I talked to my dad I talked to Warren I
had talked to my wife Melinda so I I
have enough people that know me and
actually know where my judgment isn’t
its strongest where I might get
overexcited about something or you know
forget to think about something and so
they’re good at correcting particularly
good at correcting whatever those blind
spots are and I think it’s good to
encourage your friends and advisers to
really give them that license you know I
can go to a party and forget to say
hello to various people or something
that’s a very minor example of my client
spot a small number of people that you
can turn to on on certain key things is
a great great asset well sata2 is one of
the most strongest forms of power and
attracting good things you know if you
truly feel grateful for the things in
your life I always felt grateful for
even the small things I always used to
celebrate the small things now I might
be celebrating the bigger things but I
always celebrate every little good thing
that would happen to me in my life even
before it had any kind of money or any
that I would celebrate and I would feel
grateful for it
and it just gave me more and this is
exactly the same thing that’s happening
right now I still remain grateful and
more Combes we took a lot of pride in in
trailblazing and how the game was played
back at that time through we would we
would intimidate teams and we would want
to dominate teams but also too we also
had the thought process of a team was
never gonna outwork us we’re gonna be
the hardest working team in the country
don’t expect anything like expect expect
the worst and you know if you still
obviously still want to do this then go
ahead and do it and you know I really
did expect the worst I was like you know
what if nobody cares if you know my
first album flops all my songs flop I
don’t care I’m still gonna do this cuz I
I want to do this from
and so I was perfectly ready for none of
it to happen and I you know so it’s the
fact that you know people connected to
Havana and that people are connecting to
never be the same and people are just
connecting to my music is super it’s
like the best feeling ever
I don’t know there’s a lot of negativity
to some degree a lot of grind it just
kind of feels like the grind a little
bit and so I just kind of felt like it
wasn’t a space that I wanted to be in as
much anymore like I I want to be in a
happy space where I’m just doing things
that have bring me joy and yeah it just
it wasn’t doing that as much or I was
noticing it I was noticing I was missing
that or wanting it more I think that’s
really what it comes from is growing as
a person and realizing I think
everybody’s afraid to take chances and
do something new in their life because
they’re identified a certain way or
they’ll be judged if they don’t do it or
judged if they do something different
and who are they now and are they crazy
and what are they thinking and you know
it’s just life just do things that make
you happy a lot of people I want to be
an entrepreneur
oh that’s great what’s your idea and
they go well I don’t have one yet and I
say well I think you should go get a job
as a busboy or something until you find
something you’re really passionate about
because it’s a lot of work and I’m
convinced that about half of what
separates the successful entrepreneurs
from the non successful ones is pure
perseverance it is so hard you pour so
much your life into this thing there are
such rough moments in time that most
people give up I don’t blame them it’s
really tough and it consumes your life I
mean if you’re if you’ve got a family
and you’re in the early days of a
company it’s I can’t imagine how one
could do it
I’m sure it’s it’s been done but it’s
rough for me because it’s a pretty much
a you know an 18 hour a day job seven
days a week for a while so unless you
have a lot of passion about this you’re
going to not survive you’re gonna give
it up so you’ve got to have an idea or a
problem or a wrong that you want to
write that you’re passionate about
otherwise you’re not going to have the
perseverance to stick
through and I think that’s half the
battle right there it’s hard to remember
how bad it was you know in 1980s with
IBM taking over the world with the PC
with Doss out there it was it was far
worse than the Apple 2 and they tried to
copy the Apple 2 and they done a pretty
bad job and if you needed to know a lot
and so things were kind of slipping
backwards and Macintosh was you saw the
1984 commercial you put that I hope you
have that in your archives
you know Macintosh was basically this
this relatively small company you know
in Cupertino California taking on the
Goliath IBM and saying wait a minute
your way is wrong this is not the way we
want computers to go this is not the
legacy we want to leave this is not what
we want our kids to be learning this is
wrong and we are going to show you the
right way to do it and here it is it’s
called Macintosh and this is so much
better but it’s gonna beat you
and we are gonna do it and that’s what
Apple stood for what kills great
businesses of you looking I do believe
in looking at history and I and I try to
I like to study failure actually and my
partner says all I want to know is where
I’ll die so I’ll never go there and and
we want to see what has caused
businesses to go bad and the biggest
thing that kills them its complacency I
mean you you want a restlessness a
feeling that you know that that
somebody’s always after you but you’re
going to stay ahead of them you always
want to be on the move and and when
you’ve got a great business you know
like coca-cola wishes there aren’t any
like coca-cola but what you really the
danger would always be the you rest on
your laurels but I see none of that
obviously a coca-cola but that’s that
that is the key to to compete the same
way when you’ve got 1.8 billion servings
being sold daily as when you were
selling you know 10 a day and and that
restlessness that belief that that
tomorrow’s more exciting than today you
just have to have a premiere
the Oregon is a just do my work for me
I’ve always been very utilitarian on all
of this stuff and that’s what coming
from punk rock gave to me where I don’t
feel like that many buddy and someone
wants me to sign something I’m like sure
I don’t exactly understand why but I’ll
do it for you I don’t think I’m anything
maybe it’s also not just because of the
punk rock mentality it’s also because
you were scooping ice cream not so long
ago and maybe there’s an element of
insecurity in you that unless you keep
working and keep keep striving you could
end up back there oh I kind of figure
that’s eventual I keep moving forward
boldly because I have nothing to lose
I’m nobody from nowhere you should
really understand that I am from the
minimum wage working world a hundred
years ago but I I don’t ever have it my
head that that’s any less any more than
one tour away of coming back and so I
just I like to work it’s not about money
or fame or anything it’s about activity
and challenge my advice would be the
same for any kind of entrepreneur and
that is make sure that you are focused
on something you’re passionate about so
if you look at the early internet
companies they were started and focused
on doing something that they thought was
very interesting long before the
internet was fashionable in anyway you
know I I you know we are currently an
underdog once again we’ve been in
business for six years and there was
exactly one year where we were not the
underdog and that was 1999 I like the
the underdog years because it makes you
know I liked it when all the people we
hired their parents told them they were
crazy like that was the that was kind of
the good era fortunately it’s back in
1999 all the parents were like you know
given their brothers and sisters high
fives you know my son is working at
amazon.com so that’s a very you can’t
follow the fashion when you’re trying to
do a startup company or I think really
anything in life but you have to as an
entrepreneur if you’re gonna if you’re
gonna build a company
pick something you think is interesting
that has the intersection of Jim
creating real customer value and then
just stay right there and let the weight
of catch you are you looking to
instigate a change in your life there’s
no better or worse time than right now
hey I understand change is scary with
the status quo you know what you’ve got
and you shake things up there’s no
telling what you might end up with but
two of the things are true about change
one is absolutely necessary for personal
growth and two is gonna happen either
you could pick the time to instigate the
change the one or the change and the
time will pick you so if you happen to
be one of those people who’s standing on
the sidelines of your dreams waiting for
that perfect moment if you want to make
that change but you just don’t know if
you’re ready this life lesson is for you
it’s time to stop digging your potatoes
and jump the word business
it becomes the business but what you’re
doing is you’re you’re you know painting
a pitch you’re you’re you’re trying to
you’re trying to create create something
to make a difference to other people’s
lives you have a blank canvas and you’re
filling in in every little bit of that
canvas to get every single little detail
right and and if that canvas you know
sings out at you at the end that it’s
you know it’s a beautiful picture your
your business is going to be successful
if you know if bits of the canvas are
not quite right your business may fail
so if you set up to change people’s
lives you’ve got to get every single
little detail right you’ve got to make
sure that the people that you’re working
with a hundred percent believe in what
you’re trying to do
and you’ve got you’ve got to make sure
that what you’re trying to do is it’s
worthwhile spending your time on and at
the end of the day you want to be sure
that you know the people’s lives you’ve
affected you’ve really been affected
them and benefited them and you know if
you get all that right
you know hopefully you’ll be able to pay
the bills at the end of the year so much
preneur is tend to miscalculate is
optimism has a place but I think even
more so for the first time entrepreneur
you need to be pragmatically pessimistic
what I mean by that is you need to
define all the worst-case scenarios in
terms of financial loss time loss etc
look at what you will learn if that
happens and accept and come to terms
with that before you ever start if you
don’t do that and you go straight into
battling the world trying to conquer the
world with rose-colored glasses on the
first time you hit a major hiccup you’re
gonna become really demoralized and you
will quit so optimism all that rah rah
rah that’s awesome but you need to hope
for the best and prepare for the worst
before you ever get started how will you
do what you do is more important than
what you do you could have a you could
have a stores serving customers with
this or that which perhaps would not be
regarded as a very important job and yet
if that is done with a quality of
presence where every customer comes into
your store you give this person you’ve
just an example your fullest attention
you appreciate him or her as a human
being you see how you can best serve him
or her in the present moment that is
quality and then you would be improving
everybody who comes into contact with
you would somehow experience a small
lifting in their being in consciousness
and so that you could create a even a
person with a relatively relatively
simple job could contribute in that way
to creating a better world
you can spend your whole life imagining
ghosts worrying about the pathway to the
future but all there will ever be is
what’s happening here in the decisions
we make in this moment which are based
in either love or fear so many of us
choose our path out of fear disguised as
practicality what we really want seems
impossibly out of reach and ridiculous
to expect so we never dare to ask the
universe for it I’m saying I’m the proof
and if it doesn’t happen for you right
away it’s only because the universe is
my father could have been a great
comedian but he didn’t believe that that
was possible for him and so he made a
conservative choice instead he got a
safe job as an accountant and when I was
12 years old he was let go from that
safe job and our family had to do
whatever we could to survive I learned
many great lessons from my father not
the least of which was that you can fail
at what you don’t want so you might as
well take a chance on doing what you
love
six years to become a great chef what
you need to do is establish confidence
in yourself cooking is an amazing
journey and don’t you can learn it
within three or four years it’s like
studying medicine there’s over a 10 to
15 year period I’m 42 years of age I’m
still learning new exciting things now
that I bring back to the fold but more
importantly vision I didn’t think French
was important at school and I kicked
myself now because I went live in France
for three years and became bilingual but
I wish I’d studied harder with a second
language on my belt that gives you a
different culture gives you a completely
different level of confidence learning
French French cuisine mannerism and
cooking in a very robust tenacious way
so yeah vision and open-mindedness and
we never cut corners and then you start
cutting corners in food timeout there’s
no worse job to have than to cut corners
in food so attention to detail an
amazing exciting journey one of the very
few jobs anywhere in the world that you
can travel get paid and experience
phenomenal food anywhere in the world
brilliant well I’m very driven by what I
do I am certainly very competitive what
else am i needy I’m probably very needy
yes a bitch reflexions perfectionist
let’s try bitch first well I I hope I’m
not
I try not to be but I like people who
represent the best of what they do and
if that turns you into perfectionist
then maybe I am goal if you own a
business and I resume a lot of your
viewers are business owners or for
getting started in business remember how
good you are in business think about
this the one universal rule that idiots
in finance know is diversification if
the only free lunch you
diversify because if you put all your
eggs in one basket no matter how good
the basket is one day that real estate
market that stock market that bond
market that collectibles market whatever
you invest in right now you showed me
statistically it’ll drop 50 to 70
percent on a day now if you’re later in
life and that happens it’s over free of
