85 hours a week for a while there was
over a hundred hours a week and that’s
just it’s just – that’s a very high
amount of pain so it’s you know the the
difficulty in pain of of work hours
really increases exponentially it’s not
linear so but when you know the
financial crisis hit in 2008 2009 you
know it was just every day seven days a
week what you know morning all night and
dream about work it was terrible bad
dreams – these eight yes
yeah and what time do you get up
normally in the morning for me it’s
usually about seven seven okay but I go
to bed late so usually it’s I go to bed
around 1:00 a.m. or so well yeah and you
stop day with a real breakfast or just
for the coffee or with the water you
know that also varies a lot I think it’s
probably true that if you that having a
good breakfast is a good idea but
usually I don’t have time for that so
sometimes sometimes it’s it’s made for
me but probably half the time I don’t
have any breakfast
I had let’s have like coffee or
something like that one spot sure well
I’m trying to cut down on the on sweet
stuff so
but I think I mean I think I probably
should have like a an omelet and a
coffee or something like that that seems
like probably the right thing and
sometimes that you have that and for
lecture it that lunch yeah yeah I
thought lunch is usually served to me
during a meeting and I finished it in
five minutes
didn’t that dinner is where the calories
really come into play because there’s
you know if I have dinner meetings like
general meetings are the worst because
then you you know eat enough for like
two people
none of those things because you have
the appetizer in the main course and
that stuff so business dinners are like
the thing that really you know where I’d
probably eat way too much but you don’t
have the problem was you’re probably
losing weight I certainly could be
slimmer I think I know a workout once or
twice a week I mean I said well yeah
yeah what’s or twice you should I should
do it more often pusher why don’t you do
it run through the forest no I usually
just like a little bit on the treadmill
or on you know lifting some weights I
on the way to the office it’s a all of a
five minute drive than doing it
somebody did something for the king and
the king said what can I do for you and
he said well let’s take a chess board
and put one kernel of wheat on the first
square and then doubled on the second
and double it on the third the King
readily agreed to it by the time he
figured out what to do the 64th amounted
to he was giving away the entire kingdom
so it’s a pretty simple concept but over
time it accomplishes extraordinary
things Berkshire is an amazing company
and fourth largest company in the
fortune 500 he is the only person who
has ever from scratch built a company
it’s a pretty simple concept but over
time it accomplishes extraordinary
things as you know I’m known to be a
highly productive person I speak a
hundred times a year I write four books
a year I run three businesses I travel
all over the world people say how do you
do it well I have a morning routine and
I developed this a long time ago and it
really works what I do is I always get
up two hours before my next my first
fixed appointment so let’s say I have a
phone call at eight o’clock then I get
up at 6 a.m. if I actually be in the
office at 8:30 I’ll get up at 6:30
there’s always six 6:30 maybe earlier if
necessary but always two hours before my
first deployment then the first thing I
do for the first 30 minutes is I
exercise and I’ll do stretching
exercises all do yoga exercises
sometimes I’ll get up a little earlier
and I’ll do aerobic exercises on life
cycle or elliptical machine or treadmill
or a swim and usually swim every single
morning but for the first 30 minutes get
your body working and then I like coffee
then I’ll do a little bit of spiritual
reading and I’ll just relax and get my
mind ready for the day and then I’ll get
started within 60 minutes of getting up
I’ve exercised prepared my mind showered
dressed I’m ready to go then I have the
next hour to plan prepare
have breakfast and get to my first
appointment so give that a try get up
two hours early exercise for the first
30 minutes to get yourself going leave a
little to prepare your mind and then be
ready to go one hour before you have to
be someone playing around the latest
technology whether it’s a new pcs
looking at new software sitting down
with researchers it’s it’s why I think
my job is the best Warren thinks is the
best but I’m I’m sure I’m like anyway
I’m in meetings a lot my calendar gets
very full with those and then at night
after the kids have gone to bed I’m on
email a great deal I get messages during
the day that’s my chance to give long
responses and then over the weekend I
send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called think week so
it’s nice mix of things about 25% of the
time then I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
that you can practice every morning is
to get up and read 30 to 60 minutes in
something uplifting and inspirational
each day when you get up in the morning
and instead of reading the newspaper or
watching television you read something
positive and constructive and inspiring
you set your mental stage or tone for
the rest of the day throughout the day
from the first day that you try this you
will notice that things go better for
you you will be calmer you’re more
productive you’re more creative you’re
more alert you’ll actually be more
resilient and will respond more
effectively when you face the inevitable
ups and downs of your daily life just
like vigorous physical exercise in the
morning will prepare you to be more
resilient physically during the day
positive mental exercise in the form of
inspirational reading will prepare you
what’s typical jay-z day typical
obviously there are no to I mean giving
give me your day yesterday viously you
you flew out here late last night or
this morning was you did time you got up
till when you had the opening nights
game last night um I got up around 8:00
that’s some breakfast when random mal is
really tough Aspen you know I just
wanted to touch it a little bit right
foot quite the marathon yeah I mean
everyone can’t be like you man it’s gone
it’s gone away so you know random mal
and I went to the office read a bunch of
emails with my emails download music
illegally had a meeting with some great
people I’m really saying a name yet
after that uh missus music went to the
studio at dinner
Oh went to the Mets game we won we’re
went to sleep good good day full day
great day great thing you ever picture
yourself and go just doing that back
then you know Microsoft conference Bill
Gates invites me to speak and it’s
pretty rarefied place yeah amazing pick
up really early every day and I play
tennis with somebody who’s a lot younger
and a lot fitter than me and we play
singles and you know we give it
everything we can and and you know
sweating big-time and having a lot of
fun as well and then if the wind is up
you know go for a kite surf tithings a
lovely way just to get it get away from
you know the mobile phones and and and
just get you know get out on the sea you
know after that you know come back have
a sort of nice healthy breakfast
generally sometimes you know sometimes
out of this deal with myself called
priming everyday
I said look you’ve got to have ten
minutes for yourself you don’t ten
minutes for yourself you don’t have a
life and I’m not gonna hope I feel good
I don’t got back six countries in 12
days I was in India two days ago Wow I
woke up here like feeling like somebody
ran me over the truck do this process
since 10 minutes it put some music on I
do this massive change in my breathing
so it radically changes the way I feel
and then I do this three step process
first I do three minutes of gratitude or
I think of three things I’m really
grateful for and I associate I don’t
think of it open that I feel it and the
reason is when you’re grateful you can’t
be worried it can’t be fearful when
you’re grateful you can’t be angry and
anger and fear what screw people up most
in their relationships and their life in
their business so I wire myself I’m
saying to you that most people want to
be happy but they’re happen is to be
worried or pissed off or frustrated or
stress and so they’re they’ve got a high
way to stress and they got a dirt road
to happiness
so I wire myself I’ve got a highway to
gratitude which changes all your
emotions and then I do three-minute
process have kind of a prayer for my
family and friends and then I do a
three-minute process at the top three
things I want to accomplish I see it as
done can I feel I’m done in 10 minutes
so sometimes I go 20 but my deal is 10
so there’s no excuse not to do it you
know what I think it’s a great way to
kind of set the tone for the day does it
change it changes listen we’ve all had
time so you snapped at somebody and you
felt bad cuz it wasn’t them it was the
state you’re in right well there’s no
excuse for that if you prime yourself
you set yourself they’ve been studies
where they go to people and they have a
man walk up to you and say could you
hold this for me hand you a cup of
coffee it’s an actor and they takes it
takes a man’s pocket they takes back and
says thank you hundred people they do it
