everybody’s not gonna like what you do
and everybody’s not gonna like what you
said you know but when you when you’re
passionate about it and you stand you
stand by it then you you can you can
sleep better at night
I mean for us all three of us you know
not just me and Katie but you as well
Kari we when you work as hard as we do
and we commit to what we do you do two
things
you inspire the people that want to be
you or even better grand-am for us
individually you got to do what makes
you happy
you got to do what makes you happy you
got to get to a point where it’s like
people are gonna they’re gonna they’re
gonna like it they’re gonna dislike you
know at this point now with social media
ain’t number two double tap well who I’m
like or dislike you gotta have a plan
everybody’s got a dream
everybody’s got a goal what’s the plan
and your plan has got to have something
I call the c5 complex your plan has got
to be clear concise compelling
consistent and committed you’ve got to
have a plan and when you’re trying to do
something that you are truly passionate
about there is no plan B okay Plan B
okay so it’s as simple as that you gotta
have a plan I mean think about that for
a second mm three examples Michael
Jordan won six NBA championships with
the Chicago Bulls because he was
committed to plan a not plan B Oprah
Woodford became the queen of all media
because she was committed to plan a not
Plan B whatever your politics are Barack
Obama is sitting in the White House
because he was committed to plan a not
Plan B okay Plan B sucks a lot of
so-called unhappiness is also a childish
way of trying to change things by being
as unhappy as you can about them and the
underlying unconscious or semi-conscious
assumption is if I’m really unhappy
somebody perhaps God is going to do
something about it or I’m going to prove
him wrong I’m going to show him how
dreadful it is and then finally this is
an unconscious assumption behind the
unhappiness because you believe if
you’re habitually and frequently unhappy
you believe that it has a purpose
it’s an underlying assumption perhaps
you wouldn’t verbalize it in that way
but you believe that it it’s it works
for you of course it doesn’t but things
are going to change it but just need to
be really unhappy so that God finally
even if you don’t believe in God this
this can still be the mechanism the
underlying unconscious assumption behind
it
it’s something’s going to happen and of
course the opposite is true because the
more happy you are with something the
more you’re stuck in the situation the
world is a hurting place and the world
needs hope and the world needs love
without hope we feel like why are we
here
well brokenness here’s mine
today I still have no arms or legs
but everything’s changed everything for
me I was looking for hope and happiness
and I couldn’t see it for many years in
fact if this side of the table
represents my hope truth encourages me
to become all that I can be but then we
have lies every day coming in our mind
people who discourage us you know the
people that you have in your life who no
matter how good of a day you’re having
they’ll bring you down or and no matter
how bad of a day you’re having they’ll
bring you even lower you know what I’m
talking about
think of the three biggest discourages
in your life they’re not your biggest
discourages you are you are don’t takes
three seconds for me to tell you
something discouraging but then you may
never forget my words I’ve met so many
50 year old women and forty year old
women who still remember what their
fathers told them that they wish they
never heard words are powerful
when you hear those words and then your
mind starts growing with these lies Nick
you’re not good enough Nick just give up
Nick you’re never gonna get a job you
won’t get married you can’t even hold
your wife’s hand what kind of a father
are you gonna be if you can’t even pick
up your kids when they’re crying you’re
alone I’m sure your parents hug you but
their hugs can’t heal you just give up
just give up
just give up just give up just give up
at age eight I thought that I should
commit suicide why I didn’t have hope I
thought I didn’t have hope today you can
see that I had hope what’s the word
believing in something you do not see
faith words can only do so much
hugs can do much more than words but
when hugs can’t do anything that’s where
faith kicks in for me words and hugs
were not enough but I had no faith one
of the things I advise entrepreneurs to
do is when you have an idea a classic
entrepreneurial impulse is to hold the
idea close to you and not going to help
you because all the idea is so special
right that’s almost always a mistake go
talk to why is that a mistake yeah it’s
a mistake because your actual real
competitive advantage is not that you
have this idea that you have locked away
in your closet which may or may not be
accurate and you have no idea which it
is your actual competitive antigen if
you’re assembling the intelligence
around does this idea work what is the
right team was the right learnings and
we’re essentially in motion but
understand that naturally nobody is
interested in the world can care less
have to persuade them and you have to
show that you’re the one person out
there how you do what you do is more
important than what you do you could
have a you could have a stores serving
customers with this or that which
perhaps would not be regarded as a very
important job and yet if that is done
with a quality of presence where every
customer comes into your store you give
this person you’re just an example your
fullest attention you appreciate him or
her as a human being you see how you can
best serve him or her in the present
moment that is quality and then you
would be improving everybody who comes
into contact with you would somehow
experience a small lifting in their
being in consciousness and so that you
could create a even a person with a
relatively relatively simple job could
contribute in that way to creating a
better world 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 I made in
my mind as a young guy I wanted to
become world-class at something I just
had to find out what that something was
going to be and the very first time that
I walked into a Wall Street trading room
I knew this is it the ticker tape is
rolling
the phones are ringing off the hook
people are screaming and shouting out
orders bodies are flying all over the
place and will look like chaos to
anybody else I could see the natural
rhythm in it it was like I was reading a
sheet of music and I knew this is where
I’m supposed to be I kept coming back I
wore one branch manager down to the
point that he says to me Gardner based
on persistence alone we go give you a
shot
man I quit my job that was all I wanted
I went home and I told my ex you know
what you see it I couldn’t do it but
guess what I started to week it’s very
rewarding when you work on something you
yeah it’s a little bit harder but I
think I think the passion that one might
bring with it brings
so much more energy to that you’re more
likely to succeed when it comes to
changing the world what I learned from
Steve Jobs is if you believe in a
Macintosh if you believe in iPhone iPod
iPad if you believe enough then you will
see it because other people will believe
in it other people will create software
other people will create products so you
need to foster the belief in what you
are dreaming so that it becomes a
reality which is very different than
saying I don’t expect anybody to believe
it until I see it you need people to
believe it before they can see it 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 I’m office well I’d say I
actually think I I think I feel feel
fair quite strongly so it’s not as
though I just have the absence of fear
I’ve I feel it quite strongly but there
are times when if something is important
enough you believe in it enough that you
do it in spite of fear so speaking of
important things like people shouldn’t
think III I should if you should think
well I feel fear about this and
therefore I shouldn’t do it it’s normal
to be to feel fair like you’d have to
definitely something mentally wrong
you didn’t feel fair so you just feel it
and let the importance of it anyway yeah
you know actually we’re something that
can be helpful as fatalism some degree
if you just think it’s 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 we still
