thirty thousand that is the average
number of days that we each have on
earth just thirty thousand how many of
you are students raise your hand you’ve
already used up seven thousand of those
days to add some context to there and
the reason why I’m here talking to you
tonight is because I’m 18 years old and
I’m surrounded by other 18 year-olds who
have no idea what they want to do
tomorrow let alone for the rest of their
lives
and I believe that there isn’t and has
never been a greater time for
opportunity a greater time to find or
advance your passions then now so
tonight I’m going to talk to you about
three things I’m going to prove to you
that you were the luckiest person in the
world I’m gonna explain how the next
three to five years could change your
life and we’ll discuss the one thing
that has stopping that from happening I
have been lucky enough to go out with
two parents who love traveling and every
two years we would backpack across
various parts of the third world when I
was 13 years old we traveled across
Africa which involved backpacking Tintin
and at one stage standing in the middle
of the Kalahari Desert with my thumb out
200 kilometers from the nearest town
trying to Hedgehog on that same trip we
were traveling up through Mozambique as
we were trying to get up to Malawi now
20 years earlier Mozambique had just
come out of a 15 year long civil war and
for 20 years the rebels had been hiding
away largely anonymous to the rest of
Mozambique but just prior to us arriving
the the rebels had attacked a government
armory and blown up a number of vehicles
along this road north the road up to
Malawi had about a hundred kilometer
stretch that went right through
rebel-held territory the only way you
could pass was in a military convoy
which left once a day we had two options
I could turn around and reschedule our
whole trip or we could take a punt
we took a punt and I remember sitting in
this small cramped minivan surrounded by
locals waiting for this convoy to leave
but before we could dad notice that
radiator fluid was pouring out of the
front of the van the radiator plug had
completely blown off and I remember
seeing this driver frantically trying to
wrap string around the plug to create a
thread so that he could screw it back in
which he managed to do before the
whistle blew and the convoy was off and
for the next 100 kilometres 13-year old
me was crouched down holy my pack up
against the window to shield me from the
threat of bullets we were relying on
this makeshift radiator plague to hold
otherwise we would have broken down in
the middle of rebel-held territory and
the convoy would not have stopped and I
remember catching glimpses of blown-up
vehicles just five meters away on the
side of the road with the occasional
government soldier with an ak-47 in both
hands
it is both incredibly humbling and
extraordinary that in all our years of
living in New Zealand none of us have
had to go through something even close
to that here we are lucky and those of
us growing up in this era I’ve grown up
safer healthier and with more
opportunities than ever before and 2017
if you’re a good sportsman you can watch
hours upon hours of footage and learn
from the best athletes to come before
you imagine you’re a musician you mate
you can instantly distribute your music
to millions of people all over the world
in just a couple of clicks if you’re a
business person you may just be an email
or phone call away from an opportunity
that could change the course of your
company we now live in a completely
different world a world where everything
is on our terms
you know I go wait to watch Breaking Bad
or friends you just go online and watch
whatever you want on your time as a
student we no longer have to crawl out
in the rain and trip to the library to
scan through a mountain of books to find
the year that Napoleon Bonaparte was
born just google it you see over the
last 30 20 and even 10 years the world
has gone through a complete shift its
flipped everything used to be on someone
else’s terms you had to watch that TV
show when the channel plater and learn
only where you got told but due to the
Internet in this fast changing world
everything you could possibly learn is
at your fingertips everything is where
you want it when you want it and how you
want it an instance more than ever
before you are in complete control and
if there is one message I like you all
to take away from this it is that that
in the world we live in now you are in
complete control unfortunately there is
this stigma there even though in the
last 30 years the world has flipped on
its head even though you can learn teach
or share anything at the touch of a
button a stigma that says even though
every single aspect of our lives has
completely changed the path to success
hasn’t it’s ridiculous now I’m sure
you’ve heard the phrase that success is
a mountain which is very true but
remember there are a thousand ways to
climb a mountain and in a world where
you are in complete control this has
never been more true or more important
as a young person you have around three
to five years less then 2,000 days
before all the luggage of edit hood
starts to come I believe that right now
is the best time to start climbing that
mountain the best time to learn that
thing you wanted to learn to try that
thing you want to try and to contact
