LISA NICHOLS: How
are you guys doing? My name is Lisa. Good afternoon. God, I love intimate. I never get a chance to
have intimate environments. So this is like fun. I know somebody would come
up and go, where is everyone? I'm like, ooh. Finally, I can see
every face in the room. How are you guys doing? So first, I have to say
I'm from California. So it's cold. Because if I get
that out of the way, then I can be present
with you guys. But I'm grateful that it's
sunny even though the sun is an illusion that it's warm. In California when the
sun is out, it's warm. And that's the only place,
obviously, that that exists. So I'm excited to
be in front of you. I'm excited to be with you. This book, "Abundance
Now" is a culmination of about 25 years of work. In 1994, which isn't
quite 25 years ago. But in 1994, I was on
government assistance. And I had to get on government
assistance to have my son. And I was on WIC, Women,
Infant, and Children, which is free cheese,
free pasta, free milk. And I'm grateful. I was embarrassed,
but I was grateful. Because as a mom, you just want
to take care of your child. And when my son was
eight months old-- I'm just kind of telling you
how did this book come about without me knowing that
the book was coming about. When my son was eight months
old, I needed Pampers. A change of Pampers. And I went to the cupboard to
get Pampers and there was none. So I went to the ATM to
get $20 out to buy Pampers and I had $11.42 to my name. Yeah, that's exactly what I did
when I saw insufficient funds. And I remember going
home wondering, what am I going to do? I wrapped my son in a towel. And for the next two days,
I just changed his towel. That's all I could do. And so on the second
day-- I never say it without getting emotional. And people go, you
still get emotional? Yeah, I was still the same mom. I'm just allowing myself
to recall that experience so that I can share it so
you understand the why. It's never easy to
recall the experience, because I think there's
only two things you want to do with your children. And that's keep them safe
and be able to feed them and raise them. And I felt like I could only do
one, which was keep them safe. But feeding him and raising
him was challenging. And so on the second day of my
son being wrapped in a towel, I put my hand on my
son, Jelani's stomach and I said, Jelani. Don't worry. Mommy will never be
this broke again. Ever. And that was the journey to now. Like, I just want to give
you all the way back then. A lot of things
happened since then. But I've been interviewed--
in 2009 alone, I was interviewed 155 times. This was when my first
single book came out. And I was interviewed 155 times. And probably 147 times they
asked, how did you do it? How did you go from being broke
and on government assistance to running a multimillion
dollar company? And lately, I hear,
how did you go from being on public
assistance to running a publicly-held company? My company went
public two years ago. I am the only company in the
self-development industry to have a company
on Wall Street. And I am one of two African
American women founders to own a publicly-held company. So I get that
question-- thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Thank you. I get that question a lot. How did you go from public
assistance to being public? And I always have to start
with on that day in 1994 when I put my hand on my son's
belly and said, don't worry, Jelani. Mommy will never be
this broke again. Something shifted. I was willing to do what
I had never done before. I was willing to say what
I had never said before. But first, I had to learn
what I didn't even know. I knew that abundant
thinkers-- prosperous people, successful people-- were doing
something that I wasn't doing. Because my life was evidence. Your life is the evidence
of what you're up to. Good, bad, or
indifferent, your life is evidence of
what you're up to. And so I wanted to be up
to something different, but I didn't know how to be
up to something different. I needed to learn something
different to be up to something different. And so I start following
successful people. And I wanted to know, what
did they do in the morning? What did they do at night? What did they do
when they failed? And I like those
behind-the-black curtain questions. Like, I don't just want to
know, what goals do you set? I want to know what happens
when someone pisses you off and you've got to forgive them. What happens when
you fall down and you don't know how to get back up? What happens? What happens when you start
leaving the people you love based on your level of success? How do you stay connected to
your community or your tribe and still go after your dreams? How do you get out
of a mindset that says, I'm only going to have
this much success because I'm a woman? Because I'm a woman of color? Because I was born and raised
in South Central, or wherever? Whatever that story
is that we make up, how do I unleash
myself from that story and hook myself to my future? How do I do that? Anybody else curious about that? I just want to make sure
I'm in the right place. I don't need a lot of people,
I just need the right people. Because a lot of
the wrong people are more distracting than a
few of the right people, yes? AUDIENCE: Yes. LISA NICHOLS: All right. So I was hungry. Like, I was hungry. People often want to
call me the exception. Like, oh my god,
you're the exception. No, I'm not the exception. I'm an average,
ordinary woman who chose every day to make one
more extraordinary decision. I'm an average
ordinary mom who said, I want to drastically
transform my son's future. That he deserves to
have every option that every other child
would have irregardless of what he was born into. I just was crazy
enough to believe that. That it doesn't matter
the color of my skin, doesn't matter my
religious background, doesn't matter my origin. It doesn't matter my mom's
bank account and my dad's bank account when I was born. None of that means my future. That's just the circumstance
that I came from. That's not what
defines my future. I just believed that. Not a lot validated it. But faith is believing
in the unseen anyway. So I had enough faith
to go, I know like I know like I know like I know. I don't necessarily
have to see it yet. And so "Abundance Now" is--
it's the notes that I took. It's the things that I did. It's the lessons that I learned. And then, some that I began
to adopt that I hadn't learned that when I hit my head against
the wall enough, I realized, don't do that. Let me tell anyone who's
reading the book, don't do that. That only looks sexy
and so not right. And so it really is-- this book
is designed to be disruptive. It's designed to disrupt
a couple of myths. A few myths, three myths. Myth number 1 is that we
believe that abundance-- this is the part you
want to write down. We believe that abundance
is for some people. Some people of a certain
