Coffee With E

Be Great Every Day: Dr. Jesse Rawls Jr. on Leadership, Discipline & Owning Your Role

• Erica Rawls

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🔥 “Don’t break promises to yourself.”

In this powerhouse episode of Coffee with E, Erica sits down with her husband, Dr. Jesse Rawls Jr., a respected educator, former D1 athlete, and leader known for his discipline, integrity, and unshakable mindset.

From early lessons on the field to becoming a high school principal at just 31, Jesse shares what it really takes to lead yourself and others, especially when you’re battling self-doubt, imposter syndrome, or leading in spaces where your age feels like a disadvantage.

Whether you’re leading a classroom, running a business, raising a family, or simply trying to win your mornings, this episode will push you to stop quitting, lead with confidence, and be great, every single day.

☕ In This Episode:

        •        Why most young leaders struggle to earn respect

        •        How self-discipline always beats motivation

        •        What to do when imposter syndrome creeps in

        •        Why quitting once makes it easier to quit again

        •        The underrated power of talking to yourself

💬 “If you just never quit, you will succeed.” — Dr. Jesse Rawls

🎯 Know someone in a leadership role or growing into one? Share this with them.

🔗 Sponsored by:

TOCH Construction • Allstate Insurance – Rob Shaw

Chavis Law Firm • Dirty Dog Hauling

💼 Powered by The Erica Rawls Team

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Erica Rawls:

Hey you, I have a special coffee with thee. I had the privilege of sitting down with Dr Jesse Rawls, who is also the love of my life, my husband. He is probably the most motivational, the best motivational speaker I had the privilege of actually listening to. And yeah, y'all be like, oh, there's so many other people. Yeah, I know that, and yet he's my favorite for many reasons. He's here to talk to us about leadership, how to win the day, how to be disciplined, how to be able to lead with confidence. Sit back and tell me if I'm not wrong. This one is good. Okay, babe, welcome to my seat.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Thank you, thanks for having me.

Erica Rawls:

You're welcome. You know what I just realized? My coffee's over there it is.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

You want it or?

Erica Rawls:

not. I think I might be okay for now. Yeah, but when I need it, can you hand it to me? I will do that.

Erica Rawls:

Okay, alrighty. So yeah, for those that don't know, I'm having a conversation with my husband, jesse. Jesse, some people call him Dr Rawls, some people call we won't even go there. Yeah, dr Rawls or Jesse, that's all y'all need to know. All right, yeah, and what I love about this man is that the fact that he's able to lead and actually he is a great visionary as well as a great operator and executor. So when we talk about discipline, someone says define discipline. I literally say Jesse, and they think it's funny, but it's so true Because I say this to you all the time that you're like my biggest motivator and you're my biggest pain point when it comes to discipline and doing the things I need to do, like accountability. You know I get afraid to say, hey, can you hold me accountable? You be like what do you say? Yeah, you do. What do you say when I say can you hold?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

me. I say beat you, are you sure?

Erica Rawls:

are you sure, can you stand the heat?

Erica Rawls:

yeah yeah, I'm like I don't know, but can you please until I say no, hey, I'm hoping you're enjoying this episode of coffee with e. I had to take 30 seconds to share with you one of our sponsors for this episode Top Construction. They are a premier construction company located in central PA, so if you live in Dauphin, cumberland, lancaster and Lebanon counties, you want to check them out. Not only are they reliable, they are reasonable and they get the job done. Now let's go back to the episode. So I just wanted to have a conversation with you today about leadership. So can we tell or share your story about? You know your leadership journey, because it didn't happen overnight, but you seem to be like a great leader, or perceived as being a great leader.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah, Well, I mean how far back you want me to go?

Erica Rawls:

As far as you need to bae.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Well, I mean, I think sometimes in life you're some people say you know, leaders are born or leaders made, or champions born or champions made. I think in life you see yourself, uh, as you move down a path, um, you can see yourself in in leadership positions, or people say they want you to lead. I think early on in my life, when I was playing sports or or in the classroom or different things, people would pick me to lead. Not that I was at my hand up, that I wanted to do that, but I think it was the way I carried myself, the way I did things. A certain way, I think people are always watching, watching you and what you're doing, and I think that's the start of leadership, or leadership habits that you know you're willing to do things that others may not be willing to do, or you're just willing to live, live your life a certain way, and so people respect that you know as you're growing up. So I was always a captain of the teams.

