come from being with somebody else.

• 35:31Eric Thomas?

  And I just think if you, if you be, if eagles aren't trying to, they just are, E, they not trying. Lions aren't, what do you think about me? What do you think about my roar? You think I'm too loud when I roar? They're not concerned. And so I think step two, figure out who you are, love you. And step three. Figure out your North Star. Hmm. And wake up every single day going after your North Star. Because when you have a North Star, you know, and the people that you love and you spend time with have a North Star, have a purpose, and they look, that their purpose might be, we both have people whose purposes are help us with our purpose. Yes. They don't necessarily have a, uh, uh, an individual purpose. Like, they feel like they were called to help us with. To serve our mission.

• 36:15Eric Thomas?

  That's it. So we need a North Star so they can know what their North Star. Yeah. So that would be my, my, my third one. It's like, you gotta figure out what makes you happy. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with, um, I, first time I did a behind the scenes coming in here, just because I was like, to my Patreon community, like, yo, y'all need to understand where I am and what's going on. But I don't, if you follow me on Instagram or, or TikTok, wherever I'm on, you don't see behind the scenes. I think that's a phenomenal tool to show other people what, but my wife is private. So, so for us, that does not work. She does not want to be seen in the la la. She doesn't want to be in Dubai and stop and go, let's take a, let's document what we're doing. She doesn't like that. Yeah, yeah.

• 37:00Eric Thomas?

  So for some people, it works. But I don't have to do that to still find a space, right? There's some people, you know, they do tours, right? I don't do tours. That's not my thing. I used to do them. I don't do them now. There's some people that write books. Some people don't write books. Like, it doesn't matter, but what matters is you have to find a thing that wakes you up. Yes. At three o'clock or six o'clock or 10 o'clock. Like, you gotta find a thing that brings the life out of you, the joy out of you, the happiness out of you. And you can't do that following somebody else's North Star. So my last one would be mad, figure out what you was put on this earth to do, and I mean, every single chance you have to do it. Do it, and when you're not doing it, enjoy your life. My, I, my son was like, damn, um, I'm tired. I

• 37:43Eric Thomas?

  said, you tired? You burnt out for what? Look at your mom and dad. You work for the family cup. What are you doing? Well, I've been up the last six days, working 10, 12 hours. I said, for what? What would you be doing that for? Like, why wouldn't you take advantage of the, he said, what should I be doing? I said, you should figure out what it is you do. He's a designer. Right? You should be designing clothes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, whenever. Five, six hours a day. And then Saturday, Sunday, or Friday, Saturday. Because of your family, you should get a trip somewhere and go spend it with a friend. You should go see the, you should go to Italy. You should go to Rome, son. You should go to South Africa, son.

• 38:23Eric Thomas?

  You should go to the Gold Coast in Australia, son. What are you, like, you should, what are you doing? Like, you should work, but a part of work also is, where is your play? You should play. We worked hard. So you could be balanced. So don't be like us. We grew up in a, a, a working class home. We grew up in Detroit. We grew up blue collar. You're not a blue collar. So go enjoy your life. Be balanced. So I'm not just saying find your no star in terms of what you've been called to do for others, but there should be a healthy amount of time that you spend enjoying your life. You know, and enjoying the little time that you have here because we not, we both know. We won't be doing this podcast a hundred years from now.

• 39:03Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 39:04Eric Thomas?

  We don't know how much longer we have, but, but I won't be a hundred and fifty-four sitting down talking to you. So however much time I have left, we, I need to work hard and I need to enjoy that time.

• 39:14Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. Those are beautiful, man.

• 39:18Lewis Howes?

  I, I've heard you talk about a concept I want to share in a second. But I feel like there's a group of people we've been talking to, you've been talking to, that are the people that have maybe don't have the opportunities they want. They don't have the life they want. They feel like people are holding them down. That's one group. Then there's another group of people, which I feel like is a majority of people that have a good life. It's okay. It's good, but they don't, they're not living a great life for themselves. Maybe they got a good job and they're pretty healthy. Got a decent relationship, but something, there's like something missing. I think if you can, if that resonates with anyone listening or watching, comment below or leave a like if you feel like, yeah, my life is good, but I feel like something's off.

• 40:01Lewis Howes?

  You have this great concept called creating a mental rock bottom to push yourself towards your goals. Can you share more about kind of some practical steps of creating your own mental rock bottom? So that you can go to the next level in your life?

• 40:17Eric Thomas?

  Okay, I want to use the term that you use and you said create. And I just think so many of us have stepped into careers that group. We have worship create, create our careers more than we worship create. Hmm. So the first thing I would say to that group is what would life look like if you did it on your terms?

• 40:34Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 40:35Eric Thomas?

