you’re harmless you’re not virtuous
you’re just harmless
you’re like a rabbit rabbit isn’t
virtuous it’s just just can’t do
anything except get eaten it’s not
virtuous if you’re a monster
and you don’t act monstrously then
you’re virtuous but you also have to be
a monster while you see this all the
time Harry Potter’s like that too it’s
like he’s he’s flawed he’s hurt he’s got
evil in him he can talk to snakes man he
breaks rules all the time all the time
he’s not at obedient at all but you know
he has a good reason for breaking the
rules and if he couldn’t break the rules
him and his little cleek of rule
breaking you know troublemakers if they
didn’t break the rules
they wouldn’t attain the highest goal so
it’s very peculiar but it’s it’s very
there it’s a very very very very common
mythological notion you know the hero
has to be the hero has to be a monster
but a controlled monster Batman is like
that you know I mean it’s it’s
everywhere it’s it’s the Tor story you
always hear what makes you such a good
fighter I don’t know I’m just curious
about it I’m curious about it it’s never
I mean it’s in my head 24/7 it’s not
announced I continue I don’t I don’t
think about nothing else if that’s yeah
I’m just curious
curiously fascinated Lee and I can’t
stop thinking about everything I deal in
my life is is related to this I don’t do
nothing else if it’s not got to do it
fine I mean and that that is why you
know made to be true so dirty all you’ve
got to do is show up is that not
unhealthy and I don’t know
do I look unhealthy take a look at this
physique I’m in phenomenal shape in body
and mind to me what’s unhealthy is
living and on a healthy life to me
what’s unhealthy is getting up and going
through the same day every day I like
9:00 to 5:00 in an officer and I don’t
got that’s unhealthy that beats your
mind I don’t I don’t work I do I love
what I do and that’s why I’m doing what
I love and I mean that’s right that’s
why it’s become a career for me because
I love it I love what I do so I don’t
think it’s unhealthy
I uh I feel good in my mind I mean it’s
it’s my it’s my life our rewards in life
will always match our service it’s
another way of saying as you sow so
shall you reap
and it’s been written in many ways in
every language on earth I like to think
of this law in the form of a giant
apothecary scale one of the bones is
marked service the other slot rewards
now whatever we put into the ball marked
service the world will match in the ball
mark rewards if any person alive is
discontented with his rewards he should
examine the service action reaction as
you sow so shall you reap what you put
in will determine what you must get back
in return
so simple so basic so true and yet so
misunderstood if a business is not
expanding to the quickl exciting tempo
of the times it must examine its
contribution its service if a person is
unhappy with his income he must examine
and re-evaluate his service never before
in the history of the world have human
beings been so interdependent it is
impossible to live without serving
others as it would be the liveth others
were not constantly serving us in
thinking of ways of increasing your
service read books on your specialty
read what others have found to work well
for them but at the same time think of
original and creative ways of increasing
your service ways that are unique with
you and the way you are each morning and
during the day ask yourself this
question how can I increase my service
today knowing that my rewards in life
must be an exact proportion to my
service I do this every day and you will
have started to form one of life’s most
valuable habits Horace Mann wrote if any
man seeks for greatness let him forget
greatness and ask for truth and he will
find both you see you can cut away all
the confusion and complicate
and nagging worries and vague
half-formed
fears by returning to the great truth
the great laws the great verities on
which all success all accomplishment the
whole world is built if you’re worried
about your income or your future you’re
concentrating on the wrong end of the
scale look at the other end
consider yourself only with increasing
your service with becoming great where
you are and your income and your future
will take care of themselves habits good
habits will give you results that stick
bad habits will destroy everything I
have some bad habits that’s right all my
habits are not great so if you’ve got
some bad habits don’t feel bad so does
your next-door neighbor so does your
mentor your coach so does your mother
and father if they’re alive so does
everyone and the trick of life is to
replace a bad habit with a good habit I
used to hang around bars all the time
and one day I went in I picked up a
glass and I looked around and I thought
they’re all bums in here and then it
dawned on me I’m always here I learned
something I put the glass down they said
I’m never coming back here again and I’m
never gonna drink this and I never did
it was a long time ago but you know what
I did I went from spending all my money
in the bar to the racetrack and I
started to bet it all on horses so I
went from making somebody with a bar get
wealthy and then I started to feed the
horses and one day I woke up and I
learned something if you don’t
consciously and deliberately replace a
bad habit with a good habit you will
automatically create another bad habit
now what is a habit a habit is an idea
that has been planted in the garden of
your subconscious mind and then
repetitively fed for a sufficient period
of time that you act on it without
giving any thought to it I’ll give you
an example I want you to right now
mentally imagine you’re pulling on your
underwear in the morning what what do
you put in first I put my right foot in
if I tried to put my left foot in my
underwear first I’d stagger and I’d fall
over you may say what’s this got
it’s got everything to do with it why do
I put my right foot you may put your
left certainly a lot of people do well
when I was just a little gaffer didn’t
have a clue of how to put underwear on
my mother or my grandmother and my
father or somebody came along and they
had the underwear ad put your foot in
here you’re rather what did they do
they had the underwear prepared as if
they were gonna put it on and so pretty
soon I was doing it like they were doing
it they through repetition planted the
idea in my hand in my mind well now
think of this
you don’t just form habits of how to get
dressed you form habits to do everything
that you do and some of them are not
that productive any idea that you keep
dwelling on and impressing upon your
subconscious mind becomes fixed in the
subconscious mind a habit is nothing but
an idea that’s fixed in the subconscious
mind that you act on without giving any
conscious thought many years ago I would
in to train the Prudential Insurance
Company of America their agents I ended
up training all of their agents and I
only got them to do two things this is
in the early 70s I got them to form the
habit of being in front of a prospect
before 9:00 a.m. and asked everybody
they talked to to purchase a hundred
thousand dollars worth of insurance I
said you don’t have to sell them just
give them the opportunity to say no you
know the sales in that company went up
by hundreds of millions of dollars i de
