hello believe nation I started the meant
to me series with the goal to learn from
people who’ve done more than us to hang
around them just a little bit longer and
hope some of their ideas mindsets way of
thinking seeps into us to help us be the
best version of ourselves so today we’re
going to learn from Chris Gardner on
staying motivated as Chris is talking if
he says helping that really inspires you
leave it in the comments below and put
quotes around that so that other people
can be inspired as well I was mentioned
spiritual genetics to Oprah Winfrey and
a conversation and she calls me the very
next day as she asked what have you been
reading I’ve never heard about that
I had to tell her I haven’t been reading
I’ve been writing as a matter of fact
that’s the subject of my my new book
that I’m working on right now we all
understand genetics you’re going to get
your mother’s eyes your father’s nose
and there’s nothing that you could do
about it but the spirit of who you’re
going to become as a man or a woman I
believe that you can choose it is indeed
biblical scripture tells us that we are
all born with a spirit that allows us to
embrace God whatever you perceive God to
be well that same spirit can be beamed
down at the darkness I don’t know how
many of you all read my first book the
pursuit of happiness but those of you
who did you met my stepfather and they
were full who will say I could have
become him I could have become another
alcoholic wife-beating child abuse an
illiterate loser and a lot of people
would have said well look where he’s
from he didn’t have a choice
well I did have a choice I saw the light
and my mother and then others with whom
I did not share a single drop of blood
and I embraced it as jarring and strange
as change can be there were times when
it was hard to imagine that my life
would be what it is today
especially the time when my son and I
were living in that bathroom
maybe remember that scene in the movie
there was a highly polished sheet metal
piece over a sink it wasn’t a mirror but
it served as a mirror and I had to wash
myself in that baby every day watch my
baby in this sink and had to ask myself
some very predictable questions what
happened why did this happen why did
that happen but the most difficult
question I had to get through was how
did I get here and the answer was even
more brutal the answer was I drove here
I had something to do with it you can’t
change something until you own it so if
you’re 50 plus and you’re sitting out
there and pointing fingers at other
people you can do that for a long time
but it’s hard to look at the mirror and
say how did I get here and have the
answer be I drove here I had something
to do with it
it’s uncomfortable to admit that well I
made some bad decisions I made some
investments I shouldn’t have made I had
something to do with it well that man
sold me that house for no money down I
should have told him what he could do at
that house uh-huh
when I signed that adjustable-rate
mortgage we all know these things only
adjust upwards no one’s ever going to
call you and say guess what
you go pay less for your money your
house next year and go happen so the
idea of I drove here is empowering
because the other side of it is if I
drove here that means I can drive out of
here I have to own it in that bathroom I
finally had to understand what my mama
used to say to me where she would say
boy to Calvary is not coming ain’t no
backup I was 28 years old when that part
of my life happened change was coming
fast and you know what changes
everywhere all the time
social change technical logical change
and the most potent of all personal
change the most urgent question today is
not so much as one of my value
and who are we the urgent question on
these times of constant changes how
exactly are you going to navigate these
new realities put another way what are
you going to do probably my favorite
scene from that whole movie directly
related to education it was not written
as you saw it the scene I’m referring to
is the scene that took place on the
basketball court our writer had a very
dim dark view of the world and when the
little boy said his dream was I’m going
to become a ballplayer the father said
forget that it had never happened I
couldn’t do it so you can’t do it I went
up the Will Smith on the set that day
and I said you can’t tell that to that
little boy because that’s not what my
mother told me you can’t tell him what
he cannot do we tore up this grip and
what we wrote was and I’ve heard from so
many parents and especially parents of
children with special needs I’ve heard
from so many parents every day I tell my
son I tell my daughter every day don’t
ever let somebody else tell you what you
can’t do when somebody else is saying
when somebody else is saying something
can’t be done which you got to hear them
saying as they can’t do it as a young
guy 23 years of age I had the
opportunity of a lifetime I had a chance
to go to work for and become the protege
of one of the top young heart surgeons
in the country his name is dr. Robert
Ellis we both met while we were in the
military I was a u.s. Navy hospital
corpsman I was 23 years old single no
children I had a chance to move to San
Francisco California I took the job for
$7,500 a year dr. Ellis and I worked
together for four years
we co-authored and published numerous
articles at major scientific journals
about this time I met fell in love with
moving in with and had a child with this