  Cause right now you really not doing on your terms. What you've done is say, yo, if I want to survive, if I want to strive.

• 40:42Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 40:43Eric Thomas?

  This is what I have to do. And, and you have allowed people to tell you, okay, you need to be an engineer. Or you need to be a, and you need to move it. So you've done a phenomenal job in, in being obedient. You've, you've done a phenomenal job in, in complying.

• 40:57Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 40:57Eric Thomas?

  Like you've done a phenomenal job. You follow the rules.

• 41:00Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 41:00Eric Thomas?

  Congratulations. You know, say like, you didn't rob a bank. You know, say like, you haven't done anything illegal. You did exactly what a good child should do. And I have a, a, a daughter that I have to get on her sometime. Because she's that child that's like, yo, Dan, what do you guys want me to do? And I, and, and I.

• 41:15Lewis Howes?

  She's obedient. She's obedient.

• 41:17Eric Thomas?

  She's never messed up. I said, do me a favor. Don't always be obedient.

• 41:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 41:20Eric Thomas?

  Like, like you need to sit down and ask yourself if you weren't thinking about the family's name. If you didn't, if Eric Thomas, E T D Hip Hop Preacher was not your father, what would you be doing?

• 41:32Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 41:32Eric Thomas?

  What would you be doing if you didn't have to worry about honoring, you know, the dynasty? What, and you're doing a phenomenal job of honoring this dynasty. I'm not taking anything. Went to school, handled your business. You've never been in trouble before. We've never had to spend money doing anything. You've been a phenomenal child. But what would you do if you lived life on your terms? And you were able to go where you want to do. And so that's the first thing I would ask them to do. I want you to think about your life instead of the life. Because that's what you've been thinking about, the life, not think about your life. And I want you to start putting it everywhere. Now, the next thing I want you to do is I want you to know that if you have the ability, like I never forget CJ was like, okay, E, you know what you're missing that the big boy, all the big boy speakers, you know what you're missing? I was like, no. He was like, the New York Times Best Seller.

• 42:18Eric Thomas?

  Now, I'm not telling you gotta do it, but I'm saying. That's what's missing.

• 42:23Eric Thomas?

  You know. You got it. You got it. So he was like, first of all, do you want it? Do you want it? Don't do it because I'm saying. But do you want it? And he could elevate you, but do you want it? And I was like, yeah, I want it. The next question becomes, what does it take to do it? And then, am I willing? To do what it takes. That's it. Because it's a lot. It's a lot. But here's the thing, I believe if you think about it, it is only because somewhere inside of you, you have what it takes. Now, capacity is there. Willingness is something totally different. Yes. That's different, but I want every human to know. You wouldn't be watching the school of, you wouldn't be watching or listening to the school of greatness if you didn't believe you were great.

• 43:07Eric Thomas?

  I'm just, I'm just, for real. You, you wouldn't be spending time with this man on a regular basis. I'm telling you, I wouldn't be going to Columbus. Bruh, I drove to Columbus. Bruh, it's not a, trust me when I tell you, it's not a, you don't get off the freeway. Like, it's not sixty-five to get up. Why did I go? Because this man is great and greats want to hang with greats. I need y'all to understand, look, y'all may not know. Listen to me, I've got Nomad Suitcases that I still carry to this day because he gave them to me. Like, I, I, I didn't buy a new one. I've carried the exact same ones that he gave me. And my son bought a set because I had a set. Because it reminds me of him when I travel. It's like greatness, great.

• 43:52Eric Thomas?

  So you wouldn't be watching, you wouldn't be locked in. Something in your spirit has you tuned into this man because you know you're great. Now you gotta say to yourself, am I willing to cooperate? Yes. With the greatness that's in me? And then once you do, and you start consistently operating in that, you're gonna feel good about it. Here's what you have to do. You have to understand, Andre the Shield, I think, said, the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next. Wow. So, so, so you get to the top of the mountain, but you understand, the, the G, the GED was just one, the, the forty degree was just one, the mass was just. After the PhD was the New York Times. After that is the assessments, is the training, is the coaching. I I'm I'm in masterminds. I I get coached.

• 44:37Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 44:37Eric Thomas?

  Right. And so it's this idea of yesterday's greatness can't be enough because I'm alive today.

• 44:45Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 44:45Eric Thomas?

  So if I'm alive today, it must be some more greatness in me. And it's my job, like the toothpaste. It's my job not to just look, I don't know about you, but I would just use a little bit of it and get another one.

• 44:55Lewis Howes?

  I he getting the last drop.

• 44:57Eric Thomas?

  I'm squeezing, cause I got money, I'm squeezing that toothpaste. Why? Cause I'm trying to get everything out the tube before I go to another. And with my life, before I get out of here, which is why I could murder myself. That I didn't realize at 12 that I was great.

