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10 Smartest Lessons About LIFE, MONEY, and CAREERS from Graduation Speeches | #BelieveLife


fail big
that’s right fail big you only live once
so do what you feel passionate about
passionate about ideas don’t come out
fully formed they only become clear as
you work on them you just have to get
started and no matter what path you
choose I want you to make sure it’s you
what’s that believe nation it’s Evan my
one word is believe and I believe in you
I believe you have Michael Jordan level
talent at something and I want you to
find it embrace it and use it to make a
difference now I started to believe life
series two once a week tackle topics
that are outside just a hardcore world
of business to help you live your best
belief life today we’re gonna learn the
ten smartest lessons for life money and
careers also if you want to know what
Oprah Winfrey Mark Zuckerberg and Steve
Jobs have to say about building
confidence check out my to 54 confident
series where every day for the next 254
days I will send you in the morning
a free 30 second to 5 minute video to
help you build unstoppable confidence
the link is in the description below
the fundamental key to success is what
you believe is true for yourself not
what you want not what you desire
is what do you believe in a world that’s
changing so quickly the biggest risk you
can take is not taking any risk and I
really think that that’s true right a
lot of people I think think that you
know whenever it comes to whatever you
get yourself into a position where you
have to make some some big shift in
direction or do something you know there
are always people are going to point to
the downside risks of that decision 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 you
pure perseverance
[Music]
okay let’s kick it off with rule number
one fail big with Denzel Washington I
was flunking out of college at a 1.7
grade point average I hope none of you
can relate at a 1.7 grade point average
I was sitting in my mother’s beauty shop
they still call a beauty shop now what
they call it me yeah I’ll sit in the
beauty parlor I was sitting in my
mother’s beauty parlor and I’m looking
in the mirror and I see behind me this
woman under the dryer and every time she
looked up she every time I looked up she
was looking at me just look at me in the
eye I don’t know who she was and I said
you know she said somebody give me a pen
give me a pen so I have a prophecy March
27 1975 she said boy you were gonna
travel the world and speak to millions
of people now mind you I flunked out of
college I’m thinking about joining the
army I didn’t know what I was gonna do
and she’s telling me I’m gonna travel
the world and speak to millions of
people well I have travel the world
and I have spoke to millions of people
but that’s not the most important thing
the success that I had the most
important thing is that what she taught
me and what she told me that day has
stayed with me since I’ve been protected
I’ve been directed I’ve been corrected
fail big
that’s right fail big you only live once
so do what you feel passionate about
passionate about take chances
professionally don’t be afraid to fail
as a no like you test was nine dots and
you had to draw five lines with a pencil
within these nine dots without lifting
the pencil the only way to do it was to
go outside the box so don’t be afraid to
go outside the box don’t be afraid to
think outside the box don’t be afraid to
fail big to dream big but remember
dreams without goals adjust dreams and
they ultimately fuel disappointment so
have dreams but have goals life goals
yearly goal
monthly goals daily goal I try to give
myself a bowl every day and understand
that to achieve these goals
you must apply discipline
[Music]
consistency you have to work at it
every day you have to plan every day
you’ve heard the saying we don’t plan to
fail we fail to plan hard work works
rule number two find a way to serve with
Oprah Winfrey number two you must find a
way to serve Martin Luther King said
that not everybody can be famous but
everybody can be great because greatness
is determined by service now we live in
a world where everybody wants to be
famous and where we admire people for
just being famous we think being known
brings us value the truth is all of that
will fade in time in three years you
won’t be able to name the Housewives a
banana the real truth is that service
and significance service and the
significance that you bring to your
service is that which is lasting so to
be able to whatever your occupation or
job or talent or gift is our honorees
today getting Doctorate degrees
– apparently opposite feels HIV and AIDS
and the spoken word but what they have
in common is service using the spoken
word in service to community in the
world using your knowledge and
information about HIV and AIDS and
medicine in service to the world and if
you look at all the most successful
people in the world whether they know it
or not they have that paradigm of
service everybody’s talking about Mark
Zuckerberg
I appeal service jay-z rapid service
through the word to people through song
for many years I was really just happy
to be on TV and people would stop and
say oh you on TV yeah I’m on TV I like
being on TV it’s a nice job and it was
about the time that I received my
honorary Doctorate from Spelman around
1993 so I don’t know if that had
something to do with it I thought of
myself as dr. Winfrey then I went back
and I took the long look at what it was
I was doing on on TV and made a decision
