biggest disability that we have as human
beings is unbelief
everything starts with a vision and a
man without vision dies how are you
going to make it I don’t know but I will
see you will when you put yourself in
that kind of situation I reminded of two
frogs that that were huffing down the
road and they fell into a bottle of milk
and one was hopping up and down for a
while and he drowned he just gave up but
his other frog just kept on kicking he
wouldn’t give up he just kept on kicking
and pretty soon he turned that milk into
butter and he woke up some saying when
life catches you about a neck in the
blind slap you’ll laugh but knock you
down I said just keep on kicking you
know and you can kick on out of those
circumstances whatever they are not be
intimidated by them repeat after me
please I’m going to keep on kicking I’m
keep check somebody’s hand on your
I think I feel feel fear quite strongly
so it’s not as though I just have the
absence of fear I’ve I feel it quite
strongly but there were times when
something is important enough
you’ve leave it enough that you do you
do it in spite of the fear people
shouldn’t think III should if you should
think well I feel fear about this and
therefore I shouldn’t do it it’s normal
to be to feel fear like you’d have to
definitely something mentally wrong you
shouldn’t feel fear
so you just feel it and let the
importance of it drive you to do it
anyway yeah you know actually we’re
something that can be helpful as
fatalism and some degree if you just
think it’s just accept the probabilities
then that diminishes fear so we’re
starting SpaceX I thought the odds of
success were less than 10% and I just
accepted that actually probably I would
just lose lose everything but that maybe
would make some progress if we could
just move the ball forward even if we
died maybe some other company could pick
up the baton and move keep moving it
forward so that we’re still do some good
yeah same with Tesla I thought your odds
of a car company succeeding were
extremely low the impulse to dream has
been slowly beaten out of me through the
experience of life
there are some times where you’re gonna
wish that you could rewind and and do
things all over again there are times
where you just wish you could forget
memories and you try to drown those
memories in alcohol or different
pleasures and maybe get distracted by
the goals and ambitions of your life and
trying to put the past behind and move
forward we’re all human beings please
don’t get me wrong I don’t wake up every
have ups and downs you see my foot ups
and downs ups and downs the first thing
I want you to take away from today is
this you will have good days and you’ll
have bad days but you will always learn
something more or something new and you
will learn more overall on bad days than
good days you will learn more about
yourself you’ll learn more about
relationships you’ll learn about life
and principles and you will build your
character if you’re a person who wants
to let’s say improve on your character
of patience let’s say don’t complain
when you’re waiting in a line you ain’t
going to grow in patience until you’re
put in a place to wait it’s like you go
into a gym and you know you’re walking
through the front doors and you know you
tell your wife or your husband I’m going
to the gym you go into the gym and you
come in three feet and you do a u-turn
and you’re right out I went to the gym
ain’t gonna do nothing you gotta go with
it what are you gonna do you’re going to
pick up the weights and you exercise the
muscles that you want to build and stand
before you without arms and legs but a
very strong man because of the bad days
in my life you know how it is if you
didn’t go what you’ve gone through you
wouldn’t be who you are today and most
people ladies and gentlemen have stopped
living their dreams because of the
lessons they’ve learned from life or
things they’ve picked up because we’ve
only been born with two fears the fear
of a loud sound of the fear falling and
all the other fears of fears we learn
fears we pick up whatever you’re scared
of
no life the value you brought to the
planet far more envoy what have you
plate up
you’re stronger so as we begin to look
toward the future and look at what will
it take for us to break through those
fears one acknowledging the fear knowing
it’s all right
some fear is healthy beginning to know
that your dreams your passions your
drive to achieve whatever it is you want
as it has more power and meaning it will
move you past your fears as you begin to
feel that you deserve it your passion
and goal is so strong the fears won’t
matter you begin to trust yourself and
put yourself in the situation where you
have to make it happen you will make it
happen ladies and gentlemen I don’t
believe this I know this from my own
life experience I know that you’ve got
greatness within you I know that you
have unlimited potential in you I know
that you have something to give to the
universe that was not here before you
showed up somebody said that life is
God’s gift to us and how we live our
lives is our gift to God what kind of
gift
are you giving and what kind of gift
could you give it fear wasn’t an issue
the only way to deal with fear that I
found in my life is a couple ways one of
those ways is to turn it on itself and
ask yourself what am i afraid of it I’m
free of that I got to be more afraid of
what I’m gonna miss out on missing out
on my mission this thing out who I’m
supposed to be missing in other words if
you’re not get get rid of fear than use
fair use fear or it uses you it’s that
simple so you gotta say okay what’s the
price if I just stay doing this what’s
the price what do I need to really even
get scared if I learn all this I don’t
fall through that’s something to be
scared about
and then that fear will get you over
your fear it’ll push you through turn
fear in itself second way you can do it
is use what you’ve probably heard me say
because I’ve used this in was 17 is my
little rocking-chair test right I’m
gonna I’m gonna sit myself in my rocking
chair I’m I’m 85 years old looking back
on my life and I say I didn’t do this
or I did you can
never perfect what we do there’s no way
I’ve never met anyone who goes that’s
perfection I mean to an audience outside
of your work people can think that
that’s the only way they’d ever want to
see that part played or that moment done
whatever but as an actor and this isn’t
mock humility I think it’s just it just
goes for all art forms really the whole
point is perfection is unachievable so
it’s that constant pursuit of the
unobtainable which is kind of magic
really you know and and and should keep
us kind of motivated to try better you
know it’s the bakit thing you know fail
again fail better
oh is it different today and doing your
show like night than it was 10 years ago
are you more instinctive are you more do
you think less about it and just do it
muscle memory
this used to it like the office when you
crunch down your and you’re constantly
trying to learn you’re you’re constantly
you’re still thinking but your ratio of
thinking to acting is very different you
know you’re at the beginning I was
thinking about it this much yeah you
know in my cognitive brain and then
there was this much just whatever a thin
read of talent you have is there and
then you’re thinking about the rest and
then over the years I think you know
they always say the reptile brain you
the reptile portion of your brain is
where you you know respiration heartbeat
right that’s the stuff that even if
you’re knocked unconscious it’s still
working
I really believe a lot of my talk show
or comedy instincts are now in my
reptile brain that you could knock me
out and my heart would still beat I’d
still breathe and I’d still be asking
Lindsay Lohan you know some stupid
question you have become some way as you
