I mean I really like about you as you
are unusually fearless and willing to go
in the face of other people telling you
something that’s crazy and I know a lot
of pretty crazy people you still stand
out where does that come from or how do
you think about making a decision when
everyone tells you this is a crazy idea
where do you get the internal strength
to do that well first of all I’d say I
actually think I feel feel fair quite
strongly so it’s not as though I just
have the absence of fear I have I feel
quite strongly but there are times when
if something is important enough you
believe it enough that you do it in
spite of the fear so speaking of
important things like people shouldn’t
think III I should I should think well I
feel fear about this and therefore I
shouldn’t do it it’s normal to be to
feel fear like you’d have to definitely
something mentally wrong you shouldn’t
feel fear so you just feel it and let
the importance of it drive you to do it
anyway yeah you know actually we’re
something that can be helpful as
fatalism some degree you could just if
you just accept the probabilities then
that diminishes fear so we’re starting
SpaceX I thought the odds of success
were less than 10% and I just accepted
that actually probably I would just lose
lose everything but that maybe would
make some progress if we could just move
the ball forward even if we died maybe
some other company could pick up the
baton and move and keep moving it
forward so that were still do some good
yeah same with Tesla I thought your odds
of a car company succeeding were
extremely low
so just go and do it try learn from it
you you know you’ll fail at some things
that’s a learning experience that you
need so that you can take that on to the
next experience and don’t let people who
you may respect and who you believe know
what they’re talking about don’t let
them tell you it can’t be done because
often they will tell you it can’t be
done and it’s just because you don’t
have the courage to try okay I was I got
lucky I just stumbled and I was one of
the first people to ever use online
advertising I was in I think the second
month Google AdWords launched and there
was no YouTube videos there was no Perry
Marshall books there was there was
nothing you just kind of wasted money to
learn now we’re the most spoiled
generation everything this computer on
this phone iPhone 7 is more powerful
than the first rocket that put man on
the moon that cost billions of dollars
now we get that for under a thousand
bucks and people are still like I’m lost
yes your loss sit down and then open up
Safari and go how to do Google ads and
you’re gonna come up let’s see what I
come up with AdWords they have their own
tutorial word stream jump if I you got
some paid stuff then you have some free
stuff on HubSpot if you sit in a chair
Charlie Munger calls it assiduity put
your ass in a chair sit there and focus
without being you know the average
American right now the average first in
the world our attention span has dropped
to five seconds the sad news is the
average goldfish has six seconds we’re
now competing with goldfish and the
goldfish are winning so if you don’t
have assiduity to sit down breed there
is no solution for you you will always
be poor because you’ll always be beat by
somebody who’s willing to sit in the
chair is there a way for people to build
that discipline yes pain and that’s why
I’m not a big believer in delusion you
know you asked me one of the rewiring
things we have to do in this world I’ll
tell you one you ever heard this myth
everything happens for a reason so just
accept it well there’s kind of true
to that if I jump off a building and
break my legs yes everything happened
for a reason
the reason was gravity like that’s why
you break your legs and physics legs
brittle concrete not brittle so that but
people interpret everything happens for
a reason be like whoa I was meant to
learn from that thing and then BS read
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene one of
the most important books written in the
last century
he says organisms that only learn
through trial and error lose to
organisms that can learn through other
people’s a trial and error is anybody
here we got a little live audience
anybody here ever had to be hit by a car
to learn to look both ways I didn’t I
kind of learned from just somebody
telling me big car two tons velocity
smash dead and I now always look both
ways so if your myth is that the only
way you’re gonna learn is just through
massive mistakes and trial and error you
have a read Richard Dawkins book how
does pain allow somebody to get more
disciplined okay so going back to that
myth of when you see your life and
anytime there should be paying you go no
no no it was just how it was meant to be
no look yourself in the mirror sometimes
and go you know why I’m not happy it’s
because I didn’t listen ten years ago
and I got in the wrong career you know
I’m not happy because I married the
wrong damn person it wasn’t meant to
happen yes everything happens for a
reason you made a bad choice but it
didn’t have to be that way and the
second you build up pain and this by the
way is not my opinion if you talk to
guys like dr. David buss top ten most
cited psychologist in history okay he’s
one of my main mentors he told me I said
do adults change like we do all this
self-help videos in podcast I said am I
wasting my time he goes yeah kind of I
said why he said well after 25 it’s very
hard to teach old dogs and insurance by
the way that’s why I’ve changed most of
my stuff targets people 18 to 25 that’s
why I do snapchat and all that because
there’s hope for 18 to 25
now if you’re over 25 before you get
depressed he told me but I have good
news for you time I said what he said
adults learn through massive trauma so
you will learn you have to let in some
trauma into your life and that’s rough
but no pain no gain like if you are 100
pounds overweight and you want to be
able to play basketball here’s my news
for you everything happened for a reason
you got fat because you ate too much and
you didn’t exercise so welcome to the
gym in the first year is gonna be hell
but that pain hopefully will reprogram
your brain that every time you want to
eat that nasty thing go wait I don’t
want to go through that pain again so I
think one of the myths of societies we
won’t let pain in we just excuse it all
the way like nah that wasn’t meant to
happen
oh you wasted 20 years of life married
the wrong person in the wrong career no
Tom it was meant to happen where’s the
people who go you you’ve wasted 20 years
and you will never get it back you
better go in your room and cry and the
truth is you only learn as an adult
unfortunately most people can only
change with mass in trauma the day is 24
hours and we sleep six now I know
there’s some out there that say whoa
whoa whoa
I need eight but I say just sleep a
little faster because the bottom line is
we have six hours of sleep 20 files are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read and as a new year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my party so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working on
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12
tonight I was doing all of those things
I wanted to make sure that out of the 24
hours of the day that I don’t waste one