rewire a retired VP tell me he thought
it was a billion just changing two
habits what habit you want to change I’m
forever checking out habits I’ve got I’m
in the habit right now of changing my
diet and you know something I’ve been
doing it for going on three weeks it’s
getting easier but it’s still not that
easy I’d still like to reach over and
eat some of that when nobody’s looking
doesn’t work doesn’t work I’m looking
what habit are you gonna form and you
shouldn’t drive for more than two at
once it’ll become too big and too heavy
and you want
many make up your mind you’re gonna do
it every day every day every day until
you don’t have to think about it and
then you’ll automatically do it I
guarantee you this idea will change your
life think about it all day because that
is definitely an idea that will give you
results that will stick it was hard when
just over three years ago in the
Penobscot Building in Detroit Michigan
where I was operating my business and I
fell on some hard times and I was
sleeping in my office
it was hard coming into the lobby and
the security said scuse me mr. Brown can
we see you for a moment and I said yes
and I walked up to the counter and he
gave me an envelope and he said would
you mind reading it here and I opened
the envelope and the envelope was from
management that says this is an office
tower it’s not a hotel please
do not sleep in your office and I said
excuse me sir I said I just worked long
hours in creating my business I’m an
entrepreneur and right now things are
bad for me but they’re not going to be
this way always and I just asked for the
opportunity to continue to operate like
I’m doing I’m not trying to make this my
home and it was hard coming through the
lobby and sometimes they would laugh
there’s a guy talking about becoming
successful and look at him he’s bathing
in the bathroom upstairs on the 21st
floor he sleeps on the floor him and two
other dreamers up there look at him
it was hard ladies and gentlemen coming
to speak to people and I was facing
financial difficulties in my own life I
was behind on my bills and my dreams and
I’m saying to them you can live your
dream it was hard ladies and gentlemen
it was very difficult to pick myself up
each day believing that I can do it
there were times that I doubted myself
and said God why why is this happening
to me I’m just trying to take care of my
children and my mother I’m not trying to
steal a Rob from anybody how did this
have to happen to me it was very hard
and here’s what I want to say to you for
those of you that have experienced some
hardships don’t give up on your dream no
one could have convinced me by holding
on by continuing to push forward by
continuing to run toward my dream that
one day I would have my own talk show
it’s a long shot ladies and gentlemen
from Liberty City an abandoned building
on a floor
never knowing my mother or father it’s a
long shot
being here with you today in this dome
in Atlanta it’s a long shot
no college training labeled educable
mentally retarded but I kept running
let made this whole business about
meeting your needs you can run a
successful business but it’ll be a job
you’ll never be able to sell it because
it was just meeting your needs it’s not
a system it demands your attention or
your connection it’s giving what you
want but ultimately it’s not going to
give somebody else what they want so you
can’t sell it if you can’t sell your
business if you don’t have an exit
strategy you have a job I don’t care how
successful the businesses you that
doesn’t mean you have to sell the
business but one of the most important
decisions you make in business is
ultimately if I was gonna sell this my
chose two I have to know who I sell this
to so that I have long-term value not
just didn’t even come along the way I
have this critical mass here I get a
multiple of my business and most people
don’t have a clear exit strategy they
think I’ll come up with that some day
you’re gonna start with that end of mine
that’s got to be part of your focus if
you’re gonna be successful in your
business I can remember gentlemen is
built CAA in Hollywood is largest most
successful agency right Michael Ovitz
remember that name he put together Nike
and coca-cola and these billion-dollar
deals and eventually Mike Ovitz went to
go sell that business II never thought
through an exit strategy they got almost
nothing for it because the laws
prevented him from selling it to a
studio he had a sell to some his
employees for pennies on it’s real value
there Mike found a way to make money
later on another place off of Disney but
the bottom line is the guy didn’t have
an exit strategy there was brilliant
made lots of money in the end didn’t get
the value
but it talked to you about where you’re
going and what you want to do with your
life you see most people never go after
what they want because they don’t know
every step they have to take to get
there I want you to think of a person
going up the side of a wall of ice now
the only rule for reaching a goal that
you have to know is knowing where you’re
going and knowing that you’re going to
get there you do not have to know how
you’re going to get there now pay
attention to this for a moment imagine
the climber has all his equipment he’s
got his crampons he’s got his climbing
rope his hardware is ice access how does
he get to the top he’s standing on the
ground and he’s looking at maybe a
hundred foot vertical wall of ice he
looks up and he has absolutely no idea
the path that he’s going to take he just
sees himself at the top he reaches up
and he puts one pick in and then another
pick then he raises one foot and then
the other now he’s not standing on the
ground any longer he’s suspended on the
wall on a vertical wall of ice that goes
up 400 feet he adapts to the changes
that is taking place in his environment
and then and only then does he see the
next step and he moves this pick then
this pick then this foot then this foot
now that’s how he gets to the top a step
at a time and that’s how you’re going to
get to your goal you just have to know
the first step to take and when you take
that step you’re going to find that your
conditions your circumstance and
environment will change then you see how
you have to make the next step it’s a
matter of adapting all the time you only
have to know two things you have to know
where you’re going and you have to know
that you’re going to get there you’ve
got to see it in your mind now this is
the beautiful scenario this is what it’s
all about
save that in your mind and think of it
often think every time you think of your
goal and you’re trying to figure out how
you’re gonna do it think of that
vertical wall of ice what’s the next
step that’s all you really have to know
it’s fascinates me about human beings
and it fascinates me about myself is
that we have such a high tolerance for
suckiness isn’t it crazy as long as the
suckiness as a routine but the second
you get thrown out of your routine or
the second that whether it’s because you
lose a job or somebody moves or somebody
dies or somebody breaks up with you or
you break like all of a sudden that
awakens the courage in you to make a
change because you you know either you
have no choice or you got a problem to
solve but fighting that inertia of life
is the most difficult thing in the world