part of your debt has become part of
your DNA yeah I mean I think a lot of it
is you have to have some ability but
then it’s just how much will I really do
think there’s just think people
underestimate it doesn’t sound sexy
it doesn’t sound cool how much do I want
it work ethic you know and just how
badly do you want it and there have been
you know many times in the you know
throughout the years of doing my show
where I’ve thought you could shoot me in
the chest before I walk out there and
I’ll still walk out there and do that
show and then I’ll come backstage and
die but we’re doing that show
the best advice that I could give you on
success is to know that success is
merely the hangover of failure and that
failure is an essential ingredient in
creating a learning atmosphere for you
so that you can accrue those learnings
so small incremental steps of failure
and collect enough learning so that you
can arrive at success right I think
we’re taught in the system that failure
is something that you should be ashamed
of failure is for the dumb kids because
you get an F you get a D right you’re
not competent you didn’t comply you
didn’t create the evidence of your
worthiness but I could tell you as
someone who’s successful right both
financially and from a wealth creation
point of view but more importantly a
wealth that matters that success doesn’t
look like an a-plus it doesn’t look like
a hundred and ten and extra credit and
failure isn’t as simple as an F and it’s
not always always a failure could be
very gray right and being able discern
what you might arrive at an event or in
your life where you think that wow I’ve
succeeded and you’re getting the
affirmation from all these outside
forces but if it’s not aligned
authentically with to whom which you are
it could very much feel like failure
repair in advance you know the old
saying proper prior preparation saves
poor performance or prevents poor
performance the six PS and so prepare
your work list for the following day the
evening or the night before the last
thing you do at the end of the day is
you lay out the day that’s coming the
best exercise is for you to plan your
entire next day as the last thing you do
before coming home from work when you
plan your day the night before your
subconscious mind then goes to work on
your plan
and goals while you’re asleep very often
you’ll wake up in the morning with ideas
and insights that apply to the work of
the day now a major benefit of preparing
your daily list the night before is that
this exercise lets you sleep more
soundly a major reason for insomnia is
people lying awake trying not to forget
to remember everything that they have to
do the following day but once you’ve
written down everything that you have to
do on the list it clears your mind and
enables you to sleep deeply this will
help you increase your productivity
throughout the whole next day of work
because you’ll be more relaxed and more
refreshed performing under pressure
whether it’s me or anybody else is the
same you know I have the same pressures
as anyone else there’s time there’s
performance there’s financial I mean
there you know there’s deadlines my
pressures are not unique the situations
may be different or you know but but
everybody has the same kinds of
pressures but what I found or what I
find fascinating is the interpretation
of the stimuli if let me let me explain
so I was watching the Olympics this last
Summer Olympics and I was amazed at how
bad the questions were that the
reporters would ask all the athletes and
almost always they asked the same
question whether they were about to
compete or after they competed were you
nervous right and to a tee all the
athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what it what happens when you’re nervous
right your heart rate starts to go
you’re you know you sort of get a little
tense you get a little sweaty
right you have expectation of what’s
coming and we interpreted that is I’m
nervous
now what’s the interpretation of excited
your heart rate starts to go you become
you’re anticipating what’s coming right
you get a little sort of like tense it’s
all the same thing it’s the same stimuli
except these athletes these these
Olympic quality athletes have learned to
interpret the stimuli that the rest of
us would say is nervous as excited they
all said the same thing no I’m not
nervous I’m excited and so I’ve actually
practiced it just to tell myself when I
start to get nervous that this is
you know and so where when you used to
be speaking for the large audience and
somebody’d say how do you feel it’s a
little nervous now and somebody says how
do you feel like really excited actually
and it it came from just sort of telling
myself no no this is excitement and it
becomes a little bit automatic later on
but it’s kind of a remarkable thing to
deal with pressure by interpreting what
your body is experiencing as excitement
rather than nerves and it’s really kind
of effective it makes you want to rush
for is rather than pull back and yet
it’s the same experience I told you all
of my critics I told you all that I was
the greatest of all time gonna be Sunday
listen I told you today I’m still the
greatest of all time never again defeat
me never again say that I’m gonna be
defeated never again that made me then
the dog until I’m about 50 years old
then you might get me but I didn’t dance
I didn’t dance for a reason I wanted to
make him lose all his power I kept
telling he had no punch he couldn’t hit
he’s swinging like a sissy he’s missing
let me see you box I hadn’t started
dancing yet you can’t say my legs are
going you can tell was tired because
what happened I didn’t dance from the
SAC around on I stayed on the ropes when
I stay on the ropes you think I’m doing
bad but I want to all boxes to put this
on the page about to stand on officers
the beautiful thing with a heavyweight
when you make him shoot his best shots
and you know he’s not hitting here I’m
gonna gave drugs to him with two rounds
a steady puncher because after that he
how many of you saw things I can’t read
you have found out a way it’s not waste
see God gives us a lot of things in life
but it’s a couple things he don’t give
us and time some he does know
that’s the one thing you have to put
your watch I was with my wife but we
don’t clock up with the mic up with your
phone I look at my so the question is
how much time – always I think what I’m
trying to make money years ago I gave up
clothes years ago 14 years by step in
anything that doesn’t but friend where
I’m trying to go there’s business
citizen improvements we’re all trying to
become leaders you’re gonna get rid of
so these conversations hurricane and
happy day happy boarding without those
what promises you’ve gotta make to
reason thought process pregnancies
lifestyle
it’s what you do given all the
opportunities that are there in in the
world to try and figure out the thing
that actually makes you want to get up
in the morning the thing that you
actually love I just I just know that if
I weren’t lucky enough to have have been
given the opportunity to write a movie
or a show or direct anything
appreciating I would still go home from
whatever that day job is and I would try
to do it because I loved it not because
I really want to make a certain amount
of money it’s great to be comfortable it
can be dangerous to be comfortable but
it’s great to be comfortable but I I
just feel like if you can figure out the
thing that makes you tick find that
thing and the thing I would say I guess
is a lot of young people I find are
under such pressure there’s a kind of
sense of it’s all or nothing which i
think is really unfair meaning I don’t
know if it’s the media and the way
things are presented or if it’s because
there’s so much success that is that is
celebrated in society but there is a