that person you wanted to contact
because every day and year it gets
harder it’s fascinating to me to see
some of the reactions I get when people
find out but the various things I’ve
been involved with and business and
and publishing reactions often of
disbelief primarily towards the age that
a lot of the stuff has happened and this
is Visayan to me because i genuinely
believe that right now is the easiest
time to succeed when you’re young you
have time you have people wanting to
help you and although they may not
matter adults have so low expectations
that if you can smile nicely and hold a
firm handshake
you’re basically considered an anomaly
for me I think that every day in year is
gonna get harder not easier and I think
it’s the same for you the most
frustrating thing about all of this is
that everything I am telling you you
already know when I say if you’re a
sportsman you can learn from the best
athletes to come before you you know
that when I say as a musician you can
instantly distribute your music to
millions you know that so why are we not
all successful why am I even here
talking about this because there’s a
missing piece I want to tell you a story
about a tribe called macoco who lived on
an island the island had two sides
separated by a deep ravine one side of
the island was filled with birds trees
rivers and plenty of food the other side
of the island decide that the macoco
tribe lived on was the opposite he was
barely any birds rivers water or food
their life was hard and they struggled
to feed everyone the ravine separated
the two sides of the island was no more
than a few meters wide but no tribesman
dared to cross you see an ancient legend
existed that old tribesman had tried to
cross before and fail so many stories
and legends existed that no tribesman
was reckless or foolish enough to even
try doing so would end in certain
failure but they were too young
tribesmen who did not look and see the
ravine they only saw what was on the
other
sigh you see they saw what they wanted
not what was gonna stop them getting
what they wanted they decided they
wanted to try it and jump
they knew the jump could go wrong but
they also knew stayin where they were
and spending every day fighting off
hunger wouldn’t work out so great either
next day they took two polls ran up and
launched themselves up and over the clip
they flew through the air hopeless and
without control but landed safely on the
other side of the island and ran off to
begin the new life behind them they
heard murmurs of it was just luck you
see the ability to be proactive to take
initiative is the single biggest asset
in this day and age in every single
example of success you can think of
initiative was at its core Mark
Zuckerberg
started Facebook by taking action Gandhi
led the Indian independence movement by
deciding things needed to change my
parents took my brothers and I
backpacking across Africa Southeast Asia
India Central America by deciding to
just do it regardless of what was
considered conventional in every single
example initiative is at the core
because it doesn’t matter if you’re the
best person for the job if you don’t
apply you’ll no use being the best
player on a team if you’re sitting on
the bench or the most creative person in
a room but not willing to contribute
ideas and is the action the initiative
that matters when I was nine years old I
was traveling across Southeast Asia for
three months with my family we were in a
Viennese town called hoi an wandering
around and soaking up the culture my
parents decided to head back to the
accommodation but I wanted to stay and
look at a few more souvenirs I assured
both my parents that I knew my way back
which was true until I found out it
wasn’t and
about ten minutes of wandering around
I’d only proceeded to get myself more
lost was nine-years-old completely lost
in a foreign country didn’t know the
name of the place we were staying had no
money on me and my Vietnamese language
ability was non-existent I managed to
find english-speaking tuk-tuk driver and
after about half an hour of fierce
negotiation managed to win myself a free
ride and after driving around I
recognized a street close to where we
were staying and found my way back mum
and dad oblivious to the fact I was even
missing but the reason I tell you that
is because initiative is key being
proactive is crucial for me there are
two types of young people there are
those who know what they want to do and
those who don’t in 2017 both groups are
incredibly lucky if you know what you
want to do you have a plan to platform
to go for a hundred and ten percent
with more opportunities than ever before
if you don’t know what you want to do
you have a platform to try things and a
scale we’ve never seen before in 2017
growing up in this era no matter which
can’t we fall into you really one ask
yourself which group you fall into and
ask yourself what are you going to do
about it because we all have 30,000 days
and as those days tick by and reach
triple-double and single figures what
are you gonna look back and think I hope
you all look back on this time a time of
unprecedented opportunity a time where
there a thousand ways to climb the
mountain a time where you are in
complete control
I hope you all look back on this time
and think to yourself this was my finest
hour
thank you very much
[Applause]