that I was no longer going to just be on
TV but I was going to use TV as a
platform as a force for good and not be
used by TV and I will tell you my
decision to make that significant change
in the way I operated on television
using television as a service changed my
career exponentially serviced through
medicine service through art using
whatever it is you produce your product
as a way of giving back to the world
when you shift the paradigm of whatever
it is you choose to do to service and
you bring significance to that success
will I promise you follow you service
and significance equals success that’s
number two rule number three just start
with Mark Zuckerberg ideas don’t come
out fully formed they only become clear
as you work on them you just have to get
started if I had to know everything
about connecting people before I got
started I never would have built
Facebook
movies and pop culture just get this all
wrong the idea of a single Eureka moment
is a dangerous lie it makes us feel
inadequate because we feel like we
haven’t had ours yet and it prevents
people with seeds of good ideas from
ever getting started in the first place
rule number four don’t let fear hold you
back with Jim Carrey now fear is going
to be a player in your life but you get
to decide how much you can spend your
whole life imagining ghosts worrying
about the pathway to the future but all
there will ever be is what’s happening
here in the decisions we make in this
moment which are based in either love or
fear so many of us choose our path out
of fear disguised as practicality what
we really want seems impossibly out of
reach and ridiculous to expect so we
never dare to ask the universe for it
I’m saying I’m the proof that you can
ask the universe for it my father could
have been a great comedian but he didn’t
believe that that was possible for him
and so he made a conservative choice
instead he got a safe job as an
accountant and when I was 12 years old
he was let go from that safe job and our
family had to do whatever we could to
survive I learned many great lessons
from my father not the least of which
was that you can fail at what you don’t
want so you might as well take a chance
on doing what you love rule number five
fail better with Peter Dinklage when I
was 29 I told myself the next acting job
I get no matter what it pays I will from
now on for better or worse be a working
actor so I quit my position at the
professional examination services my
friends really weren’t happy about that
because he was so easy to find me when I
worked there work was there was the only
place I had the Internet this was at the
beginning of the Internet
and now I didn’t have either the
internet or a cellphone for a job but
something good happened I got a
low-paying theater job in a play called
imperfect love which led to a film
called 13 moons with the same writer
which led to other roles which led to
other roles and I’ve worked as an actor
ever since I didn’t know that would
happen at 29 walking away from data
processing I was terrified 10 years in a
place without heat 6 years at a job I
felt stuck in maybe I was afraid of
change are you raised the rest of your
life to meet you don’t search for
defining moments because they will never
come the world might say you are not
allowed to yet I waited a long time out
in the world before I gave myself
permission to fail please don’t even
bother asking don’t bother telling the
what did Beckett say ever tried ever
failed
no matter try again fail again fail
better rule number 6 choose your own
path with Michelle Obama I want you all
to stay true to the most real most
sincere most authentic parts of
yourselves I want you to ask those basic
questions who do you want to be what
inspires you how do you want to give
back and then I want you to take a deep
breath and trust yourselves to chart
your own course and make your mark on
the world maybe it feels like you’re
supposed to go to law school but what
you really want to do is teach little
kids maybe your parents are expecting
you to come back home after you graduate
but you’re feeling a pull to travel the
world I want you to listen to those
thoughts I want you to act with both
your mind but also your heart and no
matter what path you choose I want you
to make sure it’s you choosing it and
not someone else rule number seven don’t
have any regrets with Will Ferrell so
starting in the fall of 1991 for the
next three and a half years I was taking
classes and performing in various shows
at The Groundlings and around Los
Angeles I was even trying my hand at
that stand-up comedy not great standup
mind you but enough material to get
myself up in front of strangers my
stand-up act was based mostly on
material derived from watching old
episodes of Star Trek my opening joke
was to sing the opening theme to Star
thank you not even funny just weird but
I didn’t care I was just trying to throw
as many darts at the dartboard hoping
that one would eventually stay now don’t
get me wrong I was
I wasn’t extremely confident that I
would succeed during this time period
and after moving back to LA there were
many a night where in my LA apartment I
would sit down to a meal of spaghetti
topped with mustard with only 20 dollars
in my checking account and I would think
to myself oh well I can always be a
substitute school teacher and yes I was
afraid you’re never not afraid I’m still
afraid I was afraid to write this speech
and now I’m I’m just realizing how many
people are watching me right now and
it’s scary
and you please look away while I deliver
