I’m still standing stick with it Percy
of Kosovan something will stick
perseverance stuck persevere I come from
I come from a small county outside of
Washington DC called PG County meet my
mom my brother we moved so many
different places growing up and it’s not
like a box felt like it was no getting
out I love basketball so much I love
planning I just never thought that I
would make it to college NBA or standing
up here today and find you guys a big
NBA MVP so many people believed in me
when I didn’t believe in myself so many
people doubted me and motivated me every
single day to be Who I am I feel so many
times and got back up
I went through the toughest times with
my family team but I’m still standing I
always felt like an outsider because I
knew of people you know that were in the
industry I just didn’t know how to get
into it and I remember going to cast a
different agents when I was 9 or 10
years old I was rejected twice I
remember there was like this sort of
cattle call of kids and I lined up it
was like a prison photo or something
like that I’m standing there like this
and I had I had this crazy breakdancing
haircut when I was breakdancing and I
kind of dressed in hip-hop clothing and
they remember they went yes yes went to
me went nope yes yes no and that was it
so I got rejected a couple times and
then I just kept asking and asking and
asking I remember my dad saying just
stick with it
someday you’ll have your day and I and
then I came back I think two years later
and finally got an agent I think I’ve
been doing this long enough to realize
that no matter what people perceive of
me I always shine through at the end of
the day so I’ve had a lot of people try
to tear me down but I’m here and I’ve
always been myself and I’ve always
wanted that and I’ve been graceful and
I’ve tried to handle myself with as much
class and it’s only because I know how
hard I work and I’m not gonna let any of
that get to me I often get asked by
younger readers what I would advise if
you want to be a writer this is the way
I did it so that’s the only advice I can
give
you’ve got to read as much as you
possibly can because that’s the best way
to recognize good writing and to learn
what makes bad writing and those are
very good things you’ll probably go
through a phase where you imitate your
favorite writers that’s perfectly okay
that’s another learning process you
resign yourself to writing lots and lots
of rubbish you just got to write that
out of your system and sooner or later
you’ll hit what you know you really
should be doing and what is your genre
and perseverance you’ve got to persevere
because it is a it’s a career with a lot
of knock backs but the rewards are huge
I don’t mean
in the sense that if that’s what you
really want to do to be able to do it
life long is the best thing in the world
very rewarding but it’s not a career for
people who are easily discouraged that’s
for sure
and to their parents don’t tell them
it’s unrealistic never to never say that
because even if they’re not published
writing
well writing is the passion of my life
so it’s an important thing to do
success is nothing to do with potential
it’s all about the perseverance of
somebody that will override any endeavor
if you throw it against the wall
eventually something will stick you guys
that are had this potential don’t
hesitant
you know that dies what continues to
last forever is a perseverance to always
show up that’s what champions do every
single champion the same as every
ordinary person knowing differentials
that they show up to the event every
single day they see failure as a
learning curve they welcome failure you
learn more from failure than you ever
will from success so showing up and get
knocked on your ass finally test one
four to stand back up Andrea
they said endeavour it’s gonna be the
overriding factor that makes a
difference how do you know when you’re
doing those things the small things in
life add up to those big monumental
things why say the small things it’s a
character building block that your name
means something you hold value to your
name if you drop trash from the ground
you pick it up that’s the responsibility
you hold value to yourself when you
shake someone’s hand you look them in
the eye you give a firm a handshake
because you’re here for purpose
everything you do you do to the best of
your ability doesn’t know what you’re
doing is it that that you’re doing it so
therefore it means something to you
that’s going to build a legacy let’s you
know the title out there doesn’t mean
you win the title fine that title will
not get you another title what you’re
trying to build its legacy you know
footprints behind you there are left
motivation for someone else to follow
legacy is built daily to the character
the real power the code of conduct in
somebody and that’s the perseverance
showing up every single day that will
always achieve the goal it doesn’t
matter what you’re born with it doesn’t
matter potential how much you know
silver spoon or money you have all that
can be attained if you show up and
you’re willing to to risk failure for
success it could also remind us of
success of Alexander Bell the inventor
of telephone who had a stack of
notebooks where you recorded every
failed experiment so if you work really
hard you can find the winning spot even
you know in the midst of your numerous
failures
I think the ex speaker of US House of
Representatives Newt Gingrich hit the
right points when he said that
perseverance is a hard work you do after
you get tired of doing hard work you
already did one of the things that
happens especially when you’re starting
out is you write stories and you send
them out in my head as a young man
whenever I would send out a story what I
would expect to have happen was the
following morning a limo would show up
at my house and people would get out of
it and they would say this is yours we
loved your story so much you never have
to work again just thank you thank you
for writing this story which we are
