Les Brown: Set Your Mind To Win (Full Transcript)

Because you’re going to walk away with some tools, a blueprint. And here’s something that’s made you. You’re going to walk away with a group of collaborative achievement-driven accountability-focused relationships that will help you win. You can’t make it by yourself.

And the other thing is that you’re going to come away with a blueprint, action steps, the things that you ought to take day to day. Action steps that will move you in the direction of your dreams.

I want to share conversation with you. Now I want you to like this page and I want you to share this page with everybody you know, all right? Like this page and share this page because I have a message for you that’s going to be transformative — something that will give you some insight and I want to make it clear.

Everything that I’m going to say you already know it. That’s number one.

Number two: Everything I’m going to say you’ve heard it before.

And three, I don’t want you to agree with me, and I don’t want you to believe me. I don’t believe it myself. I know it.

And four, take what you can use and that which does not resonate with you just push it aside.

But I want you to think about your goals and dreams. I’m not just going to wait until this coming Saturday. We have no guarantees that I will be here, or you will be here, okay, and I’ve decided every day my goal is to do something in relationship to the goal that I’ve set for myself.

I’ve set as a goal to transform lives. I’ve set as a goal to leave a legacy. I have set as a goal to train and develop 77 global speakers and life coaches and trainers. In fact, if you go to Les Brown Institute, we license speakers and trainers and life coaches.

And so every day — every day I do something in that direction. Today I had an interview on a very popular station here in London, STV. STV in UK and it was a great experience with a bishop Wayne Malcolm and we had an incredible time. It will be shown at some point in time and my daughter Ona Brown she’s going to be with me this coming Saturday. She was there.

And I want to talk to you about the life that you envision for yourself. I believe that there’s a life that’s waiting for all of us to step into. And it’s been said there are many keys, but few, or rather there are many locks, but few keys. Many locks but few keys.

I’m going to be showing and sharing some of those keys this weekend, but I just can’t wait until this Saturday. My mama said that I was like a broke refrigerator…don’t tell me those secrets because I’m going to tell everything.

So I want you to think about your goals and your dreams. Something that has a lot of meaning and value to you. Something you’ve been thinking about. Something you’ve been working on and it hasn’t happened.

You know in the area of self-development one of the words that I don’t hear much is patience. Patience. One of my nephews –and I’m not going to tell you his name is James. James said “Uncle!”

“Yes.”

“What is it I need to do to become successful?”

I said, “Tell you what, are you serious?”

He said yes.

“What are your goals? What is it you want to do?”

And he told me a lot of things.

I said, “But I want you to boil down. What’s the most important one? Which one do you want right now?”

And he thought about it.

I said you don’t have to tell me right now. But here’s what I want you do. I want you to think about that goal and there are two things I want you to do.

Number one: I want you to listen to me every day. I’ll have some CDs here, and I want you to listen every day. I want you to go on YouTube and put in Les Brown speaking in the Georgia Dome. D-o-m-e. They just tore that down, but that video is still there. Les Brown speaking in the Georgia Dome, and you will see your uncle speaking to over 80,000 people.

He said, 80,000 people. He said were you scared?

I said yes. I went to the bathroom seven times, because seven is my lucky number. I said I want you to watch that every day, for 30 days. And I want you to get out a three by five card. And I want those of you that watch me right now, one, I want you to like this page. And I want you to message other people. I want you to tell people, share the word, share the information about this page and this conversation that I’m having right now, like this page and share it. Tell other people about this conversation that I’m having right now, and I guarantee you when you talk to them again, they will say thank you very much. Thank you for letting me know that Les was talking and that he is on Facebook.

Now so I told James, I said listen, listen to me everyday. Go to the Georgia Dome Video on YouTube and the title of the speech I’m giving is called “It’s not over until you win.”

He said that what else you want me to do? I said I want you go to the drugstore or a stationary place and get a 3×5 card and I want you to write down the goal that you want to achieve, the most important one, prioritize. You know they said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

And so I want you to think about one major goal that you want to achieve and something that you must do, what’s the first thing you must do to move yourself in the direction of that goal. And I want you to do this. Get a 3×5 card and here’s how you want to begin to write.

And writing it down is important, because writing — when you write something down it engages the subconscious mind and studies indicate that you’re more likely to go after those goals — and it’s more presence of mind than one that you just think about. Don’t just think it, you want to ink it. Write it down.

Now here’s what I do, it’s a ritual I have. I write it seven times. Seven times because seven to me is — it’s a spiritual number. And it’s my lucky number.

