How To Stop Comparing Your Journey And Start Developing Greatness | Eric Thomas

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

0:13I'm going to be real. That's why it took me 12 years to get a 40 degree because I never went to college for college. I went to college for Didi. Wow. 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 going to have to do this again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't be with you if you don't finish what you start. Wow. So I got to go ahead and do this business again. Wow. And I started the speaking career, you know, in the middle of that as well. This is there's a lot of like pressure for people to accomplish certain certain things by certain ages.

0:41But it took you 12 years to graduate college. Right. So you're in your 30s or whatever. 30. Absolutely. And then you're 44 when you got a Ph.D. 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? So here's where 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.

1:19You don't need to 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 compare yourself to somebody that may have strengths that you don't have like they've not they're nowhere near who you are yes 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 louis he's doing xyz 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 this and so i'm using the information you're giving me to build my journey, not I'm trying to be you.

1:57And so what I realized was, yeah, there's some kids that can come and graduate in four years because they took K through 12 series 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. It's going to take a little longer, right? It's going to take a little bit longer to develop you. So my man on a four-year plan, but he might, no disrespect, but he may settle into a traditional life.

2:28And 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 longer. 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. So for me, it was like, I was like, it's going to take 12 not because you're behind. It's going to take 12 because that's how much time it's going to take to develop you.

2:59So once I release you into the world, now you're going to be able to do phenomenal stuff. Let's go. So I can't compare myself to the dude that's just going to get a job somewhere who's just going to settle and all he's caring about is his life. You know, he's not necessarily creating content or writing books that are going to change the world. He's just trying to take care of his family. So 40 years works for him. So now I'm comparing my life to a person who is not even trying to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish. That's dangerous. Wow. But I mean, what about the people? Going back to kind of your story of the victim mindset.

3:36You know, 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. Struggles. You had everything against you, right? Hold on. See, I'm glad you said 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. That was the bigger challenge. But most people have both of that. 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.

4:13No question. Their parents have been holding them down. Their school, their teachers, their coach doesn't give them the opportunity. No question. Their boss is holding them down. Whatever it might be. The economy is holding them down. Oh, 1 ,000%. Where I live is holding me down. The president, the government, it's all holding me down. I love it. It's holding you down. How does someone get to a place, and maybe it's true that things are holding them down. They're absolutely true. Right? Maybe it's true. Yeah. But what I'm hearing you say that living in a victim mindset or living in an outside inside theory will not help you get to where you want to be.

4:51All 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.

5:03I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy. and if you're looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life and you want to stop making money hard in your life, but you wanna make it easier, you wanna make it flow, you wanna feel abundant, then make sure to go to makemoneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is gonna help you transform your relationship with money this moment moving forward. We have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following. And thank you for listening to this episode of The Daily Motivation Show.

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6:36Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.