How To Find Your Purpose

[Music]

when you take the time to know yourself

treat yourself and be yourself you’ll

never even guess where you’ll see

yourself

it’s like you’re taking the blinders off

of everything you’ve been programmed to

be

and now we’re living loving and learning

in a world that you were meant to see

so before i go any deeper

whether i’m on a stage in front of one

person

a million people or my mom and my dad

i love and i mean i love to talk to my

audience

so can i ask you guys to do me a favor

can i express my favor

[Applause]

so when i say what do you

i want you to say see when i say what to

you

i want you to say see what do you

do what to use what do you

what do you so when i look out into this

crowd right now

i see future

i see the future leaders

community leaders of this nation

and world at large right now we’re in an

institution of higher learning

all of you are here for a reason

so there’s a reason you’re here and i’m

so

blessed to be a part of that now

typically when people see me they say

man this dude’s like six foot four

built like a nfl linebacker he could

probably beat up

anybody for anything whenever he needs

it

and that might be true you’re not lying

but

not even i have escaped being bullied

not even i have escaped depression

but i’m here to tell you today i’ve

escaped it today

and so will you so dealing with this

is a story i like telling stories it’s

like

a story with mr schuler a story with

donald never ever color

so in high school i

loved and i mean i loved to perform

be on stage singing acting dancing

whatever you think

or playing football because growing up

from a little boy

i just love to hit people i don’t know

why like i’m not aggressive i’m really

nice guy i promise

it’s great i got a gold shoes like it’s

pretty good so

i love to do the boat play football

and be in the arts so there’s one time

one of my coaches in high school i

believe this was my junior year

he told me he said donald you’re going

to have to choose

between performing on stage

and being a football player i want you

to choose to be a football player

because i mean look at you

you’re ready to go if you choose that

i’m going to put you in this position

and it’s going to bode well for you

if you don’t well the best of luck to

you

so for me growing up in a family who has

been

in the education realm and the

entertainment realm

since about 1865 i’m talking about

broadway

movies screenplays i said you know

i believe that this is this is my

purpose i feel like this is where i

should be

so why is somebody who i hold in an

authoritative position

telling me i have to choose between my

two loves

so that was the first time i really came

up against

depression in a way so therefore

i decided to do both

because i had the strength i had the

wherewithal i had the knowledge of

myself

despite what my teammates said she said

man

why are you on stage that’s weird guys

don’t dance

what like what are you doing and

it calls me to retreat and myself and

say wow

here goes this depression thing how am i

going to beat this how am i going to

battle this

so i held true to my state my family

my dreams and my goals and i ended up

not just playing football in a division

one

college institution but i acted

i sang i dreamed and i did all of that

throughout college so much so i was one

of very few

athletes to come from my high school and

actually play the division one level

hard work truly pays off so in that

i had to find myself so i could find

my purpose that brings me to

a little break in the game here how many

people

buy show of hands know what they love to

do

okay lights are kind of bright see okay

instead how many people buy show of

hands

would do what they love for free

oh okay about this thing on that

cool hands down thank you so when you

know what you love

what you love is attached to your

passion what you’re passionate about

is linked to your purpose your passion

and your purpose

they go hand in hand so

i believe that we live in a microwave

society

that’s often riddled with depression and

pie

however we need to stop putting

our dreams and goals in the microwave on

two and a half minutes

taking it out and thinking that we want

to live our best lives

but just because it’s done on the

outside doesn’t mean it’s done on the

inside

so it’s a situation from my parents

house

my mom was in the building and my dad’s

in the building and i love them

they told me so many different stories

when i’m growing up how to use the

microwave

how to use the oven so let’s talk about

the microwave real quick

now the microwave you can put almost

anything in that bad boy and it comes

out

real smoking hot real fast i love

chicken pot pies

as you can see i love chicken pot pies

so

i put a chicken pot pie in the oven or

in the microwave i’m sorry from the

freezer

for two minutes and i took it out and

everything was

was great it smelled good and then my

mom said

son it’s not done i’m like mom

what are you talking about it’s hot on

the outside she said

son it’s not done put your finger

in the middle so i put my finger in the

middle

of that super good chicken pot pie with

the peas and like the crust on the

outside like

it was so good and then the inside y’all

it was frozen how are you going to eat

frozen chicken bites frozen peas that’s

nasty

so my mom was like you were rushing

and you did not take the necessary steps

to take care of what you want to put

inside your body

so i equate that to education

sometimes you wake up you don’t want to

go to class

for me sometimes in college i woke up i

didn’t want to go to practice practice

starting at 4 30 a.m

i played ball for two and a half years

my practice

to weightlifting to class to the library

try to take a shower didn’t take as many

showers as i should just being honest

you know it’s just it’s crazy

so that microwave society mentality

is something that’s almost been

programmed inside of us

you put your dreams and goals one

bake in the oven like i mean like 350.