single hour those hours were too
precious and so they’re just want to
tell people don’t give me this thing
I have a difficult time at the time and
I don’t have time for this neither of
that you have time you make the time an
old-fashioned belief that I can only
should expect to make money and things
that I understand and when I say
understand I don’t mean understand you
know what the product does or anything
like that I mean understand what the
economics of the business are likely to
look at look like ten years from now or
20 years ago I know in general what the
economics of say Wrigley chewing gum
will look like ten years ago this is
going to change the way people chew gum
it isn’t going to change which come they
chew you know if you own the chewing gum
market in a big way and you’ve got
double mint in the spearmint and the
juicy fruit those brands will be there
ten years from now so I can’t pinpoint
exactly what the numbers are gonna look
like on Rigby but I’m not gonna be way
off if I try to look forward on
something like that that evaluating that
company is within what I call my circle
of competence I understand what they do
I understand the economics of it I
understand the competitive aspects of
the business so figuring out the
economic consequences TV I think there’s
I don’t know 20 25 million cents a year
sold in the United States I don’t think
there’s one of them made in the United
States anymore I mean you’d say TV set
manufacturer what a wonderful business
of everybody now nobody had a TV in 1950
or thereabouts 45 to 50 everybody has
multiple sets now nobody is in the
United States has made any real money
making the sense if they’re all out of
business
you know the Magnavox is the RCA is all
of those companies radio was the
equipment of the 20 over 500 companies
making radios in the 1920s again I don’t
think there’s a u.s. radio manufacturer
at the present time but coca-cola you
know I was at 1884 Jacobs pharmacy or
whatever and fellow comes up with
something a lot of copiers over the
years but now you
a company that is selling roughly 1.1
billion eight ounce servings of its
product not all cokes brighten some
others daily throughout the world
honored 17 years later so understanding
the economic characteristics of a
business is different than predicting
the fact that an industry is going to do
wonderfully so I look at the internet
businesses or I look at tech misses I
say this is a marvelous thing and I’d
love to play around on the computer and
it now I ordered my books from Amazon
and all kinds of things but I don’t know
who’s gonna win unless I know who’s
gonna win I’m not interested in the best
thing I’ll just play around on the
computer and defining your circle of
competence is the most important aspect
of investing it’s not how important how
large your circle is you don’t have to
be an expert on everything but knowing
where the perimeter of that circle of
what you know and what you don’t know is
and staying inside of it is all
important Tom Watson senior who started
IBM said in his book he said I’m no
genius I said but I’m smart in spots I
stay around those spots and you know
that is the key so if I understand a few
things and I stick in that arena I’ll do
okay and if I don’t understand something
but I don’t excited about it because my
neighbors are talking about the stocks
are going up and everything they start
fooling around someplace else eventually
I’ll get creamed that your real work is
to figure out where your power base is
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
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
people say you you have to have a lot of
passion for what you’re doing and it’s
totally true and the reason is is
because it’s so hard that if you don’t
any rational person would give up it’s
really hard and you have to do it over a
sustained period of time so if you don’t
love it if you’re not having fun doing
it you don’t really love it you’re gonna
give up one night Chris have gone to bed
I’ve been struggling struggling
struggling we still had all the same
problems I we started lean on the house
still facing bankruptcy still fighting
like crazy I was still unemployed
he still they still hadn’t figured out
like the solution yet for the business
and I was about to turn off the TV and
there on the the TV there was this
rocket launching and I thought oh my
gosh I am gonna launch myself out of bed
like a rocket ship like NASA right here
had launched me out of that bed and I’m
gonna move so fast that I don’t think
hmm I’m gonna beat my brain now here’s a
really interesting point I talk a lot
about your instincts and inner wisdom
and we can get into this a little bit
later but a lot of us talk about the
fact that you have a gut feeling but
what all this research that I’ve done
for the book and all the speaking that I
do what I’ve discovered that’s
fascinating is actually when you set
goals when you have an intention on
something that you want to change about
your life your brain helps you what it
does is it opens up a checklist and then
your brain goes to work trying to remind
you yeah of that intention that you set
and it’s really important to develop the
skill and I say that word purposefully
the skill of knowing how to hear that
inner wisdom and that intention kicking
in and leaning into it quickly so for me
my brain saying that’s it right there
move as fast as a rocket Mel I wanted to
change my life and I think most people
that are miserable or that are that are
really like dying to be great and dying
to have more we want to change we want
to live a better life we want to create
more for our families we want to be
happier the the desire is there again
it’s about how do you go from knowledge
to actions so the first thing in the
story that’s important is realizing that
the answer was in me and my mind was
telling me pay attention I could have
also been the Bourbon anyway the next
morning the alarm goes off and I
pretended NASA was there
it’s a stupidest story I literally went
five four three two one I counted out
loud and then I stood up and I’ll never
forget standing there in my bedroom it
was dark it was cold it was winter in
Boston
and for the first time in three months I
had beaten my habit of hitting the
snooze button I couldn’t believe it and
I thought wait a minute counting
backwards said is the dumbest thing I’ve
ever heard in my entire life well the
next morning I used it again and it
worked the next morning I used it again
and it worked the next morning I used it
again and it worked and then I started
to notice something really interesting
there were moments all day long all day
long just like that five-second moment
in bed where I knew knowledge what I
should do and if I didn’t move within
five seconds my brain would step in and
talk me out of it every human being has
a five-second window might even be
shorter for you you have about a
five-second window in which you can move
from idea to action before your brain
kicks into full gear and sabotages any
change in behavior because remember your
brain is wired to stop you from doing
things that are uncomfortable or
uncertain or scary it’s your job to
learn how to move from those ideas that
could change everything and do something
you’re very passionate about and don’t
try to chase what is kind of passion I