Erica Rawls:

Did you ever shy away?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I mean no, I mean especially not in sports. I didn't shy away necessarily because, you know, I'm a competitor, so I always wanted to win and always wanted to work hard so that I could win. So when they were naming me captain, it was because I was working really hard and I didn't want us to lose. Or I didn't want, you know, if I was on the wrestling team, I didn't want people to not live up to their full capacity to be the best that they could be, because that would hurt us as a team but, more importantly, it would hurt them. So they would always look to me.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

You know, when I went to Michigan, I was captain of the wrestling team for my junior and senior year wrestling, wrestling team for my junior and senior year of wrestling. So I got picked as a junior and as a senior and that was just a matter of you know, um, I got hurt in college but I never quit, or I would come in early in the morning just to do certain workouts that I could only do, um, and so the guys were watching or, like you know, when they were getting doing things maybe they shouldn't have been doing, I was always the one to say hey, hey, you know, we got to be better than that. Like I'm always big in the legacy, like we're leaving a legacy, like we're staying on the shoulders of others.

Erica Rawls:

Even at that young age you were talking about legacy.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah, I think yeah, you were here before, because it meant a lot to me.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, like why.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I mean, if you're talking about Michigan, it meant a lot to me because my dad had wrestled there.

Erica Rawls:

My brother had wrestled there. Okay.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And now I'm wrestling there. But also I'm always big into I'm representing something bigger than myself, mm-hmm. And so my style of leadership has always been it's never about me, it's about you know families, it's about you know families, it's about students, it's about the community, but it's never about about me. Like I'm, I'm just trying to ensure that I'm leaving a place better than it, better than when I found it. So I think leadership is sacrifice and so you know great leaders understand that there is. It can never be about them. I think we look at and we say at leaders sometimes and we say you know that person's name and they're doing X, y and Z. But true leadership is being a servant, it's service. If you're leading people, you're actually trying to help them get to where they need to be, more so than where you're trying to get to be so good, and that's why a lot of people fail at leadership, because they think it's about they don't want to serve.

Erica Rawls:

They want other people to serve them.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah it can't be that way. I mean anybody that's trying to lead and trying to get for other people to serve them, then they're not doing the right work. I mean, even in the home. You know, if I'm leading my household, it's because I'm trying to serve my wife, my kids, making sure they have everything they need to be successful, and then I'll come in and take care of what I need to take care of. But yeah, leadership is never about the person. It's about the people that are around them and ensuring that they have the tools to be successful in life. It can never be about about yourself. I think a lot of people fail, fall in leadership roles when they get all into their own feelings about the different things that are happening to them and the different circumstances that surround leadership. Because leadership is lonely, right, leadership is a lonely.

Erica Rawls:

It is lonely. So, thinking about the target audience that we have here and you can relate to this 25 to 35. Yeah, so 25 to 35. Yeah, being a young leader in a role for you as being a principal when you were 32. Is that right?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah, I got my first. Well, I mean, I actually got my first principalship when I went to Harlem, so I was 31. I was 31.

Erica Rawls:

So how is it what?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

can you share with the young leaders that are out there that are responsible for older people as well? Well, I think the biggest thing I can say to younger people working into leadership roles is you're going to fail, you're going to fail.

Erica Rawls:

Ultimately, you're going to fail. No, I mean right away.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

