work out one of the things I’ve been
telling myself and also thinking about a
lot is apart from the fact of learning
which we’ll go into is just that space
I’m actually understanding that there
may be a different route see we get so
attached to having one route one method
one way of working we believe that
there’s only one pathway to where we
want to be there’s this conveyor belt of
things we have to do whether it’s you
know get a degree find a partner buy a
house you know play golf whatever it is
like this conveyor belt of efficiency
and productivity that we here that
becomes a part of our natural
progression and when that breaks apart
that’s when we start to worry that’s
when we start to think but notice that
then actually it’s a lot better when
that happens earlier in life see regret
has some really important roles the
first one is that it helps us make sense
of the world from our perspective for
one of the first time see most of us
have spent our lives learning what’s
important to us based on maybe what
families or what communities to what
parents to what education to whatever it
is when you start regretting something a
new thing you did something wrong when
you start thinking that I could have
done something differently you’re making
sense of the world from your perspective
it’s crazy how powerful this is right
you’re starting to make sense of the
world from your perspective the second
thing is it allows you to avoid future
negative behavior if you know you
regretted something why don’t you write
it down right now
right if you regret something write it
down right now because it will teach you
so much in the future you’ve got to
write down the lesson you learn now
otherwise next time when you think
you’re making another tough decision
you’re gonna say to yourself oh what did
I do last time how did I not make myself
regret that and then you’re gonna be
upset you’re gonna regret that you
didn’t write it down so write it down
right now really sad to see that people
are disenchanted and nihilistic and
depressed and anxious and aimless and
and perverse and vengeful and and all of
those things it’s terrible and then to
see people question whether that’s
necessary and
to start to rise out of it it’s like
it’s so fun like last night I was at
after my talk it’s overwhelming
I don’t usually think about these things
but I was it I was after my talk last
night and so all these people line up
and you know they have their 15 15
seconds with me and they’re kind of
tentative they’re excited and a
tentative when they come up to talk to
me and then they have to know 15 seconds
of time to tell me something I’m really
listening to them and they’re hesitant
about whether or not to share the good
news about their life you know and I
think it’s often because when people
share good news about their life people
don’t necessarily respond positively you
know they don’t get encouragement and
people need so little encouragement it’s
just unbelievable and so there comes
something good and I’m like ah that’s so
good you know when somebody says oh I’m
getting along way better with my father
I haven’t seen him for 10 years and now
we get along great and then the power of
that you can’t overstate the power of
that for individuals to get their life
together the individual is an
unbelievably powerful force and every
single person who gets their act
together a little bit has the capacity
to spread that around them it’s it’s a
how did you go through making the
decision to drop it was a very good job
and take it take this chance it all
seems very obvious now right this many
years later that it paid off but at the
time it was not obvious no no it was and
and and I did do a lot of soul searching
I I went to my boss at the time and I
really liked my job and I told my boss I
was gonna go do this thing start an
internet bookstore and my wife had
already told my wife and she’s like
great let’s go
and I I said so I’m also gonna do this
he’s like this is a good idea so I think
this is a good idea but it would be an
even better idea for somebody who didn’t
already have a good job and that sort of
made some logical sense to me and he
convinced me to think about it for a
couple of days so I went away I was
really trying to get my head around how
to think about this and I think for me
the right way to make that kind of very
personal decision because those
decisions are personal they’re not like
data-driven business decisions there
they are you know what does your heart
say and for me it was I could the best
way to think about it was to project
myself forward to age 80 and said look
when I’m 80 years old I want to have
minimized the number of regrets that I
have I don’t want to be 80 years old in
a quiet moment of reflection thinking
back over my life and in catalog you a
bunch of major regrets and I think that
regrets our biggest regrets in most
cases you can murder somebody okay you’d
regret that but in most cases our
biggest regrets turn out to the acts of
omission
it’s paths not taken and they haunt us
we wonder what would have happened I
loved that person and I never told him
and then they married somebody else I
didn’t you know I didn’t do this and so
that’s the frame of mind that I put
myself in and I and once I did that once
I thought about that way it was
immediately obvious to me I knew that
when I’m 80 I would never regret trying
this thing that I was super excited
about and failing if it failed fine I
would be very proud of the fact when I’m
80 that I tried and I also
knew that it would always haunt me if I
didn’t try and so that would be a regret
it would be a hundred percent chance of
a regret if I didn’t try and basically a
0% chance of regret if I tried and
failed so I think that’s a useful metric
for any important life decision there’s
so much knowledge out there so much
and we make we make so many mistakes
whether we’re the product of our
mistakes and oftentimes the lesson is
sitting there right in front of our face
it’s there to be learned but we miss it
or we don’t pay attention to it
or we think we know better until it
and the most important thing to learn is
that we have so much to learn we all do
and we can learn from school and from
people and from experience and we learn
from life but you have to process the
information you have to absorb it you
have to accept it you have to open your
mind you’ve got to free your mind so
that you can learn and make real
progress and as far as regrets and
things I wish I would have done
differently of course hindsight
hindsight is 20/20 and looking back of
course who wouldn’t want to take another
go at something and improve on the first
try by doing it again and then why not
do it again and again and again and why
not just do it over and over again until
you have it
perfect but the fact is you don’t get
that chance you get one shot one shot at