I ended up getting a job with a law firm
because it was the path of least
resistance in Boston in Boston I hated
it because I went from being in the
courtroom to writing briefs all day and
luckily I got pregnant with our first
daughter who just is starting college
which makes me feel so ancient I just
want to like punch myself in the face if
I have a 18 year old freshman in college
um thank you but I got pregnant with her
and when she was born I had horrific
postpartum depression Wow I mean the
really scary kind where you can’t be
alone with the baby you’re on crazy meds
that turn you at not the kind you take
recreationally these are the kind that
like turn you into a zombie and it was a
really scary thing and I when I kind of
came out of the eight-week trance of
that I looked up at Chris and said I’ve
made a decision and he said okay what
would that be and I said I don’t ever
want to answer the question what do you
do for a living with the response I’m a
lawyer and he said okay you realize
we’ve just bought this house and we have
a kid and we have mortgage to pay and he
said so here’s the deal you’ve got
exactly four weeks before your maternity
leave is over
you need to make $60,000 I don’t care
what you do for a living that’s your
problem goes all
and the night before I was supposed to
read so I networked like a crazy person
cuz again if you’re a human being with a
problem you’ll solve it yeah and so if
it matters enough to you and so I got a
job and this was the first convo in
Boston I got a job the night before I
was supposed to go back well he seemed
to have that innate awareness of this
higher self this image of perfection
within him and he saw himself as a
person that was actually able to take
and turn the fantasy into effect now he
must have been a pretty courageous guy
because there were no horseless
carriages in those days but then he had
to ask himself am I willing and you see
he didn’t ask himself am I willing to
accept the ridicule that I’m bound to
get am I willing to accept the failures
well he said yes I am willing he was
willing to pay the ultimate price to
turn his fantasy into a fact and
ridicule he got his own partner thought
he had gone mad and he had to find
himself a more congenial colleague to
work with he would take this thing out
in the evening you take it out at night
so no one would see him he escapes some
of the ridicule and time after time he
couldn’t get it going he had to push it
back but it never dawned on him that he
would not ultimately realize his dream
now in order for you to turn your
fantasies into a fact you have to go
through exactly the same process as Carl
Benz and if you do go through the same
process you’ll meet with exactly the
same success regardless of the
opposition you might come up against you
have to ask am i able to turn this
fantasy of mine into a fact can I
actually realize it can I turn my dreams
into reality now you’re either gonna say
yes I’m able to or no I’m not if you
realize you are able if you have an
understanding of this potential this
power within you then you have to ask
yourself are you willing and there’s a
long series of tests there you don’t
even know what you’re going to come up
against one thing is for certain you’ll
come up against ridicule you may have to
move you may have to do all kinds of
things that you don’t even think of
you have to be willing to do whatever is
required if you really want to turn your
fantasy into a fact the second you say
yes I am willing at that instant you’ve
created your theory I’m trying to become
a fashion and beauty blogger and Mert
and earn money from it full-time but I
have some kind of mental block and
procrastination problem is this is
something that we see over and over and
over again and it’s this idea that you
don’t ever start you stay trapped in
your head and if you feel paralyzed if
you’ve been spinning the same ideas over
and over and over again then you know
what I’m talking about you see many of
you are thinking way too big you’re
attaching way too much pressure on the
things that you’re interested in until
you start blogging about fashion you
won’t even know if you like it
so thinking that you have a dream about
doing it and thinking that you have this
grand plan that you’re gonna do it
full-time
it is a complete and utter waste of your
time to be dreaming that big and let me
tell you why because oftentimes if
you’re the kind of person like Vicky
that’s getting trapped up here the
bigness of what you’re thinking about is
what’s stopping you what I want you to
do if you’re in Vicki’s situation is I
want you to stop dreaming and I want you
to just start doing small things I want
you to go back to curiosity and less
into crushing your big goals you think
about life and business and success is
that you have to be willing to start and
for people that procrastinate starting
is the hardest part for people that
worry for people that think too big
starting is the hardest part folks that
study procrastination talk about the
fact that the only way to beat
procrastination is to create what they
call a starting ritual which is a way to
push yourself to get started because all
the research shows that if we can push
you to get started on something you’ll
likely keep going 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 with 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 gonna call you and say guess
what you go pay less for your money
enough your house next year angle 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 and
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 chains the most urgent question
today is not so much as what are my
values and who are we the urgent
question of these times of constant
changes how exactly are you going to
navigate these new realities put another
way what are you going to do people come
up to me and say Gary it’s so hard I
look at their Instagram and they’re not
posting any of their content with
hashtags which is a by accident way to
pick up exposure in a world where they
have no money when you have no money
when I took over my dad’s business it
did three million dollars a year ten
percent gross profit three hundred
thousand dollars before expenses my
first year marketing budget was fourteen
thousand dollars when you have no money
and I built that business from a three
to a sixty million dollar business in
five years I had to make every penny
perfect so I was right about email
marketing in ninety six and I was right
and because of that I had ninety-one
percent open rates when Google AdWords
came out the day it came out I paid five
cents a click for words before anybody
bid me up and I was super right and that
worked if it does that luck versus
preparation and do you ever get anything
wrong what do you do like it make them
as high I get everything wrong it’s just
that I can’t recall it because once it’s
wrong I’m moving on to the next thing
like dwell dwelling on what you’ve
dumped on is the quickest way for the
next thing not to work right yeah so
like so I think I do everything I mean
you know this this is a fun thing to say
some people in the back know this I was
a breakout YouTube star in the first
year 2006 I decided that the right
strategy was to leave YouTube completely
and go to viddler because viddler
offered me equity in their company and
