Eric Thomas - You Owe You: Ignite Your Power, Your Purpose, and Your Why

Copyright 2022 by Eric Thomas

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Rodale Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN9780593234983

Ebook ISBN9780593234990

Print book design by Andrea Lau

Cover design by Pete Garceau

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CONTENTS

If you cant fly then run,

if you cant run then walk,

if you cant walk then crawl,

but whatever you do,

you have to keep moving forward.

M ARTIN L UTHER K ING J R.

FOREWORD

The first time I heard ETs voice, I became an instant fan. Theres something about itthe passion, the drive, the dog. Every time it gets me. For years, E has been sending me messages before games or when he knows Im going through something, and when his voice comes on, it always has an impact. Es work is timeless. You can go on YouTube and watch one of his speeches and the only way you can tell when its from is by looking at the time stamp. When he talks, its like a sermon. If youve ever been to church and you hear the pastor speaking, and you think, Man, he must be talking to me , thats how it is to hear ET speak. It always feels like hes talking directly to you.

Es work and legacy make me think of my grandfather, who opened the first Black-owned service station in North Carolina. It makes me think of my father, who coached me and my brother through sports and through life. It makes me think of my own kids, who I want to be proud of me and have the experience of success Ive had in life. E talks about having a why. For me, my why used to be that I hated losing more than I liked winning. Over the years its changed. When I first came into the NBA, I felt like I had to prove myselfto the league, to my family, to everyone I grew up with. Now I get a chance to show my kids what hard work looks like. I get to show them what preparation looks like. I get to show them what commitment looks like. I think E does that for all of us. Shows us what hard work and commitment look like.

In my own career, Im drawn to people like me. Im in my seventeenth season and I still feel the way I felt in the beginningyou will not outwork me. Im drawn to people with the same work ethic. Sometimes you can just look in a persons eyes and tell theyre a dog. People like that can be on my team any day. You can look at ET and see his grind. You can see his passion and his commitment. Hes flown across the country to come see me play. Hes come to speak at my youth leadership camps all over the United States. He shows up 100 percent every time without asking for anything in return. And its not just for me. Its for everybody. Ive seen him give his phone number out to kids because he could tell they needed someone to talk to. He does it because its his calling. Its his calling to coach us all in whatever way we need it. Its his calling to be on our team.

We have this in commonE is on your team, too.

INTRODUCTION

You Are The Only One Who Can Change Your Life

If youre holding this book in your hands right now, this book is for you. I wrote it for you. You might think that sounds crazy, that thousands of people are holding this very same book in their hands, reading this very same line, but its true. Im speaking directly to you.

You Owe You is a manual to help you understand your power and your purpose. Its a guide, illustrated with many of my own struggles and triumphs, to lead you toward your why and bring you closer to fulfilling your potential. This book is for you, wherever you are on your journey toward greatness. Its a book with an urgent message to stop waiting for the stars to align, to stop waiting for inspiration to strike, to wake up and take hold of your own life. Today. You owe it to yourself to become fully, authentically you. To live your life in the way that only you can live it.

I wish that Id had this kind of blueprint to put me on a path toward greatness. I spent so many years lost. I spent so much time without intention. I spent much too long not pursuing my purpose. Maybe, if I had had this book, I would have seen my gifts and my power for what they were much earlier in my life. Maybe if Id had this book, I wouldnt have spent so many years feeling like a victim, feeling alone, consumed with what other people thought about me.

Through much stumbling and many missteps, I finally found my path toward purpose. And today I am blessed to speak to an audience that is as large as it is diverse. I am now an internationally known speaker and motivational coach. And I am fortunate to work with rich people. Poor people. Black people. White people. Middle-aged people. Octogenarians even. I speak to famous people and people who stop me on the street because they know my name.

But the first people to start following me were kids. This is because, way back in the day, I started working with kids first. In college, I spoke to my peers at Oakwood in Huntsville, Alabama. And then I started helping high school dropouts get their GEDs, just as somebody helped me years before. I worked in elementary schools and middle schools. I visited juvenile detention centers and foster homes. I taught English and drama and speech in Huntsville, and I tutored kids who struggled in school, just as I did. Through all this work, I became known as ET, the hip-hop preacher.

When YouTube started, kids were the first ones to pick up on my videos. And, eventually, some of those kids got successful. They became college athletes or professional athletes. They became entrepreneurs and educators. They became comedians and actors and musicians. Those kids grew up and they took me with them. Kids are the ones I owe this book to. Especially kids who grew up without fathers, kids who struggled with learning disabilities or trauma, kids who were troublemakers like me.

When I go to schools, when I go to prisons, when I go to NBA locker rooms and NFL training camps, when I go to Australia or LA or Detroit or London or Alabama or France, the reaction is the same: They all hear me, and they all know Im speaking to them. Telling them that this is the moment. This is life or death. This is the time you get up and change your life. Its not about money, its not about fame, its not about the degree or the touchdown or the check at the end of the grind. Its about getting up every day, understanding your power, walking in your purpose, knowing what you want, and spending every minute of the rest of your life going after it.

This book is informed by so many books Ive read before it: Dennis Kimbros Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice , Dr. Naim Akbars Visions for Black Men , M. Scott Pecks The Road Less Traveled and my own experiences self-publishing books like The Secret to Success and The Grind but I hope that my book is unique in its delivery. So much of the work Ive read before is difficult, academic, and complex. My message is deep, but its also simple. I want you to be able to read this book and understand its message if you are twelve years old or forty years old. I want you to be able to read this book no matter where youre from or how far youve gone in school. I want my message to be clear to everyone.

My message is that you are the only one who can change your life. You are the only person who determines your value. You are the only person who can truly choose your purpose and find your path to greatness. You are the only person who can identify your difference and use it to your advantage. You are the only person who can help yourself.

I have been where you are. I am speaking to everyone who feels that they are living on the outside. Everybody who feels that the world wasnt built for them. There is common experience in struggling to understand a language that you dont know exists. There is common experience in feeling life or death urgency for whatever it is you have going onraising your kids, making the rent, caring for your sick spouse, playing the most important game of your life, taking a test that makes the difference between staying in school and getting kicked out. We are human. We all feel these things if we allow ourselves to. So, when Im speaking to my people, Im speaking to you.