beautiful woman who had just graduated
from the University of California dental
school becoming a parent for me was the
most important precious and loving thing
I’ve ever been a part of in my life I
was one of those little boys who grew up
without a father and not just without a
father
but with a stepfather who was fine too
reminded me every day I ain’t your daddy
you ain’t got no daddy sometimes putting
a 12-gauge shotgun right here just to
make his point I didn’t know what a
commitment was but I knew what a promise
was and I promised myself as a five year
old boy when I grow up become a man and
have children my children going to know
where their father is so when I became a
parent there wasn’t just some biological
extension of the bloodline there was a
whole lot of stuff came with that I had
worked my way up to the top of the pay
scale at the University I’m now making
seventeen thousand five hundred dollars
a year my ex had not passed her boards
she couldn’t practice and we got a baby
we’re a young family I had to forget
about a possible career in science I had
to forget about maybe becoming a
physician I got to take care of a family
I got a real job I went into sales I
went to work for a distributor of
scientific products the computer
industry was in its infancy 40 miles
south of San Francisco down on the
peninsula we move across the bay to
Berkeley California to save money
it meant the nightmare of a commute but
you do what you got to do but I was now
making twenty five thousand dollars a
year and I thought man we could be okay
big guys and the business that I was in
at that time big guys in that business
made $80,000 a year we had this one guy
I’ll never forget him his name was Ramos
and he used to walk like he was the NBC
Peacock just because he made 80 grand a
year and I remember thinking man 80
grand I want to walk like that but one
day I happen to be a one of my accounts
San Francisco General Hospital where
there’s never any place to park I see
something that’s the beginning of my
life changing I don’t even know it I see
a guy that is absolutely the sharpest
guy I’d ever seen in my life no flash no
BS just sharp and he was driving this
gorgeous red for Rory
slowly circling the parking lot looking
for some place to park I go up to the
guy and I say hey man I’m coming out you
can have my parking place but I got to
ask you two questions the two questions
were what do you do and how do you do
that turns out this guy’s a stockbroker
and not just a stockbroker he’s one of
the top institutional sales people on
Wall Street and he makes $80,000 a month
now I’m not the smartest guy in this
room but I’m pretty good with some
numbers bo
I figured that out one guys walking
around like the NBC Peacock the other
guy was rolling like a rock star I knew
what I wanted to do I started spending a
lot of time with this guy in his office
downtown San Francisco learning what a
stockbroker does when I was supposed to
be 40 miles away selling scientific
equipment a couple of things happening
simultaneously number one I began to
accumulate a huge amount of parking
tickets double parking illegal parking
late to feed a meter number to every
place I went to interview I heard the
same word no no no no from my ex at home
I heard a couple of other words I
remember them all so I believe they were
delusional and unrealistic she had a
point major Wall Street firms have begun
to require an MBA just to get into their
institutional training programs I had
never gone to college didn’t mean I
wasn’t smart didn’t mean I wasn’t bright
I just didn’t have a college degree but
I kept coming back I interviewed for a
year I’ve been asked many times you
interviewed for a year to get a trainee
slot with no guarantee do you think it
was racism no absolutely not
there’s another ISM something called
places ‘im think about it I had never
gone to college did not come from a
politically connected family had no
money of my own to invest in the stock
market whose going to do business with
you does place ISM that could affect
anybody in this room but I kept coming
back and I kept coming back for one
reason for four year of interviews and
that one reason was my mother I had one
of those old-fashioned mothers who
taught me from the very beginning that I
could do or be anything I wanted to do
it be apparently I took it too far
I made up my mind my first ambition in
life I was going to become Miles Davis
mama said I could be anybody
I chose miles I studied music music
theory
I played trumpet for nine years I got
pretty good people would ask me as a
little boy what you’re going to be when
you grow up ma’am I’m gonna be Miles
Davis my mom heard me said one time too
many we sat down one day at the kitchen
table and we had what I called the talk
and she explained to me she says baby
you’re pretty good with that thing but
you can’t be Miles Davis eight but one
and he got that job and when your mom
put it to you like that you got to feel
that and I had to look at the facts the
facts were at 18 years of age Miles
Davis was a New York City playing with
Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie at the
same age I was playing with some boys
named Pookie and ray-ray
hey we were good but it wasn’t gonna
happen but the point is another key
decision was made as a young guy and
that decision was I was going to become
world-class at something I just had to
find that one thing that turned me on as
much as the music did and the very first