realized that when you to have the level
of success that I want to have it’s
difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I’ve made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way you
really gotta focus with all of your
fiber and all your heart and all your
creativity failure is part of life I
mean the difference for me though is I
look a failure as a stepping stone to
success it’s a speed bump I know I’m
gonna fail but it’s not failure if you
learn something and so gosh I’ve made so
many mistakes I’ve screwed so many
things up but every time I do it just
becomes it
comes away from me to explain to someone
else what it takes you know it’s like
here’s what I’ve done I think I have the
ability to influence people because I
talk about my failures I talk about all
the things that mess me up but I show
people that didn’t want to stop me and
you don’t need to stop you and I think I
think that’s really a secret matter and
if everything you touch was successful
first got a relate to people as well and
also it’s be total and everyone
no it’s cool and also you’d be bored
silly I mean think about it if you just
said I want this and happen I want this
to happen you know people don’t value it
they don’t fight for you know it’s like
you see kids sometimes in it you know
your parents will say you’re not gonna
value this if you don’t work for it and
you’re keeping going oh well you’ll just
give it to me but it’s true you know
about things we’ve worked the hardest
for we value the most so I think you
know the purpose of the goal is not
getting it anyway the purpose of goal
you know is what who you become who you
becomes gonna make you happier what’s
gonna make you sad so I’m not looking
for an effortless approach there’s no
such thing is there a time to bail out
on a project though I mean when I don’t
know that’s not in my vocabulary
yeah look I have a I have an unfair
advantage you know I went to war a war
I’m alive because other guys died for me
when you see stuff like that you know
how can I quit most guys I just wimps
pussies cowards they don’t have it so
they should they should get a job yeah I
started working at this video store it
was pretty much what you’re talking
about around that time and and it was
great at first cuz I’d always hated day
jobs and stuff and so I got a day job
and it ended up being pretty good but
admittedly I was there for five years at
a certain point it was our narcotic all
right I didn’t have to keep pursuing my
dreams because you know it’s not what I
want to do but it’s sort of kind of
close and if I didn’t have an artist
soul burning in me I could have made
myself happy with that I could if i if i
didn’t have an artist soul burning to
get out I could have you know walked
backwards a couple steps and just done
that and would have been a fulfilling to
anybody else it would have been a
fulfilling life it wouldn’t been for me
because I wouldn’t know and I would have
had something to say that I didn’t get a
chance
but it did put me to sleep for a while
and and I’ve always just thought I mean
what really got it got everything kind
of truly going for me you could point
out a lot of different things but the
bottom line is the fact that I realized
that the even the group of people I hung
around with they were all great great
great fellas and great gals but you know
I was easy for me to think that I was
doing a lot because I was doing more to
try to move myself forward than they
were but you know that’s not yeah yeah
ok I’m a big fish in a puddle so what
all right they’re not doing anything so
yeah I’m doing more than them but I
realize that actually I need to get my
ass out to Hollywood and meet other
people who are you know like they were
in my category or or working a little
higher and and I should be the weakest
link in my chain that I have and that’ll
make me be stronger or make me run
faster I mean like an analogy I’ve
always used is alright if you run the
hundred yard dash with a people that
can’t run as fast as ya you’ll win hands
down you know that but if you run with
people much faster than you all right
yeah you might come in last every single
time but your time will be better
because they’re making you run all the
faster they’re making making you dig
down just a little bit more it doesn’t
matter that you and your time is faster
and that’s what I knew I had to do I had
to get out of Loserville and throw
myself into a place where like this is
what do for a living then a dominating
desire plan or purpose which is backed
by that State of Mind known as faith has
taken over to the subconscious section
of the mind that acted upon immediately
I don’t know for sure ladies and
gentlemen but I suspect if there’s a
relatively small number of people in the
world any one time who understand the
principle of faith who really
understands it and know how to apply and
even if you do understand it if you
don’t back it up
action and make it a part of your habit
life you might just as well not
understand it because faith without
deeds is dead faith without action is
dead faith without absolute positive
belief is dead I don’t know how you’re
going to get any results through
believing unless you put some action
back of that belief and the incidental
if you tell your mind often enough that
you have faith in anything the time will
come when your subconscious mind really
accept that even if you tell your mind
often enough that you have faith in
yourself as you ever thought well nice
thing it would be if you had such
complete faith in yourself that you
wouldn’t hesitate to undertake anything
you want to do in life have you ever
thought what a benefit that would be to
you when you get up in the morning you
do what you normally do
I would eventually say a lot of you here
probably turn on your cellphone’s your
computers and what’s the latest email
what’s the latest text that comes in you
start your day off like that that’s your
mindset try this get up in the morning
do whatever you have to do don’t turn
the computer on don’t turn the TV on go
right back to bed again either lay there
or sit there and just bring the universe
to you here’s how you do it you just be
it’s virtually impossible when you first
do it because the thousand thoughts come
through your head we’re human beings so
what you do is you’re sitting in bed
look at the wall look at the off TV set
look at the ceiling look at the door
look at something in the room to get
your attention and just look at it and
just be for a couple of minutes not 10
minutes not 20 minutes not two days just
be when your mind wanders find another
spot in the room to look at so you’re
back in present time even for a couple
of minutes now go about your day don’t
think about what you’re gonna do for
that split few minutes
you’re now becoming part of a universe
which is also part of global thinking
here’s what I’ve created from my life
and anyone I know succeeded I’m a 17
year old kid from the
to California with no real education
other than self education with no
background with parents that did their
best all of them
with no money but I did one thing I love
people and I had an enormous demand I
made it by myself and I sculpted my mind
and my emotions to get me to do whatever
it would take to achieve and to
contribute but to do that I did it by
using my body and changing my focus I