I’ve left an enormous amount of
attention I deviated from my intention
thesis to do short-term economics and
equity in a company and I lost I lost
Wendy Rock finally came in my life two
years ago we started to try to build up
my youtube for the first time I was
sitting on 40,000 user followers in a
world where I could have had millions if
I just stayed the course so I make
mistake
all the time I’m reorganize its based on
a mistake I made the prior year I just
don’t give a about my mistakes
everybody else cares about your mistakes
if you’re worried about your own
how do you get more of the things money
will buy and all of the things that
money won’t buy now money is not the
most important thing in life but it is
reasonably close to oxygen I mean you
know when you need it you really do need
it that’s what I’m getting at now I
gotta tell you the only thing I like
what money bonus I like to live in a
nice house
drive a nice car take that beautiful
redheaded wife of mine out to nice
restaurants in oh nice trip I like to
play golf at the Country Club and every
one of those things cost money but to
tell you the truth I love the things
money won’t buy money bought me a nice
house won’t buy me a home
many will buy you a companion won’t buy
your friend money will buy you a good
time won’t buy you peace of mind man
money will buy your bed won’t buy you a
good night’s sleep and let me explain
something to interestingly enough and
I’m so grateful to be able to say this
I’ve got many of the things that money
will buy but all of the things money
won’t buy and here’s something rather
fascinating the more of the things you
have that money won’t buy those are the
things that will enable you to get more
of the things that money will buy and
dramatically reduces stress in your life
that’s what we want to be looking at we
want to look at the things that make a
difference I believe your philosophy of
life is a key point as you probably know
philosophy is simply the love of wisdom
here’s the philosophy I’ve built my life
on my career own you can have everything
in life you want if you’ll just help
enough other people get what they want
that’s true in your personal life it’s
true in your family life it’s true in
your corporate life you want to get
ahead in life you know in this array for
me to heck with you world we frequently
don’t understand that if you are
irreplaceable in the job you have
you’re unpromoted where you are I spoke
at an education summit for Microsoft I
also spoke at an education summit for
Apple that’s education from Mike at the
education summit for Microsoft I would
say that 70% of the executives had spent
about 70% of their presentations talking
about how to beat Apple at the Apple
education summit a hundred percent of
the executives spent a hundred percent
of their presentations talking about how
to help teachers teach and how to help
students learn one is playing this way
and one is playing that way one is
playing finite and the other one is
playing infinite guess which one gets
frustrated so at the end of my talk at
Microsoft that gave me a gift they gave
me the new Zune when it was a thing and
let me tell you this thing was
spectacular
it was the most elegant piece of
technology I’d ever used the user
interface was incredible the design was
spectacular I absolutely loved it it was
easy to use and it was bright and
gorgeous Infant it didn’t work on iTunes
which is a different problem so I
couldn’t use it but but it was amazing
and elegant my god it was elegant so I’m
sitting in the back of a taxi with a
very senior Apple executive sort of
employee number 12 kind of guy and you
know I like to stir pots so I turned him
I said you know Microsoft gave me their
new zoom and it is so much better than
your iPod touch
and he turned to me and he said I have
because the infinite player understands
sometimes your head and sometimes your
behind sometimes your product is better
and sometimes it’s worse the goal isn’t
to be the best every day the goal isn’t
out to outdo your competition every day
that’s a finite construction if I had
said to Microsoft I’ve got the new iPod
touch and it’s so much better than your
Zune they would have said can we see it
what does it do react react react react
finite players play to be bet to beat
the people around them infinite players
play to be better than themselves to
wake up every single day and say how can
we make our company a better version of
itself today than it was yesterday how
can we create a product this week that’s
better than the product we created last
week we also have to play the infinite
game it’s not about being ranked number
one it’s not about having more followers
on Twitter than your friends
it’s not about outdoing anyone it’s
about how to outdo yourself it’s not
about selling more books or getting more
10 views than somebody else it’s about
how to make sure that the work that
you’re producing is better than the work
you produced before you are your
competition and that is what ensures you
stay in the game the longest and that is
what ensures you find joy 25 or so I
probably weighed about 138 pounds I
smoked like a pack of cigarettes day I
drank tremendous amount of alcohol I was
from northern Alberta this rough little
town up and northern Alberta called
Fairview and you know there were long
winters there and my friends were heavy
drinkers and most of them dropped out of
school by the time they were 15 or 16
went off to work on the oil rigs and you
know it was a rough town and we drank a
lot I started when I was 14 and you know
and so I was I had a lot of bad habits
let’s say and things that were and I
wasn’t in great shape physically and I
was also still intellectually obsessed
by as I am now and so that would have
been that would have been in 85 but when
I but I decided around then about 85 84
or something like that maybe
earlier that I was really gonna try to
get my act together and so I started
doing that I you know I first of all I
quit smoking well that took a long time
because I eventually had to quit
drinking to in order to quit smoking and
I started working out starting playing
sports which I’d never done I had a fine
time when I was a kid and but I needed
really to get disciplined and I had to
do it because I was working on these
hard problems that you know that I’ve
been discussing with all of you and I’ve
been working on them really you know
obsessively since I was probably about
eighteen maybe even earlier than that
got to the point around 25 when I was in
graduate school trying to get my PhDs
doing all my research like I published
15 papers by the time I graduated with
my PhD which was but I think by a fairly
large measure the most papers that any
graduate student at that time had ever
published at McGill I think that’s right
might have been twice as many or maybe
twice as many maybe even three times as
many and at the same time I wrote maps
of meaning which was a terrible terrible
terribly difficult thing to do because I
was writing about three hours a day
doing that and I couldn’t do all that
and continue with my misbehavior you
know my sort of my what would you say my
my my hedonistic my hedonistic my
massive hedonistic consumption of
alcohol and all of that I just couldn’t
keep it up and also work seriously on the issues that were at hand so
