Welcome to the Next Level Soul podcast, where we ask the big questions about life.

Why are we here?

Is this all?

There?

Is?

What is my soul's mission?

We attempt to answer those questions and more by bringing you raw and inspiring conversations with some of the most fascinating and thought provoking guests on the planet.

Today, I am your host, Alex Ferrari.

Now, before we dive into today's conversation, I want to invite you to experience something truly transformative.

Next Level Soul TV our spiritual streaming platform where seekers from around the world can awaken, heal, and expand We've curated a powerful collection of life changing documentaries, deep dive interviews, original series, audiobooks, courses, master classes, and live events, all focused on conscious personal transformation, ancient wisdom and the soul's journey.

This isn't just content, it's a calling.

Whether you're exploring your spirit, virtual gifts, seeking answers from the beyond, or just craving something real in a noisy world, Next Level Soul TV was made just for you.

And here's the best part.

It's commercial free, available around the world, and growing every week with new soul expanding content.

So If you're ready to go deeper, head over to Next Levelsoul dot tv and start streaming your awakening.

Now let's begin today's episode.

Disclaimer.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of this show, its host, or any of the companies they represent.

As we walk our paths in life.

Sometimes we stumble, Sometimes we fall down.

Sometimes it takes us a minute to get back up, and we need some inspiration.

We need stories of other souls who have gone through what we're going through or even worse, to give us inspiration to keep moving forward, to spark some the inside of us, to know that it is possible to keep going and to get to where you want to be well.

Today's guest is a perfect example of a story just like that.

Today we have Eric Thomas, PhD.

And he is a critically acclaimed author, world renowned speaker, educator, and pastor.

And he's better known as taking the world by storm with his creative, common sense approach to living a successful, satisfying professional and personal life through a significant social media presence and regular domestic and international tours.

E T the hip hop preacher.

As he's better known, has become a global phenomenon.

Eric's spiritual walk, tenacity, and drive are a perfect example of his quote, when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.

Drawing from his personal experiences of being homeless, the absence of his biological father, academic struggles, and a variety of other obstacles, ET's life story allows him to connect with others fighting for greatness in their own lives.

Millions of his followers have been able to apply the principles revealed in his award nominated autobiography The Secret to Success, as well as his equally successful follow ups, Greatness is upon You and average skill phenomenal will.

Eric is a force of nature and I wanted to have him on the show to give us that little bit of a spark in our soul to keep walking the path and give us a couple of tools that will help us along that path.

So let's dive in.

Super duper excited to be on.

You know, I tell people when you use the word try, I am veryarticular about who I put in front of my tribe, you know.

So the fact that you would give me access to your tribe.

It's an honor, man, It's an honor.

And I've been following you for a while now, man, And when I need motivation, I just turned on an ET video and that'll get you.

That'll get you riled up good five minutes.

It's all you need.

It's better than a couple of coffe here.

It's better than a cup of coffee in the morning.

Brother, just put an.

Eteam out here.

Hey, I don't listen to Et myself.

I've heard that he's uh and I got a funny story, man.

I you know, when I do work in the physical industry, especially maybe a year ago, and guys would come up to me buff, you know, young ladies come up to me.

Cut Et.

Man.

I listened to your video and I was like, yo, I need to start listening to some ET.

And I'm kind of chunky over here, you know.

So yeah, yeah, absolutely, I appreciate you listening.

Man, Thank you, brother, Thank you.

So Can you tell the tribe a little bit about who you are and where you come from for people who don't know you.

Yeah, man, I tell people all the time.

Man, I am.

I'm a failure that didn't give up, you know, I'm a failure that didn't give up.

I failed in every aspect of my life.

I failed as a son, you know, I felt as a student.

I failed myself.

I felt as a husband, I felt as a parent, you know, I felt as an entrepreneur.

You know what I'm saying.

I'm just a.

Guy, you know, who failed but got back up.

My mom got pregnant with me at seventeen, you know.

My biological father, you know, didn't have anything to do with me until probably I was thirty years old.

I dropped out of high school, I was homeless.

Took me twelve years to get a four year degree.

I've done a lot of failing, man, you know, I've done a lot of failing.

But that's the way you learned.

This is I just yeah, yeah, I just didn't give up.

Now, I'll be honest.

I don't even know if I learned a whole lot the first twenty some years, you know, you know, but I will say this, you know, being a kid growing up.

Watching you know, like football.

I was a Cowboy fan when I was younger, you know, and just watching you know, the Cowboys pursuit to you know, the Super Bowl and different teams the Pistons pursuit, you know, Isaiah losing to you know, Larry Bird several times before they actually won their first one.

And I said to myself one day, yo, you like you like the feeling of winning when you see your team wins.

What would it feel like if you won?

You know?

And so then it was at that point I was like, Yo, you a high school dropout.

Your father's a high school dropout.

I often say my grandfather was a high school drop out.

The reality is I don't even know my grandfather, you know, I just said.

Instially, I was like, oh, you can't.

You can't say he's high school drop out.

You don't even know him, you know.

But I'm nobody's called me.

None of my aunties or uncles called me and told me I was lying, you know what I'm saying, So I must be right about it, you know.

So for me, man, I've just fail fail fail.

One day, I woke up and was like, Yo, I'm just not feeling feeling no more.

Like it just doesn't feel good.

It's something about it that's not right, you know.

And I just don't want to have to I don't want to do it another twenty years, you know, and so I just made up in my mind the fear, the anxiety of success.