hue, a certain origin, a certain background. And we teach that. Society just teaches
that, that you have to come from this
place to have abundance. There's them and
then there's us. Yes, you guys? OK. By the way, I'm interactive. Like, I'm not here
just to do you. Just for the record. Like, what I
learned is that I am a major part of my own rescue. I'm a major part of
my own breakthrough. So whether you're
here because you want to get out of a
place of being stuck or whether you're
here because you want to go to the next
level of possibility, you are part of that next level. So I'm going to ask questions. I love a dialogue,
not a monologue. I am not a performer, though I
can be entertaining at times. This is really about a dialogue. A juicy, delicious dialogue
that I hope on this day, January 6, it created
some kind of shift in you. Some kind of jolting where
afterwards you're like, I think I just need
to do something just-- I need to tweak this. Not that anything's wrong, but
what does up-level look like? What does next level look like? And so the first myth is
that-- and when I say myth, these are the things
you-- there's so much value in what you unlearn. Sometimes, the best thing you
can do is unlearn some things. We're always going after
learning something new because we're
information junkies. Because we have all these
forms of information coming at us on the internet,
coming at us in books, coming at us on the radio,
coming at us in television, that we want to
learn, learn, learn. But sometimes your
biggest breakthrough is in what you unlearn. And then you re-learn. Sometimes you have
to disrupt your soil. Pull your soil up. Take that dry dirt that's
been planted for years. I've just been knowing
this for years. This is what my
mother taught me. This is what we've always known. You have to disrupt
that soil in order to plant a new seed
to grow a new fruit. Yeah? You guys got that? And so I came very comfortably
to disrupt your soil. That's what I came for,
to disrupt your soil. Not to necessarily keep you
comfortable on what you know. Stay comfortable in that. I want to disrupt you in some
things that are new awareness to go, oh, wait. Hold on. Or a new awareness
about what you've been doing based on what you've
known forever that doesn't fit your future anymore. Because I can guarantee you,
every single one of us who wants something different
than what we're getting, we're doing something
unconsciously from old patterns that
doesn't even serve our future. That's when the
tongue in your mouth and the tongue in your shoe are
going in two totally different directions. And your job is to align them
up so that you can move forward in a powerful way. Yes, yes? All right. When I say "yes,
yes," that's your cue to say "yes, yes" back. That makes me feel
really good inside. Thank you so much
for your generosity. Next time we all get
to say it louder. So myth number one is that
abundance is for some people, it's not for everyone. You've got to come
from a certain origin or have a certain background,
or whatever story we make up. And the truth is-- and
what I love about the truth is the truth doesn't change
whether you accept it or not. It's still the truth. And so once you're made
aware from your unconscious to your conscious of a truth,
live like you know that truth. And watch things change. Just live like you
know that truth. A lot of times when
you learn a lesson and you keep revisiting
that same pain, it's because you're not living
like you learned the lesson. How many of us, by show of
hands, have asked the question, how did I end up here again? Raise your hands up high. Just make sure I'm
in the right room. OK, great. It's because we forgot
we learned the lesson. So the universe, god,
whatever you call it, had to give you
the lesson again. And then you go, OK. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it, right? I've said that. I got it. I got it. I got it. OK, live like you
learned a lesson. And then it won't
ever come again. Same thing with the truth. When you live like you know
a new truth, or an old truth that you didn't really
recognize you knew, when you live like
you know the truth, your life will show up to
match that truth you know. So first truth, abundance
is available to everyone. Everyone, irregardless of your
culture, background, origin. No matter how you started. Well, Lisa, what if I-- you
can do all the what-ifs. It's still available to you. Now, whether you
go get it or not. And oftentimes,
you don't go get it because the story
you're telling yourself doesn't agree with
what's available for you. And our stories are huge. Because your story
is your perception. Your perception is your truth. And you will live
into that perception as if it is your truth. Myth number two is that
abundance is singularly focused on possessions and money. It's all about what you
drive, what you live in, how much money you make. When in fact, this couldn't
be further from the truth. Wealth is possessions and money. Abundance is a 360 experience. [INAUDIBLE] Abundance is a 360 experience. True abundance. True abundance is your health. Because if you don't
have great health, life does not feel good. Abundance is relationship. And at the end of your
life, literally you will measure the
quality of your life by the quality of the
relationships you had. All the other stuff
will fall away. That promotion you're
thinking about. You're wondering
about that raise. It will fall away in
an area of importance when you get to the
end of your life. You will begin to look at the
quality of your relationship. How are your children
relating to you? How are your siblings
relating to you? Do you have love in your life? You literally will start looking
at relationships at a higher level as you get older. So when you mine them now,
you take care of them. And I know that for a fact. I have a friend who's
worth $14 billion. Billion with a B. He was just
partying at my house all night long, wouldn't leave. 4:00 in the morning, go home. And he flew in from Canada
to go to my New Year's party because he loves my
family connection and he doesn't have one. He is financially wealthy. He's relationship broke. Does that make sense? Abundance is a 360 experience. It's about relationships. It's about health. It's about your
spiritual groundedness. That doesn't mean you
have a religious origin. It's about, can you release? Can you forgive? Can you let go? Can you be still? Do you meditate? Do you have time with yourself? That has a lot to
do with the quality of your life, that ability. And I talk about
this in the book. And I'm a teacher,
so I give you ways to enhance every area
that I'm talking about. I don't just
introduce it to you. I go, listen. If you want to
strengthen this area, why don't you do these things? So you'll find
page 58 is dynamic. Page 265, dynamic. Worth it. And then the final
area is finance. There are times where
it is about the money. And people of
service, people who are givers, people who are