that so you have to diversify and yet
most people they know real estate so
they do it or they know stocks they do
it or they grip the hand their parents
flipping things it’s the wrong thing to
do so you’ve got to diversify in order
for you to be able to truly succeed and
that’s why when you want a business yeah
if you put all your money in your
business which is what most of us do
naturally you see yeah you put all your
eggs in one basket and there’s things
that can happen I mean you know you’re
let’s say you spend 20 years and you
figured out how to put together the
ultimate map you know and you remember
Garmin came out with this thing called
the TomTom enter of your number used to
have on your enough to remember that
you’re poor yeah I just put on your dash
cost a hundred bucks it was a
breakthrough that regular design or
something oh yeah yeah six months later
what happened the iPhone came out we
have to elapse bastards came out with it
put Google Maps with their own map on
here and guess how much zero what we
gonna do to your business when someone
takes your product deserving gives away
for free so I always tell people
competition happens technology happens
what you must do is have a second
business with no with no moving parts no
people no time maybe it takes you two to
three days a year for two or three hours
after you’ve read the book you put it in
place and you measure it two or three
times here that’s it yeah go on with
your life now those are trouble in your
business you’re financially set by in my
life at thirty-one companies now we have
you know what do we have 1200 employees
seven different industries we do five
billion in sales I mean I used to be you
know me and my seminar business it’s
grown geometrically but with all those
moving parts the only way I’ve been able
to succeed is because I’ve taken
everyone those businesses I’ve
diversified my assets so that when
things were in trouble I still have
enough economics figure myself and keep
the business going so everybody needs to
create a money machine that works while
you sleep the
not moving parts and that’s what this is
really about when God created this
planet
he created up several species now if
you’re an atheist it’s okay call it the
force let me just say God for now so
I’ve said God the forest god the forest
let’s just say God right now God creates
the planet Earth and first of all he
creates which a lot of people in
different organizations want a perfect
social economic world where everything
is free don’t worry about a thing you’re
taking care of there’s no extra
imagination necessary because all gonna
be given to you
so he creates the oyster e says oyster
I’m giving you a free house to live in
I’m calling it a shell I’m gonna put at
the bottom of the ocean to protect you
from your enemies you have food clothing
all the foods you want protection
everything you want the perfectly taken
care of while you’re in your measly
little life as an oyster but you’re not
gonna go anywhere you stay there at the
bottom the ocean but you’re totally got
your free food free clothing for
everyone then God created something
called the Eagle Eagle whole different
species eagle you want a house you go
out and build it take the top of a
mountain take the top of a tree go out
and build your own house you want some
food to eat no problem go out there and
find it eagle and the eagle flies
through miles and the winter time of
rain sleet snow and whim just to feed
its young did you know the Eagle fails
95% of the time a total failure it’s so
big and cumbersome that when it comes
upon its prey they’re wild they should
offered a different direction and it
misses 5% of the time it succeeds and
what does succeed to do it succeeded to
being the strongest bird in the sky the
only one that we know of anywhere in the
world that could fly into the thermals
of a hurricane and write them to have
fun now the eagle unlike the oyster can
go any where it wants anywhere it wants
yeah Gamble’s it does is on its own but
it goes wherever it wants now that Eagle
and not the oyster is the emblem of a
mare
go and also on the flag of many many
countries you wouldn’t be in this room
right now if you weren’t Eagles don’t
only imagine start doing it thank this
industry is like surfing is that you
have to get on a surfboard and paddle
paddle through and wait for a long time
hoping that you catch a wave and you’ll
try and catch them and you’ll miss them
and someone else will catch them and
they’ll everyone will cheer and
eventually you’ll catch a wave and
you’ll ride it and it’ll be fantastic
and you’ll be really great and you’ll
get all the way to the end and then the
wave will inevitably crash and you’ll
have to turn around and you’ll have to
paddle back out and you’ll have to get
hit by waves as you get back out there
and then once you get out there you’re
gonna have to sit around there for a
long time waiting for another wave to
come along but the way that surfing
works is that there are always sets of
waves that will always come come through
and that the goal is to be patient
enough to value that metaphor I always
want to constantly evolve you know I
always want to constantly grow on every
one that get to a point where I feel
like I got to figure it out you know I
always want to like kind of like push
myself to be better you know and do can
do greater things no matter what it is I
mean I want to be the best I’m a
competitor you know I like to compete
you know like growing out with you know
with the name Michael Jordan and I’ve
always had a certain pressure pressure
on on myself and and always having to
kind of like you know prove people wrong
and
and and I just kind of kind of like put
an instant chip on my shoulder I want it
just to be great you know and do great
things and um and then and also help
people man I’m really big in the next
generation I feel like that’s all I
thought that’s the only way it’s gonna
get better moving forward is if you know
you gotta leave this world in a better
place than it was when you came in you
know I’m born in 87 – question mark I
don’t know when I’m gone and I’m saying
but I want to work on my – and I’m
saying I won’t work on that that time
that I’m here and it is um and I I
could make it easier for the next round
of filmmakers in the next round of
actors coming up you know that’s it and
I mean I didn’t know I’ll be I’m
continuing going out on that your work
ethic so crazy because of what you’ve
been through in life or do you think you
were born with it the single greatest
driving factor I have in my career and
my focus in life is an absolute fear of
going back to the place where I started
my adult life being dirt poor not being
able to provide for my family I was sort
of ashamed that I couldn’t take care of
my family and having that in my rear
view mirror it definitely pushes me to
work harder today because of that kind
of irrational fear of returning to that
place where my career and my adult life
began there’s a another rule in my book
which is rule 9 assume that the person
that you’re listening to knows something
you don’t
well they do the person you’re listening
to knows some things you don’t you can
be sure of that now whether or not you
can get to them is a different matter
but if you do get to them it’s a real
deal for you that’s why you want to
listen to the other person’s arguments
is because you’re not everything you
could be you don’t know the pathway
forward with as much clarity as you
could and it’s possible this is one of
the wonderful things that I’ve had the
privilege of experiencing as a clinician
you know because people it’s like I live
inside a Dostoyevsky novel as a
clinician people come in and they tell
me about their lives and I listen to
them and they tell me things that are
just absolutely beyond belief you know
and I learn from my clients constantly
they’re they’re telling me honestly
about their experience they tell me
things they wouldn’t tell anyone else
because I actually listen to them but
part of the reason I listen is because
I’m desperate to listen it’s like
there’s a
possibility I’m gonna do something
stupid in the next five years that’s
gonna be like fatal and there’s some
small possibility that if we have a
decent discussion that you’ll tell me
something that will eliminate some of my
blindness so that I don’t have to fall
into that particular pit and if you have
a good sensitivity for the depth of the
pit then you know you’re pretty bloody
motivated to avoid it and so and that
and and that and that dialog is it’s
it’s dialogic it’s dial logos right it’s
shared logos it’s the way that we redeem
ourselves mutually moving forward my
assistants got a great thing now in this
once in every four months somebody sends
an email saying I’ve got a huge startup
that I want you to invest in but you’ve
gotta sign this NDA right which
literally every time gets an email back
that says you right and and the
reason is I’m a humungous believer that
ideas are shot and that executions the
game right we’ve all got ideas
everybody’s got ideas do you any ideas
we all have here we could probably sit
here for the next two hours draw them
all out record them and predict the next
78 great startups over the next nine
years and so I think the thing that is
another theme in entrepreneurship is
there is way too much fodder brought to
the idea Hoover was magic cab three
years earlier
uber is not an idea uber existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
execute it sucked so they lost so I
think you know if there’s any level of
romance left in this room about your
idea I’d like to suffocate it because I
think the actual situation is what you
actually do with it it’s hugely
important to me to maintain a certain
energy it’s a it’s it’s healing it’s
loving its kind and I’ve learned really
young that my energy was infectious
right so when you know I come into the
studio when I long after
leave the energy that I bring is still
gonna be here and then people are gonna
take it home and they’re going to affect
their families with it so you know for
me it’s hugely important to maintain
just a positive loving energy I’m much
more dangerous and much more of a risk
taker and much more a going all the way
dude and less introverted when I’m not
worried about the one life myth okay I’m
thinking hey baby what if I live forever
man then am I willing to take the risk
am I willing to make the sales call see
me living forever the immortality
concept makes me way dangerous makes me
sick just makes me crazy
[Music]
it makes me want to go for it every
freaking single day because I don’t have
the ultimate to lose you understand what
I’m saying
hey check it out maybe you know maybe
you don’t know but I’ll bet you’re
curious what if you live forever
what if this is like a thousand town
what have you got a thousand more runs
of this deal well then go for it bottom
line is one life or many lives go for it
today go for it in a big way and go for
it
like you gonna live it forever I knew I
was wired to be excited about business
how or why I don’t know but you know and
there’s certain guys they have the
genetics to jump out of the gym right
certain guys you know that you know when
they golf they have the muscle memory
and and the discipline you know Dirk
Nowitzki may not be the most talented
guy in the NBA but his discipline and
his focus to do what’s necessary to be
successful he’s willing to do and
combine it with being seven feet tall
and being skilled you know it makes him
an amazing basketball player so it’s
it’s understanding what your skill set
is finding the right place to use those
skills and then going for it
you know will that make you 250 grand it
depends if you pick the right industry
but whatever industry you pick if you
outwork everybody if you try to be a
little smarter than everybody if you try
to be a better salesperson and everybody
if you try to be better prepared than
everybody you’ve got your best chance
because if you don’t do it and somebody
else does you know I have the same work
like someone’s trying to take it all
from you you know work actually worked
like no one’s spending 24 hours working
24 hours to take it all away from you
and that’s kind of the way I look at it
and I remember asking my dad too
I want a new basketball shoes because I
was a basketball junkie back then he’s
like well your shoes work if you want a
new pair tennis shoes you have to go out
there and get a job and I’m like dad I’m
12 years old and it just so happens he
was playing poker with his buddies and
one of his buddies just like well I got
a job for you I’ve got these garbage
bags that we distribute you could sell
them door-to-door I’m like okay and it
was when I was selling them and realized
that I’d like to sell and that I could
sell and that I recognized that selling
was it was about providing the service
and creating value for people that I
knew that I would literally back then I
knew that I could always succeed I mean
I remember I was 16 I think when I
started a stamp company and started
going to stamp shows and trade shows and
just working a little bit harder than
other people and and trading up from one
stamp to the next I remember one time I
started with a quarter and bought a
stamp and left with $50 thinking hey if
I could do this I could do anything and
and it’s not that everything worked I
failed a lot but I never ever felt like
I I wouldn’t be able to work hard enough
to see if you want to make progress and
things I think that but the the best
analytical framework for us and in the
future is physics I’d recommend studying
the the thinking process around physics
like not just not the equations I mean
the equation is certainly they’re
helpful but the the way of thinking in
physics is the that’s the best framework
for understanding things that are
counterintuitive and and you know always
taking the position that you are some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
and one of the biggest mistakes people
generally make and I’m guilty of a two
is wishful thinking you know like you
want something to be true even if it
isn’t true
and so you ignore the things that you
ignore the real truth because of what
you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of your oyster some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
wrong and and solicit critical feedback
particularly from friends like friends
particular friends if somebody loves you
they want the best for you they don’t
want to tell you the bad things so you
have to ask them okay you know it said