with ice coffee how do people do with
hot coffee
45 minutes later and other actor comes
by and says listen we’re doing this
little test for five dollars would you
read this three paragraphs and answer
three questions
most people say yes it’s a little story
the questions are about the character
what’s the character like 80% of people
have got iced coffee say the person is
cold and mean 81 percent of the people
that got hot coffee say the person is
warm
gentle or nice that’s how much we can be
primed by our environment we think we’re
just stealing or feeling but our
environment if we don’t take control of
our environment it takes control of us
so Tony one of the critics actually that
I once met said yeah Tony’s techniques
they were great for about a year and a
half and then they wore off what do you
say to that you don’t work out you don’t
get a you don’t get a muscle right so I
always tell people this is there’s a
daily practice like priming if you don’t
do that if you get up and you just have
no discipline whatsoever you get no
value of anything your diets don’t work
when you don’t do that exercise doesn’t
work when you don’t do them but most of
people have some experiences that they
want to shift and once you shift those
things your whole life changes but life
is constant growth my life isn’t here
because I went to one seminar one time
and now my life is fit for life I I
workout I train my mind and train my
body it becomes a lifestyle it’s not
just the like you’re depending upon
somebody else I’m gonna here to become
somebody’s guru I’m not here to give
them a gift I’m here them to open up
their own gift and that’s really what my
work has been so okay I know you promise
yourself every day does it every now and
then do you get hit by depression are
you upset anxious I get frustrated I get
angry get all those things I just don’t
stay there I mean I used to be there for
a month or two I was I used to live in
depression I was 38 pounds heavier than
I am now I lost all everything I moved
in a little foreign it’s crap a bachelor
apartment and then it’s California
feeling sorry for myself but I got so
near the end where you think life has no
meaning it scared the hell out of me and
I developed tools and I’ve never gone
back there I mean if I got pissed or
angry of course people something you’re
not happy all the time
all the time but I’m happy in the vast
majority the time because I’m doing what
I love with who I love and there’s a
meaning of what I do when you have those
three things life is pretty magnificent
I believe desire and will to win is
everything I don’t know why I’m like I
am but my butt’s always burning there’s
always something say art dadgummit
you’re supposed to go far Hart dadgummit
you’re supposed to be somebody you’re
supposed to make a difference with your
life what does the $500,000 your person
do the $50,000 your person doesn’t do
you look at outside and study those two
individuals everything seems to be the
same they both are the same sex they
both are the same age
the same training the same positions the
same contract the same fringe benefits
they both are successful they work hard
they’re good family people make tough
commitments but what’s the difference
what does the $500,000 year person do
the $50,000 year person doesn’t do he
pays the price a little bit more he
works harden a little bit more he’s
loyal to the cutting a little bit more
he believes in a little bit more he
makes Maine a little bit more he saves
money a little bit more if you want to
win in these United States you got to be
tough and you can’t quit I called up
Bill Hewlett when I was 12 years old and
he lived in Palo Alto his number was
still in a phone book and he answered
the phone himself did I yes hi I’m Steve
Jobs I’m 12 years old I’m a student in
high school and I want to build a
frequency counter and I was wondering if
you had any spare parts I could have and
he laughed and he gave me the spare
parts to build his frequency counter and
he gave me a job that summer Inglewood
Packard
working on the assembly line putting
nuts and bolts together on frequency
counters he got me a job in the place
that built them and I was in heaven and
I’ve never found anyone who said no or
hung up the phone when I called
I just asked and when people asked me I
try to be as responsive to pay that that
debt of gratitude back most people never
pick up the phone and call most people
never ask and that’s what separates
sometimes the people who do things from
the people that just dream about them
got it you got to act and you’ve got to
be willing to fail you got to be willing
to crash and burn you know with people
on the phone with starting a company
with
if you’re afraid of failing you won’t
get very far I don’t know if there’s a
golden rule I can tell you this that I
believe anything is possible right I
live in the world a possibility and I
also believe that anything we can
accomplish anything with our two hands
and just putting in the work with our
two hands and also you hear this often
but it’s really really true you gotta
find something if you love what you do
and find and be passionate about what
you do and find something that you could
be passionate like it really helps you
know it gives you that motivation when
you wake up in the morning the functions
of belief is taking action we did a
survey about 2000 top entrepreneurs and
we noticed that one of the things that
people who win in that world have is a
bias for action if they have an
inspiration they act on it
I mean how many of you have ever had a
great idea talked about it thought about
it didn’t do it and then someone else
did it and was successful and you went
darn I should have done that maybe it
was by that piece of property who knows
all that we all have that piece of
property we wish we’d bought you know
anyway so we’re gonna be looking at the
idea that taking action is part of Law
of Attraction see a lot of people think
you just sit in your room meditate
visualize having the perfect car the
perfect house the perfect relationship
and then it’ll kind of just come to you
and I always say unless you live at the
bottom of a hill
whereas a road it’s probably not gonna
be a Cadillac show up in your living
room right so think about this the last
six letters of the word attraction spell
what AC tion action now there’s two
kinds of actions that are critical
there’s obvious actions if you want a
certain kind of car you should go down
and test-drive it you should find out
how much it cause you should see what it
costs to maintain it you should go you
know spend I like the test-drive a car
three or four times go down to the
dealer take a camera stick my head out
the window so they take a picture of me
I’ll be back to buy it put it up on my
refrigerator look at it every day
eventually you know those kind of things
produce car right saving for it and so
forth but there are also things called
inspired actions all of a sudden you get
an inspiration to do something and you
didn’t know what it was you don’t have a
sense of like houses rationally gonna
make sense for me to move forward in my
life
I’ll give me an example a friend of mine
dr. Ignatius Piazza graduates
chiropractic school he wants to move to
Monterey
near Pebble Beach where the golf course
is and he gets there and he says to the
local Chiropractic Association like to
join you or like you to help me get my
practice started and they said we don’t
need any more chiropractors we have one
chiropractor for every eight people in
this area as too many now he could have
said okay let the external reality
control his internal experience but he
doesn’t do that he said I’m gonna
think about this and visualize it and
believe in it and something will come
that I will do and what came to him to
do was to take six months before he
opened his office and put a pin where he
wanted his office and then concentric
circles knock on every door in every
neighborhood saying hi I’m a new doctor
in town could I ask you a few questions
you know I’m starting this practice
should I open from 5:00 to 9:00 in the
morning and of course should I be open
from 5:00 until 9:00 at night for people
who have nine-to-five jobs which would
be better should I advertise in this
paper or that paper should I call it
Ignatius Piazza chiropractic or
chiropractic West then his last question
was if I have an open house would you
like to receive an invitation they said
yes he wrote it down now over six months
he knocked on 12500 doors talked to 6500
people and gathered over 4,000 names of
people who said yes I’d like an
invitation to your open house now when
he opened his office six months later in
a town that did not need another
chiropractor according to the
professionals his first month in
practice he netted seventy two thousand
dollars
in his first year in practice his gross
income was over $1,000,000 I was giving
a talk and mentioning this story just
about five years ago and this happened
about 25 years ago someone said he
knocked on my door and he left his card
and two years later I needed the
chiropractor and I called him because we
work with people we know we’ve had an
experience with right so he trusted his
intuition he took action on it other
people would say oh yes I can’t have
what I want you got to be willing to
