The Art & Science of Respect: A Memoir by James Prince

by James Prince

I was either in a storm, just got out of a storm, or was on my way to a storm, but no weapons formed against me have prospered.

I was taught that you must believe in something bigger than yourself in order to get something bigger than yourself.

But light would not exist without darkness, and I’ve made many sacrifices.

When you’re born into poverty, you know that death comes for you first.

In order to survive the streets, or at least buy yourself a little more time, it’s almost as if you have to sell your soul. You trade your feelings, your compassion, and in many ways your humanity for heartlessness.

break my family’s cycle of poverty. That is my reason for hustling.

“Before You

take my life or lock me up, give me a sign.”

You’re exposed to many stresses of adulthood long before you’re old enough to understand them.

The middle class often protects their children by shielding them from what adulthood may bring, allowing them time to grow and mature as people. The impoverished protect their children by exposing them to everything as early as possible, to prepare them for life. That difference in time, so early in our lives, affects how well we’ll move throughout the rest of our days.

even threatening to jump into the open grave so they wouldn’t have to live their lives in grief.

But instead of feeling scared as I normally did at funerals, this time I felt nothing but pain.

People aren’t meant to live in one moment, even if that moment is beautiful or the next moment is scary.

am willing to do whatever it takes to get what I need.

My faith gave me a moral compass; direction in a world of chaos.

Believing in something bigger than myself brought me comfort and added purpose to my life. When you’re acting within your purpose, with your divine conviction, nothing can stop you.

I’ve also come to understand that faith without works is dead.

Land became important. It represented peace, space to do something with my life, and ownership.

Failure has birthed far more

champions than privilege. I am the man I am today not just because of what I had early in life but also because of what I didn’t have.

Looking back on it now, I understand how important it is for every child, not just the impoverished, to trave...

helped me get a dealer’s license.

There isn’t a person on God’s green earth who doesn’t have some vulnerability that – if they’re not careful – can be used against them.

leaders, followers, and loners.

The vulnerability of a leader is often their own ego, which makes them unable to submit. Everyone, at some point in life, must learn to submit when necessary. In the streets, you may have to submit to a supplier who switches up the terms, or a police officer who’s riding you pretty tough. At home you may have to submit to your spouse to keep the peace. In business, submission can be a great short-term tactic towards a long-term goal. But if your ego won’t allow you to submit when necessary, it becomes a liability.

made me feel as though I never needed to submit to man.

It’s easy to identify the vulnerability in a follower: they want to belong. Most people crave safety in numbers.

the sheep take the biggest risk by betting everything – their very lives – on one man. The followers who understand this actually hold more power than the shepherd. They use their consent to follow as their currency. These informed followers are few and far between.

Once you’ve earned their trust, they’ll follow you anywhere. And gaining their trust is simple: you assert yourself as the shepherd. Followers are governed by their fear.

Being smaller meant I could move faster. I required less energy to move, so I had more energy to use. These lessons on the streets gave me a strategy to take into the classroom.

First, even the most popular king must remind everyone of their own mortality. If you reign too long and soar too high for extended periods of time, people can’t identify with you and their respect becomes resentment.

People follow the convicted. Someone who believes in something so much that they are willing to die for it will always be more appealing than someone who’s not willing to take the risk. It’s classic David versus Goliath. Even when the odds are against you, the fact that you’re still willing to fight is sometimes enough to earn respect. I don’t pick easy fights. Losing a title fight will always

matter more than winning a spar.

Don’t get hit, and don’t ever...

You can’t lead if you don’t have anything to offer.

Leadership isn’t only about dominating; it’s about providing.

Proximity.

I felt like I was contributing to something, and it’s the ability to contribute which separates those who are actually living from those who are merely alive.

Your circumstances don’t have to be the end of your story.

In my eyes, he deserved to get got.

You see, while I feared no man, I definitely feared my grandmother.

it’s not the extra that draws attention. It’s the failure to maintain the normal that usually gets you caught.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Adam was showing me how to be a man. I already knew how to be a hustler; I even knew how to be a boss. But thanks to my father, I was learning how to be the head of a household.

I saw it as a sign from God.

It was a strategic move to establish some kind of business relationship with him; the best way to get a piece of someone’s time is to earn it.

But if you don’t own it, you have no control over how much time you have.

It was slavery. And I wasn’t going to do it.

always bet on myself.

To survive in the streets you have to play a constant game of mental toughness.