do some good yeah same with Tesla I
thought your odds of a car company
succeeding were extremely low for
somebody aspiring to you know take
things to the next level or to even
surpass their wildest dreams there’s
always gonna have to be an element of
luck but I think more important is
putting yourself in a business that can
be ubiquitous that that Kim that really
doesn’t have limits because otherwise
there’s always going to be a grind to it
but if the business if if it can’t be
something that you can visualize every
business using or every consumer using
it’s gonna be tough to scale to be big
enough or to have the perceived value
when I am dyslexic and and therefore I
think I’ve been very good at keeping
things simple because you know as a
dyslexic I need to I need things to be
simple for myself and therefore Virgen I
think you know when we launch a
financial service company or a bank you
know we do not use jargon it’s
everything is very clear-cut very simple
and and I think people you know people
have an affinity to the Virgin brand
because we don’t you know we don’t talk
above them or talk down to them the most
important the most important thing about
running a company is to remember all the
time what a company is a company is
simply a group of people and as a leader
of people you have to be a great
listener and you have to be a great
motivator you have to be very good at
praising and looking for the best in
people you know people are no different
from flowers if you water flowers they
flourish if you praise people they
flourish and
and that’s a critical attribute of a
leader I want to make sure that every
single day that you are alive that you
make it count and you take the suite of
choices of life that God has given you
because I want to ask you right now if
this was your last thirty Seconds to
breathe how would you be remembered well
you’re a giver encouraged or where you
were take up were you a bitter person
did you encourage people to in your
actions in your life did you help them
or did you discourage them did you take
that time to say hey how you doing and
they look to the ground and say oh you
know I’m okay no look at me
how are you doing we are here for one
another this is the ministry this is
Jesus this is the light and I want to
tell you I’m sure that if any one of us
were as was at a road and there was a
three year old kid in the middle of the
street sitting down playing with rocks
on the street and a bus was coming and
the bus was about to kill him you have
plenty of time to get up off your seat
go save that kid will you say that kid
of course you will you don’t know his
name you’re gonna say that kid you don’t
know his religion you’re gonna save that
kid you don’t know his sexual
orientation you’re gonna save that kid
because what we are the light and love
in the bridge to Jesus Christ we need to
understand that it’s not just doing what
we think we need to achieve or have some
people think that things get easier when
you get married I’ll go talk to some
married people some single people I like
I’m not happy but I know I’m gonna be
happy when I get married dude if you
ain’t happy single you ain’t gonna be
happy married can you hear an Amen yeah
you guys already know it right you gotta
talk so what do you want how do you act
who I you make today count dream big and
never give up
a lot of people kind of mean 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 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 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 2 and
they tried to copy the Apple 2 and
they’d 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 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 gonna beat you and we
are gonna do it and that’s what Apple
stood for you you will already know who
you are and that piece that piece that
we’re after
lies somewhere beyond personality your
need for acceptance can make you
invisible in this world don’t let
anything stand in the way of the light
that shines through this form risk being
seen in all of your glory and often
times the best methodology is to start
with the perfect experience of just one
person get that right and then figure
out how to scale something great instead
of scales I mean not so great and then
trying to improve it that’s really hard
to do lots of people do not have the
courage to try to start a business and
all I was saying I’ve written a book
called screw it just do it and it
basically is trying to say to people
just give it a try and she sometimes a
very very small amount of money is all
that’s needed to start a company I mean
my mother found a a bracelet on the
street and she handed into the police
station and after three months the
police let us sell it and you know the
the couple of hundred dollars was really
critical at a critical time in the
development of our business so it’s
always safe just to give it give it
again and good luck many many kids and
many grown-ups do figure out over time
what their passions are and sometimes we
let our I don’t think it’s that hard I
think what happens though sometimes is
that we let our intellectual selves
overrule those passions and so that’s
what needs to be guarded against I have
no education I had no high school
diploma I didn’t even have it a GED I
quit high school halfway through grade
10
I didn’t have a lot of options that
custodial work of some sort so I decided
I might as well go and do something
creative I decided to go to the comedy
store the Laugh Factory in the improv
you know all all of those clubs every
night and make my twenty five bucks a
pop a set was my version of Hiva later
it was a compromise I decided to make
out of that came in living color and out
of that came touring auditoriums 5,000
seaters it was a really creative time
I was able to prove that I didn’t have
to be an impressionist that I had a
personality of my own
however abrasive it might be from time
to time a long story short all of it
came from that compromise from that
deciding to do what I didn’t want to do
things you can’t do or the things you’re
not allowed to do look at the executives
come and say you can’t do that whatever
it is it’s too expensive you get angry
you get out of your mind about it
because you have been clinging to this
concept in this image that you have of
how it should be done and invariably
most times after that storm has passed
and you actually sit down and go okay we
can’t do it that way how can we do it he
end up with something even better than
what was there before and you go
that’s the universe that’s how it works
just like relationships find everything
the thing that is taken away if you’re
clinging to it you’re trying to fix and
you’re trying to secure it make sure it
doesn’t go away you think it your life
will be destroyed everything will be
ruined and it’s just the universe going
no I have something better for you I
just have faith sometimes compromise is
actually the way to get to what you want
in areas of choice you need to work on
your weaknesses for example let’s say I
let’s say I am I’m lazy that scenario
choice
that’s I mean I’m not naturally lazy I’m
just lazy it’s a choice so I need to
work on that because I in areas of
choices you can make
vast improvement and you can make fast
and prove I’ve never heard this
distinction but yeah yeah yeah actually
helpful oh yeah in choices so attitude
does this have a lousy attitude one day
I wake up I say this isn’t getting me
anywhere
I gotta have a good attitude you can go
from a zero to a ten I mean Omo also
don’t you see people that you just say
my gosh overnight they just ya got good
and happy you don’t say okay that’s a
choice vast fast growth in choices in
giftedness DNA wiring your growth is
very very small and it’s very slow so I
think for example a person can maybe
increase their giftedness skill set
maybe two numbers Wow so if I’m a if I’m
a little bit above average I was six if
I really work hard I can get become an
eight but but an eight is powerful yeah
eight has a huge return so what I tell
people is in in areas of giftedness
that’s where you have to work on your
strengths if if I’m a two in something
I’m very weak in a skill if I worked
hard I could only become a force to be
blabbering yeah that’s what I tell
people you gotta ask yourself is going
to give me the return so in the area of
strengths you’ve got to pour yourself