really I really do want to know and then
they’ll tell you a fixed mindset
somebody that has the fixed mindset
believes that their talent and
intelligence or fixed traits that
whatever you’re born with that’s it
those are gonna be that’s as good as
you’re ever gonna be and so hey make the
most of it somebody that has a growth
mindset realizes that that’s just you’re
starting off point and while we may not
all be equal from where our starting off
point is the human animal is literally
designed from the ground up to be able
to adapt and so it begins to be a
question of how much are you willing to
adapt what price are you willing to pay
to get great at something I believe we
all are raised as fighter jets just we
get neutered by parents by grandparents
because of the filters they had and
viewed life through the experiences they
had teachers who go you don’t want to
disappoint yourself just go to college
go get a good job go to college don’t go
to college today don’t go to college
it’s the worst thing you can do and
that’s going to be a doctor or an
attorney or accountant or you know some
kind of an architect don’t go to college
you can do a lot more in life without
going to college and so again teachers
professors will end up neutering us and
when they take they take that fighter
jet that hunger the claws and fangs they
defend us all right so now we’re crop
dusters I don’t want to take too many
risks I just want to live a good life
and they want to be average and mediocre
that’s the crop-duster yet everyone
inside has this hunger see the fighter
jet didn’t go away it’s just been
suppressed
you’ve been neutered and that was me
like hey don’t take big grace just go
get a good job go be a smart technician
like that was the advice I was given go
be a smog technician right so I’d be the
guy putting the probe in the tailpipe of
your car and then saying you can go your
car register Tom that was it that was it
and so I realized very quickly that I’ve
got this hunger inside me as I talked to
others they got this hunger inside them
ha that’s the fighter jet trying to get
out that’s the cause and things trying
to grow but the society parents whoever
have set the standard for you to not
play it safe take risks what if you lose
what have you lose who care as long as
you don’t die you can come right back
and so the fighter jet mentality is that
someone who is just determined
relentlessly obsessed and achieving an
outcome in the face of all adversity the
crop duster is someone who’s always
looking for the easiest path the
loophole which what I used to be a
severe crop duster the crop duster hits
the snooze button every day because
they’d rather take ten more minutes of
mediocre sleep then getting up and
dominating their path every morning on
my nightstand there’s two stacks of
dominoes lined up and at the top of this
stack says you’re a loser the top of
this one says you’re a winner if I hit
the snooze button I’ve hit that first
domino in the loser stack the rest of my
day is gonna suck now with that
mentality am I gonna ever hit snooze
again absolutely not because I’ve sold
myself on the idea that when I hit the
snooze button I’m an absolute loser I’m
scum of the earth I am my day is
destined to be some people go you’re
being awfully hard on yourself more
people should be hard on themselves we
go around bubble wrapping ourselves
right we leave the training bills on for
too long like be hard on yourself take
the bubble wrap off take the take the
training wheels off no one did that for
me man we came to this country and it
was just like hey go figure it out but
it was don’t take risks to go get a good
job that be a fighter jet be a fighter
jet go to battle every day take risks
that’s what a fighter jet does a crop
duster has a routine life and it’s
boring everyone gets hammered man
everyone gets knocked down you get a you
miss a clothes someone changes their
mind yeah you get rejected in the
interview
you you lose your bass walker remember
the hell it is it’s not what are you
getting knocked down it’s not even
whether you get up everybody eventually
gets up everybody gets up yeah it’s the
time you’re on your ass it’s the time
you stay on the mat so what happened was
my dream got squashed instead of laying
around for six or eight months I was up
immediately like that day off the mat
now my eyes are open your eyes are
closed when you’re on the mat yeah yeah
so the longer you stay on the mat just
because you’ve been defeated you’ve now
become blinded as you said and it’s
prevented from getting any other
opportunity or blessings in your life so
the key is getting your butt up like
literally getting up and opening your
eyes again and chasing again you’re
gonna get up so you might as well do it
now everyone that’s out there grinding
working driving trucks pouring concrete
hammering on a project building bridges
or building software sewing some
garments or sewing a field farmers
factory workers engineers electricians
plumbers and pilots and ground crew and
cooks and waitresses to everyone out
there working hard and listening to this
and just trying to get yourself a little
thanks for listening and as you meet
struggles and as you struggle to stay on
the path first of all remember you don’t
have to fight alone reach out to your
comrades in arms call for fire support
when you need it we win wars because we
stick together and when we stick
together we can overcome any enemy and
the struggles that you face when they
when they do try to flank you do what
Jodie did do what a soldier does turn in
the ambush turned toward the enemy fire
and attack just because it feels
uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not good
and I remember my first x-men movie was
a little I came in late I felt a bit
behind the 8-ball I started shooting
four weeks into filming because I was
replacing the guy who was playing the
role so I came in feeling a bit behind
the 8-ball and there was a rhythm going
and I I just felt a bit uncomfortable
and and I I remember him giving me that
advice he goes your stuff is good and
even if it feels uncomfortable that can
sometimes be right I think so often not
only on film but in life we so want to
feel comfortable but that doesn’t always
bring the best results if I look back I
think some of my more successful things
in my point of view have been the things
I’ve been most nervous about and
probably most unsure when I began
there’s something about jumping off that
cliff which means you end up going for
broke and probably end up taking a few
more risks if you know what I’m in I’m a
perfectionist like if my b-roll doesn’t
look a certain way there’s a slight
camera shake in just if I’m shooting in
120 and it’s a perfect moving in close
and then oh it just it just kind of goes
out it’s garbage delete it I don’t even
want to see it even still at the end of
my videos like I’m pretty much always
unhappy with my videos it’s just like I
don’t know I just don’t like my own
stuff and it’s because I’m so hard on
myself and such a perfectionist so it’s
kind of like liberating also challenging
doing a video like this where it’s like
I’m not gonna have any b-roll in it like
there’s no music I can loop for like 30
minutes without wanting to go crazy so I
I might not even put music in this video
and just thinking about that stresses me
out it gives me anxiety but I think it’s
good to like do things that make you
feel so uncomfortable I think that’s
that means that means you’re growing
that means as a creative person you are
you know you are expanding that toolkit
that you have and I think the bigger
that toolkit is the more valuable it is
because you just understand everything
better so
this in and of itself is kind of like us
stepping out of our comfort zone and
doing something that is completely
outside the realm of everything we’ve
done before as far as YouTube goes yeah
you know in a certain point you wake up
you’re like I’ve done a lot of stuff in
my life but what do I want to do like
what what movies do I want to make what
television shows hmm I want to put into
the world because it’s a lot of work
it’s I feel like I’ve done all that
other work I did a lot of stuff for a
lot of other people yep I want to put
something in it that is more
representative Who I am as a person and
I just wasn’t afraid to take the chance
in a football stadium was also
groundbreaking you know I don’t want to
do something and not be known for what I
did in my generation I want to stand out
so why not try to make history which is
why I did the football stadium
you know 52,000 people is nothing to be
frowned upon but would you gotta look at
as a comedian has never done it so it
was all about making a stamp in an
imprint in today’s generation we
definitely see this this one who seems
to have this aspect of rushing like
rushing to get to the next step and
rushing to make a certain amount of
money and when I when I think of goals I
don’t necessarily think of specifics I
just think of more feelings of how I
would feel when I get to that what is my
success and how does that feel like
instead of saying okay I want to I want
to win this amount of titles and I want
to win this amount of Grand Slams or I
want to earn this amount of money I
think not always I think more of the
feeling how am I gonna feel when I win
match point I visualize it I embrace
that feeling and I carry it with me like
you visualize it all the time or in the
moment I think moments and and I think
it always comes when you least expect it
sometimes you can be on a on a run
sometimes those long plane rides where
you know it’s sunset and it’s just you
and you’ve been traveling and you’re
going home and you have no one around
you just yourself on the flight it’s
just a bunch undreds of strangers next
to you and you have this moment where
you start thinking of why you’re doing
this why are you lonely why are you
in this position and you think of what
you’ve already done to get there and
where you would like to see yourself go
so it those moments always come at a
different I don’t I don’t sit down and I
think okay right now I’m gonna visualize
the feeling that I might have when I
just want to tournament or yeah but I
definitely I think it’s important to me
when you say things or you know and I
want a friend of mine says something
negative and I was like don’t put that
in the universe I put that out there
yeah I do believe in that there’s some
sense of them truth in that because it’s
also comes with and you carry with that
attitude you know when someone says
something negative you usually see their
attitude change and shows up in your
body and you’re yeah and I mean I for
sure do that as well and I have my
moments and but the faster you
acknowledge it and realize it the faster
you can move on
there was this one role that I wanted to
play desperately and I but I started to
get you know offers offers from for
other movies and there was a big Disney
movie that I would they wanted me to do
and I don’t know where I got those
little balls at 16 years old to say no
I’m gonna I’m gonna wait it out because
I want to audition for this other film
but if there’s one thing that I’m really
proud of and my my entire career it’s
that moment that’s 16 to say that you
know and do that and have that sort of
conviction of what I wanted to do that’s
the one thing really proud of it’s
always been the most important thing for
me of it to be the best man that I can
be and my rights as a human being more
one been my rights as a citizen number
two then my rights or my identity as an
American McConaughey yeah what all those
things you break down to family from
from you know child of God if that’s how
you see it to be in a human to be in a
citizen to be in a an American to be any
McConaughey all those identifications
you get bringing it down to self mm-hmm
those are all come before now I’m a
famous actor hmm and are now I’m an
actor who has become famous or I am a
celebrity celebrity and famer are
amendments that came along the way were
they did they did they all of a sudden
proposed many new challenges with how to
balance life you damn right they did mmm
needed many times I was like God can I
have 26 hours in this day instead of 24
can I just need two more I’m in a minute
it’s all and I’m not sure I’m not
discriminating enough I’m not being
discerning enough I’m kind of everything
sounds good mmm you know everything was
now all the answers were no yesterday
right in this career I’m taking on and
boy over one weekend everything’s yes it
inverted ly flip-flopped yeah mr. dad
ninety nine nose out of a hundred
scripts and over one weekend after time
to kill comes out it flips ninety-nine
yeses great but hang on a minute
I got a these things that I’m looking at
and going wool yes three days ago we
received yes two days I have to be much
more discriminant mmm-hmm and really try
to go let me ask myself borders I want
to do that’s not easy to do because
there’s time that’s the netbook and I’ve
26 hours in the day I mean I don’t have
it disseminating between them it’s
walking that line of really respecting
this job that I do as a real privilege
hmm that in an honor to do at the same
you got I had to get let you got to go
from being impressed to getting really
involved and I find that if I can get
really involved that doesn’t lessen my
respect for a craft for something I’m
doing it actually raises it because it’s
a little more of a sober look at it it’s
looking at eye to eye I mean if you
Revere
you’re never gonna you never gonna be on
you’re never gonna engage with it as
much because you’re always beneath it
you know so to get involved with it
still respect it
don’t patronize it okay knots in it look
down on it
that’s not Elfie either but also why you
can respect it and know it’s a privilege
you don’t have to don’t be I don’t be
beneath it like oh my god I’m just so
thankful that this is up just doing no
you gotta look at it level and go okay
but why am I doing this and what can I
give and what can it give me back some
of the most important discoveries and
inventions and innovations within a
field come from people who are trained
in a much different field and who have
an outsider’s approach Louis Pasteur was
a classic example of this he was trained
as a chemist in mineralogist so he
brought amidst a much different way of
thinking to the subject of medicine and
germs a method that was infinitely more
creative Albert Einstein was a complete
outsider his two most important
discoveries came when he was working at
the Swiss Patent Office Google itself
exemplifies this idea it is perhaps the
