- If you havin' a bad time
right now, it cannot last! Poor people talk about money all the time, rich people talk about things. Wealthy people, they talk about ideas. Instead of waiting for
someone to give you a job, create your own work. - He was a Bohemian evangelical Christian and ordained minister, he founded the Bahamas Faith
Ministries International. He was the CEO and chairman of the International Third World
Leaders Association, he's Myles Munroe, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number five is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around
all the way till the end for some special bonus clips. And as always, as Myles is talking, if he says something that really
really resonates with you, please leave it in the comments below, and put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. Enjoy! (dramatic music) - Change is inevitable. Change is also the principle of life, that means that everything
that is alive will change. And even things that are
not alive will change. You know, a lady came to me, she says, I came to the
Bahamas for the last 10 years, and I missed four years, and I came here this past month
and everything is different. The airport is new she said. What happened to the old airport she says. In other words, even the
things not alive are changing. The way the river runs down the mountain is wearing away the mountain. You go back to that
mountain 10 years later, and the river is wider. Change is in creation, it's part of life. So here is the question then, Ecclesiastes chapter three, it says to everything there is a season, and to every purpose, under
heaven, there is a time for it. To everything there's a season. How many things have a season? Everything! This is one of the best
news I ever got in my life. When I understood this, I was a teenager, and it changed my life, but I understood that
everything is a season. Let me tell you why, if you havin' a bad time
right now, it cannot last! (audience applause) If you cannot find a job right
now, that is only a season. If your business is going
in the wrong direction, it's a season of slide. If nobody wants to marry
you, that's only a season. (audience laughing) They're going to come a season,
everybody want to marry you! You got choices (laughing). If you have no money right now, the good news is I am seasonally broke! Tell your neighbor, it's only for a time. That's the good news! That's why we are always reminded, never make a permanent decision, in a temporary problem. Success is a not something you pursue. Success is a matter
becoming a person of value. We should not be pursing money, we should pursue purpose,
we should pursue vision. For ourselves, and for our
countries, for our communities. We should be pursuing things,
we need to pursue ideas. - That's right. - I always say there are three
types of people in the world, there's poor people, there's rich people, and there's wealthy people. Poor people talk about money all the time. Rich people talk about things. Wealthy people, they talk about ideas. Rich people, poor people, and wealthy people think differently. For example, poor people,
they pursue money. Rich people pursue things. Wealthy people pursue ideas. And so constantly there's a
different way of thinking. I hope that the third world countries, and the young people of our nations, they become ideas people. You know, ideas control
the world, not money. - That's right. - And ideas attract money. So I think if we minimize
this desire to get money, and elevate the creativity of new ideas, we'll find that financial results
will naturally flow to it. Bill Gates didn't pursue
money, he pursued an idea. Steven Jobs, the late Steven Jobs, who invented the Apple
computer, and the iPhone, he never went after money, he developed an idea. And if you think of all the
wealthy people in the world, it was ideas that made
them wealthy, not money. So I think we need to reverse it, don't pursue money and
then try to get an idea. Get an idea and money
will pursue the idea. And you become a by-product,
as far as wealth. I tell all the young people, I say to you right now,
stop looking for employment. Why don't you position
yourself differently, and look for deployment. To be employed means that somebody else is benefiting from your energy. To deploy yourself, means that
you are using your own energy to be productive. So instead of waiting for
someone to give you a job, create your own work. That's why people, it's different between your work and your job. Your job is what they train you to do. Your work is what you were born to do. Your job is your skill, which they can fire you from at any time. But your work is your gift,
no one can take that from you. Your job is where you get
compensation for activity. Your work is when you get fulfillment cuz you love it so much. Your job, you can retire from. Your work, you can never
retire from your work, cuz your work is you. So when a person discovers their work, they no longer need a job. Cuz their work makes them productive. So there are young people in this country who are full of talents, full of gifts, and I want to say this too, every problem in life is a business. All businesses are simply
someone solving a problem. So the more problems that are in Kenya, the more businesses available
for young people to begin. And this is what I think we are lacking. We are trained to get a job, we're not trained to start a business. We are trained to let
