I want to talk about risk as a guiding
principle life shrinks and life expands
in direct proportion to your willingness
to assume risk yeah I like I’ve made
some really stupid decisions in my
career for my entire career on a broad
plane they’ve all worked out every time
I’ve quit my jobs which I’ve done every
time I’ve had a job people that I trust
most to treat people that I love all
advise against it my dad told me not to
move to New York City because it was
such a risk and every time I every time
I took these bigger risks the
opportunity for a larger payout was
always there life is like this super
temporary mega fragile thing you only
get like a nugget of time to really
pursue the things you care about
and like I’m thirty thirty and my rule
is that the right time is always right
now to put a little meat on these bones
this new company that I don’t really
talk about this new company is the
biggest risk I’ve ever taken I took five
years of my life to build my advertising
career and I made like a lot of money
I’ve been doing really great look at my
youtube channel go all the way back the
last branded content thing you’ll see
was in February of 2014 I ditched it all
to pursue something I knew nothing about
this huge risk and I did it at a time
when my wife was pregnant and there was
all of this vulnerability and all the
scariness in my life and even now at 33
my dad’s at 34 my dad said Casey that’s
crazy
you’ve got a good thing don’t let it go
but I know that like some day I won’t be
able to do this I know that the time is
now the time the right time is always
now so I had to do it that’s how I feel
about risk in general and that’s what
the struggle has always been for me it’s
like identifying risk identifying fear
and then just smashing through it
because a fear is looking back and
wishing that I had done these thing
the most dangerous thing you can do in
your career the most dangerous thing you
can do in life is play it safe box me in
or try to verbally put me in some type
of box of redonda in a box that they’re
really showing their level of ignorance
they’re putting themselves in a box and
you know people can write write write
all they want but what are people doing
and if there’s anybody that’s out there
doing they know how hard it is to
actually do and I’m like a motivation of
the doers if if everything I did failed
which it doesn’t it actually succeeds
but if everything I did failed just the
fact that I’m willing to fail is an
inspiration people are so scared to lose
that they don’t even try like one thing
that people can’t say if they can’t say
I’m not trying and I’m not trying my
hardest and I’m not trying to do it the
best way that I know how with what
little information I get five second
rule– is a mind trick that’s all that
it is a fancy way to call it as a you
know it’s a form of metacognition but
it’s basically a hack it’s a cheat code
cheat code that you’re doing in your
mind is you are interrupting what are
called habit loops that get encoded in
the central part of your brain and you
are starting up the prefrontal cortex
it’s a little trick that causes focus
and it’s it’s a lot like having a mantra
because you’re shifting gears but the
thing about having a mantra is and I
suppose that as you count backwards more
and more and more you become used to it
but it becomes a habit that triggers
action so what you do is go 5 4 3 2 1
cut off this part of the brain awaken
this part of the brain and then move and
what happens with the counting backwards
is there’s nowhere to go after one
and your mind is socialized in a
countdown situation to go and so
counting up won’t work because you can
keep it over and you do it in many
aspects of your life so it’s actually
not something that requires any focus
rarely are we instant experts you may
have a particular gift or affinity
toward something but you still get
better you know people would pay me high
compliments when I started speaking and
then people who’ve seen me a year or two
later say that I’m even better and I
feel it why is that because you you you
learn more you know I think that hubris
is dangerous I think to think that
you’re an expert in anything is a
foolish pursuit you’re never you’re
never as good as you could be there’s
always room for improvement
there’s always room to get better you
know that does mean you have to listen
to all the advice just you know not
necessarily does everybody know best but
but to believe that you can be better
and to believe that you can offer more
is a constant pursuit you know I used to
think being a public speaker meant being
poised and presenting in a way that was
compelling and speaking at the right
pace and that’s that’s a part of it but
but I have been taking more risks lately
doing things that are very unstructured
and very uncomfortable and I will now do
like if I have an hour to speak I’d
rather speak for 20 minutes and do 40
minutes worth of questions and who knows
how that’s gonna go and that to me is
the best and so I’m a better speaker
because now I’m way more open to the
unknown where a few years ago that that
would’ve scared me cannot lose by taking
action you can only lose by not taking
action I think the great majority of
people surrounded by the greatest
opportunities in the best country in the
history of man on earth who don’t
succeed are people who are on the island
always got a reason for not taking
action and if you have delay taking
action repeatedly over and over again
you develop the habit of never taking
action you get the job the habit of
procrastinating and holding back and so
on you’ll be the kind of person that
maybe checks boxes but never feels
satisfied as you do it you’re always on
to the next
always chasing the next because you have
run right past the number one thing that
you’re supposed to figure out in your
lifetime which is who you are and how to
listen to it that’s the main thing
people are controlled by thoughts their
perception of themselves they’re slowed
down by their perception of themselves
if you’re taught you can’t do anything
you won’t do anything I was taught I
could do everything and I’m kind west at
age 36 so just watch the next 10 years
people think a lot of my motivation is
very like megalomaniac a self oriented
to the contrary completely I just want
to help from day one I just wanted to
help you have to actually show up every
day and inch yourself forward toward
these streets and not only show up every
day and once in a while inch yourself I
mean every day you have to actually take
an action that moves you forward not
just research not just thinking look the
power of an intention is great but
without any initiative it’s dead right a
dream is great but without any movement
it’s dead you have to be moving towards
every day you can send an email every
day you can make a call every day you
can write something every day you can
create something every day you can
contribute something every day but it
has to be daily otherwise it will never
become actualized and the highest
performers in the world didn’t get there
because they were lucky they worked at
it longer than everyone else they had a
better work ethic and something they
necessarily always worked harder they
work smarter because they were doing the
research they were taking the time to
visualize how they would be distinct
different how they would survive the
tough times they they really kept at it
keep every single day momentum going and
if you don’t do that there’s no chance
recently
I was with a bunch of other investors
who I respect and they brought me a deal
and I wanted to be part of it but it
didn’t feel right and I wrote millions
of dollars on that one and it just
didn’t feel right and I lost it all
within two years associate investors
trust I got dinner
absolutely and trust you well what about
you said earlier don’t be emotional and
sometimes the gut no this is a barometer
of risk it’s something and internalized
for an investor that says I don’t feel
comfortable it’s not about emotions just
don’t write that check that was recently
the first time I didn’t listen to that
and I lost everything so now my radar is
up I listen to my gut it’s not an
emotion it’s an index of risk and you
get it as you age you become a better
investor every year if you get to a
place where it’s easy as an entrepreneur
it’s about to get really really hard and
so what you find is with really good
entrepreneurs they’re constantly making
things difficult for themselves and it’s
pushing I like to say you push until it
hurts or you sort of you want to be
always pushing beyond what you’re
comfortable with and your sweating just
a little bit all the time and and when
that happens when you’re when you’re
constantly pushing beyond what you think
what you know is possible you’re always
sweating a little bit and you’re always
a little bit nervous but that is the
drug of being an entrepreneur and so
when you’re pushing like that and you’re
never really relaxed then it always
feels small and so in many ways it feels
to me the same now as it did at the
beginning I’m still a little nervous
what the mean is the feeling that you
found something you’re looking for or do
you accomplish something you set out to
accomplish so you know that feeling you
get when you cross something off your
to-do list
that’s dopamine feels awesome you know
when you when you have a goal to hit and
you achieve that goal you’re like yes
you feel like you’ve won something right
that’s dopamine the whole purpose of
dopamine is to make sure that we get
stuff done right
the historical reason for dopamine we
would never eat if we only waited to get
until we got hungry because there’s no
guarantee that we would find food
so dopamine exists to help us go looking
for food we get dopamine when we eat
which is one of the reasons we like
eating and so when you see something
that reminds you of something that feels
good we want to do the behavior that
helps us get that feeling right so let’s
say you’re out there going for a walk
and you see an apple tree in the
distance you get a small hit of dopamine
and then what it does is it focuses us
on our goals and now we start walking
towards the apple tree and as the apple
tree starts to get a little bigger we
feel like we’re making progress you get
another little shot of dopamine and
another little shot of dopamine until
you get to the Train you’re like yes
okay this is why we’re told you must
write down your goals your goals must be
tangible there’s a there’s a biological
reason for that we were very very
visually oriented animals you have to be
able to see the goal for it to
biologically stay focused right if you
don’t write down your goals if you can’t
see your goals it’s very hard to get
motivated to get inspired for example
think about corporate visions right a