you’re just harmless
you’re like a rabbit rabbit isn’t
virtuous it’s just just can’t do
anything except get eaten it’s not
virtuous if you’re a monster
and you don’t act monstrously then
you’re virtuous but you also have to be
a monster while you see this all the
time Harry Potter’s like that too it’s
like he’s he’s flawed he’s hurt he’s got
evil in him he can talk to snakes man he
breaks rules all the time all the time
he’s not at obedient at all but you know
he has a good reason for breaking the
rules and if he couldn’t break the rules
him and his little cleek of rule
breaking you know troublemakers if they
didn’t break the rules
they wouldn’t attain the highest goal so
it’s very peculiar but it’s it’s very
there it’s a very very very very common
mythological notion you know the hero
has to be the hero has to be a monster
but a controlled monster Batman is like
that you know I mean it’s it’s
everywhere it’s it’s the Tor story you
always hear what makes you such a good
fighter I don’t know I’m just curious
about it I’m curious about it it’s never
I mean it’s in my head 24/7 it’s not
announced I continue I don’t I don’t
think about nothing else if that’s yeah
I’m just curious
curiously fascinated Lee and I can’t
stop thinking about everything I deal in
my life is is related to this I don’t do
nothing else if it’s not got to do it
fine I mean and that that is why you
know made to be true so dirty all you’ve
got to do is show up is that not
unhealthy and I don’t know
do I look unhealthy take a look at this
physique I’m in phenomenal shape in body
and mind to me what’s unhealthy is
living and on a healthy life to me
what’s unhealthy is getting up and going
through the same day every day I like
9:00 to 5:00 in an officer and I don’t
got that’s unhealthy that beats your
mind I don’t I don’t work I do I love
what I do and that’s why I’m doing what
I love and I mean that’s right that’s
why it’s become a career for me because
I love it I love what I do so I don’t
think it’s unhealthy
I uh I feel good in my mind I mean it’s
it’s my it’s my life our rewards in life
will always match our service it’s
another way of saying as you sow so
shall you reap
and it’s been written in many ways in
every language on earth I like to think
of this law in the form of a giant
apothecary scale one of the bones is
marked service the other slot rewards
now whatever we put into the ball marked
service the world will match in the ball
mark rewards if any person alive is
discontented with his rewards he should
examine the service action reaction as
you sow so shall you reap what you put
in will determine what you must get back
in return
so simple so basic so true and yet so
misunderstood if a business is not
expanding to the quickl exciting tempo
of the times it must examine its
contribution its service if a person is
unhappy with his income he must examine
and re-evaluate his service never before
in the history of the world have human
beings been so interdependent it is
impossible to live without serving
others as it would be the liveth others
were not constantly serving us in
thinking of ways of increasing your
service read books on your specialty
read what others have found to work well
for them but at the same time think of
original and creative ways of increasing
your service ways that are unique with
you and the way you are each morning and
during the day ask yourself this
question how can I increase my service
today knowing that my rewards in life
must be an exact proportion to my
service I do this every day and you will
have started to form one of life’s most
valuable habits Horace Mann wrote if any
man seeks for greatness let him forget
greatness and ask for truth and he will
find both you see you can cut away all
the confusion and complicate
and nagging worries and vague
half-formed
fears by returning to the great truth
the great laws the great verities on
which all success all accomplishment the
whole world is built if you’re worried
about your income or your future you’re
concentrating on the wrong end of the
scale look at the other end
consider yourself only with increasing
your service with becoming great where
you are and your income and your future
will take care of themselves habits good
habits will give you results that stick
bad habits will destroy everything I
have some bad habits that’s right all my
habits are not great so if you’ve got
some bad habits don’t feel bad so does
your next-door neighbor so does your
mentor your coach so does your mother
and father if they’re alive so does
everyone and the trick of life is to
replace a bad habit with a good habit I
used to hang around bars all the time
and one day I went in I picked up a
glass and I looked around and I thought
they’re all bums in here and then it
dawned on me I’m always here I learned
something I put the glass down they said
I’m never coming back here again and I’m
never gonna drink this and I never did
it was a long time ago but you know what
I did I went from spending all my money
in the bar to the racetrack and I
started to bet it all on horses so I
went from making somebody with a bar get
wealthy and then I started to feed the
horses and one day I woke up and I
learned something if you don’t
consciously and deliberately replace a
bad habit with a good habit you will
automatically create another bad habit
now what is a habit a habit is an idea
that has been planted in the garden of
your subconscious mind and then
repetitively fed for a sufficient period
of time that you act on it without
giving any thought to it I’ll give you
an example I want you to right now
mentally imagine you’re pulling on your
underwear in the morning what what do
you put in first I put my right foot in
if I tried to put my left foot in my
underwear first I’d stagger and I’d fall
over you may say what’s this got
it’s got everything to do with it why do
I put my right foot you may put your
left certainly a lot of people do well
when I was just a little gaffer didn’t
have a clue of how to put underwear on
my mother or my grandmother and my
father or somebody came along and they
had the underwear ad put your foot in
here you’re rather what did they do
they had the underwear prepared as if
they were gonna put it on and so pretty
soon I was doing it like they were doing
it they through repetition planted the
idea in my hand in my mind well now
think of this
you don’t just form habits of how to get
dressed you form habits to do everything
that you do and some of them are not
that productive any idea that you keep
dwelling on and impressing upon your
subconscious mind becomes fixed in the
subconscious mind a habit is nothing but
an idea that’s fixed in the subconscious
mind that you act on without giving any
conscious thought many years ago I would
in to train the Prudential Insurance
Company of America their agents I ended
up training all of their agents and I
only got them to do two things this is
in the early 70s I got them to form the
habit of being in front of a prospect
before 9:00 a.m. and asked everybody
they talked to to purchase a hundred
thousand dollars worth of insurance I
said you don’t have to sell them just
give them the opportunity to say no you
know the sales in that company went up
by hundreds of millions of dollars i de
rewire a retired VP tell me he thought