other people employ us, not trained to deploy ourselves. Do we sit down and let
change just happen to us? Or are we just watching
change happening around us? Or are we aware that change
is happening within us? Or are we going to be
those pro-active people, who make sure that we
affect what happens to us? Change also produces four types of people. They are in this room, first of all, there are people
who who watch things happen. Now let me say something about change, this is important here. Not all change is improvement. You used to weigh 128. And now you changed. And for some of you,
that's not an improvement. You lost your wardrobe (laughing) you lost your ability
to climb up steps fast. Even lost the quality
of health that you had. Change doesn't mean
improvement all the time. But the problem is, without change, there can be no improvement. So you have to decide
what to do with change. Change will happen, and if you are not careful,
it could be destructive. So you have to determine what kind of change do I want in my life? And I want you as a young person, as a mother and a father,
as a business person, to think about your company even, or your family, or your
educational pursuit. And what kind of classes
do you want to take in college this year? What kind of grades do you want? What kind of relationship you
want to have in your life? Who do you want to drop and
who do you want to pick up in your relationships? What kind of people do you
want to associate with? Where do you want to travel, that you've never been? What are the books you need
to read you never read before? That changes come with choices. So what kind person are you? We shouldn't try to get everything now. You know, I got into college, I spent eight years in universities, I have three bachelors
degrees, a masters degree, five doctorate degrees, bestowed upon me, by many different universities. And many of my friends
are in the school with me, high school, they went straight to jobs. I went to college. You know, they started makin' money early. I delayed my money makin' for five years. And now what they make in a year, I probably make in an hour. And so you know, we
need to be more focused on developing ourselves, rather than trying to grab money now. Focus on self improvement, self expansion, rather than trying to
get your pocket fix back. Because the more valuable
you make yourself, the more value you attract. You are not paid for how hard you worked, you are paid for what you are
worth to the organization. And the more intellectual
development you have the more spiritual development you have, the more psychological development, your emotional stability, you become more valuable to the world. And let me say this finally, if you become valuable to the world, the world will pay you to be yourself. So it's important for you
to become a person of value not to seek value in things. I get paid for what I
know, not for what I do. And I think this is
what we need to perceive as being most valuable. Do you know what they
actually call intellect? They call it capital. You know intellectual capital
is really a commodity. And so I want to
encourage our young people to focus on discovering
the purpose for your life. Why God created you, and then discover your
gifts, and then refine them, develop them, practice them, and then even begin to sow
them free into your community. Develop yourself and in a short time, you will discover that
people will pursue you, because when you develop your fruit, and you maximize your
fruit or your gift in life just like a tree. Trees never bring their fruit to you. - That's right. - They just simply manifest it. You are attracted to the tree. So when you develop your
gifts and refine your gifts, you don't need to look for
followers, they'll find you. After all, leadership is
not about finding followers, it's about followers being
attracted to what you have. And this is true commodity. Power for me to be successful
was not in the teachers, it was not in the educational system, it was not in my culture,
it was not in my society, it was within me, and I began to think, God if you are a good God, why am I poor? If you are a great God, why are
these people better than me? If you make me in your
image, why are they special? And I'm a monkey? And that night, no thunder, no lightening, no earthquakes, nothing. I just heard a voice in my mind. And the voice said, I
asked you to believe me. And you'll be saved, not them. And that night, I made a commitment to believe what God said. 13 years old, I said,
okay I believe that I have the power to experience far beyond all I can ever ask, think or imagine. 13 years old, and that's
when my pursuit of God began. - When was it that you realized you wanted to become a preacher? - You know, I didn't want
to become a preacher. Matter of fact, today I still don't consider myself a preacher. I think it drove me to have a passion to help everybody whose been oppressed. My passion is to make sure that no one should live under what I experienced. I never desired to be a minister. I desired to help people. You should never judge your success by other people's accolades. You judge your success by
God's instruction to your life and how well along you
are with that instruction. Because I found there's something in life the average human being is so mediocre that to be a genius,
just do a little extra. Yall missed that. People are so normal, to be an expert, just