corporate vision has has to be something
we can see right that’s why it’s called
a vision you can see it right to be the
biggest most respected to be the
fastest-growing are not visions they’re
nothing right what does that even look
like respected by whom your mother
yourself your friends your shareholders
who knows what’s the metric dunno it’s
Amorphis doesn’t motivate us just like I
can’t tell you you will get a bonus if
you achieve more you’re gonna ask me how
much more I’m gonna say more doesn’t
work you need a tangible goal you need a
tangible goal right here’s a great
vision Martin Luther King I have a dream
that one day little black children the
little white children will play on the
playground together and hold hands
together we can imagine that we can set
our sights on that and every time we
achieve a goal and achieve a metric and
achieve a milestone that makes us feel
like we’re making progress to the vision
we can see we keep going and going and
going until we achieve something
remarkable you have to be able to see it
dopamine
like I said dopamine is the feeling you
get when you set out to find something
you’re looking for as well talked about
the to-do list I came home from a trip
just a couple days ago and I had a bunch
of errands to run and I wrote down a
little list of things I had to do and
off I went right and as I was walking
past I think was the dry cleaner I
remember I was walking past something I
remembered oh I have to do that and I
hadn’t written it down on my I hadn’t
written down on my to-do list so I went
in and I finished what I needed to do
and then when I came out I then wrote it
on my to-do list and then crossed it out
dopamine comes with a warning dopamine
is highly highly highly addictive here
are some other things that release
dopamine alcohol nicotine gambling your
cell phone
oh you think I’m joking okay we’ve all
been told that you know if you wake up
in the morning and you crave a drink you
might be an alcoholic well if you wake
up in the morning the first thing you do
is check your phone before you even get
out of bed might be an addict
if you walk from room to room in your
you might be an addict when you’re
driving in your car and you get a text
and your phone goes beep we we hate
email true we love the beep the buzz the
ding oh right you’ll be there in 10
minutes
and yet you have to look at it right now
you might be an addict and even if you
read it and it says are you free for
dinner next Thursday and you have to
reply immediately you can’t wait the 10
minutes you might be an addict and for
all you Gen Y is out there who like to
think that you’re better at multitasking
beause you grew up with the technology
then why do you keep crashing your cars
when you’re texting you’re not you’re
not better at multitasking you’re better
at getting distracted in fact if you
look at the statistics ad D and ADHD
have diagnosis of AD D and ADHD have
risen 66% in the past 10 years
okay ad D and ADHD is a frontal lobe
disorder right are you telling me out of
nowhere 66% of our youth has the frontal
lobe problem where did that come from no
it’s a misdiagnosis right what what are
the what are the symptoms of a dopamine
addiction to technology distractibility
inability to get things done easily
easily distracted you know shortness of
attention it’s all the same things so we
miss diagnose things it’s this it’s the
addictive quality of dopamine we can
also get addicted to performance in our
companies when all they do is give us
numbers to hit numbers to hit numbers to
hit and a bonus you get and a bonus you
get and a bonus you get all they’re
doing is feeding us with dopamine and we
can’t help ourselves all we do is want
more more MORE it’s no surprise that the
bank’s destroyed the economy because one
of the things we know about dopamine
addict is they will do anything to get
another hit sometimes at the sacrifice
of their own resources and their
relationships ask any alcoholic gambling
addict or drug addict just ask them how
their relationships are doing and if
they’ve squandered any of their
resources it’s an addiction dopamine is
dangerous if it is unbalanced it is
hugely helpful when in a comfortable and
balanced system but when unbalanced it’s
dangerous and it’s destructive usually
in companies there’s a notion of a
hierarchy a set of objectives a
quarterly plans or we had none of that
our theory was that the leadership in
particularly the bottoms-up leadership
really should be empowered by what we
were doing and we’d see how far they get
we didn’t have an eighteen-month
strategy we just kept iterating so what
I learned from this is it fast iteration
is the key the most important thing to
do is every week a new product a new
idea just keep pushing you’d be amazed
how much progress you make in three
months or six months essentially and I
would say this to anybody is that you
know it’s really it’s easy to to embrace
hopelessness when things seem
insurmountable and yet
it’s is it’s actually just a matter of
time until all the elements come
together for things to be alright I mean
I believe that you know most difficult
situations will resolve themselves if
you are persistent and if you don’t if
you don’t give up entirely and that’s
what I never did I never gave up just do
it just pick up a camera and start
shooting something don’t wait to be
asked because nobody’s going to ask you
and don’t wait for the perfect
conditions because they’ll never be
perfect it’s a little bit like having a
child if you wait until the right time
to have a child you’ll die childless and
I think filming he’s very much the same
thing you just have to take the plunge
and just start shooting something even
if it’s bad you can always hide it but
you will have learned something very
hard to turn an idea into a successful
product there are a lot of steps in
between it takes persistence
relentlessness so I always tell people
who are you know who think they want to
be entrepreneurs it’s you need a
combination of stubborn relentlessness
and flexibility and you have to know
when to bewitch and basically you need
to be stubborn on your vision because
otherwise it’ll be too easy to give up
but you need to be very flexible on the
details because as you go along pursuing
your vision you’ll find that some of
your preconceptions were wrong and
you’re gonna need to be able to change
those things so I think taking an idea
successfully all the way to the market
and turning it into a real product that
people
that really improves people’s lives it’s
a lot of hard work sire and will to win
is everything I don’t know why I’m like
I am but my butt’s always burning
there’s always something say art dad
gummit you’re supposed to go for it
alright dad gummit you’re supposed to be
somebody you’re supposed to make a
difference with you lie what does the
$500,000 your person do the $50,000 your
person doesn’t do you look at outside
and study those two individuals
everything seems to be the same they
both are the same sex they both are the
same age they had the same training the
same positions the same contract the
same fringe benefits
they both are successful they work hard
they’re good family people make tough
commitments but what’s the difference
what does the $500,000 year person do
the $50,000 your person doesn’t do he
pays the price and a little bit more he
works hard and a little bit more he’s
loyal to the company a little bit more
he believes in a little bit more he
makes Maine a little bit more he saves
money a little bit more if you want to
win in these United States you got to be
tough and you can’t quit the last thing
I’ll talk to you about today and
building this winning edge is folks if
you want to win in business you’ve got
to be a leader leadership is everything
you show me anything in these United
States that win I’ll show you a leader
at work you show me a successful church
Boy Scout Troop club football team
business I’ll show you some a run by
leader see see I thought at one time in
my life you had to be smart to win I
used to have these smart people that
dress so pretty and talk so pretty and
use these big words they just
intimidated me and I said aren’t you
can’t ever be that good why don’t you
just throw in the towel and go on back
coach football for living and I found
two things out about smart people I
think it’s almost impossible for a smart
person to win in business in America
today because I find smart people spend
their whole lifetime figuring things out
they always trying to figure out
ease your way in a quicker way and
another thing I found out about smart
people is they just don’t get around to
doing nothing they see somebody like art
Williams everybody says well he can’t do
it and somebody like that can’t do it
but he does it see folks I want you to
know almost everybody in America almost
does enough to win they almost get there
they almost over the hump they almost
have it going
they almost in everything they do almost
is a way of life to almost everybody in
America but the winners do it what do
they do they do whatever it takes to get
the job done they do it and do it and do
it and do it and do it until the job
gets done and then they talk about how
great it is to be somebody they’re proud
of we need leaders in America who can do
it if you want to become somebody do it
if you want to go and finish for
yourself do it if you want to become
financially independent do it I hear too
much talk in these United States
everybody can talk a good game we need
people in America who can do it I go all
over this country with Al weaves and I
have people say aren’t you you count on
me wonderful just do it all right
guarantee this is my light last stop I’m
gonna win now SuperDuper just do it all
right if I could just have one good
month and get the ball going I know I
could make it big super just do it all
right if I could just pay off this debt
I could really go great just do it hard
if I could just sell my house do it
but how does a selling do it anyway I’m
not making any money what can I do you
just do it I do what art you do it and
do it and do it alright I can’t win this
contest
SuperDuper just do it over the hump now
watch my smoke grades just do it all
right I wanna make it so bad I’m tasting
what I do you just do it all right I’m a
vice president now can I quit doing it
no I don’t know if I keep on keeping on
I’m really hurt what I do you just do it
do what art you do it and do it and do
it all my life I want to be somebody
important well what do it then all right
I’m gonna save money so I don’t have to
go through this again
great just do it I don’t feel like I’ve
had enough training what’d I do you just
do it all right my manager don’t give me
no help what I do you just do it all
right you don’t understand I was mr.
everything in my former company you
don’t mean I I have to start off down at
the bottom and do it do you yep you
really got to do it art what’s the
primary difference between winners and
losers the winner the winners do it they
do it and do it and do it and do it
until the job gets done and then they
talk about how great it is to finally
have achieved something unique and I’m
glad they are that they didn’t quit like
everybody else and how wonderful it is
to finally be somebody they’re proud of
and make a difference with their life
look at the accomplishments of
accomplished people and you say boy that
must have been really hard you know when
you look at something that looks hard
that was probably easy and conversely
when you look at something that looks
easy that was probably hard and so
you’re never gonna know which is which
until you actually go and do it so just
go and do it
try learn from it 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 cuz they don’t have
the courage to try practice faithful
persistence means never ever ever give
up Chicken Soup for the Soul was
rejected by a hundred and forty four
publishers 144 publisher said we don’t
want to publish a collection of short
stories the title stupid Chicken Soup
for the Soul what does that mean people
don’t buy collections of short stories
there’s never been you know successful
chain of doing that so literally we
spent 14 months trying to find a
publisher and we go to New York with our
agent and eventually our agent gave us
the book back and said I can’t sell this
so we went to the National booksellers
Association convention down in Anaheim
we went from booth to booth to booth for
three days and there were 4,000
publishers represented there and we go
would you publish a book would you
publish a book would you publish my book
and we got no no no no no it was late on
the third day that a little publisher
from Florida after we’d gotten over 144
rejections said we’ll read it and then
they said we said well how many copies
do you think we’ll sell after they said
yeah we’ll buy it a couple weeks later
he said we’ll publish it and we said
they said well maybe 20,000 if we’re
lucky now we said we our goal is to sell
a million and a half in a year and a
half now have you ever told someone your
dream and had them laugh out loud at you
he laughed out loud now if we had given
up after a hundred publishers had said
no I wouldn’t be standing here today
you know wouldn’t have happened and so
you’ve got to be willing to persevere
because we didn’t take no see when the
world says no you say next let’s
practice that if I say no you say
absolutely there’s only five or six
billion people out there you can go and
ask right there’s over four thousand
publishers just here in the state of
California so what we have is this
endless possibility but you have to
persevere it’s as if the universe tests
our commitment and so today we have a
hundred and forty seven titles in print
we sold over 115 million copies
we’re in 47 languages and over a billion
dollars where the Chicken Soup for the
Soul books have been sold worldwide so
if you’re willing to decide what you
want believe it’s possible consciously
envision the future feel the feelings of
what it would feel like if you’d achieve
this goal you can have anything and then
you take action both obvious actions and
inspired actions you can do anything
only thing that I see that is distinctly
different about me is I’m not afraid to
die on a treadmill right I will run it
would not be outworked
I will not be be outworked right period
yeah you know you might have more talent
than me you might be smarter than me you
might be sexier than me you might be all
of those things you got it on me in nine
categories but if we get on the
treadmill together right there’s two
things you’re getting off first
yeah or I’m gonna die it’s really that
simple right so let’s go back to the
question about what if people blocking
out its due it’s going to be two options
yeah I’m gonna get back in or I’m gonna
be dead Yeah right it’s like you’re not
going to outwork me it’s a it’s a very
is such a simple basic concept is the
the guy who is willing
to hustle the most is gonna be the guy
that just gets that loose ball you know
he got that oh okay he got two oh god
he’s hustling grabbed out my dad was
gonna be out of bounds but he saved it
back in it’s like the commodity that I
see the majority of people who aren’t
getting the places they want or aren’t
achieving the things that they want in
this business is strictly based on
hustle it’s strictly based on being out
work is strictly based on missing
crucial opportunities I say all the time
if you stay ready you ain’t gotta get
ready before 17 I was like the the last
one to they consider to become good I
mean one day the first coach of the
first team he went out and he saw me in
a game and he was like I wanna have a
meeting with you and I was like okay
what did i do no I mean every time I had
a meeting was for some kind of
disciplinary thing and and then he said
on Monday I start to train with the big
guys you’re in a first team and then I
was like from considering to be the not
the biggest talent like let’s say the
last one in the group to jump over all
of them and come in the first group and
I was okay and I was in shock because
and I didn’t want to say it too much
because maybe if I talk too much he will
change his mind I was like okay see you
on Monday then when they saw me they saw
the player that was different from the
other ones it was a great feeling but at
the same time I was like now I have
opportunity to do something good out of
it and it’s pretty it’s up to me so if I
want to to become something that I think
I can become I have to train hard and
that’s my mentality I would like to
train hard I mean you can have talent
but talent don’t take you all the way
you know in film you know my career has
been teaching and I can’t say I have a
string of amazing films under my belt
you know if I’ve got great films and
films they’re very from popcorn films to
some really heartfelt films but you know
Mandela was the next level for me and it
was absolutely the gateway to the next
chapter of my career but had I had I get
to the Gateway and tripped up because I
for then I wouldn’t never I won’t be
moving on because he’s such a big world
global citizen you know and and I had
all this sort of trepidation about you
know man I don’t look like mr. Mandela
at all how how am I gonna do this you
know but Justin was really clear about
his vision and it was a different spin I
guess the choice you have as an underdog
is if you’re gonna choose to fight and
choose to fight to win there are a
series of strategies available to you
but they are all more costly than the
strategies available to the favorite so
I give the example I’ll have a chapter
about a and a software mogul and Silicon
Valley an Indian guy who coaches his
daughters 12 year old daughter’s
basketball team and they are without
talent they are by his own by his own
admission this was like their you know
how barely know how to play the game it
takes them all the way to the national
championships he does it by he instructs
them they’re gonna play the full-court
press every minute of every game and
defend every inch of the court right now
that’s actually a very effective
strategy particularly in age class
basketball if you’re the underdog
it’s your leerin chance of winning is to
play a really really aggressive defense
it requires however that everyone in
your team expend maximum effort every
minute of the game you cannot loaf for
an instant you have to be in really good
shape and you have to run yourself
ragged and you cannot let up most people
will not play that way because it’s too
difficult if I said to you we’re not
gonna be doing does this elegantly
designed plays and shooting gorgeous
baskets and passing the ball we’re just
going to be doing this for the entire
game and you’re gonna be exhausted at
the end most kids would say that’s not
what I signed up so it’s like that’s a
kind of classic illustration of that
effort effort is the route one of the
routes available to the
I can outwork you even if I may not be
able to outspend you but I can outwork
you well how working is a tall order is
not easy to do you know that’s as anyone
who has worked in a start-up knows
that’s the one of the stressful parts of
it but successful startups I am I’ve
never seen any actual data on this but
do we think the people working for
successful startups work longer hours
than people who work for fortune 500
companies my guess is yes
now what age should one give up on their
dream never issue
Guto said this Henry Ford said this
Rockefeller said this you’re only as
young or as old as your dreams and as
long as you still have dreams and
visions and goals they keep you young
it’s the most amazing darn thing one of
the great stories is the story of
Kentucky Fried Chicken
once it gone upon a time there was a
little boy named Harlan and Harlan was
taught by his mother a special recipe
down south in the United States on how
to make chicken when he grew up he got a
job as a short-order cook in his small
cafe and he asked his boss if his boss
would be interested in this chicken
recipe and his boss said sure throw it
together see what the people say turned
out that everybody liked this special
chicken recipe with all these secret
herbs and spices well for the rest of
his career right up till he was 65 years
old he either worked in little cafes or
sometimes he owned a little cafe when he
was 65 he had a little cafe and he was
making his chicken and he had people
coming from all around to eat his
chicken and the Highways Department
built a highway pass his little
restaurant his little chicken place and
put him out of business but cut off the
road so nobody could get to it about the
same time he received a Social Security
check his first Social Security check
the age of 65 and he became angry he
said I’m 65 years old but I’m not ready
to give up on my dreams what do I have
to sell and he realized the one thing
that had kept him going all those years
the mainstay of his little career was
his mother
recipe of 17 or 18 herbs and spices so
we put them together in little bags one
bag per chicken and he put his pots and
pans in the back of his old car and he
started driving up and down the eastern
seaboard going from cafe to Cafe to cafe
to ask them if they would pay him five
cents a bag for his magical combination
of herbs and spices
he called on more than 1,000 restaurants
sleeping in his car week after week and
finally he came across a little
restaurant in Toronto that agreed to pay
him five cents a bag for his herbs and
spices is back in the 60s and because of
exchange controls they had to give the
money to the Red Cross that was the
beginning of the Kentucky Fried Chicken
Empire we began to sell this recipe more
and more people began to put it on their
signs a major corporation came along and
said we could make a real business of
this so they embraced him they built the
franchise they made him one of the best
known people in the world when he died
some years later he was worth more than
50 million dollars because he never gave
up on his dreams so I don’t know if
you’re 65 and broke and living in your
car with pots and pans with no money but
wherever you are you never give up on
your dreams most people do a lot of
talking and most people don’t put in the
effort there’s nothing you can’t
accomplish in life with the right amount
of work the challenge is you know are
you willing to do the work and the
reality is most people aren’t but that’s
the opportunity right is I mean it’s
like people you know at school most
people are lazy right they just they
barely get through it and and so that
creates opportunity being an actor or
even being an artist and I had studied
in school behind the camera was not even
in the vernacular of my dreams
I was raised 9 to 5 you go to work your
work you work your way up a scale that’s
from your old man right yeah yeah and
that was all I was able to even like I
said dream about so the idea of living
life and having a career that was in the
arts that was in the storytelling
business it was something that’s really
fun
was not something that like said I even
dreamed up I was in the right place
right time right bar guy found me and
said you want to come in and read for a
part in a movie I’m here producing
called Dazed and Confused I said sure I
got to read for the part it’s got three
lines three lines turns in three weeks
work they’re paying me 325 bucks a day
people were telling me I’m pretty good
at it and I think I’m getting away with
something if you’re convinced that
you’re going to fail or fall or get hurt
that will come to fruition because
that’s what you’re visualizing I never
vision you know I was willing to get
hurt along the way but I didn’t
visualize myself getting hurt along the
way and I think that’s what that’s what
stops a lot of people and that’s really
what separates a lot of people from from
being world champions or from being as
good as they can because they they stop
at some point saying oh no I I am not
capable of this or I’ll probably get
hurt doing this and if you approach
anything with that hesitation you’re
gonna fail
I always approached it like this is
going to work I’m going to figure this
out even if it takes me hundreds of
attempts and I wasn’t you know the the
idea of falling getting back up again
that didn’t really bother me at all well
if if your job is to try to be the best
basketball player you can be all right
to do that you have to practice you have
to train you want to train as much as
you can as often as you can so if you
get up at 10:00 in the morning
train at 11:00 12:00 say 12:00 train at
12:00 train for two hours 12:00 to 2:00
you have to let your body recover so you
recover you get back out you train start
training again at 6:00 train from 6:00
to 8:00 and now you go home and shower
you dinner you go to bed you wake up do
it again right those are two sessions
all right now imagine you wake up at
3:00 you train at 4:00 go four to six
come home breakfast relax so so now
you’re back at it again nine to eleven
relax and now it’s done you’re back at
it again to the four and have you’re
back at it again you know seven to nine
look how much more training I have done
by simply starting at four all right so
now you do that
as the years go on the separation that
you have with your competitors and your
peers just grows larger and larger and
larger and larger and larger and by year
five or six doesn’t matter what kind of
work they’re doing a summer they’re
never going to catch up because they’re
five years behind so it makes sense to
get up and start your day early because
you can get more work is that genetic or
is that something you you engrained and
trained yourself no it was just you that
for me it was it was just common sense
like I can okay if I start earlier I can
train more hours and I know the other
guys aren’t doing it because I know what
their training schedule is right so I
know if I do this consistently over time
it’s the gaps just gonna widen and why
no why no why no why and they won’t be
able to get that back mm-hmm
so it’s me it was just common sense I’m
like thinking how can I get an advantage
oh start earlier yeah let’s do that
how do you how do you develop that or
where do you what do you learn that from
well I think it’s just no it’s just a
matter of what’s important to you hmm
what’s important to you for whatever
reason you know I felt like I didn’t
feel good about myself if I wasn’t doing
everything I could to be the best
version of myself if I felt like I left
anything on a table it would eat away at
me I wouldn’t be able to look myself in
the mirror right so the reason why I can
retire now and be completely comfortable
about it because I know that I’ve done
everything I could to be the best
basketball player I could be and so
that’s where it comes from for me you
can’t leave any stones there is
tremendous pressure on you many want you
to fail many want you to succeed
how do you feel about that it is a lot
of pressure and it’s it is tough to take
sometimes I have to say it is not an
easy thing and no doubt if something
goes wrong with our first blanks there
will be people that’s use that as an
ammunition to say that commercial and
private enterprise is not the way to go
and they’ll build their walls to be
supporters who say well you know we
gotta keep trying and and we will I mean
we’re going to keep going and how long
it takes we’ll we’ll get it right so
it’s important to appreciate things may
not work in the first place but with they will work later and we’ll get there
principle life shrinks and life expands
in direct proportion to your willingness
to assume risk yeah I like I’ve made
some really stupid decisions in my
career for my entire career on a broad
plane they’ve all worked out every time
I’ve quit my jobs which I’ve done every
time I’ve had a job people that I trust
most to treat people that I love all
advise against it my dad told me not to
move to New York City because it was
such a risk and every time I every time
I took these bigger risks the
opportunity for a larger payout was
always there life is like this super
temporary mega fragile thing you only
get like a nugget of time to really
pursue the things you care about
and like I’m thirty thirty and my rule
is that the right time is always right
now to put a little meat on these bones
this new company that I don’t really
talk about this new company is the
biggest risk I’ve ever taken I took five
years of my life to build my advertising
career and I made like a lot of money
I’ve been doing really great look at my
youtube channel go all the way back the
last branded content thing you’ll see
was in February of 2014 I ditched it all
to pursue something I knew nothing about
this huge risk and I did it at a time
when my wife was pregnant and there was
all of this vulnerability and all the
scariness in my life and even now at 33
my dad’s at 34 my dad said Casey that’s
crazy
you’ve got a good thing don’t let it go
but I know that like some day I won’t be
able to do this I know that the time is
now the time the right time is always
now so I had to do it that’s how I feel
about risk in general and that’s what
the struggle has always been for me it’s
like identifying risk identifying fear
and then just smashing through it
because a fear is looking back and
wishing that I had done these thing
the most dangerous thing you can do in
your career the most dangerous thing you
can do in life is play it safe box me in
or try to verbally put me in some type
of box of redonda in a box that they’re
really showing their level of ignorance
they’re putting themselves in a box and
you know people can write write write
all they want but what are people doing
and if there’s anybody that’s out there
doing they know how hard it is to
actually do and I’m like a motivation of
the doers if if everything I did failed
which it doesn’t it actually succeeds
but if everything I did failed just the
fact that I’m willing to fail is an
inspiration people are so scared to lose
that they don’t even try like one thing
that people can’t say if they can’t say
I’m not trying and I’m not trying my
hardest and I’m not trying to do it the
best way that I know how with what
little information I get five second
rule– is a mind trick that’s all that
it is a fancy way to call it as a you
know it’s a form of metacognition but
it’s basically a hack it’s a cheat code
cheat code that you’re doing in your
mind is you are interrupting what are
called habit loops that get encoded in
the central part of your brain and you
are starting up the prefrontal cortex
it’s a little trick that causes focus
and it’s it’s a lot like having a mantra
because you’re shifting gears but the
thing about having a mantra is and I
suppose that as you count backwards more
and more and more you become used to it
but it becomes a habit that triggers
action so what you do is go 5 4 3 2 1
cut off this part of the brain awaken
this part of the brain and then move and
what happens with the counting backwards
is there’s nowhere to go after one
and your mind is socialized in a
countdown situation to go and so
counting up won’t work because you can
keep it over and you do it in many
aspects of your life so it’s actually
not something that requires any focus
rarely are we instant experts you may
have a particular gift or affinity
toward something but you still get
better you know people would pay me high
compliments when I started speaking and
then people who’ve seen me a year or two
later say that I’m even better and I
feel it why is that because you you you
learn more you know I think that hubris
is dangerous I think to think that
you’re an expert in anything is a
foolish pursuit you’re never you’re
never as good as you could be there’s
always room for improvement
there’s always room to get better you
know that does mean you have to listen
to all the advice just you know not
necessarily does everybody know best but
but to believe that you can be better
and to believe that you can offer more
is a constant pursuit you know I used to
think being a public speaker meant being
poised and presenting in a way that was
compelling and speaking at the right
pace and that’s that’s a part of it but
but I have been taking more risks lately
doing things that are very unstructured
and very uncomfortable and I will now do
like if I have an hour to speak I’d
rather speak for 20 minutes and do 40
minutes worth of questions and who knows
how that’s gonna go and that to me is
the best and so I’m a better speaker
because now I’m way more open to the
unknown where a few years ago that that
would’ve scared me cannot lose by taking
action you can only lose by not taking
action I think the great majority of
people surrounded by the greatest
opportunities in the best country in the
history of man on earth who don’t
succeed are people who are on the island
always got a reason for not taking
action and if you have delay taking
action repeatedly over and over again
you develop the habit of never taking
action you get the job the habit of
procrastinating and holding back and so
on you’ll be the kind of person that
maybe checks boxes but never feels
satisfied as you do it you’re always on
to the next
always chasing the next because you have
run right past the number one thing that
you’re supposed to figure out in your
lifetime which is who you are and how to
listen to it that’s the main thing
people are controlled by thoughts their
perception of themselves they’re slowed
down by their perception of themselves
if you’re taught you can’t do anything
you won’t do anything I was taught I
could do everything and I’m kind west at
age 36 so just watch the next 10 years
people think a lot of my motivation is
very like megalomaniac a self oriented
to the contrary completely I just want
to help from day one I just wanted to
help you have to actually show up every
day and inch yourself forward toward
these streets and not only show up every
day and once in a while inch yourself I
mean every day you have to actually take
an action that moves you forward not
just research not just thinking look the
power of an intention is great but
without any initiative it’s dead right a
dream is great but without any movement
it’s dead you have to be moving towards
every day you can send an email every
day you can make a call every day you
can write something every day you can
create something every day you can
contribute something every day but it
has to be daily otherwise it will never
become actualized and the highest
performers in the world didn’t get there
because they were lucky they worked at
it longer than everyone else they had a
better work ethic and something they
necessarily always worked harder they
work smarter because they were doing the
research they were taking the time to
visualize how they would be distinct
different how they would survive the
tough times they they really kept at it
keep every single day momentum going and
if you don’t do that there’s no chance
recently
I was with a bunch of other investors
who I respect and they brought me a deal
and I wanted to be part of it but it
didn’t feel right and I wrote millions
of dollars on that one and it just
didn’t feel right and I lost it all
within two years associate investors
trust I got dinner
absolutely and trust you well what about
you said earlier don’t be emotional and
sometimes the gut no this is a barometer
of risk it’s something and internalized
for an investor that says I don’t feel
comfortable it’s not about emotions just
don’t write that check that was recently
the first time I didn’t listen to that
and I lost everything so now my radar is
up I listen to my gut it’s not an
emotion it’s an index of risk and you
get it as you age you become a better
investor every year if you get to a
place where it’s easy as an entrepreneur
it’s about to get really really hard and
so what you find is with really good
entrepreneurs they’re constantly making
things difficult for themselves and it’s
pushing I like to say you push until it
hurts or you sort of you want to be
always pushing beyond what you’re
comfortable with and your sweating just
a little bit all the time and and when
that happens when you’re when you’re
constantly pushing beyond what you think
what you know is possible you’re always
sweating a little bit and you’re always
a little bit nervous but that is the
drug of being an entrepreneur and so
when you’re pushing like that and you’re
never really relaxed then it always
feels small and so in many ways it feels
to me the same now as it did at the
beginning I’m still a little nervous
what the mean is the feeling that you
found something you’re looking for or do
you accomplish something you set out to
accomplish so you know that feeling you
get when you cross something off your
to-do list
that’s dopamine feels awesome you know
when you when you have a goal to hit and
you achieve that goal you’re like yes
you feel like you’ve won something right
that’s dopamine the whole purpose of
dopamine is to make sure that we get
stuff done right
the historical reason for dopamine we
would never eat if we only waited to get
until we got hungry because there’s no
guarantee that we would find food
so dopamine exists to help us go looking
for food we get dopamine when we eat
which is one of the reasons we like
eating and so when you see something
that reminds you of something that feels
good we want to do the behavior that
helps us get that feeling right so let’s
say you’re out there going for a walk
and you see an apple tree in the
distance you get a small hit of dopamine
and then what it does is it focuses us
on our goals and now we start walking
towards the apple tree and as the apple
tree starts to get a little bigger we
feel like we’re making progress you get
another little shot of dopamine and
another little shot of dopamine until
you get to the Train you’re like yes
okay this is why we’re told you must
write down your goals your goals must be
tangible there’s a there’s a biological
reason for that we were very very
visually oriented animals you have to be
able to see the goal for it to
biologically stay focused right if you
don’t write down your goals if you can’t
see your goals it’s very hard to get
motivated to get inspired for example
think about corporate visions right a
corporate vision has has to be something
we can see right that’s why it’s called
a vision you can see it right to be the
biggest most respected to be the
fastest-growing are not visions they’re
nothing right what does that even look
like respected by whom your mother
yourself your friends your shareholders
who knows what’s the metric dunno it’s
Amorphis doesn’t motivate us just like I
can’t tell you you will get a bonus if
you achieve more you’re gonna ask me how
much more I’m gonna say more doesn’t
work you need a tangible goal you need a
tangible goal right here’s a great
vision Martin Luther King I have a dream
that one day little black children the
little white children will play on the
playground together and hold hands
together we can imagine that we can set
our sights on that and every time we
achieve a goal and achieve a metric and
achieve a milestone that makes us feel
like we’re making progress to the vision
we can see we keep going and going and
going until we achieve something
remarkable you have to be able to see it
dopamine
like I said dopamine is the feeling you
get when you set out to find something
you’re looking for as well talked about
the to-do list I came home from a trip
just a couple days ago and I had a bunch
of errands to run and I wrote down a
little list of things I had to do and
off I went right and as I was walking
past I think was the dry cleaner I
remember I was walking past something I
remembered oh I have to do that and I
hadn’t written it down on my I hadn’t
written down on my to-do list so I went
in and I finished what I needed to do
and then when I came out I then wrote it
on my to-do list and then crossed it out
dopamine comes with a warning dopamine
is highly highly highly addictive here
are some other things that release
dopamine alcohol nicotine gambling your
cell phone
oh you think I’m joking okay we’ve all
been told that you know if you wake up
in the morning and you crave a drink you
might be an alcoholic well if you wake
up in the morning the first thing you do
is check your phone before you even get
out of bed might be an addict
if you walk from room to room in your
you might be an addict when you’re
driving in your car and you get a text
and your phone goes beep we we hate
email true we love the beep the buzz the
ding oh right you’ll be there in 10
minutes
and yet you have to look at it right now
you might be an addict and even if you
read it and it says are you free for
dinner next Thursday and you have to
reply immediately you can’t wait the 10
minutes you might be an addict and for
all you Gen Y is out there who like to
think that you’re better at multitasking
beause you grew up with the technology
then why do you keep crashing your cars
when you’re texting you’re not you’re
not better at multitasking you’re better
at getting distracted in fact if you
look at the statistics ad D and ADHD
have diagnosis of AD D and ADHD have
risen 66% in the past 10 years
okay ad D and ADHD is a frontal lobe
disorder right are you telling me out of
nowhere 66% of our youth has the frontal
lobe problem where did that come from no
it’s a misdiagnosis right what what are
the what are the symptoms of a dopamine
addiction to technology distractibility
inability to get things done easily
easily distracted you know shortness of
attention it’s all the same things so we
miss diagnose things it’s this it’s the
addictive quality of dopamine we can
also get addicted to performance in our
companies when all they do is give us
numbers to hit numbers to hit numbers to
hit and a bonus you get and a bonus you
get and a bonus you get all they’re
doing is feeding us with dopamine and we
can’t help ourselves all we do is want
more more MORE it’s no surprise that the
bank’s destroyed the economy because one
of the things we know about dopamine
addict is they will do anything to get
another hit sometimes at the sacrifice
of their own resources and their
relationships ask any alcoholic gambling
addict or drug addict just ask them how
their relationships are doing and if
they’ve squandered any of their
resources it’s an addiction dopamine is
dangerous if it is unbalanced it is
hugely helpful when in a comfortable and
balanced system but when unbalanced it’s
dangerous and it’s destructive usually
in companies there’s a notion of a
hierarchy a set of objectives a
quarterly plans or we had none of that
our theory was that the leadership in
particularly the bottoms-up leadership
really should be empowered by what we
were doing and we’d see how far they get
we didn’t have an eighteen-month
strategy we just kept iterating so what
I learned from this is it fast iteration
is the key the most important thing to
do is every week a new product a new
idea just keep pushing you’d be amazed
how much progress you make in three
months or six months essentially and I
would say this to anybody is that you
know it’s really it’s easy to to embrace
hopelessness when things seem
insurmountable and yet
it’s is it’s actually just a matter of
time until all the elements come
together for things to be alright I mean
I believe that you know most difficult
situations will resolve themselves if
you are persistent and if you don’t if
you don’t give up entirely and that’s
what I never did I never gave up just do
it just pick up a camera and start
shooting something don’t wait to be
asked because nobody’s going to ask you
and don’t wait for the perfect
conditions because they’ll never be
perfect it’s a little bit like having a
child if you wait until the right time
to have a child you’ll die childless and
I think filming he’s very much the same
thing you just have to take the plunge
and just start shooting something even
if it’s bad you can always hide it but
you will have learned something very
hard to turn an idea into a successful
product there are a lot of steps in
between it takes persistence
relentlessness so I always tell people
who are you know who think they want to
be entrepreneurs it’s you need a
combination of stubborn relentlessness
and flexibility and you have to know
when to bewitch and basically you need
to be stubborn on your vision because
otherwise it’ll be too easy to give up
but you need to be very flexible on the
details because as you go along pursuing
your vision you’ll find that some of
your preconceptions were wrong and
you’re gonna need to be able to change
those things so I think taking an idea
successfully all the way to the market
and turning it into a real product that
people
that really improves people’s lives it’s
a lot of hard work sire and will to win
is everything I don’t know why I’m like
I am but my butt’s always burning
there’s always something say art dad
gummit you’re supposed to go for it
alright dad gummit you’re supposed to be
somebody you’re supposed to make a
difference with you lie what does the
$500,000 your person do the $50,000 your
person doesn’t do you look at outside
and study those two individuals
everything seems to be the same they
both are the same sex they both are the
same age they had the same training the
same positions the same contract the
same fringe benefits
they both are successful they work hard
they’re good family people make tough
commitments but what’s the difference
what does the $500,000 year person do
the $50,000 your person doesn’t do he
pays the price and a little bit more he
works hard and a little bit more he’s
loyal to the company a little bit more
he believes in a little bit more he
makes Maine a little bit more he saves
money a little bit more if you want to
win in these United States you got to be
tough and you can’t quit the last thing
I’ll talk to you about today and
building this winning edge is folks if
you want to win in business you’ve got
to be a leader leadership is everything
you show me anything in these United
States that win I’ll show you a leader
at work you show me a successful church
Boy Scout Troop club football team
business I’ll show you some a run by
leader see see I thought at one time in
my life you had to be smart to win I
used to have these smart people that
dress so pretty and talk so pretty and
use these big words they just
intimidated me and I said aren’t you
can’t ever be that good why don’t you
just throw in the towel and go on back
coach football for living and I found
two things out about smart people I
think it’s almost impossible for a smart
person to win in business in America
today because I find smart people spend
their whole lifetime figuring things out
they always trying to figure out
ease your way in a quicker way and
another thing I found out about smart
people is they just don’t get around to
doing nothing they see somebody like art
Williams everybody says well he can’t do
it and somebody like that can’t do it
but he does it see folks I want you to
know almost everybody in America almost
does enough to win they almost get there
they almost over the hump they almost
have it going
they almost in everything they do almost
is a way of life to almost everybody in
America but the winners do it what do
they do they do whatever it takes to get
the job done they do it and do it and do
it and do it and do it until the job
gets done and then they talk about how
great it is to be somebody they’re proud
of we need leaders in America who can do
it if you want to become somebody do it
if you want to go and finish for
yourself do it if you want to become
financially independent do it I hear too
much talk in these United States
everybody can talk a good game we need
people in America who can do it I go all
over this country with Al weaves and I
have people say aren’t you you count on
me wonderful just do it all right
guarantee this is my light last stop I’m
gonna win now SuperDuper just do it all
right if I could just have one good
month and get the ball going I know I
could make it big super just do it all
right if I could just pay off this debt
I could really go great just do it hard
if I could just sell my house do it
but how does a selling do it anyway I’m
not making any money what can I do you
just do it I do what art you do it and
do it and do it alright I can’t win this
contest
SuperDuper just do it over the hump now
watch my smoke grades just do it all
right I wanna make it so bad I’m tasting
what I do you just do it all right I’m a
vice president now can I quit doing it
no I don’t know if I keep on keeping on
I’m really hurt what I do you just do it
do what art you do it and do it and do
it all my life I want to be somebody
important well what do it then all right
I’m gonna save money so I don’t have to
go through this again
great just do it I don’t feel like I’ve
had enough training what’d I do you just
do it all right my manager don’t give me
no help what I do you just do it all
right you don’t understand I was mr.
everything in my former company you
don’t mean I I have to start off down at
the bottom and do it do you yep you
really got to do it art what’s the
primary difference between winners and
losers the winner the winners do it they
do it and do it and do it and do it
until the job gets done and then they
talk about how great it is to finally
have achieved something unique and I’m
glad they are that they didn’t quit like
everybody else and how wonderful it is
to finally be somebody they’re proud of
and make a difference with their life
look at the accomplishments of
accomplished people and you say boy that
must have been really hard you know when
you look at something that looks hard
that was probably easy and conversely
when you look at something that looks
easy that was probably hard and so
you’re never gonna know which is which
until you actually go and do it so just
go and do it
try learn from it 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 cuz they don’t have
the courage to try practice faithful
persistence means never ever ever give
up Chicken Soup for the Soul was
rejected by a hundred and forty four
publishers 144 publisher said we don’t
want to publish a collection of short
stories the title stupid Chicken Soup
for the Soul what does that mean people
don’t buy collections of short stories
there’s never been you know successful
chain of doing that so literally we
spent 14 months trying to find a
publisher and we go to New York with our
agent and eventually our agent gave us
the book back and said I can’t sell this
so we went to the National booksellers
Association convention down in Anaheim
we went from booth to booth to booth for
three days and there were 4,000
publishers represented there and we go
would you publish a book would you
publish a book would you publish my book
and we got no no no no no it was late on
the third day that a little publisher
from Florida after we’d gotten over 144
rejections said we’ll read it and then
they said we said well how many copies
do you think we’ll sell after they said
yeah we’ll buy it a couple weeks later
he said we’ll publish it and we said
they said well maybe 20,000 if we’re
lucky now we said we our goal is to sell
a million and a half in a year and a
half now have you ever told someone your
dream and had them laugh out loud at you
he laughed out loud now if we had given
up after a hundred publishers had said
no I wouldn’t be standing here today
you know wouldn’t have happened and so
you’ve got to be willing to persevere
because we didn’t take no see when the
world says no you say next let’s
practice that if I say no you say
absolutely there’s only five or six
billion people out there you can go and
ask right there’s over four thousand
publishers just here in the state of
California so what we have is this
endless possibility but you have to
persevere it’s as if the universe tests
our commitment and so today we have a
hundred and forty seven titles in print
we sold over 115 million copies
we’re in 47 languages and over a billion
dollars where the Chicken Soup for the
Soul books have been sold worldwide so
if you’re willing to decide what you
want believe it’s possible consciously
envision the future feel the feelings of
what it would feel like if you’d achieve
this goal you can have anything and then
you take action both obvious actions and
inspired actions you can do anything
only thing that I see that is distinctly
different about me is I’m not afraid to
die on a treadmill right I will run it
would not be outworked
I will not be be outworked right period
yeah you know you might have more talent
than me you might be smarter than me you
might be sexier than me you might be all
of those things you got it on me in nine
categories but if we get on the
treadmill together right there’s two
things you’re getting off first
yeah or I’m gonna die it’s really that
simple right so let’s go back to the
question about what if people blocking
out its due it’s going to be two options
yeah I’m gonna get back in or I’m gonna
be dead Yeah right it’s like you’re not
going to outwork me it’s a it’s a very
is such a simple basic concept is the
the guy who is willing
to hustle the most is gonna be the guy
that just gets that loose ball you know
he got that oh okay he got two oh god
he’s hustling grabbed out my dad was
gonna be out of bounds but he saved it
back in it’s like the commodity that I
see the majority of people who aren’t
getting the places they want or aren’t
achieving the things that they want in
this business is strictly based on
hustle it’s strictly based on being out
work is strictly based on missing
crucial opportunities I say all the time
if you stay ready you ain’t gotta get
ready before 17 I was like the the last
one to they consider to become good I
mean one day the first coach of the
first team he went out and he saw me in
a game and he was like I wanna have a
meeting with you and I was like okay
what did i do no I mean every time I had
a meeting was for some kind of
disciplinary thing and and then he said
on Monday I start to train with the big
guys you’re in a first team and then I
was like from considering to be the not
the biggest talent like let’s say the
last one in the group to jump over all
of them and come in the first group and
I was okay and I was in shock because
and I didn’t want to say it too much
because maybe if I talk too much he will
change his mind I was like okay see you
on Monday then when they saw me they saw
the player that was different from the
other ones it was a great feeling but at
the same time I was like now I have
opportunity to do something good out of
it and it’s pretty it’s up to me so if I
want to to become something that I think
I can become I have to train hard and
that’s my mentality I would like to
train hard I mean you can have talent
but talent don’t take you all the way
you know in film you know my career has
been teaching and I can’t say I have a
string of amazing films under my belt
you know if I’ve got great films and
films they’re very from popcorn films to
some really heartfelt films but you know
Mandela was the next level for me and it
was absolutely the gateway to the next
chapter of my career but had I had I get
to the Gateway and tripped up because I
for then I wouldn’t never I won’t be
moving on because he’s such a big world
global citizen you know and and I had
all this sort of trepidation about you
know man I don’t look like mr. Mandela
at all how how am I gonna do this you
know but Justin was really clear about
his vision and it was a different spin I
guess the choice you have as an underdog
is if you’re gonna choose to fight and
choose to fight to win there are a
series of strategies available to you
but they are all more costly than the
strategies available to the favorite so
I give the example I’ll have a chapter
about a and a software mogul and Silicon
Valley an Indian guy who coaches his
daughters 12 year old daughter’s
basketball team and they are without
talent they are by his own by his own
admission this was like their you know
how barely know how to play the game it
takes them all the way to the national
championships he does it by he instructs
them they’re gonna play the full-court
press every minute of every game and
defend every inch of the court right now
that’s actually a very effective
strategy particularly in age class
basketball if you’re the underdog
it’s your leerin chance of winning is to
play a really really aggressive defense
it requires however that everyone in
your team expend maximum effort every
minute of the game you cannot loaf for
an instant you have to be in really good
shape and you have to run yourself
ragged and you cannot let up most people
will not play that way because it’s too
difficult if I said to you we’re not
gonna be doing does this elegantly
designed plays and shooting gorgeous
baskets and passing the ball we’re just
going to be doing this for the entire
game and you’re gonna be exhausted at
the end most kids would say that’s not
what I signed up so it’s like that’s a
kind of classic illustration of that
effort effort is the route one of the
routes available to the
I can outwork you even if I may not be
able to outspend you but I can outwork
you well how working is a tall order is
not easy to do you know that’s as anyone
who has worked in a start-up knows
that’s the one of the stressful parts of
it but successful startups I am I’ve
never seen any actual data on this but
do we think the people working for
successful startups work longer hours
than people who work for fortune 500
companies my guess is yes
now what age should one give up on their
dream never issue
Guto said this Henry Ford said this
Rockefeller said this you’re only as
young or as old as your dreams and as
long as you still have dreams and
visions and goals they keep you young
it’s the most amazing darn thing one of
the great stories is the story of
Kentucky Fried Chicken
once it gone upon a time there was a
little boy named Harlan and Harlan was
taught by his mother a special recipe
down south in the United States on how
to make chicken when he grew up he got a
job as a short-order cook in his small
cafe and he asked his boss if his boss
would be interested in this chicken
recipe and his boss said sure throw it
together see what the people say turned
out that everybody liked this special
chicken recipe with all these secret
herbs and spices well for the rest of
his career right up till he was 65 years
old he either worked in little cafes or
sometimes he owned a little cafe when he
was 65 he had a little cafe and he was
making his chicken and he had people
coming from all around to eat his
chicken and the Highways Department
built a highway pass his little
restaurant his little chicken place and
put him out of business but cut off the
road so nobody could get to it about the
same time he received a Social Security
check his first Social Security check
the age of 65 and he became angry he
said I’m 65 years old but I’m not ready
to give up on my dreams what do I have
to sell and he realized the one thing
that had kept him going all those years
the mainstay of his little career was
his mother
recipe of 17 or 18 herbs and spices so
we put them together in little bags one
bag per chicken and he put his pots and
pans in the back of his old car and he
started driving up and down the eastern
seaboard going from cafe to Cafe to cafe
to ask them if they would pay him five
cents a bag for his magical combination
of herbs and spices
he called on more than 1,000 restaurants
sleeping in his car week after week and
finally he came across a little
restaurant in Toronto that agreed to pay
him five cents a bag for his herbs and
spices is back in the 60s and because of
exchange controls they had to give the
money to the Red Cross that was the
beginning of the Kentucky Fried Chicken
Empire we began to sell this recipe more
and more people began to put it on their
signs a major corporation came along and
said we could make a real business of
this so they embraced him they built the
franchise they made him one of the best
known people in the world when he died
some years later he was worth more than
50 million dollars because he never gave
up on his dreams so I don’t know if
you’re 65 and broke and living in your
car with pots and pans with no money but
wherever you are you never give up on
your dreams most people do a lot of
talking and most people don’t put in the
effort there’s nothing you can’t
accomplish in life with the right amount
of work the challenge is you know are
you willing to do the work and the
reality is most people aren’t but that’s
the opportunity right is I mean it’s
like people you know at school most
people are lazy right they just they
barely get through it and and so that
creates opportunity being an actor or
even being an artist and I had studied
in school behind the camera was not even
in the vernacular of my dreams
I was raised 9 to 5 you go to work your
work you work your way up a scale that’s
from your old man right yeah yeah and
that was all I was able to even like I
said dream about so the idea of living
life and having a career that was in the
arts that was in the storytelling
business it was something that’s really
fun
was not something that like said I even
dreamed up I was in the right place
right time right bar guy found me and
said you want to come in and read for a
part in a movie I’m here producing
called Dazed and Confused I said sure I
got to read for the part it’s got three
lines three lines turns in three weeks
work they’re paying me 325 bucks a day
people were telling me I’m pretty good
at it and I think I’m getting away with
something if you’re convinced that
you’re going to fail or fall or get hurt
that will come to fruition because
that’s what you’re visualizing I never
vision you know I was willing to get
hurt along the way but I didn’t
visualize myself getting hurt along the
way and I think that’s what that’s what
stops a lot of people and that’s really
what separates a lot of people from from
being world champions or from being as
good as they can because they they stop
at some point saying oh no I I am not
capable of this or I’ll probably get
hurt doing this and if you approach
anything with that hesitation you’re
gonna fail
I always approached it like this is
going to work I’m going to figure this
out even if it takes me hundreds of
attempts and I wasn’t you know the the
idea of falling getting back up again
that didn’t really bother me at all well
if if your job is to try to be the best
basketball player you can be all right
to do that you have to practice you have
to train you want to train as much as
you can as often as you can so if you
get up at 10:00 in the morning
train at 11:00 12:00 say 12:00 train at
12:00 train for two hours 12:00 to 2:00
you have to let your body recover so you
recover you get back out you train start
training again at 6:00 train from 6:00
to 8:00 and now you go home and shower
you dinner you go to bed you wake up do
it again right those are two sessions
all right now imagine you wake up at
3:00 you train at 4:00 go four to six
come home breakfast relax so so now
you’re back at it again nine to eleven
relax and now it’s done you’re back at
it again to the four and have you’re
back at it again you know seven to nine
look how much more training I have done
by simply starting at four all right so
now you do that
as the years go on the separation that
you have with your competitors and your
peers just grows larger and larger and
larger and larger and larger and by year
five or six doesn’t matter what kind of
work they’re doing a summer they’re
never going to catch up because they’re
five years behind so it makes sense to
get up and start your day early because
you can get more work is that genetic or
is that something you you engrained and
trained yourself no it was just you that
for me it was it was just common sense
like I can okay if I start earlier I can
train more hours and I know the other
guys aren’t doing it because I know what
their training schedule is right so I
know if I do this consistently over time
it’s the gaps just gonna widen and why
no why no why no why and they won’t be
able to get that back mm-hmm
so it’s me it was just common sense I’m
like thinking how can I get an advantage
oh start earlier yeah let’s do that
how do you how do you develop that or
where do you what do you learn that from
well I think it’s just no it’s just a
matter of what’s important to you hmm
what’s important to you for whatever
reason you know I felt like I didn’t
feel good about myself if I wasn’t doing
everything I could to be the best
version of myself if I felt like I left
anything on a table it would eat away at
me I wouldn’t be able to look myself in
the mirror right so the reason why I can
retire now and be completely comfortable
about it because I know that I’ve done
everything I could to be the best
basketball player I could be and so
that’s where it comes from for me you
can’t leave any stones there is
tremendous pressure on you many want you
to fail many want you to succeed
how do you feel about that it is a lot
of pressure and it’s it is tough to take
sometimes I have to say it is not an
easy thing and no doubt if something
goes wrong with our first blanks there
will be people that’s use that as an
ammunition to say that commercial and
private enterprise is not the way to go
and they’ll build their walls to be
supporters who say well you know we
gotta keep trying and and we will I mean
we’re going to keep going and how long
it takes we’ll we’ll get it right so
it’s important to appreciate things may
not work in the first place but with they will work later and we’ll get there
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