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December 30, 2024 • 19 mins
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(00:09):
You have something special. You havegreatness in you. You know. In
my last conversation with you, Italked about my son John Leslie, who
said, maximize your down time.And when you maximize your downtime, there's
certain things you need to do.I want you to write this down.

(00:30):
Not only must you be hungry andbe still and be present, but be
productive. See. The truth isthat if the majority of us had our
lives to live over again, wecould have done more than what we have
done. I know in my ownlife, I've wasted so many times having

(00:51):
a fear of failure, discounting myself, not believing in myself. Maybe that's
why Shakespeare said the fought dear brutus. It's not in our stars, but
in ourselves that we are underlings.That when I think about it, I
had a tremendous inferiority complex. It'sit's what's my own personal racket. Less,

(01:15):
you were labeled educable, mentally retardedand put back from the fifth grade
to the fourth grade and filled againin the eighth grade. Less, you
don't have a college education. Youcan't compete with people with college education and
PhDs and MBA's les. You don'thave the complexion of connection. You don't

(01:38):
have the money. Have you everthought about something that you wanted to do
and you talked yourself out of itand decided to settle, decided to live
a small life. The people thatare able to make their mark, the
people that are able to live alife that will outlive if them live.

(02:00):
From the scripture that says Hearin,my father glorified that ye bear much fruit.
Listen to the underlying word, theremuch fruit. We were created by
the Creator to create, to livea productive life, to live a life

(02:20):
of contribution. As you think aboutyourself, have you asked the question,
why am I here? What's themeaning of my life? Doctor Howard Thurman
said, never ask the meaning ofyour life. He said, decide to
live a meaningful life. That's adecision. See, most people, when

(02:45):
they die after two weeks, theconversations about them because they didn't live an
impactful life. Are meaningful life asignificant life? The conversation stopped. Nobody
will ever know that they were here. But when you live a productive life,

(03:06):
when you make your mock, whenyou live a life that will outlive
you. I never forget my daughter, she called me one day. I
was at my task and she said, Dad, are you BUSYNESS said no,
And she told me that she wantedto talk to me about something and
she had decided to become a lifecoach. And I said why. She
said, I want to make adifference in people's lives. I sound so

(03:30):
glad. I'm so glad that youwant to do that, that you're not
trying to walk in my shoes,that you brought your own shoes to the
party. And they called her nowthe message midwife. And we work together
to help people to bring out theirbooks, or their speeches, or their

(03:50):
story. When I decided during thistime to work on my book, You've
Got to Be Hungry. That wasthe haulmination of twenty one years of writing
and stopping, writing and stopping,and then I decided to be productive and
use this time wisely. In fact, I encourage you to get my book.

(04:13):
That's the best work I've ever done. There are people who have read
it and said had changed their liveseven before they completed it. If you
go on Amazon, you see fivestar ratings of it. Yes, You've
got to be Hungry. The greatnesswithin to win It took a lot out
of me to write that. Ithought about all of the things that I

(04:40):
thought happened to me. But asI look back, I realized something.
James Dentley said. He said,we live our lives forward, but we
look back and we learn from thethings that we experience. And some things
that we thought happened to us,they literally happen for us. For instance,

(05:02):
had I not been fired from radio, I would have never became a
state legislator. Had I not beenfired from radio, I would have never
had a talk showing they paid mefive million dollars king world. Had I
not been fired from radio, I'dhad never became a motivational speaker and travel

(05:27):
around the world and touched the livesof billions of people. Ellen Keller said,
when one door closes, another dooropens. But most people spend so
much time talking about and complaining aboutthe closed door, they don't see the
open door. Here's something else that'svery important. Be disciplined. Socrates said

(05:53):
that the undisciplined life is an insanelife. Discipline yourself to train your mind.
Doctor Carter G. Woodson said,if you can determine what a man
shall think, you never have toconcern yourself and what he will do is
that if you can make a manfeel inferior, you never have to compel