into the things that you’re already good
at because that’ll really set you apart
from average yeah but in areas of
choices
go for those weaknesses because you and
I don’t you know people that are highly
skilled but they have a lousy attitude
or they’re not soft they’re not self
discipline attitude and they’re never
gonna they’re never gonna they’re never
gonna get anywhere and they’re not going
to get anywhere because they didn’t so
in areas of choices work on your
weaknesses but in areas of strengths and
skills just work on your strengths you
know one of the things that I do is I
question a lot of things and you can do
that in a good way in a bad way but
hopefully if you try to get people to
motivate why they’re doing something and
their way of thinking you know the worst
thing you can end up with it’s a
situation where you get told well this
is the way it’s always been
that’s the worst ever that’s a
non-answer instead ask yourself you know
given everything you have today it’s
their way we can make this better this
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%
some know how they do it would you call
it you’re 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 often your
family will come to you your cousin your
uncle your sister saying please invest
in my business
you’ve got to differentiate between
family friends and money you’ve got to
be careful that you don’t get yourself
in a situation where you lose your money
because you got emotionally involved
that’s a very big piece of advice
because I’ve done it the wrong I’ve put
everybody’s made mistakes as investor
that’s one of the ones I made in the
early times I never make again too many
of us for a long time
confused our network and our self-worth
your net worth is going to fluctuate
it’s going to go up and down that’s what
money does but your self-worth should
not who you are what’s important to you
how you live your values should never be
negotiable compromised and should never
settle again we have gotten to this
point what we’ve got to say to ourselves
my net worth is not myself work
compassion for yourself
of course it’s as important as
compassion for others when often I get
asked questions like people who did
something that they now realize realized
was deeply wrong in the past sometimes
people asked questions about they
brought up their children in a way that
they now realize was not very conscious
and so that they may have caused
suffering to their children or others
people find they have caused suffering
to loved ones and they now realize that
what they did was wrong
and again I say this is an example where
you need to be compassionate with
yourself because no Bowman being can act
beyond their level of consciousness so
that was your level of consciousness at
the time and you could not go beyond
that and again here to make demands upon
yourself up to a point it might be a
good thing to choose if you as long as
you enjoy it it’s a wonderful thing when
the enjoyment of what you’re doing is
lost then you have to be careful because
there you have to come to a stop and say
okay this there’s something here that’s
not right because I’m no longer enjoying
what I’m doing my advice to young chefs
from the age of 16 to sort of 2930 is 14
years of a sponge you’re absorbing
knowledge don’t take a job for the sake
of money don’t worry about earning 500
pounds
month of the year more somewhere else go
and get knowledge because that becomes a
bigger passport for everything the money
will come once you’ve mastered your
craft and you become incredibly talented
them work for big chefs and find a
difference level of comfort when things
get too comfortable and you’re still
living with your parents and you’ve
still got your first job and you want to
move out because there needs to come
get out put yourself in a strange
situation in the middle of Barcelona
yourself in the middle of Paris put
yourself in the middle of Belgium and
see what’s available that’s amazing how
much confidence gives you more
importantly it’s brain travel the same
time fantastic
constantly seek criticism a a wealth a
well-thought-out critique of whatever
you’re doing is as valuable as gold and
you should seek that from everyone you
can but particularly your friends I’m
gonna put the vast majority of my energy
attention and dollars into building a
great product or service and put a
smaller amount into shouting about it
marketing it because I know if I build a
great product or service my customers
will tell each other I look you have to
mix in some patience with that but you
don’t have to be the best but you have
to be dangerous right you have to learn
just enough to be dangerous to build an
idea concept it and show it to the world
and then it turns out there are lots of
other people including all 170 employees
that work at Instagram who are much
better at doing all that stuff than I am
but you’d need to find people who can
you know be drawn to the idea that you
build and and then they end up taking it
and and make it even better I knew I was
wired to be excited about business how
or why I don’t know but you know and do
certain guys they have the genetics to
jump out of the gym right for certain
guys you know that you know when they
golf they have the muscle memory and and
the discipline you know dirt the visca
may not be the most talented guy in the
NBA but his discipline is focused 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 them 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 it
depends if you pick the right industry
but whatever industry you pick if you
outwork everybody if you try to be a
little smarter than everybody if you try
to be a better salesperson than
everybody if you try to be better
prepared than everybody you’ve got your
best chance because if you don’t do it
and somebody else does you know I have
the same work like someone’s trying to
take it all away from you
you know work you 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 to I want a new
basketball shoes because I was a
basketball junkie back then he’s like
well your shoes work if you want a new
pair of 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 was like well I got a
job for you I’ve got these garbage bags
that we distribute you can sell them
door-to-door I’m like okay and it was
when I was selling them and realized
that I’d like to sell and that I could
sell and that I recognized that selling
was it was about providing the service
and creating value for people that I
knew that I would literally back then I
knew that I could always succeed I mean
I remember I was 16 I think when I
started a stamp company and started
going to stamp shows and trade shows and
just working a little bit harder than
other people and and trading up from one
stamp to the next I remember one time I
started with a quarter and bought a
stamp and left with $50 thinking hey if
I could do this I could do anything and
and it’s not that everything worked I
failed a lot but I never ever felt like
I I wouldn’t be able to work hard enough
to 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 they don’t have the courage to
try it I think people that look for
great ideas to make money you know are
nearly as successful as those who say
okay what do I really love to do what am
i excited about what I know something
about you know what’s kind of
interesting and compelling you have to
have an emotional investment in what
you’re doing if you don’t love what
you’re doing
failure is pretty much guaranteed
success is not guaranteed by any means
but failure is much more likely if you
don’t love what you’re doing are you
looking to instigate a change in your
life there’s no better or worse time
than right now
hey I understand change is scary with
the status quo you know what you’ve got
and you shake things up there’s no
telling what you might end up with but
two of the things are true about change
one is absolutely necessary for first of
all and two is gonna happen either you
can pick the time to instigate the
change you want or the change and the
time will pick you so if you happen to
be one of those people who are standing
on the sidelines of your dreams waiting
for that perfect moment if you want to
make that change but you just don’t know
if you’re ready this life lesson is for
you it’s time to stop digging your
potatoes and jump if you know exactly
what you want to be you need to spend as