go one inch abnormal. And they think you're great. So don't judge your success by the masses, what they think of you. Judge yourself by what God told you to do. Can I put it another way? When experience is your best teacher, then progress is imprisoned. Experience could be a curse. I've been taught by my parents years ago that experience is the best teacher. I don't believe that anymore. Experience could cause
you to stop progressing, because you keep judging your
dreams by your experience. Or your vision by your experience. And you end up saying,
I tried that before. Or I never saw anyone do it that way. And you begin to use your experience to stop your progress. This is why God always makes
history with young people. Because old people got
too much experience. Yall remember the story
with David and Goliath? The problem with Saul, who was the king, was that he had experience. And he tried to put his
experience on David. He told David, wear my
armor, wear my shield, use my sword, David put it on, David said this thing is too heavy. And he went out and fought the giant, with something the giant never saw before. A sling! How do you fight a rock with a sword? (laughing) The giant says, "What is
this thing he's using?" The giant is trained
experience with a sword, so he expected an experienced swordsman to come and fight him. But here comes a little boy, with equipment he ain't never seen before. We need some people like
that in the 21st century. (audience applause) who come with some things
that they ain't never seen at the office. Think of some ideas that'll
wreck the whole system. That's why Steven Jobs
will always be in history as a great inventor. He keep defying his own experience. I was reading his, watching a documentary
on him two weeks ago, and they said that when
the iPhone came out, they said to him that's it, you the ultimate, this is it. He said no, and he came up
with this idea about the iPad. And he said the people
in the company said, it will never work! Why? It's an abnormal size. Either you got a computer or an iPhone, put it in your pocket or
put it in your briefcase. See this thing in the
middle, ain't going to work. He says look, we going to make this. Now the iPad is the most
common machinery people use in the world! Sometime you got to defy your
own board, to take progress. Experience, consult your experience, but never let it rule you. Chesma says, sweet are
the uses of adversity. Ooh I like that. Sweet are the uses of adversity, he says, you must learn to use adversity for your benefit. One of the wealthiest
men in the United States, I just finished reading his book, again, his new edition, it's called "Cheaters Never Win." He's a multi-billionaire, he probably has products
in this room today. Or in this building somewhere. He is the largest manufacturer
of plastic, paper, cups, and paper plates and forks in the world. The company is called
The Huntsman Enterprise. Multi-billionaire, here's
what he says in his book, I just finished reading, he says if there is a
silver lining to bad times, it is this, when facing severe challenges, your mind is normally at it's sharpest. I wonder why he's a billionaire? When facing challenges, he
says your mind kicks in, and thinks beyond the norm. He also says, another statement
I thought was interesting, he said humans seldom have
created anything of lasting value unless they were tried or hurting. Benefits from crisis, this is when you are supposed
to become a greater leader, a better leader, because
your skills must be tested. I put it another way, Abraham
Lincoln was an amazing guy. He became the greatest president,
in the midst of trials. Today, I still am convinced,
he is the greatest President of the United States in history. Because he used adversity
to create a federation, that lasted 300 years
and still we're working, but it came out of the fires of crisis. My definition of
leadership is very simple, yet complicated. I believe that leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, not manipulation. And that inspiration comes from a passion which is motivation by a sense of vision, and a sense of purpose. So leadership is first
personal, then it's corporate. Leadership is not something you pursue, it's something you discover. Leaders are born when a
human discovers something more important than
their personal ambition. - You don't pursue it? - No true leaders do not seek followers. Leaders are actually
pursuing a passion toward a purpose that gives
them a sense of destiny. For example, one of the
greatest leaders of example that I use is Nelson Mandela, one of your great presidents. He never sought followers, think about it. He discovered a purpose
that was more important than his private preservation
and private ambition. He pursued that purpose privately. It attracted people. So leaders don't seek followers, followers are attracted to leaders. Leaders are more concerned
about discovering a purpose to improve the life of humanity, that's more important than
their personal ambition. So they sacrifice themselves
to accomplish something for the greater good. We find that very rarely. Most people we call leaders are simply professional manipulators. And they actually are more concerned with their own promotion
than promoting the people. - As you look back over your life, if there's just one thing
