How to Overcome Your Greatest Weaknesses | Jeezy EP 523

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

0:11With all the experience you have, what would you say is your greatest superpower now? And also, what is your biggest weakness still that you're working to overcome that you want to become better at overcoming? My biggest weakness would be dealing with a lot of my childhood trauma because there's sometimes a little J still comes out. You know what I mean? I have to work on that because what I had to kind of come to grips with is that what served me then doesn't serve me now. Right, sure. You know what I mean? And it's like, you know, a violent behavior would serve me then. It protected you. It guarded you.

0:46Right, and the tough demeanor is like, ah, you know. I'd say the greatest superpower to me is having a good heart. Just doing things for people makes me feel like it fulfills me. You know, when somebody calls me and be like, yo, thank you for introducing me to such and such, that's a good thing for me. and then also problem solving. You can put 100 problems on this desk. I'm scanning through them, okay, this is what we're going to do. And just to add something on today, I think my biggest super, super power is integrity. I have to move correctly because I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror.

1:18And there's been some times that I couldn't because I didn't move correctly. I would lie if I felt like it was going to benefit me or get me out of trouble. I don't think I can do that today. So I try not to get in trouble because I'm going to be like, yeah, I did it. I had learned that a man, that's a real man, doesn't lie under any circumstance. You're coming from this world. You can't tell people everything you're doing. Now you're supposed to tell me the next step because they could be there waiting for you. So that was how I lived. But when I started to be more transparent, I started to notice that these quality people that I was bringing in my life became close in me.

1:49They embraced me more. Because you got to think, like I was the guy talking about coming over to your house for dinner. Oh, no. But the more vulnerable and open and honest and integrity in your word that you are consistently, the more people want to support you. Yeah. who have the same values. And the more they want to give you a lot of the knowledge that they have. 100%. You know what I'm saying? It's just like really pour into you, like really lean into you. At first, you know, that was a little weird to me because nobody had ever helped me before. So now I'm trying to figure out what's the catch.

2:20Right. What are they trying to get out of here? Yeah, yeah. Right. So now I'm trying to figure out what's the catch. Trying to use me, trying to get something from me. Right, right, right. And it took a while. And I'm just like, wait, hold up. Like at first I couldn't believe it, right? But over time it started to be like, you know, maybe, you know, that's genuine, that's real. How did you go from not being an artist, not being a rapper, not knowing anything really about music, to working with the biggest names in the world? I think it's my connection to the streets and the people and the culture.

2:49Because you have your community and you have some leadership there. By connecting and collabing, you get to get these people ears that you never would have got because they don't know you or believe you, but they believe me. that's the key to it because that's most reason why people do collabs is to tap into whatever you got I think we just tap into what each other has and for me my stronghold has been the culture and it's way beyond the music like the music is just a vessel and connection to the people but I think it's more life things to have because you can track and see why I was in a bad space you can see what I was trying to figure it out you can see when I started to come out You can see when I started to think different.

3:30You see when I started to eat different. You see when I started to dress different. So you're seeing that evolution and you start to go, hold up. I'm from where he's from. I can do that. He's doing real estate in Atlanta. It's my thing. And I got business people coming to me, talking to me about real estate. These are people in the culture that's really excited about going out here and doing these things. And they probably wouldn't have never thought that they can do. But they're seeing what I'm doing. They're going like, wow, these are the conversations I want to have with you. I don't want to have conversations with you.

3:58The old way. Yeah, it's not good. You've collaborated, obviously, with some of these names that you've talked about. With Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye, what's one lesson from each one of them that you've taken from working with them or observing them? Rihanna has always been a star. Really? Yeah, because less is more with her. Less is more, meaning, like, you don't see her a lot. When she pops out is what she does. I took a page out of that book a while back. You're only going to see me when I need to be seen, and I'm only going to do what I need to do. That was just being around Rihanna, just seeing how she moved and how she understood less is more, and that's what builds her star power.

4:34Kanye West, what I learned from him is to never compromise the art over money. He'll hold on to the art until the right moment? Not even that. It's not about money with him. He's more so about the art, the music. He won't compromise that to get some type of compensation for it. He'd rather do it his way and go against all the rules because he feels like in his heart that that's right too. It's like if I don't feel it, you couldn't pay me enough for it. You couldn't pay me anything to do what I don't feel is right at my heart. Jay-Z doesn't talk with us, this guy. Jay's like a man of very few words.

5:11But when we talk, he just always made me understand that don't forget who you are and where you came from and where you're going. Don't compromise who you are or your integrity for anyone. Everywhere he goes, he's unapologetically Sean Carter. Imagine you get to live as long as you want to live. But eventually, it's the last day. You've created so many vision boards. You've accomplished all your dreams a thousandfold. But for whatever reason in this hypothetical world, no one has access to your content, your information, your music, your books. This conversation is gone. Everything you've ever put out is gone.

5:51But on the last day, you get to leave behind three lessons. And this is all we have access of your information, the three lessons that you would share with the world. I call them the three truths. What would be those three truths for you? First truth would be karma is real. I've done some pretty bad things in my life. The man upstairs, big GLD, he made me pay. I'll never go back down that road again. So do right by people and do right by yourself, you know, because karma is real. My second truth would be it's never too late for anything. Like, you can be high old or you can be in the worst situation in the world.

6:29It's just never too late to turn it all around. It's never too late. Like, if you get started today, you're on your way tomorrow, no matter when. And my last truth would be evolve or die. And I don't mean in the sense of the word, but if you're not evolving, you're not living. And the last thing you want to do is take that with you. And they say, you know, the richest place in the world is a cemetery. because everybody take all these great things with them, and it's just like you might lose a lot of all of it, but you'll gain so much more, right? And you'll have a whole different respect for yourself because we only got one life, and your life has to affect more than what you can see or touch.

7:09I never thought the end of my life would affect millions, and I'm still continuing to chip away at that, right? when I'm no longer here, I want my kids to know that their father was a great man. He stood for something, and he wanted to help people the best way he could. He didn't actually come in the best way, but he wanted to help people as much as he could. And I hope and I pray by people seeing me evolve and giving myself permission to do so on my own terms and my own time, that that helps them understand that there's no judgment if you want to do and become better for yourself, your family, your peers, your community, your culture, your people.

7:49You got that right. Because when this life is over, it's a wrap. And what you didn't do, never get a chance to do that, ever.

8:00Thank 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 Podcasts. 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.

8:56Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the daily motivation show.