• 45:12Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 45:12Eric Thomas?

  And that's why I said you gotta check in 2025, you 2025, right? Because I didn't know I was great. And once I checked in and realized how great I was, I was like, bruh, we gonna keep doing this. And to the day we die. And so I would just say to you, you're you're watching, you're in this space, you're reading his books, you're going to his conferences because you know it's in you. And it's time to stop being lazy and it's time to it's time to activate.

• 45:40Lewis Howes?

  I love that, man. Well, here's the thing why I think a lot of people might stay stuck is they. They allow their feelings to keep them in place of frustration. You have this great example that you say execution should be fact based, not feeling based. But people feel the overwhelm of the economy or the government or their parents or their partner or whatever the responsibilities of the world. They feel anxious, avoiding, overwhelmed, burnt out. Like doubtful, insecure, and they allow feelings to consume their inaction.

• 46:20Lewis Howes?

  So how, what's an example of how someone can shift from being driven by emotions into fact based actions towards.

• 46:28Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, what's what you teach, man, the meditation thing, people don't take it serious.

• 46:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 46:31Eric Thomas?

  That this is the time to get control of your mind. And for most of us, our mind is in control of us.

• 46:39Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 46:40Eric Thomas?

  So when you talk about meditating, it's like. This is a habit of the grades. And one of the, and, and, and, and one of the habits of those individuals who are not where they want to be, is, I'm not trying to be funny, but it's like lazy. To absolutely meditate regularly is a discipline. It is, man. It's not easy. It's not easy to get control of your, I, I'm like, where did that thought come from? Right? So, so, so guys, let's go back to the 12-year-old that found the birth certificate. Right? We found the birth certificate. We found the birth certificate in the emotional state. Oh, yeah. We found it in an emotional state. Listen to me. I'm not the first kid who has ever gone through this experience.

• 47:23Eric Thomas?

  And you know what I had to ask myself in that mirror at 16, 17, 18? I had to keep asking myself, when you saw it, why did you see it that way? Why didn't you not call your mom and say, "Ma, you wouldn't talk about this"? Why didn't you go, "Hey, Ma, the counselor, can we go sit down and talk to the counselor"? "Hey, Ma, call Dad. Can we just sit down"? And I, listen to me. I went from, "I can't believe that you would do me like this." I went from a ball of emotions to living in abandoned buildings. It was the mo, it was the stupidest decision I had probably ever made. I put myself in so much danger as, as a 12-year-old, 13-years-old, homeless. Based on emotions. On emotions. So, the same document, nothing changed about it.

• 48:07Eric Thomas?

  But if I could go back as this adult and look at that, I would look at it as facts and go, "Wow, your mother protected you. Wow, your mom loved you so much that she didn't want you with your biological father because she thought he could be a threat." Right, wrong, or indifferent. Your mom didn't do this because she was trying to hurt you. Your mom did this because she was trying to protect you. Your mom brought you into a family. Your mom didn't try to hide the identity. She wanted this man. To be your father. He didn't, he changed your name and gave you his last name. Wow. He treated me as if I was his own.

• 48:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 48:42Eric Thomas?

  Wow. He didn't lie. He made his family treat me as if I was, and don't ever say anything about my past because my past has nothing to do with him making a decision at the courthouse to be my dad.

• 48:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 48:53Eric Thomas?

  It's the same document. One, you emotional. The other one is factual. Your mother loves you. Your mother cares for you. Your mother's trying to put you in a healthy environment. Your mother has a job. Your mother married somebody who was a former GM. He has a job. He has a college degree. He played basketball. He's a responsible man. He protects his family. Take care. But emotion wouldn't let me be rational. Emotional wouldn't let me think rationally. It had me irrational. So I would say when you make emotional decisions, you get emotional consequences.

• 49:25Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 49:25Eric Thomas?

  But it takes meditation. It takes controlling of the mind to say, how should I behave? How should I think in this situation? And what's gonna give me the best outcomes? And I'm gonna be honest, I've learned, we can save the emotions for when I'm looking at the nomad bag and going, man, that's my boy. Thank you. Why would you even buy me? Like, what would make you think of, and this is a perfect gift? You know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't think to buy suitcase for myself.

• 49:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 49:54Eric Thomas?

  That's where the emotion should be. Me coming in, seeing you, hugging you, what's up fam? But when it comes to business,

• 50:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:01Eric Thomas?

  when it comes to being a leader and a decision maker, we not doing emotions. We're, we're doing empirical evidence.

• 50:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 50:07Eric Thomas?

  We, we, we're doing facts. What does the fact say? What does the research say? What does the evidence say? Okay, and based on the research and the evidence, this is the game plan. Let's go. It doesn't matter how you feel.

