you come from the working-class
background that I come from I feel
guilty at ten to five if I’m not in the
office I know that might sound strange
to you but that’s a it’s there’s a work
ethic that I have to be half dead not to
not go to work it’s a kind of a work
ethic that’s built into me
yeah but nevertheless having said all
that the weekends that was it it’s over
switch off like about Friday night as
you got back from the office or from the
work or from the factory or whatever it
don’t matter what was buzzing around in
my head it was off like a light switch
and that’s it don’t let it interfere
very rarely let it interfere with the
weekend and then Monday morning bang
back on it again as if you flick the
switch on again so I think that was a
bit of discipline in that respect yeah
that if you don’t have any money start
with sweat equity meaning go work for
somebody else use your time energy to
make them money that’s what I did I’m
here at Joel Salatin my first mentors
farm and he said if you want to work for
me you can live in this little cabin and
it didn’t have a toilet what had a
bucket so and it had no heat or no water
this was my bed right here I had a bunk
beds because sometimes there’d be
another guy working and this was the
toilet the bucket I bet you can still
they change the floor there was a hole
on the floor and a bucket was underneath
nightstand here and I put a cup of water
in it to drink and we’d sleep in
sleeping bags and when I woke up it was
a always an ice ice that’s how you know
it’s cold in the more you reach over
like the whole thing goes you can’t
start out at the top you start out at
the bottom how the game goes the natural
order of things
people say listen he’s out-of-the-box
thinker he’s a businessman he’s an
entrepreneur but people that knows man I
wouldn’t say you would say I’m not
really a business plan you’re not a
businessman
no what are you I’m sure there’s
probably lots of analysts on Wall Street
who agree that I’m not a businessman
okay well what do you think you are is
it your dream to conquer the world and
make the world a better place – what is
your dream like knowledge is like magic
you know I mean like technology’s the
closest thing to magic that we have in
the real world and so I think like the
engineering creative engineering is
essentially technology development and I
guess maybe was when I scan I like one
of the Rings is my favorite book is it
yeah I throw a like what’s the closest
thing to being a wizard in the real
world and that’s like creating new
technologies okay I was I got lucky I
just stumbled and I was one of the first
people to ever use online advertising I
was in I think the second month Google
AdWords launched and there was no
YouTube videos there was no Perry
Marshall books there was there was
nothing you just kind of wasted money to
learn now we’re the most spoiled
generation everything this computer on
this phone iPhone 7 is more powerful
than the first rocket that put man on
the moon that cost billions of dollars
now we get that for under a thousand
bucks and people are still like I’m lost
yes your loss sit down and then open up
Safari and go how to do Google ads and
you’re gonna come up let’s see what I
come up with AdWords they have their own
tutorial word stream jump if I you got
some paid stuff then you have some free
stuff on HubSpot if you sit in a chair
charlie munger calls it assiduity put
your ass in a chair sit there and focus
without being you know the average
american right now the average first in
the world our attention span has dropped
to five seconds the sad news is the
average goldfish has six seconds we’re
now competing with goldfish and the
goldfish are winning so if you don’t
have asked to do it
to sit down breed there is no solution
for you you will always be poor because
you’ll always be beat by somebody who’s
willing to sit in the chair is there a
way for people to build that discipline
yes pain and that’s why I’m not a big
believer in delusion you know you asked
me one of the rewiring things we have to
do in this world I’ll tell you one you
ever heard this myth everything happens
for a reason so just accept it well
there’s kind of truth to that if I jump
off a building and break my legs yes
everything happened for a reason
the reason was gravity like that’s why
you break your legs and physics legs
brittle concrete not brittle so that but
people interpret everything happens for
a reason be like whoa I was meant to
learn from that thing and then BS read
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene one of
the most important books written in the
last century he says organisms that only
learn through trial and error lose to
organisms that can learn through other
people’s a trial and error is anybody
here we got a little live audience
anybody here ever had to be hit by a car
to learn to look both ways I did it I
kind of learned from just somebody
telling me big car two tons velocity
smash dead and I now always look both
ways so if you’re myth is that the only
way you’re gonna learn is just through
massive mistakes in trial and error you
have a read Richard Dawkins book how
does pain allow somebody to get more
disciplined okay so going back to that
myth of when you see your life and
anytime there should be pain you go no
no no no it was just how it was meant to
be
no look yourself in the mirror sometimes
and go you know why I’m not happy it’s
because I didn’t listen ten years ago
and I got in the wrong career you know
I’m not happy because I married the
wrong damn person it wasn’t meant to
happen yes everything happens for a
reason you made a bad choice but it
didn’t have to be that way and the
second you build up pain and this by the
way is not my opinion if you talk to
guys like dr. David buss
top ten most cited psychologist in
history
okay he’s one of my main mentors he told
me I said do it don’t change like we do
all this self-help videos in podcast I
said am I wasting my time he goes yeah
kind of
I said why he said well after 25 it’s
very hard to teach old dogs new tricks
by the way that’s why I’ve changed
most of my stuff targets people 18 to 25
that’s why I do snapchat and all that
because there’s hope for 18 to 25
now if you’re over 25 before you get
depressed he told me but I have good
news for you talk I said what he said
adults learn through massive trauma so
you will learn you have to let in some
trauma into your life and that’s rough
but no pain no gain like if you are 100
pounds overweight and you want to be
able to play basketball here’s my news
for you
everything happened for a reason you got
fat because you ate too much and you
didn’t exercise so welcome to the gym in
the first year is gonna be hell but that
pain hopefully will reprogram your brain
that every time you want to eat that
nasty thing go wait I don’t want to go
through that pain again so I think one
of the myths of societies we won’t let
pain in we just excuse it all the way
like nah that wasn’t meant to happen
oh you wasted 20 years of life I married
the wrong person in the wrong career no
Tom it wasn’t meant to happen
where’s the people who go you’ve you’ve
wasted 20 years and you will never get
it back you better go in your room and
cry and the truth is you only learn as
an adult unfortunately most people can
only change with massive trauma people
globally want to be like LM moss what’s
your advice of it I think that probably
they shouldn’t want to be you I think it
sounds better than it is okay yeah it’s
not as much fun being me as you’d think
I don’t know you don’t think so yeah
this definitely it could be worse for
sure but it’s I I I’m not sure I would
I’m not sure I want to be me but you
know I think advice I mean if you want
to make progress and things I think that
but the the best analytical framework
for understanding the future is physics
I’d recommend studying the the thinking
process around physics like not just not
the equations I mean the equations
certainly they’re helpful but the way of
thinking in physics is the that’s the
best framework for understanding things
that are counterintuitive and and you
know always taking the position that you
are some degree wrong and your goal is
to be less wrong over time the one of
the biggest mistakes people generally
make and I’m guilty of a two is wishful
thinking you know like you want
something to be true even if it isn’t
true
and so you ignore other things that you
ignore the real truth because of what
you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of you’re always to
some degree wrong and your goal is to be
less wrong and and solicit critical
feedback particularly from friends like
friends particularly friends if somebody
loves you they want the best for you
they don’t want to tell you the bad
things so you have to ask them okay you
know it said really I really do want to
know
and then they’ll tell you tonight
students last week honored 60 of them
from Harvard and South Dakota State I
just tell them try to find your passion
and you know I mean may not find it the
first time but you know don’t sleep walk
through life find something that you
really enjoy doing if you can do it and
not you know not everybody is lucky
enough to be able to find that but it’s
it ought to be your goal but to make ten
dollars a week more doing something that
you don’t feel good about compared to
something you’d feel good about yeah
make the change bill said something I
thought was really interesting he said
the thing you do obsessively between age