it was a billion just changing two
habits what habit you want to change I’m
forever checking out habits I’ve got I’m
in the habit right now of changing my
diet and you know something I’ve been
doing it for going on three weeks it’s
getting easier but it’s still not that
easy I’d still like to reach over and
eat some of that when nobody’s looking
doesn’t work doesn’t work I’m looking
what habit are you gonna form and you
shouldn’t drive for more than two at
once it’ll become too big and too heavy
and you want
many make up your mind you’re gonna do
it every day every day every day until
you don’t have to think about it and
then you’ll automatically do it I
guarantee you this idea will change your
life think about it all day because that
is definitely an idea that will give you
results that will stick it was hard when
just over three years ago in the
Penobscot Building in Detroit Michigan
where I was operating my business and I
fell on some hard times and I was
sleeping in my office
it was hard coming into the lobby and
the security said scuse me mr. Brown can
we see you for a moment and I said yes
and I walked up to the counter and he
gave me an envelope and he said would
you mind reading it here and I opened
the envelope and the envelope was from
management that says this is an office
tower it’s not a hotel please
do not sleep in your office and I said
excuse me sir I said I just worked long
hours in creating my business I’m an
entrepreneur and right now things are
bad for me but they’re not going to be
this way always and I just asked for the
opportunity to continue to operate like
I’m doing I’m not trying to make this my
home and it was hard coming through the
lobby and sometimes they would laugh
there’s a guy talking about becoming
successful and look at him he’s bathing
in the bathroom upstairs on the 21st
floor he sleeps on the floor him and two
other dreamers up there look at him
it was hard ladies and gentlemen coming
to speak to people and I was facing
financial difficulties in my own life I
was behind on my bills and my dreams and
I’m saying to them you can live your
dream it was hard ladies and gentlemen
it was very difficult to pick myself up
each day believing that I can do it
there were times that I doubted myself
and said God why why is this happening
to me I’m just trying to take care of my
children and my mother I’m not trying to
steal a Rob from anybody how did this
have to happen to me it was very hard
and here’s what I want to say to you for
those of you that have experienced some
hardships don’t give up on your dream no
one could have convinced me by holding
on by continuing to push forward by
continuing to run toward my dream that
one day I would have my own talk show
it’s a long shot ladies and gentlemen
from Liberty City an abandoned building
on a floor
never knowing my mother or father it’s a
long shot
being here with you today in this dome
in Atlanta it’s a long shot
no college training labeled educable
mentally retarded but I kept running
let made this whole business about
meeting your needs you can run a
successful business but it’ll be a job
you’ll never be able to sell it because
it was just meeting your needs it’s not
a system it demands your attention or
your connection it’s giving what you
want but ultimately it’s not going to
give somebody else what they want so you
can’t sell it if you can’t sell your
business if you don’t have an exit
strategy you have a job I don’t care how
successful the businesses you that
doesn’t mean you have to sell the
business but one of the most important
decisions you make in business is
ultimately if I was gonna sell this my
chose two I have to know who I sell this
to so that I have long-term value not
just didn’t even come along the way I
have this critical mass here I get a
multiple of my business and most people
don’t have a clear exit strategy they
think I’ll come up with that some day
you’re gonna start with that end of mine
that’s got to be part of your focus if
you’re gonna be successful in your
business I can remember gentlemen is
built CAA in Hollywood is largest most
successful agency right Michael Ovitz
remember that name he put together Nike
and coca-cola and these billion-dollar
deals and eventually Mike Ovitz went to
go sell that business II never thought
through an exit strategy they got almost
nothing for it because the laws
prevented him from selling it to a
studio he had a sell to some his
employees for pennies on it’s real value
there Mike found a way to make money
later on another place off of Disney but
the bottom line is the guy didn’t have
an exit strategy there was brilliant
made lots of money in the end didn’t get
the value
but it talked to you about where you’re
going and what you want to do with your
life you see most people never go after
what they want because they don’t know
every step they have to take to get
there I want you to think of a person
going up the side of a wall of ice now
the only rule for reaching a goal that
you have to know is knowing where you’re
going and knowing that you’re going to
get there you do not have to know how
you’re going to get there now pay
attention to this for a moment imagine
the climber has all his equipment he’s
got his crampons he’s got his climbing
rope his hardware is ice access how does
he get to the top he’s standing on the
ground and he’s looking at maybe a
hundred foot vertical wall of ice he
looks up and he has absolutely no idea
the path that he’s going to take he just
sees himself at the top he reaches up
and he puts one pick in and then another
pick then he raises one foot and then
the other now he’s not standing on the
ground any longer he’s suspended on the
wall on a vertical wall of ice that goes
up 400 feet he adapts to the changes
that is taking place in his environment
and then and only then does he see the
next step and he moves this pick then
this pick then this foot then this foot
now that’s how he gets to the top a step
at a time and that’s how you’re going to
get to your goal you just have to know
the first step to take and when you take
that step you’re going to find that your
conditions your circumstance and
environment will change then you see how
you have to make the next step it’s a
matter of adapting all the time you only
have to know two things you have to know
where you’re going and you have to know
that you’re going to get there you’ve
got to see it in your mind now this is
the beautiful scenario this is what it’s
all about
save that in your mind and think of it
often think every time you think of your
goal and you’re trying to figure out how
you’re gonna do it think of that
vertical wall of ice what’s the next
step that’s all you really have to know
it’s fascinates me about human beings
and it fascinates me about myself is
that we have such a high tolerance for
suckiness isn’t it crazy as long as the
suckiness as a routine but the second
you get thrown out of your routine or
the second that whether it’s because you
lose a job or somebody moves or somebody
dies or somebody breaks up with you or
you break like all of a sudden that
awakens the courage in you to make a
change because you you know either you
have no choice or you got a problem to
solve but fighting that inertia of life
is the most difficult thing in the world
I ended up getting a job with a law firm