time that I walked into a Wall Street
trading room I knew man this is it the
ticker tape is rolling the phones are
ringing off the hook people are
screaming and shouting out orders bodies
are flying all over the place
tickets again stamp the one look like
chaos to anybody else for me it was like
reading a sheet of music and I could
fill it and I knew this is where I’m
supposed to be our War one branch
manager down to the point that he says
to me Gardner based on persistence alone
we could give you a shot footwork for me
regarding balance between family and
business opportunities was always to be
mindful of in a tie
family comes first
my child always came first if you’ve
managed your relationships properly the
business presentation you’re so
concerned about the big conference
called that cannot happen without you on
the phone all those things can be
rescheduled but your son is going to
have one first baseball game the
daughter is going to have one first
dance recital and you’ve got to be there
in a tie family wins how you motivate
key employees I believe is number one
you got to respect them you got to let
them grow and you got to trust them and
leave them alone and you have to also
show them the opportunity to make more
money than they’ve ever made in their
lives all that combined that’s how you
motivate your key core employees I know
how important it is to try and take care
of your child is to pursue your career
that’s why we’ve had to be very flexible
here in regards to children it’s very
very important to have an environment
where people who have children if they
need to can bring their child work but
the deal is you know what if you can
bring your little boy you love a girl to
work I can bring my doll and that’s the
deal I get inspiration from the people
that I meet when I’m on the road 200
days a year I get to see and meet and
hear from people who are doing
incredible things in their own lives and
not waiting for someone else to come
into them I met a young person just two
weeks ago down in Charleston South
Carolina that had raised $30,000 to feed
homeless veterans in their community
five dollars at a time by telling a
story about Hakeem and how important the
key is to a family thirty thousand
dollars five dollars at a time and the
person that did it
is 11 years old those are the people
that inspire me I firmly believe this so
I know to be a fact fifty percent of all
the companies in the fortune 500
started in a bear market or recession
this is the time to pursue greatness but
the key is you’ve got to be doing
something that you’re truly passionate
about
it could not be I just want to make
money it can’t be there has got to be
something that the Sun can’t come up
soon enough in the morning because you
want to go do your thing baby steps
count to as long as you’re going forward
and one day you add all those baby steps
up in you might be surprised at where
you can get to but more importantly I
remember something my mom used to say to
me every day she would say son the
cavalry ain’t coming you got to do this
yourself
ain’t no backup okay now when you put
those two things together man it wasn’t
as hard to keep going forward as you
might think no one is supposed to live
in here no one is supposed to just spend
extended periods of time in here this is
a public restroom this is not a living
space but were it not for this space
there were some days we would have no
place else to go
I mean a lot of decisions a lot of hard
decisions were made right here about
what are you going to do with your life
where are you going to go how are you
going to get here you gotta have a plan
everybody’s got a dream
everybody’s got a goal what’s the plan
and your plan has got to have something
I call the c5 complex your plan has got
to be clear concise compelling
consistent and committed you’ve got to
have a plan and when you’re trying to do
something that you are truly passionate
about there is no plan B okay Plan B
sucks all right
okay so it’s as simple as that you gotta
have a plan I mean think about that for
a second mm three examples Michael
Jordan won six NBA championships with
the Chicago Bulls because he was
committed to playing a not plan B Oprah
Winfrey became the queen of all media
because he was committed to plan a not
Plan B whatever your politics are Barack
Obama is sitting in the White House
because he was committed to plan a not
Plan B okay Plan B sucks okay Gardner
was heavily influenced by decisions he
and his mother made sometimes with just
a look between them when he was
terrorized by his gun wielding
stepfather he would come out with a
shotgun
you wrote my last Christmas at home and
I was put out of the house butt-naked at
gunpoint till this day I still have a
problem with Christmas but I made a
decision that I was going to be
everything that this guy was not I’m not
going to drink and I’m not going to beat
women I’m not going to be ignorant and
one of the tactics that I developed as a
young kid I would read and I’d read out
loud and I would be saying to this guy
yeah you can beat me down you can beat
me you can beat my mom you can put us
out of here
with a gun but I can read and I’m going
places this man whose own father had
abandoned him found himself carrying his
plans into the office of Nelson Mandela
you walked into his office he looked at
you and said welcome home son
I had to be 46 years old and for the
first time in my life a man ever to say