(06:14):
him to seek an inferior status,for he will seek it himself. And
if you can make a man feeljustly an outcast, you never have to
order him to go to the backdoor. He'll go without being told.
And if there's no door, hisvery nature will demand one. Take the
time each day to discipline your mind. See, we cannot control the thoughts

(06:40):
that come in our minds, butwe do have the ability to control the
thoughts that we dwell on. Andas you look at yourself and look at
the dreams and the things you wantto do with your life, keep in
mind, if you don't discipline yourselfto control and to program your mind and

(07:01):
set yourself up to win, somebodyelse will influence and control your mind.
That's why Socrates said, the undisciplinedlife is an insane life. Discipline is
very important. The Book of Lifesaid, the road to life is straight
and narrow, and few there bethat find it, because few there be

(07:24):
that are willing to discipline themselves.Discipline, discipline, discipline, Live from
a place of discipline. Do whatyou know, not what you feel.
See undisciplined people live from their feelings. See after I get up in the
morning and during the day, Iknow I should go for a walk,

(07:48):
but most of the time I don'tfeel like it. And that's where discipline
comes in. What are you goingto allow to govern you your feeling or
what you know that you should doand operate from your knowing? Ye shall
know the truth, and the truthis it's not about whether you feel like

(08:11):
doing it. If you want tolive, then you will discipline yourself to
make choices that will allow you tobe here longer and add life to your
years. That's why an undisciplined lifeis an insane life. People who accomplish
things, people who write history anddon't just read history. I discipline,

(08:37):
Yes, I had to discipline myselfto complete my book. And guess what,
I didn't do it by myself.And I believe that when you're hungry,
you're willing to ask for help,not because you're weak, but because
you want to remain strong and askfor help and don't stop until you get

(09:00):
it. And I got stuck somany times unfortunately people in my life.
Fortunately my daughter, doctor Na Brown, she came and said, come on,
daddy, come on, daddy,we're going to complete this book.
And she drugged me across the goalline. Yes, many days I don't

(09:22):
want to walk, and she anddoctor Cheryl and doctor Gerald and John Leslie
will say, come on, daddy, come on, you gotta walk,
You gotta walk. Is it okay? Oh? Feel like it. It's
good to have support people around youthat will encourage you, that will motivate

(09:48):
you to do what you need todo, even if you don't feel like
it. Here's something else be teachable. When you think about your goals and
dreams. You can't see the picturewhen you're in the frame. Doctor Dennis
Kimbro said, if you're the smartestone in your group, you need to

(10:09):
get a new group. Just thinkabout that. Mohamad Ali said, I'm
the greatest, but he never wona championship without Angelo Dundee being in his
corner and Michael Jordan. You know, he never won a championship without Phil
Jackson. And I think about me. This less brown that you're listening to

(10:33):
right now, I didn't even knowhe existed until I met a guy named
Mike Williams. Hey, brownie,you know why you go see zig Ziggler
and Jim Rown and doctor Norman,Vincent Peel and Robert Shuler. Yes,
I like their motivational messages. Now, not just that Brownie. You like
to make people feel good. Yougot a little funny laugh. You like

(10:56):
to make us laugh, and youhave the gift to gab. You can
do what those guys do. Theydon't have nothing on you. I said,
come on, man, come on, coody. I used to call
it coody. I said, comeon, coody. I don't have any
college education. Who would reach overpeople with PhDs and MBAs and in college

(11:20):
degrees and corporate experience that I don'thave to hire me to come in and
teach them how to do something I'venever done and pay me more in an
hour than I'm now earning working fora whole month. Have you ever had
somebody to see something in you thatyou didn't see in yourself? What I

(11:41):
ask audiences that most people agree intoyear, isn't that thing called life fascinating?
I remember when I was in LosAngeles and I called him and I
said, Mike, you call mefor fourteen years and asked me every year,

(12:07):
are you speaking? Are you speaking? Are you telling your story?
I said, what made you dothat? He said, I just thought
I should stay in your ear.Wow, I'm so glad he did all
things work together for good, forthose who love God and for those who