It's not going to go like you think it's going to go. You're going to fall down. I mean, that's it's not going to go like you think it's going to go. You're going to fall down. I mean, that's just the nature of the beast.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I know when I, you know, my first job as a high school principal was in York, pennsylvania, at William Penn Senior High School, york High, and I was only 32. And my first year was I was not good, not because I wasn't trying, not because I was doing things I shouldn't have been doing. I just didn't know. And so I had a vision of what I wanted to do, but what I was. You know the steps to get there. You know I was just doing a bad, a bad job in terms of having a lot of setbacks.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And again, I think leadership is about if you want to lead, you have to take chances, you have to have a vision, you have to manage well and you have to be willing to try things, fail and try again. Because if you don't leave from a perspective of I'm going to try things and it may not be successful, then you're leading in fear. And if you're leading in fear of failure, if I'm always afraid that I'm going to fail Right Then. Then I'm not allowing people that are working with me to understand that they also need to take chances, because if you want to move the needle in any organization, in any position, you have to take chances, which may lead to failure. So again, I think part of what I always say about myself and I think in leadership, you have to be this way, I'm comfortable being uncomfortable. I'm comfortable in this. You had to be this way, I'm. I'm comfortable being uncomfortable.

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I'm comfortable in this seat of I don't know. I'm comfortable saying, yeah, that I really messed that up and things aren't going the way I want them to go. But how can we work this out and and and, so that we can change direction, do something different. Change direction, do something different and then continue to grow?

Erica Rawls:

Well, okay, Dr Rawls.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah.

Erica Rawls:

I'm being one of the audience members here and then just thinking about so how do you get people to take you seriously when you're that young?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I took myself seriously. I think we worry about what other people are going to think about us, but how do you see yourself? I looked at myself in the mirror every day. I took myself seriously. I dressed to be a principal. Before I was a principal I went to work suit, tie, you know I'm ready, but I wasn't a principal yet, but I was dressing like that. So, yeah, I'm sure people like this young guy don't know what he's talking about. They probably were right. But I thought you know I can tell you this, I'm going every day. I'm going to work really hard. You know I'm going to do what I need to do to be successful. So I think when you step into leadership roles or any role in life and you first get there, you do have to look yourself in the mirror and take yourself seriously and say I can do this and doubt begins to creep in. But you keep saying I can do this.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And I can, I can do it, I can do it. And then if you're doing that, people take you seriously because they know how serious you are. Like if you're really serious about the work, serious about what you're trying to do, working really hard. People respect that At the beginning. Anytime a new leader comes in, I don't care who it is, people are going to look at you sideways. It's not an age thing, it's just that's how we are as people.

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And then it's up to you to not necessarily show them, but to walk your true walk, your true walk. So that's why I say you have to really not know yourself 100%, but you have to believe that you can accomplish whatever it is that you're setting out to accomplish. I think that's the biggest thing in life and that life has taught me over and over, like it asked me all the time. Do you believe?

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And if my answer is yes, then I know I can accomplish that goal.

Erica Rawls:

So you might be one of the few people it sounds like like outside looking in or listening to what you're saying right now. Did you ever suffer from like imposter syndrome, feeling as though, ok, I don't deserve to be here or I'm not ready for this position? Did you ever suffer at all with that?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I mean, again that's that doubt creeping in. So I think like we all deal with that.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

We all deal with this issue of self-doubt at times. It's a confidence thing and life has taught me that you can be real confident, you know, for one year.

Erica Rawls:

But if you're not constantly working on staying confident, then you can lose it because people are trying to steal it, because they're trying to question you. Dirty Dog Hauling. Thank you so much for your sponsorship. If you're looking for a junk removal company, they are the go-to company. Whether you have a small job or a large job and even excavation, you want to check them out. They are reasonable and also timely and effective. Dirty Dog Hauling.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Now back to the show nowadays, and I'm not into social media and all that stuff, but I see the kids, I'm dealing with them all the time and so they're. You know people are always chipping away at your, your mental, your mental, uh self, and how you, how you see yourself, because what you're seeing or what people are saying, or people can just get at you different ways. Um, so you really have to stay uh in tune with yourself but also working on being confident. But this whole idea of imposter syndrome you're always going to, that's always going to come up against you in any field. I don't care if you're a basketball player. You know you're a father or a mother, or you know you're just starting out a job, maybe you're a secretary, it doesn't matter your position. There's going to be times where you go like, you know, am I really who they think I am?

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And you have that self-doubt, but then that's just life talking to you and then you just got to fight back and work at it. So that's part of my discipline. I try to stay disciplined in myself. I try to win at different things in the morning or at night, just trying to to win at one specific instance so that I can say, even if I fail at this one thing, I know I completed this task over here, so I know what I'm capable of doing Right, and so then I feel better about myself. So you have to have some positive, positive moments in your life every day.

Erica Rawls:

Right, yeah, I think you are probably one of the most disciplined people I've ever had the privilege of knowing, and I know you more than most. So it's just, it's so cool to see how you I want to share how he'll have. He'll say he's going to do a thing. Y'all I'm telling you, let's just use Peloton, right? Okay? So he says he's going to do. What was the power? The power.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Oh, I'm doing a power zone training right now. I'm doing a power zone training right now. Build your base.

Erica Rawls:

Build, there it is. Build your base, build your base. There it is, build your base, build your base Right right. And it's for a month long. Is it a month long Weeks? Okay, it was for eight weeks. He said, yeah, babe, I'm going to do this power zone training. I said, okay, great, and it was just this past Saturday from the time that we recorded this. I guess you were at the top of it, I finished it.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

You the top of it, I finished it, you finished it.

Erica Rawls:

So to finish it, you had to do it for 90.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

That was the week before. This week was 60 minutes.

Erica Rawls:

It was 60 minutes, okay, 90 minutes, 90 minutes of just pure exercise. So he's going going down getting ready and prepping. I was like so what are you about to do? He's like man, I got to do 90 minutes. I said 90 minutes or what he said I got to exercise for 90. Like man, I gotta do 90 minutes.

Erica Rawls:

I said 90 minutes of what he said I gotta exercise for 90 minutes. I said that's nuts, why do you have to exercise for 90 minutes? I'm doing this power zone training. It's like well, why does everybody gotta do the 90 minutes? But he was so adamant about I'm going to finish it and I was curious to know, like and I know he didn't skip any days, no, and I wanted to know statistically, like, how many people actually were able to go 100 without quitting any days. But you didn't quit any days, no. So I need to know, the people need to know how do you stay, like, okay, I want to do that thing right and I'm going to finish that thing without wavering, like well, I don't believe in quitting, so that's number one.

Erica Rawls:

So I'm not Skipping a day on exercise. Is that quitting?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

That means I didn't finish it, so then I quit. So if we got something to do and they said I had to do 24 to do it, then I have to do that or I quit. And so to me again, leadership's about not quitting.

Erica Rawls:

Right, it all ties in yeah. So Again, leadership's about not quitting Right, and it all ties in yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

So I don't, I don't believe in quitting, and so you know my dad would never let me quit anything. So that's it started at a young age. But then I, I like, took that in and I don't quit anything like, because I believe and I'm sure people notice, once you quit one thing, it begins, it's easier to keep quitting, and so if you just never quit, if you just never quit, you have a, you have the possibility of succeed. A matter of fact, you will succeed if I just never, ever, ever, ever give up. So yeah. So now I'm into this thing. I told you I'm going to work out 365 days and every day for a, for a year. Right, I'm up to like 266 days, because that that was something I started, I'll forget, last October, whatever, but but and and so yeah, and then I'm doing these different programs, but it's just part of but, that's part of me when, in the morning too. So I wake up really early and I got to get something done Because, again, one thing about leadership, you got to take care of yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and so I find that I get up early in the morning, before anybody gets up.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

One. I love working out when I think other people are sleeping. That's a wrestling thing. So I will run at night after practice or run early in the morning, cause I always saw my competitor was sleeping and if they were sleeping and I was working out, I had the advantage. And so when we went and wrestled on that week, I felt like I had an advantage.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

So I turned that into now in my life. You know, if I'm up working out, I have an advantage over anybody else, that that you know. Again, I'm a competitor, so I'm like, okay, I can be the best leader because I have I have I have an advantage and I'm taking care of myself and that's and that's my time. So, um, and it goes back, goes back to I know, throughout the day I'm going to try things. I may be, I may not be successful, but I know I completed this one thing and so I can feel, I can feel good about that. And I think that's important again, for if you get into leadership or leadership roles, you have to make time for yourself, you have to take care of yourself and you have to find that victory every single day.

Erica Rawls:

Even if it's small. Even if it's small, it could be small One thing that I love that you say. Our children say it too. Like you know, you can't break promises to yourself.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

No.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, because if you break a promise to yourself, then you can break a promise to anyone.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah.

Erica Rawls:

So, and of course I learned that as well. Yeah, so, and of course I, I learned that as well. So whenever I don't want to do something, I hear myself saying cause, I caught you one morning which me and the kids always laugh about when you didn't want to work out. You're like come on, jesse, why don't you want to work out today? I'm like, who are you talking to? Like, oh, myself. But it's one of those things that you actually to motivate yourself to do the things that you don't want to do, because you know on the other side of it, you're going to benefit from it 100%.

Erica Rawls:

I had to take two seconds to thank Allstate Insurance for sponsoring this episode. If you're looking for car life or casualty insurance, they're going to be your ultimate insurance company. Thank you, rob Shaw, with Allstate Insurance. Now back to the show.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I can't say this enough. I mean, in life you got to talk to yourself. You know you got it. You do have to motivate yourself because this thing called life is not easy. It's really, really hard.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Like I counsel kids all the time and I'm talking to them, I always get a kind of choked up or emotional when I'm seeing freshmen and then they become seniors. It's because this world is not an easy place, right? So you've got to constantly motivate yourself and people think like that's not true, or they may think that's well, you don't really need. Yes, you do, because no one else you know. We always say if no one else believes in you, always believe in yourself. So no one in this world may believe in what you're capable of, but if you just believe, you got to believe in yourself and then that's one person that believes in you, but it's you. And so if you can believe in yourself, then you can accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

So you do have to motivate yourself. You do have to talk to yourself. At times when you don't feel like doing something, just start talking to yourself, motivating yourself, believing that you can do it. And that goes back to an imposter syndrome. When you're feeling like an imposter, or feeling like you know you, you got this job, or you're starting this business and it's not going the way you wanted to go, or people are saying you can do it, or things are falling down. But if you keep motivating yourself, talking to yourself, believing in yourself, you know and then just say I'm not going to quit, I'm about to change direction yeah but I'm not going to quit.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And once you make that decision that you're not going to quit, I believe the world begins to open up and change course for you. Like, you have that much power in yourself because someone can always see what's in you, you know, or look into your eyes and know that guy right there or that girl they're not. They're not quitting. So I'm going to take a chance on them, or I'm going to get out of their way, or I'm going to help them out, because they have decided deep down in themselves that they're they have this dream, they have this goal.

Erica Rawls:

They're're not going to quit, they're not going to give up so what do you say to the person that's been told you're too much? Or they're not accepted in a place because of the the light that you're saying, or someone can look in your eyes and say okay, yeah, um, yeah, they're not going to quit.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

That's intimidating to some people well, I mean, everybody's not going to like you. Another leadership principle If everybody likes you, you're doing something wrong.

Erica Rawls:

Doing something wrong.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Yeah. So, like some people that don't, maybe they're feeling bad about themselves for some reason and they don't accept you for who you are, what you're bringing to the table. They might not like you, or you're calling them out because you are a leader, but you're not doing it out of malice, but that's your job. They might not like you, but they're going to respect you, right. So, um, you just you can't live life trying to please everybody, because if you do that, you end up hurting yourself, and that's something I've had to learn along the way. You know, trying to make sure everybody's happy, but it just doesn't work that way, and so you have to, you know, work through that whole, that whole process and just come to grips with man. Everybody not going to like me.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And it's OK, I'm all right with that. Right, I'm all right with that. I'm at peace with that.

Erica Rawls:

So everywhere I go and I say who I'm married to, they say, oh, he's such a great leader.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Why do you think that is I mean? I think I think people understand that I mean when I say, when I say I'm here to serve, like I'm here to help you and so it doesn't matter your position, doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter what you look like, like I'm going to help, I'm going to do my best work and I'm going to try to help and I'm going to live my life in a way that I want to bring honor to my family but also honor to the community that I'm serving. Kids will say that because they know I care as a teacher, I care deeply about my, about my students that were in the classroom with me when I became a principal or assistant principal. I care deeply about them, my staff the same way. You know I see them as not just teachers but human beings that are living their life. And how can I help and assist them wherever, whatever they're trying to do personally, professionally, that in that I believe in them. So I think If people say that, that's because that's what I try to do.