• 50:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:17Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, it don't matter how you feel.

• 50:18Lewis Howes?

  Man, I love this.

• 50:19Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 50:20Lewis Howes?

  Uh, again, if we're, we're talking about really developing, developing kind of a bulletproof mindset when the last five years for a lot of people has been a lot of stress, overwhelming anxiety. In order to have a more powerful, resilient mindset, how important is it for, not just me and you, because I already know the answer for me and you, how important is it for everyone to have mentors in their life?

• 50:45Eric Thomas?

  It's everything, man. Listen to me. I never even thought about being a multimillionaire or billionaire until I was in a room with Warren Buffett.

• 50:54Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 50:55Eric Thomas?

  I never even. I didn't even know how much it was worth when I was in the ruins afterward. And then this all started making sense. Okay, now that I know who I am, you 2025, like check, I know who I am. Now it's, oh, oh, real estate is a way. Oh, so you mean to tell me that being a blue collar? Okay, that's what my parents knew, but you don't make a whole bunch of money working. You make more money when you put your money to work. Oh, that's real estate. Oh, helping kids who are talented, figure out their talent, taking a percentage. Oh, okay. I didn't even know this stuff exists. Got it. And so it is, it is important. Bob Proctor pulling me to the side. How much do you charge? You should be charging. Les Brown calling me and said, I'll meet you in Orlando.

• 51:40Eric Thomas?

  Les Brown sitting me down, talking to, listen to me, coaching is everything. Why? Because I just said, think of Michael Jordan without Phil Jackson.

• 51:48Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 51:49Eric Thomas?

  Think of Venus and Serena, uh, Venus and Serena without Richard Williams. Like, yo, I just want you to picture Kobe without Phil Jackson. Think, think about Tim Brooke without Mike without.

• 52:01Lewis Howes?

  Tim.

• 52:02Eric Thomas?

  Come on, not Tim. It, why would he? So, so coaching is critical. Here's what's gonna blow your mind. When you get to our level, you really need more coaching.

• 52:12Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 52:12Eric Thomas?

  Cause we didn't exhaust it, all the stuff. You really need coaching.

• 52:16Lewis Howes?

  After Jordan, after Jordan won his first championship, he didn't say, I think I've got it figured out on my own. I don't need a coach. He said, let me find Tim to train me. Let me find the mindset coach, the recovery coach, you know, make sure we're getting to the next level.

• 52:29Eric Thomas?

  They said, they said, I, I, I read it, but it's research. I, I'm almost sure it's true. That LeBron, look at LeBron, what he's doing right now.

• 52:36Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing, man.

• 52:37Eric Thomas?

  Bro.

• 52:37Lewis Howes?

  Forty, a forty chicken dunking on twenty years.

• 52:40Eric Thomas?

  Whoever had the, the arguments, you know what I'm saying? Cause there were those of us who was alive.

• 52:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:45Eric Thomas?

  We, we watched Jordan do his thing. But bro, when LeBron is doing right now, but when I do my research and not emotional about, oh, how is he doing? It's just, hey, no, when I do my research, he's spending 1.5 million on his body.

• 52:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:58Eric Thomas?

  Recovery coaches, meaning dietary coaches.

• 53:01Lewis Howes?

  Everything.

• 53:01Eric Thomas?

  Meaning mental and emotional coaches, acting coaches. Like he got on. So you see the decision he made and you see, okay, yeah, he was great. But that investment that he made in himself and now look at his son is in and then he got another son is pop. These are decisions that he's making. He's not emotional. These decisions are based on facts of experts and then we're seeing the outcomes of.

• 53:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:24Eric Thomas?

  We're seeing the numbers that he putting up at this age versus the and nobody's ever put these kind of numbers up at this particular age. So we all need coaches, you know, and so that's why I've made the decision that E. The one area that you need to step up in, speaking is good, traveling the world, talking, but you gotta. The same way people open up doors for you and walk you through. You have got to do the same thing and I've literally the last two years have had a small group of people that every morning I wake up with. And I train them for an hour every single morning.

• 54:00Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 54:01Eric Thomas?

  And what's amazing about that is to see the difference between people I coach and people who watch me online.

• 54:07Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 54:08Eric Thomas?

  It's a difference. You watching me online, you getting the motivation, but you're not getting the daily schedule. You're not getting the things to do list.

• 54:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:16Eric Thomas?

  You're not, you're not getting the, the mindset. You're not getting the analytics. You're not getting the blueprint. So it's like you're watching and then you're interpreting and this is why I think audio books are good, but I think. Training with our books are good because people will read our books and interpret them in a way that we didn't intend for it to interpret it.