much time with people that are actually
that already and so when we’re coming up
with ideas you know we always ask
ourselves what kind of new market is
this creating and then also what what
part of my day and and what problem is
it solving and so I’ve gone as far as
taking an entire catalogue of my day
from the moment I like open my eyes and
writing down every single thing I do and
then asking myself like is there
something here
if you’re not coming up with 10 ideas a
day that’s why I have this thing I’m not
coming up when I’m filling up this page
every single day then my idea muscle
will atrophy and I started this in 2001
and I still do it every single day like
you have to come up with ideas every
single day or the idea muscle atrophies
the good news is after about six months
of doing that you’re like a machine like
people get surprised at how many ideas
you could just have anywhere don’t
necessarily think that you have to have
the homerun and the huge Apple computer
on your first start I spent a long time
in my life with skills just building
little devices for fun for fun is one of
the key things does that drives you to
think and think and think and make it
better and better and better than you
ever would if you’re doing it for a
company build things at first for
yourself that you would want when I
decided to do this I I first talked to
my my wife who is sitting here in the
audience and she had married a you know
relatively stable goofy but still
relatively stable a person working at a
Wall Street firm I worked at a
quantitative hedge fund and this was a
hard decision and I was looking for the
right framework in which to make that
kind of important decision and and and
and the right framework I found is a
regret minimization framework and so
that’s just a nerdy way of saying that
you want to project yourself to age 80
and then think back over your life and
and if you’re if you’re if you’re 81 or
the thyou want to minimize the number of
regrets you have throughout that period
of time I think this is something a lot
of people do maybe subconsciously they
probably very few people probably name
it regret minimization framework because
most people are healthier than that but
but it was a very clear way for me to
think about making that kind of life
decision and the and in the way it
helped was I thought okay if I go do
this thing and participate in this thing
called the Internet that I genuinely
believe is gonna be a big deal and if I
fail am I going to regret having tried
and failed and I knew the answer that
was no but I also knew that if I
didn’t try that I would always regret
that I would always wonder and it would
haunt me and until that you know
mythical day which I actually hope will
come because when you’re trying to
differentiate when you’re trying to do
something different there’s going to be
that gut moment that gut sense is this
right is this not right if you’re not if
you’re not having doubt you’re not
pushing the boundaries far enough don’t
think about how do I get really how do I
get big fast that will happen if you
actually build something super
meaningful and super important so don’t
think about you know what is the
quickest way to success think about what
is the best way to building something
important that the world really needs so
when we see a kid with a lemonade stand
it’s different than when we see a
vending machine selling lemonade even if
it’s exactly the same product because
the story around it is what people are
paying for so when I meet small business
people all I ask them is not what’s
their balance sheet but what’s their
story why should I pick you why do I
care about what you’re doing
and if you start giving me all this
inside baseball statistics about why
you’re 2 percent better than some other
competitor I’m already glazed over
because that’s not part of the way I see
the world I have to want this to exist
in the world I could have to not so it’s
a similar rule just say if this was
successful and I had nothing and I got
no and I was not involved and I got no
money off it or wasn’t what I wanted to
do well and that’s a great check I think
to know if you really feel good about
the idea and can be passionate about it
the hardest thing to do is start you
have all these ideas and everyone has an
idea but it’s really about executing the
idea and building the idea and
attracting other people to help you work
on the idea that is the biggest
challenge but the way to begin is to get
the idea out of your head draw it out
you know talk about it program it if
you’re a programmer or make it if you’re
building something you know one way to
conceptualize what makes a good product
is you know good engineering is part of
it good design is part of it but really
it’s one way I think about it at least
is maximizing the probability that
someone shows up at the front door of
you know your store or your website or
or whatever it is and it ends up with a
solved problem and so I think when you
are starting a new business you uh you
don’t want to go after giant markets you
want to go after small markets and you
want to take over those markets better
than I was when I left off and my
trainer believed I’m better than then I
was when I left off when you champion
for so long you carry a lot of people
sometime over that the year you realize
a lot of the people are fake people
because they live off to you but I’m
smart enough to find out who’s who and
you know like a lot of a lot of the
people in my rush I might they’re my
friend and my close friend so I trust
their trust their that they’re what
they’re gonna tell me you know if they
tell me I don’t think you should have
gone back they will tell me they would
have told me and we all on the same page
here I know I’m the best I’ve ever been
but fighting is a different thing I I
come back not because it’s easy what I’m
doing when I’m gonna attempt I do it
because I come back because it’s hard
and that’s what makes it better for me
because it’s hard and it’s only a few
people have been able to do it and if I
do it and the people think it’s
impossible for me to do it but if I do
it that’s mean I’ll be the first to do
with I am be I’ll be very very happy and
makes it unique for me
you realize along the way or once you’ve
won something or once you’ve made a lot
of money it’s like if you don’t enjoy
the journey that moment is so fleeting
it’s gone in a second and if you don’t
have the inner mindset of loving
yourself of loving who you are of loving
what you do of wanting to make an impact
of wanting to help others of wanting to
improve someone else’s life like that
it’s honestly the most empty feeling if
you think that’s the only thing and I
remember I had this moment I had worked
so incredibly hard it had been like six
years of competing some people some
people compete and win right away and
they get these covers and you know
that’s just what I thought would happen
and six years later I’m still like not
winning not getting covers not nobody’s
noticing me and finally actually that
year something shifted for me that the
year that I won like swept everything
and what happened is the year prior to
that I had started training
other people go figure training them for
stage really training them a lot in my
studio really wanting other people to
win like making their wins my win and
what happened is their journey became so
much mine and I became so just immersed
in making someone else’s life better
that that next year it was like I was so
fulfilled and happy and that just
radiated I knew that my purpose wasn’t
just the body I knew that my purpose was
so much bigger than this one thing that
all of a sudden I showed up on stage is
a totally different person literally
people were like who are you what
happened and I had this moment of I I
let go of thinking this was everything
and I actually learned that the journey
is about helping other people it’s about
you know really loving what you do and
who you are but loving the fact that you
get to do what you love for other people
and that just it flipped it literally
flipped on a dime for me and that that
was a moment of wow it it’s never about
the titles those things are amazing
don’t get me wrong I love them I’m not
going to lie but if you don’t do both if
you don’t use them or use them as a
platform for something they’re gonna be
really empty because they’re just a moment
and everybody’s not gonna like what you
said you know but when you when you’re
passionate about it and you stand you
stand by it then you you can you can
sleep better at night
I mean for us all three of us you know
not just me and Katie but you as well
Kari we when you work as hard as we do
and we commit to what we do you do two
things
you inspire the people that want to be
you or even better grand-am for us
individually you got to do what makes
you happy
you got to do what makes you happy you
got to get to a point where it’s like
people are gonna they’re gonna they’re
gonna like it they’re gonna dislike you
know at this point now with social media
ain’t number two double tap well who I’m
like or dislike you gotta have a plan
everybody’s got a dream
everybody’s got a goal what’s the plan
and your plan has got to have something
I call the c5 complex your plan has got
to be clear concise compelling
consistent and committed you’ve got to
have a plan and when you’re trying to do
something that you are truly passionate
about there is no plan B okay Plan B
okay so it’s as simple as that you gotta
have a plan I mean think about that for
a second mm three examples Michael
Jordan won six NBA championships with
the Chicago Bulls because he was
committed to plan a not plan B Oprah
Woodford became the queen of all media
because she was committed to plan a not
Plan B whatever your politics are Barack
Obama is sitting in the White House
because he was committed to plan a not
Plan B okay Plan B sucks a lot of
so-called unhappiness is also a childish
way of trying to change things by being
as unhappy as you can about them and the
underlying unconscious or semi-conscious
assumption is if I’m really unhappy
somebody perhaps God is going to do
something about it or I’m going to prove
him wrong I’m going to show him how
dreadful it is and then finally this is
an unconscious assumption behind the
unhappiness because you believe if
you’re habitually and frequently unhappy
you believe that it has a purpose
it’s an underlying assumption perhaps
you wouldn’t verbalize it in that way
but you believe that it it’s it works
for you of course it doesn’t but things
are going to change it but just need to
be really unhappy so that God finally
even if you don’t believe in God this
this can still be the mechanism the
underlying unconscious assumption behind
it
it’s something’s going to happen and of
course the opposite is true because the
more happy you are with something the
more you’re stuck in the situation the
world is a hurting place and the world
needs hope and the world needs love
without hope we feel like why are we
here
well brokenness here’s mine
today I still have no arms or legs
but everything’s changed everything for
me I was looking for hope and happiness
and I couldn’t see it for many years in
fact if this side of the table
represents my hope truth encourages me
to become all that I can be but then we
have lies every day coming in our mind
people who discourage us you know the
people that you have in your life who no
matter how good of a day you’re having
they’ll bring you down or and no matter
how bad of a day you’re having they’ll
bring you even lower you know what I’m
talking about
think of the three biggest discourages
in your life they’re not your biggest
discourages you are you are don’t takes
three seconds for me to tell you
something discouraging but then you may
never forget my words I’ve met so many
50 year old women and forty year old
women who still remember what their
fathers told them that they wish they
never heard words are powerful
when you hear those words and then your
mind starts growing with these lies Nick
you’re not good enough Nick just give up
Nick you’re never gonna get a job you
won’t get married you can’t even hold
your wife’s hand what kind of a father
are you gonna be if you can’t even pick
up your kids when they’re crying you’re
alone I’m sure your parents hug you but
their hugs can’t heal you just give up
just give up
just give up just give up just give up
at age eight I thought that I should
commit suicide why I didn’t have hope I
thought I didn’t have hope today you can
see that I had hope what’s the word
believing in something you do not see
faith words can only do so much
hugs can do much more than words but
when hugs can’t do anything that’s where
faith kicks in for me words and hugs
were not enough but I had no faith one
of the things I advise entrepreneurs to
do is when you have an idea a classic
entrepreneurial impulse is to hold the
idea close to you and not going to help
you because all the idea is so special
right that’s almost always a mistake go
talk to why is that a mistake yeah it’s
a mistake because your actual real
competitive advantage is not that you
have this idea that you have locked away
in your closet which may or may not be
accurate and you have no idea which it
is your actual competitive antigen if
you’re assembling the intelligence
around does this idea work what is the
right team was the right learnings and
we’re essentially in motion but
understand that naturally nobody is
interested in the world can care less
have to persuade them and you have to
show that you’re the one person out
there how you do what you do is more
important than what you do you could
have a you could have a stores serving
customers with this or that which
perhaps would not be regarded as a very
important job and yet if that is done
with a quality of presence where every
customer comes into your store you give
this person you’re just an example your
fullest attention you appreciate him or
her as a human being you see how you can
best serve him or her in the present
moment that is quality and then you
would be improving everybody who comes
into contact with you would somehow
experience a small lifting in their
being in consciousness and so that you
could create a even a person with a
relatively relatively simple job could
contribute in that way to creating a
better world 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 I made in
my mind as a young guy I wanted to
become world-class at something I just
had to find out what that something was
going to be and the very first time that
I walked into a Wall Street trading room
I knew this is it the ticker tape is
rolling
the phones are ringing off the hook
people are screaming and shouting out
orders bodies are flying all over the
place and will look like chaos to
anybody else I could see the natural
rhythm in it it was like I was reading a
sheet of music and I knew this is where
I’m supposed to be I kept coming back I
wore one branch manager down to the
point that he says to me Gardner based
on persistence alone we go give you a
shot
man I quit my job that was all I wanted
I went home and I told my ex you know
what you see it I couldn’t do it but
guess what I started to week it’s very
rewarding when you work on something you
yeah it’s a little bit harder but I
think I think the passion that one might
bring with it brings
so much more energy to that you’re more
likely to succeed when it comes to
changing the world what I learned from
Steve Jobs is if you believe in a
Macintosh if you believe in iPhone iPod
iPad if you believe enough then you will
see it because other people will believe
in it other people will create software
other people will create products so you
need to foster the belief in what you
are dreaming so that it becomes a
reality which is very different than
saying I don’t expect anybody to believe
it until I see it you need people to
believe it before they can see it 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 I’m office well I’d say I
actually think I I think I feel feel
fair quite strongly so it’s not as
though I just have the absence of fear
I’ve I feel it quite strongly but there
are times when if something is important
enough you believe in it enough that you
do it in spite of fear so speaking of
important things like people shouldn’t
think III I should if you should think
well I feel fear about this and
therefore I shouldn’t do it it’s normal
to be to feel fair like you’d have to
definitely something mentally wrong
you didn’t feel fair so you just feel it
and let the importance of it anyway yeah
you know actually we’re something that
can be helpful as fatalism some degree
if you just think it’s 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 we still
do some good yeah same with Tesla I