13 and 18 that’s the thing you have the
most chance of being world-class at yeah
bill said his one thing was coding what
was your one obsessed
no bill and I his father many years ago
right after we met had us a group of
about 20 right down on the sheet of
paper one word that they thought
accounted for their success and bellow
guy who may only met twice didn’t know
what the other one was writing down we
both wrote down the same word which was
focused and he was focused on software I
was focused on investments and it it
gave me a big advantage to start very
young there’s no question about it well
like I said I think if you could if you
study engineering and you figure out how
to design new things then it’s
relatively easy to start a company you
just need to get a few like-minded
people with you and and then focus on
creating a prototype the compelling
prototype as soon as possible and then
that you know there’s there’s a strong
venture capital industry in this country
that will give you funding to take
things to the next level and that that’s
all there’s to it and you might if you
know tried a few times might may or may
not succeed but I think sometimes people
fear fear starting a company too much
you know they have to say really what’s
the worst that could go wrong you know
kind of stof to death
you know you’re not gonna die of
exposure what’s worse they could go
wrong
the thing that spread across Europe and
eventually made its way to America
wearable fever also known as the Black
Death of childbed basically what was
happening is women were giving birth and
they would die within 48 hours after
giving birth this Black Death of
childbirth was the ravage of Europe and
it got worse and worse and worse over
the course of over a century in some
hospitals it was as high as 70% of women
who gave birth who would die as a result
of giving birth but this was the
Renaissance this was the time of
empirical data and science and we had
thrown away things like tradition and
mysticism these were men of science
these were doctors and these doctors and
men of science wanted to study and try
and find the reason for this black death
of childbed and so they got to work
studying and they would study the
corpses of the of the women who had died
and in the morning they would conduct
autopsies and then in the afternoon they
would go and deliver babies and finish
their rounds and it wasn’t until
somewhere in the mid 1800s that dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes father of Supreme
Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
realized that all of these doctors who
conducting autopsies in the morning who
weren’t washing their hands before they
delivered babies in the afternoon and he
pointed it out and said guys you’re the
problem and they ignored him and called
him crazy for 30 years until finally
somebody realized that if they simply
washed their hands it would go away
and that’s exactly what happened when
they started sterilizing their
instruments and washing their hands the
black death of childbed disappeared my
point is the lesson here is sometimes
you’re the problem
we’ve seen this happen all too recently
with our new men of science and
empirical studies and these men of
Finance who are smarter than the rest of
us until the thing collapsed and they
blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability
for your actions you can take all the
credit in the world for the things that
you do right as long as you also take
responsibility for the things you do
wrong it must be a balanced equation you
don’t get it one way and not the other
you get to take credit when you also
take accountability difficult choices I
have ever faced in life it was was in
2008 and I think I had a good maybe
thirty million dollars left thirty or
forty one dollars left in 2008 I had two
choices I could put it all into one
company and then the other company would
definitely die or split it between the
two companies and but if I split it
between two companies then both might
die and when you put your blood sweat
and tears into creating something a
bully something it’s like a child
[Music]
and so it’s like which one am I gonna
let one starve to death I can bring
myself to do it surprised I split the
money between two fortunately thank
goodness they’re working through how
many times you had somebody say to you
have you got a minute Bob you got a
would you think about that I read a poem
one time he 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
it I didn’t choose it but it’s up to me
to use it
I must suffer if I lose it you have a
counter PI abuser
it’s only a tiny little minute but
eternity is in it well any rate I
thought I’m going to put this on a video
I’m just gonna share 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 wife 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 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 60
but as long as I can remember redwood
saying I’ll soon begun there 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’ll soon 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 bridge and his
life was snuffed out if you had asked
him a half hour before how much sandy
had left he would have said at least a
half a century he didn’t have a half an
hour 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 at the time
somebody said to him you got a minute
well they don’t really want a minute do
you know if you’re earning $50,000 a
year and minutes 42 cents a half hours
$12.50 if we take that ahead a bit if
you’re earning $80,000 a year a minute
sixty-seven cents half hours $20
yearning a hundred and fifty thousand
dollars here got a minute and it cost a
dollar 25 a minute a half hours thirty
seven dollars and fifty cents so do 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 I’m talking fat so do
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 gonna waste the minutes
they’re gonna be productive they’re
gonna make it happen every man you first
told me that you were thinking about
tunnels and I must tell you about that
years ago okay it’s like a long time ago
like I thought you’re joking yeah it was
I was joking but it’s not because of
some epiphany that I had one day driving
on the 405 that’s how it gets called
translates and I was to him for tunnels
for years and years for probably five
years or four years at least whenever
I’d give a talk and people ask me about
what opportunities you do see in the
world I’d say tunnels did someone please
tunnels so after four or five years of
begging people to build tunnels and
still no tunnels I was like okay I wanna
build a tunnel they’re missing something
here so yes I was like basically talking
feels ears or tunnels right worked
several years and that’s it well let’s
find out what it takes the bullet tunnel
and never so started digging a tunnel I
wanted to start the tunnel from where I
could see it from my office at SpaceX so
stuff I said well let’s just cobble for
part of the parking lot across the road
so I can see if it’s if anything’s
happening or not and they renamed our
first boring machine Godot because I
finally did and and we got it going and
no making good progress
drives so for example narcissism is a
protection mechanism right so your mind
wants to tell you you’re amazing it
makes you its bitch you have to override
that and go you know what I’m not that
amazing so let me go learn from amazing
people do you have methods for people to
do that because I think that’s so
important so I tell people don’t trust
everything that your mind says certainly
don’t buy into all of your emotions just
because you have an emotion doesn’t mean
you have to act in accordance with that
but how do you help people get over that
how do they overcome that I think humans
for the most part learn by osmosis so
it’s hard to lecture people into success
but what you could do is you could
inspire people to understand this so for
example if you could if school system
could find all the 14 year olds and find
out what they admire in people right
it’s the reason I showed Lamborghinis
Ferraris it’s got a lot of young
followers and you know what 19 year old
guys like Lamborghinis and Ferraris so I
show that part of my life because then
they listen to the other stuff so first
you got to leave by inspiration this has
been proven over you cannot pound stuff
into people’s brain people actually do
the opposite when parents tell their
kids you’ve got to read
nobody reads but if I show a Lamborghini
and Ferrari which is the reward that
people want and then people go how do
you get it I said see all these books I
read them and put it then people I have
more school kids reading books I think
than anyone in history I don’t say that
cocky I’m telling you it astounds me
because all I had to do was put up a
video with Lamborghinis and so being the
bitch of your own brain the way you
learn not to be the easiest way is to be
around people who aren’t the bitch of
their own brain like Joel Salatin my
first mentor I was lucky enough right
out of high school instead of going to
college I was with him at 19 and he is
not a bitch of his brain he’s a man of
he wakes up and his life’s more like a
duty he knows his duty and whether it’s
hard or easy he plows through it so
everyday for example when he had
breakfast at 6:00 in the morning on a
farm he writes out an organized thing on
what he wants to do for the day when
you’re the bitch of your brain you go
I’m just gonna freewheel this day it’s
very it’s very hard to be organized