The pain of change, Like I'm going through so much pain anyway, I might as well.

I might as well go through some of the pains that it requires to be successful.

Right right and without question.

And there is a lot of pain that you do need to go through to be successful.

There is that grind that we're going to talk about in a bit.

But can you tell me what is the biggest challenge you see in people when you speak to them and within your ministry and within your you know, your mission in life.

To be honest?

Man, you know, for me, it's e t I know I can do better, you know, I know I want to do better.

I just don't know if I want to work as hard as it takes to get there.

That's pretty honest, not of you, but of the people who say that, because most people aren't even that self aware.

If you ask me, like, that's what you know, my wife we were talking about, you know, hey, changing the diet up, you know, and doing the vegan boy, you know, and.

You know, just modifying it like not.

You know, I'm not no fanatic, no disrespect to people who you know, decide to do plant based.

But I'm not a.

Guy that just feels like, you know, I got it, you know, if I just got to do plant But I knew she needed to change her diet, you know, But I knew the struggle for my wife was my.

MS is not that bad.

It's not that bad to give up you know, macaroni and cheese.

You know what I'm saying that pop Popeye's chicken, Like it's bad, but it ain't that bad.

Whereas I'm just being honest.

When somebody has, you know, a chronic illness and they can't walk or they can't see, it's like, oh, man, I gotta I gotta do whatever I gotta do, you know.

But for my wife, she's doing very good.

So to do to do well or rate, is that sacrifice worth it?

And I just really think that when I look at the average person, that's what it is.

It's like, yo, yeah, I'm not doing bad.

I want to do better.

But to do better will we require Like people say, you get up a three o'clock in the morning, have you lost your mind?

And I look at it the opposite.

I look at the ass I get up at three o'clock in the morning.

I can be a millionaire.

I can work for myself.

I can change my family's just three o'clock in the morning.

Are you kidding me?

How easy is that?

Like that doesn't require you know, it'd be one thing if somebody said, et, you want to be a multi millionaire, you gonna have to be a rocket scientist.

I'm like, Bro, I had no chance at it.

You know what I'm saying.

It's a rap.

You know what I'm saying.

It's like my family is doomed.

There's nothing I can do about it.

You know what I'm saying.

But when you're telling me that I can become a multimillionaire off of effort, just get up earlier, It's like, bro, it's no, it's nothing to think about, like, let's go.

So for me, it's the opposite.

So I think of it as I only have to get up earlier to be successful.

I don't have to pay anybody to do anything.

I don't have to take classes or anything like that.

I just got to get up earlier and put forth more effort.

Like why would not do that?

So to me, I think that's what I've.

Seen in humans, is this this will to want to do better, but not the will to do what they have to do to do better.

Now, you mentioned that you're vegan and plant based, and I'm also a vegan, plant and plant based.

You know, I've been doing that for about five years now, and I live in Los Angeles.

I live in Los Angeles.

It's super easy out here, and people here, everybody here is either you know, thinking about it or doing it and stuff.

And I still get pro I still get looked that weird.

They're like, you don't eat meat?

All this kind of stuff.

I can only imagine what you go through in Michigan.

Yes, it's right.

Two people like they're like, et you eat?

This is the cut?

Do you need no meat at all?

Right?

And like how do you survive?

Where do you get your protein?

Right?

Right?

Right?

And I have to remind I have to remind people that their other beings, animals, etc.

Who are surviving some pretty thick and they don't eat the animals, you know, and they're doing quite well for themselves, you know.

Like an elephant or a buffalo or a gorilla.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

They're doing pretty good.

You know what I'm saying.

But no, it is a challenge in Michigan.

I live in a small town, which is a challenge, and it's in and of itself.

Sure, maybe if I was in Detroit it would be a little easier.

But I've been fortunate in that I've got my cousin started a vegan out of her house restaurant, so she ships, she drives stuff down to me.

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the show.

And then when I'm on the road, what I try to do, she'll prepare.

You know.

The only bad thing about plant based is that when she prepares food for me, you know, it's a short it's a short shelf life.

You know, it doesn't it doesn't last a week.

So if I'm out of time for a week, she could probably get me going for about three days and then you know, but after that it's kind of it's kind of rough.

But you know, what I said is, you know, this is the challenge for me.

It's like, you gotta find a way.

And what I love.

Everybody knows I love Chipotle, So you know, that's my cheap that's my cheek with the beans, you know, and rice and the fahetas you know, and and sometimes I'll do the corn, but I also love what I found is a great substitute is the Mediterranean food.

You know, I do.

A nice Mediterranean or my wife's favorite is an Indian cuisine, and they have a few dishes that we can do.

So, I mean, it's like anything else.

If you if you, if you want it, you know, you'll find a way.

If you don't, you'll find an excuse, you know.

And so for me, it's just like, hey, I don't I don't have room for excuses at.

This point in my life.

They don't pay bills.

Amen.

Now what do you What do you say to a person who tells you my dream, my dream is too hard and it's just never gonna happen you.

I mean, you got to where you are, but I'm never gonna make it to where I want to make it.

I'm never going to make that movie.

I'm never going to write that script.

I'm never going to paint that painting or make that song.

What do you tell these people?

What would you say to them?

You know?

Unfortunately I would say to them, you're right, you know what, You're absolutely right?

Right?

You know what I'm saying, Like, I can't debate you you're absolutely right.

I want to Detroit Henry Ford.

And so one of the mantras in the hallway was if you.

Think you can, you can.

If you think you can't, you can't.