did it by putting myself in a peak
physiology and using what I call
incantations can you train yourself to
believe something yes or no absolutely
company have you ever made the fatal
mistake of going to Disneyland or Disney
World and while you’re there made the
fatal mistake of going to a ride called
it’s a small world after all what
happens for about a week after you’re
out of that damn place you’re still
singing this thing in your hand in 24
languages right let me tell you
something how many of you have things
when you want to achieve them and this
part of your voice goes oh it’s not
gonna happen or forget it
I’m gonna go to voices sometimes
interrupts that good pattern say I and
what you want to do is train a new one
so starting when I was 17 I started
doing incantations not affirmations
affirmation happy what’s the problem you
haven’t changed your what your what
physiology if you don’t change your
physiology you won’t get anything
so in incantations you only you speak it
but you embody what you’re saying with
all the intensity you can and you do it
with enough repetitions that it sticks
in your head like it’s a small world now
the conversation your head is always the
same and it gives you what you want so
use your body and your voice so
seventeen years ago I started doing
things I was working for Jim Rohn this
speaker and I was 17 years old
I had long hair minestrone soup acne on
my face I was trying to call on Bear
Stearns type of people and convince them
why they should go to this man seminar
be more successful I was driving a 1968
Volkswagen I had earned it $40 a week as
a janitor
the only way I did it was parked far
from the building and then go in and I
love people I believe but I put myself
in state and I was able to influence
people that were far more successful I
was at the time I will do something that
I still do backstage and have done for
23 years because I don’t hope I’m gonna
be in a good state I demand it so I do
an incantation using my whole body
that’s and now command my subconscious
mind to direct me and helping as many
people as possible eyes today to better
their lives they give me the strength
the emotion the persuasion the humor the
brotherly whatever it takes
you surely feel and get these people to
change your lives now I will do that
literally driving in my Volkswagen to a
meeting in LA on a freeway for 40
minutes people look mom screaming about
my lungs they’re going I know he’s a
serial killer I know he is but by the
time I entered that room when two people
meet if there’s a rapport the person
who’s most certain always and I was
probably certain and they were trying to
get revved up to certainty do you agree
with this yes or no I do another one
because I was poor I changed my mindset
I kept doing things but I never got
beyond it I’d say God’s wealth is
circulating in my life as well flows to
me an avalanche is of abundance all my
needs desires and goals are met
instantaneously by infinite intelligence
I’m one with God and God is everything
and I would imagine the abundance in my
life and I would feel so grateful and
healer I went for making thirty eight
thousand dollars a year to make a
it’s little idea explains why some
organizations and some leaders are able
to inspire where others aren’t let me
define the terms really quickly every
single person every single organization
on the planet knows what they do 100
percent some know how they do it whether
you call it your differentiating value
proposition or your proprietary process
or your USP but very very few people or
organizations know why they do what they
do and by why I don’t mean to make a
profit that’s a result it’s always a
result by why I mean what’s your purpose
what’s your cause what’s your belief why
does your organization exist start a
Microsoft I didn’t think of it as all
that risky I mean I was so excited about
what we were doing
it’s true I could have gone bankrupt but
you know I had a set of skills that were
highly employable and in fact my parents
were still willing to let me go back to
Harvard and finish my education if I
wanted to you’ve always got a job with a
bill and the only the thing that was
scary to me wasn’t quitting and starting
the company it was when I started hiring
and then we had customers who went
bankrupt customers that I counted on to
come through and so then I got this
incredibly conservative approach that I
wanted to have enough money in the bank
to pay a year’s worth of payroll even if
we didn’t get in heat any payments
coming in and I’m almost heard of that
the whole time we have about 10 billion
now which is pretty much enough for the
anyway you know I if you’re gonna start
a company it takes so much energy that
you know you it better overcome your
your feeling of risk I don’t think that
you necessarily if you’re gonna start a
company should do it at the start of
your career I think there’s a lot to be
said for working for a company learning
how they do things you know if you’re
young it’s hard to go lease premises
they made that hard for me you couldn’t
rent a car when you were under 25 at the
time so I was always taking taxis to go
see customers and people would you know
people say well we’re gonna go have a
discussion in the bar well I go to the
bar and that’s fun because I’ll tell you
when people are first skeptical and then
go this kid doesn’t know anything then
when you show them you’ve really got a
good product and you know something they
actually tend to go overboard and they
think whoa you know they know a lot
let’s really do an incredible amount
with these people so our youth at least
in this country was a huge asset for us
once we reached a certain threshold it
is hard it’s hard to hire old older
people because they’ll be a little bit
conservative about whether they should
come in and take the risk and it took
three or four years before we could go
out into the normal sort of employment 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 dirt the
Biscay 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
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
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 yeah I have the same work like
someone’s trying to take it all away
from you you know work they actually
work 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
– I want a new basketball shoes because
I was a basketball junkie back then he’s
like well your shoes work if you wanted
new bare 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
the 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 succeed a lot of people come to me
they say well I want to be an
entrepreneur and I go 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 been done but it’s rough I
mean because it’s a pretty much a you
know an 18-hour day job seven days a
week for a while so unless you have a
lot of passion about this you’re gonna
not survive you’re gonna give it up so
you’ve got to have an idea of 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 it 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 –
and they tried to copy the Apple – and
they’ve done a pretty bad job and 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
that it’s going to beat you and we are
going to do it and that’s what Apple stood for
are unusually fearless and willing to go
in the face of other people telling you