natural lovers of life, we sometimes don't want
to talk about the money. Money is a dignified
conversation to have. Matter of fact, you should do
very, very well financially. Because when good
people do well, good people simply do
more good in the world. Like, we could end hunger. We could end homelessness. When enough good people do
well, we're now in power financially to make
some major differences. So money is a
dignified conversation. Money is a tool. Money is a team member. Money buys you access
to great memories. That's a different way
to look at it, huh? Money is not the end game. Money simply buys me
access to great memories. Money buys me freedom. I'm able to do more in life
now because I have more money. That's it. I have access to
better memories. My money bought me the memory of
my son at age 10-- he's now 21. At age 10, standing on
top of one of the tallest mountains in Kenya with
no front teeth saying, Mommy, I'm on top of the
tallest mountain in Africa. I still have that
memory burned in my head because it was the first time I
took my son on a trip with me. My money was able
to buy my son and I surfing in Brisbane,
Australia this last May. Yes, we surfed. Mama was on a surfboard
for about 2.2 seconds. But I got it on video,
so it doesn't matter. I'm going to clip it. And just add it together to
give myself about a good two minutes, right? And so money allowed
me to jump out of a plane with my
son in Australia. It was on the Gold
Coast of Australia, and fly over the Gold
Coast of Australia. So money is not the end game. It's a tool. It's a team member. It simply gives you access
to greater memories. When I invited my son
here to New York-- he's been wanting to
come to New York forever. Mom, New York, New York. I'm like, OK, great. I'm going in January
for my book tour. He's like, January? He's like, oh, no. That's when it's
cold there, right? I was like, dude. I'm going to New York. It's time to come. He goes, oh, no. You'll be back. It's that kind of
access he knows. He goes, but Mom,
when you go to London, I'm so with you no matter
what time of the year. And that's the same kid that
I had to wrap in the towel. That's the sweetest
part of the memories is that the story I get to
tell is transformational. Because I was willing
to invest the pennies in my pocket in my mind
so that my pocket can overflow with something anew. And so I'm here to
disrupt you a bit. I'm here to make you
mildly, to moderately, to significantly uncomfortable
and any form of mediocracy. That's my agenda. Because when someone loves us
enough to shake us up a bit and make it uncomfortable
to do business as usual, that's a favor. That's a favor. And I was so
uncomfortable in 1994, that the last thing I wanted
was to do business as usual. And so the book is my-- it's my
answering of the question I've been asked so many
times, how did you do it? And I would be unfair if
I just gave you one line. There were many things I did. And when I look at my
life, I traveled the world. I'm on the road over 310
days out of the year. And I don't mind. Because 24 years
ago, I had a prayer. God, I want to travel
the world, run my mouth, and autograph anything. And now I'm like, update. Travel the world half the time. And so I live my dreams. And perfect? Far from that. But what I've learned how
to do is perfectly manage my imperfection. And accept it and
be at peace with it. And then, find out
how we can bring out the best in each other. And so I stopped by Google. Talk about the
law of attraction. This is a full circle. Five years ago, I opened my
offices for the first time. I've been working out of my home
for 15 years in my little home office. I started in a closet,
a walk-in closet. Well, it wasn't really
a walk-all-the-way-in. They should call some
closets step-in closet. So it was a step-in
and turn around closet. And I put on the wall-- you know
those little handheld mirrors you can get at the store, just
a little handheld, about $4.99? I bought about 4 to
6 of those mirrors. And I put those mirrors on the
wall in the walk-in closet. So when I sat down,
it looked bigger. And on the pant-- I
converted this walk-in closet to my office. And I used pant hangers with
clips on them as my files. So I clipped manila folders
on the pant hangers. And I'd just slide my little
manila folders across. Put a little desk in there. And I worked out
of that office-- out of that closet-- for four
years building my company. Then, I graduated
to a little room off the side of my bedroom. Five years ago, I graduated
to a 3,500 square-foot office. To you guys, that's small. But to me, that was
really, really, big. Because it was a walk-in
closet at one time. And when I opened my offices,
I had about three employees. And now we're up to about
20, 25, 26 or something. And still small in some people
standard, but big for me on my own. And when I started
my offices, and this is my connection to Google. I said I would tell
you this connection. I watched a
documentary on Google. And I really loved the
intention around making the employees feel at home,
making them feel comfortable. I loved that essence. I love the whole-- and I'll
probably butcher this up, forgive me. It's my first time
with you guys. But the whole food area. Like, oh my god, chefs
and food and cuisines. And I was like, this is amazing. Oh my god, they
can go in and eat. This is amazing. How can I duplicate this
on my little budget? And so my duplication, if ever
you should come to my office-- I invite you all
to visit my office. You walk in my office--
and Carla can tell you, she's on my team. You walk in my office and
when you go into my kitchen, my version of Google is
there's a shopping list. And you can put
anything you want to eat on the shopping list. And we've stocked the
refrigerator every week with fresh food that you choose. And I have a George
Foreman, that's my chef. That's y'all's chef. Our George Foreman
is y'all's chef. And everything for breakfast,
everything for lunch, everything for dinner
is in the cabinets and in the refrigerator. And if you want something,
just put it on the list and I'll buy it for you. And I model that. And I tell everyone
whenever I'm giving a tour-- and I give tours a
lot in my office-- that I was inspired
by Google to do that. So you got to start somewhere. You've got to start somewhere. And so when I found out
that during our tour I was coming to Google,
I was like, finally. I get to actually see the real. So when I leave here, I'm so
going over to your cafeteria. And I'm going to take
pictures in the cafeteria. And I'm going to put that
picture up in my office so you guys will be--
your cafeteria will be in my cafeteria-- the pictures. So that I could
show the connection. And I believe that when God--
when the universe brings something within
your realm, that's showing you that something
is available to you. More than where you are,
or wherever you're going. But you've got to be
