you missed me when I was flunking out of
college you didn’t know you didn’t know
me when I had a severe stuttering
problem you didn’t know me when I could
not talk outside of my house you didn’t
know that when I went to the store I
couldn’t say it when I went to school I
couldn’t talk you didn’t know I was
teased beyond belief because of the
severe stuttering problem until I was 15
you missed me when I flunked out of
college you missed me when I was
homeless and I lived in a car for three
years you missed all that that was born
in Miami Florida the area called Liberty
City in an abandoned building on a
hardened Olien floor with my twin
brother so you turn your TV on now you
see me see man it’s dude look at him
devolving he he out of control he got TV
shows he got money look at him he living
on my hair but you miss me you missed me
when I was getting here
my mother got threatened with me at 15
years old I grew up on the east side of
Atlanta and the neighborhood by the name
of Kirk boy drugs gangs violence you
name it and I came up in a two-bedroom
14 people we were six weeks of age we
were adopted when I was in 5th graders
identified as EMR labeled educable
mentally retarded put back from the
fifth grade into the fourth grade and
stayed in that category until I got out
of high school I don’t have any college
training and I used to sleep on the
floor my grandmother Miss Daisy Johnson
used to come to us and she would say one
night out of the week you all get out to
me to sleep in the bed it was powerful
my husband’s in the bed and so we slept
through to the foot and three at this
it was hard when just over three years
ago in the Penobscot building in Detroit
Michigan where I was operating my
business and I fell on some hard times
and I was sleeping in my office and it
was hard coming through the lobby and
sometimes they would laugh there’s a guy
talking about becoming successful and
look at it he’s bathing in the bathroom
upstairs on the 21st floor he sleeps on
the floor
it was hard ladies and gentleman coming
to speak to people and I was facing
financial difficulties in my own life I
was behind on my bills and my dreams and
I’m saying to them you can live your
dream it was hard ladies and gentlemen
it was very difficult to pick myself up
each day believing that I could do it
there were times that I doubted myself
and so as a kid pretty quick I had to
make a decision of what I wanted to do
with my life because in that same house
I had 8 or 8 of which are still good and
not a prison to this day because they
sold drugs and they were in gangs and so
I saw them selling drugs but it also saw
the outcome of trust that I’m not
selling drugs I’m not trying again
because I see what I wrote leads to
either better in the bedroom prison a
sense of my best bet made me to go to
the NFL
I say God why why is this happening to
me I’m just trying to take care of my
children and my mother I’m not trying to
steal a Rob from anybody how did this
have to happen to me it was very hard
and here’s what I want to say to you for
those of you that have experienced some
hardships don’t give up on your dream no
one could have convinced me by holding
on by continuing to push forward by
continuing to run toward my dream that
one day I would have my own talk show
it’s a long shot ladies and gentlemen
from Liberty City an abandoned building
on the floor never knowing my mother or
father it’s a long shot
being here with you today in this Dome
in Atlanta it’s a long shot no college
training labeled educable mentally
retarded but I kept running toward my
dream I want to go to the NFL I fell our
family deserves a better way of life
let’s work for so every night we will go
out and race light for the light board
in Kirkwood no shoes light for the light
ball every night you see most nights
after practice everybody will need to go
home and I always had to sit in the park
because my mother worked at Windows and
my mother didn’t get off work till about
ten o’clock 10:30 motion nights and I’ll
be sitting there in the park and I loved
it I don’t want anybody to take me home
because when I went home I was sleeping
on the floor with roaches and rats and
so anytime I got in solitude the dream
any time I got
to think about what I wanted to do for
my family my community I took advantage
of it and so most nights I’ll be sitting
there in the park and I’ll be looking up
at the lights now being vision of myself
doing things in the NFL envision myself
doing things in my community and just as
the lights would always go out my mother
she would pull up and she used to drive
the old Buick Regal hubcaps off the car
seats torn up the car was all beat up
and she will pull up and she would put
the car in park and I will always hop up
I went over to my mother I would give
her a hug and a kiss I would say mommy
if you don’t mind can you please sit
back in your car I have to do some extra
drills I have to go to the NFL she would
never have to work another day in your
life and I knew she was tired and every
night my mother would say sure and she
was sitting back in that car those claw
lights we hit that feeling here you got
a seven-year-old kid doing back felling
drills running sprints running laps
chasing his dream to go to the NFL my
mom for years from the time I was 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
I never saw
a woman takes so much physical abuse
then the way I’ve seen my mother being
every freaking day of my life and I’m
helping her but I can’t help her cuz I’m
not strong enough I don’t have the
muscle to get these men off of my mother
my mother’s a very high yellow woman and
every time they hit her she would bleed
from her eyes and she would walk around
for days with sunglasses on in the house
I said my need a deck of cards last
altercation we got in my stepfather hit
my mama so hard in the face
my stepfather hit my mama so hard in the
face I called her and I’ve looked at him
with this rage and this pain in my eyes
like one day one day and I took this
deck of cards I couldn’t live in the
house so I had to live in the garage and
after this last altercation we had with
this guy I ran to my garage and I
grabbed this deck of cards and I flipped
the seven and I started doing seven push
ups I flipped the six I did six I
flipped a nine I did nine I flipped the
– I did – I flipped another nine I did
nine and I got all the way through the
deck Jack Queen King works in Jack’s I’m
aces twenty fives and Joker’s fifty
until I got sick and tired of what pain
felt like am I good it didn’t even
matter to me no more because I started
shuffle them all over again and that’s
when I started doing my situps
because I wanted to make sure sports
wasn’t the reason why I started training
it was the mixture man never put his
hands on my
that’s why I started doing when I
started doing sports was a byproduct of
of what people started to see it was the
behind-the-scenes that was driving me
crazy
my father was a very abusive very very
okay and I’m a big guy my father was a
big man and I was a kid my earliest
memory of my father was him knocking my
mother knocking her out and I felt so
helpless when I was a kid that I said I
would never be that helpless so I said I
gotta get strong ithi Johnson do you
even think you’re gonna play at the
University of Tennessee
he said your 135 pounds I said not only
am I gonna play I’m gonna start I said
you made a mistake I said see what you
don’t understand and this is what most
people do they base judgment off of what
they can see what they don’t understand
the moments that make you who you are
the moments that they can’t see you see
anybody can be on their best behavior
when somebody is standing over their
shoulder watching them seeing if they’re
gonna do it that’s supposed to do but
