The late Malcolm X was one of the most influential leaders of our time.  Here are a few life lessons inspired by his legacy.  

Refuse to be defined by others.  Define yourself.

In the words of Jay Z, “Nobody built like you, you’ve defined yourself.”

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little.  However, he opted to drop “Little” from his name at the age of 25, reasoning that it was the surname his ancestors acquired during slavery days.  He replaced it with “X,” to represent the unknown.

You don’t have to be a statistic, or a prisoner of your circumstances.  

Malcolm X’s father, Earl Little, died when he was six.  The cause of death remains a subject of contention.  Many believe he was actually murdered by white supremacists.  The death was extremely hard on his mother, who was committed to a mental institution, which left Malcolm, alongside his brothers and sisters, orphaned.  Despite these hardships, he was class president, and an excellent academic, right up until he dropped out, after a teacher told him that he couldn’t be a lawyer, because he was black.

Read.

After dropping out of school, Malcolm X moved to Boston to live with his sister Ella, where he got acquainted with the city’s criminal underground, ultimately falling into a life of crime.  He was arrested on larceny charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.  Prison would play a huge role in the creation of “Malcolm X,” as it was there that Malcolm found faith.  Like 80% of prisoners who find faith while incarcerated, Malcolm X became a student of Islam.  He also passed the time by becoming a voracious reader.

“I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity–because you can hardly mention anything I’m not curious about.  I don’t think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did.   In fact, prison enabled me to study far more intensively than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college.  I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions, too much panty-raiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that.  Where else but a prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day?”

You better get up, get out, & get something.

“I’ve never been one for inaction.  Everything I’ve ever felt strongly about, I’ve done something about.”

Don’t wait for someone else to teach you.  Take action and teach yourself what you can.  

While reading all those books in prison, Malcolm X became frustrated with what he perceived as his limited vocabulary.  To be proactive, he started transcribing the dictionary on a tablet, by hand.

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