we’re not dogs aren’t organized you ever
see your dog organizing day so if you
wanna you can either act on the animal
side which is just a wing life or you
can operate from a sense of logic and
duty and so I learned somewhat I’m not
even as good as Joel to not be the bitch
my mind by just being around in full and
so that’s the best way find somebody
that you look at them and you go this is
a person of discipline the motivation
self motivation they don’t need external
motivation they’re motivated from within
and spend all the time you can around
most people do a lot of talking and most
people don’t put in the effort there’s
nothing you can’t accomplish in life
with the right amount of work the
challenge is you know are you willing to
do the work and the reality is most
people aren’t but that’s the opportunity
right is I mean it’s like people you
know at school most people are lazy
right they just they barely get through
it and and so that creates opportunity
look the reason I talk about social as
it gives you something to focus on but
let me step back so me you can’t focus
because let’s just face it you know
social media makes money by making you
unfocused scientists have studied how
Facebook Instagram Twitter all of these
apps have created addictions and that’s
how why the people who own them are the
richest people in the world now I use
social media so I’m not gonna say don’t
use social media it’ll practical tip for
2018 turn off all notifications on my
phone I don’t have one notification on
so if you have an iPhone go to settings
right here go scroll down and
notifications where’s my notifications
right there turn everything off look at
mine show previews never off Oh every
single one is off okay because I’m not a
sucker I use social media but social
media is not gonna use me I’ll look at
my facebook when I want to not what Mark
Zuckerberg wants me to dopamine is
released by these apps it’s literal
physical addictions created by these
again you can use social media but don’t
let it use you so just a little
practical thing turn off the damn social
media notifications Instagram won’t be
there you got to be reminded every time
someone deems you why are you to dumb
that you can’t remember that Instagram a
notification if you can’t remember it
that means it’s probably not important
so he’s the win-win situation you got
more time and less distraction so focus
in 2018 I gave you the first thing to
focus on which is your social life
you’re gonna have to focus you know I
don’t know how to draw a horse very well
but I’ll just use a square with a
and every time I try to draw people like
you’re horrible at drawing so I am
horrible so hoarse I used to have a
horse and they put these things on the
side of horses right here
they’re called blinders they don’t
really blind the horse but they the
horse can only see straight ahead and
the reason they do that is because when
you’re out on the road with a horse I
live with the Amish for two years if a
call big car comes by and the horse sees
that out of the corner of their eye they
get scared
and I actually knew a guy he was driving
along the side of road there was a cliff
on the edge that he didn’t put the
blinders on that horse to focus the
horse a big truck was coming the horse
saw and kind of went like that inside oh
no he didn’t die but he want to run off
the cliff got injured got thrown off
three four five six months
rehabilitating from their injury that’s
a good metaphor for people you need to
put your blinders on and focus straight
ahead for 2018 what do you want out of
2018 more money more happiness more time
more freedom focus that brain on that
thing you can’t be this is the average
person’s brain in one second they want
to focus on let’s say they’re trying to
improve their business well they also
think about oh I got a DM oh okay
snapchat oh my mom’s calling me oh I
wonder if you know what happened next
Game of Thrones episode focus it can be
as simple as for example make a time
when you check all your social media I
do it I check try to check it once a day
now I’m in the business of social media
so I do check a little more but my
personal side try to wake up focus and I
just go through all my half one by one
and get it out away 15 minutes you know
I I have a lot of social media followers
so it sometimes takes me a little longer
I got 13 million or something so I get a
lot of dm’s but still I’m not gonna
check them all be real why just because
you know so if you got a thousand or two
thousand followers whatever five
thousand I used to have a hundred
followers it took me 10 seconds a day
and then I don’t need to check the
average person at work is checking their
email
they said like 20 to 50 times an hour
what a waste of life man don’t waste
your life people should make new
resolutions if they’re actually watching
this video on January 1st if they’re
watching it on December 23rd
they should make December 23rd
resolutions waiting miraculously to win
the calendar flips to start making your
life better is silly at best and pisses
me off at worst and so whenever you’re
watching this
because it lives on the Internet and
thus that means you could watch this on
June 17th 2017 make a resolution every
day of your life because you only get
one app back the reason people struggle
with having a new year’s resolution and
sticking to it is because it was a
tactic to do a new year’s resolution
hence why my first answer was right
which is when you actually decide to
make a change in your life whether about
weight or job or going out with somebody
or relationships that’s when you
actually pull it off it’s religion not
tactics third thing that you got to know
is you have to have a map of success so
think about you know in the olden days
they used to bury treasure and to find
it they would have a map and if you
didn’t have that map you could spend all
the hard work all the time all the
effort all the labor you wanted you
never would find the treasure and the
school system failed us let’s just face
it elementary school junior high high
school I’m not saying all schools bad
but I’m saying there’s things that
didn’t teach us we didn’t learn the
proper tools and so we weren’t given the
map to success and that’s why so many
people are in debt and why so many
people are depressed and why so many
people have financial trouble and so
many people don’t know how to invest
their money it comes from a lack of a
map and I want to give you a map and
that’s part of why I’ve traveled to 40
or 50 countries once I was sleeping on
that couch I found a mentor Mike
Stainback one thing led to another I
began Business Network and begin to
travel I’ve been to you know New Zealand
Japan and South America Bolivia Chile
Germany all these countries around the
world where I found mentors who gave me
a map they said here ty here’s what
worked for us I remember being in
Germany with a guy who invited me and he
was you know 30 years older than me
and he laid out how he just told me we
went on a walk back to the hotel where I
was staying
I was speaking doing a little business
talk there to his staff and he said I
want to share with you what worked for
me I started at 12 years old and now I’m
70 years old and I want to show you what
worked for me Ty and I remember thinking
this guy’s giving me the map what if
they had given me that map when I was 18
years old in school life would have been
so much easier if you have the map
you’ll cut the learning curve well I
think to some degree you follow your
passions and then wait that you know you
have to hope the wave catches you I was
always interested in computers I was
always interested in software I was
always a big reader and so it wasn’t you
know which made me alert to things like
the Internet and the possibility that
you could build a bookstore online that
would have universal selection I think
everybody has their own passion their
own thing that they’re interested in
you’re very alert to the things that
that are in the sphere of influence of
that passion so your passion has led you
to change the world frankly with Amazon
but yet you’ve got Blue Origin you’ve
got business exploration is why can’t
submit like you just rest on your loss
well I you know I love what I do I have
I also have four kids I have a wife that
I love I have a lot of passions and
interests but I one of them is you know
at Amazon the rate of change is so high
and I love that I love that I love the
pace of change I love the fact that I
get to work with these smart big smart
teams
people I work with are so smart and they
all their self selected for loving to
invent on behalf of customers and so you
know it’s not do I love every moment of
every day no that’s why they call it
work there’s you know there’s always
there are things that I would that I
don’t enjoy but if I’m really objective
about it and I look at it I’m so lucky
to be working alongside all these
passionate people and I love it why
without goals are just dreams and they
ultimately fuel disappointment goals on
the road to achievement cannot be
achieved without discipline and
consistency I pray that you all put your
shoes way under the bed that night so
that you got to get on your knees in the
morning to get something you never had
you have to do something you never did
les Browns the motivational speaker he
made an analogy about this he says
imagine you’re on your deathbed and
standing around your deathbed are the
ghosts representing your unfulfilled
potential the ghosts of the ideas you
never acted on the ghosts of the talents
