Black Excellence? Does this exist today and if so where is this evident? This term has been used loosely by certain individuals today, in my opinion. An example of Black excellence starts with Black Wall Street that was established in Tulsa, Oklahoma by entrepreneur O.W. Gurley. Gurley moved to Tulsa and bought 40 acres of land, which was only to be sold to black Americans. J.B. Stafford bought large amounts of real estate in northeastern Tulsa was also significant in helping start Black Wall Street. The early 1900’s in Tulsa Oklahoma is what I call “black excellence”, they bought land and only sold to black individuals. Now, don’t get me wrong, there has been great efforts made by prominent Black people today to create “black excellence”. Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Sean Combs, or whatever you want to call him today, loves to use this term, but he has started a school in the Bronx, New York. I understand what he is trying to do for the culture but is he really pushing the culture forward. He is not the only person to use this term, but he seems to be the person to greatly believe in this term when he is in the “moment”. This article is not to talk down about anyone but I feel excellence is definitely needed for black people worldwide today. Regardless of what Diddy or any other black celebrity says or thinks, black excellence is not evident in the black community.

I absolutely love being black in America. Being black is fulfilling in many ways and I appreciate the beauty of the “struggle”. That underdog feeling is part of what drives me to excellence. It’s more like rocket fuel that works with many other components that guides me to my goals and dreams. I thank God for this “obstacle” that makes the journey that much more satisfying. My journey is not why I chose to write this article. I am looking to and hoping that others will start at the root of black people in the world not being as excellent as they should today. I want the ghetto to not be the ghetto. I want the Oscars and Grammys to have the value of a certificate given to a person after buying a bag of paperclips. I want public aid to be the last resort. I want entertainers to be passengers in the vehicle of black excellence, and not the drivers. I want the term to be lived and not just be a hashtag. We all say things that sound cool or positive, but don’t really live or believe in what we are saying.

Black excellence is being displayed and lived in parts all over the world, but I want the majority of blacks in the world to be excellent. I love all races and cultures and I want all to be great but negativity about my race and the stereotypes are advertised daily around the world. Black people are leaders but aren’t leading the way. Black men have always been the top players in basketball, football, boxing, and a host of other sports. Why Is it that we aren’t majority owners and leaders in these organizations? I wanted to be a ball player or rapper when I was growing up. Why was I not interested in owning my own major record company or sports team? It’s a far fetched and impossible idea in our minds growing up. What we don’t witness and is not immediate deters the pursuit of that possibility. I want to see kids in groups talking about their future creation of fortune 500 companies. I want to see and hear about behind the scenes being more attractive than being the seen.
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Black Excellence is impossible for black people until changes are made at the root of the culture. You can’t sprinkle powder sugar on shit and call it a powder donut, and that’s what screaming black excellence sounds like to me. I am not asking for us to act or carry ourselves like any other race. I am asking that integrity, pride, dignity, intelligence, and character become the foundation for us all. We have all of that, but when you are on the west side and south side of Chicago, or any other “ghetto” area in America, that’s not what you see.  There are things that can be mentioned that doesn’t look well to the rest of the world, but black people should not cater to nor try to mimic any other race. We can continue to be our lively and creative selves but in a way that pushes the culture forward. Empower the youth with more than what we have right now. Show them that being the owner is better than being the employee. Knowledge, being humble, and picking battles wisely is the foundation of black excellence. It’s time that we are excellent and realize that there is work to be done for us to achieve excellence.
 