• 54:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:35Eric Thomas?

  So when we do the training or they get to come to a conference where they get to watch the podcast, they're really investing more to what was. What was he really saying?

• 54:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:45Eric Thomas?

  And if they can do what you're saying, that habit, they can get the outcomes of me and you get.

• 54:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and it's also being around other people who are in that mindset, who are pushing and you're seeing them grow and it's influencing you to grow and you're.

• 54:58Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 54:58Lewis Howes?

  So the community aspect of we're getting coached together, we're growing together, we're working on our goals together, all that stuff. I wanted to ask you a couple more questions before we wrap up. Again, we're going back to the 12 year old you who's, who's down and out figuring about your, your dad's not your. Your biological dad in your life, your mom lied, you know, challenges in life.

• 55:21Lewis Howes?

  And we're talking about where you're at now. Where do you think you'd be without a spiritual relationship with God in your life over the last thirty-plus years? With all the ups and downs, where would you be in life right now, the ETU, with no spiritual relationship?

• 55:37Eric Thomas?

  I'd say either dead, I'd say dead.

• 55:39Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 55:40Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, because I was an extremist. You know, everything I did, I did it to the fullest. You know, so I think I would be dead, honestly. I would say this to simplify for people, because sometimes when you talk spirituality, it's just, for some people, it's just too deep. I would say to you, what happened when I, you know, made a commitment to God is that I connected with the person that made me.

• 56:00Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 56:00Eric Thomas?

  That knew me like nobody else knew me. And he coached me from the twelve-year-old to now. He coached me.

• 56:05Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 56:06Eric Thomas?

  He's like, "Bro, I know you, I made you. Yes, I know, I know what's the best environments for you. I know who's good for you, who's not good for you. I know your temptations, I know your, um, your vices. You know, I know your good habits, your bad habits, and just let me, let me teach you."

• 56:20Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 56:20Eric Thomas?

  You know, and so it was maybe five, six years of fighting.

• 56:26Lewis Howes?

  Resisting.

• 56:26Eric Thomas?

  Resisting, you know, and because he introduced himself to me at eight, and I guess maybe it was too young, but homeless, I was like at sixteen, like, "Okay, I'm ready to get coached. Where's that coaching program you said you had? I'm ready for that coach." And so from sixteen to maybe twenty-five, you know, it was like, "Okay, I'm gonna come to coaching some days, some days I'm not, some days I'm going in, some days I'm not." And then my son was born. I was almost twenty-five years old, Jalen was born. And, um, Jalen was born in nineteen ninety-five. I turned, um, twenty-five in September, he was born July twentieth. And when Jalen was born, it was the day Coach said to me, "This is why I've been trying to train you,

• 57:10Eric Thomas?

  because I wanted you to be the best father you could be."

• 57:13Lewis Howes?

  Wow, yeah.

• 57:13Eric Thomas?

  And so you miss him, you miss him classes, you miss him lessons. Your son is here now, he needs the best version of you.

• 57:21Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 57:21Eric Thomas?

  We can't, we can't, we can't repeat the mistakes of the past. And so, I need you to hurry up. And so when Jalen was born, from that day forward, I, you know, I remember when he was born, I held him. And it was kind of like he looked at me like, you the person that's gonna take care of me? Wow. You know, and that was the day, and this is what a lot of you are running from, is the R word, and I get it, because it's tough. Responsibility. Oh. That was the day where it's like, oh, you gotta be responsible for somebody else. Yeah. You, you cannot, you got, I've never played a video game since Jalen was born. Wow. I've, I've read more books since Jalen was born, that first year or two that I ever read in my life. I took my career seriously speaking. I start, you know, Zig Ziglar, you know, Nightingale, you know, Og Mandino.

• 58:06Eric Thomas?

  Yeah. You know, Bob Proctor, all those. Bruh, you name them. Dennis Kimbrough, like, I went, I went deep, I went heavy, you know, um, Arthur Ashe, you know, Days of Great. And I read everything, I was in the library like an addict, just studying and studying and studying. And it was because I didn't want the, I didn't want some of the consequences of the past to come in this generation. You know, and so for me, it was like, yo, your son's here, you gotta handle your business. And I just heard, I was more attentive, I started getting up at six, and then I'd play this game. Daylight saving times would come, I would, okay, say, don't follow it, stay up at five is the new. And then the next year, the four, and then I got started getting up at three. And I started getting up at three o'clock in the morning because it was still, there was no dogs outside.

• 58:51Eric Thomas?