you didn’t use and they’re standing
around your bed angry disappointed and
upset they say we came to you because
you could have brought us to life they
say and now we have to go to the grave
together so I ask you today
how many ghosts are going to be around
your bed when your time comes there is
no ceiling for you there’s nothing you
can I don’t think there’s I mean I’ll
call our you’re silly there’s no ceiling
you know because I mean you’ve proven
that you can you can cover the whole
waterfront in terms of the kinds of
characters whether it’s a boxer or aply
Jeep or someone it was a brilliant
lawyer the whole range of stuff mm-hmm
you know with the training that I had
that’s the way we were trained you know
to play any partners there’s no such
thing as you can’t play a party Megan
I’d be right for particular part yeah
but I don’t think there’s a part I can’t
attempt to play I could at least analyze
and try to break down and put a
performance together may not be any good
yeah but I was taught one of the things
that I was taught that sticks in my mind
was a gentleman by the name of Bill ball
who was the artistic director in
American Conservatory Theater in San
Francisco and he always talked about
failing big so if you’re gonna fail fail
big and I’m like I like that for I do
too you know I’m not a fallback
mentality kind of person people would
say well you know better have another
career to fall back on I’m like I don’t
want to fall back on anything if I fall
I’m gonna fall forward I want to see
what I’m hitting or find exactly I never
understood that mentality I never
understood it I’m like I’m going that
way yeah yeah I mean if you worry about
being safe and secure and you know it’s
security
well if security is your by word then
you know you’re gonna you’re never gonna
reach out and do anything I don’t think
that’s gonna protect you you know I just
gonna give you any kind of genuine
satisfaction know if you could be
worried about that then you know it was
in other words if you’re a sailor you
would never leave port right I only care
about security there was an IQ the
question I think is an IQ question where
they had nine dots
yeah and you had to connect the dots I
think with five lines without ripping
pencil the only way you could do it was
to go outside the box yeah you know
people sit there with it go out man
that’s right you can’t do it what you
can’t nobody said you can’t go outside
the box yeah you know never give up
without commitment
you’ll never start but more importantly
without consistency you’ll never finish
it’s not easy
if it was easy there’d be no Kerry
Washington
if it was easy there’d be no taraji
Henson Pete ensign if it were easy
there’d be no Octavia Spencer but not
only that if it were easy there’d be no
Viola Davis they very easy there’d be no
Michael T Williamson no Steven McKinley
Henderson no Russell Hornsby it more
easy there’d be no Denzel Washington so
keep working keep striving never give up
fall down seven times get up eight ease
is a greater threat to progress than
hardship I found that nothing in life is
worthwhile unless you take risks nothing
Nelson Mandela said there is no passion
to be found playing small and settling
for a life that’s less than the one
you’re capable of living now I’m sure in
your experiences in school and applying
to college and picking your major and
deciding what you want to do with life
I’m sure people that told you to make
sure you have something to fall back on
make sure you got something to fall back
on honey but I never understood that
concept having something to fall back on
if I’m going to fall I don’t want to
fall back on anything except my faith I
want to fall forward I figure at least
fall forward this is what I mean
Reggie Jackson struck out 26 hundred
times in his career the most in the
history of baseball but you don’t hear
about the strikeouts people remember the
homeruns Thomas Edison kentuc mm failed
experiments did you know that I didn’t
know that because the 1,000 and first
was the light bulb forward every failed
good when you get it to aspire to make a
difference you’ll see what I mean about
taking risk or being willing to fail
because taking risk is not just about
going for a job it’s also about knowing
what you know and what you don’t know
it’s about being open to people and to
ideas in the course of the film the
character I play begins to take small
steps small risks he’s very very very
slowly begins to overcome his fear you
don’t pay a lot attention to reviews and
those kind of things well you know
you’re always affected by opinion but
the more opinions there are of you the
me the more I the less I look at them
because I just can’t live my life based
upon what other people think about me so
I can’t concern myself too much with
what other people think you know it’s
just not healthy I don’t think I can I
could continue to do what I do if I was
constantly worrying about what somebody
thought about it you hear often
black actors black movies don’t play
well overseas is that the truth or is
that an excuse everything
and what I hear keeps changing because
they used to say it didn’t sell over
here and it does Danny say it doesn’t
sell in the south and it does well there
doesn’t sell in Europe and it does so I
just keep pushing it well what an
opportunity I have to prove them wrong I
didn’t get the job but here’s the thing
I didn’t quit
I didn’t fall back I walked out of there
to prepare for the next audition and the
next audition and the next audition I
pray I pray and I pray but I continue to
fail and fail and fail but it didn’t
matter because you know what there’s an
old saying you hang around the
barbershop long enough sooner or later
you’re gonna get a haircut so you will
catch a break and I did catch a break
last year
I did a play called fences on Broadway
someone talked about it won the Tony
Award and I didn’t have to sing by the
way but here’s the kicker it was at the
Court Theatre it was at the same theatre
that I failed that first audition thirty
years prior the point is and I’ll pick
up the pace the point is every graduate
here today has the training and the
talent to succeed but do you have the
guts to fail I’ve been the guy at the
Oscars without my name being called I’ve
been the guy at Oscars when my name is
call I’ve been the guy at the Oscars
when everybody thought it was wrong call
my name and he didn’t God lived it so
what would you say to the people who are
looking at this process and saying it’s
unfair yeah and so what give up you’re
looking for an excuse you’ll find one in
race you can find it wherever you like
you can’t live like that you just do the
best you can do
yeah I tried everything yeah
professional yeah I was pre-med in
college then I said I’d be adopted and I
was political science I said I’d be a
lawyer then I studied journalism so I
actually was working my way toward the
arts without realizing that’s why I told
my children a liberal arts education is
okay you don’t have to know at 17 I was
17 when I started college you don’t have
to know at 17 what you’re gonna do the
rest of your life so I worked it out I
found my way to this theatre I started
with you Eugene O’Neill’s M for Joan I
had a real momentum going from college
on through all these roles and plays
that I just mentioned right up until
doing Carbon Copy in 1980-81 and I
didn’t get any work for about six months
and I thought okay
it’s always work at the post I better go
back down to the City Council meeting
and but I got a small play a one-act
play about two guys when the name
Malcolm and the other named Elijah I was
even saying Elijah when I first met I’m
looking good big big big role and that
really jump started my career again
because the play went over very well we
did it down at the new federal theater
huge street settlement and that lead I
went right from that plate to a
soldier’s play off Broadway and right
from a soldier’s plate to say now’s
where you will fail at some point in
your life except you will lose you will
embarrass yourself you will suck at
something there’s no doubt about it and
I know that’s probably not a traditional
message for a graduation ceremony but a
I’m telling you embrace it because it’s
inevitable well I’m an ordinary man with
an extraordinary job right not the other
way around so it’s all gravy for me you
know when I was younger I used to coach
a lot mm-hmm
and nothing me is you coach kids sports
nothing made me happier than seeing
other people do well well that’s sort of
my nature and it and directing was the
perfect job for that because I love
seeing others do well I mean I’m okay I
did pretty good I’m good I’ve done all
right but to see others do what you know
they’re what they’re capable of gives me
great joy to not only take risks but to
be open to life to accept new views and
to be open to new opinions to be willing
to speak out of commencement at one of
the best country best universities in
the country even though you’re scared
stiff well it may be frightening
it will also be rewarding because the
chances you take the people you meet the
people you love the faith that you have
that’s what’s going to define you so
members of the class of 2011 this is
your mission when you leave the friendly
confines of Philly never be discouraged
never hold back give everything you’ve
got and when you fall throughout life
and maybe even tonight after a few many
glasses of champagne
remember this fall forward
congratulations
I love you god bless you I respect [Applause]
