(paper airplane swooshing)
(banging)
- What's up believe nation?
I started the Mentor Me series to try to learn
from people who've done a lot more than us
and by hanging around them a little bit longer,
hopefully some of their viewpoints, their mindset,
their way of thinking seeps into our brains
to help us become the best version of ourselves.
Today we're going to learn from Michelle Obama
from some of her most inspiring moments.
Mentor me, Michelle.
Rule number two is my personal favorite,
and I'm curious to figure out which one
you guys like best.
And as always guys, as you're watching the videos,
if you see something that really resonates
with you, please leave it in the comments
below and put quotes around it so other people
can be inspired, and if you write it down,
it's much more likely to stick with yourself as well.
(inspirational music)
- When you are struggling, and you start
thinking about giving up, I want you to remember
something that my husband and I have talked
about since we first started this journey
nearly a decade ago, something that has carried
us through every moment in this White House
and every moment of our lives.
That is the power of hope.
The belief that something better is always possible
if you're willing to work for it and fight for it.
It is our fundamental belief in our power of hope
that has allowed us to rise above the voices
of doubt and division, of anger and fear
that we have faced in our own lives
and in the life of this country.
Our hope that if we work hard enough and believe
in ourselves then we can be whatever we dream,
regardless of the limitations that others may place on us.
The hope that when people see us for who
we truly are, maybe just maybe,
they too will be inspired to rise
to their best possible selves.
Shoot, it's the hope of folks like my dad,
who got up every day, do his job at the city
water plant, the hope that one day his kids
would go to college and have opportunities
he never dreamed of.
That's the kind of hope that every single one of us,
politicians, parents, preachers, all of us,
need to be providing for our young people
because that is what moves this country forward
every single day, our hope for the future
and the hard work that hope inspires.
Want our young people to know that they matter,
that they belong, so don't be afraid.
You hear me?
Young people, don't be afraid.
Be focused.
Be determined.
Be hopeful.
Be empowered.
Empower yourselves with a good education,
then get out there and use that education
to build a country worthy of your boundless promise.
Lead by example with hope, never fear,
and know that I will be with you,
rooting for you and working to support you
for the rest of my life.
And that is true, I know, for every person
who is here today and for educators and advocates
all across this nation who get up every day
and work their hearts out to lift up our young people.
I am so grateful to all of you for your passion
and your dedication and all the hard work
on behalf of our next generation, and I can
think of no better way to end my time as first
lady than celebrating with all of you.
I want to close today by simply saying thank you.
Thank you for everything you do for our kids
and for our counry.
Being your first lady has been the greatest
honor of my life, and I hope I've made you proud.
Are you going to throw up your hands and say
that progress will never come?
Are you going to get angry and lash out?
Are you going to turn inward and just give in
to despair and frustration?
Or are you going to take a deep breath,
straighten your shoulders, lift up your head
and do what Barack Obama has always done
as he says, "When they go low, I go high."
That's the choice Barack and I have made.
That's what has kept us sane over the years.
We simply do not allow space in our hearts,
minds or souls for darkness.
Instead, we choose faith.
Faith in ourselves and the power of hard work.
Faith in our God, whose overwhelming love
sustains us every single day.
That's what we choose.
We choose love,
our love for our children,
our commitment to leaving them a better world.
Our love for our country, which has given us
so many blessings and advantages.
Our love for our fellow citizens,
parents workin' hard to support their kids,
men and women in uniform who risk
everything to keep us safe.
Young people from the toughest backgrounds
who never stop believing in their dreams.
Young people like so many of you.
That's what we choose,
and we choose excellence.
We choose to tune out all the noise
and strive for excellence in everything we do.
No cuttin' corners, no takin' shortcuts, no whining.
We give 120% every single time because excellence,
excellence is the most powerful answer
you can give to the doubters and the haters.