the rest of the speech but my fear of
failure never approached in magnitude my
fear of what if what if I never tried at
all
rule number 8 follow your passion with
Robert De Niro thank you for inviting me
to celebrate with you today Tisch
graduates you made it
[Applause]
think about that the graduates from the
College of Nursing they all have jobs
the graduates from the College of
Dentistry fully employed the Leonard and
Stern School of Business graduates
they’re covered the School of Medicine
graduates each one will get a job the
proud graduates of the NY School of Law
they’re covered and if they’re not who
cares they’re lawyers the English majors
they’ll be home writing their novels
teachers they’re all be working jobs
lousy pay yeah but still working the
graduates in accounting
they all have jobs where does that leave
you envious of those accountants I doubt
it
they had a choice maybe they were
passionate about accounting but I think
it’s more likely that they used reason
and logic and common sense to reach for
a career that could give them the
expectation of success and stability
reason logic common sense at the Tisch
School of Arts are you kidding me but
you didn’t have that choice did you you
discovered a talent developed an
ambition and recognized your passion
when you feel that you can’t fight it
you just go with it when it comes to the
arts passion should always trump common
sense you aren’t just following dreams
you’re reaching for your destiny you’re
a dancer
a singer a choreographer and musician a
filmmaker a writer a photographer a
director a producer and actor an artist
yeah yeah whoo libera 9 live your life
with integrity with Ellen DeGeneres when
I was younger I thought success was
something different I thought when I
grow up I want to be famous I want to be
a star I want to be in movies when I
grow up I want to see the world drive
nice cars I want to have groupies
to quote the Pussycat Dolls how many
people thought it was boobies by the way
it’s not it’s groupies but my idea
success is different today and as you
grow you’ll realize definition of
success changes for many of you today’s
success is being able to hold down 20
shots of tequila for me the most
important thing in your life is to live
your life with integrity and not to give
in to peer pressure to try to be
something that you’re not to live your
life as an honest and compassionate
person to contribute in some way and
rule number 10 the last time before a
very special bonus clip is stay hungry
stay foolish with Steve Jobs when I was
young there was an amazing publication
called the Whole Earth Catalog which was
one of the Bible’s of my generation it
was created by a fellow named Stuart
brand not far from here in Menlo Park
and he brought it to life with his
poetic touch this was in the late 60s
before personal computers and desktop
publishing so it was all made with
typewriters scissors and Polaroid
cameras it was sort of like Google and
paperback form 35 years before Google
came along it was idealistic overflowing
with neat tools and great notions Stuart
and his team put out several issues of
the Whole Earth Catalog and then when it
had run its course they put out a final
issue
it was the mid-1970s and I was your age
on the back cover of their final issue
was a photograph of an early morning
country road the kind you might find
yourself hitchhiking on if you were so
adventurous beneath it were the words
stay hungry stay foolish
it was their farewell message as they
signed off stay hungry stay foolish and
I have always wished that for myself and
now as you graduate to begin anew I wish
that for you stay hungry stay foolish
now I’ve got a really special bonus clip
with Natalie Portman on how to develop
your own self that I think you’re really
gonna enjoy but before that I want to
move from making sure that we are just
watching the video to actually taking
action so I’ve got my three whole more
questions for you to think about think
about them yourself talk them up with a
friend or leave them in the comments
below here we go number one what’s
something you can do today to serve
others better number two what is one
thing you’ve been holding off on that
you will regret if you don’t take action
on and number three how can you take
that big idea of yours and find a small
way to get started to day thank you guys
so much for watching I believe in you I
hope we continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is much love
I’ll see you soon and enjoy the bonus
by the time I got to making Black Swan
the experience was entirely my own I
felt immune to the worst things anyone
could say or write about me unto whether
an audience felt like going to see my
movie or not it was instructive for me
to see that ballet dancers for ballet
dancers once your technique gets to a
certain level the only thing that
separates you from others is your quirks
or even flaws one ballerina was famous
for how she turned slightly off balance
you can never be the best technically
someone will always have a higher jump
or a more beautiful line the only thing
you can be the best at is developing
your own self altruistic world
domination
honey Empire right I’m grateful I
understand why I’m here I think because
I am so open I wanted to think I’m
saying it’s a bloody brief life all of
you have the potential for enormous
success if you want to know what gary
vee DJ khalid oprah and others know
about empire building that most people
miss check out the link in the description for a free bonus video
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