  Nobody was driving around, the family was asleep. And I was like, okay, coach, I'm sorry, let's go back over the lessons I didn't get, and let's go over the new lessons. Like, coach me, show me, show me, nobody knows me. And I tell people, I had a brand new Cadillac, man, it had 10,000 miles and the engine blew. And I immediately took it back to Cadillac, I didn't take it to BMW, I didn't take it to Honda, I took it straight to Cadillac. And I, I went right back to the creator, like, yo, you made me, and I'm tearing this car up. I'm not putting oil in it, I'm not changing the, rotating the tires, I'm not putting fluid in it, show me how to take care of this. Wow. And he began to show me how to do it, and it's just like amazing to see. When we're on one accord and I'm following the, he told me, he's like, yo, it's time.

• 59:34Eric Thomas?

  I think I called you maybe last year and was like, yo, I need to, and he was like, no, no. You're just supposed to call and say what's up. You know, and then this time it was like, yep, you need to do it. You know, I was like, all right, I got it, Brandon, I think. And I was like, all right, you know what I'm saying? So just listen to him doing what he's telling me to do and let the coach be. So I would say, you know, don't spiritualize it and make it too repetitive to do. It's the coach and just get a relationship with the coach. Let the coach get a relationship with you and just do what he tells you to do and you're gonna love the results.

• 1:00:00Lewis Howes?

  You alluded a little bit about, you know, this version of you is kind of speaking to your 16 year old self and saying like, here's what you need to do. Stop doing that, start doing this, like, whether that was you in the future or God speaking to you.

• 1:00:16Eric Thomas?

  In the future.

• 1:00:16Lewis Howes?

  In the future, like, hey, this is what your highest self needs you to do right now.

• 1:00:21Eric Thomas?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:00:22Lewis Howes?

  What do you feel like God is speaking to you now or your future self is saying to you now? Wisdom you need to hear to take you to the next.

• 1:00:30Eric Thomas?

  This, this, this, this, this is what God is saying. You spent all of your mature life pouring into people who can't do a whole lot for you. You spent some kind of way in your soul, you feel like because of where you were and all these people that helped you get to where. So it's like you, like you feel like you owe people to not be in mutual relationships. Like you feel like you're so blessed and you have so much. It's almost a survivor guilt that now you just gotta be with people who you gotta pull. And you gotta be with people that you got to beg to, and you gotta be with people who you just got a blessing. You may not get nothing back. He like, no, no, no, no. In this season, these relationships have always been there for you.

• 1:01:11Eric Thomas?

  But you haven't taken advantage of them because it's like, I gotta help and I gotta fix and I gotta be a, I gotta save yours. Complex, I gotta help you, help you, help you, cause somebody helped me and I wouldn't be here. It's like, and CJ said to me, Eric, no, the only reason it worked is because you wanted it to work. Those mentors didn't do nothing for you. They did, but you had to want it. You're helping people that don't even wanna be helped. They, they wanna hand out. They don't wanna be helped. Now, the rest of your life, son, be in relationships where it's mutual. Just, bruh, this, this might seem insignificant to you. Uh, but I, you know, they called me and was like, yo, let us know when you get here.

• 1:01:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:51Eric Thomas?

  And I was like, alright, I'll be there, you know, whatever. And he was like, no, no, no, tell us, you know, when you pull up. I'm like, tell you when I pull up. Like, I can get upstairs on my own. They're like, no, no, no, tell us when you get there, we're gonna meet you downstairs. Oh, and uh, you want anything from Starbucks?

• 1:02:04Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 1:02:06Eric Thomas?

  I'm like, nah, I'm good. I didn't say anything till I was like, nah, I'm just in the car, I'm good, I can get my own Starbucks. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm trying to teach you something.

• 1:02:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:15Eric Thomas?

  She didn't ask you if you had money to buy Starbucks.

• 1:02:18Lewis Howes?

  Do you want something?

• 1:02:19Eric Thomas?

  She asked you did you want something from Starbucks? And I said, you know what?

• 1:02:25Eric Thomas?

  I even text her and said, you know, I, I, I normally say no.

• 1:02:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:29Eric Thomas?

  I say yes to this kind of stuff, but you know what? Yes. I'd like a grande medicine ball with no honey but three agave.

• 1:02:37Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:02:38Eric Thomas?

  You, you, you know? And she was like, okay, you wanna get, you need to use the restroom, you need to whatever. And he was like, yo, this is the season.

• 1:02:44Lewis Howes?

  Ah.

• 1:02:45Eric Thomas?

  You pouring out so much.

• 1:02:46Lewis Howes?

  Receive.

• 1:02:47Eric Thomas?

  Get some.

• 1:02:48Lewis Howes?

  Receive.

• 1:02:49Eric Thomas?