You know, And that was a mantra we looked at every single day coming in and out of school.

You know.

So I would say to that person, if you don't think you can do it, you know what.

You are absolutely right.

You can't do it because you don't think you can.

But at any moment, if you believe you can, then you'll find every resource.

You'll find every human, you'll find every reason to make that thing happen.

And here's what I find to be amusing, is that my first goal, as I look back, my.

First goal was to get a GED.

It was the craziest thing, Like that was my first big goal.

It's like, yo, I gotta get this GED.

And I got to get out of the trade, and I got to follow my wife to college, like I got to get out of here.

I cannot let her leave me.

And then after the GED, it was like yo, e you whatever you say you want to do, just like you did the GED.

It only requires that same thought process and that same energy and what I mean by that, Guys, my next goal is the Nobel Prize.

I don't have to do anything more to get the Nobel Prize than I had to do to get the ged.

Mm hmm, without question, without question.

Now, can you also ask talk a little bit because I've run into this all the time with people I talk to in the tribe and when I talk out on public and stuff, and this was a problem I struggle with for over a decade almost two.

Can you talk a little about how people.

Get in their own way and how they can get those obstacles that they're putting in their own way out of their way so they can reach their potential.

Yeah.

So I think what happens is and this is weird, but it's kind of like simultaneously when people come up with their dreams and goals, they immediately and I don't know why they do this, but they immediately talk out the obstacles and challenges to keep.

Them from making those dreams and goals become reality.

Like it's the weirdest thing.

It's like as soon as they say, okay, I want to go to college, they immediately say, well, I don't have the money to go.

To college or college is hard, you know.

It was funny.

I told somebody recently in recent meeting, like a year or so ago, when my daughter was deciding she's a sophomore now, she was deciding which university she wanted to go to.

It was a San Diego State University was one, Michigan State University was two.

And I was telling everybody, if she goes to San Diego State, we're moving to San Diego.

And it was the weirdest thing.

As soon as I told them Alex that I was moving to San Diego, everybody said to me, yo, e, you going to San Diego.

It is the most expensive city in the United States of America.

There is a sun tax like bruh, you can't afford to And I said, whoa last time I checked, it's people in San Diego welfare.

Last time I checked.

There are homeless people in San Diego.

Last time I checked.

The last time I checked, San Diego wasn't populated by only billionaires and millionaires.

The last time I checked.

There's people who are in a working class who live in San Diego.

So it must not be that difficult to live in San Diego because there are other human beings who look like me who live in San Diego.

They bleed, they had a mom and the daddy.

You know what I'm saying, It's like, come on, are you kidding me?

San Diego is do you know that San Diego would go under if people didn't buy a house, if they didn't buy food, Like San Diego needs people.

To move there too, you know.

So for me, I think the biggest challenge is that as soon as a person says that this is what I want to do, I think it's probably the ratio is probably sick because they had one dream and they come up with ten or twenty negative things that will stop them, impede them for making that dream become a reality.

And so I'm just the opposite man.

As soon as I say I can do something, I only think of all the possibilities.

I only think of all the great scenarios that's going to happen.

You know I'm saying, I.

Only think of how quick this thing is going to happen, how soon it's going to take place.

And it was funny Carl, who's our videographer, we were talking the other day and they come from a Barbados, so they came to student so there was a time where they weren't considered citizens of you know, the US, and so the wife especially, she was very limited in her travels and so we were just talking other day because we've been a lot of different places, and so I was like, Yo, to me, Sha, before we go to Hawaii, have you been to Vegas?

You talking about going to Hawaii?

You know what I'm saying, Like, we can go to Vegas first, and did Hawaii?

She was like, you know what, I've never been to Vegas before.

I was like, you've never been to Vegas.

This conversation was about maybe a week and a half ago.

She said no, I've never been to Vegas before.

I was like, oh, okay, good, We're going to Vegas.

And she's like, what do you mean by that.

I was like, don't worry about it.

We're going to Vegas, I promise you.

Not A week later, my agent called me and said, hey, you got a gig and Jimmy for Jimmy John's and the convention is in Vegas.

You know what I'm saying.

I told her.

I was like, Yo, We're going to Vegas.

You know I've got a great friend there.

You know who sets up you know, he does bookings for celebrities and you know, gets their accommodations for him.

I said, I gave him a call.

He gave me some great rates.

You know, you got an elliptical and a treadmill in your room.

You know what I'm saying.

You got the Grand lux and cheesecake factory all in one bit, under one roof.

You know what I'm saying.

I'm not going.

She was like what I was like, She's like, what I mean?

What do you mean?

What?

She's like?

Yo, we just had this conversation.

I said, yeah, And immediately after we had the conversation, I put in my mind and in my.

Spirit were going to Vegas.

And so I got you to Vegas when you didn't even believe you can go to Vegas.

So what could you do for yourself if you believed?

You know?

So?

I think that's the problem.

We have a dream, we have a goal, then we come up with a million reasons of why the.

Thing we thought of can't possibly happen to us.

And I don't do that.

Now I'm gonna I'm gonna do I'm gonna be the devil's advocate here.

I completely, one hundred and ten percent believe what you're saying, but for the art, because I know there's someone listening right now saying that's all like positive thinking and all this kind of stuff.

Man, you know you're not being realistic about your goals.

Like, if you're going to go after a goal, there are going to be our goles.

Why shouldn't I think about them and prepare for them.

I'm just throwing I'm just being Devil's advocate.

So what do you say to that guy?