most successful business on the planet
founded by two men who are relatively
complete outsiders to business and who
therefore structured and directed their
company in a very novel and creative
fashion I could go on and on and on with
this list including many great artists
there are two important reasons why
Outsiders generally have a creative
advantage first they are less steeped in
and burdened by the conventions of the
field that they are attacking they ask a
different set of questions they approach
problems from unconventional angles and
second they are often trained in totally
unrelated fields and so can make
interesting and creative connections
between two very different forms of
thinking like science and business or
chemistry and medicine or engineering
and design now we can’t all consciously
follow such a path but even within the
careers that were pursuing we can train
ourselves to think like outsiders and
help loosen up the mind in the process
do you think there were no hurdles or
obstacles that had overcome but even I
got to high school I wasn’t ranked as
you know I wasn’t ranked I wasn’t highly
touted as a high school prospect I had
nobody really running knocking on my
door saying please please please come
play for our school until coach
McCullough called and you know
everything happens for a reason and
there’s there’s a story into everything
and and if you take time to realize you
know what what your dream is and and
what you really want in life no matter
what it is whether it’s sports whether
it’s in other fields you have to realize
that there’s always work to do and you
want to be the hardest-working person in
whatever you do and you’ll put yourself
in position to be successful and you
have to have a passion about what you do
and basketball was mine and that’s what
scared me to this point from getting
what you want life is the bold story you
tell yourself of why you can’t have it
get that what stops you back is the
story the story stops you from getting
honest and if you can’t get honest with
yourself
there’s no way you can go what made you
like that success in sales in life it’s
like a road map right you know where you
want to go and you have this perfect
strategy the straight line to get there
it’s a perfect strategy it’s gonna get
you there every single time but if you
don’t know your starting point if you’re
not getting özlem where you actually are
it doesn’t matter how powerful strategy
is and it doesn’t matter how powerful
your goals I’m gonna actually set a goal
today write a 60 day goal and let’s say
you really set this goal and I’ll show
you how to do it in a brilliant way so
it’s visceral so it makes you really
feel it you see smellable that’s step
one I’m gonna teach you the straight
line which is your strategy to get to
your goal but if you’re not honest with
where you are right now your starting
point the map is worthless there’s three
things that you know where you are where
you want to go and how you’re gonna get
there those are the three things you
must have to take advantage of any
opportunity I’m gonna give you the
strategy I’m gonna actually tell me
exactly where you want to go for
yourself you got to get honest don’t
blame the boss don’t blame the leads
don’t blame your job double in the
industry or in just get out if you don’t
like your industry find another one
one of the first ballet recitals that I
danced in pointe shoes and I was so
nervous because it was the first time
that I was gonna get on stage everyone
that I loved and care about was gonna be
in that audience and I didn’t want to
let him down I didn’t want to let myself
down how I sort of learned to cope with
that is just really to take that anxiety
that that sort of adrenaline and
actually pour it into something
productive meaning like what can you do
to best prepare for that moment so when
it came to the point where it was
Showtime it was time to get out on that
stage I knew that I did everything I
possibly could to get out there and feel
amazing and just perform and I think
something clicked in me
however it doesn’t always go right there
was a time I remember I walked in a
Fendi run my show and I see you know
made a little slip and kind of slipped
off the runway and but all you can do is
do your best even when you make mistakes
sometimes those can be the most
important experiences to learn from how
do we define success can a bus driver on
the street be defined as successful and
the guy who’s the CEO of that business
not successful so when I started out on
this journey I had the same definition
of success as almost everyone which is I
thought you know the more powerful you
are the more wealthy you are the more
successful you are you know the Forbes
list idea it wasn’t until I met Steve
Wozniak the co-founder of Apple
computers that he completely redefined
my understanding of success he helped me
realize that you know if you put Steve
Jobs and Steve Wozniak side-by-side most
people will say Steve Jobs was more
successful but Wozniak company realize
that success has much more to do with
how you define it how you look within
yourself and ask yourself what do I
actually want what makes me happy and if
what makes you happy is driving a bus
and coming home at 5:00 p.m. and picking
up your kids and playing catch with them
and you’re the CEO of a company and
never see your kids you’re not
successful if you’re miserable if you’re
not doing what you want to do that’s not
success so should we broaden ideas of
what it means is as a definition flawed
I believe that the natural human and
really Western definition of success
which is more money more power more
prestige isn’t right look it might be
right for some people who want that but
for the vast majority of people who want
to be you know a mother and working and
helping at their kids school or a father
who wants to be you know involved with
their community I think the idea of the
more
Twitter followers you have and the more
money you have is a flawed model you
have to look within yourself and ask
yourself what you want I have been
working my whole life and what I did
understand by being determined to chase
something by being committed to it and
what commitment is commitment to staying
true to what you said you were going to
do long after the mood that you have set
it in has left you see people think
commitment is saying yes I’ll do it on
the days when they feel good but I’ve
been committed to everything that I ever
started in my life and I never stopped
and I never quit it and so by being
committed to everything that I started I
finished it it built a certain type of
spirit it built a certain type of
mentality it built a certain type of
individual and so now I couldn’t quit
even if I wanted to I couldn’t lay in
the bed even if I wanted to I couldn’t
stop even if I wanted to I had too much
sweat equity in my life and everything
that I was doing because I understood my
existence wasn’t about me I went from me
to we long time ago I understood the
process is more important than the
product it wasn’t about the outcome for
me once I’ve made it to the NFL or not
that was inconsequential in God’s plan
for my life but I was going to fall in
love with that process because I
understood by falling in love with that
process it was going to turn me into a
machine just the last 15 minutes of this
podcast was so strong from Monday
morning about like where it all starts
with your mind people don’t really
believe that but it’s true really
for me it started when I said I’m
getting into Connolly I don’t give my
credit bureau I don’t give a about the
credit card people I don’t you about the
bank’s about what I Drive give about
what my clothes on because at the end it
doesn’t really matter unless you’re
happy for years I’m worried about my job
and I gotta have white sneakers or
nothing I have a black shirt on it who
gives up at the end of the day I wasn’t
happy I wasn’t happy I didn’t get happy
till I started driving across country
with a pair of shorts on and stinky
sneakers and the t-shirt and you got
three pair of jeans and three shirts and
they’re lasting you all week dog you got
like four pair of socks and you get on a
stage
that’s what I really started getting
happy when I started waking up in the
morning and knew I had to drive 200
miles and I had 30 to 50 in quarters and
I had to get lunch with that reefer and
gas to get me to that next location for
some reason I’d be happy a lot happier
than making 1,200 a week and paying my
bills I was like this is what I like I
like this so it’s food for thought
sometimes it’s not about the money or
the dollars it’s about what brings a
smile to your face and once you find it
let yourself go don’t think about it
don’t look back yeah don’t compare
prices yeah don’t listen to your uncle
about taking their roofing job for 1254
stability yeah you know what stability
is overrated the stabilities over really
absolutely I think happiness is doing
what you want sort of health and even in
there probably I was in County for I was
in comedy for 12 years before I saw a
dime yeah we were getting paid but
nothing to write home about I could have
quit at any time in those 12 years and
found the job I would had tricked
somebody into being an indoor salesman I
didn’t want to do that I would have
rather live on eight thousand a year and
do my own thing and around at night and
smoke pot with your stupid buddies and
get on stage and going to an office
Insurance who gives off when you think
about insurance that’s when you need
insurance for 30 years I ran around with
no insurance that never happened to me
the best piece of advice that I was
given when I started my modeling career
was make sure that you under there was a
lot of things that weren’t given to me
because you know everybody likes to give
you advice one thing that stayed with me
is you’re as good as your last job and
so every job I treated as if it were my
last job and I think that that kind of
gave me a reputation of hard-working
ready to do whatever it takes to get
this shot and
and I and I think that that’s very
important in any industry every single
person when they’re in their teens in
their early 20s they they care so much
about other people and how they’re
perceived and what impression they make
and I wanted to be perfect I wanted to
be good at everything and be a good
student and be prettier and skinnier and
successful and all these things and I
cared about what people said about me
how they felt about me and as I get
older I just realize that that is that
one other people won’t make me happy it
has to be from within me and I need to
keep doing whatever makes me happy and
whoever responds to that great whoever
doesn’t respond to that it’s fine – hmm
but the less I care about other people’s
opinions the better I feel about myself
and the more I do things that make me
happy because all the time why well I
hate to say it the best way for me to
get how life Eagle acrost I can’t see
any say you know what I went through
hell week it met it was it was really
hard no that takes your damn soul rips
it inside out and then they say now
we’re going to start it it allows me to
express where I was at at a point of my
life if I won’t give you all of me why
the hell am I here why how will you
learn from me people take so much
offense to me you will never learn from
people if we always tap-dance around the
truth oh god I love that we tap-dance
around the truth by finding the right
word so I don’t hurt you because you
have thin skin no tighten up people it’s
okay trust me it’s okay you might be
called nigger one day it’s okay you
might be called some Jewish word or some
or gay word it’s okay let them
call you that what are you going to do
now they don’t own your life how are you
going to control that now how are you
going to flip it upside down and say
Roger that now I’m going to harness this
and you read about me years from now how
that’s the question how are you going to
do
thicken your skin become more of a human
being don’t be afraid of the reflection
in the mirror because that’s all you can
be afraid of once you overcome the
reflection in the mirror you’ve done it
I say to them my girls all of the time
that your real work is to figure out
where your power base is and to work on
the alignment of your personality your
gifts that you have to give with the
real reason why you’re here
that’s that’s the number one thing you
have to do is to work on yourself and to
fill your self up and keep your cup full
keep yourself full now I used to be
afraid of that I used to be afraid
particularly from people who say oh she
said she’s so full of herself she’s so
close or so and now I embrace it I I
considered a compliment that I am full
of myself because you only when you’re
full I’m full I’m overflowing my cup
runneth over
I have so much I have so much to offer
and so much to give and I am not afraid
of honoring myself you know it’s
miraculous when you think about it I
talked to so many smart fantastic
ambitious idealistic hard-working kids
and they’re right out of college they’re
in their entry-level jobs and I’ll ask
them how is it going and they’ll say I
think I’m gonna quit and I’m like why
they say to me I’m not making an impact
I’m like you know you’ve been here eight
they treat the sense of fulfillment or
even love like it’s a scavenger hunt
like it’s something you look for my
millennial friends they’ve gone through
so many jobs they’re either getting
fired I mean it was mutual or they’re
quitting because they’re not making an
impact or they’re not find anything
they’re looking for they’re not feeling
fulfilled as if it’s a scavenger hunt
love a job you find joy from is not
something you discover it’s not like I
found love here it is I found a job I
love that’s not how it works both of
those things require hard work you are
in love because you work very hard every
single day of your life to stay in love
you find a job that brings you ultimate
joy because you work hard every single
day to serve those around you and you
maintain that joy it’s not a discovery
but the problem is the sense of
impatience it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see as the mountain this large
amove Abul object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
are journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and on to the next
had talked to my wife Melinda so I I
have enough people that know me and
actually know where my judgment isn’t
its strongest where I might get
overexcited about something or you know
forget to think about something and so
they’re good at correcting particularly