sense I’ve heard enough that I feel like
I haven’t thought of this until now that
it is a kind of theme that that young
people feel like if they don’t know what
they’re born to do that there’s somehow
broken and I think that it needs to be
looked at differently which is that it
means if you don’t know that thing it
means that every door is there’s the
possibility that that’s a beautiful
thing so I just feel like I would say
don’t stress yourself out you know the
only reason I could deal with the
pressure on Star Wars is because I loved
making that movie and and if it if it
didn’t work of course I would have been
crushed but it I wasn’t doing it because
it was a job and if you can find that
thing and deal with the pressure of
maybe not making the amount of money
that you would like to yet or not
getting to the company you’d like to get
or not having success with your startup
yet these are all things that I think
you can swallow if the thing you’re
doing speaks to you I have stage fright
you know and I never confronted the risk
or when I did come from I mean Belgium
you know 2000 year 2000
that was you have no idea what it took
them to get me to do it no no no no I
had a thousand I had a thousand excuses
why not to turn there finally I did it
and it was exquisitely horrifying that’s
the only way I can flirt complex yes it
was very very very complex and what was
really good was right in the beginning
within like two seconds
I played just the worst wrong note and I
could either stop and cry or I could
laugh all right and it didn’t kill me
and nobody else out there
nobody was throwing anything you know it
was fine thank you to the people of
Ghent for not killing me
and giving me the courage and you know
and the the absurdity you know you have
to be able to laugh at yourself and you
have to learn how to laugh at yourself
I’m a workaholic and it’s like being an
alcoholic I just can’t give it up I’ve
been unwell for two weeks and I feel
unwell you know so I can go to work
because I can’t go to work I get was if
I sit in one place I’m stressed
the reason I’m not fidgeting too much is
because I’m unwell otherwise I hate
sitting in one place i some work has to
be given to me i widowed my wife and my
children keep telling me you know you
work 20 years round-the-clock why are
you doing this I don’t think I need the
money I don’t think I am greedy for more
Fame I’m doing okay I can do one film in
two years and be happy with it but I’m
just not happy I tell everyone if I’m
not working I’m depressed so I don’t
know if it’s a curse or a blessing maybe
at the end of it all when we die God
will say did you work I say yes a lot oh
damn you go to hell because I didn’t
want anyone to work or it would be oh
you worked that’s really nice because I
wanted everyone to work so I don’t know
one of them is going to be like but I
just keep working I think I have this
fear that you have very few days in life
and you need to climb it up with lot of
things
you need to fill it fill it with so many
things in it that you don’t have space
for life it should be like that I when
I’m not working I get lonely I get
depressed I get sad I don’t drink I’m
not a philosopher I’m not a player that
I like loneliness I hate being alone and
I hate being with people at times
I’m unsocial I’m very odd with people so
what happens is I have replaced people
with work in my life because when I’m
working I’m a lot of people and there
are people I can interact with because
somewhere there is a wall that I’m not
interacting with them socially I’m
interacting them through this common you
know goal that is the work so I can
discuss with her or discuss with him and
dear friends for that moment many of my
filmmaking colleagues complained that
after the film is over you don’t talk to
us I can’t explain to them I don’t have
anything else to say I love you I miss
you but i miss you through the work I
don’t I mean I’m I’m very fond of a lot
of people a lot of people I love like
family and I I can’t pick up the phone
and talk with them I can’t socialize
with them I can’t sit and chat with them
but when we were working I I can just be
with them so I don’t know work is sort
of I have replaced loneliness depression
and people good work if you say I’m a
fraud they’ll figure me out I’ll never
be able to do it again that’s an artist
start processes you’re an artist you’re
thinking like that you’re on the right
track because they all feel that so you
there’s always some success that can
come out even out of your failures in
fact probably your biggest successes
will come directly from your failures
you should almost take that Winston
Churchill’s quote is my favorite success
is moving from one failure to the next
with great enthusiasm you should be very
enthusiastic about your failures because
you’re gonna learn something you’re
gonna go that way where everyone is
going that way and you’re gonna stumble
but you’re also gonna stumble upon
something that no one ever thought of so
you know you just keep going and keep
going and you’re gonna fail and then
rise up and fail again and that’s the
journey up and down man
working will night and doing weird
antisocial days at weekends that you’ll
forget about your social life
that-that-that’s a sort of sacrifice to
commitment that’s nothing quite the
level of Julian sacrifices but you don’t
get to see your family you don’t get to
see your friends you are removed from
the reality of your life to pursue a
given goal so there is a kind of
comparison
I guess you you sacrifice a part of
yourself because you’re exposing either
either end of the spectrum of acting
whether it’s just variations of who you
are or whether it’s completely to
summoning into a different character in
persona you’ve got your equally valid in
my opinion I don’t think there’s really
distinction should rather than people
who are good or bad at it but I think
then you do have to give part of
yourself no matter what you’re doing and
that you don’t lose you something’s
gained actually by doing that but you
have to suppress and control certain
instincts that you have in order to
actually be true to a character that may
not be the same as you very be driven by
the same things as you talk to so many
smart fantastic ambitious idealistic
hard-working kids and they’re right out
of college they’re in their entry-level
jobs and I’ll ask them how is it going
and they’ll say I think I’m gonna quit
and I’m like why they say to me I’m not
making an impact I’m like you know
they treat the sense of fulfillment or
even love like it’s a scavenger hunt
like it’s something you look for my
millennial friends they’ve gone through
so many jobs they’re either getting
fired I mean it was mutual or they’re
quitting because they’re not making an
impact or they’re not finding the thing
they’re looking for they’re not feeling
fulfilled as if it’s a scavenger hunt
love a job you find joy from is not
something you discover it’s not like I
found love here it is I found a job I
love that’s not how it works both of
those things require hard work you are
in love because you work very hard every
single day of your life to stay in love
you find a job that brings you ultimate
joy because you work hard every single
day to serve those around you and you
maintain that joy it’s not a discovery
but the problem is the sense of
impatience it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain this large a
movable object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
our journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and on to the
next some of the definitions of options
decisions self-determination choice
preference desire I want to share
something with you that’s relative to
critical options because we all have
them in our lives and I want to ask you
a question what is the focus of your
life what is the focus of your life in