you
number of days that we each have on
earth just thirty thousand how many of
you are students raise your hand you’ve
already used up seven thousand of those
days to add some context to there and
the reason why I’m here talking to you
tonight is because I’m 18 years old and
I’m surrounded by other 18 year-olds who
have no idea what they want to do
tomorrow let alone for the rest of their
lives
and I believe that there isn’t and has
never been a greater time for
opportunity a greater time to find or
advance your passions then now so
tonight I’m going to talk to you about
three things I’m going to prove to you
that you were the luckiest person in the
world I’m gonna explain how the next
three to five years could change your
life and we’ll discuss the one thing
that has stopping that from happening I
have been lucky enough to go out with
two parents who love traveling and every
two years we would backpack across
various parts of the third world when I
was 13 years old we traveled across
Africa which involved backpacking Tintin
and at one stage standing in the middle
of the Kalahari Desert with my thumb out
200 kilometers from the nearest town
trying to Hedgehog on that same trip we
were traveling up through Mozambique as
we were trying to get up to Malawi now
20 years earlier Mozambique had just
come out of a 15 year long civil war and
for 20 years the rebels had been hiding
away largely anonymous to the rest of
Mozambique but just prior to us arriving
the the rebels had attacked a government
armory and blown up a number of vehicles
along this road north the road up to
Malawi had about a hundred kilometer
stretch that went right through
rebel-held territory the only way you
could pass was in a military convoy
which left once a day we had two options
I could turn around and reschedule our
whole trip or we could take a punt
we took a punt and I remember sitting in
this small cramped minivan surrounded by
locals waiting for this convoy to leave
but before we could dad notice that
radiator fluid was pouring out of the
front of the van the radiator plug had
completely blown off and I remember
seeing this driver frantically trying to
wrap string around the plug to create a
thread so that he could screw it back in
which he managed to do before the
whistle blew and the convoy was off and
for the next 100 kilometres 13-year old
me was crouched down holy my pack up
against the window to shield me from the
threat of bullets we were relying on
this makeshift radiator plague to hold
otherwise we would have broken down in
the middle of rebel-held territory and
the convoy would not have stopped and I
remember catching glimpses of blown-up
vehicles just five meters away on the
side of the road with the occasional
government soldier with an ak-47 in both
hands
it is both incredibly humbling and
extraordinary that in all our years of
living in New Zealand none of us have
had to go through something even close
to that here we are lucky and those of
us growing up in this era I’ve grown up
safer healthier and with more
opportunities than ever before and 2017
if you’re a good sportsman you can watch
hours upon hours of footage and learn
from the best athletes to come before
you imagine you’re a musician you mate
you can instantly distribute your music
to millions of people all over the world
in just a couple of clicks if you’re a
business person you may just be an email
or phone call away from an opportunity
that could change the course of your
company we now live in a completely
different world a world where everything
is on our terms
you know I go wait to watch Breaking Bad
or friends you just go online and watch
whatever you want on your time as a
student we no longer have to crawl out
in the rain and trip to the library to
scan through a mountain of books to find
the year that Napoleon Bonaparte was
born just google it you see over the
last 30 20 and even 10 years the world
has gone through a complete shift its
flipped everything used to be on someone
else’s terms you had to watch that TV
show when the channel plater and learn
only where you got told but due to the
Internet in this fast changing world
everything you could possibly learn is
at your fingertips everything is where
you want it when you want it and how you
want it an instance more than ever
before you are in complete control and
if there is one message I like you all
to take away from this it is that that
in the world we live in now you are in
complete control unfortunately there is
this stigma there even though in the
last 30 years the world has flipped on
its head even though you can learn teach
or share anything at the touch of a
button a stigma that says even though
every single aspect of our lives has
completely changed the path to success
hasn’t it’s ridiculous now I’m sure
you’ve heard the phrase that success is
a mountain which is very true but
remember there are a thousand ways to
climb a mountain and in a world where
you are in complete control this has
never been more true or more important
as a young person you have around three
to five years less then 2,000 days
before all the luggage of edit hood
starts to come I believe that right now
is the best time to start climbing that
mountain the best time to learn that
thing you wanted to learn to try that
thing you want to try and to contact
that person you wanted to contact