good at correcting whatever those blind
spots are and I think it’s good to
encourage your friends and advisers to
really give them that license you know I
can go to a party and forget to say
hello to various people or something
that’s a very minor example of my client
spot a small number of people that you
can turn to on on certain key things is
a great great asset well sata2 is one of
the most strongest forms of power and
attracting good things you know if you
truly feel grateful for the things in
your life I always felt grateful for
even the small things I always used to
celebrate the small things now I might
be celebrating the bigger things but I
always celebrate every little good thing
that would happen to me in my life even
before it had any kind of money or any
that I would celebrate and I would feel
grateful for it
and it just gave me more and this is
exactly the same thing that’s happening
right now I still remain grateful and
more Combes we took a lot of pride in in
trailblazing and how the game was played
back at that time through we would we
would intimidate teams and we would want
to dominate teams but also too we also
had the thought process of a team was
never gonna outwork us we’re gonna be
the hardest working team in the country
don’t expect anything like expect expect
the worst and you know if you still
obviously still want to do this then go
ahead and do it and you know I really
did expect the worst I was like you know
what if nobody cares if you know my
first album flops all my songs flop I
don’t care I’m still gonna do this cuz I
I want to do this from
and so I was perfectly ready for none of
it to happen and I you know so it’s the
fact that you know people connected to
Havana and that people are connecting to
never be the same and people are just
connecting to my music is super it’s
like the best feeling ever
I don’t know there’s a lot of negativity
to some degree a lot of grind it just
kind of feels like the grind a little
bit and so I just kind of felt like it
wasn’t a space that I wanted to be in as
much anymore like I I want to be in a
happy space where I’m just doing things
that have bring me joy and yeah it just
it wasn’t doing that as much or I was
noticing it I was noticing I was missing
that or wanting it more I think that’s
really what it comes from is growing as
a person and realizing I think
everybody’s afraid to take chances and
do something new in their life because
they’re identified a certain way or
they’ll be judged if they don’t do it or
judged if they do something different
and who are they now and are they crazy
and what are they thinking and you know
it’s just life just do things that make
you happy a lot of people I want to be
an entrepreneur
oh that’s great what’s your idea and
they go well I don’t have one yet and I
say well I think you should go get a job
as a busboy or something until you find
something you’re really passionate about
because it’s a lot of work and I’m
convinced that about half of what
separates the successful entrepreneurs
from the non successful ones is pure
perseverance it is so hard you pour so
much your life into this thing there are
such rough moments in time that most
people give up I don’t blame them it’s
really tough and it consumes your life I
mean if you’re if you’ve got a family
and you’re in the early days of a
company it’s I can’t imagine how one
could do it
I’m sure it’s it’s been done but it’s
rough for me because it’s a pretty much
a you know an 18 hour a day job seven
days a week for a while so unless you
have a lot of passion about this you’re
going to not survive you’re gonna give
it up so you’ve got to have an idea or a
problem or a wrong that you want to
write that you’re passionate about
otherwise you’re not going to have the
perseverance to stick
through and I think that’s half the
battle right there it’s hard to remember
how bad it was you know in 1980s with
IBM taking over the world with the PC
with Doss out there it was it was far
worse than the Apple 2 and they tried to
copy the Apple 2 and they done a pretty
bad job and if you needed to know a lot
and so things were kind of slipping
backwards and Macintosh was you saw the
1984 commercial you put that I hope you
have that in your archives
you know Macintosh was basically this
this relatively small company you know
in Cupertino California taking on the
Goliath IBM and saying wait a minute
your way is wrong this is not the way we
want computers to go this is not the
legacy we want to leave this is not what
we want our kids to be learning this is
wrong and we are going to show you the
right way to do it and here it is it’s
called Macintosh and this is so much
better but it’s gonna beat you
and we are gonna do it and that’s what
Apple stood for what kills great
businesses of you looking I do believe
in looking at history and I and I try to
I like to study failure actually and my
partner says all I want to know is where
I’ll die so I’ll never go there and and
we want to see what has caused
businesses to go bad and the biggest
thing that kills them its complacency I
mean you you want a restlessness a
feeling that you know that that
somebody’s always after you but you’re
going to stay ahead of them you always
want to be on the move and and when
you’ve got a great business you know
like coca-cola wishes there aren’t any
like coca-cola but what you really the
danger would always be the you rest on
your laurels but I see none of that
obviously a coca-cola but that’s that
that is the key to to compete the same
way when you’ve got 1.8 billion servings
being sold daily as when you were
selling you know 10 a day and and that
restlessness that belief that that
tomorrow’s more exciting than today you
just have to have a premiere
the Oregon is a just do my work for me
I’ve always been very utilitarian on all
of this stuff and that’s what coming
from punk rock gave to me where I don’t
feel like that many buddy and someone
wants me to sign something I’m like sure
I don’t exactly understand why but I’ll
do it for you I don’t think I’m anything
maybe it’s also not just because of the
punk rock mentality it’s also because
you were scooping ice cream not so long
ago and maybe there’s an element of
insecurity in you that unless you keep
working and keep keep striving you could
end up back there oh I kind of figure
that’s eventual I keep moving forward
boldly because I have nothing to lose
I’m nobody from nowhere you should
really understand that I am from the
minimum wage working world a hundred
years ago but I I don’t ever have it my
head that that’s any less any more than
one tour away of coming back and so I
just I like to work it’s not about money
or fame or anything it’s about activity
and challenge my advice would be the
same for any kind of entrepreneur and
that is make sure that you are focused
on something you’re passionate about so
if you look at the early internet
companies they were started and focused
on doing something that they thought was
very interesting long before the
internet was fashionable in anyway you
know I I you know we are currently an
underdog once again we’ve been in
business for six years and there was
exactly one year where we were not the
underdog and that was 1999 I like the
the underdog years because it makes you
know I liked it when all the people we
hired their parents told them they were
crazy like that was the that was kind of
the good era fortunately it’s back in
1999 all the parents were like you know
given their brothers and sisters high
fives you know my son is working at
amazon.com so that’s a very you can’t
follow the fashion when you’re trying to
do a startup company or I think really
anything in life but you have to as an
entrepreneur if you’re gonna if you’re
gonna build a company
pick something you think is interesting
that has the intersection of Jim
creating real customer value and then
just stay right there and let the weight
of catch you are you looking to
instigate a change in your life there’s
no better or worse time than right now
hey I understand change is scary with
the status quo you know what you’ve got
and you shake things up there’s no
telling what you might end up with but
two of the things are true about change
one is absolutely necessary for personal
growth and two is gonna happen either
you could pick the time to instigate the
change the one or the change and the
time will pick you so if you happen to
be one of those people who’s standing on
the sidelines of your dreams waiting for
that perfect moment if you want to make
that change but you just don’t know if
you’re ready this life lesson is for you
it’s time to stop digging your potatoes
and jump the word business
it becomes the business but what you’re
doing is you’re you’re you know painting
a pitch you’re you’re you’re trying to
you’re trying to create create something
to make a difference to other people’s
lives you have a blank canvas and you’re
filling in in every little bit of that
canvas to get every single little detail
right and and if that canvas you know
sings out at you at the end that it’s
you know it’s a beautiful picture your
your business is going to be successful
if you know if bits of the canvas are
not quite right your business may fail
so if you set up to change people’s
lives you’ve got to get every single
little detail right you’ve got to make
sure that the people that you’re working
with a hundred percent believe in what
you’re trying to do
and you’ve got you’ve got to make sure
that what you’re trying to do is it’s
worthwhile spending your time on and at
the end of the day you want to be sure
that you know the people’s lives you’ve
affected you’ve really been affected
them and benefited them and you know if
you get all that right
you know hopefully you’ll be able to pay
the bills at the end of the year so much
preneur is tend to miscalculate is
optimism has a place but I think even
more so for the first time entrepreneur
you need to be pragmatically pessimistic
what I mean by that is you need to
define all the worst-case scenarios in
terms of financial loss time loss etc
look at what you will learn if that
happens and accept and come to terms
with that before you ever start if you
don’t do that and you go straight into
battling the world trying to conquer the
world with rose-colored glasses on the
first time you hit a major hiccup you’re
gonna become really demoralized and you
will quit so optimism all that rah rah
rah that’s awesome but you need to hope
for the best and prepare for the worst
before you ever get started how will you
do what you do is more important than
what you do you could have a you could
have a stores serving customers with
this or that which perhaps would not be
regarded as a very important job and yet
if that is done with a quality of
presence where every customer comes into
your store you give this person you’ve
just an example your fullest attention
you appreciate him or her as a human
being you see how you can best serve him
or her in the present moment that is
quality and then you would be improving
everybody who comes into contact with
you would somehow experience a small
lifting in their being in consciousness
and so that you could create a even a
person with a relatively relatively
simple job could contribute in that way
to creating a better world
you can spend your whole life imagining
ghosts worrying about the pathway to the
future but all there will ever be is
what’s happening here in the decisions
we make in this moment which are based
in either love or fear so many of us
choose our path out of fear disguised as
practicality what we really want seems
impossibly out of reach and ridiculous
to expect so we never dare to ask the
universe for it I’m saying I’m the proof
and if it doesn’t happen for you right
away it’s only because the universe is
my father could have been a great
comedian but he didn’t believe that that
was possible for him and so he made a
conservative choice instead he got a
safe job as an accountant and when I was
12 years old he was let go from that
safe job and our family had to do
whatever we could to survive I learned
many great lessons from my father not
the least of which was that you can fail
at what you don’t want so you might as
well take a chance on doing what you
love
six years to become a great chef what
you need to do is establish confidence
in yourself cooking is an amazing
journey and don’t you can learn it
within three or four years it’s like
studying medicine there’s over a 10 to
15 year period I’m 42 years of age I’m
still learning new exciting things now
that I bring back to the fold but more
importantly vision I didn’t think French
was important at school and I kicked
myself now because I went live in France
for three years and became bilingual but
I wish I’d studied harder with a second
language on my belt that gives you a
different culture gives you a completely
different level of confidence learning
French French cuisine mannerism and
cooking in a very robust tenacious way
so yeah vision and open-mindedness and
we never cut corners and then you start
cutting corners in food timeout there’s
no worse job to have than to cut corners
in food so attention to detail an
amazing exciting journey one of the very
few jobs anywhere in the world that you
can travel get paid and experience
phenomenal food anywhere in the world
brilliant well I’m very driven by what I
do I am certainly very competitive what
else am i needy I’m probably very needy
yes a bitch reflexions perfectionist
let’s try bitch first well I I hope I’m
not
I try not to be but I like people who
represent the best of what they do and
if that turns you into perfectionist
then maybe I am goal if you own a
business and I resume a lot of your
viewers are business owners or for
getting started in business remember how
good you are in business think about
this the one universal rule that idiots
in finance know is diversification if
the only free lunch you
diversify because if you put all your
eggs in one basket no matter how good
the basket is one day that real estate
market that stock market that bond
market that collectibles market whatever
you invest in right now you showed me
statistically it’ll drop 50 to 70
percent on a day now if you’re later in
life and that happens it’s over free of
that so you have to diversify and yet
most people they know real estate so
they do it or they know stocks they do
it or they grip the hand their parents
flipping things it’s the wrong thing to
do so you’ve got to diversify in order
for you to be able to truly succeed and