what they’re reported in cuc hit the
seat
I came through cream Heights we could
see I was 135 pounds you can see i was
5-9 we can see all of the stats you can
see all of that but what he never saw
was when I was in a fucking my mother
when I was seven years old she was
sitting in that Buick Regal at 10:30 at
night but he didn’t see was every
Saturday morning at 5:30 I was up
running two miles to a fire station in
two miles back home but he didn’t see
was every time I stepped on that bull
we’re going back to my cousins I got up
everyone and went to school and never
made one excuse but he didn’t see what’s
on Christmas Eve when it got when a guy
came through me and my cousin’s window
he stuffed a 9-millimeter than a 45 in
my face and took all about Christmas
gift and we had to sit on the curb with
our mother told us y’all just be
grateful he didn’t see that and those
were the moments that made me who I am
and so now his opinion didn’t matter his
opinion would never
[Music]
it’s necessary to know that everybody
won’t see it that everybody won’t join
you that everybody won’t have the vision
that a lot of people like to complain
but they don’t want to do anything about
their situation that you are an uncommon
breed you know you have to know within
yourself that I can do this even if no
one else sees it for me I must see it
for myself
you have to be the hero of your own
story and you can do that
90% of his just showing up get there and
start working like you’re not gonna feel
perfect every day
there’s got to be those days you push
through and there they’re probably gonna
be more numerous than the days you don’t
and so the benefit of discipline in my
eyes has always been that through
discipline I get things done write down
everything you want to do this is what I
want you to do write down what you would
like to fix about your life and then
just if you’re 30 pounds overweight you
want to lose 30 pounds do it the right
way go start eating vegetables monitor
your calories write down what you eat
exercise every day force yourself to do
it the brain is the general the troops
of the body and you get up and you do it
and then you get to write it down our
bodies for whatever reason most people
their associations are to avoid anything
that’s uncomfortable
[Music]
it’s so illogical because when you look
at comfort and you look at success and
progress and eventual the feelings of
accomplishment and of getting past
certain hurdles and in terms of like how
you feel about life a lot of those are
connected to discomfort like discomfort
is your friend it really it discomfort
and and not being happy and content with
certain situations in life or certain
feelings in life one of the big problems
is sitting down and doing the work and
he labels it like an enemy he calls it
resistance you know and that you have to
sit down you have to overcome resistance
and that the pro goes to work and it
doesn’t matter if you’re sick doesn’t
matter if you have kids it doesn’t
matter what you you’re a pro and you go
to work and that and that just it puts
it in your head that this is what I do
you have pride in that and then when you
are in front of that keyboard and you’re
you got you look down the count it’s set
for the thousand or than you yeah you
you’re doing the work and out of that
work gems blossom and it’s about
resistance that people feel when you
know you should write or you know you
should paint or whatever used to sculpt
whatever these things are that you
pursue and that there’s this thing that
comes up that tries to keep you from
doing that this resistance
[Music]
you’re not a hero in your own eyes
you’re not you’re not someone who you
respect you know you’re doing what you
got to do to get by but ultimately
you’re not respecting yourself and I
think we all have a certain amount of
appreciation and respect for hero
figures you know like we all look at
like the guy who never lies and it
always does the right thing and fucking
helps everybody out and that’s the John
Wayne character you know that’s that’s
the ultimate hero and he’s like this is
a battle that you will fight for the
rest of your life but the key is to
fight it not to give in don’t give in to
that resistance to fight just to fight
that resistance and in doing so every
day you do so you have won the battle
for that day and you will continue to
fight that battle and when you look at
your own life and you don’t stack up
you’re a thief you stole money from your
wife’s purse and you know you don’t want
to smoke cigarettes but you fucking have
to you can’t deal with the stress and
smoke you devalue yourself you slowly
start devaluing yourself you look at
yourself you realize that if you were
judging yourself you would judge
yourself unfavorable so no matter who
you you can’t pretend you’re the the
hero of your story
you can be the hero of your own story
that woke up today you can be the hero
of your own story that at forty years of
age stopped got out of bed and said I’m
not doing this anymore
only by my instincts and only by my
morals and my ideals and my mind and I’m
gonna be dead honest with myself because
I’m realizing this is not gonna last
forever and I’m gonna get myself in
shape but I’m gonna eat healthy and I’m
gonna do this cuz this is me this is me
now
[Music]
I decided this is me
and people have to realize that you are
not your past you are not all the times
you fucked up they’re not all the times
you were drunk
that’s not yet what you you are the
person who’s learned from a great deal
of experience when you’re alone with
your thoughts you get an idea of what
your thoughts actually are you live your
life just acting constantly on the
momentum of other people’s expectations
of you wanting to be liked by these
other people you can run into a trap and
you you you set up a life that you
didn’t really want your life is
certainly some sort of a journey it’s
certainly some sort of a journey
you’re trapped in this situation where
you have a mortgage
you’ve got credit-card bills you’ve got
student loans you have to pay you have a
bunch of shit going on you have to
continue to feed and all that and
especially if you have a family and you
have to feed them oh my goodness
then you’re fully locked in you can’t
take any chances whatsoever and
oftentimes people make the mistake of
getting stuck and it is just a tactical
mistake just like it would be a mistake
if you got stuck on a video game just
like it would be a mistake if you
followed a map incorrectly and you get
stuck in the woods your life is
certainly some sort of a journey it’s
certainly some sort of a journey and we
have to all be aware that when we’re
making journeys we’re not going to
always make the right steps and
sometimes you have to back up and try
again and if you’re in a position where
you can’t back up and try again you’ve
trapped yourself as people define
themselves by the past instead of
thinking about who they are now and set
up they still look back at a mistake
they made and don’t just get past that
mistake grow and learn but dwell on it
think it defines them
I mean there’s definitely pitfalls in
life you’re gonna run into him we all
are
no you didn’t learn and grow if you
survive somewhere along the line they
didn’t face enough of the adversity to
realize that there’s sometimes you just
got to get up and get shit done there’s
sometimes we have to fucking pull
yourself up and you have to push forward
even if you want to stay in bed having
that safety net just provided him with a
way to stay in bed kept him weak have an
opportunity every time things go wrong
every time things feel terrible you have
an opportunity to learn from whatever
makes you feel terrible and never allow
it to happen again
push forward the system will set out