this gig right here life one life that’s
all you’ve gotten and regret in and of
itself it’s worthless it does nothing
for you in fact the only valuable thing
in regret is the lesson you learned the
knowledge that you gained but walking
around filled with regret it gets you
nothing so
learn and move on don’t let regret beat
you down don’t be a slave to regret no
let the fear of regret fuel you to take
action today now to take action now to
become a better person not filled with
filled with knowledge and strength and
power and filled with life
I call it Just’s have been not all
psychologists obviously but the
psychological profession is its neck
deep in this in this pathology has been
beating these self-esteem drum for 50
years
oh no you’re okay you should feel good
about yourself like you’re fine the way
you are it’s like you think well that’s
a calming message for people it’s like
no it’s not it’s not at all and I
watched my audience this is like it’s
full of people in the audience who think
I’m suffering a lot more than I think is
tenable a whole bunch of it’s my fault
my life is not in the order it should be
I know I’m doing 50 things wrong it’s
like what the hell’s wrong with me
what’s wrong with the people around me
this is really serious and some you know
well-meaning person comes up and says oh
you’re okay just the way you are it’s
like no one wants that message it’s like
no I’m not okay the way I am I’m not
okay at all the way I am I know that and
so you know when I’m when I’m speaking
to to when I’m speaking now I say to
people whoa whoa you’re nowhere near
what you could be that’s that that’s the
positive message it’s like yeah you’re a
mess but you don’t have to stay that way
but you’re a mess you know it obviously
you’re suffering away like like so much
you can barely tolerate it it’s like
that’s okay you can do something about
it
so yeah that’s the thing that that turns
the lights on it’s like you do something
about it
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 are times when if
something is important enough you
believe in it enough that you do it in
spite of the fear like people shouldn’t
think I 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 some degree if you just think
if 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 and keep moving it
forward so that were still do some good
yeah same with Tesla I thought your odds
of a car company succeeding were
extremely low one of the things that’s
really interesting about the old
testament is that and the Jews in the
Old Testament is that they don’t take
the path of Cain every time they’re
walloped by God which is like fairly
frequently they say we must have done
something wrong and we have to set
herself right and that’s a an
unbelievably heroic attitude because
that’s the alternative cursing fate it’s
like you take the responsibility for
failure unto yourself and you think well
if I was just maybe if I just had my act
together a little bit more if I took
advantage of every opportunity that was
put in front of me if I wasn’t resentful
and bitter then I could have done
something that would have tilted the
situation in a different direction and
like that’s almost inevitably true
Dostoevsky I think said something like
every man is responsible for everything
that
to him and everything that happens to
everyone else and that’s you know that
that’s that’s a guy it’s a crazy
statement right it’s a crazy statement
and he was a pretty extreme person in
many many ways but there’s a level at
which that’s metaphysically true you
know because what happens is that it’s
you its failure to act often that’s the
most catastrophic you know I mean I’ve
it’s it’s it’s to not do the right thing
when the when the situation presents
itself and it’s very specific you know
you’re constantly in situations where
you could do the right thing if you were
willing to take a risk that’s actually a
relatively moderate size and you know
that you could take the risk and you
know that you should take the risk and
you don’t and that happens to people all
the time and then what happens is the
thing that they didn’t oppose grows a
little bit and they shrink a little bit
and that starts a loop pay most of the
people who were teaching right now who
are listening to this thing would not
hire themselves that if you had to pick
someone in the world to do it the thing
that you do you’d find someone better
than you so we’ve changed the stakes and
we have to be really clear about that it
used to be if you went to Rhode Island
School of Design and you got through it
you had this huge head start on people
that starts are gone yes so when you
think about it you know when when
someone says I’m a freelancer and my
primary asset is my relationship with my
clients well if I went and asked your
clients which of all the freelancers you
work with is off the charts for the
relationship would they actually pick
you this person right that when someone
says I’m able to use light and color to
create photographs to create an
indelible image in people’s heads well
if I talk to the people who’ve seen it
are you really off the charts so what
I’m saying is yes this institution is
crumbling but that puts a huge onus on
people to be honest with themselves
about the craft that you’re not going to
get away with the craft being what it
used to be just because we could find
you and you know I gave a talk two weeks
ago to the people who make all the
imprinted items
in the country like pens and water
bottles things like the huge industry
there’s fifty thousand a hundred
thousand people who do this for a living
ninety percent of them have a big thick
catalogue they’ll have the same catalog
and the same price list and you go to
them and they say yeah if these water
bottles with one do you want that used
to be a really important value add
because there was no internet but now
there’s the internet sort by price I’ll
take this water bottle I’m done ten
percent of the people actually engage
with you help you find a thing you never
would have thought of deliver the thing
that’s off the charts are taking huge
emotional risks as they do their work
the other ninety percent are sitting
there thinking and they are in the ten
percent they’re not they just have a
catalog so sometimes people throw things
at me when I’m on stage because my
argument is I didn’t wish for the world
to change but it did
now that the world has changed don’t get
frustrated because people are doing
exactly what you do shopping around
sorting by price buying commodities
because that’s what we do when we’re
given the choice so if you want to be
treated as an on commodity act like an
on commodity no one is a commodity if
they don’t want to be the separation of
talent and skill is one of the the the
greatest misunderstood concepts for
people who are trying to excel who have
dreams that want to do things talent you