that you could do differently, what would it be? - Hmm, that's always a tough question, I get that question asked a lot. I'm not sure, you know, because everything that
happened in my life, produced me, even the negatives, even the things that I might've failed in. The things I made mistakes with, they were fantastic classrooms for me. And I believe the best thing in life to do is not to regret and try
to change what happened, but to interpret it properly, maximize it and use it
to serve other people. And that's what I want to do with my past. - Thank you guys so much for watching, I made this video because
Abel Solomon asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it down in the comments below, I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know,
what did you hear today that inspired you the most? What was the biggest
lesson that you learned after watching this video? I'd love to hear from you,
please leave it in the comments. And I'm going to join in the discussion. I also want to give a quick
shout out to Max Jung, Max, thank you so much for
picking up a copy of my book, it really really really means a lot to me. 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 ya soon. - I want to focus on discovering and releasing, how to release
your hidden greatness. Every human being in this room, and those watching by the internet, you have inside of you, I have no doubt about it, greatness. But most people will die with
their greatness on the inside. And this is why we have this conference, because we don't want you
to be one of those persons who die with their greatness. Let me say a few comments about greatness. Every human desires two things in life, I want you to write 'em down. Two things, every human wants, six billion of us, and now seven billion since last mid-April, on this planet, want two things. And everything you do is
motivated by these two things. One, we want power. Every young person, every
old person wants power. We got to talk about what power is. And the second thing we want is greatness. We don't talk about these too much, but every human being wants power, and they want greatness. This is why we are motivated
to wear certain clothing. We call 'em power clothing. This is why we try to join a gang, cuz being in a gang of
people gives you power to threaten other people. This is why we would
actually want to steal money or gain money, cuz money
gives you power to buy things that you want to make you feel important. Everything we do is motivated
by these two things. Power and greatness. Now I want to mention
something about power, what is power? Power, I want you to
quote it with me out loud, up on the board, so you can remember it, when you leave here, what is power? Read it! Power is the ability and the capacity to control circumstances
and the environment, that's power. Power is what? The ability to control circumstances and to control your environment. That's what power is,
and everybody wants it. The politician wants
it, the banker wants it. The parent wants it, the
young person wants it. Everybody wants power to
control circumstances. What is greatness? Write this down,
greatness, out loud please, is a sense of value,
importance and significance. That's greatness. Greatness is when you feel that you are important to the world. You feel great when you feel that you are valuable to society. Greatness is when you feel
that you are significant to your generation. In other words, the desire
for all of us to be great, and to control our environment is natural. You as a 16 year old, your desire to become
the head of the class is the desire for greatness. You as an 18 year old, your
desire to go to college and get a degree, so you
can get a better job, so you can make more money, so you can buy things you want, is a desire for control. A desire for greatness. And this is why people get in trouble. They're pursuing power and greatness. Now let me repeat again, the pursuit of power and
greatness is natural. As a matter of fact, if
you don't want to be great, something's wrong with you. If you have no desire to be powerful, something's wrong with you. Every person here desires these things. I put it this way, God is
not against your desire for greatness. He's not against your desire for power. Cuz God created you to be great. Potential is who you are
but no one knows it yet. Potential is who you could become but you haven't become it yet. Potential is how far you can go, but you haven't gone yet. In other words, potential
is never what you've done, cuz once you've done something, it ceases to be your potential. Potential therefore has to do
with what you haven't done yet that you can still yet do. That's why I am after you. I came after you because I'm
bored with what you've done I'm bored with it. You've got a Ph.D so what? It's over! What's left? Potential therefore is not
about what you've achieved, it's what you haven't achieved yet, that you could achieve. This is why I say this, that the end of your
potential, write it down, is your last success. The greatest enemy of your
potential is your success. Cuz when you become
successful at something, it tempts you to stop. This is why I am always nervous
about people's accolades concerning me. I don't trust too many
awards people give me. I have so many degrees bestowed upon me. And I hide them away, cuz I don't even want to see them, they may stop me from moving. Nothing is more dangerous
than camping on your success. And so you possess the
potential and it's hidden.