willing to dream big enough to scare yourself. If your dreams don't scare you,
you ain't dreaming big enough. If you already know the how,
you're not dreaming big enough. Your why should be
so big, your what should be so big that
you sit back and go, now how am I going do that? Good. It's finally big enough. So many of us stop
dreaming big because we've had some failures in the past. Well, let me tell you
about abundant thinkers. Abundant thinkers,
we give ourselves permission to fail all the time. We give ourselves permission
to fail all the time. And let me tell you why. Because when you give
yourself permission to fail, you actually just gave
yourself permission to fly. Because if you try to
avoid failure all the time, you'll never take a leap. And the moment you say, I'm
OK with whatever happens, you'll take a leap. I'd rather fall flying than
live a life on the edge and never jumping off. Because then you
get to 90 and go, what would have happened
if I didn't play at 70%? And you got to watch out
for yourself because you're so brilliant-- and
just raise your hand if this is you-- that your 70%
looks like someone else's 159%. Come on, you guys,
bust yourself out. Don't just kind of put
it up a little bit. Put it all the way in the air. The truth is sexy. You're brilliant. Raise your hand. You know you're brilliant. You can see the
brilliance in the room. And you got to watch out,
because you can literally play at 70% and be impressive. And yet, you know. And there's no one to
hold you accountable because in your family circle,
you are the bomb dot com. Like, woo. They're bragging on you. Works at Google. Got it. Made it out the
neighborhood, or whatever. In my neighborhood,
that's what they say. And so you have to
constantly be holding yourself accountable
to the version of you that you desire to become. You have to constantly
keep yourself at an environment
of other people who are willing to
hold you accountable. If you came here with
someone or there's someone back in your office
or someone back in your community that
can hold you accountable, tell them the thing that
you're afraid to say out loud. And then follow it with,
please, hold me accountable to the man, the woman that
I'm becoming, not to who I am. Please don't be
impressed with my bio because I already did that. AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]. LISA NICHOLS: People look
at my bio and go, woo. Don't spend a lot time on that. That's so '08. I already did that. Like, hold me accountable
to what is in my head that I want to do in
the next 10 years. That's what I need
you to really know. And so when you look at
that and you play that big. And you're willing to stretch. And you're willing
to think ginormous. Not big, not huge,
but ginormous. And you're willing
to walk alone. See, so many of us are afraid
of leaving someone behind, we're afraid of walking alone. Here's what I know
about a great vision. If someone else in
your life doesn't get your vision-- and some
of you came just for this. Everything else is bonus. If someone in your life
doesn't get your vision, if no one in your
life gets your vision, it could be because God didn't
give your vision to them. And whatever you
call your faith. I'm not here to impose
my belief system on you. But your vision
was given to you. And only you. So if you got to walk with
it and hold it and nurture it for a while, be OK with that. That's like being impregnated
with something beautiful, but you want everyone else
to see it and describe it before you let it
out to the world. It's impossible physically. Your job is to birth it. Now, you can be here
and still be creative. You can be here
and have a passion. Inside the book, I talk
about the four E's. You all thought I was just
going to talk about the book and read from the book? You all notice I didn't
even bring a book up here. Get the book, right? And then you've got both. You all going to get the book. Don't just come for
a free conversation because this is
just the outskirts. The book is the deep
dive of the how-to. This could be called
entertainment and a couple a-has. That's where you have
the breakthrough, where you do the work. So many times, we don't
want to be inconvenienced by having-- we don't
want to be inconvenienced with our convictions. Let me tell you, in order
to have something different you are going to have to
do something different. In order to have
something more, you have to do something
you haven't done yet. I had to say the
things I didn't want to say, do the things I
didn't feel like doing, to have the life
I knew I wanted. Period. Period. And all I did was give
instructions for here, do this bite size. Do this bite size. Do this bite size. Bite size, digestible, palatable
pieces of what you can do. Does that sound good, you guys? And when you look
up-- and you don't have to have a magnificent
change over 12 months. Have a small change
over 30 days, and then a small
change over 30 days. Your breakthrough will
come in needlepoint moves. And you'll look up in five years
and not recognize your life. And you need tools, because
you've gotten yourself as far as you can get yourself. That was the best
thing I learned, is that I'd taken myself as
far as I could take myself. I keep a coach in my life. I keep a coach in every part
of my life that matters. Right before we landed here,
I was in the car texting back my spiritual mentor. And I have a business mentor. And I have a health mentor
because those areas of my life really, really matter to me. So get someone who's 2
to 10 steps ahead of you, and then just say, give
me some bread crumbs. Give me some bread crumbs. I'm good. And so that's what
I did in the book. I just said, here. If you're interested
in financial growth. And I tell people,
skip to finances if that's important for you. Skip to relationships
if that's the thing you want to enhance,
build, heal, move through. Skip to self-esteem, which
is called self-enrichment if that's the area. You want to work
on your self-worth. You want to work on your value. You want to work on making
your yeses more powerful and making your nos matter,
then skip to self-enrichment. Don't read the book in order. Read the book based
on how you need it. Yes? In three minutes, I'm going
to open up for questions. Your job is to have some
really great questions. My job is to create an answer. And here's the
guideline on questions. You can ask me anything. Say anything. AUDIENCE: Anything. LISA NICHOLS: You guys
ought to-- say anything. AUDIENCE: Anything. LISA NICHOLS: Say anything. AUDIENCE: Anything. LISA NICHOLS: I
know you guys have a corporate policy of corporate
correct of what you can ask. I'm the author. And I said what? AUDIENCE: Anything. LISA NICHOLS: Anything. I'm committed to
your breakthrough. Even if it's one person,
that's perfect for me. That's an hour spent
well, if only one person has a breakthrough. And sometimes, the
question you need to ask is not the normal question