background that I come from I feel
guilty at ten to five if I’m not in the
office I know that might sound strange
to you but that’s a it’s there’s a work
ethic that I have to be half dead not to
not go to work it’s a kind of a work
ethic that’s built into me
yeah but nevertheless having said all
that the weekends that was it it’s over
switch off like about Friday night as
you got back from the office or from the
work or from the factory or whatever it
don’t matter what was buzzing around in
my head it was off like a light switch
and that’s it don’t let it interfere
very rarely let it interfere with the
weekend and then Monday morning bang
back on it again as if you flick the
switch on again so I think that was a
bit of discipline in that respect yeah
that if you don’t have any money start
with sweat equity meaning go work for
somebody else use your time energy to
make them money that’s what I did I’m
here at Joel Salatin my first mentors
farm and he said if you want to work for
me you can live in this little cabin and
it didn’t have a toilet what had a
bucket so and it had no heat or no water
this was my bed right here I had a bunk
beds because sometimes there’d be
another guy working and this was the
toilet the bucket I bet you can still
they change the floor there was a hole
on the floor and a bucket was underneath
nightstand here and I put a cup of water
in it to drink and we’d sleep in
sleeping bags and when I woke up it was
a always an ice ice that’s how you know
it’s cold in the more you reach over
like the whole thing goes you can’t
start out at the top you start out at
the bottom how the game goes the natural
order of things
people say listen he’s out-of-the-box
thinker he’s a businessman he’s an
entrepreneur but people that knows man I
wouldn’t say you would say I’m not
really a business plan you’re not a
businessman
no what are you I’m sure there’s
probably lots of analysts on Wall Street
who agree that I’m not a businessman
okay well what do you think you are is
it your dream to conquer the world and
make the world a better place – what is
your dream like knowledge is like magic
you know I mean like technology’s the
closest thing to magic that we have in
the real world and so I think like the
engineering creative engineering is
essentially technology development and I
guess maybe was when I scan I like one
of the Rings is my favorite book is it
yeah I throw a like what’s the closest
thing to being a wizard in the real
world and that’s like creating new
technologies okay I was I got lucky I
just stumbled and I was one of the first
people to ever use online advertising I
was in I think the second month Google
AdWords launched and there was no
YouTube videos there was no Perry
Marshall books there was there was
nothing you just kind of wasted money to
learn now we’re the most spoiled
generation everything this computer on
this phone iPhone 7 is more powerful
than the first rocket that put man on
the moon that cost billions of dollars
now we get that for under a thousand
bucks and people are still like I’m lost
yes your loss sit down and then open up
Safari and go how to do Google ads and
you’re gonna come up let’s see what I
come up with AdWords they have their own
tutorial word stream jump if I you got
some paid stuff then you have some free
stuff on HubSpot if you sit in a chair
charlie munger calls it assiduity put
your ass in a chair sit there and focus
without being you know the average
american right now the average first in
the world our attention span has dropped
to five seconds the sad news is the
average goldfish has six seconds we’re
now competing with goldfish and the
goldfish are winning so if you don’t
have asked to do it
to sit down breed there is no solution
for you you will always be poor because
you’ll always be beat by somebody who’s
willing to sit in the chair is there a
way for people to build that discipline
yes pain and that’s why I’m not a big
believer in delusion you know you asked
me one of the rewiring things we have to
do in this world I’ll tell you one you
ever heard this myth everything happens
for a reason so just accept it well
there’s kind of truth to that if I jump
off a building and break my legs yes
everything happened for a reason
the reason was gravity like that’s why
you break your legs and physics legs
brittle concrete not brittle so that but
people interpret everything happens for
a reason be like whoa I was meant to
learn from that thing and then BS read
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene one of
the most important books written in the
last century he says organisms that only
learn through trial and error lose to
organisms that can learn through other
people’s a trial and error is anybody
here we got a little live audience
anybody here ever had to be hit by a car
to learn to look both ways I did it I
kind of learned from just somebody
telling me big car two tons velocity
smash dead and I now always look both
ways so if you’re myth is that the only
way you’re gonna learn is just through
massive mistakes in trial and error you
have a read Richard Dawkins book how
does pain allow somebody to get more
disciplined okay so going back to that
myth of when you see your life and
anytime there should be pain you go no
no no no it was just how it was meant to
be
no look yourself in the mirror sometimes
and go you know why I’m not happy it’s
because I didn’t listen ten years ago
and I got in the wrong career you know
I’m not happy because I married the
wrong damn person it wasn’t meant to
happen yes everything happens for a
reason you made a bad choice but it
didn’t have to be that way and the
second you build up pain and this by the
way is not my opinion if you talk to
guys like dr. David buss
top ten most cited psychologist in
history
okay he’s one of my main mentors he told
me I said do it don’t change like we do
all this self-help videos in podcast I
said am I wasting my time he goes yeah
kind of
I said why he said well after 25 it’s
very hard to teach old dogs new tricks
by the way that’s why I’ve changed
most of my stuff targets people 18 to 25
that’s why I do snapchat and all that
because there’s hope for 18 to 25
now if you’re over 25 before you get
depressed he told me but I have good
news for you talk I said what he said
adults learn through massive trauma so
you will learn you have to let in some
trauma into your life and that’s rough
but no pain no gain like if you are 100
pounds overweight and you want to be
able to play basketball here’s my news
for you
everything happened for a reason you got
fat because you ate too much and you
didn’t exercise so welcome to the gym in
the first year is gonna be hell but that
pain hopefully will reprogram your brain
that every time you want to eat that
nasty thing go wait I don’t want to go
through that pain again so I think one
of the myths of societies we won’t let
pain in we just excuse it all the way
like nah that wasn’t meant to happen
oh you wasted 20 years of life I married
the wrong person in the wrong career no
Tom it wasn’t meant to happen
where’s the people who go you’ve you’ve
wasted 20 years and you will never get
it back you better go in your room and
cry and the truth is you only learn as
an adult unfortunately most people can
only change with massive trauma people
globally want to be like LM moss what’s
your advice of it I think that probably
they shouldn’t want to be you I think it
sounds better than it is okay yeah it’s
not as much fun being me as you’d think
I don’t know you don’t think so yeah
this definitely it could be worse for
sure but it’s I I I’m not sure I would
I’m not sure I want to be me but you
know I think advice I mean if you want
to make progress and things I think that
but the the best analytical framework
for understanding the future is physics
I’d recommend studying the the thinking
process around physics like not just not
the equations I mean the equations
certainly they’re helpful but the way of
thinking in physics is the that’s the
best framework for understanding things
that are counterintuitive and and you
know always taking the position that you
are some degree wrong and your goal is
to be less wrong over time the one of
the biggest mistakes people generally
make and I’m guilty of a two is wishful
thinking you know like you want
something to be true even if it isn’t
true
and so you ignore other things that you
ignore the real truth because of what
you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of you’re always to
some degree wrong and your goal is to be
less wrong and and solicit critical
feedback particularly from friends like
friends particularly friends if somebody
loves you they want the best for you
they don’t want to tell you the bad
things so you have to ask them okay you
know it said really I really do want to
know
and then they’ll tell you tonight
students last week honored 60 of them
from Harvard and South Dakota State I
just tell them try to find your passion
and you know I mean may not find it the
first time but you know don’t sleep walk
through life find something that you
really enjoy doing if you can do it and
not you know not everybody is lucky
enough to be able to find that but it’s
it ought to be your goal but to make ten
dollars a week more doing something that
you don’t feel good about compared to
something you’d feel good about yeah
make the change bill said something I
thought was really interesting he said
the thing you do obsessively between age
13 and 18 that’s the thing you have the