life you have a critical option you can
take a stand in your life or you can
follow the crowd see people who follow
the crowd their lives are not
they’re not immersed in anything people
who take a stand they’re living a life
that has some power a life of
achievement a life that has some meaning
people that taking a stand in life they
are consciously involved in a process to
design a life of substance people who
are following the crowd these are people
that they’re just doing what everybody
else is doing so that’s a crowded road
over there they’re following the
followers I want to talk to you about
taking a stand with your life and what
are some of the things we can do that
will enable us to give our lives up in a
way that has some purpose and meaning
that can be real for us that can give us
a sense of fulfillment of joy and
happiness and peace of mind see most
people are bored with life most people
feel that life isn’t worth the hassle
the life is just wearing me out it’s
boring it’s monotonous I have nothing to
look forward to there we go get another
Monday morning
TGIF they thank God it’s Friday how are
we going oh boy you see what the man
meant but many people died aged 25 and
don’t get buried until there are 65
doing the same thing the same way every
day looking at these faces just walk
I mean you got to be aware of these
faces they affect you you know try to
stay around Pleasant faces and if you
have an unpleasant face try and smile
more it’s good for your health
and there’s another dividend you look
better too so looking for a way in which
we can begin to give our lives some
special power number one commit yourself
to giving your best at all times now
that’s not easy see most people and
particularly those who are working in
corporations they’re finding now they’ve
got to change their behavior we’re now
involved in a world economy we will
never do business the way in which we
have done business in the past we will
never be able to in the American
workplace do just enough to get by
now the standards have been raised
quality and productivity has been
increased because of the competition and
so now average performance will not be
enough this is a new day competition is
fierce so people who just have been in
locked into a behavior pattern are
working just hard enough to keep from
getting fired they’re being laid off I’m
forced into early retirement it’s a new
game now so now more than ever it’s
about increased productivity now more
than ever it’s about superior quality
service now more than ever it’s about
creating a positive atmosphere in the
workplace and people that have that
competitive age people that are hungry
to make it so you got to be hungry now
you can’t just casually walk around well
I’ll get to it later on oh no no this
this is a new day right now committing
yourself to give your best at all times
regardless of the competition to do
otherwise all the influences of negative
people that will tell you hey look here
don’t push yourself too much now’s the
time to push yourself to always get in
the habit of giving the best that you
have to share you really can’t plan a
fight when you mean the man you never
met
for right you just have to get your
tools ready here’s a car stops on the
highway they called the triple-a or
whatever and said my car’s broke down
what is it lady she don’t know us but
well the man comes with all the tools
and he come equipped to handle whatever
the problem is I astronaut goes into
space and he pretends that something
happens to just ship before he take off
he gets out and he works on it he’s not
looking for something happen but it
might happen so I didn’t I just had
everything ready now after the first
round being here with a top professional
a man so great had so many knockouts and
I’ve been defeated never even scratched
I didn’t know really how good he was so
I had to come in actually a little
nervous and with everything ready after
one round of deaths and I found out that
this would tide me out so I would have
to resort to ropes I figured that out
after the first round so I said I’m
gonna go to these ropes and I’m let this
man through everything he can’t let him
tire self out it might look like he’s
winning
if you don’t hurt man will stay here but
if he should be as great as they say he
is if he hits as hard as they say he hit
when he hits him breaks your arm he
knocked out Joe Frazier I couldn’t do it
knocked out Ken Norton he was a big bad
job before the fight you remember and
then you remember that don’t you
yeah they don’t say that never he was a
real bad catch of the day right don’t
forget that now after I found out he
didn’t have it
I stayed there but if he had had what I
thought he had had or what they said
here I’d have kept running hoping I
wouldn’t get tired you got a minute what
do you think about that I read a poem
one time I said I have only just a
minute only 60 seconds and it was forced
upon me I can’t refuse it I didn’t seek
and I didn’t choose it but it’s up to me
to use it I must suffer if I lose it
give a count if I abuse it it’s only a
tiny little minute but eternity is in it
well in any rate I thought I’m gonna put
this on a video and I just want to share
it with everybody just this one little
part out of the seminar I’m making
I want you to look at this Sam timer and
let this I want you to think about your
life the sand in the top of the glass
represents the future the sand and the
bottom of the glass represents the past
now Genoa we know what’s in the past and
young we can’t do anything about it
you know what the trick is you don’t
know how much sand is in the top of the
glass you may think you have a lot you
might only have a little bit then again
you may think you have a little and you
might have a lot when I was a little boy
I was raised by my grandmother and I
don’t know when I was little yeah after
she was probably sixty but as long as I
can remember
grandma would say and I won’t be
gun-deer I’ll soon be gone well you know
we loved her she was really an angel of
God but we thought she was never gonna
go she lived to be 94 for 30-some years
I said be gone she didn’t think she had
much time left she had 34 years left now
about the same time I had a buddy of
mine Bob Yates he was just 16 and bang
he run into the abutment of a Ridge and
his life was snuffed then if you had
asked him a half hour before how much
sand he had left he would have said at
least a half a century you didn’t ever
see the trick is we don’t know how much
sand we have left the future we don’t
know the past it’s gone now the only
thing you can deal with is what’s right
here right now and if you look the sand
is always moving now think of this you
see I was working on that and then I was
working on a graph I’ve got here at my
computer and I’m thinking of the time
somebody said to him you got a minute
well they don’t really want a minute you
know if you’re earning $50,000 a year a
minutes 42 cents a half hours $12.50 if
we take that ahead of it if you’re
earning $80,000 a year a minute 67 cents
half hours $20 during a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars a year got a
minute and then it cost a dollar
twenty-five a minute a half hours $37.50
so if you see if somebody said you want
to stop for a cup of coffee
well if you’re earning a quarter of a
million dollars a year a minute is two
dollars and eight cents half hours
$62.50 and then of course you’ve got the
coffee to pay for on top of that so if
you see the point is this this is all
we’ve got right here right now we don’t
know how much we have left in the future
but we do know what we’ve got now and I
have found the people that win are the
people who make up their mind they’re
not going to waste the minutes they’re
going to be productive they’re going to
make it happen every minute
beings is unbelief
everything starts with a vision and a
man without vision dies how are you
going to make it I don’t know but I will
see you will when you put yourself in
that kind of situation I reminded of two
frogs that that were huffing down the
road and they fell into a bottle of milk
and one was hopping up and down for a
while and he drowned he just gave up but
his other frog just kept on kicking he
wouldn’t give up he just kept on kicking
and pretty soon he turned that milk into
butter and he woke up some saying when
life catches you about a neck in the
blind slap you’ll laugh but knock you
down I said just keep on kicking you
know and you can kick on out of those
circumstances whatever they are not be
intimidated by them repeat after me
please I’m going to keep on kicking I’m
keep check somebody’s hand on your
I think I feel feel fear quite strongly
so it’s not as though I just have the
absence of fear I’ve I feel it quite
strongly but there were times when
something is important enough
you’ve leave it enough that you do you
do it in spite of the fear people
shouldn’t think III should if you should
think well I feel fear about this and
therefore I shouldn’t do it it’s normal
to be to feel fear like you’d have to
definitely something mentally wrong you
shouldn’t feel fear
so you just feel it and let the
importance of it drive you to do it
anyway yeah you know actually we’re
something that can be helpful as
fatalism and some degree if you just
think it’s just accept the probabilities
then that diminishes fear so we’re
starting SpaceX I thought the odds of
success were less than 10% and I just
accepted that actually probably I would
just lose lose everything but that maybe
would make some progress if we could
just move the ball forward even if we
died maybe some other company could pick
up the baton and move keep moving it
forward so that we’re still do some good
yeah same with Tesla I thought your odds
of a car company succeeding were
extremely low the impulse to dream has
been slowly beaten out of me through the
experience of life
there are some times where you’re gonna
wish that you could rewind and and do
things all over again there are times
where you just wish you could forget
memories and you try to drown those
memories in alcohol or different
pleasures and maybe get distracted by
the goals and ambitions of your life and
trying to put the past behind and move
forward we’re all human beings please
don’t get me wrong I don’t wake up every
have ups and downs you see my foot ups
and downs ups and downs the first thing
I want you to take away from today is
this you will have good days and you’ll
have bad days but you will always learn
something more or something new and you
will learn more overall on bad days than
good days you will learn more about
yourself you’ll learn more about
relationships you’ll learn about life
and principles and you will build your
character if you’re a person who wants
to let’s say improve on your character
of patience let’s say don’t complain
when you’re waiting in a line you ain’t
going to grow in patience until you’re
put in a place to wait it’s like you go
into a gym and you know you’re walking
through the front doors and you know you
tell your wife or your husband I’m going
to the gym you go into the gym and you
come in three feet and you do a u-turn
and you’re right out I went to the gym
ain’t gonna do nothing you gotta go with
it what are you gonna do you’re going to
pick up the weights and you exercise the
muscles that you want to build and stand
before you without arms and legs but a
very strong man because of the bad days
in my life you know how it is if you
didn’t go what you’ve gone through you
wouldn’t be who you are today and most
people ladies and gentlemen have stopped
living their dreams because of the
lessons they’ve learned from life or
things they’ve picked up because we’ve
only been born with two fears the fear
of a loud sound of the fear falling and
all the other fears of fears we learn
fears we pick up whatever you’re scared
of
no life the value you brought to the
planet far more envoy what have you
plate up
you’re stronger so as we begin to look
toward the future and look at what will
it take for us to break through those
fears one acknowledging the fear knowing
it’s all right
some fear is healthy beginning to know
that your dreams your passions your
drive to achieve whatever it is you want
as it has more power and meaning it will
move you past your fears as you begin to
feel that you deserve it your passion
and goal is so strong the fears won’t
matter you begin to trust yourself and
put yourself in the situation where you
have to make it happen you will make it
happen ladies and gentlemen I don’t
believe this I know this from my own
life experience I know that you’ve got
greatness within you I know that you
have unlimited potential in you I know
that you have something to give to the
universe that was not here before you
showed up somebody said that life is
God’s gift to us and how we live our
lives is our gift to God what kind of
gift
are you giving and what kind of gift
could you give it fear wasn’t an issue
the only way to deal with fear that I
found in my life is a couple ways one of
those ways is to turn it on itself and
ask yourself what am i afraid of it I’m
free of that I got to be more afraid of
what I’m gonna miss out on missing out
on my mission this thing out who I’m
supposed to be missing in other words if
you’re not get get rid of fear than use
fair use fear or it uses you it’s that
simple so you gotta say okay what’s the
price if I just stay doing this what’s
the price what do I need to really even
get scared if I learn all this I don’t
fall through that’s something to be
scared about
and then that fear will get you over
your fear it’ll push you through turn
fear in itself second way you can do it
is use what you’ve probably heard me say
because I’ve used this in was 17 is my
little rocking-chair test right I’m
gonna I’m gonna sit myself in my rocking
chair I’m I’m 85 years old looking back
on my life and I say I didn’t do this
or I did you can
never perfect what we do there’s no way
I’ve never met anyone who goes that’s
perfection I mean to an audience outside
of your work people can think that
that’s the only way they’d ever want to
see that part played or that moment done
whatever but as an actor and this isn’t
mock humility I think it’s just it just
goes for all art forms really the whole
point is perfection is unachievable so
it’s that constant pursuit of the
unobtainable which is kind of magic
really you know and and and should keep
us kind of motivated to try better you
know it’s the bakit thing you know fail
again fail better
oh is it different today and doing your
show like night than it was 10 years ago
are you more instinctive are you more do
you think less about it and just do it
muscle memory
this used to it like the office when you
crunch down your and you’re constantly
trying to learn you’re you’re constantly
you’re still thinking but your ratio of
thinking to acting is very different you
know you’re at the beginning I was
thinking about it this much yeah you
know in my cognitive brain and then
there was this much just whatever a thin
read of talent you have is there and
then you’re thinking about the rest and
then over the years I think you know
they always say the reptile brain you
the reptile portion of your brain is
where you you know respiration heartbeat
right that’s the stuff that even if
you’re knocked unconscious it’s still
working
I really believe a lot of my talk show
or comedy instincts are now in my
reptile brain that you could knock me
out and my heart would still beat I’d
still breathe and I’d still be asking
Lindsay Lohan you know some stupid
question you have become some way as you
part of your debt has become part of
your DNA yeah I mean I think a lot of it
is you have to have some ability but