And on the flip side of the card, I want you to write Matthew 7:7. Ask, and it shall be given. Seek, and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened unto you.

And now let’s go back on the other side, so let me give you an example. I’m working on a goal now, of being cancer-free. Now I said it that I was going to do it in 2017. It didn’t happen. So what do you do Les? Well I started all over again. Are you serious? How long have you been saying that you’re going to be cancer-free? For 21 years and you’re going to do it again. I mean doesn’t that tell you that insanity is doing the same thing in the same way expecting a different outcome?

To most people they would look at my behavior and say he’s insane. He’s not going to make that happen. That’s the logical practical realistic thinking of most people in the world. But I’m not practical. I’m not logical. I think that when you have goals and dreams, you’ve got to be unreasonable. And when they don’t happen, when you want them to happen, you don’t stop, you just keep on coming back again and again and again and again.

When will a baby walk? It will walk when it walks. That’s when it will walk. When will it talk? It will talk when it talks. And some talk earlier than others, some walk sooner than others. So when will your dream happen? It will happen when it happens.

So I wrote down seven times this morning, I do it, I pause and do it, during the day, I write the same thing down and I’ll write it again tonight before I go to sleep and here’s what I’m writing. I give thanks that I am free of cancer. I give thanks I am free of cancer. I Give thanks I am free of cancer.

Now when I write it, I see myself being cancer free. When I write it I feel the emotion and the celebration and the joy of being cancer free. When I write it I feel a strength and at the cellular level seeing it pushing cancer out of my body. I do that seven times, three times a day. I do that.

And then on the flip side I turn the card over and I read: Ask and it shall be given. Seek, and you shall find. I’m going to find the answer. I am going to find a solution. I’m going to find a cure, and I’ve done a variety of things. I’ve been a vegan. I eat a lot of wabbit foods. I’m doing something called immune therapy where they take my white blood cells out and they train them for two weeks and then re-inject them in me and those white blood cells have a capacity to identify cancer cells and kill them. It’s another process that they’re using.

I’ve changed my eating habits. I practice yoga and Tai Chi and I haven’t been walking lately because it’s been very cold in Cleveland. I don’t like to walk in the cold, but I’m going to the gym more often, and I’m going to release, not lose — anything you lose you go looking for. I’m going to release at least 75 pounds because the treatment that I received, the Lupron, for cancer treatment it put 45 pounds on, is like the steroid.

And I really had to fight not being depressed about that. I have a six-pack but right now it looks like a one pack. It looks like I’m three months pregnant. So my one pack is covering up my six-pack.

In fact, Bishop reminded me today, bishop Wayne Malcolm said I know I can’t challenge you in push-ups. I used to do a 142 push-ups consecutively on stage, but when they give you that lupron shot, it takes all the testosterone out of your body. Men, it’s your worst enemy and your best friend. I mean I was humbled when he said you’re not going to be able to do those number of push-ups while you are being injected every three months with this medication.

And I tell the story about one day, I was on the floor struggling and I could not do the number of push-ups I’m accustomed to doing and I must admit it I was frustrated. I was angry and I started crying. Nobody was there. Oh God, come on. This helps me deal with stress, it puts my mind in another place.

At that time one of my mentees Ed Blunt called me. Ed B-L-U-N-T, powerful speaker, known him since he was 5 years old. He said “How are you?”

I said I’m great and grateful, better than good and better than most. I’m going to ignore that phone because I’m enjoying talking to you.

And so he asked “What are you doing? You sound like something’s wrong?”

I said yes something is wrong.

He said “What?”

I said, I can’t do a hundred push-ups anymore consecutively.

He said, “Can you still tell a story?”

I said yes.

“Can you still tell people’s lives – can you change people’s lives?”

I said yes.

He said, “Anybody ever call you to book you to come in and to speak.”

I said yes, you know that.

He said anybody ever call you to book you so they can watch you do push-ups.

I said no.

He said stop tripping and get up off the floor and shut up.

Had I seen him, let me taste some of it here. I still got a good ride. Don’t let this 73 fool you.

I said you’re about to make me lose my mind up in here up in here. You’re about to make me act a fool. I was humbled.

He said strengthen what’s left. See life is about releasing and it’s about surrendering — releasing and surrendering.

There’s some things as we get older, I remember doing one of my speaker training seminars and the great actress was there. She said I’m a stripper. I said excuse me and she talked about that as she got older, Cicely Tyson — I called her Aunt Boo Boo, she said life has been stripping things away. She says I’ve gotten older. There are things I used to have that they’re no longer important to me. And I’ve let those things go. Life is about releasing and Surrendering.