take the action I find it quite
inspiring you were in from publicity
originally and then at a certain point
you decided that you wanted to direct
can you tell us how you got from there
to here well I was one of those ladies
standing on the side you know and they
they work hard and no one no one ever
really gives them a shout out I thank
you all the publicists in the corner you
know and as a person who loved film and
wanted to make film you’re standing
there supporting filmmakers telling
their stories and it’s something that I
love doing but for me there was always a
little bit of I don’t not jealousy but
just like wow that that’s great what
they’re doing and so at the moment when
I actually started to write and try to
direct my own stuff I was still doing
publicity for other people’s films I was
trying to make my own films I was asking
for permission pitching people trying to
get contacts and network and do all the
things that don’t matter because the
only thing that matters is your work and
so when I finally realized that and
started to make small things and try to
move them around festivals and just you
know just share my work you know the
energy behind that positive intention
started a ball rolling and I’ve only
been making films for five years
and I only quit my job full-time three
years ago because I was still holding on
to publicity as a security blanket and
so and so yeah you know I look at you
know each year that’s passed and all
I’ve tried to do is continue to make
work whether I have the money to make a
film a narrative a dock a commercial a
TV show director the episode of scandal
a documentary about Venus Williams
whatever I cast or II I want to tell
through whatever medium short medium TV
medium commercial medium full-length
documentary feature that’s something
that I really learned from Spike Lee not
Jones I’m sure Jones is nice lady she
was like Spike Jones is that no lady but
you know remember he did commercials
with Jordan he’s done it’s me almost as
many dots as he’s done narratives he’s
made a film every year for the past 20
years when he’s really the blueprint of
just not even a black filmmaker a
filmmaker who’s just continued to make
work and so that’s that’s how we’re now
I think stress you can be one of the
things that’s very important to note
about stress is the stress primarily
comes from not taking action over
something that you can have some control
over so if I find that some particular
thing is causing me to have stress
that’s a a warning flag for me what it
means is there’s something that I
haven’t completely identified perhaps in
my conscious mind that is bothering me
and I haven’t yet taken any action on I
find as soon as I identify it and make
the first phone call or send off the
first email message or whatever it is
that we’re gonna do to start to address
that situation even if it’s not solved
the mere fact that we’re addressing it
dramatically reduces any stress that
might come from it so stress comes from
ignoring things that you shouldn’t be
ignoring I think in large part so stress
doesn’t come people get stress wrong all
the time my opinion stress doesn’t come
from hard work for example you know you
can be working incredibly hard and
loving it and likewise you can be
out of work and incredibly stressed over
that so and likewise if you kind of use
the you know use that as an analogy for
what I was just talking about if you’re
out of work but you’re going through you
know a disciplined approach of you know
a series of job interviews and so on and
working to remedy that situation you’re
going to be a lot less stressed than if
you’re just worrying about it and doing
nothing the last thing I’ll talk to you
about today in building this winning
edge is folks if you want to win in
business you’ve got to be a leader
leadership is everything you show me
anything and these United States that
win I’ll show you a leader at work you
show me a successful church Boy Scout
Troop Club football team business I’ll
show you some a run by leader sissy I
thought at one time in my life you had
to be smart to win I used to have these
smart people that dress so pretty and
talk so pretty and use these big words
they just intimidated me I said aren’t
you can’t ever be that good why don’t
you just throw in the towel and going
back coach football for living and I
found two things out about smart people
I think it’s almost impossible for a
smart person to win in business in
America today because I find smart
people spend their whole lifetime
figuring things out they always trying
to figure out an easier way in a quicker
way and another thing I found out about
smart people’s they just don’t get
around to doing nothing they see
somebody like art Williams everybody
says well he can’t do it I can’t do it
but he does it you can’t just wait for
inspiration to act that’s the biggest
mistake people way to make don’t wait to
be inspired to do the action you have to
do the action first and then you’ll be
inspired so what I would do is I would
sit there and draw out the comic and I
would come up with it but some days I’d
come home from school sit down and go
I’m just gonna wait for the inspiration
to hit me I don’t wait for the idea to
come fully formed but when I got a joke
then I’ll go draw it and I would sit
there for maybe three or four hours and
then go alright screwed I got to get up
and listen I got to do the process I got
to sit there and just start drawing I
don’t even know why or how I’m gonna get
there and then two things would come
together and it’ll be oh there’s an idea
there’s the first panel just think about
and then it would come together always
it would not take very long I would
fight that process so much
what was I doing I was waiting for
inspiration before I acted it’s always
the other way around
act first then the inspiration will come
draw first then the inspiration will
come just start shooting then the
inspiration okay just start moving then
the inspiration will come don’t wait so
many people wait or are or tell you
they’re gonna write this novel or
they’re gonna do this they’re gonna make
this film they never do it because
they’re waiting for all this stuff to
come to them it comes through doing it
see folks I want you to know almost
everybody in America almost does enough
to win they almost get there they almost
over the hump they almost have it going
they almost in everything they do almost
is a way of life to almost everybody in
America but the winners do it what do
they do they do whatever it takes to get
the job done they do it and do it and do
it and do it and do it until the job
gets done and then they talk about how
great it is to be somebody they’re proud
of we need leaders in America who can do
it if you want to become somebody do it
if you want to go in business for
yourself do it if you want to become
financially independent do it I hear too
much talk in these United States
everybody can talk a good game we need
people in America who can do it I go all
over this country with Al weaves and I
have people say aren’t you you count on
me
wonderful just do it all right I
guarantee this is my light last stop I’m
gonna win now SuperDuper just do it all
right if I could just have one good
month and get the ball going I know I
could make it big super just do
if I could just pay off this day and I
could really go great
just do it if I could just sell the
house do it but how they selling do it
anyway I’m not making any money what can
I do you just do it
I do what art you do it and do it and do
it we try to hire really smart people
but we have a very simple organization
and we try to focus and do very few
things well and focusing is hard because
focusing doesn’t mean saying yes it
means saying no so we say we decide not
to do a lot of things so we can focus on
a few handfuls of things and do them
well and I think you know everybody
working the company wants to do
something great they want to be excited
about what they’re working on and and
they want to be recognized for it when
if they do a really great job so we just
try to allow people to do the best work
of their lives at Apple and get it out
to 25 million customers that we have and
that’s very exciting when you’re working
on something and you know this works out
up to 25 million people are going to use
this it’s very motivating and it’s not
just 25 million of our customers but
other companies tend to follow us you
know it takes them a few years but other
companies tend to copy what we do if it
works and and so we can influence the
whole industry all right I get you have
a win this contest
SuperDuper just do it over the hub now
watch my smoke
Green’s just do it hard I want to make
it so bad I can taste it what I do you
just do it all right I’m a vice
president now can I quit doing it no all
right I don’t know if I keep on keeping
on I’m really hurt what I do you just do
it do what art you do it and do it and
do it all right all my life I want to be
somebody important well what do it then
all right I’m gonna save money so I
don’t have to go through this again
great hey just do it all right I don’t
feel like I’ve had enough training
what’d I do you just do it
my heart my manners you don’t give me no
help what I do you just do it all right
you don’t understand how was mr.
