I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of the

most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present. Your

journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now.

My father Vernon Winfrey graduated from Hasla Barber College in 1963. After working a year and a half

as an apprentice, he opened his own barbershop in Nashville where he's been a local fixture for

the past 53 years. Before entering the Barber College, he served in the Army and held several

other jobs, including as a janitor at Vanderbilt University. Both my mother, Vanita and grandmother,

had he may, were housekeepers. I was raised knowing the value of a hard day's work, and from an early

age, I've always known I was responsible for myself. Where I came from, there was no backup plan

or safety net. For better or worse, you made your own way. My first job was at 15 as a babysitter,

making 50 cents an hour. The children were a handful and the lady of the house always made sure to

leave a big pile of clothes in her bedroom for me to clean up. Like clockwork, just before she left,

she returned to me and asked if I would mind tidying things up. When she came home and neglected to

give me anything extra for cleaning, I understood very well that this woman didn't value my efforts.

But I did, I valued my work and myself, and I decided that no matter how much or how little money

I made, I would never let that define my worth. That babysitting job taught me my first valuable

lesson about money. I am not my salary. I gave up babysitting and moved on to stocking shelves

in a local store for $1.50 an hour. The pay was better, but I was not allowed to speak to the

customers. As I mentioned in chapter 4, I was known as a talking child, so this was clearly not a

good fit. I knew having a job where I had to stay silent was no way to earn a paycheck. It felt

like a betrayal of myself, and even at 15, I was not willing to do that. The experience turned out

to be another life lesson. Sometimes knowing what you don't want is as valuable as knowing what

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