or the politically correct question. So there's no question
you could ask of me that I feel is inappropriate. There's none. Can we agree with that? We all got that? Now, you choose the question. And my job is to answer
you transparently. Now, your job is to be
able to handle the answer. Because I already had
to get used to it. So in about two minutes,
we'll go into Q&A. I just appeared on the "Steve
Harvey Show" yesterday. And it's about my--
probably seventh time. Probably my seventh time
on the "Steve Harvey Show." I'm a resident coach on
the "Steve Harvey Show." A resident coach on
"The Today Show." And more on the
"Steve Harvey Show." He and I have a relationship
that's pretty cool. He hired me two years ago. A year and a half ago, two years
ago, he hired me to coach him. And I coached him
for a year and a half on how to become an
inspirational speaker and actually have a
division in his company that's a self-development
division. He said, I want to use my name. I want to use my brand
to inspire people now, not just make them laugh. I feel like I owe it to
my fans to inspire them. And so I don't know if you
kind of saw about a year and a half ago, he started
moving more-- sort of, kind of. He's kind of hard to corral. But the intention was
that he would move more toward inspirational speaking. So I was on his show yesterday,
and I wasn't physically there. We recorded a couple weeks ago
because I was here yesterday launching my book. And one of the key
things was, how do I shift my relationships? And you'll realize
that when you look at the quality of
your life, you're going to look at
relationships and you're going to look at money. Those are the two things that
absorb so much of our energy, is money and relationships. And one of the things I said
that in relationships, we make the mistake of thinking
we can change someone. And thinking if they
just change like this, they'll be OK with me. And the reality is, can you
love them where they are? I see the giggles. Can you love them
where they are? If they never change,
can you love them? And if you say yes
to that, then you become more of an
inspiration for change versus a push for change. Does that make sense, you guys? If you agree to love
them as is, then you inspire change
versus push change. And the second thing is-- and
these are the two key things that I said on his show
yesterday, is relationships begin to shift and go downhill
when you're more committed to being right than you
are to being in harmony. You forget that harmony is more
important than being right. That at the end of a debate,
discussion, argument, most of the time all you
want to know is, am I right? Was I right, though? And yet, you've killed off the
relationship in that moment. Now there's silent
dinners and silent hours in the house when in fact you
just want to be reconnected. So if you commit to
harmony over being right. And then in finances--
and I always like to leave people with this. I was just at "Essence." I did an 8-station, 11-city
radio interview this morning. Then I left there and
went to "Essence." Then I left there
and came to you guys. I'm just getting started. It's a day, right? Wake up ready. And over at "Essence," they
ask, can you talk about money? Because money has such
an energy attached to it. And I'm going to rattle
off some blueprints. You may want to write
this down because this was a big shift for me around
my mindset around money. Number one, you won't ever
attract more money to you until you become an even
greater steward of the money that you have. That when you mind your
pennies, dollars will flow. But if you are currently not
the best steward of the money that you have. Meaning you spend it
fast, you give it away, you don't know
how much you have, then it's difficult
for the universe to give you more of what you're
not taking risk [INAUDIBLE]. Total and the highest level
of responsibility around. That's an ouch,
but it's the truth. I kept wanting to
make more money, but I wasn't minding the
money I was making right. And when I began to mind--
because my mother used to say money burns her pockets. So I thought money was hot
and I had to spend it fast. And once I learned how to
mind my existing money, all of a sudden I
began to have space to attract more
money in my space. So being a good steward
of your existing dollars are very, very important,
because that will bring about more prosperity. I don't want to say
wealth because prosperity comes in many different forms. But there are several
blueprints that you have. And I'm going to
rattle through these fast so that I can go into Q&A. You have blueprints
around money. And a blueprint is an
unconscious awareness you don't even know
you're listening to. This is going to be
really interesting. And I talk about this and
unpack this in the book. Unpack this in the book. I actually have you take
a financial assessment in the book so you
just can kind of see where you are financially. You rate yourself, and
then you focus on the areas that you didn't rate where
you wanted to rate at. It's a very personal,
powerful tool, the assessments in the book. So your money blueprint. There are several
money blueprints that you want to look at. One, you have a cultural
money blueprint. The way your culture
relates to money has a lot to do with how you
relate to money unconsciously right now. Not even consciously. But the way your culture--
my culture, my grandmother could make a dime go in
20 different directions. And I called it a gift. So it was my honor
to make a dime go in 20 different directions. So when I found myself
having 21 dimes, it was actually more
of a problem to me. Does that make sense, you guys? Because I was so used to
culturally making my dime stretch. And all of a sudden, my
dime didn't have to stretch. When my company got to
$975,000, we were in October. And I talk about money
openly because it only means what you make it mean. It doesn't mean a lot. It's just a measure of work. That's it. When I got to $975,000,
it was in October. I stopped working
the rest of the year. I said I was tired. Then, the next year I got
to $982,000 by August. I wanted to stop working again
for the rest of the year. It didn't make sense,
that was like six months. So I was forced to
look at, why was I slowing down right before a
million dollars every year? Because I was afraid that
if I made a million dollars, it would change who I am as
a woman, as a woman of color, as a black woman. My cousins were all
talking about robbing Peter to pay Paul. I wanted to stay in
the conversation. As much as you want
to have success, you want community more
than you want success. And unconsciously, you can
start what I call moon walking. You look like you're
moving, but you're not going anywhere because
you're afraid you might be so different. I don't know, I'm
just sharing with you. These can be unconscious
conversations. I'm not implying this is you. I'm just telling you, these