  Get in these mutual relationships and get something. So that's what I'm hearing him say, you know, as I come today, it's like, you, these relationships have been there for you and you've done your part to make sure you stay alive, but you don't always, you don't always allow people to reciprocate. You know, so that's the season for me is like, hey, bless the world. And hey, if you don't ever put out another video, there's enough videos and all kind of content for people to, now look out for Eric Thomas.

• 1:03:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:03:17Eric Thomas?

  Now put Eric Thomas, now go to the weddings. Stop working all the time. Now go to the events. Stop just working all the time. And stop just you and your wife or your little, no, no, there are other communities that are waiting to bless you in the way you've blessed others. And it's time for you to enjoy that.

• 1:03:34Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 1:03:35Eric Thomas?

  Yeah. So that's what, that's what you're telling me.

• 1:03:37Lewis Howes?

  You deserve to receive, man. I would acknowledge you, Eric, for being in this season of life. Because I've known you for 10 years, but...

• 1:03:46Lewis Howes?

  You put so much focus on giving in a big way, which is a beautiful blessing. But I think you can also give and receive at the same time. It doesn't have to be mutually one way. Just give, give, give, give and like exhaust yourself to like serve, serve, serve, serve and then you can give nothing back to self. So I really acknowledge you for being in a season of like, how can I give and receive? How can I deepen these relationships with people who? Cause I know people try to pour into you.

• 1:04:12Eric Thomas?

  Absolutely.

• 1:04:13Lewis Howes?

  But you're always too busy or you're trying to give, give, give or you're traveling nonstop. You're, I gotta help save the kids and teenagers.

• 1:04:19Eric Thomas?

  Of course.

• 1:04:20Lewis Howes?

  And so I acknowledge you for, you know, being acknowledging this season of life for you and saying like, it's time to like, and I can even see it in your face and your chest, even I just energetically when I, when I saw you today. I was like, man, you look healthy. Healthy urine. I think it's because you're allowing yourself to receive. And so it's really beautiful, man. I'm glad you're in that space.

• 1:04:41Eric Thomas?

  You and me both.

• 1:04:42Lewis Howes?

  You look younger too.

• 1:04:43Eric Thomas?

  You and me both.

• 1:04:43Lewis Howes?

  You know what I mean?

• 1:04:44Eric Thomas?

  And you know what? I've got people in my life who have, you know, my guy Chuck at church. E, what do you need? I have people who've been there and I haven't even allowed. And so it's like, no, there are a few people already in your circle who've tried. You gotta let them fully. And then there are other people not in your circle of influence. Who are, who've been trying to.

• 1:05:05Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Let them in too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Receive, receive, man. I love this, man.

• 1:05:09Eric Thomas?

  Okay, so you can, my email.

• 1:05:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. Well, if people want to learn more, they can go to U2025.com. They can also go to, I think it's EricThomas.com or ET the Hip Hop Preacher on Instagram, YouTube. Obviously lots of great free content. Uh, if you're not able to sign up for the challenge right now, but.

• 1:05:28Eric Thomas?

  It is free.

• 1:05:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:05:29Eric Thomas?

  The challenge is free.

• 1:05:30Lewis Howes?

  There you go. So U2025.com. Make sure you guys check that out. Leave a comment of the thing that spoke to you and resonated the most with you below on YouTube as well. And I'll, and always make sure to share it for the friend that you think would empower them to step up in their life in a, in a powerful way. Two final questions for you, Eric. I appreciate your time, man.

• 1:05:48Eric Thomas?

  Me too. I appreciate this.

• 1:05:49Lewis Howes?

  I think I asked you this seven years ago, last time you were on, but I'm gonna ask it again and see where you're at now. You keep evolving as a human. Uh, this is a question called the three truths. So it's a hypothetical scenario. Say you get to live to 150. You get to live as long as you want.

• 1:06:06Eric Thomas?

  We gotta come back and do it.

• 1:06:07Lewis Howes?

  Right now, right?

• 1:06:08Eric Thomas?

  And before then.

• 1:06:10Lewis Howes?

  You get to live as long as you want, but it's the last day on earth for you. You know, you're as old as you want to be. You get to create and accomplish and give and receive all the things you want. But it's the last day, very far in the future. And for whatever reason, on this hypothetical scenario, you've got to take all of your content with you. So the world has no more access to ET's content, books, challenges, YouTube. It's all, for whatever reason, hypothetically gone.

• 1:06:37Eric Thomas?

  It's gone.

• 1:06:38Lewis Howes?

  Oh, I know, right? It's hypothetical. It's not gonna happen, but let's just say, let's just say this.

• 1:06:45Lewis Howes?

  But on the last day, God says, you know what? I'm gonna let you leave three things behind, three lessons. From all the wisdom you've gained and all the content you've created and all your experiences. You get to say three final things, three truths. And this would stay forever for people to watch. What would those three truths be?