something that’s crazy and I know a lot
of pretty crazy people you still stand
out where does that come from or how do
you think about making a decision when
everyone tells you this is a crazy idea
where do you get the internal strength
to do that well first of all I’d say I
actually think I feel feel fair quite
strongly so it’s not as though I just
have the absence of fear I have I feel
quite strongly but there are times when
if something is important enough you
believe it enough that you do it in
spite of the fear so speaking of
important things like people shouldn’t
think III I should I should think well I
feel fear about this and therefore I
shouldn’t do it it’s normal to be to
feel fear like you’d have to definitely
something mentally wrong you shouldn’t
feel fear so you just feel it and let
the importance of it drive you to do it
anyway yeah you know actually we’re
something that can be helpful as
fatalism some degree you could just if
you just accept the probabilities then
that diminishes fear so we’re starting
SpaceX I thought the odds of success
were less than 10% and I just accepted
that actually probably I would just lose
lose everything but that maybe would
make some progress if we could just move
the ball forward even if we died maybe
some other company could pick up the
baton and move and keep moving it
forward so that were still do some good
yeah same with Tesla I thought your odds
of a car company succeeding were
extremely low
so just go and do it try learn from it
you you know you’ll fail at some things
that’s a learning experience that you
need so that you can take that on to the
next experience and don’t let people who
you may respect and who you believe know
what they’re talking about don’t let
them tell you it can’t be done because
often they will tell you it can’t be
done and it’s just because you don’t
have the courage to try okay I was I got
lucky I just stumbled and I was one of
the first people to ever use online
advertising I was in I think the second
month Google AdWords launched and there
was no YouTube videos there was no Perry
Marshall books there was there was
nothing you just kind of wasted money to
learn now we’re the most spoiled
generation everything this computer on
this phone iPhone 7 is more powerful
than the first rocket that put man on
the moon that cost billions of dollars
now we get that for under a thousand
bucks and people are still like I’m lost
yes your loss sit down and then open up
Safari and go how to do Google ads and
you’re gonna come up let’s see what I
come up with AdWords they have their own
tutorial word stream jump if I you got
some paid stuff then you have some free
stuff on HubSpot if you sit in a chair
Charlie Munger calls it assiduity put
your ass in a chair sit there and focus
without being you know the average
American right now the average first in
the world our attention span has dropped
to five seconds the sad news is the
average goldfish has six seconds we’re
now competing with goldfish and the
goldfish are winning so if you don’t
have assiduity to sit down breed there
is no solution for you you will always
be poor because you’ll always be beat by
somebody who’s willing to sit in the
chair is there a way for people to build
that discipline yes pain and that’s why
I’m not a big believer in delusion you
know you asked me one of the rewiring
things we have to do in this world I’ll
tell you one you ever heard this myth
everything happens for a reason so just
accept it well there’s kind of true
to that if I jump off a building and
break my legs yes everything happened
for a reason
the reason was gravity like that’s why
you break your legs and physics legs
brittle concrete not brittle so that but
people interpret everything happens for
a reason be like whoa I was meant to
learn from that thing and then BS read
Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene one of
the most important books written in the
last century
he says organisms that only learn
through trial and error lose to
organisms that can learn through other
people’s a trial and error is anybody
here we got a little live audience
anybody here ever had to be hit by a car
to learn to look both ways I didn’t I
kind of learned from just somebody
telling me big car two tons velocity
smash dead and I now always look both
ways so if your myth is that the only
way you’re gonna learn is just through
massive mistakes and trial and error you
have a read Richard Dawkins book how
does pain allow somebody to get more
disciplined okay so going back to that
myth of when you see your life and
anytime there should be paying you go no
no no it was just how it was meant to be
no look yourself in the mirror sometimes
and go you know why I’m not happy it’s
because I didn’t listen ten years ago
and I got in the wrong career you know
I’m not happy because I married the
wrong damn person it wasn’t meant to
happen yes everything happens for a
reason you made a bad choice but it
didn’t have to be that way and the
second you build up pain and this by the
way is not my opinion if you talk to
guys like dr. David buss top ten most
cited psychologist in history okay he’s
one of my main mentors he told me I said
do adults change like we do all this
self-help videos in podcast I said am I
wasting my time he goes yeah kind of I
said why he said well after 25 it’s very
hard to teach old dogs and insurance by
the way that’s why I’ve changed most of
my stuff targets people 18 to 25 that’s
why I do snapchat and all that because
there’s hope for 18 to 25
now if you’re over 25 before you get
depressed he told me but I have good
news for you time I said what he said
adults learn through massive trauma so
you will learn you have to let in some
trauma into your life and that’s rough
but no pain no gain like if you are 100
pounds overweight and you want to be
able to play basketball here’s my news
for you everything happened for a reason
you got fat because you ate too much and
you didn’t exercise so welcome to the
gym in the first year is gonna be hell
but that pain hopefully will reprogram
your brain that every time you want to
eat that nasty thing go wait I don’t
want to go through that pain again so I
think one of the myths of societies we
won’t let pain in we just excuse it all
the way like nah that wasn’t meant to
happen
oh you wasted 20 years of life married
the wrong person in the wrong career no
Tom it was meant to happen where’s the
people who go you you’ve wasted 20 years
and you will never get it back you
better go in your room and cry and the
truth is you only learn as an adult
unfortunately most people can only
change with mass in trauma the day is 24
hours and we sleep six now I know
there’s some out there that say whoa
whoa whoa
I need eight but I say just sleep a
little faster because the bottom line is
we have six hours of sleep 20 files are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read and as a new year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my party so you’re gonna go and
take this hour out of your schedule and
say I’m gonna train an hour every day so
this is for most people a huge challenge
but it is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working on
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12
tonight I was doing all of those things
I wanted to make sure that out of the 24