honey pots for people to get trapped in
the system will set out the ideas of
retirement the ideas of the Golden Ears
providing you benefits providing you a
healthy work environment why well
because they want people to work for
them they don’t want people to realize
their own dreams and escape they want to
set it up so that you stick around stick
around some sort of an unsatisfying
world it’s up to you to see that video
game problem to see that issue as it
comes up on the map known I think this
is a right turn to see all the problems
that could potentially lay in front of
you and calculate your your future and
then also look around all the people
that didn’t do it and look at the misery
that they’re in and learn you don’t want
to be like them
and most people get stuck in these
patterns or they define themselves on
the person who doesn’t follow through on
their ideas or a person who doesn’t
pursue the real interests in loves you
define yourself by that well you know I
guess when I start things and I quit no
you don’t know you have started things
and you quit and it gives you a horrible
sense of regret that’s made you define
yourself by that you don’t have to do
that I look back on anything I’ve ever
done mistakes I’ve ever made a pass that
I you know what something I put out that
I didn’t quite yeah maybe I waited three
months before I released that or maybe I
should have you know rieta to that blog
post a couple more times for I put it
online or things that I’ve done have
driven me crazy but yelling at someone I
didn’t have to yell at them for whatever
but the most important thing is always
for all people to recognize you you’re
not who you were a year ago you’re not
who you were five years ago you’re not
who you were last week so you gotta
regulate how much you dwell on regrets
of the past you really got to be careful
it’s also directly proportionate to the
amount of hardships that people face in
life their ability to face hardships you
know and there’s a lot of folks that
live life on a cushy cloud of
marshmallows and bullshit and then one
day something goes wrong and then look
at the people that are have kind of
taken chances and navigated their way
what did they do differently
[Music]
[Applause]
what insight into their own mistakes are
they willing to delve into that you’re
not that you step back and go you know I
don’ts don’t I just don’t want to look
at myself that closely but the person
who’s able to look at themselves the
closest is gonna get the more rational
results seize the day
winning isn’t everything it’s the only
thing do not wait for your ship to come
in swim out to it when the going gets
tough the tough get going you miss on
our percent of the shots you know take
if you can dream it you can do it
wherever you go go with all your heart
if man has done its best what else is
there success is going from failure to
fair without losing your enthusiasm for
you don’t succeed try try again
genius is 1% inspiration 99%
perspiration I think I can I think I can
I think I can there’s no substitute for
hard work willing is not enough we must
do live the life you imagine do or do
not there is no try
action is foundational key to all
success discouragement fair the two of
the share of stepping-stone success that
yours not to dream less but your dream
more dream it all the time you don’t
know where we’re going you’ll wind up
somewhere else just do it I heard those
quotes growing up all the time when I
first heard something I memorized him
others I wrote down but not one of them
motivated me for more than a day or two
it was a much less inspirational quote
that inspired me from a much less famous
person it was a doctor at UCLA he said
Steve you’ve got inoperable tumors all
over your liver
worst-case scenario you have five years
to live and I can’t control the cards
I’m dealt just how I play the hands
if you need inspiring words don’t do it
today’s talk is not about death it’s
about life and how to live specifically
about childhood dreams and about how you
can try to achieve them
dreams will come to you if you live
properly the dreams will come
and I was dreaming always dreaming it
was an easy time it’s the dream when you
turn on your television set and men are
landing on the moon anything is possible
and we should never lose that spirit
okay bad news I cancer I was dying but I
got more bad news
you are all dying too
and what are you dying to do don’t skate
forward any further in your life without
answering that question
you
[Music]
you
but I basically just given you all the
same diagnosis I was given your time is
limited and that’s a real diagnosis so
what now
[Music]
okay like most people when they’re told
they’re dying you’re probably going
through the five stages of grief
the first stage is denial I’m not dying
I’m healthy stage 2 is anger stage 3 is
bargaining okay we’re all dying Stage
four is depression Stage five the final
stage is acceptance okay
I’m not immortal
[Music]
so what now let me tell you what I did
when I was told I might only have five
years first of all I got a lot of advice
a lot of friends want to help
Brenda my wife told me that maybe this
this news would give me a whole new
perspective
[Music]
someone else told me that I should live
every day like it was my last
so what were my childhood dreams being
in the national football news this is
one of the childhood dreams I didn’t
achieve all right and it’s very
important to know that if you don’t
achieve your dreams you can still again
a lot by trying for there’s an
expression I love experience is what you
get when you don’t get what you want but
most wonderfully my parents did was they
let me paint my bedroom I said one day I
want to paint stuff on the walls and
they said okay I had a rocket ship and
we lived in a ranch so I wanted an
elevator I wasn’t sure where it would go
[Music]
but the great thing is that they let me
do it and they felt that letting me
express my creativity was more important
than the pristine nature of the walls
the brick walls that are in our way are
there for a reason they are not there to
keep us out they are there to give us a
way to show how much we want it
[Music]
but what I kept coming back to when I
had time by myself and no one was giving
me advice was my dreams the dreams I had
put aside the ones that I thought I had
plenty of time to reach but now that I
realized I had a finite amount of time I
had asked myself what did I want to
accomplish I’m not a worst-case scenario
value but if I really only had five
years to live what was it that I want to
make sure happen for me as a comedian it
was a dream I had since I was 12 years
old it was from for my comedy on The
Late Show with David Letterman
so let me be clear before I move on I
was a comedian already okay I was making
a living at no day job full-time
comedian making a good living in comedy
clubs colleges corporate events around
the world that was a pretty big feat in
itself but six years into my comedy
career I kind of stopped chasing the
Letterman dream I was waiting for it to
come to me I was waiting for some day
not chasing an idiot that’s a very
important lesson for all of us mortals
here today some day isn’t on the
calendar
Friday Saturday Sunday that’s on there
about four times a month no someday but
when it comes to our dreams it’s
probably the busiest day of the week is
some day right so learning that lesson I
just try it decided that I was gonna
refocus my attention back on that dream
I was going to pull out all the stops
and I gave myself a goal of getting on
Letterman within one year I was going to
make someday happen I started yelling my
dream to anyone who would listen started
calling in every favor I was over I
found out everyone who worked on the
show and begged them to help me get an