most chance of being world-class at yeah
bill said his one thing was coding what
was your one obsessed
no bill and I his father many years ago
right after we met had us a group of
about 20 right down on the sheet of
paper one word that they thought
accounted for their success and bellow
guy who may only met twice didn’t know
what the other one was writing down we
both wrote down the same word which was
focused and he was focused on software I
was focused on investments and it it
gave me a big advantage to start very
young there’s no question about it well
like I said I think if you could if you
study engineering and you figure out how
to design new things then it’s
relatively easy to start a company you
just need to get a few like-minded
people with you and and then focus on
creating a prototype the compelling
prototype as soon as possible and then
that you know there’s there’s a strong
venture capital industry in this country
that will give you funding to take
things to the next level and that that’s
all there’s to it and you might if you
know tried a few times might may or may
not succeed but I think sometimes people
fear fear starting a company too much
you know they have to say really what’s
the worst that could go wrong you know
kind of stof to death
you know you’re not gonna die of
exposure what’s worse they could go
wrong
the thing that spread across Europe and
eventually made its way to America
wearable fever also known as the Black
Death of childbed basically what was
happening is women were giving birth and
they would die within 48 hours after
giving birth this Black Death of
childbirth was the ravage of Europe and
it got worse and worse and worse over
the course of over a century in some
hospitals it was as high as 70% of women
who gave birth who would die as a result
of giving birth but this was the
Renaissance this was the time of
empirical data and science and we had
thrown away things like tradition and
mysticism these were men of science
these were doctors and these doctors and
men of science wanted to study and try
and find the reason for this black death
of childbed and so they got to work
studying and they would study the
corpses of the of the women who had died
and in the morning they would conduct
autopsies and then in the afternoon they
would go and deliver babies and finish
their rounds and it wasn’t until
somewhere in the mid 1800s that dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes father of Supreme
Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
realized that all of these doctors who
conducting autopsies in the morning who
weren’t washing their hands before they
delivered babies in the afternoon and he
pointed it out and said guys you’re the
problem and they ignored him and called
him crazy for 30 years until finally
somebody realized that if they simply
washed their hands it would go away
and that’s exactly what happened when
they started sterilizing their
instruments and washing their hands the
black death of childbed disappeared my
point is the lesson here is sometimes
you’re the problem
we’ve seen this happen all too recently
with our new men of science and
empirical studies and these men of
Finance who are smarter than the rest of
us until the thing collapsed and they
blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability
for your actions you can take all the
credit in the world for the things that
you do right as long as you also take
responsibility for the things you do
wrong it must be a balanced equation you
don’t get it one way and not the other
you get to take credit when you also
take accountability difficult choices I
have ever faced in life it was was in
2008 and I think I had a good maybe
thirty million dollars left thirty or
forty one dollars left in 2008 I had two
choices I could put it all into one
company and then the other company would
definitely die or split it between the
two companies and but if I split it
between two companies then both might
die and when you put your blood sweat
and tears into creating something a
bully something it’s like a child
[Music]
and so it’s like which one am I gonna
let one starve to death I can bring
myself to do it surprised I split the
money between two fortunately thank
goodness they’re working through how
many times you had somebody say to you
have you got a minute Bob you got a
would you think about that I read a poem
one time he 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
it I didn’t choose it but it’s up to me
to use it
I must suffer if I lose it you have a
counter PI abuser
it’s only a tiny little minute but
eternity is in it well any rate I
thought I’m going to put this on a video
I’m just gonna share 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 wife 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 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 60
but as long as I can remember redwood
saying I’ll soon begun there 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’ll soon 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 bridge and his
life was snuffed out if you had asked
him a half hour before how much sandy
had left he would have said at least a
half a century he didn’t have a half an
hour 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 at the time
somebody said to him you got a minute
well they don’t really want a minute do
you know if you’re earning $50,000 a
year and minutes 42 cents a half hours
$12.50 if we take that ahead a bit if
you’re earning $80,000 a year a minute
sixty-seven cents half hours $20
yearning a hundred and fifty thousand
dollars here got a minute and it cost a
dollar 25 a minute a half hours thirty
seven dollars and fifty cents so do 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 I’m talking fat so do
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 gonna waste the minutes
they’re gonna be productive they’re
gonna make it happen every man you first
told me that you were thinking about
tunnels and I must tell you about that
years ago okay it’s like a long time ago
like I thought you’re joking yeah it was
I was joking but it’s not because of
some epiphany that I had one day driving
on the 405 that’s how it gets called
translates and I was to him for tunnels
for years and years for probably five
years or four years at least whenever
I’d give a talk and people ask me about
what opportunities you do see in the
world I’d say tunnels did someone please
tunnels so after four or five years of
begging people to build tunnels and
still no tunnels I was like okay I wanna
build a tunnel they’re missing something
here so yes I was like basically talking
feels ears or tunnels right worked
several years and that’s it well let’s
find out what it takes the bullet tunnel
and never so started digging a tunnel I
wanted to start the tunnel from where I
could see it from my office at SpaceX so
stuff I said well let’s just cobble for
part of the parking lot across the road
so I can see if it’s if anything’s
happening or not and they renamed our
first boring machine Godot because I
finally did and and we got it going and
no making good progress
drives so for example narcissism is a
protection mechanism right so your mind
wants to tell you you’re amazing it
makes you its bitch you have to override
that and go you know what I’m not that
amazing so let me go learn from amazing
people do you have methods for people to
do that because I think that’s so
important so I tell people don’t trust
everything that your mind says certainly
don’t buy into all of your emotions just
because you have an emotion doesn’t mean
you have to act in accordance with that
but how do you help people get over that
how do they overcome that I think humans
for the most part learn by osmosis so
it’s hard to lecture people into success
but what you could do is you could
inspire people to understand this so for
example if you could if school system
could find all the 14 year olds and find
out what they admire in people right
it’s the reason I showed Lamborghinis
Ferraris it’s got a lot of young
followers and you know what 19 year old
guys like Lamborghinis and Ferraris so I
show that part of my life because then
they listen to the other stuff so first
you got to leave by inspiration this has
been proven over you cannot pound stuff
into people’s brain people actually do
the opposite when parents tell their
kids you’ve got to read
nobody reads but if I show a Lamborghini
and Ferrari which is the reward that
people want and then people go how do
you get it I said see all these books I
read them and put it then people I have
more school kids reading books I think
than anyone in history I don’t say that
cocky I’m telling you it astounds me
because all I had to do was put up a
video with Lamborghinis and so being the
bitch of your own brain the way you
learn not to be the easiest way is to be
around people who aren’t the bitch of
their own brain like Joel Salatin my
first mentor I was lucky enough right
out of high school instead of going to
college I was with him at 19 and he is
not a bitch of his brain he’s a man of
he wakes up and his life’s more like a
duty he knows his duty and whether it’s
hard or easy he plows through it so
everyday for example when he had
breakfast at 6:00 in the morning on a
farm he writes out an organized thing on
what he wants to do for the day when
you’re the bitch of your brain you go
I’m just gonna freewheel this day it’s
very it’s very hard to be organized
we’re not dogs aren’t organized you ever