then it’s just how much will I really do
think there’s just think people
underestimate it doesn’t sound sexy
it doesn’t sound cool how much do I want
it work ethic you know and just how
badly do you want it and there have been
you know many times in the you know
throughout the years of doing my show
where I’ve thought you could shoot me in
the chest before I walk out there and
I’ll still walk out there and do that
show and then I’ll come backstage and
die but we’re doing that show
the best advice that I could give you on
success is to know that success is
merely the hangover of failure and that
failure is an essential ingredient in
creating a learning atmosphere for you
so that you can accrue those learnings
so small incremental steps of failure
and collect enough learning so that you
can arrive at success right I think
we’re taught in the system that failure
is something that you should be ashamed
of failure is for the dumb kids because
you get an F you get a D right you’re
not competent you didn’t comply you
didn’t create the evidence of your
worthiness but I could tell you as
someone who’s successful right both
financially and from a wealth creation
point of view but more importantly a
wealth that matters that success doesn’t
look like an a-plus it doesn’t look like
a hundred and ten and extra credit and
failure isn’t as simple as an F and it’s
not always always a failure could be
very gray right and being able discern
what you might arrive at an event or in
your life where you think that wow I’ve
succeeded and you’re getting the
affirmation from all these outside
forces but if it’s not aligned
authentically with to whom which you are
it could very much feel like failure
repair in advance you know the old
saying proper prior preparation saves
poor performance or prevents poor
performance the six PS and so prepare
your work list for the following day the
evening or the night before the last
thing you do at the end of the day is
you lay out the day that’s coming the
best exercise is for you to plan your
entire next day as the last thing you do
before coming home from work when you
plan your day the night before your
subconscious mind then goes to work on
your plan
and goals while you’re asleep very often
you’ll wake up in the morning with ideas
and insights that apply to the work of
the day now a major benefit of preparing
your daily list the night before is that
this exercise lets you sleep more
soundly a major reason for insomnia is
people lying awake trying not to forget
to remember everything that they have to
do the following day but once you’ve
written down everything that you have to
do on the list it clears your mind and
enables you to sleep deeply this will
help you increase your productivity
throughout the whole next day of work
because you’ll be more relaxed and more
refreshed performing under pressure
whether it’s me or anybody else is the
same you know I have the same pressures
as anyone else there’s time there’s
performance there’s financial I mean
there you know there’s deadlines my
pressures are not unique the situations
may be different or you know but but
everybody has the same kinds of
pressures but what I found or what I
find fascinating is the interpretation
of the stimuli if let me let me explain
so I was watching the Olympics this last
Summer Olympics and I was amazed at how
bad the questions were that the
reporters would ask all the athletes and
almost always they asked the same
question whether they were about to
compete or after they competed were you
nervous right and to a tee all the
athletes went no right and what I
realized is it’s not that they’re not
nervous it’s their interpretation of
what’s happening in their bodies I mean
what it what happens when you’re nervous
right your heart rate starts to go
you’re you know you sort of get a little
tense you get a little sweaty
right you have expectation of what’s
coming and we interpreted that is I’m
nervous
now what’s the interpretation of excited
your heart rate starts to go you become
you’re anticipating what’s coming right
you get a little sort of like tense it’s
all the same thing it’s the same stimuli
except these athletes these these
Olympic quality athletes have learned to
interpret the stimuli that the rest of
us would say is nervous as excited they
all said the same thing no I’m not
nervous I’m excited and so I’ve actually
practiced it just to tell myself when I
start to get nervous that this is
you know and so where when you used to
be speaking for the large audience and
somebody’d say how do you feel it’s a
little nervous now and somebody says how
do you feel like really excited actually
and it it came from just sort of telling
myself no no this is excitement and it
becomes a little bit automatic later on
but it’s kind of a remarkable thing to
deal with pressure by interpreting what
your body is experiencing as excitement
rather than nerves and it’s really kind
of effective it makes you want to rush
for is rather than pull back and yet
it’s the same experience I told you all
of my critics I told you all that I was
the greatest of all time gonna be Sunday
listen I told you today I’m still the
greatest of all time never again defeat
me never again say that I’m gonna be
defeated never again that made me then
the dog until I’m about 50 years old
then you might get me but I didn’t dance
I didn’t dance for a reason I wanted to
make him lose all his power I kept
telling he had no punch he couldn’t hit
he’s swinging like a sissy he’s missing
let me see you box I hadn’t started
dancing yet you can’t say my legs are
going you can tell was tired because
what happened I didn’t dance from the
SAC around on I stayed on the ropes when
I stay on the ropes you think I’m doing
bad but I want to all boxes to put this
on the page about to stand on officers
the beautiful thing with a heavyweight
when you make him shoot his best shots
and you know he’s not hitting here I’m
gonna gave drugs to him with two rounds
a steady puncher because after that he
how many of you saw things I can’t read
you have found out a way it’s not waste
see God gives us a lot of things in life
but it’s a couple things he don’t give
us and time some he does know
that’s the one thing you have to put
your watch I was with my wife but we
don’t clock up with the mic up with your
phone I look at my so the question is
how much time – always I think what I’m
trying to make money years ago I gave up
clothes years ago 14 years by step in
anything that doesn’t but friend where
I’m trying to go there’s business
citizen improvements we’re all trying to
become leaders you’re gonna get rid of
so these conversations hurricane and
happy day happy boarding without those
what promises you’ve gotta make to
reason thought process pregnancies
lifestyle
it’s what you do given all the
opportunities that are there in in the
world to try and figure out the thing
that actually makes you want to get up
in the morning the thing that you
actually love I just I just know that if
I weren’t lucky enough to have have been
given the opportunity to write a movie
or a show or direct anything
appreciating I would still go home from
whatever that day job is and I would try
to do it because I loved it not because
I really want to make a certain amount
of money it’s great to be comfortable it
can be dangerous to be comfortable but
it’s great to be comfortable but I I
just feel like if you can figure out the
thing that makes you tick find that
thing and the thing I would say I guess
is a lot of young people I find are
under such pressure there’s a kind of
sense of it’s all or nothing which i
think is really unfair meaning I don’t
know if it’s the media and the way
things are presented or if it’s because
there’s so much success that is that is
celebrated in society but there is a
sense I’ve heard enough that I feel like