audition I even started asking people at
comedy clubs after they see me to email
the show and beg Dave to book me
and guess what I didn’t make it
my ironically name deadline came and
went but I was so renewed about my dream
and my newfound passion for it I decided
to get myself in it extension one more
year to get on letter didn’t happen and
then another nope sounds like bad news
right well it was I would have loved to
get on the show in that first year but
something great happened over there
those years those three years weren’t
spent dying
they were spent living living a dream
and let me tell you there is something
if you’ve ever chased a dream you know
that it lights a fire in your heart that
whether you reach it or not it warms
everyone around you and everything
around you so I decided you know what
I’m gonna keep going is that dream is so
important you can’t wait can’t wait for
some day to happen you need to make
things you need to make things go out
wouldn’t the world be a better place if
if we’re all inspired if if the world
wasn’t full of uninspired people I know
I felt better when I was inspired why do
people stop chasing their dreams I don’t
think people choose to be uninspired
[Music]
why do you think people stop chasing
their dreams everyone wants to achieve
them why do people leave them behind
it was a tough question answer I want to
give her an honest answer not some
cliche response or a motivational line
so I thought about it for a long time
I knew that cancer it motivated me to
pick my dream up again but why did I
stop chasing it in the first place why
does anyone stop well when the answer
came to me was hard to swallow let alone
spit out and say it loud but I told her
we’re all taught that life is tough
life’s a bitch life is hard but it’s not
pretty easy right it’s pretty easy to
skate by and go through life right we
wake up every day most of us in the
world with a roof over our heads a big
comfy bed under our butts fridge full of
food most of us in the world especially
here in America never have to worry
about starvation or homelessness we have
friends and family that will help us out
when those things come those are the
things that made life dangerous 100
years ago now we complain hips life
isn’t convenient this isn’t a statement
on modern society this is a statement
about motivation life is easy
easy to skate by
[Music]
[Music]
it’s pretty easy to grow up put your
dreams aside leave your passions behind
take a job that you read you don’t even
really mind raise some kids who will
most likely be inspired to do the exact
same thing go from point A to point B to
Point C until you end up at point Z
where you pass away and there’s a line
of people waiting to get up and tell
everyone else who knew you what a good
life yeah nothing bad about that nothing
wrong with that but nothing great about
it nothing inspiring about that it’s
easy to look at a dream as something way
off in the distance something that might
or might not be accomplished a thing an
object a goal thought that runs through
our mind every now and then a noun a
dream is also a verb
has to be lived it has to be done has to
be further – has to be acted about it
needs to be chased it’s not just a idea
or a result to dream encompasses every
step that it takes to get there
so I’m gonna give you all a challenge
here figure out the answer to that
question what are you dying to do don’t
stay forward any further in your life
without answering that question but if
you don’t know the answer don’t go to
sleep tonight without answering that
question
don’t wait till someday to answer that
question there’s nothing more important
in your life
than figuring that out when you do
figure it out then when you go to sleep
you sleep like a kid again because then
you’ll be going to sleep not to dream
but with a drink
and
waking up
thank you
I told you about my dream I didn’t reach
my I Letterman dream by my deadline or
my extended deadline nope
it took me five years ladies gentlemen
please welcome Steve Maison five years
of living five of the years of living
for that dream and I was very lucky my
tumors here in that time they didn’t
grow
I stayed healthy but I had that wake-up
call and I’m giving you all the same
wake-up call we’re all dying but if
you’re not chasing your dream you’re
already dead
I don’t think complaining and whining
really solves the problem this is Jackie
Robinson first black major leaguer had
it in his contract not to complain if
people spit on him now I don’t care if
you’re Jackie Robinson or if you’re a
guy like me who’s only got a couple of
months to live you can choose to take
your finite time and energy and effort
and you can spend it complaining or you
can spend it playing the game hard which
is probably going to be more helpful to
you in the long run
[Music]
the top isn’t just about how to achieve
your childhood dreams it’s much broader
than that it’s about how to live your
life because if you lead your life the
right way the Karma will take care of
itself
that we all have people that we don’t
like that have done things we don’t like
and what I have found is no one is pure
evil if you wait long enough they will
show you their good side you can’t make
them do it in a hurry but you can be
patient he said when life can no longer
threaten you with death so what else is
there
what else is
and the majority of the fears that we
have are not life or death fears are not
those kind of fears
[Music]
if you want to begin to move you’ve got
to clear your mind of all the
unnecessary luggage and baggage that’s
weighing us down
I couldn’t move I couldn’t fit about
what am I going to do to get out of this
situation because I was so concerned
about what happened and what he did to
me and how bad it was
I was sold stuck in that I couldn’t even
focus on what I should have done
[Music]
so what’s the worst thing that they can
do to you kill you and he just decided
hey this is what I came here to do I
know that there’s some risk involved and
I’m gonna do it
come what may he said I’m not going to
be afraid anymore feeling sorry for
myself and angry none of that was taking
me anywhere
so pretty soon I learned through effort
made it conscious delivery determine
effort I had to let it go I had to
forgive it let it go and begin to focus
on developing myself and I say to you
you’re gonna have people to do things to
you things are going to happen to you
and the most important thing to do is to
harness your will and let it go and move
so you can grow so you can get on with
your life it doesn’t matter about what
happens to you what matters is what are
you going to do about it what are you
going to do now less this is the
instinct that says you’ve had enough
this is the instinct that says you’ve
you’ve given it your best shot you can
you can stand down you can back off you
can take a knee
this is the instinct that says you can
rest now do not listen to that instinct
do not listen that instinct is a liar
and wants to bring you down that that’s
the instinct that’s a defense mechanism
I want to give you an out place to run
to
a lot of people never get to where they
want to be because they’ll never stop
complaining about where they’re at
I must say it again a lot of people will
never get to where they want to be
because they will never stop complaining
about where they’re at
the word complain means to remain or to
stay overnight so if you want to stay
right where you’re at
just keep complaining about it and I can
pretty much guarantee you that you’ll
still be there and they’ll tell you you
did the best you could now they’ll say
the DAC the deck the deck was stacked
against you and they’ll say it’s not
your
[Music]
and they’ll tell you it’s okay to stop
it’s okay to settle it’s okay to give up
