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Coming up in episode four

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of Motivation Monday.

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Is there a sense of pride right now

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that you were able to go through

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what you're going through? Life is difficult, but because it is difficult,

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it is worth living. Nothing easy comes good

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and nothing good comes easy.

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So you're going through this situation.

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Could it make for a wonderful book? that time

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my husband left me, took the kids,

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threw me out on the street,

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and I started my dream job.

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And I started my dream business.

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I flew across the world to Thailand

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If you're in the East or to America If you're in the West,

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and whatever the case might be.

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That time I went hiking in the andes

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The doctor said to us that you need to go home and

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basically put together your affairs

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and put your affairs in order because

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you're not going to see the end of the year. cry

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If you need to cry, do what you need to do

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because you're not going to see the end of the year and the doctor was being honest.

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I don't want anyone in the comment section to say, You know what a cruel doctor.

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When you deal with lives, it's best to be honest and straightforward

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about the brevity of the situation. Don't mislead people. so

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it eventually went on. That was the 27th of August.

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She did surgery later that week, the Friday, and

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she passed eight days after the surgery.

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And to achieve this and here she was on her deathbed with her son.

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And the conversation was never about the dreams

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we want to achieve, the things we wanted to do. The conversation was about

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you lived a good life.

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God loved you. I mean, for someone with Colon cancer,

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she never suffered a lot. And she had one rough night after the surgery,

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but that was it. And there was a genuine sense of appreciation

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for the life lived. She died at 53 years old, which is pretty young,

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and there was not a shred of regret in her voice.

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She said, yes, God loved me. Yes, I lived a good life

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and before life was terrible. I was working so hard

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because I wanted to change her life.

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And in that moment

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we forgot all about those things.

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And that is why I start with this story.

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Because in that moment where you're at,

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the thin line between life and death is never

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the things that you want to do. That means the most it’s the

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things that you have done. So I want to start with a story

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like I always do, because stories are memorable,

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and even if you never remember exactly

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what I tell you, you will remember the story.

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And from the story, we'll have an idea of how it applies to you.

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they call it the moral of the story.

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And the story is a little bit personal,

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but I think that it will help us as we go into this journey.

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In January 2019,

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I was at home, I was working and I work from home

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most of the time, and my mom sent me a text and she says that

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when I come home, I have something to show you.

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I never liked those texts. So I always tell her, you know,

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if you have something to tell me, you need to tell me now,

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or don't tell me that you're going to tell me because

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sometimes something is wrong.

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So as it would turn out, I

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said, okay. And she came home a few hours later from work

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and she took my hand and she said, Put it right here and feel this.

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And I put it at the side of her tummy

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and I felt something hard and I was like,

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What's this? And she said, she doesn't know, she feels

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Fine. She's healthy, but there's something there.

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And it would turn out that things

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was something that

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we would go to the doctor about. It was just a lump.

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I never understood it, but it was something to be curious about.

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So I went to the doctor. We did some tests and with each successive visit

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to the doctor's office, we found more and more

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that this thing was

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a little bit more interesting than the last time we came here.

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There's something else to look at and this one thing

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eventually became two and there were several of them and

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it was metastatic colon cancer.

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And she had but a few months to live.

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Now, growing up, I would watch the TV,

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I would watch movies, I would watch shows. and ‘my mom died from cancer,’

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would be the cliche line that I'm like,

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All right, come on, be a little bit more original, right?

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We've heard this one before.

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and that was in March.

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She was diagnosed in March.

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And, you know, things took a turn for the worse.

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It was already metastatic colon cancer,

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what metastatic colon cancer means is that it started

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in the colon, but it has spread to the level.

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So it's stage four - terminal.

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It's not something you normally live from.

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And she was already given her marching orders that

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it's too serious, it's too late.

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there were also some tumors on her lung as well.

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So it was spreading. It was a bad situation

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and I would have been there by my mom's side

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and she was healthy looking, healthy,

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fit and everything when we found it in January.

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And I would have seen her decline and decline

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until she was unable to move around freely,

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her energy was low, blood count when slow until

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eventually she lost a lot of weight and she passed off.

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Why do I start with such a sad story?

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Because there's something

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that I have to keep reminding myself of in that situation.

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Because when we went to the doctor,

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doctor said in August, mind you, we were in at the doctor's office,

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I believe it was August 27, 2019.

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Doctor said to us that you need to go home and

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basically put together your affairs

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and put your affairs in order because

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you're not going to see the end of the year. It's cry.

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If you need to cry, do what you need to do

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because you're not going to see the end of the year. And the doctor was being honest.

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I don't want anyone in the comment section saying, You know what a cruel doctor.

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When you deal with lives, it's best to be honest and straightforward

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about the brevity of the situation. Don't mislead people.

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It eventually went on. that was the 27th of August.

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She did surgery later that week, the Friday and

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she passed eight days after the surgery.

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So she died on September 8, 2019.