everything in my former company you
don’t mean I have to start off down at
the bottom and do it do you yep you
really got to do it art was the primary
difference between winners and losers
the winner the winners do it they do it
and do it
and do it and do it until the job gets
done and then they talk about how great
it is to finally achieve something you
need and I’m glad they are that they
didn’t quit like everybody else and how
wonderful is to finally be somebody
they’re proud of and make a difference
with their life thank you a lot of
people come to me they say well I want
to be an entrepreneur and I go that’s
great what’s your idea and they go well
I don’t have one yet and I say well I
think you should go get a job as a
busboy or something until you find
something you’re really passionate about
because it’s a lot of work and I’m
convinced that about half of what
separates the successful entrepreneurs
from the non successful ones is pure
perseverance it is so hard you pour so
much your life into this thing there are
such rough moments in time that most
people give up I don’t blame them and
it’s really tough and it consumes your
life I mean if you’re if you’ve got a
family and you’re in the early days of a
company it’s I can’t imagine how one
could do it I’m sure it’s been done but
it’s rough I mean cuz it’s a pretty much
you know an 18-hour day job seven days a
week for a while
so unless you have a lot of passion
about this you’re gonna not survive
you’re gonna give it up so you got to
have an idea of or a problem or a wrong
that you want to write that you’re
passionate about otherwise you’re not
going to have the perseverance to stick
it through and I think that’s half the
battle right there it’s hard to remember
how bad it was you know in 1980s with
IBM taking over the world with the PC
with DOS out there it was it was far
worse than the Apple 2 and they tried to
copy the Apple 2 and they’ve done a
pretty bad job and if you needed to know
a lot and so things were kind of
slipping backwards and Macintosh was you
saw the 1984 commercial you know what
the I hope you have that in your
archives
you know Macintosh was basically this
this relatively small company you know
in Cupertino California taking on the
Goliath IBM and saying wait a minute
your way is wrong this is not the way we
want computers to go this is not the
legacy we want to leave this is not what
we want our kids to be learning this is
wrong and we are going to show you the
right way to do it and here it is it’s
called Macintosh and this is so much
better than its gonna beat you and we
are gonna do it and that’s what Apple
stood for next best predictor of
lifetime success is conscientiousness
well so and although of the two aspects
of conscientiousness say orderliness and
and industriousness the better predictor
is industriousness so the question is
well what can you do about your
industriousness and the answer to that
is well that’s kind of rough too because
there’s a strong genetic component but
you can work on micro habits with
regards to your conscientiousness and I
think the best micro habits this is
partly to do with this future authoring
program processes I think the best thing
you can do with regards to your
conscientiousness is to set up some aims
for yourself goals that you actually
value and the future authoring program
helps people do that and basically it
does a situational analysis of it helps
you do a situational analysis of your
life more than a psychological analysis
I would say and so the questions are
something like well alright you’re gonna
have to put some effort into your life
and you need to be motivated to do that
and so what are the potential sources of
motivation well you could think about
them in in the Big Five manner you know
if you’re extroverted you want friends
if you’re agreeable you want an intimate
relationship if you’re a disagreeable
you want to win competitions if you’re
open you want to engage in creative
activity if you’re high in neuroticism
you want security okay so those are all
sources of potential motivation that you
could draw on that you could tailor to
your own you know your own personality
but then there are dimensions that you
want to consider your life across and so
we asked people about well you know if
you could have your life the way you
wanted it in three to five years if you
were taking care of yourself properly
you know what would you want from your
friendships what would you want from
your intimate relationship how would you
like to structure your family
what do you want for your career well
how are you going to use your time
outside of your job and how are you
gonna regulate your mental physical
mental and physical health and maybe
also your drug and alcohol use because
that’s that’s a good place to auger down
you know cuz alcoholism for example
wipes out you know five to ten percent
of people so you want to keep that under
control and then and then so maybe you
know you you you develop a vision of
what your life what you would like your
life to be and that associates the so
the goal once the goal is established
and then you break down the goal into
micro processes that you can implement
the micro process has become rewarding
in proportion in relation to their
causal association with the goal and
that tangles in your your incentive
reward system you know we talked about
the dopaminergic incentive reward system
and that’s the thing that keeps you
moving forward and the way it works is
that it works better if it produces
positive emotion win it can see you
moving towards a valued goal okay well
what’s the implication of that better
have a valued goal because otherwise you
can’t get any positive motivation
working out and so the more valuable the
goal in principle the more the micro
process is associated with that goal
start to take on a positive charge and
so what that means is well you get up in
the morning and you’re excited about the
day you’re ready to go and so as far as
I can tell what you do is you specify
your long-term ideal maybe you also
specify a place you want to stay the
hell away from so that you’re terrified
to fail as well as excited about
succeeding because that’s also useful
you specify your goal you do that you do
that in some sense as a unique
individual you want to you want to
specify goals that make you say oh if
that could happen as a consequence of my
efforts it would clearly be worthwhile
because the question always is why do
something because doing nothing is easy
you just sit there and you don’t do
anything that’s real easy the question
is why would you ever do anything and
the answer that has to be because you’ve
determined by some means that it’s
worthwhile and then the next question
might be well where should you look for
worthwhile things and one would be well
you could consult your own temperament
and the other would be well you kind of
look
how look at what it is that people
accrue that’s valuable across the
lifespan look look what so you do a
structural analysis of the sub
components of human existence and
already did that you need a family you
need friends like you don’t need to have
all these things but you better have
most of them
family friends career educational goals
plans for you no time outside of work
attention to your mental and physical
health etc you know those are that’s
what life is about and if you don’t have
any of those things well then all you’ve
got left is misery and suffering so
that’s that’s a bad that’s a bad deal
for you so so once you but once you set
up that that goal structure let’s say
and that’s really in many in many ways
that’s what you should be doing at
universities is that’s exactly what you
should be doing is trying to figure out
who it is that you’re trying to be right
and you aim at that and then use
everything you learned as a means of
building that person that you want to be
and and I really mean want to be I don’t
mean should be even those things those
things are gonna overlap and it’s
important to distinguish between those
because that’s partly and this is back
down to the micro routine analysis so I
say well you’re gonna try to make
yourself more industrious okay number
one specify your damn goals because how
are you gonna hit something if you don’t
know what it is that isn’t gonna happen
and often people won’t specify their
goals too because they don’t like to
specify conditions for failure so if you