[Music]
and that is the instinct you need to
fight you need to polish back to smash
into the ground do not take the easy way
out
do not give up based on instinct if you
are forced to stand down to retreat
so that you can build and we attack
so
but make that decision based on logic
not on the instinct of surrender and
defeat get up go fight on my history of
being sort of on all sides of my journey
you know I didn’t I didn’t have success
very early and I went through some very
dark times and you know the main one
thing I kept doing is you know inspiring
myself looking for inspiration and
growing and and it hasn’t stopped and I
want to keep doing that and I also wanna
inspire others you know there were
millions of me sitting at home right now
and they don’t know it and it’s just
good to be able to get me sort of
platform tests or to say come a man go
for it so listen man knows yes I don’t
do things for money and I’ve been broke
most of my life
so because of that I can’t sort of
suddenly go I need to do a job just to
get some cash you know I mean I know
that’s a lot of times it is people’s
motivations because people need to eat
but in my position
I’ve been poor most of my life so now
I think I think my imaginations always
kept me going in
you know just imagine myself collecting
awards just imagine myself you know I
mean getting big parts imagine myself
working with the greatest actors my
imagination was the one I know I mean
like I’ve known you but not overthink it
but you just kind of like yeah man I see
myself driving that car one day but I
get
[Music]
actually if I can see myself doing it I
could probably do it she can’t bottled
up and sell it to someone you can do it
or you can’t but everybody can imagine
themselves you know
[Music]
I’m innocent poor not to give yourself
boundaries which we can do quite easy
okay
people talk about aiming for the skies
sometimes even aiming for the skies is
intimidating just don’t give yourself
boundaries your sky and my sky might be
different and I mean but neither of us
will touch the sky if we give ourselves
boundaries and I mean whatever your sky
is whatever your biggest dream is but
I’ve already touched that you know so in
other words what sky where does the sky
end I’d rather people go you know what
I’m not gonna restrict myself to the guy
I can only do this so I can only do that
oh I have to do it this way or I have to
do it that way
the first step before anybody else in
the world believes it is you have to
believe it there’s no reason to have a
plan because it distracts from plan a it
was 16 contemplated being an actor I was
in sound systems deejay and I mean and
you know it was like that all this so I
always go back to deejay I always have a
studio I always have turntables always
been doing that a long time in anime and
there was a there was a drive to be
famous to be you know that that pinnacle
to be that guy and I’m not not that not
it’s not it’s not my ambition happier
than that as much you know I mean good
work keep working so it’s very hard for
me to sort of glide me be like you know
harm lifted up by this wonderful life
that I have I love it but you know I’m I
feel you’re on the ground you know I
sleep you know
it’s work it’s a job
achievement achievement is inspirational
to me you know people doing it some on
that on Monday didn’t know how to do
this by Friday can do it that is an
inspiration to me I’m not afraid to fail
I’m not afraid to fall over make a
mistake that often time cripples people
on the onset of getting too into
anything the first time ever Peter the
DJed eggs was horrible horrible now but
I’m not afraid of that I’m not afraid of
that feeling it actually propels me it
works quite the opposite
but I really loved to do it so I just
said I want to do what I love you know I
mean
like I can do 18 22 hours a day easily
it’s definitely one of those components
to me as a human being my makeup my
genetics that allows me to actually keep
moving
I’m a veteran at being able to look at
an opportunity and go is that gonna take
me further or not you know some people
don’t have that you won’t is something
you develop you know that’s why most
times out of 10 any head of a company
has been doing it for a long time
because they inherently can make a
decision and the blink of an eye but you
have to learn that
the other thing that’s important I think
is to keep your head down you know keep
your head down like when I swim 25 laps
guaranteed if I look up and start
counting those laps
I’m petered out by 15 if I put my head
down I keep working away and work a
technique work it internal rhythm work
it ooh I hit that for length I don’t
even know what length come on guarantee
you I’ll look up it’ll be 20 and two
more three more to go
and that’s a very simple device but I
think people will find themselves
incremental each eken how far they’ve
gone and now you know when you compare
to anybody else or whatever it’s just a
it’s a recipe for disaster just keep
banging on you know
[Music]
[Music]
mountain climbers would probably tell
you the same thing you know there’s no
point looking at the difference between
climbing a hundred feet and climbing 503
it’s a point of view you don’t know
you’re at the top until you get there
pal and that’s what you need to remember
[Music]
you know just gana just don’t look down
[Music]
the more I grow you know in 43 is point
now considered a middle-aged man and
happiness is without a doubt the best
thing that I am I strive for health and
happiness kid you know I couldn’t any of
it means nothing if I’m not happy about
it my breakthrough was actually decided
I wanted to be an actor and go into a
drama college not a drama college I did
a performing arts course they changed my
life it turns my dreams into a reality
it gave me an actual tangible target to
go oh actually I could do this that was
my breakthrough because it was a
breakthrough of my mind
[Music]
that was my biggest break from of course
have been numerous breakthroughs over my
career in my life which I’m all proud of
but none so much is that realization
that I want to be an actor to thrive in
whatever you to please understand your
terrain know what your target is don’t
guess it be as clued up as the next man
because that’s that’s that’s your petrol
that’s your fuel to get you moving if
you don’t know where you’re going what
your targets are you’re never gonna get
there period
work hard sleepless
[Music]
you
college you didn’t know you didn’t know
me when I had a severe stuttering
problem you didn’t know me when I could
not talk outside of my house you didn’t
know that when I went to the store I
couldn’t say it when I went to school I
couldn’t talk you didn’t know I was
teased beyond belief because of the
severe stuttering problem until I was 15
you missed me when I flunked out of
college you missed me when I was
homeless and I lived in a car for three
years you missed all that that was born
in Miami Florida the area called Liberty
City in an abandoned building on a
hardened Olien floor with my twin
brother so you turn your TV on now you
see me see man it’s dude look at him
devolving he he out of control he got TV
shows he got money look at him he living
on my hair but you miss me you missed me
when I was getting here
my mother got threatened with me at 15
years old I grew up on the east side of
Atlanta and the neighborhood by the name
of Kirk boy drugs gangs violence you
name it and I came up in a two-bedroom
14 people we were six weeks of age we
were adopted when I was in 5th graders
identified as EMR labeled educable
mentally retarded put back from the
fifth grade into the fourth grade and
stayed in that category until I got out
of high school I don’t have any college
training and I used to sleep on the