• 1:07:05Eric Thomas?

  So the first one is unplug.

• 1:07:09Eric Thomas?

  Unplug from everybody, you know, unplug from everybody. I don't know if this is one, but unplug from everybody and plug with the Creator, man. Like plug with the person that brought you into this space, knows you, loves you. You know, unplug. Number two.

• 1:07:25Eric Thomas?

  Man, find love. You know, um, Dee Dee, man, Dee Dee, it's just been so rich being in a healthy relationship.

• 1:07:34Lewis Howes?

  It's beautiful.

• 1:07:34Eric Thomas?

  You know, um, because it shows you who you're not. Like, it's not what you think. It's not just this warm, fuzzy, you know, but Dee Dee has been like, hey, you're a great human, but you gotta work on this. You know, um, and then the last one, man. Love, you know, love. It's so easy to see our differences. It's so easy to, you know, the things that are, you know, polar opposite. You grew up here, I believe in this, I believe in that. You vote this way, you vote that way. I believe this, I believe it. It's so easy to let one or two things separate you when it's about a hundred things. That you guys have in common because you're human.

• 1:08:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:15Eric Thomas?

  You know, and so it's just like love and I, I think of a lot of my friends. Who never gotten to go out of our community. Never meet anybody outside of our little world. And to be in Dubai or New Zealand or, you know, wherever, travel in love. You know, so that's the last one, love, but don't love in your little.

• 1:08:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:35Eric Thomas?

  Little pocket, like get out and meet different people who come from different spaces and places. And just see how dope the creator is.

• 1:08:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:43Eric Thomas?

  By, by, by being around the people who he created.

• 1:08:47Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely.

• 1:08:47Eric Thomas?

  Cause he created you and not like me. And so there's so much dopeness, you know, around you that I can get into, but. I do, you know, I have a lot of, I have a lot of friends. You know, the thing I love about you is I've done podcasts with people like it's dope. Because people were energetic, but I always know. When I'm with you, it's not about energy, it's about inwards.

• 1:09:12Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:09:12Eric Thomas?

  And you make me go inward in a way that I don't have to do with a lot of people. So many people are surface. They, they don't make you go inward. Whenever I'm with you, it's like, no, E. Let's, let's have a meaningful, we may only be together for an hour, but let's, let's make it meaningful and. Deep. So when I walk out of here, my wife is about to get a new version of me. So I say love. With travel and meet all the different people from all the different walks of life, eat different food. See the world different, live in different spaces and just see how good the creator is. By introducing yourself to the, to the ones he created.

• 1:09:46Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's beautiful. I love those.

• 1:09:48Eric Thomas?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:48Lewis Howes?

  Final question, what's your definition of greatness?

• 1:09:52Eric Thomas?

  Man, um, I'll just say this verse.

• 1:09:59Eric Thomas?

  Well done thou good and faithful servant.

• 1:10:01Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:10:01Eric Thomas?

  You've been faithful over a few, I'll make you rule over many. To me greatness is.

• 1:10:07Eric Thomas?

  Fulfilling the purpose of the manufacturer. Hmm. So I made this cup, I I wanna put whatever I wanna put in the cup. I don't want the cup telling me, I don't wanna do that. Yeah. And so for me, it's like, what is it that you want me to do? And there was a time you wanted me to save the world. Now you want me to save myself. Oh, my gosh. So if that's what you, if that's what you want now, if that's the new thing you're asking me to do, I just want to make the manufacturer go, I created this for this use? And I am, I am utilizing it in the way that it should be used. And that's, you know, of course, you gotta evolve and grow and do all the stuff you have to do. But yeah, that's, to me, that's what greatness is.

• 1:10:50Eric Thomas?

  The creator getting everything out of you, not just you. Cause I feel like, yo, if the creator get everything out of me, I'm gonna have a great life too. But it doesn't necessarily mean, I've been married for a while. I've been happy and my wife was like, I'm not as happy as you are. And I'm like, what? We happy. She said, no, no, you're happy. But there's some things I need you to do that you're not doing. I'm like, well, you're doing everything. It's like that two things could be true. You, I could, but you're not. And so I don't wanna just be happy. I want the creator to go, yeah, I'm grateful that I created you. And I see your doing in the world, whether it was that I wanted you to do. And now also for yourself. Hmm. What I wanted you to do, cause I wanted you to be happy too. I didn't want your life to just be about work and being a blessing.

• 1:11:34Eric Thomas?

  I wanted you to be blessed as well, so that's, that's it. My man, ET, my brother. Appreciate you, man. Yeah. Thank you, brother.

• 1:11:42Lewis Howes?

  I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us. figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

• 1:12:26Lewis Howes?

  And now it's time to go out there and do something great.