keep yourself all vague and foggy which
is real easy because that’s just a
matter of not doing as well then you
don’t know when you fail and people
might say well I really don’t want to
know when I fail because that’s painful
it’s so I’ll keep myself blind about
when I fail that’s fine except you’ll
fail all the time then you just won’t
know it until you’ve failed so badly
that you’re done and that can easily
happen by the time you’re 40 so so I
would recommend that you don’t let that
happen
so that’s willful blindness right you
could have known but you chose not to
okay so once you get your goal structure
set up you think okay if I could have
this life it looks like that might be
worth living despite the fact that it’s
going to be you know anxiety provoking
and threatening and there’s going to be
some suffering and loss involved in all
of that obviously the
ballistics to have a vision for your
life such that all things considered
that justifies your effort
but somebody must have told people oh
life is gonna be real easy if they told
you that I’ve got a special announcement
they lied then nobody warned you that it
was gonna come down on you like this
it’s called life to accept yourself then
you accept the fear as a fact and not a
force so when you accept yourself and
you accept fear as a fact that means
that it’s something that happens it’s
something that you’re going to
experience but it is not a force to hold
you back it doesn’t have any special
power other than that that you give it
so you accept the fact that you are
afraid and then you move on anyhow one
of the things that you’ve got to do is
you’ve got to watch your inner
conversation and discipline your
thinking and your imagination because if
you don’t your mind will take you on a
wild trip see when you are not filling
your life with the things that you are
capable of doing so we all have some
stuff that we’ve been given and I don’t
think that it’s optional for us to sit
on what we have see if you’re sitting on
what you have what you’ve been given I
think everybody has been given something
to bring to the planet that only you can
do that only you can perform that only
you can initiate that activity and if
you don’t do that if you’re not filling
in your life with your life work or your
mission then there are gaps in your life
and what we do when we’re not living out
our true identity we begin to fill the
gaps we fill the holes with garbage
alcohol drugs worry self-destructive
behavior so when you begin to look at
your life and you know that that you’re
not doing what you can do because you
have allowed yourself to be held captive
by your fears now
when you don’t have a true appreciation
and acceptance for who you are and you
allow yourself to be immobilized by fear
what happens in the process is that you
begin to abuse yourself you begin to
sabotage your life you begin to sabotage
your dreams you begin to unconsciously
work against yourself you become your
own worst in it so what do you do about
that
well you you begin to realize that your
dream and your gifts have so much
meaning and so much value for you until
your hunger for them will begin to push
you past the feed your hunger to have
them will give you a special drive as
you work on yourself as you begin to
acknowledge your true identity true
power that you have the true capacity
you have to bring about change the
miracle-working power that you have
within yourself to do the things that
you want to do what is it that you have
that so many people who are unbelievably
brilliant at engineering or are
incredibly good managers or bold
businesspeople or what have you what is
it that you have do you think that
well I first of all I saw you don’t
think I can you know do anything or or I
do most things that people think are
impossible because I think a lot of
people of what people think where it is
impossible is actually impossible so
occasionally it’s not and yeah I mean
I’m gonna try today you know I guess
it’s I don’t think I’ve said that’s
those performing is helpful to have kind
of a physics framework for looking at
things you know fish principles analysis
look for negative feedback and and like
really believe in what you’re doing but
but not just from a blind faith
standpoint
like to have really thought about it and
say okay this this is true I’m convinced
it’s true
and I’ve tried him every angle to figure
out if it’s untrue and it’s sort
negative feedback to figure out maybe if
I may be wrong but then after all that
it okay it still seems like this this is
the the right way to go then that that I
think gives one a fundamental conviction
and an ability to convey that conviction
to others and to convince them to join
and that’s what a company is it’s a
group of people who come together to
create a product of some kind and so if
you can convey that in and answer the
concerns that people have convince them
this is something that needs to be done
it’s important and here’s a path to do
it even if that path has a lot of danger
associated with in risk and and maybe it
won’t succeed but people can ascend okay
this is why it’s important and even if
the odds are that it wouldn’t succeed
it’s worth trying to do it and I think
you can create a great company I want
you to ponder these four questions
well I paid the price
why work this hard why go this far why
try to learn this much why try to do it
all why try to see it all why try to
have it all why do it why learn it why
study why put yourself out why try to
why develop yourself to the full why try
to become all that you can possibly
become why try to earn as much as you
can earn share as much as you can share
develop every skill you possibly can see
every human you possibly can go to every
class you possibly can touch everybody
you possibly can why do that much why go
that far why share that much why give
that much away why try to see everything
why try to do everything why try to
become everything
that’s a good question why and you’re
the only one personally that can answer
that question for yourself you’ve got to
have your own list of why’s here’s what
I want you to do when you go home after
you bless the leftist extravaganza work
on your list of lies one of the big
threats for success is to come up with a
strong enough lie in leadership training
here’s what we learned if the why is
powerful the how is easy but if the why
isn’t strong if your goals aren’t
powerful if the vision isn’t clear the
old prophet said without a vision we die
without a vision we perish without a
dream or nothing well I think it’s
important to have a very to apply
critical thinking to this may sound
trite but to apply critical critical
thinking to what what one is doing and
by that I mean just the fundamentals of
logic you know of do you have the right
axioms are they relevant and are you
making the right conclusions based on
those on those axioms that that’s the
essence of critical thinking and yet it
is amazing how often people fail to do
that
I think wishful thinking is innate in
the human brain you you want things to
be the way you wish them to be and so
you tend to filter information that you
shouldn’t filter that’s the most common
flaw that I see idea comes and you see
it and you hear it and you know it how
does it come it comes like on a TV in
your mind you know there’s a line of
I’ve always loved of limit Cohen he said
if I knew where the good songs came from
I would go there more often
people we want ID we don’t do anything
without an idea so they’re beautiful
gifts and I always say you desiring an
idea is like a bait on a hook you can
pull them in and if you catch an idea
that you love that’s a beautiful
beautiful day and you write that idea
down so you won’t forget it and that
idea that you caught might just be a
fragment of the whole whatever it is
you’re working on but now you have even
more bait
thinking about that small fragment that
little fish will bring in more and
they’ll come in and they’ll hook on and
more and more come in and pretty soon
you might have a script or a chair or a
painting or an idea for a painting but
they come as in small more often than
not small fragments I like to think of
it as in the other room the puzzle is
all together but they keep slipping in
just one piece at a time in the other
in a sense David there’s always another
room somewhere that’s a beautiful thing
to think about the ideal situation for a
man a woman to die is to have family
members praying with them as they cross