see your dog organizing day so if you
wanna you can either act on the animal
side which is just a wing life or you
can operate from a sense of logic and
duty and so I learned somewhat I’m not
even as good as Joel to not be the bitch
my mind by just being around in full and
so that’s the best way find somebody
that you look at them and you go this is
a person of discipline the motivation
self motivation they don’t need external
motivation they’re motivated from within
and spend all the time you can around
most people do a lot of talking and most
people don’t put in the effort there’s
nothing you can’t accomplish in life
with the right amount of work the
challenge is you know are you willing to
do the work and the reality is most
people aren’t but that’s the opportunity
right is I mean it’s like people you
know at school most people are lazy
right they just they barely get through
it and and so that creates opportunity
look the reason I talk about social as
it gives you something to focus on but
let me step back so me you can’t focus
because let’s just face it you know
social media makes money by making you
unfocused scientists have studied how
Facebook Instagram Twitter all of these
apps have created addictions and that’s
how why the people who own them are the
richest people in the world now I use
social media so I’m not gonna say don’t
use social media it’ll practical tip for
2018 turn off all notifications on my
phone I don’t have one notification on
so if you have an iPhone go to settings
right here go scroll down and
notifications where’s my notifications
right there turn everything off look at
mine show previews never off Oh every
single one is off okay because I’m not a
sucker I use social media but social
media is not gonna use me I’ll look at
my facebook when I want to not what Mark
Zuckerberg wants me to dopamine is
released by these apps it’s literal
physical addictions created by these
again you can use social media but don’t
let it use you so just a little
practical thing turn off the damn social
media notifications Instagram won’t be
there you got to be reminded every time
someone deems you why are you to dumb
that you can’t remember that Instagram a
notification if you can’t remember it
that means it’s probably not important
so he’s the win-win situation you got
more time and less distraction so focus
in 2018 I gave you the first thing to
focus on which is your social life
you’re gonna have to focus you know I
don’t know how to draw a horse very well
but I’ll just use a square with a
and every time I try to draw people like
you’re horrible at drawing so I am
horrible so hoarse I used to have a
horse and they put these things on the
side of horses right here
they’re called blinders they don’t
really blind the horse but they the
horse can only see straight ahead and
the reason they do that is because when
you’re out on the road with a horse I
live with the Amish for two years if a
call big car comes by and the horse sees
that out of the corner of their eye they
get scared
and I actually knew a guy he was driving
along the side of road there was a cliff
on the edge that he didn’t put the
blinders on that horse to focus the
horse a big truck was coming the horse
saw and kind of went like that inside oh
no he didn’t die but he want to run off
the cliff got injured got thrown off
three four five six months
rehabilitating from their injury that’s
a good metaphor for people you need to
put your blinders on and focus straight
ahead for 2018 what do you want out of
2018 more money more happiness more time
more freedom focus that brain on that
thing you can’t be this is the average
person’s brain in one second they want
to focus on let’s say they’re trying to
improve their business well they also
think about oh I got a DM oh okay
snapchat oh my mom’s calling me oh I
wonder if you know what happened next
Game of Thrones episode focus it can be
as simple as for example make a time
when you check all your social media I
do it I check try to check it once a day
now I’m in the business of social media
so I do check a little more but my
personal side try to wake up focus and I
just go through all my half one by one
and get it out away 15 minutes you know
I I have a lot of social media followers
so it sometimes takes me a little longer
I got 13 million or something so I get a
lot of dm’s but still I’m not gonna
check them all be real why just because
you know so if you got a thousand or two
thousand followers whatever five
thousand I used to have a hundred
followers it took me 10 seconds a day
and then I don’t need to check the
average person at work is checking their
they said like 20 to 50 times an hour
what a waste of life man don’t waste
your life people should make new
resolutions if they’re actually watching
this video on January 1st if they’re
watching it on December 23rd
they should make December 23rd
resolutions waiting miraculously to win
the calendar flips to start making your
life better is silly at best and pisses
me off at worst and so whenever you’re
watching this
because it lives on the Internet and
thus that means you could watch this on
June 17th 2017 make a resolution every
day of your life because you only get
one app back the reason people struggle
with having a new year’s resolution and
sticking to it is because it was a
tactic to do a new year’s resolution
hence why my first answer was right
which is when you actually decide to
make a change in your life whether about
weight or job or going out with somebody
or relationships that’s when you
actually pull it off it’s religion not
tactics third thing that you got to know
is you have to have a map of success so
think about you know in the olden days
they used to bury treasure and to find
it they would have a map and if you
didn’t have that map you could spend all
the hard work all the time all the
effort all the labor you wanted you
never would find the treasure and the
school system failed us let’s just face
it elementary school junior high high
school I’m not saying all schools bad
but I’m saying there’s things that
didn’t teach us we didn’t learn the
proper tools and so we weren’t given the
map to success and that’s why so many
people are in debt and why so many
people are depressed and why so many
people have financial trouble and so
many people don’t know how to invest
their money it comes from a lack of a
map and I want to give you a map and
that’s part of why I’ve traveled to 40
or 50 countries once I was sleeping on
that couch I found a mentor Mike
Stainback one thing led to another I
began Business Network and begin to
travel I’ve been to you know New Zealand
Japan and South America Bolivia Chile
Germany all these countries around the
world where I found mentors who gave me
a map they said here ty here’s what
worked for us I remember being in
Germany with a guy who invited me and he
was you know 30 years older than me
and he laid out how he just told me we
went on a walk back to the hotel where I
was staying
I was speaking doing a little business
talk there to his staff and he said I
want to share with you what worked for
me I started at 12 years old and now I’m
70 years old and I want to show you what
worked for me Ty and I remember thinking
this guy’s giving me the map what if
they had given me that map when I was 18
years old in school life would have been
so much easier if you have the map
you’ll cut the learning curve well I
think to some degree you follow your
passions and then wait that you know you
have to hope the wave catches you I was
always interested in computers I was
always interested in software I was
always a big reader and so it wasn’t you
know which made me alert to things like
the Internet and the possibility that
you could build a bookstore online that
would have universal selection I think
everybody has their own passion their
own thing that they’re interested in
you’re very alert to the things that
that are in the sphere of influence of
that passion so your passion has led you
to change the world frankly with Amazon
but yet you’ve got Blue Origin you’ve
got business exploration is why can’t
submit like you just rest on your loss
well I you know I love what I do I have
I also have four kids I have a wife that
I love I have a lot of passions and
interests but I one of them is you know
at Amazon the rate of change is so high
and I love that I love that I love the
pace of change I love the fact that I
get to work with these smart big smart
teams
people I work with are so smart and they
all their self selected for loving to
invent on behalf of customers and so you
know it’s not do I love every moment of
every day no that’s why they call it
work there’s you know there’s always
there are things that I would that I
don’t enjoy but if I’m really objective
about it and I look at it I’m so lucky
to be working alongside all these
passionate people and I love it why
without goals are just dreams and they
ultimately fuel disappointment goals on
the road to achievement cannot be
achieved without discipline and
consistency I pray that you all put your
shoes way under the bed that night so
that you got to get on your knees in the
morning to get something you never had
you have to do something you never did
les Browns the motivational speaker he
made an analogy about this he says
imagine you’re on your deathbed and
standing around your deathbed are the
ghosts representing your unfulfilled
potential the ghosts of the ideas you
never acted on the ghosts of the talents
you didn’t use and they’re standing