I haven’t thought of this until now that
it is a kind of theme that that young
people feel like if they don’t know what
they’re born to do that there’s somehow
broken and I think that it needs to be
looked at differently which is that it
means if you don’t know that thing it
means that every door is there’s the
possibility that that’s a beautiful
thing so I just feel like I would say
don’t stress yourself out you know the
only reason I could deal with the
pressure on Star Wars is because I loved
making that movie and and if it if it
didn’t work of course I would have been
crushed but it I wasn’t doing it because
it was a job and if you can find that
thing and deal with the pressure of
maybe not making the amount of money
that you would like to yet or not
getting to the company you’d like to get
or not having success with your startup
yet these are all things that I think
you can swallow if the thing you’re
doing speaks to you I have stage fright
you know and I never confronted the risk
or when I did come from I mean Belgium
you know 2000 year 2000
that was you have no idea what it took
them to get me to do it no no no no I
had a thousand I had a thousand excuses
why not to turn there finally I did it
and it was exquisitely horrifying that’s
the only way I can flirt complex yes it
was very very very complex and what was
really good was right in the beginning
within like two seconds
I played just the worst wrong note and I
could either stop and cry or I could
laugh all right and it didn’t kill me
and nobody else out there
nobody was throwing anything you know it
was fine thank you to the people of
Ghent for not killing me
and giving me the courage and you know
and the the absurdity you know you have
to be able to laugh at yourself and you
have to learn how to laugh at yourself
I’m a workaholic and it’s like being an
alcoholic I just can’t give it up I’ve
been unwell for two weeks and I feel
unwell you know so I can go to work
because I can’t go to work I get was if
I sit in one place I’m stressed
the reason I’m not fidgeting too much is
because I’m unwell otherwise I hate
sitting in one place i some work has to
be given to me i widowed my wife and my
children keep telling me you know you
work 20 years round-the-clock why are
you doing this I don’t think I need the
money I don’t think I am greedy for more
Fame I’m doing okay I can do one film in
two years and be happy with it but I’m
just not happy I tell everyone if I’m
not working I’m depressed so I don’t
know if it’s a curse or a blessing maybe
at the end of it all when we die God
will say did you work I say yes a lot oh
damn you go to hell because I didn’t
want anyone to work or it would be oh
you worked that’s really nice because I
wanted everyone to work so I don’t know
one of them is going to be like but I
just keep working I think I have this
fear that you have very few days in life
and you need to climb it up with lot of
things
you need to fill it fill it with so many
things in it that you don’t have space
for life it should be like that I when
I’m not working I get lonely I get
depressed I get sad I don’t drink I’m
not a philosopher I’m not a player that
I like loneliness I hate being alone and
I hate being with people at times
I’m unsocial I’m very odd with people so
what happens is I have replaced people
with work in my life because when I’m
working I’m a lot of people and there
are people I can interact with because
somewhere there is a wall that I’m not
interacting with them socially I’m
interacting them through this common you
know goal that is the work so I can
discuss with her or discuss with him and
dear friends for that moment many of my
filmmaking colleagues complained that
after the film is over you don’t talk to
us I can’t explain to them I don’t have
anything else to say I love you I miss
you but i miss you through the work I
don’t I mean I’m I’m very fond of a lot
of people a lot of people I love like
family and I I can’t pick up the phone
and talk with them I can’t socialize
with them I can’t sit and chat with them
but when we were working I I can just be
with them so I don’t know work is sort
of I have replaced loneliness depression
and people good work if you say I’m a
fraud they’ll figure me out I’ll never
be able to do it again that’s an artist
start processes you’re an artist you’re
thinking like that you’re on the right
track because they all feel that so you
there’s always some success that can
come out even out of your failures in
fact probably your biggest successes
will come directly from your failures
you should almost take that Winston
Churchill’s quote is my favorite success
is moving from one failure to the next
with great enthusiasm you should be very
enthusiastic about your failures because
you’re gonna learn something you’re
gonna go that way where everyone is
going that way and you’re gonna stumble
but you’re also gonna stumble upon
something that no one ever thought of so
you know you just keep going and keep
going and you’re gonna fail and then
rise up and fail again and that’s the
journey up and down man
working will night and doing weird
antisocial days at weekends that you’ll
forget about your social life
that-that-that’s a sort of sacrifice to
commitment that’s nothing quite the
level of Julian sacrifices but you don’t
get to see your family you don’t get to
see your friends you are removed from
the reality of your life to pursue a
given goal so there is a kind of
comparison
I guess you you sacrifice a part of
yourself because you’re exposing either
either end of the spectrum of acting
whether it’s just variations of who you
are or whether it’s completely to
summoning into a different character in
persona you’ve got your equally valid in
my opinion I don’t think there’s really
distinction should rather than people
who are good or bad at it but I think
then you do have to give part of
yourself no matter what you’re doing and
that you don’t lose you something’s
gained actually by doing that but you
have to suppress and control certain
instincts that you have in order to
actually be true to a character that may
not be the same as you very be driven by
the same things as you talk to so many
smart fantastic ambitious idealistic
hard-working kids and they’re right out
of college they’re in their entry-level
jobs and I’ll ask them how is it going
and they’ll say I think I’m gonna quit
and I’m like why they say to me I’m not
making an impact I’m like you know
they treat the sense of fulfillment or
even love like it’s a scavenger hunt
like it’s something you look for my
millennial friends they’ve gone through
so many jobs they’re either getting
fired I mean it was mutual or they’re
quitting because they’re not making an
impact or they’re not finding the thing
they’re looking for they’re not feeling
fulfilled as if it’s a scavenger hunt
love a job you find joy from is not
something you discover it’s not like I
found love here it is I found a job I
love that’s not how it works both of
those things require hard work you are
in love because you work very hard every
single day of your life to stay in love
you find a job that brings you ultimate
joy because you work hard every single
day to serve those around you and you
maintain that joy it’s not a discovery
but the problem is the sense of
impatience it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see is the mountain this large a
movable object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
our journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and on to the
next some of the definitions of options
decisions self-determination choice
preference desire I want to share
something with you that’s relative to
critical options because we all have
them in our lives and I want to ask you
a question what is the focus of your
life what is the focus of your life in