that’s why when you want a business yeah
if you put all your money in your
business which is what most of us do
naturally you see yeah you put all your
eggs in one basket and there’s things
that can happen I mean you know you’re
let’s say you spend 20 years and you
figured out how to put together the
ultimate map you know and you remember
Garmin came out with this thing called
the TomTom enter of your number used to
have on your enough to remember that
you’re poor yeah I just put on your dash
cost a hundred bucks it was a
breakthrough that regular design or
something oh yeah yeah six months later
what happened the iPhone came out we
have to elapse bastards came out with it
put Google Maps with their own map on
here and guess how much zero what we
gonna do to your business when someone
takes your product deserving gives away
for free so I always tell people
competition happens technology happens
what you must do is have a second
business with no with no moving parts no
people no time maybe it takes you two to
three days a year for two or three hours
after you’ve read the book you put it in
place and you measure it two or three
times here that’s it yeah go on with
your life now those are trouble in your
business you’re financially set by in my
life at thirty-one companies now we have
you know what do we have 1200 employees
seven different industries we do five
billion in sales I mean I used to be you
know me and my seminar business it’s
grown geometrically but with all those
moving parts the only way I’ve been able
to succeed is because I’ve taken
everyone those businesses I’ve
diversified my assets so that when
things were in trouble I still have
enough economics figure myself and keep
the business going so everybody needs to
create a money machine that works while
you sleep the
not moving parts and that’s what this is
really about when God created this
planet
he created up several species now if
you’re an atheist it’s okay call it the
force let me just say God for now so
I’ve said God the forest god the forest
let’s just say God right now God creates
the planet Earth and first of all he
creates which a lot of people in
different organizations want a perfect
social economic world where everything
is free don’t worry about a thing you’re
taking care of there’s no extra
imagination necessary because all gonna
be given to you
so he creates the oyster e says oyster
I’m giving you a free house to live in
I’m calling it a shell I’m gonna put at
the bottom of the ocean to protect you
from your enemies you have food clothing
all the foods you want protection
everything you want the perfectly taken
care of while you’re in your measly
little life as an oyster but you’re not
gonna go anywhere you stay there at the
bottom the ocean but you’re totally got
your free food free clothing for
everyone then God created something
called the Eagle Eagle whole different
species eagle you want a house you go
out and build it take the top of a
mountain take the top of a tree go out
and build your own house you want some
food to eat no problem go out there and
find it eagle and the eagle flies
through miles and the winter time of
rain sleet snow and whim just to feed
its young did you know the Eagle fails
95% of the time a total failure it’s so
big and cumbersome that when it comes
upon its prey they’re wild they should
offered a different direction and it
misses 5% of the time it succeeds and
what does succeed to do it succeeded to
being the strongest bird in the sky the
only one that we know of anywhere in the
world that could fly into the thermals
of a hurricane and write them to have
fun now the eagle unlike the oyster can
go any where it wants anywhere it wants
yeah Gamble’s it does is on its own but
it goes wherever it wants now that Eagle
and not the oyster is the emblem of a
mare
go and also on the flag of many many
countries you wouldn’t be in this room
right now if you weren’t Eagles don’t
only imagine start doing it thank this
industry is like surfing is that you
have to get on a surfboard and paddle
paddle through and wait for a long time
hoping that you catch a wave and you’ll
try and catch them and you’ll miss them
and someone else will catch them and
they’ll everyone will cheer and
eventually you’ll catch a wave and
you’ll ride it and it’ll be fantastic
and you’ll be really great and you’ll
get all the way to the end and then the
wave will inevitably crash and you’ll
have to turn around and you’ll have to
paddle back out and you’ll have to get
hit by waves as you get back out there
and then once you get out there you’re
gonna have to sit around there for a
long time waiting for another wave to
come along but the way that surfing
works is that there are always sets of
waves that will always come come through
and that the goal is to be patient
enough to value that metaphor I always
want to constantly evolve you know I
always want to constantly grow on every
one that get to a point where I feel
like I got to figure it out you know I
always want to like kind of like push
myself to be better you know and do can
do greater things no matter what it is I
mean I want to be the best I’m a
competitor you know I like to compete
you know like growing out with you know
with the name Michael Jordan and I’ve
always had a certain pressure pressure
on on myself and and always having to
kind of like you know prove people wrong
and
and and I just kind of kind of like put
an instant chip on my shoulder I want it
just to be great you know and do great
things and um and then and also help
people man I’m really big in the next
generation I feel like that’s all I
thought that’s the only way it’s gonna
get better moving forward is if you know
you gotta leave this world in a better
place than it was when you came in you
know I’m born in 87 – question mark I
don’t know when I’m gone and I’m saying
but I want to work on my – and I’m
saying I won’t work on that that time
that I’m here and it is um and I I
could make it easier for the next round
of filmmakers in the next round of
actors coming up you know that’s it and
I mean I didn’t know I’ll be I’m
continuing going out on that your work
ethic so crazy because of what you’ve
been through in life or do you think you
were born with it the single greatest
driving factor I have in my career and
my focus in life is an absolute fear of
going back to the place where I started
my adult life being dirt poor not being
able to provide for my family I was sort
of ashamed that I couldn’t take care of
my family and having that in my rear
view mirror it definitely pushes me to
work harder today because of that kind
of irrational fear of returning to that
place where my career and my adult life
began there’s a another rule in my book
which is rule 9 assume that the person
that you’re listening to knows something
you don’t
well they do the person you’re listening
to knows some things you don’t you can
be sure of that now whether or not you
can get to them is a different matter
but if you do get to them it’s a real
deal for you that’s why you want to
listen to the other person’s arguments
is because you’re not everything you
could be you don’t know the pathway
forward with as much clarity as you
could and it’s possible this is one of
the wonderful things that I’ve had the
privilege of experiencing as a clinician
you know because people it’s like I live
inside a Dostoyevsky novel as a
clinician people come in and they tell
me about their lives and I listen to
them and they tell me things that are
just absolutely beyond belief you know
and I learn from my clients constantly
they’re they’re telling me honestly
about their experience they tell me
things they wouldn’t tell anyone else
because I actually listen to them but
part of the reason I listen is because
I’m desperate to listen it’s like
there’s a
possibility I’m gonna do something
stupid in the next five years that’s
gonna be like fatal and there’s some
small possibility that if we have a
decent discussion that you’ll tell me
something that will eliminate some of my
blindness so that I don’t have to fall
into that particular pit and if you have
a good sensitivity for the depth of the
pit then you know you’re pretty bloody
motivated to avoid it and so and that
and and that and that dialog is it’s
it’s dialogic it’s dial logos right it’s
shared logos it’s the way that we redeem
ourselves mutually moving forward my
assistants got a great thing now in this
once in every four months somebody sends
an email saying I’ve got a huge startup
that I want you to invest in but you’ve
gotta sign this NDA right which
literally every time gets an email back
that says you right and and the
reason is I’m a humungous believer that
ideas are shot and that executions the
game right we’ve all got ideas
everybody’s got ideas do you any ideas
we all have here we could probably sit
here for the next two hours draw them
all out record them and predict the next
78 great startups over the next nine
years and so I think the thing that is
another theme in entrepreneurship is
there is way too much fodder brought to
the idea Hoover was magic cab three
years earlier
uber is not an idea uber existed it’s
called magic cab but the guys that
execute it sucked so they lost so I
think you know if there’s any level of
romance left in this room about your
idea I’d like to suffocate it because I
think the actual situation is what you
actually do with it it’s hugely
important to me to maintain a certain
energy it’s a it’s it’s healing it’s
loving its kind and I’ve learned really
young that my energy was infectious
right so when you know I come into the
studio when I long after
leave the energy that I bring is still
gonna be here and then people are gonna
take it home and they’re going to affect
their families with it so you know for
me it’s hugely important to maintain
just a positive loving energy I’m much
more dangerous and much more of a risk
taker and much more a going all the way
dude and less introverted when I’m not
worried about the one life myth okay I’m
thinking hey baby what if I live forever
man then am I willing to take the risk
am I willing to make the sales call see
me living forever the immortality
concept makes me way dangerous makes me
sick just makes me crazy
[Music]
it makes me want to go for it every
freaking single day because I don’t have
the ultimate to lose you understand what
I’m saying
hey check it out maybe you know maybe
you don’t know but I’ll bet you’re
curious what if you live forever
what if this is like a thousand town
what have you got a thousand more runs
of this deal well then go for it bottom
line is one life or many lives go for it
today go for it in a big way and go for
it
like you gonna live it forever I knew I
was wired to be excited about business
how or why I don’t know but you know and
there’s certain guys they have the
genetics to jump out of the gym right
certain guys you know that you know when
they golf they have the muscle memory
and and the discipline you know Dirk
Nowitzki may not be the most talented
guy in the NBA but his discipline and
his focus to do what’s necessary to be
successful he’s willing to do and
combine it with being seven feet tall
and being skilled you know it makes him
an amazing basketball player so it’s
it’s understanding what your skill set
is finding the right place to use those
skills and then going for it
you know will that make you 250 grand it
depends if you pick the right industry
but whatever industry you pick if you
outwork everybody if you try to be a
little smarter than everybody if you try
to be a better salesperson and everybody
if you try to be better prepared than
everybody you’ve got your best chance
because if you don’t do it and somebody
else does you know I have the same work
like someone’s trying to take it all
from you you know work actually worked
like no one’s spending 24 hours working
24 hours to take it all away from you
and that’s kind of the way I look at it
and I remember asking my dad too
I want a new basketball shoes because I
was a basketball junkie back then he’s
like well your shoes work if you want a
new pair tennis shoes you have to go out
there and get a job and I’m like dad I’m
12 years old and it just so happens he
was playing poker with his buddies and
one of his buddies just like well I got
a job for you I’ve got these garbage
bags that we distribute you could sell
them door-to-door I’m like okay and it
was when I was selling them and realized
that I’d like to sell and that I could
sell and that I recognized that selling
was it was about providing the service
and creating value for people that I
knew that I would literally back then I
knew that I could always succeed I mean
I remember I was 16 I think when I
started a stamp company and started
going to stamp shows and trade shows and
just working a little bit harder than
other people and and trading up from one
stamp to the next I remember one time I
started with a quarter and bought a
stamp and left with $50 thinking hey if
I could do this I could do anything and
and it’s not that everything worked I
failed a lot but I never ever felt like
I I wouldn’t be able to work hard enough
to see if you want to make progress and
things I think that but the the best
analytical framework for us and in the
future is physics I’d recommend studying
the the thinking process around physics
like not just not the equations I mean
the equation is certainly they’re
helpful but the the way of thinking in
physics is the that’s the best framework
for understanding things that are
counterintuitive and and you know always
taking the position that you are some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
and one of the biggest mistakes people
generally make and I’m guilty of a two
is wishful thinking you know like you
want something to be true even if it
isn’t true
and so you ignore the things that you
ignore the real truth because of what
you want to be true this is a very
difficult trap to avoid and like I said
certainly one that I find myself in
having problems with but if you just
take that approach of your oyster some
degree wrong and your goal is to be less
wrong and and solicit critical feedback
particularly from friends like friends
particular friends if somebody loves you
they want the best for you they don’t
want to tell you the bad things so you
have to ask them okay you know it said
really I really do want to know and then
they’ll tell you a fixed mindset
somebody that has the fixed mindset
believes that their talent and
intelligence or fixed traits that
whatever you’re born with that’s it
