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]