Michelle Obama’s Life Advice Will Leave You SPEECHLESS (MUST WATCH)

you have to practice who you want to be you know you don't wake up one morning and you're suddenly who you think you want to be you have to put some energy into it so if you want to be an honest person you have to be an honest person every day even starting at three and four and five right if you're going to be a hard worker hard work doesn't just appear you have to practice hard work you have to practice effort and i also encourage them try to help them understand that good things don't come easy you know with that effort you know that's where you grow that's where growth some of the best times in my life when i've grown it's when i've done something hard when i've overcome a fear you don't realize that when you're doing it but when you come out on the other side you realize wow i've really stepped up so i push my girls but more importantly i love them a lot and that's what i feel for all of you i want you guys to feel that in your lives so that you can be excellent because other people told me that i might not be able to to do well in school for whatever reason i was always a good student i worked hard but i thought there was some magic that happened that made you really you know i didn't know that it was just plain old hard work so there were periods of doubt for sure i think we all i have doubts today doubts don't go away you just learn how to deal with them you you start knowing yourself and you become more confident the more successes you have the more chances you take you don't let the the failures or the stumbles define you you know everybody falls every now and then some people fall a lot and what i realized is that we have long lives if we're healthy and we do what we're supposed to do i'm 47 years old so think about it whatever mistake i made when i was 13 who cares so think about life as a long trajectory but at the same time you don't want to make huge mistakes because when you're young making big big mistakes can last forever right so you want to choose wisely but the stumbles the lessons learned that's part of life that that makes you grow but i i came to know that i didn't know that when i was your age i thought every every mistake was the end of the world i'll never be able i'll never get into school i'll never be you know of course we all feel that way um but just continue to work put the put the effort in and i think that has been some of what's helped me being first lady first of all is knowing who you are and being confident in yourself because there'll be clarissa what do you say pushing beyond other people's labels of you right that's a big part that's what we do to each other all the time we don't even know each other and we already determined from one glance meeting one line one word one phrase this is who you are so you have to know who you are before that and you and you live that reality and you keep living it out no matter what and if you're a good have good character and and good intentions that that ultimately shines through but in the end it's hard work and i like to work hard and i like to do good things and you practice that now and believe it or not i didn't know it it prepared me to be the first lady of united states i didn't know i guess i'm doing okay but you know what every day we just get up and keep doing what we think is the right thing read write read read if the president were here one of his greatest strengths is reading that's one of the reasons why he's a good communicator why he's such a good writer he's a voracious reader so we're trying to get our girls no matter what to just be to love reading and to challenge themselves with what they read not just read the gossip books but push themselves beyond and do things that maybe they wouldn't do so i would encourage you all to to read read read just keep reading and writing is another skill it's practice it's practice the more you write the better you get drafts our kids are learning the first draft means nothing you're gonna do seven ten drafts that's writing it's not failure it's not not the teacher not liking you because it's all marked up and read when you get to be a good writer you mark your own stuff in red and you rewrite and you rewrite and you rewrite that's what writing is and if you come out with those skills and then you're confident and you can articulate and you can stand up straight and look anybody in the eye and say this is who i am it's a pleasure to meet you that's one of the things we try to do with our mentoring program with young girls my message to them is if you can walk into the white house and meet the first lady and say my name is how are you and look me in the eye then there's nothing you can't do that's why it's important if you guys walked here are sitting here in front of all these people standing tall asking questions using your voice you have to practice that these arenas just show up again and again and then you just get used to it the nerves go away and you start relaxing into your own abilities but it's practice when you are struggling and you start thinking about giving up i want you to remember something that my husband and i have talked about since we first started this journey nearly a decade ago something that has carried us through every moment in this white house in every moment of our lives and that is the power of hope the belief that something better is always possible if you're willing to work for it and fight for it it is our fundamental belief in the power of hope that has allowed us to rise above the voices of doubt and division of anger and fear that we have faced in our own lives and in the life of this country our hope that if we work hard enough and believe in ourselves then we can be whatever we dream regardless of the limitations that others may place on us the hope that when people see us for who we truly are maybe just maybe they too will be inspired to rise to their best possible selves shoot it's the hope of my folks like my dad got up every day do his job at the city water plant the hope that one day his kids would go to college and have opportunities he never dreamed of that's the kind of hope that every single one of us politicians parents preachers all of us need to be providing for our young people because that is what moves this country forward every single day our hope for the future and the hard work that hope inspires i want our young people to know that they matter that they belong so don't be afraid you hear me young people don't be afraid be focused be determined be hopeful be empowered empower yourselves with a good education then get out there and use that education to build a country worthy of your boundless promise lead by example with hope never fear [Music] so [Music] you