hours of the day that I don’t waste one
single hour those hours were too
precious and so they’re just want to
tell people don’t give me this thing
I have a difficult time at the time and
I don’t have time for this neither of
that you have time you make the time an
old-fashioned belief that I can only
should expect to make money and things
that I understand and when I say
understand I don’t mean understand you
know what the product does or anything
like that I mean understand what the
economics of the business are likely to
look at look like ten years from now or
20 years ago I know in general what the
economics of say Wrigley chewing gum
will look like ten years ago this is
going to change the way people chew gum
it isn’t going to change which come they
chew you know if you own the chewing gum
market in a big way and you’ve got
double mint in the spearmint and the
juicy fruit those brands will be there
ten years from now so I can’t pinpoint
exactly what the numbers are gonna look
like on Rigby but I’m not gonna be way
off if I try to look forward on
something like that that evaluating that
company is within what I call my circle
of competence I understand what they do
I understand the economics of it I
understand the competitive aspects of
the business so figuring out the
economic consequences TV I think there’s
I don’t know 20 25 million cents a year
sold in the United States I don’t think
there’s one of them made in the United
States anymore I mean you’d say TV set
manufacturer what a wonderful business
of everybody now nobody had a TV in 1950
or thereabouts 45 to 50 everybody has
multiple sets now nobody is in the
United States has made any real money
making the sense if they’re all out of
business
you know the Magnavox is the RCA is all
of those companies radio was the
equipment of the 20 over 500 companies
making radios in the 1920s again I don’t
think there’s a u.s. radio manufacturer
at the present time but coca-cola you
know I was at 1884 Jacobs pharmacy or
whatever and fellow comes up with
something a lot of copiers over the
years but now you
a company that is selling roughly 1.1
billion eight ounce servings of its
product not all cokes brighten some
others daily throughout the world
honored 17 years later so understanding
the economic characteristics of a
business is different than predicting
the fact that an industry is going to do
wonderfully so I look at the internet
businesses or I look at tech misses I
say this is a marvelous thing and I’d
love to play around on the computer and
it now I ordered my books from Amazon
and all kinds of things but I don’t know
who’s gonna win unless I know who’s
gonna win I’m not interested in the best
thing I’ll just play around on the
computer and defining your circle of
competence is the most important aspect
of investing it’s not how important how
large your circle is you don’t have to
be an expert on everything but knowing
where the perimeter of that circle of
what you know and what you don’t know is
and staying inside of it is all
important Tom Watson senior who started
IBM said in his book he said I’m no
genius I said but I’m smart in spots I
stay around those spots and you know
that is the key so if I understand a few
things and I stick in that arena I’ll do
okay and if I don’t understand something
but I don’t excited about it because my
neighbors are talking about the stocks
are going up and everything they start
fooling around someplace else eventually
I’ll get creamed that your real work is
to figure out where your power base is
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
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
people say you you have to have a lot of
passion for what you’re doing and it’s
totally true and the reason is is
because it’s so hard that if you don’t
any rational person would give up it’s
really hard and you have to do it over a
sustained period of time so if you don’t
love it if you’re not having fun doing
it you don’t really love it you’re gonna
give up one night Chris have gone to bed
I’ve been struggling struggling
struggling we still had all the same
problems I we started lean on the house
still facing bankruptcy still fighting
like crazy I was still unemployed
he still they still hadn’t figured out
like the solution yet for the business
and I was about to turn off the TV and
there on the the TV there was this
rocket launching and I thought oh my
gosh I am gonna launch myself out of bed
like a rocket ship like NASA right here
had launched me out of that bed and I’m
gonna move so fast that I don’t think
hmm I’m gonna beat my brain now here’s a
really interesting point I talk a lot
about your instincts and inner wisdom
and we can get into this a little bit
later but a lot of us talk about the
fact that you have a gut feeling but
what all this research that I’ve done
for the book and all the speaking that I
do what I’ve discovered that’s
fascinating is actually when you set
goals when you have an intention on
something that you want to change about
your life your brain helps you what it
does is it opens up a checklist and then
your brain goes to work trying to remind
you yeah of that intention that you set
and it’s really important to develop the
skill and I say that word purposefully
the skill of knowing how to hear that
inner wisdom and that intention kicking
in and leaning into it quickly so for me
my brain saying that’s it right there
move as fast as a rocket Mel I wanted to
change my life and I think most people
that are miserable or that are that are
really like dying to be great and dying
to have more we want to change we want
to live a better life we want to create
more for our families we want to be
happier the the desire is there again
it’s about how do you go from knowledge
to actions so the first thing in the
story that’s important is realizing that
the answer was in me and my mind was
telling me pay attention I could have
also been the Bourbon anyway the next
morning the alarm goes off and I
pretended NASA was there
it’s a stupidest story I literally went
five four three two one I counted out
loud and then I stood up and I’ll never
forget standing there in my bedroom it
was dark it was cold it was winter in
Boston
and for the first time in three months I
had beaten my habit of hitting the
snooze button I couldn’t believe it and
I thought wait a minute counting
backwards said is the dumbest thing I’ve
ever heard in my entire life well the
next morning I used it again and it
worked the next morning I used it again
and it worked the next morning I used it
again and it worked and then I started
to notice something really interesting
there were moments all day long all day
long just like that five-second moment
in bed where I knew knowledge what I
should do and if I didn’t move within
five seconds my brain would step in and
talk me out of it every human being has
a five-second window might even be
shorter for you you have about a
five-second window in which you can move
from idea to action before your brain
kicks into full gear and sabotages any
change in behavior because remember your
brain is wired to stop you from doing
things that are uncomfortable or
uncertain or scary it’s your job to
learn how to move from those ideas that
could change everything and do something
you’re very passionate about and don’t
try to chase what is kind of passion I
realized that when you to have the level
of success that I want to have it’s
difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I’ve made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way you
really gotta focus with all of your
fiber and all your heart and all your
creativity failure is part of life I
mean the difference for me though is I
look a failure as a stepping stone to
success it’s a speed bump I know I’m
gonna fail but it’s not failure if you
learn something and so gosh I’ve made so
many mistakes I’ve screwed so many
things up but every time I do it just
becomes it
comes away from me to explain to someone
else what it takes you know it’s like
here’s what I’ve done I think I have the
ability to influence people because I
talk about my failures I talk about all
the things that mess me up but I show
people that didn’t want to stop me and
you don’t need to stop you and I think I
think that’s really a secret matter and
if everything you touch was successful
first got a relate to people as well and
also it’s be total and everyone
no it’s cool and also you’d be bored
silly I mean think about it if you just
said I want this and happen I want this
to happen you know people don’t value it
they don’t fight for you know it’s like
you see kids sometimes in it you know
your parents will say you’re not gonna
value this if you don’t work for it and
you’re keeping going oh well you’ll just
give it to me but it’s true you know
about things we’ve worked the hardest
for we value the most so I think you
know the purpose of the goal is not
getting it anyway the purpose of goal
you know is what who you become who you
becomes gonna make you happier what’s
gonna make you sad so I’m not looking
for an effortless approach there’s no
such thing is there a time to bail out
on a project though I mean when I don’t
know that’s not in my vocabulary
yeah look I have a I have an unfair
advantage you know I went to war a war
I’m alive because other guys died for me
when you see stuff like that you know
how can I quit most guys I just wimps
pussies cowards they don’t have it so
they should they should get a job yeah I
started working at this video store it
was pretty much what you’re talking
about around that time and and it was
great at first cuz I’d always hated day
jobs and stuff and so I got a day job
and it ended up being pretty good but
admittedly I was there for five years at
a certain point it was our narcotic all
right I didn’t have to keep pursuing my
dreams because you know it’s not what I
want to do but it’s sort of kind of
close and if I didn’t have an artist
soul burning in me I could have made
myself happy with that I could if i if i
didn’t have an artist soul burning to
get out I could have you know walked
backwards a couple steps and just done
that and would have been a fulfilling to
anybody else it would have been a
fulfilling life it wouldn’t been for me
because I wouldn’t know and I would have
had something to say that I didn’t get a
chance
but it did put me to sleep for a while
and and I’ve always just thought I mean
what really got it got everything kind
of truly going for me you could point
out a lot of different things but the
bottom line is the fact that I realized
that the even the group of people I hung
around with they were all great great
great fellas and great gals but you know
I was easy for me to think that I was
doing a lot because I was doing more to
try to move myself forward than they
were but you know that’s not yeah yeah
ok I’m a big fish in a puddle so what
all right they’re not doing anything so
yeah I’m doing more than them but I
realize that actually I need to get my
ass out to Hollywood and meet other
people who are you know like they were
in my category or or working a little
higher and and I should be the weakest
link in my chain that I have and that’ll
make me be stronger or make me run
faster I mean like an analogy I’ve
always used is alright if you run the
hundred yard dash with a people that
can’t run as fast as ya you’ll win hands
down you know that but if you run with
people much faster than you all right
yeah you might come in last every single
time but your time will be better
because they’re making you run all the
faster they’re making making you dig
down just a little bit more it doesn’t
matter that you and your time is faster
and that’s what I knew I had to do I had
to get out of Loserville and throw
myself into a place where like this is
what do for a living then a dominating
desire plan or purpose which is backed
by that State of Mind known as faith has
taken over to the subconscious section
of the mind that acted upon immediately
I don’t know for sure ladies and
gentlemen but I suspect if there’s a
relatively small number of people in the
world any one time who understand the
principle of faith who really
understands it and know how to apply and
even if you do understand it if you
don’t back it up
action and make it a part of your habit
life you might just as well not
understand it because faith without
deeds is dead faith without action is
dead faith without absolute positive
belief is dead I don’t know how you’re
going to get any results through
believing unless you put some action
back of that belief and the incidental
if you tell your mind often enough that
you have faith in anything the time will
come when your subconscious mind really
accept that even if you tell your mind
often enough that you have faith in
yourself as you ever thought well nice
thing it would be if you had such
complete faith in yourself that you
wouldn’t hesitate to undertake anything
you want to do in life have you ever
thought what a benefit that would be to
you when you get up in the morning you
do what you normally do
I would eventually say a lot of you here
probably turn on your cellphone’s your
computers and what’s the latest email
what’s the latest text that comes in you
start your day off like that that’s your
mindset try this get up in the morning
do whatever you have to do don’t turn
the computer on don’t turn the TV on go
right back to bed again either lay there
or sit there and just bring the universe
to you here’s how you do it you just be
it’s virtually impossible when you first
do it because the thousand thoughts come
through your head we’re human beings so
what you do is you’re sitting in bed
look at the wall look at the off TV set
look at the ceiling look at the door
look at something in the room to get
your attention and just look at it and
just be for a couple of minutes not 10
minutes not 20 minutes not two days just
be when your mind wanders find another
spot in the room to look at so you’re
back in present time even for a couple
of minutes now go about your day don’t
think about what you’re gonna do for
that split few minutes
you’re now becoming part of a universe
which is also part of global thinking
here’s what I’ve created from my life
and anyone I know succeeded I’m a 17
year old kid from the
to California with no real education
other than self education with no
background with parents that did their
best all of them
with no money but I did one thing I love
people and I had an enormous demand I
made it by myself and I sculpted my mind
and my emotions to get me to do whatever
it would take to achieve and to
contribute but to do that I did it by