(12:28):
were called according to his purpose.And I said, why do you choose
to work with me? He said, because you're teachable. See, most
people are not teachable. Einstein said, the thinking that has brought me this
far has created some problems that thisthinking can't solve. And the reason I

(12:54):
believe that this book was delayed atthis point in time, this is the
divine time because people need it.People need hope, and this book will
give you hope. People need tosee themselves as a source of light so
they can speak light into other people'slives who are experiencing darkness. And people

(13:16):
need to be motivated and inspired toknow that they can have greatness in them.
They can achieve more than they canever begin to imagine, and so
be a voice of hope. Whenthere's hope in the future that gives you
power in the present. This book. When you learn the things, the

(13:39):
stories examples of my life and otherpeople's lives in this book, I guarantee
you you will say to yourself,if they can do it. I can
do it. I believe that whenyou discover that you are a voice to
be reckoned, with a power tobe dealt with, that together that we

(14:01):
can change the world. Got tobe bold, that we can reduce this
suicide rate, in the recidivism rate, that we can encourage our young people
to become an asset to our societyrather than a liability. Yes, you
have greatness in you. You havethe ability to motivate and inspire and bring

(14:28):
the best out of others by bringingthe best out of yourself. It's a
wonderful thing about this thing call life. Sometimes it will challenge you. Sometimes
we have to put ourselves into positionto find out how strong we really are.

(14:52):
And you're powerful. Maybe that's whydoctor Howard Thurman, the mentor of
doctor mar To the King Junior andMahatma Gandhi and Abbot Sweitzer wrote the words
says something in each and every oneof us that waits and listens to the
voice of the genuine in yourself,it will be perhaps the only God you

(15:18):
will ever have or hear. Andif you cannot hear it, all of
your life will be spent on thedays of strains that somebody else pulls.
And I believe that you're listening tome and listening to the Greatness Radio station
or those of you that get mybook. You've got to be hungry because

(15:41):
you've decided that nobody's going to pullmy strains. You've decided that you are
different. You've decided that you arenot going to follow the crowd. You've
decided that you, as Calvin Coolidgesaid, you are uncommon. He wrote
those famous words. I choose notto be a common man. It's my

(16:04):
right to be uncommon if I can. I seek opportunity, not security.
I do not wish to be akept citizen, humbled and dull by having
the state look after me. Iwant to take the calculated risk to dreamin',
to bill, to fail and tosucceed. I refuse to live from
hand to mouth. I prefer thechallenges of life to the guaranteed existence,

(16:26):
the thrill of fulfillment, to thestill calm of utopia. I will never
cower before the master, nor bendto any threat. It's my heritage to
stand erect, proud and unafraid,the face the world boldly and say this
I have done. When you arehungry, you learn to get still and

(16:48):
know that God is in charge.When you are hungry, you become present
with yourself and you know how tomake choices. That's an asset to you
as opposed to life bill. Youunderstand as you look at your life and
wherever you find yourself, at somepoint in time, you made an appointment
to be there. When you arehungry, you live a productive life.

(17:14):
You understand the words of John H. Johnson, who said, there's no
defense against an excellence that meets apressing public need. When you are hungry,
you know the power of discipline.Yes, to discipline yourself and to
do what you know and not whatyou feel. When you are hungry,

(17:37):
you realize that it is not aboutwho you think you know in order to
make it, but what they knowabout you. That you are teachable,
You're a person of integrity. Youhold yourself to a highest standard. You
are willing to challenge yourself. Youknow certain things don't fit into the vision
of your purpose and how you seeyourself self. And you are coachable.

(18:02):
You're never told to learn, andyou're never too young to teach. When
you are hungry, you choose tobecome a voice of hope, and when
there's hope in the future, itgives you power in the present. You
were chosen one out of four hundredmillions. Bird. You're masterpiece because you're

(18:26):
peace of the Master, Stay hungryGod, to love the world. He
chose you for this moment. Youhave something special. You have greatness in
you. This has been missus MamieBrown's baby boy. That's my story and
I'm sticking to it. You werelistening to less Brown Greatness radio positive and

(18:53):
motivational content curated by the legendary LessBrown
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