those are gonna be that’s as good as
you’re ever gonna be and so hey make the
most of it somebody that has a growth
mindset realizes that that’s just you’re
starting off point and while we may not
all be equal from where our starting off
point is the human animal is literally
designed from the ground up to be able
to adapt and so it begins to be a
question of how much are you willing to
adapt what price are you willing to pay
to get great at something I believe we
all are raised as fighter jets just we
get neutered by parents by grandparents
because of the filters they had and
viewed life through the experiences they
had teachers who go you don’t want to
disappoint yourself just go to college
go get a good job go to college don’t go
to college today don’t go to college
it’s the worst thing you can do and
that’s going to be a doctor or an
attorney or accountant or you know some
kind of an architect don’t go to college
you can do a lot more in life without
going to college and so again teachers
professors will end up neutering us and
when they take they take that fighter
jet that hunger the claws and fangs they
defend us all right so now we’re crop
dusters I don’t want to take too many
risks I just want to live a good life
and they want to be average and mediocre
that’s the crop-duster yet everyone
inside has this hunger see the fighter
jet didn’t go away it’s just been
suppressed
you’ve been neutered and that was me
like hey don’t take big grace just go
get a good job go be a smart technician
like that was the advice I was given go
be a smog technician right so I’d be the
guy putting the probe in the tailpipe of
your car and then saying you can go your
car register Tom that was it that was it
and so I realized very quickly that I’ve
got this hunger inside me as I talked to
others they got this hunger inside them
ha that’s the fighter jet trying to get
out that’s the cause and things trying
to grow but the society parents whoever
have set the standard for you to not
play it safe take risks what if you lose
what have you lose who care as long as
you don’t die you can come right back
and so the fighter jet mentality is that
someone who is just determined
relentlessly obsessed and achieving an
outcome in the face of all adversity the
crop duster is someone who’s always
looking for the easiest path the
loophole which what I used to be a
severe crop duster the crop duster hits
the snooze button every day because
they’d rather take ten more minutes of
mediocre sleep then getting up and
dominating their path every morning on
my nightstand there’s two stacks of
dominoes lined up and at the top of this
stack says you’re a loser the top of
this one says you’re a winner if I hit
the snooze button I’ve hit that first
domino in the loser stack the rest of my
day is gonna suck now with that
mentality am I gonna ever hit snooze
again absolutely not because I’ve sold
myself on the idea that when I hit the
snooze button I’m an absolute loser I’m
scum of the earth I am my day is
destined to be some people go you’re
being awfully hard on yourself more
people should be hard on themselves we
go around bubble wrapping ourselves
right we leave the training bills on for
too long like be hard on yourself take
the bubble wrap off take the take the
training wheels off no one did that for
me man we came to this country and it
was just like hey go figure it out but
it was don’t take risks to go get a good
job that be a fighter jet be a fighter
jet go to battle every day take risks
that’s what a fighter jet does a crop
duster has a routine life and it’s
boring everyone gets hammered man
everyone gets knocked down you get a you
miss a clothes someone changes their
mind yeah you get rejected in the
interview
you you lose your bass walker remember
the hell it is it’s not what are you
getting knocked down it’s not even
whether you get up everybody eventually
gets up everybody gets up yeah it’s the
time you’re on your ass it’s the time
you stay on the mat so what happened was
my dream got squashed instead of laying
around for six or eight months I was up
immediately like that day off the mat
now my eyes are open your eyes are
closed when you’re on the mat yeah yeah
so the longer you stay on the mat just
because you’ve been defeated you’ve now
become blinded as you said and it’s
prevented from getting any other
opportunity or blessings in your life so
the key is getting your butt up like
literally getting up and opening your
eyes again and chasing again you’re
gonna get up so you might as well do it
now everyone that’s out there grinding
working driving trucks pouring concrete
hammering on a project building bridges
or building software sewing some
garments or sewing a field farmers
factory workers engineers electricians
plumbers and pilots and ground crew and
cooks and waitresses to everyone out
there working hard and listening to this
and just trying to get yourself a little
thanks for listening and as you meet
struggles and as you struggle to stay on
the path first of all remember you don’t
have to fight alone reach out to your
comrades in arms call for fire support
when you need it we win wars because we
stick together and when we stick
together we can overcome any enemy and
the struggles that you face when they
when they do try to flank you do what
Jodie did do what a soldier does turn in
the ambush turned toward the enemy fire
and attack just because it feels
uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not good
and I remember my first x-men movie was
a little I came in late I felt a bit
behind the 8-ball I started shooting
four weeks into filming because I was
replacing the guy who was playing the
role so I came in feeling a bit behind
the 8-ball and there was a rhythm going
and I I just felt a bit uncomfortable
and and I I remember him giving me that
advice he goes your stuff is good and
even if it feels uncomfortable that can
sometimes be right I think so often not
only on film but in life we so want to
feel comfortable but that doesn’t always
bring the best results if I look back I
think some of my more successful things
in my point of view have been the things
I’ve been most nervous about and
probably most unsure when I began
there’s something about jumping off that
cliff which means you end up going for
broke and probably end up taking a few
more risks if you know what I’m in I’m a
perfectionist like if my b-roll doesn’t
look a certain way there’s a slight
camera shake in just if I’m shooting in
120 and it’s a perfect moving in close
and then oh it just it just kind of goes
out it’s garbage delete it I don’t even
want to see it even still at the end of
my videos like I’m pretty much always
unhappy with my videos it’s just like I
don’t know I just don’t like my own
stuff and it’s because I’m so hard on
myself and such a perfectionist so it’s
kind of like liberating also challenging
doing a video like this where it’s like
I’m not gonna have any b-roll in it like
there’s no music I can loop for like 30
minutes without wanting to go crazy so I
I might not even put music in this video
and just thinking about that stresses me
out it gives me anxiety but I think it’s
good to like do things that make you
feel so uncomfortable I think that’s
that means that means you’re growing
that means as a creative person you are
you know you are expanding that toolkit
that you have and I think the bigger
that toolkit is the more valuable it is
because you just understand everything
better so
this in and of itself is kind of like us
stepping out of our comfort zone and
doing something that is completely
outside the realm of everything we’ve
done before as far as YouTube goes yeah
you know in a certain point you wake up
you’re like I’ve done a lot of stuff in
my life but what do I want to do like
what what movies do I want to make what
television shows hmm I want to put into
the world because it’s a lot of work
it’s I feel like I’ve done all that
other work I did a lot of stuff for a
lot of other people yep I want to put
something in it that is more
representative Who I am as a person and
I just wasn’t afraid to take the chance
in a football stadium was also
groundbreaking you know I don’t want to
do something and not be known for what I
did in my generation I want to stand out
so why not try to make history which is
why I did the football stadium
you know 52,000 people is nothing to be
frowned upon but would you gotta look at
as a comedian has never done it so it
was all about making a stamp in an
imprint in today’s generation we
definitely see this this one who seems
to have this aspect of rushing like
rushing to get to the next step and
rushing to make a certain amount of
money and when I when I think of goals I
don’t necessarily think of specifics I
just think of more feelings of how I
would feel when I get to that what is my
success and how does that feel like
instead of saying okay I want to I want
to win this amount of titles and I want
to win this amount of Grand Slams or I
want to earn this amount of money I
think not always I think more of the
feeling how am I gonna feel when I win
match point I visualize it I embrace
that feeling and I carry it with me like
you visualize it all the time or in the
moment I think moments and and I think
it always comes when you least expect it
sometimes you can be on a on a run
sometimes those long plane rides where
you know it’s sunset and it’s just you
and you’ve been traveling and you’re
going home and you have no one around
you just yourself on the flight it’s
just a bunch undreds of strangers next
to you and you have this moment where
you start thinking of why you’re doing
this why are you lonely why are you
in this position and you think of what
you’ve already done to get there and
where you would like to see yourself go
so it those moments always come at a
different I don’t I don’t sit down and I
think okay right now I’m gonna visualize
the feeling that I might have when I
just want to tournament or yeah but I
definitely I think it’s important to me
when you say things or you know and I
want a friend of mine says something
negative and I was like don’t put that
in the universe I put that out there
yeah I do believe in that there’s some
sense of them truth in that because it’s
also comes with and you carry with that
attitude you know when someone says
something negative you usually see their
attitude change and shows up in your
body and you’re yeah and I mean I for
sure do that as well and I have my
moments and but the faster you
acknowledge it and realize it the faster
you can move on
there was this one role that I wanted to
play desperately and I but I started to
get you know offers offers from for
other movies and there was a big Disney
movie that I would they wanted me to do
and I don’t know where I got those
little balls at 16 years old to say no
I’m gonna I’m gonna wait it out because
I want to audition for this other film
but if there’s one thing that I’m really
proud of and my my entire career it’s
that moment that’s 16 to say that you
know and do that and have that sort of
conviction of what I wanted to do that’s
the one thing really proud of it’s
always been the most important thing for
me of it to be the best man that I can
be and my rights as a human being more
one been my rights as a citizen number
two then my rights or my identity as an
American McConaughey yeah what all those
things you break down to family from
from you know child of God if that’s how
you see it to be in a human to be in a
citizen to be in a an American to be any
McConaughey all those identifications
you get bringing it down to self mm-hmm
those are all come before now I’m a
famous actor hmm and are now I’m an
actor who has become famous or I am a
celebrity celebrity and famer are
amendments that came along the way were
they did they did they all of a sudden
proposed many new challenges with how to
balance life you damn right they did mmm
needed many times I was like God can I
have 26 hours in this day instead of 24
can I just need two more I’m in a minute
it’s all and I’m not sure I’m not
discriminating enough I’m not being
discerning enough I’m kind of everything
sounds good mmm you know everything was
now all the answers were no yesterday
right in this career I’m taking on and
boy over one weekend everything’s yes it
inverted ly flip-flopped yeah mr. dad
ninety nine nose out of a hundred
scripts and over one weekend after time
to kill comes out it flips ninety-nine
yeses great but hang on a minute
I got a these things that I’m looking at
and going wool yes three days ago we
received yes two days I have to be much
more discriminant mmm-hmm and really try
to go let me ask myself borders I want
to do that’s not easy to do because
there’s time that’s the netbook and I’ve
26 hours in the day I mean I don’t have
it disseminating between them it’s
walking that line of really respecting
this job that I do as a real privilege
hmm that in an honor to do at the same
you got I had to get let you got to go
from being impressed to getting really
involved and I find that if I can get
really involved that doesn’t lessen my
respect for a craft for something I’m
doing it actually raises it because it’s
a little more of a sober look at it it’s
looking at eye to eye I mean if you
Revere
you’re never gonna you never gonna be on
you’re never gonna engage with it as
much because you’re always beneath it
you know so to get involved with it
still respect it
don’t patronize it okay knots in it look
down on it
that’s not Elfie either but also why you
can respect it and know it’s a privilege
you don’t have to don’t be I don’t be
beneath it like oh my god I’m just so
thankful that this is up just doing no
you gotta look at it level and go okay
but why am I doing this and what can I
give and what can it give me back some
of the most important discoveries and
inventions and innovations within a
field come from people who are trained
in a much different field and who have
an outsider’s approach Louis Pasteur was
a classic example of this he was trained
as a chemist in mineralogist so he
brought amidst a much different way of
thinking to the subject of medicine and
germs a method that was infinitely more
creative Albert Einstein was a complete
outsider his two most important
discoveries came when he was working at
the Swiss Patent Office Google itself
exemplifies this idea it is perhaps the
most successful business on the planet
founded by two men who are relatively
complete outsiders to business and who
therefore structured and directed their
company in a very novel and creative
fashion I could go on and on and on with