floor my grandmother Miss Daisy Johnson
used to come to us and she would say one
night out of the week you all get out to
me to sleep in the bed it was powerful
my husband’s in the bed and so we slept
through to the foot and three at this
it was hard when just over three years
ago in the Penobscot building in Detroit
Michigan where I was operating my
business and I fell on some hard times
and I was sleeping in my office and it
was hard coming through the lobby and
sometimes they would laugh there’s a guy
talking about becoming successful and
look at it he’s bathing in the bathroom
upstairs on the 21st floor he sleeps on
the floor
it was hard ladies and gentleman coming
to speak to people and I was facing
financial difficulties in my own life I
was behind on my bills and my dreams and
I’m saying to them you can live your
dream it was hard ladies and gentlemen
it was very difficult to pick myself up
each day believing that I could do it
there were times that I doubted myself
and so as a kid pretty quick I had to
make a decision of what I wanted to do
with my life because in that same house
I had 8 or 8 of which are still good and
not a prison to this day because they
sold drugs and they were in gangs and so
I saw them selling drugs but it also saw
the outcome of trust that I’m not
selling drugs I’m not trying again
because I see what I wrote leads to
either better in the bedroom prison a
sense of my best bet made me to go to
the NFL
I say God why why is this happening to
me I’m just trying to take care of my
children and my mother I’m not trying to
steal a Rob from anybody how did this
have to happen to me it was very hard
and here’s what I want to say to you for
those of you that have experienced some
hardships don’t give up on your dream no
one could have convinced me by holding
on by continuing to push forward by
continuing to run toward my dream that
one day I would have my own talk show
it’s a long shot ladies and gentlemen
from Liberty City an abandoned building
on the floor never knowing my mother or
father it’s a long shot
being here with you today in this Dome
in Atlanta it’s a long shot no college
training labeled educable mentally
retarded but I kept running toward my
dream I want to go to the NFL I fell our
family deserves a better way of life
let’s work for so every night we will go
out and race light for the light board
in Kirkwood no shoes light for the light
ball every night you see most nights
after practice everybody will need to go
home and I always had to sit in the park
because my mother worked at Windows and
my mother didn’t get off work till about
ten o’clock 10:30 motion nights and I’ll
be sitting there in the park and I loved
it I don’t want anybody to take me home
because when I went home I was sleeping
on the floor with roaches and rats and
so anytime I got in solitude the dream
any time I got
to think about what I wanted to do for
my family my community I took advantage
of it and so most nights I’ll be sitting
there in the park and I’ll be looking up
at the lights now being vision of myself
doing things in the NFL envision myself
doing things in my community and just as
the lights would always go out my mother
she would pull up and she used to drive
the old Buick Regal hubcaps off the car
seats torn up the car was all beat up
and she will pull up and she would put
the car in park and I will always hop up
I went over to my mother I would give
her a hug and a kiss I would say mommy
if you don’t mind can you please sit
back in your car I have to do some extra
drills I have to go to the NFL she would
never have to work another day in your
life and I knew she was tired and every
night my mother would say sure and she
was sitting back in that car those claw
lights we hit that feeling here you got
a seven-year-old kid doing back felling
drills running sprints running laps
chasing his dream to go to the NFL my
mom for years from the time I was 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
I never saw
a woman takes so much physical abuse
then the way I’ve seen my mother being
every freaking day of my life and I’m
helping her but I can’t help her cuz I’m
not strong enough I don’t have the
muscle to get these men off of my mother
my mother’s a very high yellow woman and
every time they hit her she would bleed
from her eyes and she would walk around
for days with sunglasses on in the house
I said my need a deck of cards last
altercation we got in my stepfather hit
my mama so hard in the face
my stepfather hit my mama so hard in the
face I called her and I’ve looked at him
with this rage and this pain in my eyes
like one day one day and I took this
deck of cards I couldn’t live in the
house so I had to live in the garage and
after this last altercation we had with
this guy I ran to my garage and I
grabbed this deck of cards and I flipped
the seven and I started doing seven push
ups I flipped the six I did six I
flipped a nine I did nine I flipped the
– I did – I flipped another nine I did
nine and I got all the way through the
deck Jack Queen King works in Jack’s I’m
aces twenty fives and Joker’s fifty
until I got sick and tired of what pain
felt like am I good it didn’t even
matter to me no more because I started
shuffle them all over again and that’s
when I started doing my situps
because I wanted to make sure sports
wasn’t the reason why I started training
it was the mixture man never put his
hands on my
that’s why I started doing when I
started doing sports was a byproduct of
of what people started to see it was the
behind-the-scenes that was driving me
crazy
my father was a very abusive very very
okay and I’m a big guy my father was a
big man and I was a kid my earliest
memory of my father was him knocking my
mother knocking her out and I felt so
helpless when I was a kid that I said I
would never be that helpless so I said I
gotta get strong ithi Johnson do you
even think you’re gonna play at the
University of Tennessee
he said your 135 pounds I said not only
am I gonna play I’m gonna start I said
you made a mistake I said see what you
don’t understand and this is what most
people do they base judgment off of what
they can see what they don’t understand
the moments that make you who you are
the moments that they can’t see you see
anybody can be on their best behavior
when somebody is standing over their
shoulder watching them seeing if they’re
gonna do it that’s supposed to do but
what they’re reported in cuc hit the
seat
I came through cream Heights we could
see I was 135 pounds you can see i was
5-9 we can see all of the stats you can
see all of that but what he never saw
was when I was in a fucking my mother
when I was seven years old she was
sitting in that Buick Regal at 10:30 at
night but he didn’t see was every
Saturday morning at 5:30 I was up
running two miles to a fire station in
two miles back home but he didn’t see
was every time I stepped on that bull
we’re going back to my cousins I got up
everyone and went to school and never
made one excuse but he didn’t see what’s
on Christmas Eve when it got when a guy
came through me and my cousin’s window
he stuffed a 9-millimeter than a 45 in
my face and took all about Christmas
gift and we had to sit on the curb with
our mother told us y’all just be
grateful he didn’t see that and those
were the moments that made me who I am
and so now his opinion didn’t matter his
opinion would never
[Music]
it’s necessary to know that everybody
won’t see it that everybody won’t join
you that everybody won’t have the vision
that a lot of people like to complain
but they don’t want to do anything about
their situation that you are an uncommon
breed you know you have to know within
yourself that I can do this even if no
one else sees it for me I must see it
for myself