Yeah, I say, you only have so much energy, right, So you're telling me negativity is going to happen anyway, don't worry about that.

Then you already got like you already know that's a reality.

So let's lead that along.

Just put all of our energy on making this dream become a reality.

And that's my thing.

You can't go in two directions, you just can't do it.

You can't drive north and south at the same time.

So I'm just gonna drive north and if something happens that pulls me back south, then it is what it is.

We'll prepare for that when we get to that.

But what I'm going to prepare for is the greatest scenario ever.

So when my wife was diagnosed with MS.

I didn't say, and I heard the doctor said.

The doctor said, you know, hey, you know individuals who have this lose their sight.

They can end up in a wheelchair.

This could be a She.

Gave me a I promise you, she gave me about six or seven debilitating things that could happen.

To my wife.

Listen to me, Alex.

At no point did I embrace any of it.

Naw.

I'm thinking it could be a reality.

My wife could go with she could go blind.

I'm not gonna prepare for that, though.

When that comes, I guarantee you I can work that out.

What I'm going to prepare for.

We're gonna look at every possible scenario you retiring, right, because that's gonna lower the stress you get, you get rest.

I'm gonna take you in the in the winners.

I'm gonna get you out of Michigan.

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor.

And now back to the show.

We're gonna travel to the South, We're gonna travel to the West coast.

We're gonna get you some vitamin D.

You know, I bought a happy light the other day.

I got that happy light.

You know that's supposed to provide you know, these these these vitamin D sun you know, I went and found somebody that does supplements that are not the cheap stuff you know that's diluted.

I got the best of the best.

You know.

Look, we went vegan for the most part.

I say, five six days out of the week we're vegan.

You know, we might do vegetarian, which is the Mediterranean and the Indian.

And when people say what do you mean by that?

Like sometimes I realized the Indian things that they put like it seems like they might put like cream or something they spinach because it's a little muishy, you know.

But but we've not done meat.

You know, I've really pulled her back on some of.

The sugars and sweets, you know.

And you know she doesn't like to exercise, so I take her to the mall every day and she can at least get walking in, you know, she's in the mall.

So this is all I thought about.

It's all a positive.

So have we had has she had relapse?

Absolutely, She's had a relapse or two.

So we just staying in bed that day, you know what I'm saying.

Has she had pain in her leg once or twice?

Absolutely.

But I prepared the cruise, I prepared the trip to Hawaii, I prepare the trip to l like.

These are the things that I did.

And she's not gone blind yet, she's not in a wheelchair, you know.

You know, Kim will tell you, Carl will tell you.

She's she's outruns us in terms of getting up early, stand up late.

You know.

So my thing is, yes, negative happens, we know that, you know, That's why we go to work, That's why we get insurance.

I let my insurance take care of all the negative stuff.

I follow a claim, you know what I'm saying.

That's what that's their job.

That's not my job.

I pay them, and when something happens, I file a claim, they take care of it.

But in terms of even as we're speaking right now, you know, I went to Low's.

My wife found some I guess wood, and she's doing a whole house over again.

I know that brings her happiness, you know, And I know happiness is a thing that it will will counter attack MS because the one thing, the only thing that they know for certain about MS is that it's triggered by stress.

So my thing is, let's try to get as much stress we can.

Out of her life, you know, and and and whatever happens will fin for it when it comes.

So that's just my philosophy.

And if you say, e t it's just too positive, We'll go on YouTube and look at who's the number one motivational speaker in the world based on social media?

You know, Look who went from being a high school dropout to a PhD.

You know.

So it must be doing You must be doing something right, You must be doing something.

You say, I'm too positive, but I look at the results.

Hey, you know what, man, that's the best.

That's always the best answer for anything is the results.

Like you don't believe me, that's fine, but these are the results, you know, and and without question.

Man.

Now, a lot of a lot of tribe, members of the indie film muscle tribe, they're writing their screenplays, and they're shooting their short films, and they're doing their things on a side hustle.

What do you suggest they do to try to make it a full time thing, man, To try to construct or create a blueprint where they can be doing their dream in a responsible way full time.

This is what I tell skeptics, right, So for all your all your guys in your tribe you're talking about who you know want to do a movie, but they kind of pit a pattern.

They got their full time job.

I'm gonna give you the safest answer, guys, this is not if it was.

ET, I just tell you to jump.

You're not et.

You know what I'm saying, You're not et.

So so this is what I'm gonna tell you.

I'm gonna tell you to find somebody else who jumped before you, all right, and if you are a skeptic, find three or four.

People who jump before you.

So you got people like Tyler Perry, you know, people like Oprah Win for you, who started her own network.

You know what I want you to do is study four or five people and don't just study them.

This is the problem I have, Alex with a lot of people.

Why are you studying people if you're not gonna eventually jump?

You know what I'm saying, Like, what is it?

Are you looking for a reason not to jump?

Is that why you studying them?

Because if that's why you're studying them, don't study them because you're not gonna jump anyway.

So my thing is have in your mind that you're gonna jump, But because you're not et and you are a little afraid.

I want you to look at how they jump.

So study about three or four people.

Look at how they jumped.

And then as you see how they jump jump, so look at Okay, how many years did they work before they did it?

You know, what were they doing as a side hustle?

How many hours were they putting in, you know, like how much editing and whatever?

How did they find stars?

Because you look at Tyler Perry, It's like, Yo, how did he find these stars?

Because to me, Tyler Perry actually has done it backwards.

When you look at the stuff that he has on Oprah Winfrey's network, those are B actors, but he blew up using a actors who maybe just weren't getting any time.

