the most poignant seven words ever
uttered in any speech anymore don't give
up don't ever give up those great people
didn't and I now have a responsibility
to also not ever give up live fight like
hell and when you get too tired to fight
then lay down and rest and let somebody
else fight for you you can't be scared
to die for the truth the truth is the
only thing that's ever gonna because and
you can't fear what might happen to you
if you were to tell the truth because
what happens to you don't tell the truth
is worse than telling the truth will
ever be never give up work hard and
continue to learn not only do I talk to
talk I try and walk the walk essentially
and I would say this to anybody is that
you know it's really it's easy to to
embrace hopelessness when things seem
insurmountable and yet it is it's
actually just a matter of time until all
the elements come together for things to
be alright I mean I believe that you
know most difficult situations will
resolve themselves if you are persistent
and if you don't if you don't give up
entirely and that's what I never did I
never give up
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if you're convinced that you're going to
fail or fall or get hurt that will come
to fruition because that's what you're
visualizing I never vision you know I
was willing to get hurt along the way
but I didn't visualize myself getting
hurt and I think that's what that's what
stops a lot of people and that's really
what separates a lot of people from from
being world champions are from being as
good as they can because they they stop
at some point saying oh no I I am not
capable of this or I'll probably get
hurt doing this and if you approach
anything with that hesitation you're
gonna fail I always approached it like
this is going to work I'm going to
figure this out even if it takes me
hundreds of attempts and I wasn't you
know the idea of falling getting back up
again that didn't really bother me at
all when you're young and you're a kid
you have so many I grew up in the hood
man Oh Flint Michigan where I'm from and
they say if you tear grew you can do
anything you want to do there do
anything you want to do
and then as soon as you go to class you
tell them what you want to do they like
what make you think you're gonna do
something like that man crazy yeah and I
said okay wait which one is it now can I
do it
can I do it what so I started to call
people on that I started to call people
and I said you know I'm gonna go cool
I'm gonna just try something that I've
never done before I want to design
furniture I want to be a part of this
thing so I'm going and you know what
happened this not work if you just force
yourself to take a couple small steps
there's always a surprise the only thing
that I see that is distinctly different
about me is I'm not afraid to die on a
treadmill I will not be be outworked
right period yeah you know you might
have more talent than me you might be
smarter than me you might be sexier than
me you might be all of those things you
got it on me in nine categories but if
we get on the treadmill together right
there's two things you're getting off
first
yeah or I'm gonna die it's really that
simple
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growing up I you know I grew up I wasn't
the richest but I had a rich family and
in spirit and in support and you know
standing here with 19 championships is
something I never thought would happen
you know just I went on the courts with
just a ball and a racket and a hope and
and that's all I had and I it's
inspiring for all you guys out there
that want to do something and want to be
the best that you can be and want to do
the best that you can do you just never
give up because you never know what can
happen you never know who you can
inspire
a lot of times I'll be a tours at Mile
Run or something like that and I'm all
jacked up body's broken mines broken
spirits broken I started to say what if
I can pull this off when I first walked
into the Navy silver Turner's office he
looked at me and said only been 35
african-americans and 70 years make it
through you know I said to myself what
if I can be the 36th it's the what if I
can pull off a miracle what if I can
become someone that no one thinks I can
be and just that just means talking
about that I have the hair growing up on
my arms because it makes me just like
what if never ever ever give up Chicken
Soup for the Soul
was rejected by a hundred and forty-four
publishers 144 publisher said we don't
want to publish a collection of short
stories the title stupid Chicken Soup
for the Soul what does that mean people
don't buy collections of short stories
there's never been you know successful
chain of doing that so literally we
spent 14 months trying to find a
publisher and we'd go to New York with
our agent and eventually our agent gave
us the book back and said I can't sell
this so we went to the National
booksellers Association convention down
in Anaheim we went from booth to booth
to booth for three days and there were
4,000 publishers represented there and
we go would you publish a book would you
publish a book where you publish our
book and we got no no no no no it was
late on the third day that a little
publisher from Florida after we'd gotten
over 144 rejections said we'll read it
and then they said we said well how many
copies do you think we'll sell after
they said yeah we'll buy it a couple
weeks later said we'll publish it and we
said they said well maybe 20,000 if
we're lucky and we said we our goal is
to sell a million and a half in a year
and a half
now have you ever told someone your
dream and had them laugh out loud here
he laughed out loud now if we had given
up after a hundred publishers had said
no I wouldn't be standing here today
you know wouldn't have happened and so
you've got to be willing to persevere
because we didn't take no see when the
world says no you say next only five or
six billion people out there you can go
and ask right there's over four thousand
publishers just here in the state of
California so what we have is this
endless possibility but you have to
persevere it's as if the universe tests
our commitment and so today we have a
hundred and forty seven titles in print
we sold over 115 million copies
we're in 47 languages and over a billion
dollars where the Chicken Soup for the
Soul books have been sold worldwide
so if you're willing to decide what you
want believe it's possible consciously
envision the future feel the feelings of
what it would feel like if you'd achieve
this goal you can have anything and then
you take action both obvious actions and
inspired action you can do anything we
were forced in the beginning I wish I
could say we were geniuses and said
we're gonna start our own company you
know that's not what happened
you know in the beginning we went to
every single label and every single
label shut that door on us the genius
thing that we did was we didn't give up
we didn't say because these guys you
know we use that what do they know
approach you know we we didn't give up
at that point I think that would you
know I was the genius than you did we
start sounding our own CDs and we built
their own buzz and then the record
company came back to us so now we had a
different negotiation you know it wasn't
the same artists
label relationship now we retain
ownership in our own company and it was
the best thing for us what age should
one give up on their dream never issue
Goethe said this Henry Ford said this
Rockefeller said this you're only as
young or as old as your dreams as long
as you still have dreams visions and
goals they keep you young it's a most
amazing darling thing gonna be one of
the greatest pieces of advice I've ever
gotten in my life was from my mom you
know when I was a little kid there's a
kid who was bugging me in school and she
said okay I'm gonna tell you what to do
she said the kids bugging you he puts
his hands on you you pick up then your
rock or whatever you can get your hands
on and you lay him out then I did and I
felt better and it worked for me you
know that that was a great lesson
because someone had invaded my myspace
and dated my being you know and I was
doing something against me that I didn't
want to be done so I took control the
situation and I ran with it
and and many years later after being you
know turned into a product you know by a
very huge corporation that had their
hands all
and I and I couldn't escape it you know
I promised myself that I would continue
to move forward and do my best not to
compromise in any way whatsoever you
know not allow anyone to put their hands
on me I don't know what that dream is
that you have I don't care how
far-fetched it might appear to be I
don't care how disappointing it might
have been as you've been working toward
that dream but here's what I know but
that dream that you're holding in your
mind that it's possible see sometimes we
can't say I can do that but what we can
say that it's possible that I can have
my tree
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