are some things that happened. It happened to me. It's happened to many people. So culturally. Gender-wise. You have a conversation around
money as it comes to gender. Men, your masculinity
is attached to how much money you
make, how successful you are, and your ability
to provide for your family. Unfortunately, your masculinity
is attached to that. Right or wrong. I'm not saying any of
this is right or wrong. It's just how society has
put it out there to us. And you take it on or you don't. A woman, either you grow up
and get a good job or what? AUDIENCE: Marry a rich man. LISA NICHOLS: Or you marry a
rich man that has a good job. Either you get a good job or you
get a good man with a good job. We're raised that way. So I just want to show you some
society unconscious influences that influence us. And so even now, a woman
could be equally as qualified in the same role as
a man and she's still making less than a man
because we take that on. Society's taking that on. Your next blueprint. So there's culture blueprint. There's your gender blueprint. The next is your
geographical blueprint. How money was related
to in your community. Was it a struggle? Was it get or get got? Was it keep up with the Joneses? Was it fluid and flowing? Whatever that is, it's had an
impression on you around money. I'm speaking to all of your
unconscious influences, you guys. And then, there's your economic. Your economical blueprint. How is money in your house? Was it divisive? Was it inclusive? Did it buy the lifestyle
you wanted as a child? Vacations with the family
and all that good stuff. Or, did it keep your
parents away because they were always working
to provide money for you. Whatever your
economical blueprint was is what you'll have. And then last is your
spiritual blueprint. However your
spiritual background or your religious background. No matter, even if you move
from religious to spiritual, whatever your religious
blueprint was, there are some
unconscious influence. Baptists-- ours, mine--
was you don't need money. So that's why I stopped working
every time I got to that point because I felt like,
oh, I don't need money. I don't need that much money. And so my spiritual
blueprint was really influencing me until I
said, thank you so much, but I've outgrown you. So I just want to bring
from your unconscious to your conscious, so you
can say, I still choose it. Or thank you so much,
I've outgrown you. Who has a question? And if you can go
to the mic, that way you get your pretty
face on the camera. Tell me your name first. AUDIENCE: Hi, I'm Katie. LISA NICHOLS: Hi, Katie. How are you? AUDIENCE: I am just great. First of all, you were on
my vision board for 2016. So this year is off
to a fantastic start. LISA NICHOLS: Come on, girl. Check it off the list. So can we take a picture and
replace my name with our photo? AUDIENCE: Oh, I was really
hoping you would say that. LISA NICHOLS: Absolutely. You attracted that answer. And then cam you put it next
to what the word "done?" AUDIENCE: Oh, yeah. LISA NICHOLS: Because
we're result-driven. And every time we write
"done," you excite yourself. And then you go after the
next thing to write "done." You'll get so excited
with the word "done." AUDIENCE: I'm such a fan
girl, I can't even tell you. LISA NICHOLS: Amen. AUDIENCE: So thank you
so much for coming. LISA NICHOLS: You're welcome. AUDIENCE: And sharing
your wisdom and your love. It's amazing. One thing I've
been working on is letting go of people,
beliefs, things that aren't serving me anymore. But I'm getting kind
of rigid with it. So I wanted to know
if you had, either any tips of what
you do in your life to let go of those things that
just don't serve you anymore? LISA NICHOLS: Right. Do you meditate? AUDIENCE: Yes. LISA NICHOLS: OK. So spend more time in that. And spend time inside your
still time reciting the words, it's all OK. It's all in flow to
hold onto and to let go. AUDIENCE: That's good. LISA NICHOLS: It's all OK. It's all in flow to
hold onto and to let go. So you hold as long
as you can hold. And then when it's time
to let go, you'll let go. So don't try to make
yourself let go, because now you're
focusing on it. And energy grows
where energy goes. So I need to let go. No, just flow with it. I'll let go when
it's time to let go. It's all in flow. So spend time in your
meditation focusing on that. And then every time you let
go of something, celebrate it. What gets celebrated
gets repeated. We're all three-year-olds. We're all three-year-olds. What gets celebrated
gets repeated. And so every time
you let something go, celebrate that you let it go. Have your own little cupcake. Invite a friend over. When you let go of a habit,
when you let go of a behavior, when you let go of a person. Any time you let
go of something, celebrate it because
then you'll get excited. As excited as the word "done." Yes? AUDIENCE: That's awesome. Yes, yes. Thank you. LISA NICHOLS: I love it. Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited for our picture. AUDIENCE: Hi, Lisa. LISA NICHOLS: Hi, beautiful. AUDIENCE: So for
those of you who didn't know, when I walked
in here, I bought the book. And Lisa came up to me
and said, great book. I said, really? LISA NICHOLS: You
should read that book. She didn't know it
was me because I look a little different, right? She looked at me like, really? I said, it is. It's good. And I could tell she
didn't know it was me. I was like, but I'm so bad. I shouldn't do that. But it's so much fun. AUDIENCE: And then I
got a selfie with her. LISA NICHOLS: I figured I owed
her a selfie because I totally tricked her. AUDIENCE: So my question to you
is I love all of this wisdom. I'm a lifelong learner. And it's so nice to see that
you're out there coaching because so many of us need it. How do you make that
transformation stick? I love coming to these lectures,
and listening and saying, I'm going to do it. And then you
realize you get back to your old original habits. How do you suggest we actually
take that transformation in our lives? LISA NICHOLS: So Joan
Baez says that action is the antidote for despair. And Lisa Nichols adds, action
is the prescription for success. So in between these
wonderful lectures, get in radical action. Which is why I say get an
accountability partner. You will be 80% more likely to
achieve your goal if you have an accountability partner
because you will not be the weakest link. Right? So you don't have anyone
holding you accountable. Who holds giants accountable? Like, who holds us accountable? That's why I spent that
whole time on that. Have someone hold
you accountable. Share the thing you
don't want to share with them that you're up to
that you really want to achieve. And then the last
thing is to make bite-size, digestible, palatable
moments of achievement. Abundant thinkers don't
look at the macro win. We focus on the micro win. So have nine micro wins to
get you to one macro win. See, everyone's making
New Year resolutions now, and that's a macro win