have naturally skill is only developed
by hours and hours and hours of beating
on your craft number one thing that’s
gonna change your life the only thing
that will change your life change your
business change your money change your
relationship because you must raise your
standard and I know that sounds boring
stupid basic but it’s the truth the only
thing that changes our life long term is
when we raise our standards what does
that mean that sounds so boring and dumb
it means that all of us in life have
things we want we don’t get what we want
we get what we have to have remember I
said earlier we all get what we tolerate
in ourselves and other people but when
you’re no longer willing to tolerate
something that’s when your life changes
the difference in people is their
standards period the difference in
people is their standards period and
what I mean by standards everyone in the
world has a list of things they think
they should do I should lose weight I
should work out I should spend more time
with my kids I should work harder I
should make more calls I should I should
I should I should and then you know what
people don’t do their sheds and they get
mad at themselves and they what I call
all over themselves they beat
themself up about it
what changes people is when your should
becomes a must when suddenly the thing
you said should happen has to happen
that’s when human beings change it’s
like if you want to take the island and
you’re the head of the army you want to
take the iron island the most powerful
way to take the Islanders burn the boats
because if there’s no way to go back
it’s amazing what happens when it’s a
must
there’s no easy way around it no matter
how talented you are your talent is
going to fail you if you’re not skilled
you know if you don’t study if you don’t
work really hard and dedicate yourself
to being better every single day you’ll
never be able to communicate with with
people there’s another rule in my book
which is rule 9 assume that the person
that you’re listening to knows something
you don’t
well they do the person you’re listening
to knows some things you don’t you can
be sure of that now whether or not you
can get to them is a different matter
but if you do get to them it’s a real
deal for you that’s why you want to
listen to the other person’s arguments
is because you’re not everything you
could be you don’t know the pathway
forward with as much clarity as you
could and it’s possible this is one of
the wonderful things that I’ve had the
privilege of experiencing as a clinician
you know because people it’s like I live
inside a Dostoyevsky novel as a
clinician people come in and they tell
me about their lives and I listen to
them and they tell me things that are
just absolutely beyond belief you know
and I learn from my clients constantly
there they’re telling me honestly about
their experience they tell me things
they wouldn’t tell anyone else because I
actually listen to them but part of the
reason I listen is because I’m desperate
to listen it’s like there’s a
possibility I’m gonna do something
stupid in the next five years that’s
gonna be like fatal and there’s some
small possibility that if we have a
decent discussion that you’ll tell me
something that will eliminate some of my
blindness so that I don’t have to fall
into that particular pit and if you have
a good sensitivity for the depth of the
pit then you know you’re pretty bloody
motivated to avoid it and so and that
and and that and that dialog is it’s
it’s dialogic it’s dial logos right it’s
shared logos it’s the way that we redeem
ourselves mutually moving forward
motivated by fear fear you know fear of
what fear of fear I hate being scared to
do something I hate that feeling of the
feeling that I had before I had a
meeting with Quincy Jones because it’s
really Quincy Jones and a guy named
Benny Medina oh I know and Jeff Pollack
came with the idea for the Fresh Prince
of bel-air and I hated being scared you
know that I didn’t want to
even take the meeting there were
opportunities during when I first my
first year as a rapper Bill Cosby and
the people in The Cosby Show had seen my
music video and called me to be a
character to come write and try out for
the Cosby Show and just every time it
was set up for some reason I couldn’t
make it the fear of fear the fear I hate
it I just hated that being scared to do
something and I think what developed in
my in my early days was the the attitude
that I started attacking things that I
was scared if you’re hungry and you eat
well that’s good but it’s over and then
you’re on to the next thing right it’s
not exactly sustaining it’s just
necessary that’s called consume Ettore
reward by the way this other reward
system is incentive reward and the
incentive reward system works on
dopamine this neurochemical dopamine
which is also the neuro chemical tracks
that opiates and cocaine and
amphetamines the drugs that people
really like to abuse alcohol often for
some people activate and so you might
say if you don’t have enough meaning in
your life then you’re more prone to
addiction and that’s definitely the case
even with rats if you take a rat you put
him in a cage by himself and he has
nothing to do and then you give him
access to cocaine he’ll get addicted to
the point where he won’t do anything but
take cocaine but if you throw the rat
back in with a bunch of other rats and
he gets to do rat things then it’s very
hard to get him addicted to cocaine and
so the purposeless rat is prone to
addiction well it’s the same with human
beings now here’s a corollary to that
which is really cool so the magnitude of
the reward you experience as you’re
moving towards a goal is proportionate
to the importance of the goal so that
means the more important the goal you
pick the more possibility there is for
the kind of reward let’s say it’s really
a state of being that is life-affirming
and it is directly life-affirming in
that you know like if you’re in a
football game and you’re and it’s an
important football game and maybe you
break a finger and you know normally
that’s that’s a problem it hurts and
you’re going to stop
doing whatever you’re doing but if
you’re right in the middle of the game
then you’ll be so amped up on this
reward system that its analgesic it
stops the pain it also suppresses
anxiety so if you have a purpose then
its analgesic it takes some of the pain
out of life it’s very positive in that
it motivates and energizes you and
focuses you and makes you able to
remember and pay attention and it quells
fear and so those things are all direct
and so then you might think well what’s
the best possible goal well and that’s
that’s the purpose I would say of
religious training and philosophical
training it’s like just what the hell
are you doing in the world you really
have to decide the most important
decision is do I want to be happy will I
