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Last August, my friend Marcus Lattimore was the keynote speaker at my foundation’s Student Athlete Summit. During the Q&A session after his speech, a young boy asked, “Marcus, when times get hard, why don’t you give up?” Without missing a beat, Marcus replied, “I don’t give up, because I know someone’s watching me.” The whole audience was quiet. Marcus spoke words that were simple, yet profoundly true. Whether you realize it or not, there is always someone watching you. In fact, that very notion is one of the main sources of my own motivation. I work hard, not only to achieve the goals I have set for myself, but to [...]

A few days ago, I was doing a live television interview. About halfway through the segment, the host asked me how I encourage individuals who didn’t have a great start in life. I used the following quote: “No one can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” You can’t go back and change who your parents are.  You can’t change how much money you grew up with. You can’t change what side of town you lived on. There are plenty of things in life you just can’t change! HOWEVER, you can make the choice today to do everything you can [...]

Imagine there is a bank that deposits $86,400 into your account every morning. Monday through Sunday, the same deposit is made: $86,400. The only catch is that you have to spend all of the money every single day. You can’t save it. You can’t transfer it into another account. You can’t roll it over to the next day. The only thing you can do is spend it. Any money that you don’t spend disappears the next day. What would you do with the money? How would you spend it? Would you take your time and plan each dollar so that none of it goes to waste? Would you splurge? Would [...]

You can't please everyone... …And you can’t make everyone like you or everything you do. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t. I remember when I was a senior in high school, trying to decide what major to pursue in college. During one conversation with a classmate and her mom, I mentioned that I was interested in going into business. (My entrepreneurship teacher told me a few weeks before that I had a great gift for analyzing business situations and stimulating growth with products/services.) “Business?” the mom asked in a disapproving tone. “You’re too smart for that. I thought you’d be pre-med.” Sure enough, I enrolled at Clemson [...]

Can you believe that Walt Disney was once fired from a newspaper because he “lacked imagination?” Or that Michael Jordan was cut from his 10th grade varsity basketball team because “he wasn’t good enough?” Then there’s Oprah. She was once demoted from her job as a news anchor because she “wasn’t fit for television.” Even the Beatles didn’t have a great start. They were rejected from a recording studio because they “had no future in show business.” And let’s not forget about J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter was rejected by countless publishing companies because the book just “couldn’t have an impact.” What adversity are you currently facing as you move forward [...]

How often do you compare yourself to other people? If the answer is “never,” that’s great! If it’s “always,” then you need to stop. NOW. Albert Einstein said it best when he said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it was stupid.” We were all created differently. Some of us are tall. Some of us are short. Some of us have blue eyes. Some of us have hazel. Some of us are great basketball players. And some of us are fantastic gymnasts. None of us has the same “stuff.” And you know what? That is perfectly okay! [...]

Last week, I did a Q&A session with the student body of a local high school. Midway through the session, a 10th grader posed the question, “Are there ever times that you want to give up?” I answered, “Of course.” “Well, why don’t you?” asked another student before I had the chance to finish my response. The answer is quite simple. Most of the time, when you reach the point of wanting to give up, you’re emotional. You’re tired. You’re frustrated. You’re angry. In so many words, things aren’t going like you want them to go. Consequently, you start to contemplate just giving up altogether. The problem with quitting while you [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I was stopped by a mother at church. She immediately said, “Raven? I know you don’t know who I am, but you spoke at my daughter’s school.” “Really? Did she enjoy the presentation?” I asked. “Well, it was about four years ago, but you truly changed her life,” the mother continued. “My daughter was in alternative school, flunking all her classes, getting into fights every day, and being completely disrespectful towards me. I don’t know what you said in your presentation that day, but she came home a different person. She hung your picture up on her wall and said that you were her new [...]

Are you working as hard as you can towards your goals? If not, why are you selling yourself short? Why are you not giving everything you have in order to accomplish your dearest dreams? Is it because you don’t think you’re worth it? Or are you just being lazy? The graveyard is the wealthiest place on earth. Why? Because it is full of deceased people with untapped potential. Don’t be one of those people! You have dreams. You have goals. And yes, it is going to take hard work. But there is no reason for you to be putting off until tomorrow what could be done today. Time stops for [...]

There once was a man named Benjamin. He was passing by a group of circus elephants when something caught his eye. He was confused by the fact that these large creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. There were no chains, and there were no cages. It was clear that the elephants could break free at any time, but for some reason they did not. Benjamin saw a trainer nearby, so he decided to ask why the elephants did not try to get away. The trainer simply replied, “Well, when the elephants are very young, we use the same size rope to tie [...]