with no micro win set up. So by March, you don't
even want to talk about it. Like, you're mad if I
bring up your goal that you set on January 1 by March. That's because you
didn't have anything for the second week of January,
the third week of January. Every goal I have, I go detail. And I'm a creator. So I'm not linear
detail line, but I've become that way as a CEO. And so Carla can tell you,
every time we set a goal. I go, OK, back me
into that goal. How will it be attained? Show me every single step
that will get us there. Every single micro-step
that will get us there. And then, every fourth
step, let's celebrate. That's our milestone. Every fourth step,
that's our milestone. Every fourth step. And we celebrate. Woo-hoo, we're a quarter
of the way there. Because we'll celebrate,
it gets repeated. So you probably don't have
enough milestones or action steps, micro wins
inside of a macro win. And you don't have
enough action in between. And you probably don't have
an accountability buddy. And all of that-- and that
great book I told you was great. I mean, I told you. All of that's in there. And you deep dive in that. Don't learn any more,
just do something. Don't learn. If you say I'm not
going to learn any more, I'm going to go back and apply
the things I learned for 2016. Let 2016 be a deep dive of
what you've already learned. Just learn one more
thing, that book. That's it. And then, do it. And then do it. My pastor told me once
when I was 21 years old, she said people want to quote
scriptures all the time. She said, do yourself a favor. Live one. Don't start quoting a lot. Live one. And I figured it's the same
way for a passage in a book. Don't just learn a
passage in a book. Live it. And then learn it
and live it again. And how will your life
be different if you just learn 12 different things? You're now living 12
different things in your life. So that's the answer. And thank you for
letting me play with you. And we got a selfie. Yes, beautiful. AUDIENCE: Hi. How are you? My name is Stephanie. LISA NICHOLS: Hi, Stephanie. AUDIENCE: So many
things that you have said have resonated with
me, that it's like scary. Like, you are talking
about my life. Like, particularly my 60
is other people's 150. And so when I talk
about specific goals to certain people
in my life-- family, friends-- it's kind of
like, you already made it. You got a good job, husband,
kids, the whole thing. Like, you're set. Like, what more do you want? You're living this
golden life, basically. But always inside
I'm just like, eh. It's all right. LISA NICHOLS: Right. AUDIENCE: And so for months
now-- more than months, years, I have this deep-rooted
need to travel. And so I try to make it
possible as much as I can. And I have two kids,
another on the way. And I'm like, how do I
make it work with the kids? I'll put them on my back. They can come with me. Me and my husband can
work this out together. And so I started doing the
research of reading about blogs on families who travel. Travel the world
for years at a time. And so I'm like, ugh. That's a lot. I read the blogs, and
then I put it down. And literally, within the last
48 hours, I read another one. And I sat down with my
husband just this morning and I spoke it into
existence to him. I was like, 2020 is our year. Our kids will be four,
eight, and 10 at that time. And we have four
years to come up with a plan of how we're
going to school them, come up with a plan of
what we'll do on the road to continue to make money. I'll be at Google for six years. Google [INAUDIBLE],
like all of this stuff. I was scared. I was scared to find out
what his reaction was, if he'd be down for it. And I was scared of speaking
it, like 2020 is so far. Things can happen. I was doubting myself. And on the train, I felt it. And I called him and we
were talking about it. And I was like, I
can't be scared. You just have to plan. Because what if in four
years nothing bad happened, and then I wasted four
years not planning this amazing experience? And so my husband and
I, we agreed on it. We declared it this morning. And I come to you-- LISA NICHOLS: And I'm just
here to affirm it all, right? AUDIENCE: Exactly. LISA NICHOLS: And to give
you some tools and some skill sets to make it happen. AUDIENCE: And so
that's my question. Like OK, I'm ready to
make the commitment. But what's the next
step for tomorrow? LISA NICHOLS: Sure. So first, tell me
your name again. AUDIENCE: Stephanie. LISA NICHOLS: Stephanie. So first, Stephanie. I want to celebrate you. AUDIENCE: Thank you. LISA NICHOLS: Celebrate
you for doing it with your knees knocking
and your teeth chattering. Because we often wait for the
fear to go away to take action. And when you realize that
fear is actually your friend, fear is not an enemy. I love disrupting
things like this. Fear is only your
enemy when you allow it to paralyze your movement. But fear will get you up early. Fear will make you
do your research. Fear will humble you out. Fear will have you ask for help. Fear is your friend
when you use it to inform you of what you need. Whenever I'm afraid-- and I
stay afraid because I'm always playing so frigging big. I'm like, ah. How are we going to do that? Haven't I been playing
big ever since I signed with Harper on his book. Like, we're going to do this
and we're going to do that. And then I go home and go, how
are we going to do all that? So fear feeds you. So one, I want to celebrate you
for moving afraid and sharing with your husband. Secondly, I want to remind you--
and I say this respectfully, don't share your million dollar
dreams with dollar thinkers. She's like, mm. I'm going to write that down. Like, be selective who you
share your million dollar dreams with. Share them, but share
them with people who are going to put
helium in your balloon. Don't share them with
people who are going to try to throw a pin at it. Like, why would I expose
my dream balloon to someone with a bunch of darts? It doesn't say we don't
love them any less. But based on where they're
dreaming and thinking, they have to see the evidence
before it becomes real. My company was named Motivating
the Masses in 1992, you guys. I didn't even touch
the masses until 2008. That's how long it was my dream. No one even knew I had the
company name in my family because they only knew I had
motivating the team spirit. Because they could see
me working wit teams. But I had Motivating the
Masses over there in the cut. And I would tell the people
who can hold that dream. And they would constantly
put helium in that dream. And when I was on
Oprah-- I kid you not, I was on Oprah talking
about "The Secret" in 2007. And when I went home, my family
said, we're angry at you. I said, why are you angry at me? Because you're keeping
some kind of secret. That's what they knew
about "The Secret." I said no, that's a book. That's a video. They're like, what? I was like, I gave you the