Erica Rawls:

I think I've been been good at that along the way and never try to take honor and glory for myself, because it's never been about Jesse Rawls.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Jr. And plus, you're a man of integrity. When you say you're going to do something, you do it. Yeah, I think that's very, very, very important. If you say something, do it, and if you can't do it, tell the person why. I can't.

Erica Rawls:

I can't do that yeah, so now you're starting to be known for this be great every day yeah yeah, you can't think of anybody else right now. I can't think of anything. I can't when I hear be great every day. And someone to say be great every day, I'm like you heard that from Jesse, yeah, so what does that mean to you?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

It means so much to me. I mean, I started out when I was at Central Dolphin East High School. It was something that was with me for a long time. But when I got to East High, because I felt like we were the underdogs. You know, I felt like we were the underdogs in that you know what's the one thing that we can control every single day so that we can raise our level and raise up our performance in anything. And then when I'm seeing students, you know, I see them and I see that sometimes they don't understand the importance of each day, and so I would always tell them be great every day, because I would tell them like and I believe this, so every day I wake up, I honestly believe this and I say it to myself that every day that you get is a gift, right, that you're given this gift to wake up.

Erica Rawls:

I had to take two seconds to interrupt this episode. I would like to thank one of our most recent guests, attorney Jenny Chavis, for sponsoring this show. Chavis Law Firm is an elite law firm in Central Pennsylvania that helps with estate planning as well as understanding what type of business entity you should enter into when starting your business. If you're looking for a great attorney that understands estate planning as well as business entity, how to start the right way, you want to check out Attorney Chavis, chavis Law Firm. Now back to the show.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I don't know what the chances of us being here in this moment, but it's, it's, it's. You can't even calculate it, you know. So, therefore, we have this amazing gift that we're given, but also tell people that a gift is only good if it's received.

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Right, I can hand you $20, but if you don't take it, then I just have my hand out and you was like I didn't want it. But I look at a day that we get as that gift and then I receive it, and then I just believe that every single day we have a choice to make. Like I try to make things simple in my life.

Erica Rawls:

You really do Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

So we have a simple choice to make either to be great or not to be great.

Erica Rawls:

You mean that no?

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

because it's that simple. There's no in between.

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Either getting better or you're getting worse, but you're never staying the same. You're never staying status quo. It's either you're getting better or you're getting worse. But never believe that you're staying the same, that just that can't happen. It's impossible to remain the same. So then, every day I get up, I have to make a choice. No matter how I'm feeling, no matter what happened to me yesterday, no matter what confronts me in the day, no matter who I run into, you know, I have a choice to make and I say my choice is I'm going to be great every single day that I'm on earth, that I put my feet down, that my feet hit the ground, I'm able to stand up. I'm going to be great on that day. Don't know about. You know yesterday's gone, tomorrow I don't know. Yeah, you know what tomorrow's gonna bring, but I know what I have right now in front of me right so on this day I'm gonna be great.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And so when I say, you know, simple thing like Peloton or yeah and I know I'm giving them a shout out, but because I do love it yeah but a simple thing like that is just a challenge for me to say on this day I don't feel like doing this, but I'm going to do it, and I'm not going to do it halfway, I'm going to do it all the way because that's a challenge to myself to be great. And then when I walk into work I feel the same way. When I'm talking to kids or talking to a teacher, I'm giving them everything I got in that moment. You know, because that's been my promise to myself, I'm going to be great every single day. So I used to tell the kids that at East High, be great every day. And it's crazy because I was this summer.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I was at the fruit place and a student came up to me and he said, dr Rose. He said, remember, you used to say be great every day. I said, yeah. He said, man, some kids might not have understood that, but I did. He said, man, that's that's so important, that every day that they were great. And it kind of choked me up because you know I'll get emails from students every once in a while. They'll email me and just say the same thing to me but it's, it's so, it's so, it's so important, um, that we, that we take hold of every single day, because we, we only have so many yeah like, if you think about life, you we're finite, we're not infinite, like in terms of being here on earth, like there's only so many, so many days we have.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

So why not make the most out of every single day and give our, give our best effort? It's just, it's what we owe. It's what we owe once we accept that gift and I accept the gift every day that the sun sun comes up, or maybe the sun doesn't, because it's been raining a lot, a lot, but every day that I get up, I'm gonna do my best work right, I guarantee you that like I can guarantee you that, and I tell people I work with that, like I can guarantee you I.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And I tell people I work with that, like I can guarantee you, I'm going to give my best effort, every single day, without a doubt. You don't have to ask about it.