over but I know that imagine if you will
being on your deathbed and standing
around your bed the ghost of the dreams
the ideas the abilities and the talents
given to you by life but you for
whatever reason you never acted on those
ideas you never pursue those dreams you
never use those gifts and there they are
standing around your bed looking at you
with large angry eyes saying we came to
you and only you could have given us
life and now we must die with you
forever when Jim spoke Jim said what the
incomes for you let it find you
conquering a new mountain not sliding
down and over
Jim taught us that things may happen to
you in things may happen around you but
the only things that really count are
the things that happen in you if
somebody is doing something that is
useful to the rest of society I think
that’s a good thing like it doesn’t have
to change the world like you know if you
make something that has high value to
people and frankly even if it’s
something if it’s like just a little
game or you know the some improvement in
photo-sharing or something if it does it
how does a small amount of good for a
large number of people that’s I mean I
think that’s that’s fine like stuff
doesn’t need to be change the world just
to be good so it’s it’s easy to have
ideas it’s very hard to turn an idea
into a successful product there are a
lot of steps in between it takes
persistence relentlessness so I always
tell people who are you know who think
they want to be entrepreneurs it’s you
need a combination of stubborn
relentlessness and flexibility and you
have to know when to bewitch and
basically you need to be stubborn on
your vision because otherwise it’ll be
too easy to give up but you need to be
very flexible on the details because as
you go along pursuing your vision you’ll
find that some of your preconceptions
were wrong and you’re gonna need to be
able to change those things so I think
taking an idea successfully all the way
to the market and turning it into a real
product that people care about and that
really improves people’s lives it’s a
there’s something that’s the spirit that
grabs me right and it’s in every one of
you guys but the question is how much
time I wasted I just came out the gym
for three hours this morning I got five
miles I said
every day of my life I’m trying to find
a different way to get better clothes
didn’t tell me to do this
remember Wiener lockout so I need
training for football I’m training for
lifestyle I’m training because I say
it’s something that I wanted to be the
greatest ever do it 20 but the question
still remains how much time will you
really waste if I looked at my car
giaffone time never stops for dolmen so
one thing God don’t give us it’s show
time now the question is what would you
do to make sure your time your time is
ready will you be ready
that’s what I do man that’s all I do
then I believe every time I step on and
I never cheap one of my teammates ever
I’ll never let one of my teammates take
a break on me and I never take a break
on opportunity to do something right now
don’t let your long be the only
thing that wakes you up make sure you
wake up with God on your mind
make sure you fall to your knees with
your face on the floor to say thank you
for another opportunity not just the
wake up but to be on top of athlete
because some people can see something
became Walt simply became here
but you give me this crap about some
shoulder pains
put on your creaks we all know that
feeling feel like there’s no feeling in
the world like you so now how thankful
would you get back to them every single
day you’ve got to master your craft
that’s what it’s about building kids
across this country man that’s what this
one shot harsh reality 1% makes one
I heard from everything that was too
this competition right so when somebody
said all are you ready to be dead why I
think man’s ever find that outwork me
you might not run me on a Ford but you
can go find out wrote me for 60 minutes
I doubt that any because I got an in
special the only thing I got Spurs I
made my mind at the be special my
assistants got a great thing now in this
once in every four months somebody sends
an email saying I’ve got a huge startup
that I want you to invest in but you’ve
got to sign this NDA right which
literally every time gets an email back
that says you write and and the reason
is I’m a humongous believer that ideas
are and that executions the game right
we’ve all got ideas everybody’s got
ideas do you mean ideas we all have here
we can probably sit here for the next
two hours draw them all out record them
and predict the next 78 great startups
over the next nine years and so I think
the thing that is another theme in
entrepreneurship is there is way too
much fodder brought to the idea Hoover
was magic cab three years earlier
uber is not an idea uber existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
executed sucked so they lost so I think
you know if there’s any level of romance
left in this room about your idea I’d
like to suffocate it raise
it’s a lot of small things done with
stacked on top of each other yes ma’am
no man pants pulled up over my waist
these small things that makes greatness
so when somebody finally sees you they
represent you as a king because you
walked as the king and until you set
your mind said to think like the king
and you stay away everybody else’s sex
and that’s the place I don’t want to
state I wanted to go way beyond them and
that’s what I’m still chasing to this
day that’s one of these that was in a
gym earlier this morning that’s on the
breeze now saint-lo it whatever it is I
don’t know what it is today but if I can
change one life today just by telling
you to be different maybe do something
different and take God with you I’m
gonna kill where you go
then do it then do it and when you do it
let your name be worth more than your
bank account when you’re finally ready
to go home make sure your footsteps I’ll
remember
that’s not a reason you guys respect me
the way you are that’s because I made up
my mind to chase him and really nurture
my craft
really notice my ground I’ve never been
the biggest the fastest rawness of
nothing nothing I saw all the way all I
had was worth it’s all I’ve ever had
it’s my birthday
I’m nine years old it’s a particular
College which is now three decks of
coffee
I took a deck of cards flip over card my
new six come over another card if I get
a Jack queen king at duty I get a a
thunder 25 my football joke I predict I
mastered am nine years old that take the
cars without turning three tender cards
if I brought my bagging hamster those
same thing take the cards then I travel
with everything about life the only
thing I know is I can’t take a break
don’t ever let a day go by that you
waste that’s the thing you can never get
back I mean the reality is reading a
book are going to a conference or having
a great conversation where you get this
golden information that’s all fantastic
but what makes mastery is execution on
the ideas not the ideas and so no idea
works unless you’re willing to roll up
your sleeves do the practice invest the
time put in the effort do the work I
think we’ve all observed a lot of people
who they love reading the books they
love showing up at the courses they do
all the online training and nothing ever
changes and they say well you know I
don’t know why it doesn’t change why my
life doesn’t change why my thinking
doesn’t change why my performance
doesn’t change why my relationships
don’t change well it’s because ideas
don’t work if you don’t execute on them
so if you look at the great business
builders you look at any great performer
one thing that makes them great is their
grit one thing that makes them great is
their hunger to practice one thing that
makes them great is they are willing to
sacrifice I mean yes they’re passionate
but did you know the root of the word
passion is suffering you’ve got to be
willing to suffer for your vision you’ve
got to be willing to suffer to
reach BIW best in world you’ve got to be
willing to suffer the ridicule and
laughter of your critics and your cynics
to get to a place called world class
y’all can’t waste a long time you gotta
make up your mind to do thing you want
to do and don’t let nobody nobody tell
you what you can’t do you look master
water mighty George store coach said
you’re not good enough he would’ve made
itself good simply work so I’m not here
to take my secrets I need to tell you