life you have a critical option you can
take a stand in your life or you can
follow the crowd see people who follow
the crowd their lives are not
they’re not immersed in anything people
who take a stand they’re living a life
that has some power a life of
achievement a life that has some meaning
people that taking a stand in life they
are consciously involved in a process to
design a life of substance people who
are following the crowd these are people
that they’re just doing what everybody
else is doing so that’s a crowded road
over there they’re following the
followers I want to talk to you about
taking a stand with your life and what
are some of the things we can do that
will enable us to give our lives up in a
way that has some purpose and meaning
that can be real for us that can give us
a sense of fulfillment of joy and
happiness and peace of mind see most
people are bored with life most people
feel that life isn’t worth the hassle
the life is just wearing me out it’s
boring it’s monotonous I have nothing to
look forward to there we go get another
Monday morning
TGIF they thank God it’s Friday how are
we going oh boy you see what the man
meant but many people died aged 25 and
don’t get buried until there are 65
doing the same thing the same way every
day looking at these faces just walk
I mean you got to be aware of these
faces they affect you you know try to
stay around Pleasant faces and if you
have an unpleasant face try and smile
more it’s good for your health
and there’s another dividend you look
better too so looking for a way in which
we can begin to give our lives some
special power number one commit yourself
to giving your best at all times now
that’s not easy see most people and
particularly those who are working in
corporations they’re finding now they’ve
got to change their behavior we’re now
involved in a world economy we will
never do business the way in which we
have done business in the past we will
never be able to in the American
workplace do just enough to get by
now the standards have been raised
quality and productivity has been
increased because of the competition and
so now average performance will not be
enough this is a new day competition is
fierce so people who just have been in
locked into a behavior pattern are
working just hard enough to keep from
getting fired they’re being laid off I’m
forced into early retirement it’s a new
game now so now more than ever it’s
about increased productivity now more
than ever it’s about superior quality
service now more than ever it’s about
creating a positive atmosphere in the
workplace and people that have that
competitive age people that are hungry
to make it so you got to be hungry now
you can’t just casually walk around well
I’ll get to it later on oh no no this
this is a new day right now committing
yourself to give your best at all times
regardless of the competition to do
otherwise all the influences of negative
people that will tell you hey look here
don’t push yourself too much now’s the
time to push yourself to always get in
the habit of giving the best that you
have to share you really can’t plan a
fight when you mean the man you never
met
for right you just have to get your
tools ready here’s a car stops on the
highway they called the triple-a or
whatever and said my car’s broke down
what is it lady she don’t know us but
well the man comes with all the tools
and he come equipped to handle whatever
the problem is I astronaut goes into
space and he pretends that something
happens to just ship before he take off
he gets out and he works on it he’s not
looking for something happen but it
might happen so I didn’t I just had
everything ready now after the first
round being here with a top professional
a man so great had so many knockouts and
I’ve been defeated never even scratched
I didn’t know really how good he was so
I had to come in actually a little
nervous and with everything ready after
one round of deaths and I found out that
this would tide me out so I would have
to resort to ropes I figured that out
after the first round so I said I’m
gonna go to these ropes and I’m let this
man through everything he can’t let him
tire self out it might look like he’s
winning
if you don’t hurt man will stay here but
if he should be as great as they say he
is if he hits as hard as they say he hit
when he hits him breaks your arm he
knocked out Joe Frazier I couldn’t do it
knocked out Ken Norton he was a big bad
job before the fight you remember and
then you remember that don’t you
yeah they don’t say that never he was a
real bad catch of the day right don’t
forget that now after I found out he
didn’t have it
I stayed there but if he had had what I
thought he had had or what they said
here I’d have kept running hoping I
wouldn’t get tired you got a minute what
do you think about that I read a poem
one time I said I have only just a
minute only 60 seconds and it was forced
upon me I can’t refuse it I didn’t seek
and I didn’t choose it but it’s up to me
to use it I must suffer if I lose it
give a count if I abuse it it’s only a
tiny little minute but eternity is in it
well in any rate I thought I’m gonna put
this on a video and I just want to share
it with everybody just this one little
part out of the seminar I’m making
I want you to look at this Sam timer and
let this I want you to think about your
life the sand in the top of the glass
represents the future the sand and the
bottom of the glass represents the past
now Genoa we know what’s in the past and
young we can’t do anything about it
you know what the trick is you don’t
know how much sand is in the top of the
glass you may think you have a lot you
might only have a little bit then again
you may think you have a little and you
might have a lot when I was a little boy
I was raised by my grandmother and I
don’t know when I was little yeah after
she was probably sixty but as long as I
can remember
grandma would say and I won’t be
gun-deer I’ll soon be gone well you know
we loved her she was really an angel of
God but we thought she was never gonna
go she lived to be 94 for 30-some years
I said be gone she didn’t think she had
much time left she had 34 years left now
about the same time I had a buddy of
mine Bob Yates he was just 16 and bang
he run into the abutment of a Ridge and
his life was snuffed then if you had
asked him a half hour before how much
sand he had left he would have said at
least a half a century you didn’t ever
see the trick is we don’t know how much
sand we have left the future we don’t
know the past it’s gone now the only
thing you can deal with is what’s right
here right now and if you look the sand
is always moving now think of this you
see I was working on that and then I was
working on a graph I’ve got here at my
computer and I’m thinking of the time
somebody said to him you got a minute
well they don’t really want a minute you
know if you’re earning $50,000 a year a
minutes 42 cents a half hours $12.50 if
we take that ahead of it if you’re
earning $80,000 a year a minute 67 cents
half hours $20 during a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars a year got a
minute and then it cost a dollar
twenty-five a minute a half hours $37.50
so if you see if somebody said you want
to stop for a cup of coffee
well if you’re earning a quarter of a
million dollars a year a minute is two
dollars and eight cents half hours
$62.50 and then of course you’ve got the
coffee to pay for on top of that so if
you see the point is this this is all
we’ve got right here right now we don’t
know how much we have left in the future
but we do know what we’ve got now and I
have found the people that win are the
people who make up their mind they’re
not going to waste the minutes they’re
going to be productive they’re going to
make it happen every minute
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