the words to me welcome home son and for
it to be Nelson Mandela I cried I cried
I asked myself when I was trying to
compose my thoughts what would I want to
hear from someone today what I want to
hear more about the state of the economy
Wall Street bailouts of a job market no
I would like to hear from someone that
you know what amidst all this chaos and
turbulence there’s an opportunity to
create a new vision of the American
dream that’s what I would like to hear
from somebody today our new vision of
the American Dream as great as any of
the visions that dreams of our
forefathers founding fathers and
ancestors a new vision of the American
Dream that says achieving balance in
your life is more important than the
balance in your checking account
new vision a new vision of the Americans
rainwear appreciation is greater than
expectation a new vision that says for
too long a lot of us been living in
exile in a place called things and it’s
time for us to come home to France
families and folks
I submit to you today that this new
vision of the American Dream means that
what you do does not define who you are
a new vision that says do not confuse
your net worth with your self-worth our
new vision that says hey stuff toys and
things exist but they are not necessary
for you to be happy
this vision I submit firmly rooted in
the past appreciative of today but
clearly focused on the future that we
can choose to create and my last words
to you today will be this a lot of other
folk will tell you that the sky is
fallin I will not say that to you
I will not tell you that the sky has
fallen I will say that those are pennies
from heaven you know why I say that
because I’ve seen this movie before and
I know how it turns out
and the last pit hit the last thing I
will say to you today is is all of my
fellow classmates are my fellow
classmates and graduates you are in a
position to go forward and I encourage
you that whatever you do for the rest of
your life always pursue happiness and
you can start where you are thank you
guys so much for watching I hope you
enjoyed this video I’d love to know what
did you think what did you take from
Chris’s message is there something that
you learned today that you’re going to
apply to your business to your life
leave it down the comments below I’m
going to join in the discussion I also
wanted to give a quick shout out to
Valerie Munn dear Valerie thank you so
much for buying a copy of my book it
really means a lot to me
those you watch it if you want your
chance at a shout out in a future video
make sure to pick up a copy of the book
and email in your receipt so you can
keep track thank you guys so much for
watching
continue to believe or whatever your one
where it is and I’ll see you soon
to me series with the goal to learn from
people who’ve done more than us to hang
around them just a little bit longer and
hope some of their ideas mindsets way of
thinking seeps into us to help us be the
best version of ourselves so today we’re
going to learn from Chris Gardner on
staying motivated as Chris is talking if
he says helping that really inspires you
leave it in the comments below and put
quotes around that so that other people
can be inspired as well I was mentioned
spiritual genetics to Oprah Winfrey and
a conversation and she calls me the very
next day as she asked what have you been
reading I’ve never heard about that
I had to tell her I haven’t been reading
I’ve been writing as a matter of fact
that’s the subject of my my new book
that I’m working on right now we all
understand genetics you’re going to get
your mother’s eyes your father’s nose
and there’s nothing that you could do
about it but the spirit of who you’re
going to become as a man or a woman I
believe that you can choose it is indeed
biblical scripture tells us that we are
all born with a spirit that allows us to
embrace God whatever you perceive God to
be well that same spirit can be beamed
down at the darkness I don’t know how
many of you all read my first book the
pursuit of happiness but those of you
who did you met my stepfather and they
were full who will say I could have
become him I could have become another
alcoholic wife-beating child abuse an
illiterate loser and a lot of people
would have said well look where he’s
from he didn’t have a choice
well I did have a choice I saw the light
and my mother and then others with whom
I did not share a single drop of blood
and I embraced it as jarring and strange
as change can be there were times when
it was hard to imagine that my life
would be what it is today
especially the time when my son and I
were living in that bathroom
maybe remember that scene in the movie
there was a highly polished sheet metal
piece over a sink it wasn’t a mirror but
it served as a mirror and I had to wash
myself in that baby every day watch my
baby in this sink and had to ask myself
some very predictable questions what
happened why did this happen why did
that happen but the most difficult
question I had to get through was how
did I get here and the answer was even
more brutal the answer was I drove here
I had something to do with it you can’t
change something until you own it so if
you’re 50 plus and you’re sitting out
there and pointing fingers at other
people you can do that for a long time
but it’s hard to look at the mirror and
say how did I get here and have the
answer be I drove here I had something
to do with it
it’s uncomfortable to admit that well I
made some bad decisions I made some