the level walk through life alone don’t
ever do it alone that’s the longest walk
you never take by yourself you take
somebody which take some language all
unlike a team where no one takes
ownership of the problems and therefore
the problems never get solved with us
everyone took ownership of their
mistakes everyone took ownership of the
problems and when a team takes ownership
of its problems the problems get solved
and that is true on the battlefield it
is true in business and it is true in
life so I say take ownership take
extreme ownership don’t make excuses
don’t blame any other person or any
other thing get control of your ego
don’t hide your delicate pride from the
truth take ownership of everything in
your world so good and the back take
ownership of your mistakes take
ownership of your shortfalls take
ownership of your problems and then take
ownership of the solutions that will get
take ownership of your mission take
ownership of your job of your team of
your future and take ownership of your
life
lead yourself and your team and the
people in your life lead them all to
victory thank you
[Applause]
just 85 people on this planet have as
much money as the poorest 3.5 billion
yeah right that’s on the planet however
since it’s not far off in America no it
isn’t far off in America but we still
and we still here don’t abandon the idea
that it isn’t finite it isn’t finite if
you were born where were you born me
you know Louisiana I was born in Memphis
had a long haul from where I came from
to here but here we are right so proof
is in the proof of the pudding is in the
eating and here we said the dining table
but it’s hard to when you say that to
some people because they say oh there
you go with a pull yourself up by the
bootstraps thing and you know you’re
just being respectable not everybody can
everybody can
everybody doesn’t courage courage is the
key to life itself a lot of people who
were born in situation of a survive just
I’ll never get out of this so they won’t
I say to people say well I would like to
have done so and so and so so we could
have done it so but I couldn’t get out
of here
man the bus runs every day exactly yeah
you exist if they’re if they’re if you
can conceive it in your mind if you can
think of it you can do it that’s the
human condition and we can imagine that
we can do it right and I think that the
condition of each individual human every
person that’s connected to you it’s the
smallest things in life that we throw
away to quickly see some people listen
but when you really want to change you
must hear with this SOI program what we
did in this graduation we made it a step
we took the next step but what does the
next step mean what does graduation
really mean because when you really
graduate but the thought I want to leave
you with us today it’s this time now so
we must readjust our comfort zone I will
do I will stand I will put both of my
feet in the ground and I will stand for
something because if I don’t stand for
something I fall for anything
see now it’s time to go to a different
thought process you see a goal many
goals that you may have of graduations
and making it to this next moment and I
understand how important the goals can
be but the goals remains the gold
until you write it on a piece of paper
then it becomes a vision
so I saw so our next steps is what is
the vision what is the vision because
the only reason I’m here the only reason
we’re here today is because of our
yesterday everything I’ve been through
has defined Who I am right now so what’s
the goal what’s the vision because the
Good Book says write division and make
division plain before you write division
you must have an imagination you must be
able to see yourself out of the
situation that you may have been in if
you can’t if you can’t in real if you
can’t imagine yourself being out of a
Hulett you’ll keep going back to the
hood you some of your crowd I’ll show
you your future because they run hand in
hand but when you start to readjust your
comfort zone I want to share something
with you that you must understand that
before anything great it’s really
achieve your comfort zone must be
disturbed
advice would you give purely in an
acting sense to yourself 30 40 years ago
same advice I gave myself 30 to 40 years
old
Act there are unfortunately those of us
that’s way out there in the ether
somewhere I would be a working actor you
can pull that off so act work work I
someone asked me in watts and you’re
about to do it what would you do if you
weren’t an act if you didn’t make it as
an actor what would you do I have no
idea I would act somewhere maybe I’ll be
driving the cab maybe I’m working
somebody’s yard whatever I’m doing I’m
going to belong to somebody’s little
theatre group
no matter what you say I cannot do no
matter what you say I will not do I must
do I have to do I am King I live as King
I woke his kingdom this is our new
identity the new identities you must be
ok with your comfort zone bitch they
tell you when you start to mix a protein
shake they say it don’t work if she got
the right blend I heard a whisper years
ago I found myself in the situation Tori
and I’m telling you I heard somebody’s
here today we are the meth or something
trust me we all done been through
something but I found myself in this
place and I heard a whisper I heard a
whisper and the West was simply said can
it’s some little one-on-one time it’s
time to readjust how comfort zones it’s
time to figure out whatever Majority is
doing i’ma find myself doing the
opposite I always always tried to figure
out what’s the difference between good
and great good it’s fed me great it’s
been now
[Applause]
don’t look for loose no no no nothing
spectacular to come out the sky we are
the sky what we looking to change we
must change and only way to change its
make sure you’re doing the same thing
every day of your life
if an alarm clock is waking you up every
morning we might find our second fuse in
ten years but there are patterns that
control the way you think and feel and
think about it whether you’re performing
in sports or whether it’s government or
whether it’s you know in the financial
markets or whether it’s in your
relationship as much as we want to think
it’s just the way we think our emotions
play a huge role in our performance or
lack thereof and I know how to help
people make a shift in their psychology
there I think there’s three things that
will quote motivate somebody right
there’s push motivation trying to make
somebody do something and then there’s
pull another one’s incentives instead is
it fantastic for certain people it
everybody appreciates them but the
problem with an incentive is there’s
only so much you can give out of the
margin of the business the most powerful
incentive by now is autonomy and growth
the sense that I’ve become more that I
can give more that can create more I
always say people you know if you want
to know where happiness comes and give
to you one word progress progress equals
happiness we’re not supposed to sit at
the table of success and just feel good
about ourselves forever what makes us
feel life is growing and we grow we have
something to give your job as an actress
to give it your best shot
each every time so yes I’m going into it
with the idea that I’ll play it to the
best of my ability and they wouldn’t
give it to me the role if they didn’t
think I was capable of pulling it off I
wouldn’t take it if I didn’t think I was
capable of pulling it off things getting
things is not gonna make you happy
that’s good news in a tough economy it’s
a good reminder you know it doesn’t
matter what you get doesn’t matter
whether it be money or opportunity all
those things might excite you for the
moment you know even a relationship as
magnificent it may be might be exciting
for a while
but if you don’t keep
knowing that relationship isn’t gonna
stay exciting so the secret to real
happiness is progress progress equals
happiness and if we can make progress on
a regular basis we feel alive and that’s
why at the beginning of the year we get
this thing like okay I can have this
fresh start I could really do what my
soul desires I could expand I could grow
I could improve I could change or maybe
better than change I could progress see
think about that progress is an
aliveness to it doesn’t it you don’t
have to work at changing people say all
the time that allow I’m working on
changing don’t worry about it have to