going to publish and make sure everybody
in the whole world reads and and instead
you know six weeks later it would come
back the little slip saying not quite
right for us
whatever um it was okay you know what
what you do is um what I did two
different things um what I did as a very
young man was get things back and go
either I’m not very good which I do not
choose to believe although probably was
kind of true um or I’m just doing this
wrong and I need to find out how this
all works so that was the point where um
I became a journalist and I became a
journalist specializing in publishing in
books and I found out how it all worked
and and you know two months later had
sold two books and then got a quote from
Muddy Waters which I stuck to my
typewriter which tells you how long ago
this was and it just said don’t let your
mouth write note check your tail can’t
cash that was my quote and I went how
did I I just told to purse I’ve never
written a book what am i doing and I got
through it my tail cash those checks but
um really I kind of dealt with it by
just bowing to myself that you know I
would try and write things that was so
brilliant that nobody could reject them
one of the greatest probably the
greatest rock climber of his generation
as you know I’ve been a climber most of
my life is actually right now on side of
El Capitan doing what will probably be
the hardest rock climb certainly ever
done in our lifetimes trying to free
climb anything called the dawn wall on
Mescalero side of El Cap young man named
Tommy Caldwell who is using a category
of one and I was out climbing with Tommy
one day and I said to him Tommy what
makes you different here’s a record of
six climbs on El Cap that have never
been repeated okay he’s just he is ten
in extreme environments and he’s still
alive I said tell me what is it that you
have you’re not necessarily more
physically gifted you’re not necessarily
stronger right here certainly physically
gifted all those things but you’re not
this incredible athlete that that just
it was born this way and in fact he had
lost a finger in an accident he cut a
finger off and so he’s doing this – one
of his important things an important
finger and he thought about it for a
long moment he said I can remain focused
on and suffer for the big thing longer
than anyone else and I think that’s what
did you obey the curiosity keeps me well
but once they get their hands on what
they see is the thing they don’t let go
and they can stay with it and suffer for
it persevere nothing worthwhile is easy
no one of achievement has avoided
failure sometimes catastrophic failures
but they keep at it they learn from
mistakes they don’t quit you know when I
first arrived on this campus it was we
had little money fewer options but it
was here that I tried to find my place
in this world I knew I wanted to make a
difference but it was big how in fact
I’d go about it
I I but I wanted to do my part to shape
a better world so even as I worked after
graduation a few unfulfilled jobs here
in New York I will not list them all
even as I went from motley apartment to
motley apartment I reached out and I
started to write letters to community
organizations all across the country and
one day a small group of churches on the
south side of Chicago answered offering
me work with people in neighborhoods hit
hard by steel mills that were shutting
down and and communities where jobs were
dying dying away the community had been
plagued by gang violence so as once I
arrived one the first things we try to
do was to mobilize a meeting with
community leaders to deal with gangs and
I’d worked for weeks on this project we
invited the police we made phone calls
we went to churches we passed out fliers
the night of the meeting we arranged
rows and rows of chairs and anticipation
of this crowd and we waited and we
waited and finally a group of older
folks walked into the hall and they sat
down and this little old lady raised her
hand and asked is this where the bingo
game is
it was a disaster nobody showed up my
first big community meeting nobody
showed up
and later the volunteers I worked with
told me that’s it we’re quitting they
had been doing this for two years even
before I had arrived they had nothing to
show for it
and I’ll be honest I felt pretty
discouraged as well I didn’t know what I
was doing I thought about quitting and
as we were talking I looked outside and
I saw some young boys playing in a
vacant lot across the street and they
were just throwing rocks up at a boarded
building had nothing better to do late
at night just throwing rocks I said to
the volunteers before you quit answer
one question what will happen to those
boys
if you quit who will fight for them if
we don’t who will give them a fair shot
if we leave and one by one the
volunteers decided not to quit we went
back to those neighborhoods and we kept
at it we registered new voters we set up
after-school programs and we fought for
new jobs help people live lives with
some measure of dignity and we sustained
ourselves with those small victories we
didn’t set the world on fire some of
those communities are still very poor
there’s still a lot of gangs out there
but I believe that it was those small
victories that helped me win the bigger
victories of my last three and a half
years as president every daily
except my grandmother food so again I
heard she was and I stayed in the United
States my life probably would have been
very different
I’m very happy been very comfortable a
very satisfying job and
when I came back here Lou
I mentioned the first eight years for
frustration my masters thought the best
way to teach me how to operate when I
don’t think any one event down and
totally I would be considered
so it was on the shop floor
shoveling limestone working the furnaces
they can ask
and so perhaps looking back the most
significant incident in my life for just
my obstinacy to remain here rather than
to go back thank you so much for
watching
continue to believe or whatever your one
word is and I’ll see you soon