thought your odds of a car company
succeeding were extremely low for
somebody aspiring to you know take
things to the next level or to even
surpass their wildest dreams there’s
always gonna have to be an element of
luck but I think more important is
putting yourself in a business that can
be ubiquitous that that Kim that really
doesn’t have limits because otherwise
there’s always going to be a grind to it
but if the business if if it can’t be
something that you can visualize every
business using or every consumer using
it’s gonna be tough to scale to be big
enough or to have the perceived value
when I am dyslexic and and therefore I
think I’ve been very good at keeping
things simple because you know as a
dyslexic I need to I need things to be
simple for myself and therefore Virgen I
think you know when we launch a
financial service company or a bank you
know we do not use jargon it’s
everything is very clear-cut very simple
and and I think people you know people
have an affinity to the Virgin brand
because we don’t you know we don’t talk
above them or talk down to them the most
important the most important thing about
running a company is to remember all the
time what a company is a company is
simply a group of people and as a leader
of people you have to be a great
listener and you have to be a great
motivator you have to be very good at
praising and looking for the best in
people you know people are no different
from flowers if you water flowers they
flourish if you praise people they
flourish and
and that’s a critical attribute of a
leader I want to make sure that every
single day that you are alive that you
make it count and you take the suite of
choices of life that God has given you
because I want to ask you right now if
this was your last thirty Seconds to
breathe how would you be remembered well
you’re a giver encouraged or where you
were take up were you a bitter person
did you encourage people to in your
actions in your life did you help them
or did you discourage them did you take
that time to say hey how you doing and
they look to the ground and say oh you
know I’m okay no look at me
how are you doing we are here for one
another this is the ministry this is
Jesus this is the light and I want to
tell you I’m sure that if any one of us
were as was at a road and there was a
three year old kid in the middle of the
street sitting down playing with rocks
on the street and a bus was coming and
the bus was about to kill him you have
plenty of time to get up off your seat
go save that kid will you say that kid
of course you will you don’t know his
name you’re gonna say that kid you don’t
know his religion you’re gonna save that
kid you don’t know his sexual
orientation you’re gonna save that kid
because what we are the light and love
in the bridge to Jesus Christ we need to
understand that it’s not just doing what
we think we need to achieve or have some
people think that things get easier when
you get married I’ll go talk to some
married people some single people I like
I’m not happy but I know I’m gonna be
happy when I get married dude if you
ain’t happy single you ain’t gonna be
happy married can you hear an Amen yeah
you guys already know it right you gotta
talk so what do you want how do you act
who I you make today count dream big and
never give up
a lot of people kind of mean 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 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 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 2 and
they tried to copy the Apple 2 and
they’d 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 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 gonna beat you and we
are gonna do it and that’s what Apple
stood for you you will already know who
you are and that piece that piece that
we’re after
lies somewhere beyond personality your
need for acceptance can make you
invisible in this world don’t let
anything stand in the way of the light
that shines through this form risk being
seen in all of your glory and often
times the best methodology is to start
with the perfect experience of just one
person get that right and then figure
out how to scale something great instead
of scales I mean not so great and then
trying to improve it that’s really hard
to do lots of people do not have the
courage to try to start a business and
all I was saying I’ve written a book
called screw it just do it and it
basically is trying to say to people
just give it a try and she sometimes a
very very small amount of money is all
that’s needed to start a company I mean
my mother found a a bracelet on the
street and she handed into the police
station and after three months the
police let us sell it and you know the
the couple of hundred dollars was really
critical at a critical time in the
development of our business so it’s
always safe just to give it give it
again and good luck many many kids and
many grown-ups do figure out over time
what their passions are and sometimes we
let our I don’t think it’s that hard I
think what happens though sometimes is
that we let our intellectual selves
overrule those passions and so that’s
what needs to be guarded against I have
no education I had no high school
diploma I didn’t even have it a GED I
quit high school halfway through grade
10
I didn’t have a lot of options that
custodial work of some sort so I decided
I might as well go and do something
creative I decided to go to the comedy
store the Laugh Factory in the improv
you know all all of those clubs every
night and make my twenty five bucks a
pop a set was my version of Hiva later
it was a compromise I decided to make
out of that came in living color and out
of that came touring auditoriums 5,000
seaters it was a really creative time
I was able to prove that I didn’t have
to be an impressionist that I had a
personality of my own
however abrasive it might be from time
to time a long story short all of it
came from that compromise from that
deciding to do what I didn’t want to do
things you can’t do or the things you’re
not allowed to do look at the executives
come and say you can’t do that whatever
it is it’s too expensive you get angry
you get out of your mind about it
because you have been clinging to this
concept in this image that you have of
how it should be done and invariably
most times after that storm has passed
and you actually sit down and go okay we
can’t do it that way how can we do it he
end up with something even better than
what was there before and you go
that’s the universe that’s how it works
just like relationships find everything
the thing that is taken away if you’re
clinging to it you’re trying to fix and
you’re trying to secure it make sure it
doesn’t go away you think it your life
will be destroyed everything will be
ruined and it’s just the universe going
no I have something better for you I
just have faith sometimes compromise is
actually the way to get to what you want
in areas of choice you need to work on
your weaknesses for example let’s say I
let’s say I am I’m lazy that scenario
choice
that’s I mean I’m not naturally lazy I’m
just lazy it’s a choice so I need to
work on that because I in areas of
choices you can make
vast improvement and you can make fast
and prove I’ve never heard this
distinction but yeah yeah yeah actually
helpful oh yeah in choices so attitude
does this have a lousy attitude one day
I wake up I say this isn’t getting me
anywhere
I gotta have a good attitude you can go
from a zero to a ten I mean Omo also
don’t you see people that you just say
my gosh overnight they just ya got good
and happy you don’t say okay that’s a
choice vast fast growth in choices in
giftedness DNA wiring your growth is
very very small and it’s very slow so I
think for example a person can maybe
increase their giftedness skill set
maybe two numbers Wow so if I’m a if I’m
a little bit above average I was six if
I really work hard I can get become an
eight but but an eight is powerful yeah
eight has a huge return so what I tell
people is in in areas of giftedness
that’s where you have to work on your
strengths if if I’m a two in something
I’m very weak in a skill if I worked
hard I could only become a force to be
blabbering yeah that’s what I tell
people you gotta ask yourself is going
to give me the return so in the area of
strengths you’ve got to pour yourself
into the things that you’re already good
at because that’ll really set you apart
from average yeah but in areas of
choices
go for those weaknesses because you and
I don’t you know people that are highly
skilled but they have a lousy attitude
or they’re not soft they’re not self
discipline attitude and they’re never
gonna they’re never gonna they’re never
gonna get anywhere and they’re not going
to get anywhere because they didn’t so
in areas of choices work on your
weaknesses but in areas of strengths and
skills just work on your strengths you
know one of the things that I do is I
question a lot of things and you can do
that in a good way in a bad way but
hopefully if you try to get people to
motivate why they’re doing something and
their way of thinking you know the worst
thing you can end up with it’s a
situation where you get told well this
is the way it’s always been
that’s the worst ever that’s a
non-answer instead ask yourself you know
given everything you have today it’s
their way we can make this better this
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%
some know how they do it would you call
it you’re 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 often your
family will come to you your cousin your
uncle your sister saying please invest
in my business
you’ve got to differentiate between
family friends and money you’ve got to
be careful that you don’t get yourself
in a situation where you lose your money
because you got emotionally involved
that’s a very big piece of advice
because I’ve done it the wrong I’ve put
everybody’s made mistakes as investor
that’s one of the ones I made in the
early times I never make again too many
of us for a long time
confused our network and our self-worth
your net worth is going to fluctuate
it’s going to go up and down that’s what
money does but your self-worth should
not who you are what’s important to you
how you live your values should never be
negotiable compromised and should never
settle again we have gotten to this
point what we’ve got to say to ourselves
my net worth is not myself work
compassion for yourself
of course it’s as important as
compassion for others when often I get
asked questions like people who did
something that they now realize realized
was deeply wrong in the past sometimes
people asked questions about they
brought up their children in a way that
they now realize was not very conscious
and so that they may have caused
suffering to their children or others
people find they have caused suffering
to loved ones and they now realize that
what they did was wrong
and again I say this is an example where
you need to be compassionate with
yourself because no Bowman being can act
beyond their level of consciousness so
that was your level of consciousness at
the time and you could not go beyond
that and again here to make demands upon
yourself up to a point it might be a
good thing to choose if you as long as
you enjoy it it’s a wonderful thing when
the enjoyment of what you’re doing is
lost then you have to be careful because
there you have to come to a stop and say
okay this there’s something here that’s
not right because I’m no longer enjoying
what I’m doing my advice to young chefs
from the age of 16 to sort of 2930 is 14
years of a sponge you’re absorbing
knowledge don’t take a job for the sake
of money don’t worry about earning 500
pounds
month of the year more somewhere else go
and get knowledge because that becomes a
bigger passport for everything the money
will come once you’ve mastered your
craft and you become incredibly talented
them work for big chefs and find a
difference level of comfort when things
get too comfortable and you’re still
living with your parents and you’ve
still got your first job and you want to
move out because there needs to come
get out put yourself in a strange
situation in the middle of Barcelona
yourself in the middle of Paris put
yourself in the middle of Belgium and
see what’s available that’s amazing how
much confidence gives you more
importantly it’s brain travel the same
time fantastic
constantly seek criticism a a wealth a
well-thought-out critique of whatever
you’re doing is as valuable as gold and
you should seek that from everyone you
can but particularly your friends I’m
gonna put the vast majority of my energy
attention and dollars into building a
great product or service and put a
smaller amount into shouting about it
marketing it because I know if I build a
great product or service my customers
will tell each other I look you have to
mix in some patience with that but you
don’t have to be the best but you have
to be dangerous right you have to learn
just enough to be dangerous to build an
idea concept it and show it to the world
and then it turns out there are lots of
other people including all 170 employees
that work at Instagram who are much
better at doing all that stuff than I am
but you’d need to find people who can
you know be drawn to the idea that you
build and and then they end up taking it
and and make it even better I knew I was
wired to be excited about business how
or why I don’t know but you know and do
certain guys they have the genetics to
jump out of the gym right for certain
guys you know that you know when they
golf they have the muscle memory and and
the discipline you know dirt the visca
may not be the most talented guy in the
NBA but his discipline is focused 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 them 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 it
depends if you pick the right industry
but whatever industry you pick if you
outwork everybody if you try to be a
little smarter than everybody if you try
to be a better salesperson than
everybody if you try to be better
prepared than everybody you’ve got your
best chance because if you don’t do it
and somebody else does you know I have
the same work like someone’s trying to
take it all away from you
you know work you 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 to I want a new
basketball shoes because I was a
basketball junkie back then he’s like
well your shoes work if you want a new
pair of 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 was like well I got a
job for you I’ve got these garbage bags
that we distribute you can sell them
door-to-door I’m like okay and it was
when I was selling them and realized
that I’d like to sell and that I could
sell and that I recognized that selling
was it was about providing the service
and creating value for people that I
knew that I would literally back then I
knew that I could always succeed I mean
I remember I was 16 I think when I
started a stamp company and started
going to stamp shows and trade shows and
just working a little bit harder than
other people and and trading up from one
stamp to the next I remember one time I
started with a quarter and bought a
stamp and left with $50 thinking hey if
I could do this I could do anything and
and it’s not that everything worked I
failed a lot but I never ever felt like
I I wouldn’t be able to work hard enough
to 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 they don’t have the courage to
try it I think people that look for
great ideas to make money you know are
nearly as successful as those who say
okay what do I really love to do what am
i excited about what I know something
about you know what’s kind of
interesting and compelling you have to
have an emotional investment in what
you’re doing if you don’t love what
you’re doing
failure is pretty much guaranteed
success is not guaranteed by any means
but failure is much more likely if you
don’t love what you’re doing are you
looking to instigate a change in your
life there’s no better or worse time
than right now
hey I understand change is scary with
the status quo you know what you’ve got
and you shake things up there’s no
telling what you might end up with but
two of the things are true about change
one is absolutely necessary for first of
all and two is gonna happen either you
can pick the time to instigate the
change you want or the change and the
time will pick you so if you happen to
be one of those people who are standing
on the sidelines of your dreams waiting
for that perfect moment if you want to
make that change but you just don’t know
if you’re ready this life lesson is for
you it’s time to stop digging your
potatoes and jump if you know exactly
what you want to be you need to spend as
much time with people that are actually