work on changing changes automatic your
body’s gonna change whether you want it
or not as the years go by you no matter
how hard you work there’s gonna be some
changes going on there the economy is
gonna change no matter what you want it
to do the weather is gonna change
relationships are gonna change
everything in life is always changing we
have to work on change change is
automatic but progress is not so if you
want to make real progress then you
really got to look at your life in a
different way
you gotta say I gotta take control of
this process and not just hope that’s
gonna work out like people do who make a
resolution good habits will give you
results that stick bad habits will
destroy everything I have some bad
habits that’s right all my habits are
not great so if you’ve got some bad
habits don’t feel bad so does your
next-door neighbor so does your mentor
your coach so does your mother and
father if they’re alive so does everyone
and the trick of life is to replace a
bad habit with a good habit I used to
hang around bars all the time and one
day I went in I picked up a glass and I
looked around and I thought they’re all
bugs in here and then it dawned on me
I’m always here I learned something I
put the glass down I said I’m never
coming back here again and I’m never
gonna drink this and I never did that
was a long time ago but you know what I
did I went from spending all my money in
the bar to a racetrack and I started to
bet it all on horses so I went from
making somebody with a bar get wealthy
and then I start
to feed the horses and one day I woke up
and I learned something if you don’t
consciously and deliberately replace a
bad habit with a good habit you will
automatically create another bad habit
now what is it habit a habit is an idea
that has been planted in the garden of
your subconscious mind and then
repetitively fed for a sufficient period
of time that you act on it without
giving any thought to it I’ll give you
an example I want you to right now
mentally imagine you’re pulling on your
underwear in the morning what what do
you put in first I put my right foot in
if I tried to put my left foot in my
underwear first I’d stagger and I’d fall
over you may say what’s this got to do
with it it’s got everything to do with
it why do I put my right foot you may
put your left certainly a lot of people
do well when I was just a little gapper
didn’t have a clue of how to put
underwear on my mother or my grandmother
and my father or somebody came along and
they had the underwear I read put your
foot in here you’re rather fun what did
they do they had the underwear prepared
as if they were gonna put it on and so
pretty soon I was doing it like they
were doing it they through repetition
planted the idea in my hand in my mind
well now think of this you don’t just
form habits of how to get dressed you
form habits to do everything that you do
and some of them are not that productive
any idea that you keep dwelling on and
impressing upon your subconscious mind
becomes fixed in the subconscious mind a
habit is nothing but an idea that’s
fixed in the subconscious mind that you
act on without giving any conscious
thought many years ago I went in to
train the Prudential Insurance Company
of America their agents I ended up
training all of their agents and I only
got them to do two things this is in the
early 70s I got them to form the habit
of being in front of a prospect before 9
a.m.
and ask everybody they talked to to
purchase $100,000 worth of insurance I
said you don’t have to sell them just
give them the opportunity to say no do
you know the sales in that company went
up by hundreds of millions of dollars
Ida rewire a retired VP tell me he
thought it was a billion just change in
two habits what habit you want to change
I’m forever checking out habits I’ve got
I’m in the habit right now of changing
my diet and you know something I’ve been
doing it for going on three weeks it’s
getting easier but it’s still not that
easy it’s not like the reach over and
eat some of that when nobody’s lucky
doesn’t work doesn’t work I’m looking
what habit are you gonna form and you
shouldn’t drive for more than two at
once it’ll become too big and too heavy
and you won’t for many make up your mind
you’re gonna do it every day every day
every day until you don’t have to think
about it and then you’ll automatically
do it I guarantee you this idea will
change your life think about it all day
because that is definitely an idea that
people fail to achieve their goals 99.9%
of time you ask him why they’ll tell you
it’s because of a lack of resources
that’s what all these things are I
didn’t have the support right I didn’t
have the money we didn’t have the time
we didn’t have this we know that there’s
a resource that people believe is
missing and that resource belief
structure then keeps people from ever
being able to really lead because what
leaders do is they find a way to
maximize whatever resources they have as
little as they may be and they don’t
believe in limited resources I’ll give
an example take a business example start
with in 1974 I gained Ian’s farm Walton
had built his little company up he
cabled an idea started with $20,000 and
I think 1962 if I remember right but by
1974 within 12 years he had 78 stores
and you know I did it in the middle of
the night he drive across border and
he’d go and study other people’s stores
he buy everything the cheapest he could
in the middle tonight he’d go to the
people’s stores whatever was working he
figured out success leaves Clues he came
back and did in his store whatever was
working in any store in any competitor
anywhere he could do it he did it
so he forgot to maximize the little
resources he had his twenty thousand
build 78 stores and if you read any of
the people following him the company’s
gone public in that year they were all
saying this is it he’s maximized his
resources I mean only have so much money
there’s only so many cities that are
gonna appeal to this discounting
mentality right this is it this is all
he can do and the word of Wall Street
was self now what’s interesting is at
that time you look at Sears and Kmart
and they were gargantuan companies
weren’t that 20 30 40 50 two times a
hundred times his size or more probably
and at that time they were the leaders
and they knew what’s gonna happen but
two things change yes or no did he
suddenly get mass amounts of capital no
here’s what they didn’t understand Sam
Walton now or the Walton organization
Walmart is the most successful retailing
operation on earth and when you talk
about Bill Gates being the richest man
in the world that’s only true because
Sam’s fortune is divided up
a bunch of different family members you
put them together they dwarf Bill Gates
Sam Walton did this how did he do it
what people underestimated is that this
guy could go to 4,400 stores do 250
billion
where’s Kmart today and they’ve been
shrinking all they’ve been shrinking and
he’s the dominant force on earth here’s
the rethink he understood resources are
interesting but the ultimate resources
are the feelings of emotion that make
you resourceful think of it this way
resourcefulness is the ultimate resource
what do I mean what are the emotions
that make all this possible what’s the
fuel that takes an idea from being in
your head well you wouldn’t you’ll
actually know what to do how many got an
idea for example was a great idea you’re
excited about it and then you didn’t do
anything one day there you saw it on the
Shelf you saw it somewhere someone stole
your idea how many say the only never
seen you and that person was not that
they had more resources they were more
resourceful the ideal situation for a
man a woman to die is to have family
members praying with them as they cross
over but I know that imagine if you will
being on your deathbed and standing
around your bed the ghosts of the dreams
the ideas the abilities and the talents
given to you by life but you for
whatever reason you never acted on those
ideas you never pursue those dreams you
never use those gifts and there they are
standing around your bed looking at you
with large angry eyes saying we came to
you and only you could have given us
life and now we must die with you
forever
when Jim spoke Jim said what the incomes
for you let it find you conquering a new
Jim taught us that things may happen to
you in things may happen around you but
the only things that really count are the things that happen in you