of Kosovan something will stick
perseverance stuck persevere I come from
I come from a small county outside of
Washington DC called PG County meet my
mom my brother we moved so many
different places growing up and it’s not
like a box felt like it was no getting
out I love basketball so much I love
planning I just never thought that I
would make it to college NBA or standing
up here today and find you guys a big
NBA MVP so many people believed in me
when I didn’t believe in myself so many
people doubted me and motivated me every
single day to be Who I am I feel so many
times and got back up
I went through the toughest times with
my family team but I’m still standing I
always felt like an outsider because I
knew of people you know that were in the
industry I just didn’t know how to get
into it and I remember going to cast a
different agents when I was 9 or 10
years old I was rejected twice I
remember there was like this sort of
cattle call of kids and I lined up it
was like a prison photo or something
like that I’m standing there like this
and I had I had this crazy breakdancing
haircut when I was breakdancing and I
kind of dressed in hip-hop clothing and
they remember they went yes yes went to
me went nope yes yes no and that was it
so I got rejected a couple times and
then I just kept asking and asking and
asking I remember my dad saying just
stick with it
someday you’ll have your day and I and
then I came back I think two years later
and finally got an agent I think I’ve
been doing this long enough to realize
that no matter what people perceive of
me I always shine through at the end of
the day so I’ve had a lot of people try
to tear me down but I’m here and I’ve
always been myself and I’ve always
wanted that and I’ve been graceful and
I’ve tried to handle myself with as much
class and it’s only because I know how
hard I work and I’m not gonna let any of
that get to me I often get asked by
younger readers what I would advise if
you want to be a writer this is the way
I did it so that’s the only advice I can
give
you’ve got to read as much as you
possibly can because that’s the best way
to recognize good writing and to learn
what makes bad writing and those are
very good things you’ll probably go
through a phase where you imitate your
favorite writers that’s perfectly okay
that’s another learning process you
resign yourself to writing lots and lots
of rubbish you just got to write that
out of your system and sooner or later
you’ll hit what you know you really
should be doing and what is your genre
and perseverance you’ve got to persevere
because it is a it’s a career with a lot
of knock backs but the rewards are huge
I don’t mean
in the sense that if that’s what you
really want to do to be able to do it
life long is the best thing in the world
very rewarding but it’s not a career for
people who are easily discouraged that’s
for sure
and to their parents don’t tell them
it’s unrealistic never to never say that
because even if they’re not published
writing
well writing is the passion of my life
so it’s an important thing to do
success is nothing to do with potential
it’s all about the perseverance of
somebody that will override any endeavor
if you throw it against the wall
eventually something will stick you guys
that are had this potential don’t
hesitant
you know that dies what continues to
last forever is a perseverance to always
show up that’s what champions do every
single champion the same as every
ordinary person knowing differentials
that they show up to the event every
single day they see failure as a
learning curve they welcome failure you
learn more from failure than you ever
will from success so showing up and get
knocked on your ass finally test one
four to stand back up Andrea
they said endeavour it’s gonna be the
overriding factor that makes a
difference how do you know when you’re
doing those things the small things in
life add up to those big monumental
things why say the small things it’s a
character building block that your name
means something you hold value to your
name if you drop trash from the ground
you pick it up that’s the responsibility
you hold value to yourself when you
shake someone’s hand you look them in
the eye you give a firm a handshake
because you’re here for purpose
everything you do you do to the best of
your ability doesn’t know what you’re
doing is it that that you’re doing it so
therefore it means something to you
that’s going to build a legacy let’s you
know the title out there doesn’t mean
you win the title fine that title will
not get you another title what you’re
trying to build its legacy you know
footprints behind you there are left
motivation for someone else to follow
legacy is built daily to the character
the real power the code of conduct in
somebody and that’s the perseverance
showing up every single day that will
always achieve the goal it doesn’t
matter what you’re born with it doesn’t
matter potential how much you know
silver spoon or money you have all that
can be attained if you show up and
you’re willing to to risk failure for
success it could also remind us of
success of Alexander Bell the inventor
of telephone who had a stack of
notebooks where you recorded every
failed experiment so if you work really
hard you can find the winning spot even
you know in the midst of your numerous
failures
I think the ex speaker of US House of
Representatives Newt Gingrich hit the
right points when he said that
perseverance is a hard work you do after
you get tired of doing hard work you
already did one of the things that
happens especially when you’re starting
out is you write stories and you send
them out in my head as a young man
whenever I would send out a story what I
would expect to have happen was the
following morning a limo would show up
at my house and people would get out of
it and they would say this is yours we
loved your story so much you never have
to work again just thank you thank you
for writing this story which we are
going to publish and make sure everybody
in the whole world reads and and instead
you know six weeks later it would come
back the little slip saying not quite
right for us
whatever um it was okay you know what
what you do is um what I did two
different things um what I did as a very
young man was get things back and go
either I’m not very good which I do not
choose to believe although probably was
kind of true um or I’m just doing this
wrong and I need to find out how this
all works so that was the point where um
I became a journalist and I became a
journalist specializing in publishing in
books and I found out how it all worked
and and you know two months later had
sold two books and then got a quote from
Muddy Waters which I stuck to my
typewriter which tells you how long ago
this was and it just said don’t let your
mouth write note check your tail can’t
cash that was my quote and I went how
did I I just told to purse I’ve never
written a book what am i doing and I got
through it my tail cash those checks but
um really I kind of dealt with it by
just bowing to myself that you know I
would try and write things that was so
brilliant that nobody could reject them
one of the greatest probably the
greatest rock climber of his generation
as you know I’ve been a climber most of
my life is actually right now on side of
El Capitan doing what will probably be
the hardest rock climb certainly ever
done in our lifetimes trying to free
climb anything called the dawn wall on
Mescalero side of El Cap young man named
Tommy Caldwell who is using a category
of one and I was out climbing with Tommy
one day and I said to him Tommy what
makes you different here’s a record of
six climbs on El Cap that have never
been repeated okay he’s just he is ten
in extreme environments and he’s still
alive I said tell me what is it that you
have you’re not necessarily more
physically gifted you’re not necessarily
stronger right here certainly physically
gifted all those things but you’re not
this incredible athlete that that just
it was born this way and in fact he had
lost a finger in an accident he cut a
finger off and so he’s doing this – one
of his important things an important
finger and he thought about it for a
long moment he said I can remain focused
on and suffer for the big thing longer
than anyone else and I think that’s what
did you obey the curiosity keeps me well
but once they get their hands on what
they see is the thing they don’t let go
and they can stay with it and suffer for
it persevere nothing worthwhile is easy
no one of achievement has avoided
failure sometimes catastrophic failures
but they keep at it they learn from
mistakes they don’t quit you know when I
first arrived on this campus it was we
had little money fewer options but it
was here that I tried to find my place
in this world I knew I wanted to make a
difference but it was big how in fact
I’d go about it
I I but I wanted to do my part to shape
a better world so even as I worked after
graduation a few unfulfilled jobs here
in New York I will not list them all
even as I went from motley apartment to
motley apartment I reached out and I
started to write letters to community
organizations all across the country and
one day a small group of churches on the
south side of Chicago answered offering
me work with people in neighborhoods hit
hard by steel mills that were shutting
down and and communities where jobs were
dying dying away the community had been
plagued by gang violence so as once I
arrived one the first things we try to
do was to mobilize a meeting with
community leaders to deal with gangs and
I’d worked for weeks on this project we
invited the police we made phone calls
we went to churches we passed out fliers
the night of the meeting we arranged
rows and rows of chairs and anticipation
of this crowd and we waited and we
waited and finally a group of older
folks walked into the hall and they sat
down and this little old lady raised her
hand and asked is this where the bingo
game is
it was a disaster nobody showed up my
first big community meeting nobody
showed up
and later the volunteers I worked with
told me that’s it we’re quitting they
had been doing this for two years even
before I had arrived they had nothing to
show for it
and I’ll be honest I felt pretty
discouraged as well I didn’t know what I
was doing I thought about quitting and
as we were talking I looked outside and
I saw some young boys playing in a
vacant lot across the street and they
were just throwing rocks up at a boarded
building had nothing better to do late
at night just throwing rocks I said to
the volunteers before you quit answer
one question what will happen to those
boys
if you quit who will fight for them if
we don’t who will give them a fair shot
if we leave and one by one the
volunteers decided not to quit we went
back to those neighborhoods and we kept
at it we registered new voters we set up
after-school programs and we fought for
new jobs help people live lives with
some measure of dignity and we sustained
ourselves with those small victories we
didn’t set the world on fire some of
those communities are still very poor
there’s still a lot of gangs out there
but I believe that it was those small
victories that helped me win the bigger
victories of my last three and a half
years as president every daily
except my grandmother food so again I
heard she was and I stayed in the United
States my life probably would have been
very different
I’m very happy been very comfortable a
very satisfying job and
when I came back here Lou
I mentioned the first eight years for
frustration my masters thought the best
way to teach me how to operate when I
don’t think any one event down and
totally I would be considered
so it was on the shop floor
shoveling limestone working the furnaces
they can ask
and so perhaps looking back the most
significant incident in my life for just
my obstinacy to remain here rather than
to go back thank you so much for
watching
continue to believe or whatever your one
word is and I’ll see you soon
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