investments I shouldn’t have made I had
something to do with it well that man
sold me that house for no money down I
should have told him what he could do at
that house uh-huh
when I signed that adjustable-rate
mortgage we all know these things only
adjust upwards no one’s ever going to
call you and say guess what
you go pay less for your money your
house next year and go happen so the
idea of I drove here is empowering
because the other side of it is if I
drove here that means I can drive out of
here I have to own it in that bathroom I
finally had to understand what my mama
used to say to me where she would say
boy to Calvary is not coming ain’t no
backup I was 28 years old when that part
of my life happened change was coming
fast and you know what changes
everywhere all the time
social change technical logical change
and the most potent of all personal
change the most urgent question today is
not so much as one of my value
and who are we the urgent question on
these times of constant changes how
exactly are you going to navigate these
new realities put another way what are
you going to do probably my favorite
scene from that whole movie directly
related to education it was not written
as you saw it the scene I’m referring to
is the scene that took place on the
basketball court our writer had a very
dim dark view of the world and when the
little boy said his dream was I’m going
to become a ballplayer the father said
forget that it had never happened I
couldn’t do it so you can’t do it I went
up the Will Smith on the set that day
and I said you can’t tell that to that
little boy because that’s not what my
mother told me you can’t tell him what
he cannot do we tore up this grip and
what we wrote was and I’ve heard from so
many parents and especially parents of
children with special needs I’ve heard
from so many parents every day I tell my
son I tell my daughter every day don’t
ever let somebody else tell you what you
can’t do when somebody else is saying
when somebody else is saying something
can’t be done which you got to hear them
saying as they can’t do it as a young
guy 23 years of age I had the
opportunity of a lifetime I had a chance
to go to work for and become the protege
of one of the top young heart surgeons
in the country his name is dr. Robert
Ellis we both met while we were in the
military I was a u.s. Navy hospital
corpsman I was 23 years old single no
children I had a chance to move to San
Francisco California I took the job for
$7,500 a year dr. Ellis and I worked
together for four years
we co-authored and published numerous
articles at major scientific journals
about this time I met fell in love with
moving in with and had a child with this
beautiful woman who had just graduated
from the University of California dental
school becoming a parent for me was the
most important precious and loving thing
I’ve ever been a part of in my life I
was one of those little boys who grew up
without a father and not just without a
father
but with a stepfather who was fine too
reminded me every day I ain’t your daddy
you ain’t got no daddy sometimes putting
a 12-gauge shotgun right here just to
make his point I didn’t know what a
commitment was but I knew what a promise
was and I promised myself as a five year
old boy when I grow up become a man and
have children my children going to know
where their father is so when I became a
parent there wasn’t just some biological
extension of the bloodline there was a
whole lot of stuff came with that I had
worked my way up to the top of the pay
scale at the University I’m now making
seventeen thousand five hundred dollars
a year my ex had not passed her boards
she couldn’t practice and we got a baby
we’re a young family I had to forget
about a possible career in science I had
to forget about maybe becoming a
physician I got to take care of a family
I got a real job I went into sales I
went to work for a distributor of
scientific products the computer
industry was in its infancy 40 miles
south of San Francisco down on the
peninsula we move across the bay to
Berkeley California to save money
it meant the nightmare of a commute but
you do what you got to do but I was now
making twenty five thousand dollars a
year and I thought man we could be okay
big guys and the business that I was in
at that time big guys in that business
made $80,000 a year we had this one guy
I’ll never forget him his name was Ramos
and he used to walk like he was the NBC
Peacock just because he made 80 grand a
year and I remember thinking man 80
grand I want to walk like that but one
day I happen to be a one of my accounts
San Francisco General Hospital where
there’s never any place to park I see
something that’s the beginning of my
life changing I don’t even know it I see
a guy that is absolutely the sharpest
guy I’d ever seen in my life no flash no
BS just sharp and he was driving this
gorgeous red for Rory
slowly circling the parking lot looking
for some place to park I go up to the
guy and I say hey man I’m coming out you
can have my parking place but I got to
ask you two questions the two questions
were what do you do and how do you do
that turns out this guy’s a stockbroker
and not just a stockbroker he’s one of
the top institutional sales people on
Wall Street and he makes $80,000 a month
now I’m not the smartest guy in this
room but I’m pretty good with some
numbers bo
I figured that out one guys walking
around like the NBC Peacock the other
guy was rolling like a rock star I knew
