Hows everybody doing today?

So for those of you who may not know who i am
Which is probably the vast majority of you all
My name is Cordae
I'm 24 years old
I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina but was raised majority in
Suitland, Maryland which made me who i am today

I'm Hip-Hop artist more specifically a Grammy-nominated Hip-hop artist
A quote unquote critically acclaimed world-renowned B-list celebrity but to be honest more like B minus
but again you all can just call me Cordae
And assume that i'm almost kind of a big deal
Because i'm here doing a TED Talk
Now i know what you're thinking what does a 24 year old rapper possibly have to say during a TED Talk
Like who cares what ja rule thinks you know
But i'm here to talk about my mantra and my way of life that has gotten me this far and can hopefully take me a lot further on my journey as I'm just getting started and that's the "Hi level mindset"
Now before i get into the details about the Hi level mindset
I want to tell you about the original creator of the Hi level mindset
That's my mom she doesn't even know it
My mother had me when she was 16 years old
She was single mom with all the odds against her
And yet from an unbiased perspective
I like to say she did a pretty decent job
We live in some pretty terrible neighborhoods man
I switched elementary schools about five different times
I remember one time her car had got stolen twice in one week
She overcame circumstance obstacles her environment and negativity as i watched our living situations would continue toget
Better and better as the years went by now that's hi level
Now the high level mindset wasn't something that she directly
Taught me or purposefully instilled in me but something i learned
Simply by observation the hi level mindset is a philosophy
It's a wavelength to apply to your everyday thought's and regiment the hi level mindset will be of great service to you
Especially when things aren't going as planned
These trying times that i speak of or life testers if you may
Are what truly make us man and woman
Actually scratch that how we handle these lifetimes
These trying times or life testers is what decides a person's destiny which bring me step one of the Hi mindset
And that's always remain positive no matter what people or life may throw at you
Now im going to give a little bit of background myself
Funny enough i was actually voted most likely to be famous
In both middle school and high school
Now i know what you're thinking im sorry
i haven't always been this good looking it takes a little bit of time
My goal was gratuade highschool and to immediately blow up
But that didn't happen so i went to college and as soon as i went to college boy did life hit me hard within the first couple of weeks of school one of my best friends that i called my brother had gotten sentenced to 24 years in prison
I had gotten detained for driving with suspended license
Amongst other things like having a pound of weed in the car before it was legal and my grandmother had passed
Not to mention i was already a terrible student with horrific grades and a broke teenager and i wonder why my grades were so bad now that's just disrespectful i wasn't even trying to hide it
But on top of all these things what was really the breaking point for me was that i had released a mixtape that i worked on the entire summer and it only had gotten 200 downloads
Now my previous two mixtapes got 2,000 downloads
So i was not happy with the regression to say the least
Again this almost pushed me to the brink of quitting and insanity
But the Hi level mindset made me think man
These misfortunes are just going to make my triumph story a lot cooler i used this as fuel to the fire motivation if you will
It made me think you know life is just book
Not every chapter is going to be perfect
But it's about how it ends
Which bring me to the second step of the Hi level mindset
Always be intentional with your desires
Know exactly what you want in 2018 i created a vision board
At the beginning of 2018 excuse i created a vision board
And im proud to say that with the Hi mindset
Within one year i almost accomplished everything on here
Y'all can clap for that
So i encourage you to just write down your goals
Starting off your day with reading your goals and dreams aloud
Gives you a boost of positive energy
This energy can be transmuted into something we call faith
Faith in your ability faith in yourself faith in a higher power
Will take you to places you can't even imagine
Know exactly what you want
How can you be Hi level if you don't know what Hi level is to you?
And in order to do all these things it brings me to third step of the hi level mindset discipline growing up discipline was always taught in such a lame way that i always tried my best to avoid it
But where motivation is low that's where discipline kicks in
Anybody who done something noteworthy with their lives
All have one thing in common and that's discipline
Mastering the art of discipline will literally change your life
I witnessed this close hand by studying a friend up close
This friend of mine noticed that every time he stopped doing drugs and alcohol something would happen he felt as though
This was a divine calling from heaven above to halt all his vices
Now can anyone tell me the three main vices of a 19 year old college student? It's sex alcohol and drugs
If you all didn't know that already
And after the first six months of him stopping his vices
I seen his whole life change completely
Again he thought this is a sign that maybe God doesn't want me to do drugs drink alcohol or have sex
But no that's not the case thank you
He was just simply learning discipline without knowing
Alright i have confession to make because i don't want to make this entire TED Talk about myself
I lied and said that this is a friend it was actually me
Now a cheat code to ensure that you're staying disciplined to
Whatever you're striving for is to prime your environment for success your habits are based on your habitat and the main product of your habitat are the people in your life
Which brings me to a very important step of the Hi level mindset
The fourth step to exact
Remove all negative people out of your life immediately
Anybody that's semidoubtful or naysaying get them out
If you're talking about your dreams and goals and they give small
Sarcastic remarks boot them just an all around negative Nancy?
Kick them out of there man
Does anybody in the audience know somebody that's like that?
Please raise your hand
I need you all to do me favor
Pull your phone's out and block them immediately
No no no im dead serious
Don't let someone else's negativity cancel out your light
For it can temporarily get in the way of you achieving what's owe to you
You are a product of those who you hang around you
Let's make sure we're hanging around positive Hi level individuals
Now thank you
Now i like to consider myself a master at this Hi level stuff
I mean i am here for reason right?