I used to have a very large apartment in Manhattan. She said I don’t need that anymore. Life is about releasing and surrendering. There are things I used to do physically that I can’t do anymore.

Jack LaLanne, most of you would not recognize that name, has always been my hero. He was the first athletic fitness guru, and he did over a thousand push-ups. And so because Cancer has eaten 41% of my T1 vertebrae and the medication that they inject me with every three months at this time I can’t do that. I won’t say I can’t do 142 pushups anymore at this time. I’m not able to do that right now, but I know I still got it in me. I know that I’m going to continue until I can build myself back up to that level again.

And so I want you to think about your goals and dreams, and I want you to write down, patience. Patience. That even if something has been taken away from you, strengthen what’s left. Strengthen what’s left. Patience.

Sometimes a dream has its own timetable. When will it happen, Les? I don’t know that. I don’t know. What’s required on your part and my part is to be patient and something that that Og Mandino said in the book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, he said say to yourself, affirm I will persist until I succeed.

Come on now. I will persist until I succeed. I’m going to drill deep on this, this coming Saturday where I’m speaking here in London. I want you to go to Les BrowninLondon.com and tell all your family members and friends. Bishop Wayne, he told me he said Les, you know it’s been 10 years since you’ve been at my church. 10 years since I’ve seen you speak here in London. I said woah, it’s amazing how time is just flying. Now it seems like it’s moving at a faster pace.

Somebody said that life is like a roll of toilet paper. You never know what you’re going to get. And he said the fact that the closer it gets to the end the faster it’s going to not run out. Forrest Gump said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.

But I say that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end the faster it runs out. Stop it. Okay, all right.

Listen, so as you look at your goals and your dreams, it’s very important that you have patience. Einstein said people think I’m smart. He said I don’t think I’m all that smart. He said I think I have more patience than most people. Think about that.

He said I have more patience than most people. You know what I’ve said why I have not mastered technology, as I have other things I’ve learned. I would always say oh, I don’t have the kind of patience for that. Hey, that tool is too important for me not to have the patience to learn it, come on, that’s crazy.

No, so I’ve made a commitment to learn something today about the internet, about my smartphone which makes me look very dumb, you pay that kind of money for a phone and don’t know how to work it, don’t know how to use it, not familiar with all the features. How smart is that, buddy?

Every day to learn something today about my phone and about the computer that I didn’t know yesterday. What if you did that. Just decide I’m going to learn one thing – one thing today that I didn’t know yesterday about my iPhone or my droid, Or whatever that you want to learn. And at the end of the month you have expanded your repertoire.

Write this down. Expand or you are expendable. Hello, expand or you are expendable. You can’t afford in this economy to be one-dimensional. No, you cannot, and you want to create multiple streams of income, why Les, because life happens. And If something happened to you or someone you care about and studies indicate over this year, before this year’s out, something is going to happen to you at least three times, something tragic is going to happen to you or someone you care about and you want to be in the position to do more than just pray for them.

My oldest son, he’s 53; no matter how old your children become, they’re still your children. The healthcare for him — the health care practitioners three thousand dollars a week, that’s not covered by insurance, my health insurance because of pre-existing cancer, $5,000 a month. I hear people say oh my sure just to huh, I’m paying like 500 or $700 a month. I want to say shut up. I don’t worry about it.

While I’m here in in London, I misplaced the insulin that I’ve been using, and went to one of the hospitals here and we called in advance it so won’t take long for us to see Mr. Brown and lady said go help, we will call you within four hours. I say excuse me, four hours, I said, let’s go back to the car. Tell him don’t get out the car. Just drive up front, and I’m going to get in the car.

They said why, am I going to sit around here for four hours? I can catch all kind of no diseases, sit nothing here for four hours. No. And guess what I had a doctor come to the hotel that she contacted, and he was more than willing once he told me how much he charged. I said no problem, but I did ask him do you take food stamps? He said no sir, I don’t. I’m just asking all right. We have not because we ask not.

He came over here, nice gentleman from India, and he was just surprised I’ve been to Bangalore and various areas of India, and he was so just enamored with my laughter and my personality. He said you look good for 73. I said because I’m a big kid. I said I have a Mickey Mouse watch. I have Mickey Mouse bedroom slippers, and I said I have all Mickey Mouse underwear. But I’m not going to show you big boy.

By the way, don’t let the child die in you. Learn to laugh at yourself even when things are not working out the way that you want them to work out. I took to myself.