because every day and year it gets
harder it’s fascinating to me to see
some of the reactions I get when people
find out but the various things I’ve
been involved with and business and
and publishing reactions often of
disbelief primarily towards the age that
a lot of the stuff has happened and this
is Visayan to me because i genuinely
believe that right now is the easiest
time to succeed when you’re young you
have time you have people wanting to
help you and although they may not
matter adults have so low expectations
that if you can smile nicely and hold a
firm handshake
you’re basically considered an anomaly
for me I think that every day in year is
gonna get harder not easier and I think
it’s the same for you the most
frustrating thing about all of this is
that everything I am telling you you
already know when I say if you’re a
sportsman you can learn from the best
athletes to come before you you know
that when I say as a musician you can
instantly distribute your music to
millions you know that so why are we not
all successful why am I even here
talking about this because there’s a
missing piece I want to tell you a story
about a tribe called macoco who lived on
an island the island had two sides
separated by a deep ravine one side of
the island was filled with birds trees
rivers and plenty of food the other side
of the island decide that the macoco
tribe lived on was the opposite he was
barely any birds rivers water or food
their life was hard and they struggled
to feed everyone the ravine separated
the two sides of the island was no more
than a few meters wide but no tribesman
dared to cross you see an ancient legend
existed that old tribesman had tried to
cross before and fail so many stories
and legends existed that no tribesman
was reckless or foolish enough to even
try doing so would end in certain
failure but they were too young
tribesmen who did not look and see the
ravine they only saw what was on the
other
sigh you see they saw what they wanted
not what was gonna stop them getting
what they wanted they decided they
wanted to try it and jump
they knew the jump could go wrong but
they also knew stayin where they were
and spending every day fighting off
hunger wouldn’t work out so great either
next day they took two polls ran up and
launched themselves up and over the clip
they flew through the air hopeless and
without control but landed safely on the
other side of the island and ran off to
begin the new life behind them they
heard murmurs of it was just luck you
see the ability to be proactive to take
initiative is the single biggest asset
in this day and age in every single
example of success you can think of
initiative was at its core Mark
Zuckerberg
started Facebook by taking action Gandhi
led the Indian independence movement by
deciding things needed to change my
parents took my brothers and I
backpacking across Africa Southeast Asia
India Central America by deciding to
just do it regardless of what was
considered conventional in every single
example initiative is at the core
because it doesn’t matter if you’re the
best person for the job if you don’t
apply you’ll no use being the best
player on a team if you’re sitting on
the bench or the most creative person in
a room but not willing to contribute
ideas and is the action the initiative
that matters when I was nine years old I
was traveling across Southeast Asia for
three months with my family we were in a
Viennese town called hoi an wandering
around and soaking up the culture my
parents decided to head back to the
accommodation but I wanted to stay and
look at a few more souvenirs I assured
both my parents that I knew my way back
which was true until I found out it
wasn’t and
about ten minutes of wandering around
I’d only proceeded to get myself more
lost was nine-years-old completely lost
in a foreign country didn’t know the
name of the place we were staying had no
money on me and my Vietnamese language
ability was non-existent I managed to
find english-speaking tuk-tuk driver and
after about half an hour of fierce
negotiation managed to win myself a free
ride and after driving around I
recognized a street close to where we
were staying and found my way back mum
and dad oblivious to the fact I was even
missing but the reason I tell you that
is because initiative is key being
proactive is crucial for me there are
two types of young people there are
those who know what they want to do and
those who don’t in 2017 both groups are
incredibly lucky if you know what you
want to do you have a plan to platform
to go for a hundred and ten percent
with more opportunities than ever before
if you don’t know what you want to do
you have a platform to try things and a
scale we’ve never seen before in 2017
growing up in this era no matter which
can’t we fall into you really one ask
yourself which group you fall into and
ask yourself what are you going to do
about it because we all have 30,000 days
and as those days tick by and reach
triple-double and single figures what
are you gonna look back and think I hope
you all look back on this time a time of
unprecedented opportunity a time where
there a thousand ways to climb the
mountain a time where you are in
complete control
I hope you all look back on this time
and think to yourself this was my finest
hour
thank you very much
[Applause]
you
Please follow and like us: