KEY POINTS FROM RALPH:

• I’m grateful for life’s obstacles and life’s struggles because they’ve given me strength. Those struggles and those obstacles have allowed me to become the man that I am today. Without those struggles and obstacles, I wouldn’t be able to handle life.
• I’m not wired for a traditional church leadership; I need to go out and make an impact on the community.
• @RalphGravesJr Who am I?  I’m a retired police offer, church planter, author, motivational speaker, actor and I did a little modeling.
• On protecting and preserving your mental health, @RalphGravesJr says: When you know that something Is not quite right and you’re feeling a little off, it’s important to recognize when you’re in trouble and deliberately surround yourself with the right people, the right environment, and the right culture.
• You have some options.  Listen to the TrailBlazers Podcast or buy a book and be mentored by an author that you’ve never met. #mentorship
• If we submit to the universe's system of success or universal laws, we’ll find success and feel better about ourselves.
• If we try to operate against the laws of forgiveness, reciprocity or giving, we’re not going to succeed.
• It’s a lifestyle:  Life is what you’ve got; style is how you live it!
• Once you get in the flow of living in the lifestyle — the way it was set up with universal laws of success — you can make it.
• 20 years in the police department and subsequent years doing motivational speaking prompted me to write my upcoming book, “Unstoppable!”
• I’ve seen the universal laws of success work for and against some people.  How we live in them will determine our success.
• The Law of Forgiveness says that “forgiveness has nothing to do with the other person but everything to do with us.”
• Forgiveness helps us! We are killing ourselves holding on to some stuff that we should be letting go for our sake.
• FORGIVE!  You don’t need to continue maintaining a relationship but release it; release them.
• The law of habits says if you want to get rid of a bad habit, you must replace it with a good one.
• Begin cultivating good habits, by developing a system for your life that enables you to do your best work during the best time of the day.
• If you have to be fit for the work that you want to do. Taking care of your body is your responsibility.
• Work with and work for what God has given you.
• The only difference between us and who we want to be is  what we do with the 24 hours we’re given.
• Take a stand against mediocrity!  Decide that you’re not going to be mediocre.
• Going for the best for yourself, your family and your company, will require sacrifice.
• Sacrifice means something has to die.  For everything you say “Yes” to you say “No” to something else.
• It’s okay to say “No!”
• Don’t believe the negative narrative about us, as Black men; write your own narrative.
• You are here for a reason and a purpose.  Embrace the process not just the purpose.
• You can come out of the situation but you have to rewrite the narrative.  You have to persevere.  You can’t give up!
• Continue to make sure you’re in the right environments for success.
• When you deal with cops, don’t escalate the situation.  Follow the process and file a report with Internal Affairs.
• Life has a rhythm to it.  Find the rhythm, and you can be unstoppable!

THIS EPISODE WAS SPONSORED BY:

The Campaign for Black Male Achievement. Join, support and invest in this movement to help improve the life outcomes of our black men and boys.