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My world came crashing down on that day,

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but September seven,

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I took her back to the hospital because she was discharged

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and she relapsed terribly. I took her back to the hospital

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and that night before I went home

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so she would have passed Early Sunday morning,

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September eight, 2019, late Saturday night, September seven.

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I was at the hospital with her

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and I was just talking to her. She had gone

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for glycemic meaning that it's like she had a stroke,

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only her ears were active and her brain. her blood

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sugar levels were so low that she couldn't move and everything is like she was basically dead.

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And I was talking to her while the doctors worked on her and she revived.

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Eventually she didn't open her eyes,

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but I was talking to her and she was responding.

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And I remember before she got sick,

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there were so many plans of what we wanted to do,

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wanted to go here, wanted to meet this person,

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wanted to do this. They wanted to start this business

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wanting to achieve this. And here she was on her deathbed with her son.

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And the conversation was never about the dreams.

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We want to achieve, the things we wanted to do. The conversation was about

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you lived a good life.

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God loved you. I mean, for someone with colon cancer,

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she never suffered. she had one rough night after the surgery,

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but that was it. And there was a genuine sense of appreciation

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for the life lived. She died at 53 years old, which is pretty young,

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and there was not a shred of regret in her voice.

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She said, yes, God loved me. Yes, I lived a good life

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when before life was terrible. I was working so hard

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because I wanted to change her life.

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And in that moment

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we forgot all about those things.

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And that is why I start with the story.

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Because in that moment where you're at,

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the thin line between life and death it’s never

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the things that you want to do That means the most. it’s the

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things that you have done. I was watching this video.

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You know, I scroll through Instagram

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and a video came up where someone said, I remember his name.

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He says that you're in this for life,

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this is going to kill you.

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And he wasn't talking about some business plan

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or some spy. It was talking about being alive.

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You're here for life. You're going to die from being here.

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There's this quote by Miyamoto Musashi.

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It's on the screen right here. It says that when in a fight to the death,

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one wants to employ

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all one's weapons to the utmost.

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I must say that to die with one sword

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still sheathed is most regrettable.

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And why is this important? Because we're here.

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And the only certain things about life is taxes.

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And it's death. And we don't talk about taxes right now.

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We're going to talk about death. Death is such a scary concept

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When you think about it. You mean I'm going to cease to exist

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and I won't be able to do this anymore or be here?

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What about my kids? What about my parents?

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What about my spouse? What about my business?

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In your moment, if you have a moment

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like I did with my mom, I was the last person to speak to her

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before she passed off at the hospital.

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You're never going to worry about

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the Lamborghini, the house on the hill.

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Those things come and they go. What

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you're going to worry about is, Did I do enough for my kids?

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Did I do enough? I'm a Christian.

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You don't have to be a Christian. But did I do enough for

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My creator?

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was my life meaning full to the people around me?

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You become a little bit more

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interested in things, not concerning you.

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And that is what we need to live each moment of our life.

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Don't get me wrong, I love nice cars. I, I would like to have a Rolls Royce pretty soon

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in everything that we do, we have to remember that we're here for life.

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And just like Miyamoto Musashi said, here

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to die once, swords still sheathed is most regrettable.

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And this is the crux of the matter.

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You're here for just a moment,

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Drake says in his line ‘I'm here for a good time, not a long time.

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You know, I am blessed.’

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And the reason why I bring this up

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is because there's so much more that you could do. in episode two of motivation

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monday, the question was asked, What could you do

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that you would do that if you did it,

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It would make things, life, your situation a little bit better?

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I know. Ask you the same question again. What could you do

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that you would do that if you did it

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It would make your life a little bit better?

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And that is the sword that you have

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that is still sheathed because you do not want to be

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in your final moments. Let's say it's peaceful. We're all going to die.

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So let's say it's peaceful.

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You're at home on the bed,

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family gathered all around you and everyone's crying.

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They're sad. You do not want the story to be

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I wish I had

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I had told my son that I loved him a little bit more

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or that nice dress that my wife would put on

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or my husband would go out of his way

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to do this thing for me, I wish I had shown a bit more appreciation.

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The thing that I hate the most about funerals is the cries of regret

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that people come with and they say, If I had known,

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I would not have seen you again I would not have ended our last conversation

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on a disagreement, on a fight, on a quarrel over something

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So... right now, in this moment,

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when you are gone forever is stupid, there have been so many funerals,

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so many speeches at funerals - in my country

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In Jamaica, we have what's called a eulogy.

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And a eulogy is where you talk about a person's life,

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you know, a little bit more detail, certain things that no one knew about the person.

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And there's this part at my mom's funeral

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where I said that I have to do the eulogy,

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because for me, it was an opportunity

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to serve her one last time. Everyone was there

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and they expected that I would cry. And as we went through that funeral service,

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it was never a -

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People cried. We were sad,

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but it was not a more enough for a laugh.

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It was a celebration. And you can see I'm probably tearing up right now because

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I think about it. And when I

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did the eulogy, it was like a conversation

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between me and her talking about the good times

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we had together. I was perhaps the most

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the closest person in her life.

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And I knew so much. And when I did that eulogy,

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normally after the eulogy,

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the pastor would go up and the pastor would say,

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Read this scripture and impart some life lessons

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to the bereaved family. The pastor went up

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and the pastor said, (he was a) Friend of the family, friend of mine,

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friend of my mom would have been there during her illness and everything.

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The pastor went up and the pastor said, I need not say anything else

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because Jabez covered it

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and why was it like that? It was because during her life

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we had disagreements. I mean, to this day I regret some disagreements.

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I'm like, why did we have a disagreement

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about something so stupid, so trivial?

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But, you know, the beautiful thing that happened in all of that, we made up.

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We spoke about it.

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We apologized if she was wrong,

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believe it or not, as my mother, she would apologize and say,

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you know what, When I did this, when I said this,

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the way I handled this situation was wrong.

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And if I was wrong as a child

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and even as an adult, I would say to her,

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I was wrong about this. And we would go on.

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And because of that, when she died, there was a sense of pride

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to know that I had someone so amazing for so long.

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And it's the same thing with you.

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Is there a sense of pride right now

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that you were able to go through

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what you're going through? Life is difficult but because it is difficult.

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It is worth living. Nothing easy comes good

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and nothing good comes easy.

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So you're going through this situation.

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Could it make for a wonderful book?

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That time my husband left me, took the kids,

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threw me out on the streets, and I started my dream job.

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And I started my dream business.

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I flew across the world to Thailand.

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If you're in the East or to America, if you're in the West,

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and whatever the case might be.

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That time I went hiking in the Andes, I almost got killed.

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It doesn't sound so thrilling, right?

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No, but when you're in the moment and you're savoring it

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because this is what you want done, don't go and kill yourself

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By the way. be responsible about it.

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But when you're doing something that you've always wanted to do

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and you're going after it with everything that you have,

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no swords left unsheathed.

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That is the story that we remember.

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That is a story you left behind. That is the legacy.

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That is the one that adds true meaning.

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I've never spoken to anyone

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and they said that in their final moments they were glad

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that they had this nice car or this big house.

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And those things are important because who wants to live on the streets?

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wants to take the taxi? who wants to be in danger

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every time? Those things are important,

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but do not forget what it matters,

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what matters most in life. And the argument can be made over

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and over and over that

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it's all fleeting.

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It's all fleeting.

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Life is fleeting. So for you, what do you want your legacy to be?

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How do you want to be remembered?

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There was a time at my church

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where I decided that as part of the communication team,

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I am going to be doing all the funerals that are at my church.

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And something interesting happened.

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Being at funerals, I have no idea what a person is that passed on.

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The family members come there in a moment of grief

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and I'm serving them to ensure that the audio

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and the visual and everything for the funeral

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is in fine and working order. And the funeral is proceeding

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as far as my duties are concerned.

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And it helped me to be so humble

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and thankful about life,

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so appreciative for the opportunity.

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In episode one, we spoke about it that it is not the results

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that you should chase. It's the grind that gets you the results

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so that those small wins on your journey

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to the grand victory is so much more inspiring.

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And I mean,

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it doesn't get any better than that.

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We're all going to die. We're in this for life.

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But that doesn't mean that we can't make it

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worth living. My goal here,

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starting Zeilhan is to help 1 million

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small businesses be successful by 2030.

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The reason why I chose this goal is because the small business sector

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is the largest business sector in the entire world,

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and small businesses put food on the table,

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a roof over the head, a medical bill

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paid, the car bill paid,

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education, a better opportunity for so many people.

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If I can help 1 million businesses,

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if we at Zeilhan can help 1 million businesses

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be successful, well, that would have been

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astounding because it would have helped so many people

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live a better life than they have lived. It doesn't have to be about me.

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It's just how much can I help others? And I mean,

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I started with the story of my mom passing

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my mom's death from cancer to this day

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hurts me, but it's something

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that's allowed me to help others in their moment of need.

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So what can you do with your story? How can your story inspire others?

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This has been episode four of Motivation Monday.

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I

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I’m thankful that you took the time to listen to my story,

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and I'm hopeful that you would have learned something.

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I'm hopeful that it would have been a point of inspiration

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for you, knowing that your life

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is such a beautiful thing and it means so much to so many other people.

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The only reason why you think it doesn't mean a lot

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is because you haven't told it to enough people.

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Maybe you should get vocal. ‘Your mess becomes

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you message,’ is what someone important told me.

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And I want the same for you. If you think this has been helpful,

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if you found it helpful, I want you to share it with someone.

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Depression is on the rise. loneliness is on the rise.

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Suicide is on the rise. So many people are unhappy,

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even if they're smiling.

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Share it with someone. Not for me.

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Not for the algorithm. But just to help one more person

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through a difficult time. And if indeed you like

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what you've heard, hit subscribe,

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because there's more content like this coming

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your way. My name is Jabez Roberts,

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and I'm the founder and CEO of Zeilhan.

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I'll see you next week in episode

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five of Motivation Monday.