because it was the path of least
resistance in Boston in Boston I hated
it because I went from being in the
courtroom to writing briefs all day and
luckily I got pregnant with our first
daughter who just is starting college
which makes me feel so ancient I just
want to like punch myself in the face if
I have a 18 year old freshman in college
um thank you but I got pregnant with her
and when she was born I had horrific
postpartum depression Wow I mean the
really scary kind where you can’t be
alone with the baby you’re on crazy meds
that turn you at not the kind you take
recreationally these are the kind that
like turn you into a zombie and it was a
really scary thing and I when I kind of
came out of the eight-week trance of
that I looked up at Chris and said I’ve
made a decision and he said okay what
would that be and I said I don’t ever
want to answer the question what do you
do for a living with the response I’m a
lawyer and he said okay you realize
we’ve just bought this house and we have
a kid and we have mortgage to pay and he
said so here’s the deal you’ve got
exactly four weeks before your maternity
leave is over
you need to make $60,000 I don’t care
what you do for a living that’s your
problem goes all
and the night before I was supposed to
read so I networked like a crazy person
cuz again if you’re a human being with a
problem you’ll solve it yeah and so if
it matters enough to you and so I got a
job and this was the first convo in
Boston I got a job the night before I
was supposed to go back well he seemed
to have that innate awareness of this
higher self this image of perfection
within him and he saw himself as a
person that was actually able to take
and turn the fantasy into effect now he
must have been a pretty courageous guy
because there were no horseless
carriages in those days but then he had
to ask himself am I willing and you see
he didn’t ask himself am I willing to
accept the ridicule that I’m bound to
get am I willing to accept the failures
well he said yes I am willing he was
willing to pay the ultimate price to
turn his fantasy into a fact and
ridicule he got his own partner thought
he had gone mad and he had to find
himself a more congenial colleague to
work with he would take this thing out
in the evening you take it out at night
so no one would see him he escapes some
of the ridicule and time after time he
couldn’t get it going he had to push it
back but it never dawned on him that he
would not ultimately realize his dream
now in order for you to turn your
fantasies into a fact you have to go
through exactly the same process as Carl
Benz and if you do go through the same
process you’ll meet with exactly the
same success regardless of the
opposition you might come up against you
have to ask am i able to turn this
fantasy of mine into a fact can I
actually realize it can I turn my dreams
into reality now you’re either gonna say
yes I’m able to or no I’m not if you
realize you are able if you have an
understanding of this potential this
power within you then you have to ask
yourself are you willing and there’s a
long series of tests there you don’t
even know what you’re going to come up
against one thing is for certain you’ll
come up against ridicule you may have to
move you may have to do all kinds of
things that you don’t even think of
you have to be willing to do whatever is
required if you really want to turn your
fantasy into a fact the second you say
yes I am willing at that instant you’ve
created your theory I’m trying to become
a fashion and beauty blogger and Mert
and earn money from it full-time but I
have some kind of mental block and
procrastination problem is this is
something that we see over and over and
over again and it’s this idea that you
don’t ever start you stay trapped in
your head and if you feel paralyzed if
you’ve been spinning the same ideas over
and over and over again then you know
what I’m talking about you see many of
you are thinking way too big you’re
attaching way too much pressure on the
things that you’re interested in until
you start blogging about fashion you
won’t even know if you like it
so thinking that you have a dream about
doing it and thinking that you have this
grand plan that you’re gonna do it
full-time
it is a complete and utter waste of your
time to be dreaming that big and let me
tell you why because oftentimes if
you’re the kind of person like Vicky
that’s getting trapped up here the
bigness of what you’re thinking about is
what’s stopping you what I want you to
do if you’re in Vicki’s situation is I
want you to stop dreaming and I want you
to just start doing small things I want
you to go back to curiosity and less
into crushing your big goals you think
about life and business and success is
that you have to be willing to start and
for people that procrastinate starting
is the hardest part for people that
worry for people that think too big
starting is the hardest part folks that
study procrastination talk about the
fact that the only way to beat
procrastination is to create what they
call a starting ritual which is a way to
push yourself to get started because all
the research shows that if we can push
you to get started on something you’ll
likely keep going 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 with 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 gonna call you and say guess
what you go pay less for your money
enough your house next year angle 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 and
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 chains the most urgent question
today is not so much as what are my
values and who are we the urgent
question of these times of constant
changes how exactly are you going to
navigate these new realities put another
way what are you going to do people come
up to me and say Gary it’s so hard I
look at their Instagram and they’re not
posting any of their content with
hashtags which is a by accident way to
pick up exposure in a world where they
have no money when you have no money
when I took over my dad’s business it
did three million dollars a year ten
percent gross profit three hundred
thousand dollars before expenses my
first year marketing budget was fourteen
thousand dollars when you have no money
and I built that business from a three
to a sixty million dollar business in
five years I had to make every penny
perfect so I was right about email
marketing in ninety six and I was right
and because of that I had ninety-one
percent open rates when Google AdWords
came out the day it came out I paid five
cents a click for words before anybody
bid me up and I was super right and that
worked if it does that luck versus
preparation and do you ever get anything
wrong what do you do like it make them
as high I get everything wrong it’s just
that I can’t recall it because once it’s
wrong I’m moving on to the next thing
like dwell dwelling on what you’ve
dumped on is the quickest way for the
next thing not to work right yeah so
like so I think I do everything I mean
you know this this is a fun thing to say
some people in the back know this I was
a breakout YouTube star in the first
year 2006 I decided that the right
strategy was to leave YouTube completely
and go to viddler because viddler
offered me equity in their company and
I’ve left an enormous amount of