Written By: Ronald Anthony Wilson
 

Fear is to be afraid of someone or something due to the likelihood of it being dangerous, painful, or threateningHow is fear developed and why is it detrimental to a person’s growth and development in life? Fear is taught and instilled in a person through his or her upbringing. Most of the time fear in life is never really taught to a child, but it is witnessed in the adults that the child is surrounded by. Fear is your safe comfort zone that hinders you from taking positive risks. I speak of risk because in my opinion it is a companion of fear.
When fear enters your mind, risk quickly follows. Our parents taught us that education through college and a career with a healthy salary is the right path in life. They tell us to go to college, get a job, get married, and have children.This is what most people hear growing up.
Preconditioned FearThis is the start of your safety net and comfort zone. Your upbringing and the expectations that people around have are  actually structured to limit risk as much possible and to make sure your life is secure. What your parents don’t tell you is that there is no way to escape failure and obstacles in life, because fear is always tucked away in the subconscious.
Now I know you’re thinking that risk and fear shouldn’t be as prominent in an adults as they are in children. However, the conditioning of the mind by a child’s parents has a lasting effect on the conscious and subconscious. Adult issues are different when fears and risks are involved.
Responsibility comes with the territory of being an adult, and becomes the primary reason for fear not leaving.Fear is the master of adult responsibility. Fear of losing security in your life as an adult leads to a life of limitations and mediocre expectations. Adults also fear what others think and what they may say to other adults. “What would people think and how will they treat me?” “I don’t want to look like a fool”. Quotes like this are likely said when a person is contemplating going against the societal expectation. What is the remedy for fear or how does one react when fear arises? I am here to tell you that fear can’t totally be removed from your life. Fear is needed for protection of your life in times of danger.
This means that hurt and pain is inevitable, but that not all the pain and danger is bad for you. So, there is no way to totally remove fear from your psyche, but it can be put into perspective and better understood. The way you gain control of your mind and understand fear  is with self discovery. Self-discovery delivers you from total fear and enlightens you on your life’s freedom.
Self discovery is the keyI was born and raised in the inner city of Chicago IL. I was raised by a single mother that had a drug addiction. My father was also an addict, and of course he was not in the picture as much as I needed him to be. Alcohol and drugs were a staple in my childhood and fear was deeply rooted. At the age of 21 my upbringing and understanding for life was just to survive and make it to another day. I lived my entire 20’s in fear of not having enough for myself and my family. I was afraid to try new things and step outside of my comfort zone.
The fear was so deeply rooted that I accepted the fact that is was a part of everything around me. I didn’t know I was afraid, or that I wasn’t free in life. That education was not delivered to my doorstep, and if it was, I probably wouldn’t have understood what the hell it meant to live without total fear. I always thought I had my fears under control, but of course that was not true. Traveling and making friends that had a different perspective on life, helped me to understand that I had to discover who I truly was and what I wanted for my life. I couldn’t box myself in culturally any longer.
Educate yourself culturallyIt was time for me to interact with other cultures intimately and socially too. This gave me a different outlook and made me want to dig deeper into my inner thoughts and dreams. I started to travel abroad, read more books (Malcolm Gladwell is my favorite author), listen to inspirational speakers and just educate myself on life in general. Finally, at the age of 33 I understand the meaning of financial freedom, mental freedom, and physical freedom. I wanted more for my life and I was not afraid to go after it. Furthermore, I now know I don’t want to work for anyone and I want to become the CEO of my life.
Quit the 9 to 5I discovered that working 9 to 5, five days a week, wasn’t fitting for my life’s direction. Also, I discovered that writing was a passion of mine and something that I would soon fall in love with.  I knew that I wanted to impact others and help guide them to being their own independent person and no longer being controlled by society. Lastly, I also discovered that I really loved fitness and being in great shape physically. My self-discovery took approximately 2 years of trial and error. The sacrifice was worth it and now I know what will totally set me free in my life.
Freedom is on the other side of fear.Self-discovery teaches you what freedom is for your life. Self-discovery is a process of you telling yourself the truth and discovering your passions as well. When I speak of truth, I am talking about what satisfies your life and what is holding you back from growth and development. Self-discovery delivers mental freedom, financial freedom, and emotional freedom. These three things are determined by you, only once you have truly discovered yourself.
There are tools that will be needed to help you along on your journey to conquer fear. Being alone, reading books, traveling, listening to fearless speakers, and interacting with fearless individuals are some of the tools that will lead to discovery of one self. Being alone or dating yourself as some may say is the key tool of them all. This means you get to process knowledge and interactions that you gain on your own, without outside influences.
You now have your own opinion and have come to that opinion with the knowledge that you have gained from the other tools that were utilized as well. These tools will have to stay with you forever after the initial self-discovery. This is just the start of conquering your fears. Life will throw some things at you that will always test you and your discovery. Use these tools as armor in your battle with life.
Fear is championFear is the champion in many lives and only the few people that win the battle with fear are successful. F.E.A.R is False Evidence Appearing Real. Take control of your life and remove all of the false evidence. In conclusion, you are greater than your circumstances and freedom is on the other side of fear.

