This was one of my favorite Instagram live’s because I got to honor graduates. The girls who I believe will make their mark on the world in a profound way especially because they have graduated in a time that our world has never seen in history. Tonight, I asked the question,

“What are you going to do with it?’ I believe the only limit to making your mark is your own imagination and fear of failure and as my father used to tell me, “fear of failure is the cheapest room in the house.” 

The other thing you need and need a lot of is resilience. I’m sure you keep hearing this and are tired of it, especially in the midst of all this unusual chaos that has been heaped upon you, but no matter how tired you are of hearing it, it doesn’t lessen how much you need it. 

So, what is resilience?  To me, resilience is life giving you the opportunity to wake up in the morning after you have failed and play the game again. Why? Because life wants you to win. Life is working for you not against you and you need to believe this in the worst of times. 

You asked me on Instagram why I wear two watches.

The first answer is because I like how it looks and it reminds me of the people who gave me the watches. The second reason is because it reminds me we only have only one life, with a finite amount of time here on this planet. I have said before I am on a mission to get girls to make their mark on the world through joymaking and risktaking and I mean it. I’m on a quest to get girls to fail, to fail big, and take chances because you only have one life and as Nelson Mandela says, “there is no passion to be found playing small-in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” There is no time to worry about looking foolish, or worrying what other people think….the truth is they are probably not thinking about you and if they are they don’t have enough to do. This is your time; you get to decide what to do and how to make your mark.  And yes, you will make mistakes and have jobs you don’t like and fail but that’s all part of the road to your dream. 

You also asked me about how to deal with problems and I talked about Ben Horowitz and a Kimchi problem, which he described as a problem that you bury and the deeper you bury it the hotter it becomes until it burns your house down. I talk a lot about Kimchi problems with my son because if you can master addressing problems it is something that I believe will change your life. The ability to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and take care of problems immediately instead of letting them burn your dreams. 

Lastly, I talked about the American Dream.  I read the definition of the American Dream 

“The belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success. Make their own mark on the world. (I added that) The American Dream is achieved by risk-taking and hard work; it is NOT by chance.

The American Dream is that every man and woman must be free to become whatever God intends they should become. 

And finally, we gave away some grad gifts because:

I believe in the power of every girl’s potential to achieve her own American Dream. 

I believe this is the moment for girls to make their mark on the world.  

I believe that having a mission and purpose will bring you joy. 

I believe resilience is the opportunity to get up in the morning and play the game again.

I believe you need to take chances, take risks, fail big, work hard and have a sense of humor

I believe in in you. 

All our high school graduates that watched got a joymaker shirt from me as a graduation gift! 

All our college graduates that watched got a blue Erica skirt because the word Erica is in AmERICAn Dream! And because we are PROUD to be made in AmERICA!

My request was that when you got it you would post yourself wearing it and tell me what brings you joy and one risk you want to take! I can’t wait to see and I can’t wait to see all you accomplish!  

Stay tuned on Sunday for our Tik Tok competition coming your way at your request!  All the rules and prizes will be posted on our story!  And remember the first-place winner gets a prize and so does the last place!!  Why? To get you to try something that might be out of your comfort zone! No one can be worse at it than me!  

Also, we released all the State Tees!  If you didn’t see your state DM us!  

Quote of the week

There is no passion to be found playing small-in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. Nelson Mandela 

Songs of the week

Beauty in the World Macy Gray 

That Was Yesterday Leon Bridges

PODCAST OF THE WEEK

HOW I BUILT RESILIENCE : LIVE WITH TOBIAS LUTKE ANS JOHN STEIN