You know, they hadn't necessarily been on a camera in a while, but in terms of their skill set, they were once known as a actors.

You know.

So I'm saying, yo, go study him.

So if you're Eric Thomas, you're studying zig Zigular, you're studying Nightingale, you're studying Jim Rohn, you're studying Tony Robbins, you're studying Brown Napoleon, Hell Like you're studying these dudes, and then you're watching what they're doing, not to just watch what they're doing too, mimick it at some point.

Now, of course you're gonna put your own flavor to it.

But all the guys I mentioned, you know, you watch what.

They do and then you do it.

So my thing would be two people who don't jump, make up in your mind that at some point you're going to jump, that you're not going to be studying for the rest of your life.

You're not going to be hoping and wishing.

And you know, when we were kids coming up, my cousins, the girls used to double dutch, you know, and so in double dutch, yes, there is a period of studying, you know, of swaying back and forth, of being very intentional and deliberate, you know, before you jump in the rope.

But that didn't last for an hour.

It didn't last for thirty minutes, you know.

It lasts it on.

It lasted enough time for you to comfortably feel that you could successfully get inside that rope and begin to jump.

So I'm gonna say that you stop watching the rope, and if you're not, if you're gonna watch the ropes, there's no profession in watching a rope, so just quit it.

But if you're going to be a filmmaker, if you're going to be Lucas one day, you know, if you're going to be able to make an impact Spielberg, if you're going to make an impact, if you wait until you sixty seventy years old, it'll never happen.

So to me, if you're in your twenties, you jump before you start getting too many responsibilities that stop you from jumping.

If you in your thirties, you better hurry up and jump before you have kids.

You know what I'm saying, before you have a mortgage, Like, just jump.

But if you're scared to jump, study those who jump before you and watch how they jump, and you better jump like they jump, or you will be one of those dudes that will be looking for the rest of your natural life saying I could have, I would have, I should have.

And for me, I just think that's a sick place.

I want to die knowing I did it.

I made it.

Happen, absolutely absolutely, and not be that bitter guy in the corner or on the sidelines.

You know, you know those guys, you know those guys, they're just the bitter people who just like, oh, you know, well they did this or they did this.

I could have done it.

Well you didn't, straight up you should have, but you didn't.

Yeah, not only did you, Yeah you didn't.

You didn't do it.

And now you are telling other people they can't do it right, you know, And I definitely don't want to be that old man.

Absolutely man.

Now, can you also talk about the importance of challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone?

Because I feel so many people, you know, they have their little box that they feel comfortable and they just don't want to step out of it.

What do you say?

Yeah, so to me, that's why I said the Nobel Prize.

Yeah, that's a pretty big viog.

You know.

I'm just gonna be honest with you.

I don't even know if I could do that.

Sure, you know, And here's the reality.

It wouldn't even bother me if I never got it.

But what but what would bother me is if I never pursued it.

So, so what happened with the Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Prize was me watching other people jumped, and I like, I like the way they jump.

I've never look Spilberg, Lucas King.

I only know those names, guys because they're so big, right, like those those are big boys.

You know what I'm saying.

I grew up watching Star Wars.

I'm not really I'm not really a what do you call it?

Scary movie dude?

But we know we know King though, you gotta know King, right, Stilburgh was it was it ufo?

Yeah, closing Colin is the third time?

He also made it et.

I knew that movie when I was a kid.

Spielberg, you know, I'm saying close in collars of the third time.

I remember that.

You know, these are the big boys, you know, and so but watch this.

I never watched King do his thing and say I want to do that.

But when I saw Martin Luther King, I said I want to do that.

When I saw Gandhi, I said I want to do that.

When I saw Mother Teresa, I said I want to do that.

When I saw Nelson Mandela, I said, I want to do that.

And I looked at them and what was the commonality the Nobel Prize.

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the show.

You know, And I asked myself how did these people win a Nobel Prize?

They disrupted something in the world, you know, they looked at something and said, this isn't right.

You know, this isn't right, and we got to stand up.

And I've been that kid since I was you know, maybe five or six who when I saw somebody fight, I wanted to do something about it.

I couldn't just drive past and didn't act like I didn't see it.

I've always wanted to do something, So it was a Nobel Prize.

When I said I want to do it.

Somebody came to me and said, do you know what you have to do to win a Nobel Prize?

I was like, not exactly.

They said, here's a book.

This is a book on Nobel Prize winners.

The first thing you have to do is find an area that you can disrupt something.

And I was like, oh, I know that.

I've been disrupting in school since I was a kid.

I got it, you know what I'm saying, Like, I got it to school.

We'll disrupt the school system, you know, and we'll make school fun again, you know, and we'll make the we'll connect the dots for kids on why they need to be here.

Monday through Friday, you know.

So I would say that this Nobel Prize and their goals or their dreams that are bigger than them, what it's going to do is it's going to give you a reason to wake up when you look at all the stuff that's going on in this world.

Sometimes you don't want to get up, you know, or when you're going through your personal stuff.

And let me tell you something.

I meet those kids Monday, when Wednesday, Friday, when I'm not busy, And let me tell you something, if I'm not doing anything, I'm up Monday, Wednesday, Friday greeting these kids.

I gotta get up to greet them, even when I got a slight headache, or when I had a bad night the night before, or when the sales weren't what this.

Actually gets me up.

And then when I'm with these kids, it brings a smile on my face.

So whatever I was going through, I can't go through it no more because I'm went these every Tuesday.

I'm at Michigan State doing my thing, giving them this message, and it's on Facebook Live.

And I don't care if I got an attitude when I get there, if I had some bad news it's over once I get there and speak.

So I'm saying to you that that the goal is going to give you life, that the goal is going to give you purpose, That the goal is going to.

Drive you in a way that you never ever, ever, ever thought that you could be driven.

So your life, your the blood, the DNA, like every every fiber in you is counting on you setting goals that you thought you couldn't do because those goals will be responsible for pushing you and driving you in a way that being comfortable could never drive you.

And and also you're enjoying the journey towards the goal.

And that's such such an important part of that is enjoying the journey because it's such a people always just a lot of people just like are miserable trying to get to their goal.

And when they get to their goal, they have nowhere else to go.

So you gotta do you agree?

You got to enjoy that journey, enjoy that grind, yes.

And enjoy it.

Enjoy enjoy it.

And I think, what the what the what the kind of goals you're talking about?

It takes you from checkers to chess.

You know, chess is all you know.

Chess is not really about checkmate, you know.

Chess.

Chess is about your personal development, like your personal strategy and thinking five, six, seven steps ahead.

Whereas checkers, Man, it's just like bo by bop, you know what I'm saying.

It's like it's like the current move, whereas in chess, like you're sitting there before you make a So I'm saying, for those of you who don't have dreams and goals that are bigger than you, you're playing checkers.

You know, and so that's a small span of life.

You start playing chess, you're starting to plan now for your baby, for your grand baby, for the next door neighbor, for the city, for the state, for the world.

Like the stuff we're doing right now.

Man, let me tell you something.

People will be listening to these podcasts forever.

You know, people will be drawn from us forever.

And it won't just benefit the people that we're close to.

It's benefiting people like you are giving people hope in the film industry, and you're giving them strategies and tips that if they didn't have, they wouldn't get to their dream that ever maybe, and some of them wouldn't get there this quick.

So the stuff that we're doing is legacy stuff.

I just don't think you could do that if you're just saddled, if you're just average, if you're just common.

I think having big goals is what makes you legendary.

Hey man, my friend, Now, can we talk a little bit about beast mode because I love ready for this.

I don't know, I don't know if they're ready or not.

Brother, But it's all that flat based stuff.

This is some plant.

This is some organic plant.

But this is not McDonald's.

This is not in and out.

This is not in and out.

This is some.

Plant based stuff right here.

The reason why is, man, because you are a inspirational quote machine.

I've quoted you many times on my podcast.

Uh and best Mode and wanting to be the Lion and all that stuff.

Can we talk a little bit about beast mode and get a little bit of fire in these guys?

Is?

But today, yeah, b mode?

Man, It's about survival, you know.

Be smod is understanding that at any moment you could lose your life because of your ignorance.

You know, That's what mode is about.

The mode is not about not settling, not getting comfortable.

Smote is knowing that you know the economy could change tomorrow and you need to be prepared for you know.

B smode is like this constant idea of staying raddy, Like like, yo, it's me trying to eat and there are other people out here trying to eat, you know, and we're not in the Safari, you know.

I think that's where a lot of people live, Alex in the Safari.

The Safari is crook cute.

The Safaris where it's like a man made jungle, right, you know where it's true they have everything contained.

You know what I'm saying, it's not really real.

The saren Gaddy you could lose your life, and the serenh Gaddy you wake up.

And you could beat this thing.

And I had a picture of people were like yo, he was all on the lion thing.

What's that?

I'm like, I'm on hyena now, I'm on the hyaena now.

Once the world got to a place where they were like lion mode, be smold, I said, no, no, no, don't make be smoe a lion.

Don't do that.

That's not be smo.

That was the example that I gave you in twenty sixteen and twenty fifteen.

The example of bestmo now is the hyaena that has the lion in his mouth.

And the reason why I'm going with hyena now is that most of my tribe are hyaenas.

They're not lions.

They weren't birth as king of the jungle.

You know.

They didn't have this space carved out for them.

Most of them are these little, small, spotted, ugly animals that came in without you know, any pub They didn't come in with any recognition.

But they Alex, they didn't get the memo that the lion was the king of the jungle and that he couldn't be beat.

They didn't.

They didn't get that memo, you know.

And and I like what you said.

Your tried, because Hyaenas run in tribes like bigger than lions, and and and and when you look at the lion, the lion doesn't always go out and hunt like my man kind of gets up when things get out of control.

The hyaena they all hunt, every last one of them together, you know.

And so some some times you'll see a lion kill a prey and then the hyaena will come and say, Okay, that's good, thank you for killing it.

Move out the way that's ours now.

And so some of us are hyaenas Man.

I didn't grow up with my father.

My mother was seventeen when she got pregnant with me.

She got kicked out the house.

My mom didn't go to college, you know.

So I'm scrapping, but I'm out in this, and then Serengetti saying, what's mine is mine.

I don't want Alex stuff.

I'm not going after Alex stuff.

I'm not pursuing your stuff.

But there's some stuff out here for et in the motivational ram.

I'm not going after Bob Proctor.

I'm not going after Less Brown.

I'm not going after Tony Roberts.

Like we all in the same field and I gotta I gotta go out here and get mine.

But I'm not competing against others.

I'm competing against the best.

Eric Thomas, I'm going after my stuff.

I'm going after you know.

But what I'm doing is I'm going after it every day.

I'm going at it intentionally and deliberately.

I'm not waiting for it to come to me.

I'm not waiting for an animal.

I'm like, I'm not setting traps and waiting for animals to get in that trap.

No, I'm going after it.

And so That's what this beastmote is about, is what do you want?

What do you need?

What are you willing to go get?

Stop stop waiting for stuff, stop being reactive, stop stop stop stop hoping and wishing, and go after it.

And I want to recommend to you guys a book, The QBQ.

And the reason why I want to recommend that is because I got to a point in my life where I realized bismo also meant taking full responsibility.

I can't say Carl didn't do the presentation, and so I wasn't able to speak, and then now my family can't eat because Carl didn't show up.

Bro, I'm not on that.

I would love the presentation.

I would love to have the presentation, but my family got to eat, man, and I can't put my family's life in somebody else's hand.

Now, I respect Carl's gift and I wouldn't be here without you.

But at the same time, if there are ever no videos, and I got to hit these and I got to hit these schools and hit these prisons, and I got to find a way to make myself viral without videos.

And that's what I was doing before I met Carl, And that's probably how we end up meeting.

I was be smote in my area, and so he took the best mood to a whole of the level.

But I didn't wait for social media to start doing what I'm doing right now.

I started doing this in nineteen eighty nine, and social media caught up with me.

I didn't wait.

But I didn't wait for YouTube and Instagram.

I had been doing this for years before YouTube.

Came out, you know.

And so that's what be smote is about being intentional and delivered about your life, making no excuses and doing everything you have to do to eat and make sure your family eat, your friends eat, like whoever is important to you, making sure that you wake up every day.

And you go get it.

We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the show.

Man.

Can you can you discuss, if you can, the why of why people do what they do, as far as try and go after goals, because a lot of times people set goals and they don't even know why they're setting them.

You talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, let me tell you this, guys, I'm gonna be honest with you.

I don't think you should ever start a goal without having that, without making sure you got fuel.

You know what I'm saying, Like you don't want I've never gotten in my car.

I'm not a mechanic, but I've never gotten my car without looking at the gas meter.

Like I'm looking at that's the first thing I'm looking at.

That's the first thing when I get in that car and I cranked that suck up.

I'm not looking at how much oil.

I admit the last time the car got the oil got changed.

They did ask me, when was the last time you changed his oil?

I'm like, bro, I'm not a hundred percent sure.

You don't put the right sticker up there in the date.

Yeah, I'm messed up.

I'm just gonna be honest with you.

But gas.

I checked the gas every time I get in the car.

And so what I would say to people is there are many people who start ventures without looking at see if it's enough fuel to push that boy.

You need you to push them, say these being You need few to push a Lamborghini, you need few to push a Maserati, a Telsa, whatever it is, you need fuel for that.

You know what I'm saying, Either electricity or get you need fuel and so I tell people, don't start something without fuel because at some.

Point life is going to happen.

But if you got the right fuel, let me give you guys, let me pay a vivid picture for you.

I've said this.

I've said this in many conferences that we have seen women who are five five frail women, you know, they like to run in the morning.

They weigh about ninety eight pounds wet.

They've got these beautiful.

Little running strollers with their babies, and they're out doing their thing and a dog comes out of nowhere.

A dog comes out of nowhere.

And always ask what do you think is gonna happen?

Seven month old baby in this stroller and mom is running and this dog comes.

Out of know what do you think is gonna happen?

They said, what's not gonna happen is the mom is not gonna let the stroller going run home and lead a seven month baby there to the dog, what's gonna happen?

Nine out of ten?

And I love it because as ferocious as some dogs are, because of how they were.

Trained, they still sense fear.

Even a dog understands like whoa she not playing?

And we have.

Record of mothers getting dogs off their children, or mothers lifting boulders or cars, mothers getting their kids out of dangerous situations, going up against gang bangers.

But you get that same mother, I'm sorry, that same woman who's not a mother.

She's just running up the street on her own and the same dog comes out.

She's gonna run.

What's the difference, same situation?

No, no, no, it's not the same situation the first one.

She was fueled by something, and so most of us.

What we do wrong is we go after.

Activities without being fueled.

So before I start any major task, I asked myself, yo, E, why are you doing this?

What's the real reason why you're doing this?

You have enough fuel to do this?

Eat, And when I think about my son, I was like, yup, I'm gonna get my master's degree in my PhD.

Why.

My father's a dropout and my grandfather dropped out.

So it made it easy for me to drop out because when I dropped out, nobody could call me and say anything to me.

Why because my father and my grandfather didn't finish.

So there was no expectations, There was no real goal set for me.

My grandma couldn't call and say.

You ain't finished school, her husband didn't, her son didn't, so she couldn't say anything to me.

I said, E, I need you to get a master's in a PhD, so your son at least finishes high school, at least finished college.

And because I went to Michigan State University to walk across that stage twice, my son walked across that stage, same stage when.

He was in high school.

They used that stadium, and then he walked across the Michigan State stage with his four year degree in four years.

It took me twelve years.

He did it in four years.

Now his sisters sophomore and she's trying to finish in three years at Mischigan State University.

The fuel I needed when I didn't feel like going to school was if you quit, you're gonna make it easier for him to quit.

If you keep going, you're gonna teach him what you keep going looks like.

So you cannot stop.

And I tell you, man, I had got to a point where I wanted to stop the PhD.

And I remember kids asking me when I would travel, mister Thomas, you get your ET, you get your pH d yet?

And I was like, nope, you get your PhD yet Nope.

And I remember saying to myself, Yo, E, if you stop, what are you gonna tell these kids when they ask you why'd you quit?