what I wanted to do I started spending a
lot of time with this guy in his office
downtown San Francisco learning what a
stockbroker does when I was supposed to
be 40 miles away selling scientific
equipment a couple of things happening
simultaneously number one I began to
accumulate a huge amount of parking
tickets double parking illegal parking
late to feed a meter number to every
place I went to interview I heard the
same word no no no no from my ex at home
I heard a couple of other words I
remember them all so I believe they were
delusional and unrealistic she had a
point major Wall Street firms have begun
to require an MBA just to get into their
institutional training programs I had
never gone to college didn’t mean I
wasn’t smart didn’t mean I wasn’t bright
I just didn’t have a college degree but
I kept coming back I interviewed for a
year I’ve been asked many times you
interviewed for a year to get a trainee
slot with no guarantee do you think it
was racism no absolutely not
there’s another ISM something called
places ‘im think about it I had never
gone to college did not come from a
politically connected family had no
money of my own to invest in the stock
market whose going to do business with
you does place ISM that could affect
anybody in this room but I kept coming
back and I kept coming back for one
reason for four year of interviews and
that one reason was my mother I had one
of those old-fashioned mothers who
taught me from the very beginning that I
could do or be anything I wanted to do
it be apparently I took it too far
I made up my mind my first ambition in
life I was going to become Miles Davis
mama said I could be anybody
I chose miles I studied music music
theory
I played trumpet for nine years I got
pretty good people would ask me as a
little boy what you’re going to be when
you grow up ma’am I’m gonna be Miles
Davis my mom heard me said one time too
many we sat down one day at the kitchen
table and we had what I called the talk
and she explained to me she says baby
you’re pretty good with that thing but
you can’t be Miles Davis eight but one
and he got that job and when your mom
put it to you like that you got to feel
that and I had to look at the facts the
facts were at 18 years of age Miles
Davis was a New York City playing with
Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie at the
same age I was playing with some boys
named Pookie and ray-ray
hey we were good but it wasn’t gonna
happen but the point is another key
decision was made as a young guy and
that decision was I was going to become
world-class at something I just had to
find that one thing that turned me on as
much as the music did and the very first
time that I walked into a Wall Street
trading room I knew man this is it the
ticker tape is rolling the phones are
ringing off the hook people are
screaming and shouting out orders bodies
are flying all over the place
tickets again stamp the one look like
chaos to anybody else for me it was like
reading a sheet of music and I could
fill it and I knew this is where I’m
supposed to be our War one branch
manager down to the point that he says
to me Gardner based on persistence alone
we could give you a shot footwork for me
regarding balance between family and
business opportunities was always to be
mindful of in a tie
family comes first
my child always came first if you’ve
managed your relationships properly the
business presentation you’re so
concerned about the big conference
called that cannot happen without you on
the phone all those things can be
rescheduled but your son is going to
have one first baseball game the
daughter is going to have one first
dance recital and you’ve got to be there
in a tie family wins how you motivate
key employees I believe is number one
you got to respect them you got to let
them grow and you got to trust them and
leave them alone and you have to also
show them the opportunity to make more
money than they’ve ever made in their
lives all that combined that’s how you
motivate your key core employees I know
how important it is to try and take care
of your child is to pursue your career
that’s why we’ve had to be very flexible
here in regards to children it’s very
very important to have an environment
where people who have children if they
need to can bring their child work but
the deal is you know what if you can
bring your little boy you love a girl to
work I can bring my doll and that’s the
deal I get inspiration from the people
that I meet when I’m on the road 200
days a year I get to see and meet and
hear from people who are doing
incredible things in their own lives and
not waiting for someone else to come
into them I met a young person just two
weeks ago down in Charleston South
Carolina that had raised $30,000 to feed
homeless veterans in their community
five dollars at a time by telling a
story about Hakeem and how important the
key is to a family thirty thousand
dollars five dollars at a time and the
person that did it
is 11 years old those are the people
that inspire me I firmly believe this so
I know to be a fact fifty percent of all
the companies in the fortune 500
started in a bear market or recession
this is the time to pursue greatness but
the key is you’ve got to be doing
something that you’re truly passionate
about
it could not be I just want to make
money it can’t be there has got to be
something that the Sun can’t come up
soon enough in the morning because you
want to go do your thing baby steps