commit to being happy more important
than happy sometimes you’d be so happy
you smile so much your face hurts right
you need variety am I committed to
living in a beautiful state even when it
doesn’t go my way even when it rains on
my parade even when my biggest fear
shows up because I can’t control whether
you’re husband and wife will live or die
or get sick or leave you or get a
divorce
I don’t want any of that to happen any
human being I hate suffering I do
anything I can tell people’s not suffer
but I can’t control that you can you can
there are people have lost their arms
lost their sight there have been people
that have been through the most horrific
experiences life and they found a way to
still be happy because they’ve made the
decision that life is too short to
suffer I’ve interviewed dozens and
hundreds over the years but dozens that
like have impacted my soul that made me
realize I can change this I’ve just
gotten used to it I bought into the
theory that this this survival software
that’s constantly running and making you
suffer that that’s normal
no that’s what the mind will do and mind
has been around forever what I’m gonna
do is something different and the way I
get out of suffering I gave myself a 90
second rule it’s really simple
I say look if I feel myself start to
feel that stress feeling that pissed off
this or upsetness or concern or worry
but my kid whatever I realize that’s not
gonna make it better life’s too short to
suffer and then I just kind of breathe
slowly slow everything down and I just
watch the I go by
that crazy buddies that crazy
thought so every said I thought I’m
gonna kill that side of it try anything
you don’t kill him could you don’t
believe that bought it’s the thoughts
that are stressful that you believe that
mess you up when you question them you
break the pattern the more Aventis like
a muscle the more I’ve trained myself to
do it I can authentically tell you now
it takes a lot for something to take
more than 90 seconds for me now and the
level of joy surpasses all the money you
could ever have in a million years and
then the money it’s easier to even make
money because you’re not attached you
don’t have the fears you don’t have the
scarcity that people have because you
feel so rich already right now I always
some people don’t wait to be rich
what is that richest it’s abundance it’s
joy it’s happiness it’s contribution
it’s getting out of yourself because as
long as we’re thinking about oh my god I
lost something or you did something I
have less love less respect less money
if I think lost less or because you did
something or because I did something I’m
never gonna have what I wanted my life
lost less than ever those three thought
patterns they’re the source of all
suffering and the after don’t see it for
what it really is
no it’s BS and find something to
appreciate failures are not the most
terrible things whether you have to
learn from it and react to it yeah
exactly when you’re building something
new there’s going to be mistakes and
it’s important to to recognize those
mistakes acknowledge them and take
corrective action yeah and the
successful company is very much more
about how quick are you to fix the
mistakes not will you make mistakes or
admit mistakes absolutely yeah and if
you see the difference between a
start-up that is successful in one that
is not and it’s because the successful
one they’re both made mistakes but the
successful one recognize the mistakes
fix them very quickly and the the
unsuccessful one tries to deny that the
mistakes exist you know extremely smart
people are sometimes quite arrogant
because they believe in what they
believe in right and so the way they
face criticism it’s less likely to admit
you know they can make mistakes was that
in your case I learnt it when I was
doing when I studying physics the the
you know in physics you’re taught to
always question yourself you’re taught
to always assume that you’re wrong not
to seem that you’re right and you have
to prove yourself not
not wrong and so I think that that that
physics framework is really where where
I learnt it and it’s very effective for
wonderful learning counterintuitive
things that aren’t obvious mm-hmm so you
are very famous in saying that failure
is actually an option and if you’re not
failing like that means you’re not you
know they do it yeah it’s not like I
like failure and you’re like Billy was
terrible but if you only do things that
are certain to succeed then you’re only
gonna be doing very obvious things the
only reason you keep seeing there isn’t
as you feel so exhausted about where you
are but life the universe or God is just
testing you because there is another
level if this is good
giant jump to excellence Giants start
good poor to good to excellence there’s
a level where all your dreams are
realized there’s a level that you’ve
always dreamed that it is real it has
not gone away but it takes that extra
burst when you think there’s nothing
left there’s no way you’ve tried
everything ten million times and you
keep going it’s almost like God is
saying if you keep hitting this wall
enough times I will see that you will
not stop that you were filled with that
level of determination faith and courage
and then the door opens and you get to
that next level but most people don’t
know is the next level is just and it’s
called outstanding gentlemen outstanding
what’s it called what’s it called what’s
it called outstanding magnificent
unstoppable extraordinary not excellent
it’s a different level it’s a level
where you are not one of the best you
are the best you know what’s amazing you
only have to be two millions more than
everybody else and you get everything
you get the joy the laughter the father
the family
the passion the economics the freedom of
spirit it’s all there what Jerry Maguire
called the quad baby all of it and it’s
just to milanese above and most
excellent people give up because they’re
exhausted and there’s some people go the
harder I hit it the more I hit it sooner
or later it’s going down I’m not
stopping and when you do that enough it
pops open just keep going find that
thing you love because it’s tough work
and my father gave me this advice when I
said I wanted to be an actor he said
have a back-up profession like welding
but I think if you can find that thing
that really gives you joy that’ll be it
because for me it’s always been comedy
and stand-up and enacting too because of
exploring behavior but it’s tough work
but and if you can get it even better
well I think it’s important to have a
very to apply critical thinking to 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 you wish
them to be in so you tend to filter
information that you shouldn’t filter
seize the day winning isn’t everything
it’s the only thing do not wait for your
ship to come in swim out to it when the
going gets tough the tough get going you
miss on our percent of the shots you
know take if you can dream it you can do
it wherever you go go with all your
heart if man has done its best what else
is there success is going from failure
to fair without losing your enthusiasm
for you don’t succeed try try again
genius is 1% inspiration 99%
perspiration I think I can I think I can
I think I can there’s no substitute for
hard work willing is not enough we must
do live the life you imagine do or do
not there is no try
action is a foundational key to all
success discouragement fair the two of
the share of stepping-stone success that
yours not to dream less but your dream
more dream a all the time we don’t know
where to go and you will wind up
somewhere else just do it some pretty
motivational quotes from some pretty
inspirational people including Lombardi
Proust and the little engine that could
I heard those quotes growing up all the
time when I first heard something I
memorized him others I wrote down but
not one of them motivated me for more
than a day or two it was a much less
inspirational quote that inspired me
from a much less famous person it was a
doctor at UCLA he said Steve you’ve got
inoperable tumors all over your liver
worst case scenario you have five years
do your running you’re CEO of two
companies you’re chairman of SolarCity
talk about time management how on earth
do you do this well you get any sleep
sometimes not enough sleep it’s really
great because because if you find if I
don’t get enough sleep then I’m I’m
quite grumpy I mean obviously I think
most people that way and and and also I
can try to sort of figure out what’s the
right amount of sleep because I I
thought I could have though I could drop
below a certain threshold of sleep and
although I’d be awake for hours and I
could sustain it I would get less done
because I’m mental acuity would be
affected so I found generally the right
number for me is around six to six and a
half hours on average per night that’s
not too bad yeah and any other tips on
average that any other tips on just
managing to run two companies
simultaneously I mean do you do you find
I mean I know you’re up here on Monday
Tuesday is it all Tesla when you’re up
in Silicon Valley and all SpaceX
Wednesday Thursday it’s having a service
of s having a smartphone is incredibly
helpful because that means you can do
email during interstitial periods like
you’re in a car you’re walking in the
bathroom everywhere you can do email
practically when you’re awake and and so
that’s really helpful to have email for
SpaceX and Tesla integrated on my phone
and then it’s just you have to apply a
lot of hours to actual working actually
working so the way I generally do it is
I’ll be working at SpaceX on Monday and
then Monday night fly to the area spent
Tuesday and Wednesday at the barrier
then at Tesla and then fly back on
Wednesday night it’s been Thursday and
Friday at SpaceX in the last several
months then I would fly back here on a
Saturday and either spend Saturday and
Sunday at Tesla or spend Saturday at
Tesla Sunday at SpaceX and where did the
boys fit in you have five sons yeah did
he tag along with dad on some of these
boots I do drag him along and a lot of
things actually they’re remarkably
unimpressed by one of the I think most
common questions I hear young people and
bishops young people ask is I want to be
the next to Gila musk how do I do that
obviously the next Elon Musk will work
on very different things then and you
did but what have you done or what did
you do when you were younger that you
think sort of set you up to have a big
impact
well I think this one should say that I
do not expect to be involved in all
these things so the the the the five
things that I thought about the time in
college quite a long time ago 25 years
ago you know being you know making life
multiplanetary slowly accelerating the
transition to sustainable energy the the
internet broadly speaking and and then
genetics and AI I think I didn’t expect
to be involved in it in all of those
things I actually at the time in college
I sort of thought helping with
electrification a bit of cars was how we
start out and that’s that’s actually
what I worked on as an intern was an
advanced ultracapacitors with to see
think there would be a breakthrough
relative to batteries for energy storage
and in cars
and then when I came out to go to
Stanford that’s what I was going to be
doing my grad studies on is it was
working on her best at energy storage
technologies for electric cars and I put
that on hold to start an Internet
company hit in 95 because the bit there
doesn’t seem to be like a time for
particular technologies when they were
at a steep point in the inflection code
and and I didn’t want to you know do a
PhD at Stanford and then and what should
will happen and then and I wasn’t
entirely certain that the technology I’d
be working on would actually succeed I
can get you can get a you know doctrine
on many things that ultimately are not
do not have a practical bearing on the
world and I wanted to you know just I
really was just trying to be useful
that’s the optimization I was like what
are what can I do that would actually be
useful do you think people that want to
be useful today should get PhDs um
mostly not so what is the best some yes
but mostly not how should someone figure
out how they can be most useful or
whatever this thing is that you’re
trying to create what would what would
be the utility Delta compared to the
current state-of-the-art times how many
people it would affect so that’s why I
think having something that has a that’s
that has a makes makes a big difference
but effects a sort of small to moderate
number of people is great as is
something that makes Eve even a small
difference but but affects a vast number
of people like the area yeah on you know
under the yeah exactly the area under
the curve is would actually be roughly
similar for those two things so it’s
actually really about yeah just trying
to be useful and manner when you’re
trying to estimate probability of
success so you say something will be
really useful then area under the curve
I guess to use the example of SpaceX
mmm-hmm when you made the go decision
that you’re actually gonna do that this
was kind of a very crazy thing at the
time very crazy there Rosie yeah I’m not
shy about saying that but I kind of
regret I agreed with them that it was
quite crazy crazy if
if the objective was to achieve the best
risk-adjusted return starting our
company is insane but that was not that
was not my objective I cancer I was
dying but I got more bad news you are
all dying – maybe not from cancer maybe
but I basically just given you all the
same diagnosis I was given
your time is limited and that’s a real
we say that discipline is the loop of
all good qualities but you have to
