… what other people think about you!”

This is one the lines from my keynote, “Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!”  My mother used to tell me this all the time as a child.  It was her way of telling me not to allow other people to negatively influence me.  She always encouraged me to objectively analyze a situation and act in confidence with the best of intentions and take what you get from the process.

A good friend of mine Naval Commander Drew Brown (www.DrewBrown.net) (son of “Bundini” Brown; personal trainer and spiritual adviser to “the Greatest of All Time” Muhammad Ali) always tells me to “put the oars in the boat.”

Once out of sheer frustration I yelled, “Guess what?  I don’t know how to do that!  I don’t even know wht it means… Do I do nothing and pray things will get better?”  He said, “No.  Simply do the next best indicated thing (action) and accept the results.”

Once again, I am reminded of the old adage “the older I am the smarter my parents get” when I heard these words from my childhood come back to me in the present-day voice of my highly accomplished friend.  Drew might as well have said, “Listen to your mother!”

On a similar note; here is something I learned from Katt Williams.  Most of you will have no idea who Katt Williams is…?  Let me tell you he is a Kool Katt; a comedian, rapper and actor.  Katt is the son of a former Black Panther Party member and his HBO Comedy special, “The Pimp Chronicles Part One” launched him to fame earning him consideration as a “Harlem World Diplomat.”  He can be seen in the newly released major motion picture "First Sunday".

Here is what Katt has to say about my mother’s advice.  Katt says, “some people are haters… let them hate… it’s what they do.  If you have people hating on you, it’s because you are doing something right!  Ladies (and gentlemen) if you got ten or eleven people hating on you right now it’s your job to bump it up to eighteen by this summer!”

Much like “Bundini” (originator of the famous saying, “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!”) in his time being considered a “Poet of the Streets” these men impart infinite wisdom and awareness in a humorous, raw and brutally honest way.   Come to think of it; so did my mom!

Kind of makes me giggle; “Little Mom”, “Bundini” and Katt!  Who would have thought?

(WARNING:  check Katt out, but BEWARE!  Rated for significant Profanity, Honesty and Hilarity!).