count to as long as you’re going forward
and one day you add all those baby steps
up in you might be surprised at where
you can get to but more importantly I
remember something my mom used to say to
me every day she would say son the
cavalry ain’t coming you got to do this
yourself
ain’t no backup okay now when you put
those two things together man it wasn’t
as hard to keep going forward as you
might think no one is supposed to live
in here no one is supposed to just spend
extended periods of time in here this is
a public restroom this is not a living
space but were it not for this space
there were some days we would have no
place else to go
I mean a lot of decisions a lot of hard
decisions were made right here about
what are you going to do with your life
where are you going to go how are you
going to get here you gotta have a plan
everybody’s got a dream
everybody’s got a goal what’s the plan
and your plan has got to have something
I call the c5 complex your plan has got
to be clear concise compelling
consistent and committed you’ve got to
have a plan and when you’re trying to do
something that you are truly passionate
about there is no plan B okay Plan B
sucks all right
okay so it’s as simple as that you gotta
have a plan I mean think about that for
a second mm three examples Michael
Jordan won six NBA championships with
the Chicago Bulls because he was
committed to playing a not plan B Oprah
Winfrey became the queen of all media
because he was committed to plan a not
Plan B whatever your politics are Barack
Obama is sitting in the White House
because he was committed to plan a not
Plan B okay Plan B sucks okay Gardner
was heavily influenced by decisions he
and his mother made sometimes with just
a look between them when he was
terrorized by his gun wielding
stepfather he would come out with a
shotgun
you wrote my last Christmas at home and
I was put out of the house butt-naked at
gunpoint till this day I still have a
problem with Christmas but I made a
decision that I was going to be
everything that this guy was not I’m not
going to drink and I’m not going to beat
women I’m not going to be ignorant and
one of the tactics that I developed as a
young kid I would read and I’d read out
loud and I would be saying to this guy
yeah you can beat me down you can beat
me you can beat my mom you can put us
out of here
with a gun but I can read and I’m going
places this man whose own father had
abandoned him found himself carrying his
plans into the office of Nelson Mandela
you walked into his office he looked at
you and said welcome home son
I had to be 46 years old and for the
first time in my life a man ever to say
the words to me welcome home son and for
it to be Nelson Mandela I cried I cried
I asked myself when I was trying to
compose my thoughts what would I want to
hear from someone today what I want to
hear more about the state of the economy
Wall Street bailouts of a job market no
I would like to hear from someone that
you know what amidst all this chaos and
turbulence there’s an opportunity to
create a new vision of the American
dream that’s what I would like to hear
from somebody today our new vision of
the American Dream as great as any of
the visions that dreams of our
forefathers founding fathers and
ancestors a new vision of the American
Dream that says achieving balance in
your life is more important than the
balance in your checking account
new vision a new vision of the Americans
rainwear appreciation is greater than
expectation a new vision that says for
too long a lot of us been living in
exile in a place called things and it’s
time for us to come home to France
families and folks
I submit to you today that this new
vision of the American Dream means that
what you do does not define who you are
a new vision that says do not confuse
your net worth with your self-worth our
new vision that says hey stuff toys and
things exist but they are not necessary
for you to be happy
this vision I submit firmly rooted in
the past appreciative of today but
clearly focused on the future that we
can choose to create and my last words
to you today will be this a lot of other
folk will tell you that the sky is
fallin I will not say that to you
I will not tell you that the sky has
fallen I will say that those are pennies
from heaven you know why I say that
because I’ve seen this movie before and
I know how it turns out
and the last pit hit the last thing I
will say to you today is is all of my
fellow classmates are my fellow
classmates and graduates you are in a
position to go forward and I encourage
you that whatever you do for the rest of
your life always pursue happiness and
you can start where you are thank you
guys so much for watching I hope you
enjoyed this video I’d love to know what
did you think what did you take from
Chris’s message is there something that
you learned today that you’re going to
apply to your business to your life
leave it down the comments below I’m
going to join in the discussion I also
wanted to give a quick shout out to
Valerie Munn dear Valerie thank you so
much for buying a copy of my book it
really means a lot to me
those you watch it if you want your
chance at a shout out in a future video
make sure to pick up a copy of the book
and email in your receipt so you can
keep track thank you guys so much for
watching
continue to believe or whatever your one
where it is and I’ll see you soon
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