using my body and changing my focus I
did it by putting myself in a peak
physiology and using what I call
incantations can you train yourself to
believe something yes or no absolutely
company have you ever made the fatal
mistake of going to Disneyland or Disney
World and while you’re there made the
fatal mistake of going to a ride called
it’s a small world after all what
happens for about a week after you’re
out of that damn place you’re still
singing this thing in your hand in 24
languages right let me tell you
something how many of you have things
when you want to achieve them and this
part of your voice goes oh it’s not
gonna happen or forget it
I’m gonna go to voices sometimes
interrupts that good pattern say I and
what you want to do is train a new one
so starting when I was 17 I started
doing incantations not affirmations
affirmation happy what’s the problem you
haven’t changed your what your what
physiology if you don’t change your
physiology you won’t get anything
so in incantations you only you speak it
but you embody what you’re saying with
all the intensity you can and you do it
with enough repetitions that it sticks
in your head like it’s a small world now
the conversation your head is always the
same and it gives you what you want so
use your body and your voice so
seventeen years ago I started doing
things I was working for Jim Rohn this
speaker and I was 17 years old
I had long hair minestrone soup acne on
my face I was trying to call on Bear
Stearns type of people and convince them
why they should go to this man seminar
be more successful I was driving a 1968
Volkswagen I had earned it $40 a week as
a janitor
the only way I did it was parked far
from the building and then go in and I
love people I believe but I put myself
in state and I was able to influence
people that were far more successful I
was at the time I will do something that
I still do backstage and have done for
23 years because I don’t hope I’m gonna
be in a good state I demand it so I do
an incantation using my whole body
that’s and now command my subconscious
mind to direct me and helping as many
people as possible eyes today to better
their lives they give me the strength
the emotion the persuasion the humor the
brotherly whatever it takes
you surely feel and get these people to
change your lives now I will do that
literally driving in my Volkswagen to a
meeting in LA on a freeway for 40
minutes people look mom screaming about
my lungs they’re going I know he’s a
serial killer I know he is but by the
time I entered that room when two people
meet if there’s a rapport the person
who’s most certain always and I was
probably certain and they were trying to
get revved up to certainty do you agree
with this yes or no I do another one
because I was poor I changed my mindset
I kept doing things but I never got
beyond it I’d say God’s wealth is
circulating in my life as well flows to
me an avalanche is of abundance all my
needs desires and goals are met
instantaneously by infinite intelligence
I’m one with God and God is everything
and I would imagine the abundance in my
life and I would feel so grateful and
healer I went for making thirty eight
thousand dollars a year to make a
it’s little idea explains why some
organizations and some leaders are able
to inspire where others aren’t let me
define the terms really quickly every
single person every single organization
on the planet knows what they do 100
percent some know how they do it whether
you call it your differentiating value
proposition or your proprietary process
or your USP but very very few people or
organizations know why they do what they
do and by why I don’t mean to make a
profit that’s a result it’s always a
result by why I mean what’s your purpose
what’s your cause what’s your belief why
does your organization exist start a
Microsoft I didn’t think of it as all
that risky I mean I was so excited about
what we were doing
it’s true I could have gone bankrupt but
you know I had a set of skills that were
highly employable and in fact my parents
were still willing to let me go back to
Harvard and finish my education if I
wanted to you’ve always got a job with a
bill and the only the thing that was
scary to me wasn’t quitting and starting
the company it was when I started hiring
and then we had customers who went
bankrupt customers that I counted on to
come through and so then I got this
incredibly conservative approach that I
wanted to have enough money in the bank
to pay a year’s worth of payroll even if
we didn’t get in heat any payments
coming in and I’m almost heard of that
the whole time we have about 10 billion
now which is pretty much enough for the
anyway you know I if you’re gonna start
a company it takes so much energy that
you know you it better overcome your
your feeling of risk I don’t think that
you necessarily if you’re gonna start a
company should do it at the start of
your career I think there’s a lot to be
said for working for a company learning
how they do things you know if you’re
young it’s hard to go lease premises
they made that hard for me you couldn’t
rent a car when you were under 25 at the
time so I was always taking taxis to go
see customers and people would you know
people say well we’re gonna go have a
discussion in the bar well I go to the
bar and that’s fun because I’ll tell you
when people are first skeptical and then
go this kid doesn’t know anything then
when you show them you’ve really got a
good product and you know something they
actually tend to go overboard and they
think whoa you know they know a lot
let’s really do an incredible amount
with these people so our youth at least
in this country was a huge asset for us
once we reached a certain threshold it
is hard it’s hard to hire old older
people because they’ll be a little bit
conservative about whether they should
come in and take the risk and it took
three or four years before we could go
out into the normal sort of employment 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 dirt the
Biscay 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
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
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 yeah I have the same work like
someone’s trying to take it all away
from you you know work they actually
work 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
– I want a new basketball shoes because
I was a basketball junkie back then he’s
like well your shoes work if you wanted
new bare 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
the 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 succeed a lot of people come to me
they say well I want to be an
entrepreneur and I go 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 been done but it’s rough I
mean because it’s a pretty much a you
know an 18-hour day job seven days a
week for a while so unless you have a
lot of passion about this you’re gonna
not survive you’re gonna give it up so
you’ve got to have an idea of 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 it 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 –
and they tried to copy the Apple – and
they’ve done a pretty bad job and 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
that it’s going to beat you and we are
going to do it and that’s what Apple stood for
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