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

That's how it's going to happen. Yeah.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, and I know a lot of people like boy, I bet it was tough being raised with with that guy and I'm here to say no, he's probably the most compassionate person you have, such a big heart.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Well, I would always ask the kids did you do your best work?

Erica Rawls:

Did you do your best work.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And if the answer is yes, then okay, and I don't care what grade you got, I don't care what you did. You know sports-wise, Did you do your best? If the answer is yes, then what are we worried about anymore?

Erica Rawls:

It was that easy.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And that's a lesson I used to always just want to win, yeah, until I hurt myself.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Really bad yeah having like a just a crazy experience when I just got so mad at myself and that was my sophomore year in college and then after that I was like, look, the only thing I'm gonna ask myself is that I do my best work? And if I did, I'm going to walk off this mat winner losing, feeling good about what I, what I put in. So you know that that's all it was for me. Like, every day I'm working, working, working, and then we'll figure it out when it, you know, at the end of the match, what happens.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

You know, I think I try to live my life the same way.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, this was so good, so good. I'm sure there's going to be people asking questions or saying thank you for the motivation, because that's what this was. Hey, I need to take two seconds to interrupt this wonderful show that you're watching. I run a real estate business and the way we fund this podcast is through that business, the Erica Ross team. I would love it if you would just give us one opportunity to service your real estate needs, whether you are in central PA or around the entire world. Think of us first so we can help you. Now back to the show. So with that, a lot of people like to come to your commencement, your graduation ceremony, to hear your speeches.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

That's true.

Erica Rawls:

They do.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Okay.

Erica Rawls:

Like they follow you wherever you go. You know now at Cumberland Valley, and you know who knows where you end up. But people do follow you for your motivational speeches. So where do you like, how do you prepare, like, where does that come from? Because they are good.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

Sometimes it just to be something of. I'm blessed with a thought.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And it just a marinate in my mind.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

And then from there I'm. I'm talking to myself.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

You know I'm talking to myself. I remember the one of my most famous ones. I talk about that composter, that I bought the composter, and how composter turns trash into treasure, if you will. And then I thought about our kids and how they grow up and how you can take all the negative things that people say about you and use it for motivation, just like a composter. And you can compost the negative talk, or you can compost people saying you can't do this, or you can, you know, compost that doubt and then you just put it in a place. You can use that as fuel for your fire to succeed in life. You know, and so that was.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I bought a composter and I was amazed at what it could do yeah and I was like man, if you could, if you could take trash and turn it to treasure, you can take people's negative energy that they're trying to give to you and turn it into motivation to succeed in life, cause you've got to think of different ways to motivate yourself in life. And sometimes when you just getting beat down, beat down, beat down, you can take all that that energy and say, no, I can, I can. Just just because you said I can, I will and and and. Sometimes that's the motivation you need to be, need to be successful, cause you, you have this in your mind that you know someone's saying but you can't do what you're saying Again if no one believes in me, I'm always going to believe in myself.

Erica Rawls:

Right.

Dr. Jesse Rawls:

I'm going to to, uh, to overcome, I'm going, I'm going to to, to overcome, I'm going, I'm going to succeed. So that's how stuff comes to me. Well, you know, that's how stuff comes to me.

Erica Rawls:

Yeah, well, thank you for motivating, yes, our community. This is good, this is good. So, thank you, you're welcome. Yeah, it's been a pleasure sitting on the couch with you. Okay, alrighty y'all, if you love what you heard, please. I would love nothing more but to hear you or meet you in the comments.

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Erica Rawls

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