book, like two years ago. They were like, oh. Girl, I ain't opened that. I could tell. So I selectively choose who you
share that million dollar dream with, first of all, so that
you don't feel deflated. Have you ever shared
a dream with someone and the dream buster just came,
swooped in, and started busting the dream, and you were afraid? And it made you kind of doubt
the dream a little more. No, no, no. Don't make me doubt my dream. So your job is to share
with the right people. And not people who
can't dream that be responsible for
celebrating your dream. That's unfair for you to do. That's number one. And number two, I
love where you are. Make a clear, concrete plan. Don't do some day. I want the next time I
see you, talk to you. Come on, follow me on Facebook. Talk to me in my email. I want to know the day
you start traveling. AUDIENCE: I already
started planning it. I would have New Year's
at my home in 2019, so it will be a send off. LISA NICHOLS: So January 1. OK. So then I want to
know-- watch this. Level of clarity. So ambiguous goals bring
about ambiguous results. But when you get to a new level
of crystal clarity, watch this. Tell me the day you
start traveling. Tell me the airline
you're going to choose. Tell me the flight number. I don't care if the flight
number changes, but pick a flight to the location. And choose that flight number. Take a picture of the luggage
that you're going to use. Take a picture of the way
you're going to make money, even if someone else is
making that kind of money now, of how they're making it. Put all that inside
your reality book. Not your dream book,
in your reality book. Get so crystal clear. Share it with your husband. Share it with their children. Start talking about things. Where are you going to travel? Get a postcard from the first
place you're going to go to? Like, order it. Go somewhere and find them. And bring them into
your existence. Start eating it, breathe
it, walk it, talk it. When you sweat, it
comes from your pores. So that's all you're doing. You'll start drawing
it to you faster. You'll start building
up momentum toward it when you do that. And then, get an action. And then one of
the first things. It's going to take you
four years to do this. Find out, how much does it
cost to buy your freedom? I found out how much it
cost to buy my freedom. I was working for LA
Unified School District. And my first check I
wrote to myself was $110. It's in the book. Just follow what I do in the
book about buying your freedom. I wrote a check to
myself for $110. I put in the memo line
"funding my dream." I wasn't even clear
what the dream was. And I wrote a check to
myself every two weeks for 3 and 1/2 years,
almost four years. And on the 3 and 1/2 years,
I walked into Wells Fargo. And I said, my name
is Lisa Nichols. They said, oh. Because I used to
mail the check in. And I wouldn't
open the statements because I was afraid
I'd spend the money if I opened the statement. Because my mother said
money burned her pocket, so I don't want it
to burn my pocket. So if I didn't know-- you got
to trick yourself sometimes, right? So I said, if I don't know,
I'm not going to spend it. So I went into Wells Fargo. I said, my name is Lisa Nichols. I came to check my balance. They said, you're the
funding my dream lady. Because I wrote that every time,
every two weeks in the memo line for 3 and 1/2 years. And they all ran
around the teller. And I said, yes, I am. They said, we've got a question. Managers came around. They said, what's
the dream, right? And I said, my son
was 5 and 1/2 then. I started when he was two. I said, I'm not sure. Oh my god, I'm going
to make myself cry. I said, I'm not sure,
but it has something to do with inspiring people. Excuse me, inspiring people
all around the world. And I said, I just came
to check my balance. They wrote the balance
down, turned it around. And it said $62,500. I turned it back around,
gave it back to her. I said, my social
security is 549-67-- I don't even want that money. It's not my money. Y'all going to ask for it back. I know that's not for me. My family has never
had $5,000 in the bank. I know I don't have $62,000. And they teared up. I teared up. And they said, Ms.
Nichols, you have $62,500. What are you going
to do with it? And I said, I don't know, but
my dream gets funded today. And that's how I started. So you're on the
right path, sweetie. AUDIENCE: Awesome. Thank you so much. LISA NICHOLS: You're welcome. Give her a hand. [APPLAUSE] So my goal was to
come and just do a little or a lot of disruption. My goal was to stir
something in your soul, to make you stretch
a little further into the magnificent
future that belongs to you. It belongs to you by birthright. "Abundance Now" is not
abundance later, abundance when you get it all
right, abundance when you-- it's abundance now. Like, what better time than now? And so I just stopped
by to inspire you. I'm going to hang around. I'm going to sign books. I'm going to take some pictures. And hopefully, create just
a little needlepoint move in the trajectory of your life. And in the future, you don't
have to remember my name. You don't have to
remember anything, just remember the moment you
made the decision for you. Because that's what matters. Your life is more
valuable to the people that it inspires than it
will actually ever be to you. Like, your job is to inspire
someone beyond belief. That lives forever. Your legacy will live much
longer than your life span. And our job is to write a great
life to have a great legacy to inspire many people. And anyone can do it. I'm just a woman from
South Central LA, between the Harlem Crip
30's and the Rollin 60's, who got a C plus in school. In 12 years, that
was my highest grade. The last time I took
English, I got a fail. And my English teacher told me I
was the weakest writer she ever met in her entire life. And the last time-- right, I
should send her a book, right? AUDIENCE: Autograph. LISA NICHOLS: With
my face on it. Right, autographed. Some of your best
motivation does not come wrapped in a red bow. It comes wrapped in sandpaper. You get to use
everything as fuel. The last time I took a speech
class, I got a D minus. And my speech teacher
said, quote unquote, "Ms. Nichols, I recommend
you never speak in public." Some of your best
motivation might come wrapped in sandpaper. I just stopped by to disrupt
you a bit, to inspire you a bit, and to hold on and
love you a bit. I hope it's been
good for you guys, because it's definitely
been good for me. Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
Her book is amazing. If you ever need help to focus more on what you want and how manifest it - this book will help.
I spent an afternoon with her two years ago with a crowd of about 50 people and at the end of the workshop she pitched a 30,000$ coaching package and two or three people purchased it on the spot.
She's known for The Secret and Chicken Soup for the Soul but speaking, storytelling and converting is where she really excels.