This is a strategy behind this according to the principles of psychoneuroimmunology. One minute of laughter boosts your immune system for over — listen to me — 24 hours. One minute of laughter boosts your immune system for over 24 hours.

Now listen to this: one minute of anger weakens your immune system for 4 to 5 hours. Before I finish this conversation and I want you to like this page and share it and encourage others to share it and spread the word, Les Brown is talking right now. Before I get through you are not going to get sick for 20 years. Let the record show and even homely people look better when they laugh. Watch this.

Now as you think about your goals and dreams, not only does it require patience and persistence. But it requires consistency in terms of your behavior, in terms of how you use your time, in terms of execution, the strategy that you’re implementing for the achievement of your goal. Consistently. Consistency like my goal of releasing 65 pounds to 75 pounds that I can’t decide to walk two or three days and just stop. No, do it every day every day.

Consistent and as I persist until I succeed, as I’m consistent in my routine of yoga and walking and Tai Chi and visualization –visualizing myself being smaller looking at pictures of myself when I was smaller and saying I’m going back there. In fact, I’m there right now. It’s just covered up and cannot be seen by the naked eye

That persistency and writing down the words and reading the words, I’m free of cancer. I give thanks and I’m still here. I can still chant transform lives. I can still speak and people will listen to me. I’m 73 but my best work has not been done yet. I’m going to make the rest of my life the best of my life. I want you to write that down. I want you to affirm that.

Write it down. I give thanks. I am making the rest of my life the best of my life.

Here’s something else. Listen to me, a guy told me this. We were on a plane coming from a Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, MD Anderson and I’d just gotten some bad information. And he had a book and he gave it to me. We started talking. Plane was not crowded, but what are the chances by sitting by this guy and his prognosis and what they said to him was worse than mine, and that was not the first time he heard that. And the title of his book when I read it, it shocked me. You know what it was? The title of it was I don’t have time to die.

I said what do you mean by this? He said seventeen years ago when I came to MD Anderson, cancer metastasized to my liver, to my lungs and different areas of my body, so you’re alone because cancer is metastasized to your spine, so what? Do you have time to die right now? Aren’t you busy doing something? Keep doing it. Take care of yourself but don’t focus on the disease. He said focus on your goals and your dreams, the meaning and the purpose of your life. Where focus goes, energy flows. Whoa?

What are you looking at? You remember Flip Wilson talking about killing say, what you see is what you get. Okay tes, and that takes discipline. I want you to like this page. I want you to share it like it and share it. It’s LesBrowninLondon and he has some things that he want to share with this before he speaks on Saturday. I want you to spread the word. I want you to help get people in the room. I want you to go to Les BrowninLondon.com and I’m going to I’m going to take you out and I will kill every mediocre demon in you, the demons of procrastination, the demons of fear, the demons of Oh, well, I tried, the demons of putting things to the side and not focusing on what it is you need to do, the demons of giving yourself an excuse and giving yourself a pass, there’s something in you that needs to go, that needs to be taken out, that’s blocking the real you, of blocking the things in you. It’s blocking you.

And sometimes you need some help and get rid of that. You can’t read the label if you’re locked in the box. Can you feel a brother up in here, up in here? I’m having a hot flash now.

My brother and my sister when they have hot flashes now, I have hot flashes. I call them power surges, excuse me, let me find my fan.

Yes, this is my little fan from my little power surges. Yeah, thank you. Oh, thank you

Here’s something I’ve come to know. And I want you to listen to me. You working on something? It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Somebody said you can count on me and they didn’t come through. It looked like the odds are stacked against you.

I was in a car with a young man, who was the policeman for 12 years here in London. And after listening to him and I asked him what was that like? I felt like I stepped back in time. I stepped back in time.

When I was a kid, in the 50s, my brother-in-law Alex Samson, during that time if a white person had broken the law he couldn’t arrest them why because he was black, he would have to hold them there until a white policeman would come and arrest them.

When I was a kid, we went on a bus if there were seats available and I met Mrs. Rosa Parks personally, she endorsed my youth program. We couldn’t sit in the front of the bus, we had to go across this yellow line I can see it down, and go to the back of the bus.

I said what is the most disheartening thing you found about being a policeman? He said the first thing I was on the job, we had to make a call about domestic violence and the husband came to the door and he looked at me and my partner and he said to my partner who was white, he said you can come on in; he said, but he can’t?