absolutely apply it to things outside of
just waking up early it’s it’s
everything it’s working now every day
making yourself stronger and faster and
more flexible and healthier discipline
is eating the right foods to fuel your
system it it’s about disciplining your
emotions so you can make good decisions
it’s about having the discipline to
control your ego so your ego doesn’t get
out of hand and control you it’s about
treating people the way you would want
to be treated and and doing the tasks
that you don’t necessarily want to do
but that you know will help you or help
your team it’s about facing your fears
takes discipline to face your fears so
you can conquer them and that’s what
discipline is discipline means taking
the hard road the uphill road to do
what’s right for yourself and for other
it’s so often the easy path the easy
path that calls to us to be weak for
that moment to break down for that
moment to give in to the desire and the
short-term gratification but the
discipline will not allow that the
discipline calls for strength and
fortitude and will it won’t accept
weakness it won’t tolerate another
breakdown the discipline can seem like
discipline is your best friend it will
take care of you like nothing else can
and it’ll put you on that path the path
to strength and health and intelligence
and happiness and most importantly it’ll
right everyone has different models of
the world some people are driven by
money some people aren’t but I will say
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 incentives
are 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 in 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 alive is growing and
when we grow we have something to give
people have large meters today I do you
do and we tend to think it’s all bull
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
an academic tradition called the last
lecture hypothetically if you knew
you’re gonna die and you had one last
lecture what would you say to your
students well for me there’s an elephant
in the room and the elephant in the room
is that for me it wasn’t hypothetical
I’ve been fighting pancreatic cancer it
has now come back after surgery
chemotherapy and radiation and the
doctors tell me there’s nothing more to
do and I have months to live these are
my most recent CT scans the pancreatic
cancer has spread to my liver they’re
approximately a dozen tumors I don’t
like this I have three little kids let’s
be clear this stinks but I can’t do
anything about the fact that I’m going
to die I’m pursuing medical treatments
but I pretty much know how this movie’s
going to end and I can’t control the
cards I’m dealt just how I play the hand
but I don’t choose to be an object of
pity Jackie Robinson first black major
leaguer had it in his contract not to
complain if people spit on him all right
now I don’t care if you’re Jackie
Robinson or if you’re a guy like me
who’s only got a couple of months to
live you can choose to take your finite
time and energy and effort and you can
spend it complaining or you can spend it
playing the game hard the brick walls
that are in our way are there for a
reason they are not there to keep us out
the talk isn’t just about how to achieve
your childhood dreams it’s much broader
than that it’s about how to live your
life because if you lead your life the
right way the Karma will take care of
itself the dreams will come to you if
you live properly the dreams will come
to you I think it’s great that so many
people have benefited from this lecture
but the truth of the matter is that I
didn’t even really give it to the 400
people at Carnegie Mellon who came I
only wrote this lecture for three people
and when they’re older they will watch
it thank you
[Applause]
how to stop the laziness and they will
know how to stop the procrastination and
you know they have some idea in their
head you know some kind of a vision what
they want to do but they don’t know
where to start they didn’t order start
it you know they don’t know where to
start and say they say hey where do I
start
and and when’s the best time to start
and I have a very simple answer for that
year and now that’s it you you want to
improve you want to get better you want
to get on a workout program or a clean
diet you want to start a business you
want to write a book or make a movie or
build a house or a computer or put
together some mobile application where
you start right here and when you start
you start right now you initiate the
action aggressively you go because the
idea isn’t gonna execute itself and the
book isn’t gonna write itself and the
weights out in the gym they’re not gonna
move themselves you have to do it and
you have to do it now and that means you
gotta stop thinking about it and stop
dreaming about it and stop researching
every aspect of it and reading all about
it and debating the pros and cons of it
just start doing it take that first step
and make it happen get after it and get
after it
here and now
[Music]
some day isn’t on the calendar
Friday Saturday Sunday that’s on there
about four times a month no someday but
when it comes to our dreams it’s
probably the busiest day of the week is
some day right so learning that lesson I
just try it decided that I was gonna
refocus my attention back on that tree I
was gonna pull out all the stops and I
gave myself a goal of getting on
Letterman within one year I was gonna
make someday happen I started yelling my
dream to anyone who would listen started
calling in every favor I was owed I
found out everyone who worked on the
show and begged them to help me get an
audition I even started asking people at
comedy clubs after they’d see me to
email the show and beg Dave to book me
and guess what I didn’t make it
my ironically named deadline came and
went but I was so renewed about my dream
and my newfound passion for it I decide
to give myself an extension one more
year to get on letter didn’t happen and
then another nope
sounds like bad news right well it was I
would have loved to get on the show in
that first year but something great
happened over there those years those
three years where it spent dying
they were spent living living a dream
and let me tell you there is something
if you’ve ever chased a dream you know
that it lights a fire in your heart the
whether you reach it or not it warms
everyone around you and everything
around you so I decided you know what
I’m gonna keep going because that dream
is so important you can’t wait can’t
wait for some day to happen you need to
make things you need to make things go
out wouldn’t the world be a better place
if if we’re all inspired if the world
wasn’t full of uninspired people I know
person’s strengths are often their
biggest weaknesses and so that also
means that their weaknesses can be their
strengths so
me I am weak in all those ways that I
listed I am weak but I don’t accept that