attention I deviated from my intention
thesis to do short-term economics and
equity in a company and I lost I lost
Wendy Rock finally came in my life two
years ago we started to try to build up
my youtube for the first time I was
sitting on 40,000 user followers in a
world where I could have had millions if
I just stayed the course so I make
mistake
all the time I’m reorganize its based on
a mistake I made the prior year I just
don’t give a about my mistakes
everybody else cares about your mistakes
if you’re worried about your own
how do you get more of the things money
will buy and all of the things that
money won’t buy now money is not the
most important thing in life but it is
reasonably close to oxygen I mean you
know when you need it you really do need
it that’s what I’m getting at now I
gotta tell you the only thing I like
what money bonus I like to live in a
nice house
drive a nice car take that beautiful
redheaded wife of mine out to nice
restaurants in oh nice trip I like to
play golf at the Country Club and every
one of those things cost money but to
tell you the truth I love the things
money won’t buy money bought me a nice
house won’t buy me a home
many will buy you a companion won’t buy
your friend money will buy you a good
time won’t buy you peace of mind man
money will buy your bed won’t buy you a
good night’s sleep and let me explain
something to interestingly enough and
I’m so grateful to be able to say this
I’ve got many of the things that money
will buy but all of the things money
won’t buy and here’s something rather
fascinating the more of the things you
have that money won’t buy those are the
things that will enable you to get more
of the things that money will buy and
dramatically reduces stress in your life
that’s what we want to be looking at we
want to look at the things that make a
difference I believe your philosophy of
life is a key point as you probably know
philosophy is simply the love of wisdom
here’s the philosophy I’ve built my life
on my career own you can have everything
in life you want if you’ll just help
enough other people get what they want
that’s true in your personal life it’s
true in your family life it’s true in
your corporate life you want to get
ahead in life you know in this array for
me to heck with you world we frequently
don’t understand that if you are
irreplaceable in the job you have
you’re unpromoted where you are I spoke
at an education summit for Microsoft I
also spoke at an education summit for
Apple that’s education from Mike at the
education summit for Microsoft I would
say that 70% of the executives had spent
about 70% of their presentations talking
about how to beat Apple at the Apple
education summit a hundred percent of
the executives spent a hundred percent
of their presentations talking about how
to help teachers teach and how to help
students learn one is playing this way
and one is playing that way one is
playing finite and the other one is
playing infinite guess which one gets
frustrated so at the end of my talk at
Microsoft that gave me a gift they gave
me the new Zune when it was a thing and
let me tell you this thing was
spectacular
it was the most elegant piece of
technology I’d ever used the user
interface was incredible the design was
spectacular I absolutely loved it it was
easy to use and it was bright and
gorgeous Infant it didn’t work on iTunes
which is a different problem so I
couldn’t use it but but it was amazing
and elegant my god it was elegant so I’m
sitting in the back of a taxi with a
very senior Apple executive sort of
employee number 12 kind of guy and you
know I like to stir pots so I turned him
I said you know Microsoft gave me their
new zoom and it is so much better than
your iPod touch
and he turned to me and he said I have
because the infinite player understands
sometimes your head and sometimes your
behind sometimes your product is better
and sometimes it’s worse the goal isn’t
to be the best every day the goal isn’t
out to outdo your competition every day
that’s a finite construction if I had
said to Microsoft I’ve got the new iPod
touch and it’s so much better than your
Zune they would have said can we see it
what does it do react react react react
finite players play to be bet to beat
the people around them infinite players
play to be better than themselves to
wake up every single day and say how can
we make our company a better version of
itself today than it was yesterday how
can we create a product this week that’s
better than the product we created last
week we also have to play the infinite
game it’s not about being ranked number
one it’s not about having more followers
on Twitter than your friends
it’s not about outdoing anyone it’s
about how to outdo yourself it’s not
about selling more books or getting more
10 views than somebody else it’s about
how to make sure that the work that
you’re producing is better than the work
you produced before you are your
competition and that is what ensures you
stay in the game the longest and that is
what ensures you find joy 25 or so I
probably weighed about 138 pounds I
smoked like a pack of cigarettes day I
drank tremendous amount of alcohol I was
from northern Alberta this rough little
town up and northern Alberta called
Fairview and you know there were long
winters there and my friends were heavy
drinkers and most of them dropped out of
school by the time they were 15 or 16
went off to work on the oil rigs and you
know it was a rough town and we drank a
lot I started when I was 14 and you know
and so I was I had a lot of bad habits
let’s say and things that were and I
wasn’t in great shape physically and I
was also still intellectually obsessed
by as I am now and so that would have
been that would have been in 85 but when
I but I decided around then about 85 84
or something like that maybe
earlier that I was really gonna try to
get my act together and so I started
doing that I you know I first of all I
quit smoking well that took a long time
because I eventually had to quit
drinking to in order to quit smoking and
I started working out starting playing
sports which I’d never done I had a fine
time when I was a kid and but I needed
really to get disciplined and I had to
do it because I was working on these
hard problems that you know that I’ve
been discussing with all of you and I’ve
been working on them really you know
obsessively since I was probably about
eighteen maybe even earlier than that
got to the point around 25 when I was in
graduate school trying to get my PhDs
doing all my research like I published
15 papers by the time I graduated with
my PhD which was but I think by a fairly
large measure the most papers that any
graduate student at that time had ever
published at McGill I think that’s right
might have been twice as many or maybe
twice as many maybe even three times as
many and at the same time I wrote maps
of meaning which was a terrible terrible
terribly difficult thing to do because I
was writing about three hours a day
doing that and I couldn’t do all that
and continue with my misbehavior you
know my sort of my what would you say my
my my hedonistic my hedonistic my
massive hedonistic consumption of
alcohol and all of that I just couldn’t
keep it up and also work seriously on the issues that were at hand so
Please follow and like us: