Earning Success: A Blueprint for Longevity | Cedric the Entertainer EP 539

0:00Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.

0:10through your career of transitioning from again yeah state farm insurance uh go to school get this career what was the mindset shift for you and is it still the same mindset today as it was back then i think probably me probably one of the greatest mindset shifts was to not to think of yourself as this kind of monolith that's outside the system that you know you're so far outside that nobody else can see you i used to always kind of feel like you never can make it fromst louis you know i'm not the shiny sook dude that's gonna be you know like so you start to see yourself like ah you know i only i'm only gonna be able to you know knock down these doors and as you kind of go you recognize that the world is big, it is truly an audience out there for everyone.

1:05And you earn them. You don't get it automatically because you feel you deserve it. You earn it. And so that's truly one thing that I keep to this day. I literally am willing to work for, go grab, go hustle for, and build every little thing that comes my way. I'm not resting on any laurels. I'm not resting on any hubris. You can give me all the accolades of everything you loved. That's great. Thank you. Right now, I'm here to do a job today for you. Like to get that. If whoever's paying the money, I'm here for you. Let's go. You still feel like you got to earn it. Earn it. I want to earn it. You know, and I try to teach that to my kids too, is that, you know, you can, you can be great.

1:49You know, you can get a lot of things that's going to come to your way. That's going to feel like, Hey, you know, and after a your celebrity, your startup makes you feel like that is this should be mine automatically and you got to recognize that that's not a truth. Did that ever hang you up over the last you know decades where you became more of a celebrity and have bigger opportunities and got the bigger paychecks? Did you ever catch yourself thinking you were better than or now you deserve something and you had to wake up and say oh I actually got to keep working for this? Oh, of course. I mean, this is the, you know, I would imagine, you know, everybody's going to have that as trajectory happens, right?

2:33Especially when it's, when you're in the hot spot, when you're in that white hot space where things are just blowing up and you like going. Then you're like, all right, cool. It's things that you need. These are things that I feel are requirements for me to get the job done. And then you kind of, you kind of realize, really, do I really need? Do I really know it's green ember? Yeah, is that a necessary? Like, I can't do the show unless I don't have it. Come on, man. You start to go like, that's ridiculous. Right. You know, I never was that far. But anything along that line, little things that become like, you know, hotels.

3:10If I don't have a suite, if I don't have a, you know, this kind of car, you know, like, you're like, okay, this is ridiculous. You know, like, those are moments. And I think that you, you know, life will humble you one way or the other. Yeah. And so, because it is truly an ebb and flow to it all. You know, it's always somebody next. It's always, you know, I feel very blessed to be consistent. What I feel consistent for, as long as I am 30 plus years in this business. Super highs, you know, of course, down periods. But overall, consistent. Like, you know, great career, good life. no scandals, you know, like just do my thing, man.

3:54Like this me. How do you feel? You mentioned kind of there's always someone next. There's always like, it seems like there's so many talented comedians or people in comedy who are making a name for themselves, growing massive social media followings, selling out arenas, all these different things. how do you deal with comparison of the younger generation coming up? Maybe they're doing things differently or in a new way. How do you deal with that emotionally or mentally, even with all your success, even with, you know, being on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, even with all the accolades? Does comparison ever creep in?

4:34It creeps in to the point that it, you know, for me is either a motivator or something I applaud. Most of the time, I just, I love to see people win. And if you went in and you literally, your food and your plate is yours. People who have learned to be able to be great at that, especially the rise of the social media fame. And you're like, look, these guys, they're unique. They do these skits, they wake up, and they actually do the work. So you can't be mad at somebody that actually gets up and do it. They do it. They shoot them. I don't shoot them. so what I'm going to sit up and critique it ain't real comedy but I never tried one I never did it myself I don't do it everyday I don't go and work to build an audience so what am I critiquing something that I'm just observing you know what I mean and got opinion like go you win and kill it and then you meet I've met a lot of these guys and you know the funny unique young people and they motivate you now you start to think a different way and so So, you know, that's really been my space.

5:42I try to really stay true to who I am. So I actually develop with a lot of young creators to get them bigger projects. You know, your social media is your thing. But, you know, I'm in the world of television and film. And let's take that idea and develop it into a bigger idea. And those are the relationships I have with them as opposed to being anti or hating on or whatever that. Have you always had this collaborative mindset versus being a competitor to people in the industry? Yeah, I think so. And I kind of feel like that's a Midwest thing in a way. It's very much like, you know, because we all kind of feel like we're here together in our own little niche.

6:24And so there's a lot of like, you know, help the other dude up, come on up, and then we all go. So that's always been my thing. I love that environment better. I'd much rather be with a group of my friends and family doing something than to be the only one doing it. You know what I mean? Of course. So we're going to go on vacation. Like, yeah, let's figure out how we all can do it. Like, sure, I can stay in the Four Seasons, but if everybody can stay in the Westin, then let's go there then. Let's go. It's going to be more fun.

7:05Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation. And I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description. That will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on The School of Greatness. And if you are loving The Daily Motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcast right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.

7:55Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.