And then if you quit and they're watching your videos?

You know how easy it is for a kid in Chicago without his dad who's in prison and his mom had him at fifteen.

You know how easy it's gonna be for him to quit.

You know how easy it's gonna be for him to give up.

So, E, do not quit.

You keep going for these kids.

And so you must have fuel in your tank.

You must have fuel in your and your engine.

You must have fuel to keep yourself going.

So don't ever start a vision without a why.

We can get to the how later.

I think if you got the right why, you're gonna find a way to make it happen.

Man.

That's amazing advice, brother, amazing advice.

Now, I got a few more questions that I asked all my guests.

First off, if you were going to talk to a filmmaker or screenwriter today and they want to break into the business, what's the one piece of advice you'd give them.

So if i'm if i'm if I'm talking to a screenwriter wanted to break into the business.

What I would tell him is we need we need you desperately depate.

Let me tell you why we need you desperate.

What if the filmmakers Martin Luther King Days had not recorded the I have a dream.

I don't care how I don't care how good the speech was.

If you didn't record it, if you didn't put it on film, we never have it.

And think about the millions of people people when we went to space, somebody recorded it.

What if it hadn't been recorded, where would we be if John F.

Kennedy's great speech was not what your country could do for you, but what you could do for your country.

And more importantly, if Ken Nelson hadn't recorded the Guru story or project in school, the world may not necessarily know who Eric Thomas is.

Well, my ministry may not be where it is in my life being healed.

You're hearing me released.

I released it.

It began a relationship with my biological father after I was thirty something years old because of that movie.

So I think what a lot of filmmakers do wrong is they see it as an art.

It's not art.

It can be classified as art as life changing.

Jump is what I would tell.

Them, Jump it, do it.

Now.

What a book has the biggest impact in your life of career?

I'd say two books.

First, The Pilgrim's Progress when that was the first book I read changed my life.

It was actually a book in school growing up, we had to read read it in college.

And then Dennis kimbro And did a spin off of Napoleon Hills Thinking, Grow Rich and what he decided to do the exact same book, pretty much the exact same framework.

He just decided to use African American.

He rose in that.

Particular text that he did, but it was a spinoff of Napoleon Hills Think and Grow Rich, so the exact same principles.

And that was the book I think professionally that took my life to the level.

And I think, if I'm not mistaken, i haven't read it since the beginning.

I think the Ghoul story that I did came from that book.

I'm not mistaken.

And what is the lesson that took you the longest to learn in life?

To unlearn what you've learned, because to unlearn what you've learned, because what you learn got you to where you are, But it won't take you to where you want to go.

So unlearning so many of the things that I learned in Detroit, you know, the stuff I learned.

And that meant that what do you call it?

Automobile industry?

You know, it's a lot of things I learned that that's not befitting of an entrepreneur.

You know.

It's nothing wrong with Detroit, nothne wrong with the automotive industry.

It had its time.

But we see the conditions of Detroit based on people not forecasting and believing that one industry would last forever, you know, And so I was fortunate that I let go of that mindset, but there was.

A lot of There are a lot of people that didn't.

There's an entire city that didn't, and they're dealing with the repercussions of it.

So unlearning many of the values that I help going to in my other life.

I'm an entrepreneur now and there are new things that I need to learn.

Now, where can people find you?

Et, We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor and now back to the show.

They can find me if they want to be a part of the tribe.

You need some motivation need to be developed.

You know, just in their own personal space.

I tell people a lot of time, you have a great gift and a great art, but you also need to develop as a human and a lot of times we spend a lot of time just developing our art and not developing our mindset, you know, and our character and so breathe University is where they can go to be a part of that tribe.

And pick up some of those skills.

But if it's just motivation that you're looking for, ET inspires dot com is all access e t and.

Of course YouTube.

There's a few videos on there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a couple one thanks to thanks to my guys who jumped, they're a little bit over a thousand videos up there, so I'm appreciative to them for that.

And I can't tell the tribe.

I can't.

I can't promote and say that you've got to go see and watch Eric's work so much, because honestly, it's like a couple.

It's better than a cup of coffee in the morning.

You watch five minutes of an ET video in the morning, right before you start working, you will be inspired.

And when I need inspiration, I go to ET man So and.

I appreciate that.

It means a lot.

Man, appreciate that somebody of your caliber, you know, who's listening to me consistently, that means a lot.

Humble Eric, man Et, thank you again so so much for taking the.

Time, brother Man, I appreciate you.

Man.

Eric's journey has been an inspiration to me on my path, and I know for millions and millions of other people as well, he has been that spark that has kept them going, has given them the inspiration, has given them the tools to keep moving forward no matter what life throws at you.

And that you can find that inner strength, that lion inside of you that will keep you going.

And understand that that strength lives within all of us.

You just have to uncover it.

You have to connect with it, connect to that power that is connected to the universe, and you will see the magic that will happen in your life.

And if you want to go deeper into ET's universe, head over to the show notes at Next Levelsoul dot com Forward Slash zero zero two.

Now, if this conversation stirred something in you, there's more waiting.

You can listen to this episode completely commercial free on Next Level Soul TVs.

App where Soul meets streaming.

Watch and listen on Appleios, Android, Apple TV, Ruku, Android TV, Fire, tv LG and Samsung apps anytime, anywhere.

Begin your awakening at next Levelsoul dot TV.

Thank you so much for listening.

As I always say, trust the journey.

It's there to teach you.

I'll see you next time.