that already and so when we’re coming up
with ideas you know we always ask
ourselves what kind of new market is
this creating and then also what what
part of my day and and what problem is
it solving and so I’ve gone as far as
taking an entire catalogue of my day
from the moment I like open my eyes and
writing down every single thing I do and
then asking myself like is there
something here
if you’re not coming up with 10 ideas a
day that’s why I have this thing I’m not
coming up when I’m filling up this page
every single day then my idea muscle
will atrophy and I started this in 2001
and I still do it every single day like
you have to come up with ideas every
single day or the idea muscle atrophies
the good news is after about six months
of doing that you’re like a machine like
people get surprised at how many ideas
you could just have anywhere don’t
necessarily think that you have to have
the homerun and the huge Apple computer
on your first start I spent a long time
in my life with skills just building
little devices for fun for fun is one of
the key things does that drives you to
think and think and think and make it
better and better and better than you
ever would if you’re doing it for a
company build things at first for
yourself that you would want when I
decided to do this I I first talked to
my my wife who is sitting here in the
audience and she had married a you know
relatively stable goofy but still
relatively stable a person working at a
Wall Street firm I worked at a
quantitative hedge fund and this was a
hard decision and I was looking for the
right framework in which to make that
kind of important decision and and and
and the right framework I found is a
regret minimization framework and so
that’s just a nerdy way of saying that
you want to project yourself to age 80
and then think back over your life and
and if you’re if you’re if you’re 81 or
the thyou want to minimize the number of
regrets you have throughout that period
of time I think this is something a lot
of people do maybe subconsciously they
probably very few people probably name
it regret minimization framework because
most people are healthier than that but
but it was a very clear way for me to
think about making that kind of life
decision and the and in the way it
helped was I thought okay if I go do
this thing and participate in this thing
called the Internet that I genuinely
believe is gonna be a big deal and if I
fail am I going to regret having tried
and failed and I knew the answer that
was no but I also knew that if I
didn’t try that I would always regret
that I would always wonder and it would
haunt me and until that you know
mythical day which I actually hope will
come because when you’re trying to
differentiate when you’re trying to do
something different there’s going to be
that gut moment that gut sense is this
right is this not right if you’re not if
you’re not having doubt you’re not
pushing the boundaries far enough don’t
think about how do I get really how do I
get big fast that will happen if you
actually build something super
meaningful and super important so don’t
think about you know what is the
quickest way to success think about what
is the best way to building something
important that the world really needs so
when we see a kid with a lemonade stand
it’s different than when we see a
vending machine selling lemonade even if
it’s exactly the same product because
the story around it is what people are
paying for so when I meet small business
people all I ask them is not what’s
their balance sheet but what’s their
story why should I pick you why do I
care about what you’re doing
and if you start giving me all this
inside baseball statistics about why
you’re 2 percent better than some other
competitor I’m already glazed over
because that’s not part of the way I see
the world I have to want this to exist
in the world I could have to not so it’s
a similar rule just say if this was
successful and I had nothing and I got
no and I was not involved and I got no
money off it or wasn’t what I wanted to
do well and that’s a great check I think
to know if you really feel good about
the idea and can be passionate about it
the hardest thing to do is start you
have all these ideas and everyone has an
idea but it’s really about executing the
idea and building the idea and
attracting other people to help you work
on the idea that is the biggest
challenge but the way to begin is to get
the idea out of your head draw it out
you know talk about it program it if
you’re a programmer or make it if you’re
building something you know one way to
conceptualize what makes a good product
is you know good engineering is part of
it good design is part of it but really
it’s one way I think about it at least
is maximizing the probability that
someone shows up at the front door of
you know your store or your website or
or whatever it is and it ends up with a
solved problem and so I think when you
are starting a new business you uh you
don’t want to go after giant markets you
want to go after small markets and you
want to take over those markets better
than I was when I left off and my
trainer believed I’m better than then I
was when I left off when you champion
for so long you carry a lot of people
sometime over that the year you realize
a lot of the people are fake people
because they live off to you but I’m
smart enough to find out who’s who and
you know like a lot of a lot of the
people in my rush I might they’re my
friend and my close friend so I trust
their trust their that they’re what
they’re gonna tell me you know if they
tell me I don’t think you should have
gone back they will tell me they would
have told me and we all on the same page
here I know I’m the best I’ve ever been
but fighting is a different thing I I
come back not because it’s easy what I’m
doing when I’m gonna attempt I do it
because I come back because it’s hard
and that’s what makes it better for me
because it’s hard and it’s only a few
people have been able to do it and if I
do it and the people think it’s
impossible for me to do it but if I do
it that’s mean I’ll be the first to do
with I am be I’ll be very very happy and
makes it unique for me
you realize along the way or once you’ve
won something or once you’ve made a lot
of money it’s like if you don’t enjoy
the journey that moment is so fleeting
it’s gone in a second and if you don’t
have the inner mindset of loving
yourself of loving who you are of loving
what you do of wanting to make an impact
of wanting to help others of wanting to
improve someone else’s life like that
it’s honestly the most empty feeling if
you think that’s the only thing and I
remember I had this moment I had worked
so incredibly hard it had been like six
years of competing some people some
people compete and win right away and
they get these covers and you know
that’s just what I thought would happen
and six years later I’m still like not
winning not getting covers not nobody’s
noticing me and finally actually that
year something shifted for me that the
year that I won like swept everything
and what happened is the year prior to
that I had started training
other people go figure training them for
stage really training them a lot in my
studio really wanting other people to
win like making their wins my win and
what happened is their journey became so
much mine and I became so just immersed
in making someone else’s life better
that that next year it was like I was so
fulfilled and happy and that just
radiated I knew that my purpose wasn’t
just the body I knew that my purpose was
so much bigger than this one thing that
all of a sudden I showed up on stage is
a totally different person literally
people were like who are you what
happened and I had this moment of I I
let go of thinking this was everything
and I actually learned that the journey
is about helping other people it’s about
you know really loving what you do and
who you are but loving the fact that you
get to do what you love for other people
and that just it flipped it literally
flipped on a dime for me and that that
was a moment of wow it it’s never about
the titles those things are amazing
don’t get me wrong I love them I’m not
going to lie but if you don’t do both if
you don’t use them or use them as a
platform for something they’re gonna be
really empty because they’re just a moment
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