I don’t accept that I am what I am and
that that is what I’m doomed to be no I
don’t accept that I’m fighting I’m
always fighting I’m struggling and I’m
scrapping and I’m kicking and clawing at
those weaknesses to change them stop
them some days I win some days I don’t
but each and every day I get back up and
I move forward with my fists clenched
toward the battle toward the struggle
and I fight with everything I’ve got to
overcome those weaknesses and those
shortfalls and those flaws as I strive
than I was yesterday why do people stop
chasing their dreams I don’t think
people choose to be uninspired Jeanne
one of the people helping me with my
TEDx experience I actually asked me that
she said Steve why do you think people
stop chasing their dreams everyone wants
to achieve them why do people leave them
behind
it was a tough question to answer I
wanted to give her an honest answer had
some cliche response or motivational
line so I thought about it for a long
I knew that cancer
it motivated me to pick my dream up
again but why did I stop chasing it in
the first place why does anyone stop
well when the answer came to me was hard
to swallow let alone spit out and say it
loud but I told her we’re all taught
that life is tough life’s a bitch life
is hard but it’s not it’s pretty easy
right it’s pretty easy to skate by and
go through life right we wake up every
day most of us in the world but the roof
over our heads a big comfy bed under our
butts fridge full of food most of us in
the world especially here in America
never have to worry about starvation or
homelessness we have friends and family
that will help us out when those things
come those are the things that made life
dangerous a hundred years ago now we
complain if life isn’t convenient this
isn’t a statement on modern society this
is a statement about motivation life is
it’s pretty easy to grow up put your
dreams aside leave your passions behind
take a job that you read you don’t even
really mind raise some kids who will
most likely be inspired to do the exact
same thing go from point A to point B to
Point C until you end up at point Z
where you pass away and there’s a line
of people waiting to get up and tell
everyone else who knew you what a good
life you had nothing bad about that
nothing wrong with that but nothing
great about it nothing inspiring about
that the awful truth is is that life is
easy living truly living chasing a dream
and truly living is hard living is a
bitch living it’s tough especially when
you switch it and you ask yourself what
am i dying to do what is it that puts
that fire in my heart answering that
question is at the end of that’s really
just the spark once you get that fire
burning you need to feed it
need to keep reminding yourself putting
new coals in there and remind yourself
every day about that caucuses we’ve all
taken up a hobby or a goal or a workout
that we stopped for just a couple days
and then we never pick it up again you
need to constantly remind yourself that
you’re dying and that you’re dying to do
something because the minute you forget
life creeps right back in and life is
easy anything you try to do in America
today you got to be excited people
America won’t follow or believe in a
negative dull disillusioned frustrated
dadgum crybaby people want people that
are positive and excited and
enthusiastic and tough the greatest
lesson the greatest definition I ever
heard I thought about this 10,000,000
times when I wanted to quit along the
way of a winner this guy said almost
everybody in America can stay excited
for two or three months a few people can
stay excited for two or three years but
a winter a stay excited for thirty years
or how long it takes to win she told me
a story about her dad talking to her
about love when she was younger and her
dad told her don’t look at love as an as
an object not a thing that’s something
to obtain not a noun
look it is a verb
it’s something to do something to act on
it’s not something to constantly give
action to I love that story
and I think a dream works exactly the
same way it’s easy to look at a dream as
something way off in the distance
something that might or might not be
accomplished a thing an object a goal a
thought that runs through our mind every
now and then a noun but dream is also a
verb has to be lived it has to be done
has to be further – has to be acted
about it needs to be chased it’s not
just a idea or a result to dream
encompasses every step that it takes to
get there I told you about my dream I
didn’t reach my i Letterman dream by my
deadline or my extended deadline
nope it took me five years five years of
five of the years of living for that
dream and I was very lucky
by tumors here in that time they didn’t
grow I stayed healthy but I had that
wake-up call and I’m giving you all the
same wake-up call
we’re all dying but if you’re not
everyone has a problem with time but the
day is 24 hours and we sleep six I know
there’s some out there that say I need
eight well I say just sleep a little
faster because the bottom line is we
have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to you Brooke your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read as a New Year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week or where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my party so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working in
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12 midnight I
was doing all of those things I wanted
to make sure that out of the 24 hours of
the day that I don’t waste one single
hour those hours were too precious and
so they just want to tell people don’t
give me this thing I have a difficult
time with the time and I don’t have time
for this none of that you have time you
make the time if you want to win folks
you got it you got to stand up and you
got to say I’m so sick and tired
to be an average and ordinary I’m so
sick and tired of telling myself and
telling my wife and telling my mama and
telling everybody I’m gonna win I found
it this time watch my slow see folks if
you go win you go change but if you
don’t know the answer don’t go to sleep
tonight without answering that question
don’t wait till someday to answer that
question there’s nothing more important
in your life than figuring that out when
you do figure it out then when you go to
sleep just sleep like a kid again
because then you’ll be going to sleep
not to dream but with a dream and waking
up with one thank you sweet dreams
the only way you can change life the
only way the future can be better than
the past is you gotta cheat nobody can
change for you okay nobody’s gonna give
you something for nothing it’s gonna be
up to you you’re controlling your future
and if you don’t change just look in the
dadgum mirror look at the last five to
ten years of your life and the next five