so again my mama makes the best big

macaroni and cheese

like it’s so good it’s just so good and

i eat half the pan almost every time she

makes it

probably not the best health choice

that’s what i do and i see her

she opens up the oven she puts in the

mac and cheese

she puts it on the necessary timer

and she walks away and then she comes

back

then she walks away then she comes back

she opens up the oven

she puts the ingredients in there she

stirs it up

and it becomes the most beautiful

masterpiece i’ve ever tasted in my life

and i equate that to working hard on

your dreams and goals

not leaving something in to burn or not

putting something in too fast

so it won’t be cooked all the way

through

now that brings me to social media

social media runs the world

i mean hey what you gonna do however

there are so many people that are living

life for the likes

and not living life trying to figure out

how to like and love themselves

so how can you put a filter

on every type of picture on all the

social media applications

and then try to figure out who you are

but you can’t put a filter on your heart

to try to brighten up something that’s

not even there in the first place

therefore how do we figure out how to

find our purpose

how do we make sure we’re not living for

everybody else

because when we do that we take off our

identity

when we put it on the world shelf it’s

time that we thought for ourselves

so this brings me to three points

i would like to talk about in this

speaking presentation

the first point identifying

your skills your goals and your dreams

you identify them by being

by yourself again

everyone wants to be seen everyone wants

to be famous

everyone wants to be rich there’s

nothing wrong with that

but how you come to those great feats in

your life you take time to be by

yourself to realize the good the bad and

the ugly

and how you can make the best of what

you’ve been given

so when you identify your skills your

talents and your gifts

you write them down with a piece of

paper make the vision plain

so you can go back as a reference point

and you can see it

so what you see is what you will be

you make your environment no matter

where you are

you make your environment point two

go to school it’s so it’s so simple

you know people say you know what mr

schuler i don’t i don’t want

to to be in school forever i want to

drive out of school and follow my dreams

look if that’s what you choose to do

that’s fine

however there’s so many options for

schools you have

your traditional high school elementary

school trade school

tech school there’s so many things that

you can do

so many institutions of higher learning

where you can be and you can

study what you love to study study what

you love to do

attach your passion to your purpose so

you can become

all that you believe you are so you can

do all that you believe you’re called to

do

within that you have to study or show

yourself proof

it’s almost like if you know i was a

football player obviously and if i

actually be in the game

and i didn’t show up for practice why

would my coach put me in the game

we’re gonna lose the game and then i’m

gonna have to run a thousand yards and

it’s gonna be ridiculous

nobody wants to do that so in order to

be the best version of yourself

you have to show up to practice you have

to show up

and study this is a phenomenal

institution here

study and you will be rewarded because

you reap what you sow

now point number two

or i’m sorry that was part number two so

going to school

i mean i’m a full advocate for education

i met my wife in college

i mean i was so excited i met her in a

graduate class

and it truly became a situation where

i was learning how to apply real life

situations

in the classroom and outside the

classroom because i believe if you’re

not learning how to apply the knowledge

inside the classroom to outside

situations

you’re honestly just taking up space so

you have to go to school with a purpose

and you just might find a love of your

life kind of cool

so point three which is probably

the most important point find people

find friends that will hold you

accountable

it’s okay if you’re alone

okay if you’re in a season of loneliness

unfortunately today we have people who

are walking around

with invisible for sale signs around

their neck

basically signifying that you

are for sale for a life or a love on

instagram facebook or twitter or

whatever else you want to use

you are for sale because you want

somebody to sit with you in the

lunchroom

you are for sale because you want

somebody to like you

honestly back in my situations

i said you know what i got my family

with me

but if i didn’t have my family with me

i’m a smooth brother

you know what i’m saying i know how to

dress i know how to talk

i mean i don’t know why they wouldn’t

want to be my friend i mean that’s your

loss

you’re going to want to come to my shows

anyway and nine times out of ten

they’re showing up and they’ll show up

for you

so do not be scared of sitting by

yourself

because in true loneliness that’s when

we’ll figure out where your real friends

are

i mean let’s think about it when do the

stars shine the brightest

during dark times

when do stars shine the brightness

during dark times

stars are still seen in the daytime but

when you go through hard times

that’s when friends are needed the most

not when the money’s blowing and the

music is loud all that great stuff

that’s cool but when you find people who

hold you accountable

people who know your mom your dad they

know the name of your goldfish your dog

your cat

they know everybody know your grandmom

like they know the things of you

that you don’t even know about you real

friends bring the greatness

out of you and when you’re in this stage

of life

no matter if you’re the ceo or you’re

just starting out

accountability is critical

accountability is

critical so

when you’re thinking about your purpose

think about yourself

when you’re thinking about your purpose

think about your passion

because your passion is linked to your

purpose

it’s critical to know what you want to

study

it’s critical to be in that season of

loneliness

that will plant the seeds of your future

for your family and generations to come

it’s critical to go to school to study

and learn and show yourself approved

it’s critical

to have people in your life that will

hold you accountable

because you are the company you keep

my friends and to my vips

the future leaders of this world

i believe that today is the last day

you will hold on to the negative

comments

on whatever social media platform or

whoever has said anything to you in

person

and you’ll grab forward moving forward

at all times on the hope

of the promise that you’ve been promised

each and every day you wake up you are

blessed

no matter what you go through you are

blessed

and as you walk in that each and every

day you’ll be able to find your purpose

you’ll be able to define your passion no

matter who gets in your way

when you see the doubts you don’t go

around the doubt you embrace

you said you know what it’s okay to not

feel okay

but it’s not okay to stay not okay

don’t go around the doubt go through it

don’t go around depression

go through it you have the power to do

anything

that you feel you are called to be

or do and the best part about this

people who find their purpose can help

other people find theirs

true leadership is not about

self-service or self-promotion

true leadership is about your service to

others what are you going to do to be

the change you want to see in the world

today

what are you going to do to help the

person who needs assistance

and you know that if you go to school

and you step into who you’re called to

be

you can help change the world this

platform

is not about self-promotion this

platform

is about service and love to others

you were not born by mistake you were

not born by mistake

you were born on purpose to be the

change you want to see

and when you find your purpose you can

help others

[Applause]