And he said at that moment he thought his partner would say he’s with me if he can’t come in with me I’m not coming in. But his partner looked at him and say you stay here. I’m going in. He said I’ve gotten in fights with prospects with suspects and when they were getting the best of me, my partner and the white cops that showed up for backup, not for me, but for my white partner. Because they wear turban because they’re Muslim, because of Indian.

That took me back. That took me back and this work, if you’re listening to me, if you an immigrant in this work, if you realize that there are systems stacked against you, I know about that, being born in America where a whole system has been designed to destroy my sense of self, I remember going to work on Miami Beach with my mother and saw signs that said Jews, dogs, and coloreds or Negroes, not allowed. I know what it is.

Even to this day, I remember, and Peter Lo, I’m not going to tell you his name. He used to have seminars called get motivated in the United States, and then — they each had 90 minutes and three other presenters, unknown 90 minutes, and the only reason I was on there — first time a black person was on there, that wasn’t singing was because they asked who would you like to see and my name came up constantly you know because I was selected among the top five speakers in the world. General Norman Schwarzkopf, Robert Shula, Paul Harvey, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and myself, so he had been the program.

And when they said you’ll be coming up in one hour, I said great. Oh, and by the way, you have 15 minutes. Surely, you are kidding. No you have 15 minutes. Zig had it, 90 minutes. Am I right, yes. And Jim Rohn, he had 90 minutes, am I right. Yes. Brian Tracy, 90 minutes. Yes.

Now you told me that in order to stay on this tool we had to sell a certain amount of products, am I correct? Yes, and you’re saying I have 15 minutes. I got five minutes to introduce myself to the audience. Five minutes to give my message and five minutes to do a close to encourage them to go to the back room and buy my products. He said yes. And he said and if you sell enough products then you can get on the next stage?

I said man, come on, 15 minutes! The standard in this industry you have to speak at least an hour and a half to create a level of relatedness and connection with the audience.

Les, it’s a good good position to be in and 15 minutes, it’s a good number. I should tell you what Peter, you have an hour and a half, why don’t we exchange? Because I want to see you do it, you take my 15 minutes, I want to be generous enough to give you my 15 minutes, and you give me your 90 minutes. And let me see how well you do this, so I can follow your example.

He said, I’m not going to do that. He said people requested you, you know it was not my idea to call you, but people kept writing your name on the list, so we’re giving you a shot. People can’t say that we didn’t bring a black guy on the platform. I said how kind of you, how generous of you.

And so all the other presenters, they sold over $300,000 worth of products with their hour and half. I sold around $55,000. I said afterwards hey listen I could have sold more if I had more time, so are you coming up with excuses and why you can’t compete with us?

I said no. No not.

Well Mr. Brown, you didn’t make the cut. Well we gave you a chance.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

When things happen, they can make you bitter or they can make you better. And I said one day, I’m going to be so good, I’m going to change so many lives that people will not look at my paint job. People will judge me based upon how I speak. If I touch them, if I can speak and bring them out of a dark place that the guy named Alfred said I was in a dark place, and I heard your voice Mr.. Brown and it changed my life. I said lord, I don’t — I don’t have the complexion of connection. But I have you and I have a voice and I’m not going to let anything or anybody who judge me based upon how I look or my paint job which I had nothing to do with, stop me from changing lives.

No, and I’m thankful — two things. One, have made it so difficult for me I can’t afford not to be the best. Two, I’ve come to do something a guy told me one day you will see cancer, it’s the greatest blessing in your life. You know what? He is right.

Because once somebody looks at you and say you have cancer, three of the most feared words in seven different languages, I’m a cancer conqueror twenty-one years and the focus of my life and the closer of the relationship that I’ve developed with God, is amazing. How spiritual you become.

All this thing called life. I’ve gone through so much in it. I’m okay if I never see 2017 ever again. You get two kind of woofers in life; one just wait till I come back; the other one if you just let me go. If you just let me lose all right and go tell it on the mountain and over the hill and everywhere.

But I’m grateful. I’m still here. Look behind and thank God. Look around and praise God. Look ahead and trust God. Go within and find God.

Know you not that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. The king of God is in you. In order for there to be a kingdom in you. it can’t be a kingdom unless there’s a king and that would be you. I’m thankful that all the kind things so many of you have said to me that you’ve heard my voice.

I’m thankful that I’m able by the way I live my life that I’m able to pleasure God. Here in my father glorified that ye bear much fruit that we are pleasing God when we are most productive.

I want you to Communicate with me — let me see what people are saying, love you Les.

So inspirational, thank you.

 

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