around your bed angry disappointed and
upset they say we came to you because
you could have brought us to life they
say and now we have to go to the grave
together so I ask you today
how many ghosts are going to be around
your bed when your time comes there is
no ceiling for you there’s nothing you
can I don’t think there’s I mean I’ll
call our you’re silly there’s no ceiling
you know because I mean you’ve proven
that you can you can cover the whole
waterfront in terms of the kinds of
characters whether it’s a boxer or aply
Jeep or someone it was a brilliant
lawyer the whole range of stuff mm-hmm
you know with the training that I had
that’s the way we were trained you know
to play any partners there’s no such
thing as you can’t play a party Megan
I’d be right for particular part yeah
but I don’t think there’s a part I can’t
attempt to play I could at least analyze
and try to break down and put a
performance together may not be any good
yeah but I was taught one of the things
that I was taught that sticks in my mind
was a gentleman by the name of Bill ball
who was the artistic director in
American Conservatory Theater in San
Francisco and he always talked about
failing big so if you’re gonna fail fail
big and I’m like I like that for I do
too you know I’m not a fallback
mentality kind of person people would
say well you know better have another
career to fall back on I’m like I don’t
want to fall back on anything if I fall
I’m gonna fall forward I want to see
what I’m hitting or find exactly I never
understood that mentality I never
understood it I’m like I’m going that
way yeah yeah I mean if you worry about
being safe and secure and you know it’s
security
well if security is your by word then
you know you’re gonna you’re never gonna
reach out and do anything I don’t think
that’s gonna protect you you know I just
gonna give you any kind of genuine
satisfaction know if you could be
worried about that then you know it was
in other words if you’re a sailor you
would never leave port right I only care
about security there was an IQ the
question I think is an IQ question where
they had nine dots
yeah and you had to connect the dots I
think with five lines without ripping
pencil the only way you could do it was
to go outside the box yeah you know
people sit there with it go out man
that’s right you can’t do it what you
can’t nobody said you can’t go outside
the box yeah you know never give up
without commitment
you’ll never start but more importantly
without consistency you’ll never finish
it’s not easy
if it was easy there’d be no Kerry
Washington
if it was easy there’d be no taraji
Henson Pete ensign if it were easy
there’d be no Octavia Spencer but not
only that if it were easy there’d be no
Viola Davis they very easy there’d be no
Michael T Williamson no Steven McKinley
Henderson no Russell Hornsby it more
easy there’d be no Denzel Washington so
keep working keep striving never give up
fall down seven times get up eight ease
is a greater threat to progress than
hardship I found that nothing in life is
worthwhile unless you take risks nothing
Nelson Mandela said there is no passion
to be found playing small and settling
for a life that’s less than the one
you’re capable of living now I’m sure in
your experiences in school and applying
to college and picking your major and
deciding what you want to do with life
I’m sure people that told you to make
sure you have something to fall back on
make sure you got something to fall back
on honey but I never understood that
concept having something to fall back on
if I’m going to fall I don’t want to
fall back on anything except my faith I
want to fall forward I figure at least
fall forward this is what I mean
Reggie Jackson struck out 26 hundred
times in his career the most in the
history of baseball but you don’t hear
about the strikeouts people remember the
homeruns Thomas Edison kentuc mm failed
experiments did you know that I didn’t
know that because the 1,000 and first
was the light bulb forward every failed
good when you get it to aspire to make a
difference you’ll see what I mean about
taking risk or being willing to fail
because taking risk is not just about
going for a job it’s also about knowing
what you know and what you don’t know
it’s about being open to people and to
ideas in the course of the film the
character I play begins to take small
steps small risks he’s very very very
slowly begins to overcome his fear you
don’t pay a lot attention to reviews and
those kind of things well you know
you’re always affected by opinion but
the more opinions there are of you the
me the more I the less I look at them
because I just can’t live my life based
upon what other people think about me so
I can’t concern myself too much with
what other people think you know it’s
just not healthy I don’t think I can I
could continue to do what I do if I was
constantly worrying about what somebody
thought about it you hear often
black actors black movies don’t play
well overseas is that the truth or is
that an excuse everything
and what I hear keeps changing because
they used to say it didn’t sell over
here and it does Danny say it doesn’t
sell in the south and it does well there
doesn’t sell in Europe and it does so I
just keep pushing it well what an
opportunity I have to prove them wrong I
didn’t get the job but here’s the thing
I didn’t quit
I didn’t fall back I walked out of there
to prepare for the next audition and the
next audition and the next audition I
pray I pray and I pray but I continue to
fail and fail and fail but it didn’t
matter because you know what there’s an
old saying you hang around the
barbershop long enough sooner or later
you’re gonna get a haircut so you will
catch a break and I did catch a break
last year
I did a play called fences on Broadway
someone talked about it won the Tony
Award and I didn’t have to sing by the
way but here’s the kicker it was at the
Court Theatre it was at the same theatre
that I failed that first audition thirty
years prior the point is and I’ll pick
up the pace the point is every graduate
here today has the training and the
talent to succeed but do you have the
guts to fail I’ve been the guy at the
Oscars without my name being called I’ve
been the guy at Oscars when my name is
call I’ve been the guy at the Oscars
when everybody thought it was wrong call
my name and he didn’t God lived it so
what would you say to the people who are
looking at this process and saying it’s
unfair yeah and so what give up you’re
looking for an excuse you’ll find one in
race you can find it wherever you like
you can’t live like that you just do the
best you can do
yeah I tried everything yeah
professional yeah I was pre-med in
college then I said I’d be adopted and I
was political science I said I’d be a
lawyer then I studied journalism so I
actually was working my way toward the
arts without realizing that’s why I told
my children a liberal arts education is
okay you don’t have to know at 17 I was
17 when I started college you don’t have
to know at 17 what you’re gonna do the
rest of your life so I worked it out I
found my way to this theatre I started
with you Eugene O’Neill’s M for Joan I
had a real momentum going from college
on through all these roles and plays
that I just mentioned right up until
doing Carbon Copy in 1980-81 and I
didn’t get any work for about six months
and I thought okay
it’s always work at the post I better go
back down to the City Council meeting
and but I got a small play a one-act
play about two guys when the name
Malcolm and the other named Elijah I was
even saying Elijah when I first met I’m
looking good big big big role and that
really jump started my career again
because the play went over very well we
did it down at the new federal theater
huge street settlement and that lead I
went right from that plate to a
soldier’s play off Broadway and right
from a soldier’s plate to say now’s
where you will fail at some point in
your life except you will lose you will
embarrass yourself you will suck at
something there’s no doubt about it and
I know that’s probably not a traditional
message for a graduation ceremony but a
I’m telling you embrace it because it’s
inevitable well I’m an ordinary man with
an extraordinary job right not the other
way around so it’s all gravy for me you
know when I was younger I used to coach
a lot mm-hmm
and nothing me is you coach kids sports
nothing made me happier than seeing
other people do well well that’s sort of
my nature and it and directing was the
perfect job for that because I love
seeing others do well I mean I’m okay I
did pretty good I’m good I’ve done all
right but to see others do what you know
they’re what they’re capable of gives me
great joy to not only take risks but to
be open to life to accept new views and
to be open to new opinions to be willing
to speak out of commencement at one of
the best country best universities in
the country even though you’re scared
stiff well it may be frightening
it will also be rewarding because the
chances you take the people you meet the
people you love the faith that you have
that’s what’s going to define you so
members of the class of 2011 this is
your mission when you leave the friendly
confines of Philly never be discouraged
never hold back give everything you’ve
got and when you fall throughout life
and maybe even tonight after a few many
glasses of champagne
remember this fall forward
congratulations
I love you god bless you I respect [Applause]
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