Originally Posted on July 4, 2017 
Post Link: https://motivationgrid.com/everything-you-want-is-on-the-other-side-of-f-e-a-r/
Written By: Ronald Wilson

If you’re not working, well then what are you doing? I was always told and conditioned as a child to go to college, and after college start a great career. College and a great career was never an example in my family, except for my aunt Linda. My aunt was a radiology nurse that graduated from Malcolm X college in Chicago IL. with her degree in nursing. She was the only one of 8 siblings to graduate college, but after graduating she put her degree to use. A college degree and a great career was not only rare in my family but also in my friend’s families as well. We were following what America said was the only way to make it in America. Freedom of choice and entrepreneurship was a foreign language to majority of the world, but with us being poor and black it was from outer space. Success was a family, home, cars, a yearly vacation and some cash in the bank. Middle class Americans are looked at as successful, but how is that possible? If there is a low-class, middle class, and a high-class, why is middle class the standard of success? Now to those that feel middle-class is more than enough for them, well I will say I am proud of you and congratulations. I will never be acceptant of middle class when I know my potential goes much further than that.
 
I would first like you to understand that college and a great career isn’t a bad thing to have or go after in life. I feel that college and a career should be a stepping stone to eventually owning and running your own business. I know why being your own boss or owning your own company was not being taught to myself and other children my age growing up. Being an entrepreneur was unheard of in my community. I didn’t know a CEO or even a small business owner that had come from my community. No examples to myself meant that there were no examples to my parents as well. Empowering your child to be free from the constraint of a 9 to 5 just seemed like a pipe dream. The struggle of becoming an entrepreneur was not something a parent wanted their child to go through as an adult. Parents don’t realize that having a job even while making great pay, still has you making pennies on the CEO’s millions. Why are we working hard to become an athlete instead of working to own the team? Being an athlete is far more attainable in life than owning the team could ever be. Owners of franchises aren’t “cool”. Owners are “nerds” that have no social life. Owners also must sacrifice if they come from a poor background.
 
Now you’re an adult, and mediocrity is embedded in your sub-conscious. As adults, we consciously know that there is a higher class, but the thought of the sacrifices that are needed to gain access to this class is not appealing. This is how our brains are programmed by our parents, but of course its for the good which limits our growth. Parents limit your freedom as a child and it’s for your protection mentally and physically. This stays with you into adulthood and now failure and uncertainty aren’t really an option for you. Failure and uncertainty is necessary for growth and success. It is time to create your own way of life and live life and not just exist in it. You are currently working for someone that doesn’t appreciate your true talents and gifts. You aren’t allowed to spread your wings and fly in your workplace, because your boss controls your flight. We are in a time that becoming a boss is as simple as a key stroke on a computer keyboard. You can start a blog, create an app, start a fashion line, become a freelance worker in your profession, and there are a ton of other things that you can do as well. You don’t need to be rich to control your destiny or have freedom. Your life and future can be in your control, but you must recognize that power and put in the effort to accomplish what you want. Time to be and do more in life and set a greater example for your children and the youth today. Leave something behind for someone besides the debt that you’ve accumulated over your adult life.

Written By: Ronald Anthony Wilson.