or ten years gonna be just like that
ain’t that depressing experiencing a
pain in your muscles and aching and just
think oh on and go on and then go on and
this last two or three or four
repetitions that’s what makes actually
the muscle then grow and that’s it
divides then one from a champion and one
from not being a champion if you can’t
go through this pain period you make it
to be a champion if you can’t go through
forget it and that’s for most people
luck is on this having the guts the guts
to go in and just say I go through and I
don’t care what happens you know it
aches and if I fall down I have no fear
of fainting in a gym because I know it’s
it could happen I threw up many times
father was working out but it doesn’t
matter because it’s all worth it
another key to building this winning
edge in this mental toughness is you’ve
got to become a dreamer
again you’re not a Methodist so we just
changed ministers a few weeks ago and
our new minister came in and and the
church was just packed and the first
thing he said he says well looks like
everybody came out to see the monkey
perform and the second and second thing
out of his mouth he said for church to
be a great church you got to have a
dream if you don’t have a dream you’re
dead
and boy I sat up and I said man me and
this guy gonna get along good cuz he
knows what he’s talking about see folks
I believe in order to win you got to
feel good about yourself I I was
coaching football for seven years back
in Georgia and I had a paddle in my
coaching office and it’s about this
thick and this long and in the fatty and
I had little holes board in it so you
could really get some speed and bliss to
the little but you know when they
misbehaved and
a rule on my football team that if any
kids said I can’t if any football player
hurt I’ve heard one of my football
players said I can she got to bring him
in the coach’s office and give him three
legs and it took me about a month to get
all that thinking out of my players
every year you know and I’d have
football players knock on my door at
recess and at lunch and after school and
he said coach he said it coach he said
it and I’d make that kid bend over and
I’d give that other kid the board hit
bust him three times and folks it didn’t
take long you couldn’t create a word
game to get one of my semi kids to say I
can’t bring it home a little bit more
personal in April a little art where
we’re just this little and could
understand words every time they said I
can’t I made them do three push-ups
folks there ain’t nothing you can’t do
in America if you want too bad nah stop
doing the things that you know are wrong
that you could stop doing right so it’s
it’s a fairly it’s a fairly limited
attempt first of all we’re not going to
say that you know what the good is or
what the truth is in any ultimate sense
but we will presume that there are
things that you’re doing that for one
reason or other you know are not in your
best interests there’s something about
them that you just know you should stop
they’re kind of self evident to you
other things you’re gonna be doubtful it
about you’re not gonna know which way is
up and which way is down but there are
things that you’re doing that you know
you shouldn’t do now some of those you
won’t stop doing for whatever reason you
don’t have the discipline or maybe
there’s a secondary payoff or you don’t
believe it’s necessary or it’s too much
of a sacrifice or you’re angry or
resentful or or afraid who knows
so forget about those for now but
there’s another subset that you could
stop doing it might be little thing well
that’s fine stop doing it and see what
happens and what will happen is your
vision will clear a little bit and then
something else will pop up in your field
of apprehension that you will also know
you should stop doing and that you could
stop doing because you’ve strengthened
yourself a bit by stopping doing the
particulars stupid thing that you were
doing before that just puts you together
a little bit more and you could do that
repeatedly for for an indefinite period
of time and and
you know that doesn’t necessarily mean
that you’re going to ever be able to
formulate a clear and final picture of
what constitutes the truth and the good
but it does mean that you’ll be able to
continually move away from what’s
untruth and what’s bad leave 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 for it
art dadgummit you’re supposed to be
somebody you’re supposed to make a
difference with you lie what does the
$500,000 your person do the $50,000 your
person doesn’t do you looking outside
and study those two individuals
everything seems to be the same they
both are the same sex they both are the
same age and have 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 your person do
the $50,000 your person doesn’t do he
pays the price and a little bit more he
works hard and a little bit more he’s
loyal to the company a little bit more
he believes and 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 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 in 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 see see 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 and I said
aren’t you can’t ever be that good why
don’t you just throw in the towel and go
on 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
got an easier way in a quicker way and
another thing I found out about smart
people as they just don’t get around to
doing nothing they see somebody like art
Williams everybody says well he can’t do
it and somebody like that can’t do it
but he does it see folks I want you to
know almost everybody in America almost
does enough to win they almost get there
they almost are over the hump they
almost have it going
they almost in everything they do almost
as 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 and finish 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 it all right if I
could just pay off this debt I could
really go great just do it my heart if I
could just say on my house do it but how
is he selling do it anyway
I’m not making any money what can I do
you just do it
let do what art you do it and do it and
do it all right I can’t you imma win
this contest
SuperDuper just do it I’m over the hump
now watch my smoke grades just do it
hard I want to make it so bad I’m
tasting 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 all right my manager don’t
give me no help what I do you just do it
my horse you don’t understand I was mr.
everything in my former company you
don’t mean I I have to start off down at
the bottom and do it do you yep you
really got to do it hard what’s 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
have achieved something unique and how
glad they are that they didn’t quit like
everybody else and how wonderful it is
to finally be somebody they’re proud of and make a difference with their life