(audience cheering)
It's also the most powerful thing you can
do for yourself, see 'cause the process of striving
and strugglin' and pushing yourself to new heights,
see that's how you develop your God-given talents.
That's how you make yourself stronger and smarter
and more able to make a difference for others.
Next, I've always felt a deep sense of obligation
to make the biggest impact possible with this
incredible platform, so I took on issues that
were personal to me.
Issues like helping families raise healthier kids,
honoring the incredible military families
that I've met out on the campaign trail,
inspiring our young people to value their education
and finish college.
(audience applauding)
Now, some folks criticized my choices for not
being bold enough, but these were my choices,
my issues, and I decided to tackle them in a way
that felt most authentic to me.
In a way that was both substantive and strategic
but also fun and hopefully inspiring,
so I immersed myself in the policy details.
I worked with Congress on legislation,
gave speeches to CEOs, military generals,
Hollywood executives, but I also worked to ensure
that my efforts would resonate with kids and families,
and that meant doing things in a creative
and unconventional way.
So yeah, I planted a garden and hula-hooped
on the White House lawn with kids.
I did some mom dancing on TV.
I celebrated military kids with Kermit the Frog.
I asked folks across the country to wear
their alma mater's T-shirts for college signing day.
And at the end of the day, by staying true
to the me I've always known, I found that this
journey has been incredibly freeing
because no matter what happened, I had the peace of mind
of knowing that all of the chatter, the name-calling,
the doubting, all of it was just noise.
(audience applauding)
It did not define me.
It didn't change who I was,
and most importantly, it couldn't hold me back.
I have learned that as long as I hold fast
to my beliefs and values and follow my own
moral compass, then the only expectations I
need to live up to are my own.
We want our children and all children in this nation
to know that the only limit to the height
of your achievements is the reach of your dreams
and your willingness to work hard for them.
(audience applauding)
And as our friendship grew, and I learned
more about Barack, he introduced me to the work
that he'd done when he first moved to Chicago after college.
You see, instead of going to Wall Street,
Barack went to work in neighborhoods that had
been devastated by the closing of steel plants.
Jobs dried up, and Barack was invited back
to speak to people from those neighborhoods
about how to rebuild their community.
And the people gathered there together that day
were ordinary folks doing the best they could
to build a good life.
See, they were parents tryin' to get by
from paycheck to paycheck.
Grandparents tryin' to get it together on a fixed income.
Men frustrated that they couldn't support
their families after jobs had disappeared.
You see, those folks weren't asking
for a handout or a shortcut.
They were ready to work.
They wanted to contribute.
They believed, like you and I believe, that America
should be a place where you can make it if you try.
(audience applauding)
And Barack stood up that day, and he spoke words
that have stayed with me ever since.
He talked about the world as it is
and the world as it should be,
and he said that all too often we accept
the distance between the two, and we settle
for the world as it is, even when it doesn't
reflect our values and aspirations.
But he reminded us that we also know what
the world should look like.
He said, "We know what fairness and justice
"and opportunity look like," and he urged us
to believe in ourselves, to find the strength
within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be.
And isn't that the great American story?
(audience cheering)
It's the story of men and women gathered
in churches and union halls, in high school gyms
and people who stood up and marched and risked
everything they had, refusing to settle,
determined to mold our future
into the shape of our ideals.
- Thank you guys so much for watching.
I'd love to know what did you think of this video?
What did you learn from Michelle that you're
going to immediately apply to your life
or your business somehow?
Please leave it down in the comments below,
and I'm going to join in the discussion.
I also want to give a quick shout-out to Cristi Vlad.
Cristi, thank you so much for picking up
a copy of my book, Your One Word, and posting
that YouTube video review on your channel.
I really, really, really appreciate the support.
- [Cristi] I'm going to tell you about a few
insights that I got from Evan Carmichael's
book Your One Word.
So thank you guys again for watching.
I believe in you.
I hope you continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is.
Much love, I'll see you soon.
(swooshing and banging)