this list including many great artists
there are two important reasons why
Outsiders generally have a creative
advantage first they are less steeped in
and burdened by the conventions of the
field that they are attacking they ask a
different set of questions they approach
problems from unconventional angles and
second they are often trained in totally
unrelated fields and so can make
interesting and creative connections
between two very different forms of
thinking like science and business or
chemistry and medicine or engineering
and design now we can’t all consciously
follow such a path but even within the
careers that were pursuing we can train
ourselves to think like outsiders and
help loosen up the mind in the process
do you think there were no hurdles or
obstacles that had overcome but even I
got to high school I wasn’t ranked as
you know I wasn’t ranked I wasn’t highly
touted as a high school prospect I had
nobody really running knocking on my
door saying please please please come
play for our school until coach
McCullough called and you know
everything happens for a reason and
there’s there’s a story into everything
and and if you take time to realize you
know what what your dream is and and
what you really want in life no matter
what it is whether it’s sports whether
it’s in other fields you have to realize
that there’s always work to do and you
want to be the hardest-working person in
whatever you do and you’ll put yourself
in position to be successful and you
have to have a passion about what you do
and basketball was mine and that’s what
scared me to this point from getting
what you want life is the bold story you
tell yourself of why you can’t have it
get that what stops you back is the
story the story stops you from getting
honest and if you can’t get honest with
yourself
there’s no way you can go what made you
like that success in sales in life it’s
like a road map right you know where you
want to go and you have this perfect
strategy the straight line to get there
it’s a perfect strategy it’s gonna get
you there every single time but if you
don’t know your starting point if you’re
not getting özlem where you actually are
it doesn’t matter how powerful strategy
is and it doesn’t matter how powerful
your goals I’m gonna actually set a goal
today write a 60 day goal and let’s say
you really set this goal and I’ll show
you how to do it in a brilliant way so
it’s visceral so it makes you really
feel it you see smellable that’s step
one I’m gonna teach you the straight
line which is your strategy to get to
your goal but if you’re not honest with
where you are right now your starting
point the map is worthless there’s three
things that you know where you are where
you want to go and how you’re gonna get
there those are the three things you
must have to take advantage of any
opportunity I’m gonna give you the
strategy I’m gonna actually tell me
exactly where you want to go for
yourself you got to get honest don’t
blame the boss don’t blame the leads
don’t blame your job double in the
industry or in just get out if you don’t
like your industry find another one
one of the first ballet recitals that I
danced in pointe shoes and I was so
nervous because it was the first time
that I was gonna get on stage everyone
that I loved and care about was gonna be
in that audience and I didn’t want to
let him down I didn’t want to let myself
down how I sort of learned to cope with
that is just really to take that anxiety
that that sort of adrenaline and
actually pour it into something
productive meaning like what can you do
to best prepare for that moment so when
it came to the point where it was
Showtime it was time to get out on that
stage I knew that I did everything I
possibly could to get out there and feel
amazing and just perform and I think
something clicked in me
however it doesn’t always go right there
was a time I remember I walked in a
Fendi run my show and I see you know
made a little slip and kind of slipped
off the runway and but all you can do is
do your best even when you make mistakes
sometimes those can be the most
important experiences to learn from how
do we define success can a bus driver on
the street be defined as successful and
the guy who’s the CEO of that business
not successful so when I started out on
this journey I had the same definition
of success as almost everyone which is I
thought you know the more powerful you
are the more wealthy you are the more
successful you are you know the Forbes
list idea it wasn’t until I met Steve
Wozniak the co-founder of Apple
computers that he completely redefined
my understanding of success he helped me
realize that you know if you put Steve
Jobs and Steve Wozniak side-by-side most
people will say Steve Jobs was more
successful but Wozniak company realize
that success has much more to do with
how you define it how you look within
yourself and ask yourself what do I
actually want what makes me happy and if
what makes you happy is driving a bus
and coming home at 5:00 p.m. and picking
up your kids and playing catch with them
and you’re the CEO of a company and
never see your kids you’re not
successful if you’re miserable if you’re
not doing what you want to do that’s not
success so should we broaden ideas of
what it means is as a definition flawed
I believe that the natural human and
really Western definition of success
which is more money more power more
prestige isn’t right look it might be
right for some people who want that but
for the vast majority of people who want
to be you know a mother and working and
helping at their kids school or a father
who wants to be you know involved with
their community I think the idea of the
more
Twitter followers you have and the more
money you have is a flawed model you
have to look within yourself and ask
yourself what you want I have been
working my whole life and what I did
understand by being determined to chase
something by being committed to it and
what commitment is commitment to staying
true to what you said you were going to
do long after the mood that you have set
it in has left you see people think
commitment is saying yes I’ll do it on
the days when they feel good but I’ve
been committed to everything that I ever
started in my life and I never stopped
and I never quit it and so by being
committed to everything that I started I
finished it it built a certain type of
spirit it built a certain type of
mentality it built a certain type of
individual and so now I couldn’t quit
even if I wanted to I couldn’t lay in
the bed even if I wanted to I couldn’t
stop even if I wanted to I had too much
sweat equity in my life and everything
that I was doing because I understood my
existence wasn’t about me I went from me
to we long time ago I understood the
process is more important than the
product it wasn’t about the outcome for
me once I’ve made it to the NFL or not
that was inconsequential in God’s plan
for my life but I was going to fall in
love with that process because I
understood by falling in love with that
process it was going to turn me into a
machine just the last 15 minutes of this
podcast was so strong from Monday
morning about like where it all starts
with your mind people don’t really
believe that but it’s true really
for me it started when I said I’m
getting into Connolly I don’t give my
credit bureau I don’t give a about the
credit card people I don’t you about the
bank’s about what I Drive give about
what my clothes on because at the end it
doesn’t really matter unless you’re
happy for years I’m worried about my job
and I gotta have white sneakers or
nothing I have a black shirt on it who
gives up at the end of the day I wasn’t
happy I wasn’t happy I didn’t get happy
till I started driving across country
with a pair of shorts on and stinky
sneakers and the t-shirt and you got
three pair of jeans and three shirts and
they’re lasting you all week dog you got
like four pair of socks and you get on a
stage
that’s what I really started getting
happy when I started waking up in the
morning and knew I had to drive 200
miles and I had 30 to 50 in quarters and
I had to get lunch with that reefer and
gas to get me to that next location for
some reason I’d be happy a lot happier
than making 1,200 a week and paying my
bills I was like this is what I like I
like this so it’s food for thought
sometimes it’s not about the money or
the dollars it’s about what brings a
smile to your face and once you find it
let yourself go don’t think about it
don’t look back yeah don’t compare
prices yeah don’t listen to your uncle
about taking their roofing job for 1254
stability yeah you know what stability
is overrated the stabilities over really
absolutely I think happiness is doing
what you want sort of health and even in
there probably I was in County for I was
in comedy for 12 years before I saw a
dime yeah we were getting paid but
nothing to write home about I could have
quit at any time in those 12 years and
found the job I would had tricked
somebody into being an indoor salesman I
didn’t want to do that I would have
rather live on eight thousand a year and
do my own thing and around at night and
smoke pot with your stupid buddies and
get on stage and going to an office
Insurance who gives off when you think
about insurance that’s when you need
insurance for 30 years I ran around with
no insurance that never happened to me
the best piece of advice that I was
given when I started my modeling career
was make sure that you under there was a
lot of things that weren’t given to me
because you know everybody likes to give
you advice one thing that stayed with me
is you’re as good as your last job and
so every job I treated as if it were my
last job and I think that that kind of
gave me a reputation of hard-working
ready to do whatever it takes to get
this shot and
and I and I think that that’s very
important in any industry every single
person when they’re in their teens in
their early 20s they they care so much
about other people and how they’re
perceived and what impression they make
and I wanted to be perfect I wanted to
be good at everything and be a good
student and be prettier and skinnier and
successful and all these things and I
cared about what people said about me
how they felt about me and as I get
older I just realize that that is that
one other people won’t make me happy it
has to be from within me and I need to
keep doing whatever makes me happy and
whoever responds to that great whoever
doesn’t respond to that it’s fine – hmm
but the less I care about other people’s
opinions the better I feel about myself
and the more I do things that make me
happy because all the time why well I
hate to say it the best way for me to
get how life Eagle acrost I can’t see
any say you know what I went through
hell week it met it was it was really
hard no that takes your damn soul rips
it inside out and then they say now
we’re going to start it it allows me to
express where I was at at a point of my
life if I won’t give you all of me why
the hell am I here why how will you
learn from me people take so much
offense to me you will never learn from
people if we always tap-dance around the
truth oh god I love that we tap-dance
around the truth by finding the right
word so I don’t hurt you because you
have thin skin no tighten up people it’s
okay trust me it’s okay you might be
called nigger one day it’s okay you
might be called some Jewish word or some
or gay word it’s okay let them
call you that what are you going to do
now they don’t own your life how are you
going to control that now how are you
going to flip it upside down and say
Roger that now I’m going to harness this
and you read about me years from now how
that’s the question how are you going to
do
thicken your skin become more of a human
being don’t be afraid of the reflection
in the mirror because that’s all you can
be afraid of once you overcome the
reflection in the mirror you’ve done it
I say to them my girls all of the time
that your real work is to figure out
where your power base is and to work on
the alignment of your personality your
gifts that you have to give with the
real reason why you’re here
that’s that’s the number one thing you
have to do is to work on yourself and to
fill your self up and keep your cup full
keep yourself full now I used to be
afraid of that I used to be afraid
particularly from people who say oh she
said she’s so full of herself she’s so
close or so and now I embrace it I I
considered a compliment that I am full
of myself because you only when you’re
full I’m full I’m overflowing my cup
runneth over
I have so much I have so much to offer
and so much to give and I am not afraid
of honoring myself you know it’s
miraculous when you think about it I
talked to so many smart fantastic
ambitious idealistic hard-working kids
and they’re right out of college they’re
in their entry-level jobs and I’ll ask
them how is it going and they’ll say I
think I’m gonna quit and I’m like why
they say to me I’m not making an impact
I’m like you know you’ve been here eight
they treat the sense of fulfillment or
even love like it’s a scavenger hunt
like it’s something you look for my
millennial friends they’ve gone through
so many jobs they’re either getting
fired I mean it was mutual or they’re
quitting because they’re not making an
impact or they’re not find anything
they’re looking for they’re not feeling
fulfilled as if it’s a scavenger hunt
love a job you find joy from is not
something you discover it’s not like I
found love here it is I found a job I
love that’s not how it works both of
those things require hard work you are
in love because you work very hard every
single day of your life to stay in love
you find a job that brings you ultimate
joy because you work hard every single
day to serve those around you and you
maintain that joy it’s not a discovery
but the problem is the sense of
impatience it’s as if an entire
generation is standing at the foot of a
mountain they know exactly what they
want they can see the summit what they
can’t see as the mountain this large
amove Abul object that doesn’t mean you
have to do your time that’s not what I’m
talking about take a helicopter climb I
don’t care but there’s still a mountain
life career fulfillment relationships
are journeys the problem is this entire
generation has an institutionalized
sense of impatience and do they have the
patience to go on the journey to
maintain love to feel fulfilled or do
they just quit and on to the next dump
and on to the next ghost and on to the next
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