you have to be the hero of your own
story and you can do that
90% of his just showing up get there and
start working like you’re not gonna feel
perfect every day
there’s got to be those days you push
through and there they’re probably gonna
be more numerous than the days you don’t
and so the benefit of discipline in my
eyes has always been that through
discipline I get things done write down
everything you want to do this is what I
want you to do write down what you would
like to fix about your life and then
just if you’re 30 pounds overweight you
want to lose 30 pounds do it the right
way go start eating vegetables monitor
your calories write down what you eat
exercise every day force yourself to do
it the brain is the general the troops
of the body and you get up and you do it
and then you get to write it down our
bodies for whatever reason most people
their associations are to avoid anything
that’s uncomfortable
[Music]
it’s so illogical because when you look
at comfort and you look at success and
progress and eventual the feelings of
accomplishment and of getting past
certain hurdles and in terms of like how
you feel about life a lot of those are
connected to discomfort like discomfort
is your friend it really it discomfort
and and not being happy and content with
certain situations in life or certain
feelings in life one of the big problems
is sitting down and doing the work and
he labels it like an enemy he calls it
resistance you know and that you have to
sit down you have to overcome resistance
and that the pro goes to work and it
doesn’t matter if you’re sick doesn’t
matter if you have kids it doesn’t
matter what you you’re a pro and you go
to work and that and that just it puts
it in your head that this is what I do
you have pride in that and then when you
are in front of that keyboard and you’re
you got you look down the count it’s set
for the thousand or than you yeah you
you’re doing the work and out of that
work gems blossom and it’s about
resistance that people feel when you
know you should write or you know you
should paint or whatever used to sculpt
whatever these things are that you
pursue and that there’s this thing that
comes up that tries to keep you from
doing that this resistance
[Music]
you’re not a hero in your own eyes
you’re not you’re not someone who you
respect you know you’re doing what you
got to do to get by but ultimately
you’re not respecting yourself and I
think we all have a certain amount of
appreciation and respect for hero
figures you know like we all look at
like the guy who never lies and it
always does the right thing and fucking
helps everybody out and that’s the John
Wayne character you know that’s that’s
the ultimate hero and he’s like this is
a battle that you will fight for the
rest of your life but the key is to
fight it not to give in don’t give in to
that resistance to fight just to fight
that resistance and in doing so every
day you do so you have won the battle
for that day and you will continue to
fight that battle and when you look at
your own life and you don’t stack up
you’re a thief you stole money from your
wife’s purse and you know you don’t want
to smoke cigarettes but you fucking have
to you can’t deal with the stress and
smoke you devalue yourself you slowly
start devaluing yourself you look at
yourself you realize that if you were
judging yourself you would judge
yourself unfavorable so no matter who
you you can’t pretend you’re the the
hero of your story
you can be the hero of your own story
that woke up today you can be the hero
of your own story that at forty years of
age stopped got out of bed and said I’m
not doing this anymore
only by my instincts and only by my
morals and my ideals and my mind and I’m
gonna be dead honest with myself because
I’m realizing this is not gonna last
forever and I’m gonna get myself in
shape but I’m gonna eat healthy and I’m
gonna do this cuz this is me this is me
now
[Music]
I decided this is me
and people have to realize that you are
not your past you are not all the times
you fucked up they’re not all the times
you were drunk
that’s not yet what you you are the
person who’s learned from a great deal
of experience when you’re alone with
your thoughts you get an idea of what
your thoughts actually are you live your
life just acting constantly on the
momentum of other people’s expectations
of you wanting to be liked by these
other people you can run into a trap and
you you you set up a life that you
didn’t really want your life is
certainly some sort of a journey it’s
certainly some sort of a journey
you’re trapped in this situation where
you have a mortgage
you’ve got credit-card bills you’ve got
student loans you have to pay you have a
bunch of shit going on you have to
continue to feed and all that and
especially if you have a family and you
have to feed them oh my goodness
then you’re fully locked in you can’t
take any chances whatsoever and
oftentimes people make the mistake of
getting stuck and it is just a tactical
mistake just like it would be a mistake
if you got stuck on a video game just
like it would be a mistake if you
followed a map incorrectly and you get
stuck in the woods your life is
certainly some sort of a journey it’s
certainly some sort of a journey and we
have to all be aware that when we’re
making journeys we’re not going to
always make the right steps and
sometimes you have to back up and try
again and if you’re in a position where
you can’t back up and try again you’ve
trapped yourself as people define
themselves by the past instead of
thinking about who they are now and set
up they still look back at a mistake
they made and don’t just get past that
mistake grow and learn but dwell on it
think it defines them
I mean there’s definitely pitfalls in
life you’re gonna run into him we all
are
no you didn’t learn and grow if you
survive somewhere along the line they
didn’t face enough of the adversity to
realize that there’s sometimes you just
got to get up and get shit done there’s
sometimes we have to fucking pull
yourself up and you have to push forward
even if you want to stay in bed having
that safety net just provided him with a
way to stay in bed kept him weak have an
opportunity every time things go wrong
every time things feel terrible you have
an opportunity to learn from whatever
makes you feel terrible and never allow
it to happen again
push forward the system will set out
honey pots for people to get trapped in
the system will set out the ideas of
retirement the ideas of the Golden Ears
providing you benefits providing you a
healthy work environment why well
because they want people to work for
them they don’t want people to realize
their own dreams and escape they want to
set it up so that you stick around stick
around some sort of an unsatisfying
world it’s up to you to see that video
game problem to see that issue as it
comes up on the map known I think this
is a right turn to see all the problems
that could potentially lay in front of
you and calculate your your future and
then also look around all the people
that didn’t do it and look at the misery
that they’re in and learn you don’t want
to be like them
and most people get stuck in these
patterns or they define themselves on
the person who doesn’t follow through on
their ideas or a person who doesn’t
pursue the real interests in loves you
define yourself by that well you know I
guess when I start things and I quit no
you don’t know you have started things
and you quit and it gives you a horrible
sense of regret that’s made you define
yourself by that you don’t have to do
that I look back on anything I’ve ever
done mistakes I’ve ever made a pass that
I you know what something I put out that
I didn’t quite yeah maybe I waited three
months before I released that or maybe I
should have you know rieta to that blog
post a couple more times for I put it
online or things that I’ve done have
driven me crazy but yelling at someone I
didn’t have to yell at them for whatever
but the most important thing is always
for all people to recognize you you’re
not who you were a year ago you’re not
who you were five years ago you’re not
who you were last week so you gotta
regulate how much you dwell on regrets
of the past you really got to be careful
it’s also directly proportionate to the
amount of hardships that people face in
life their ability to face hardships you
know and there’s a lot of folks that
live life on a cushy cloud of
marshmallows and bullshit and then one
day something goes wrong and then look
at the people that are have kind of
taken chances and navigated their way
what did they do differently
[Music]
[Applause]
what insight into their own mistakes are
they willing to delve into that you’re
not that you step back and go you know I
don’ts don’t I just don’t want to look
at myself that closely but the person
who’s able to look at themselves the
closest is gonna get the more rational
results seize the day
winning isn’t everything it’s the only
thing do not wait for your ship to come
in swim out to it when the going gets
tough the tough get going you miss on
our percent of the shots you know take
if you can dream it you can do it
wherever you go go with all your heart
if man has done its best what else is
there success is going from failure to
fair without losing your enthusiasm for
you don’t succeed try try again
genius is 1% inspiration 99%
perspiration I think I can I think I can
I think I can there’s no substitute for
hard work willing is not enough we must
do live the life you imagine do or do
not there is no try
action is foundational key to all
success discouragement fair the two of
the share of stepping-stone success that
yours not to dream less but your dream
more dream it all the time you don’t
know where we’re going you’ll wind up
somewhere else just do it I heard those
quotes growing up all the time when I
first heard something I memorized him
others I wrote down but not one of them
motivated me for more than a day or two
it was a much less inspirational quote
that inspired me from a much less famous
person it was a doctor at UCLA he said
Steve you’ve got inoperable tumors all
over your liver
worst-case scenario you have five years
to live and I can’t control the cards
I’m dealt just how I play the hands
if you need inspiring words don’t do it
today’s talk is not about death it’s
about life and how to live specifically
about childhood dreams and about how you
can try to achieve them
dreams will come to you if you live
properly the dreams will come
and I was dreaming always dreaming it
was an easy time it’s the dream when you
turn on your television set and men are
landing on the moon anything is possible
and we should never lose that spirit
okay bad news I cancer I was dying but I
got more bad news
you are all dying too
and what are you dying to do don’t skate
forward any further in your life without
answering that question
you
[Music]
you
but I basically just given you all the
same diagnosis I was given your time is
limited and that’s a real diagnosis so
what now
[Music]
okay like most people when they’re told
they’re dying you’re probably going
through the five stages of grief
the first stage is denial I’m not dying
I’m healthy stage 2 is anger stage 3 is
bargaining okay we’re all dying Stage
four is depression Stage five the final
stage is acceptance okay
I’m not immortal
[Music]
so what now let me tell you what I did
when I was told I might only have five
years first of all I got a lot of advice
a lot of friends want to help
Brenda my wife told me that maybe this
this news would give me a whole new
perspective
[Music]
someone else told me that I should live
every day like it was my last
so what were my childhood dreams being
in the national football news this is
one of the childhood dreams I didn’t
achieve all right and it’s very
important to know that if you don’t
achieve your dreams you can still again
a lot by trying for there’s an
expression I love experience is what you
get when you don’t get what you want but
most wonderfully my parents did was they
let me paint my bedroom I said one day I
want to paint stuff on the walls and
they said okay I had a rocket ship and
we lived in a ranch so I wanted an
elevator I wasn’t sure where it would go
[Music]
but the great thing is that they let me
do it and they felt that letting me
express my creativity was more important
than the pristine nature of the walls
the brick walls that are in our way are
there for a reason they are not there to
keep us out they are there to give us a
way to show how much we want it
[Music]
but what I kept coming back to when I
had time by myself and no one was giving
me advice was my dreams the dreams I had
put aside the ones that I thought I had
plenty of time to reach but now that I
realized I had a finite amount of time I
had asked myself what did I want to
accomplish I’m not a worst-case scenario
value but if I really only had five
years to live what was it that I want to
make sure happen for me as a comedian it
was a dream I had since I was 12 years
old it was from for my comedy on The
Late Show with David Letterman
so let me be clear before I move on I
was a comedian already okay I was making
a living at no day job full-time
comedian making a good living in comedy
clubs colleges corporate events around
the world that was a pretty big feat in
itself but six years into my comedy
career I kind of stopped chasing the
Letterman dream I was waiting for it to
come to me I was waiting for some day
not chasing an idiot that’s a very
important lesson for all of us mortals
here today some day isn’t on the
calendar
Friday Saturday Sunday that’s on there
about four times a month no someday but
when it comes to our dreams it’s
probably the busiest day of the week is
some day right so learning that lesson I
just try it decided that I was gonna
refocus my attention back on that dream
I was going to pull out all the stops
and I gave myself a goal of getting on
Letterman within one year I was going to
make someday happen I started yelling my
dream to anyone who would listen started
calling in every favor I was over I
found out everyone who worked on the
show and begged them to help me get an
audition I even started asking people at
comedy clubs after they see me to email
the show and beg Dave to book me
and guess what I didn’t make it
my ironically name deadline came and
went but I was so renewed about my dream
and my newfound passion for it I decided
to get myself in it extension one more
year to get on letter didn’t happen and
then another nope sounds like bad news
right well it was I would have loved to
get on the show in that first year but
something great happened over there
those years those three years weren’t
spent dying
they were spent living living a dream
and let me tell you there is something
if you’ve ever chased a dream you know
that it lights a fire in your heart that
whether you reach it or not it warms
everyone around you and everything
around you so I decided you know what
I’m gonna keep going is that dream is so
important you can’t wait can’t wait for
some day to happen you need to make
things you need to make things go out
wouldn’t the world be a better place if
if we’re all inspired if if the world
wasn’t full of uninspired people I know
I felt better when I was inspired why do
people stop chasing their dreams I don’t
think people choose to be uninspired
[Music]
why do you think people stop chasing
their dreams everyone wants to achieve
them why do people leave them behind
it was a tough question answer I want to
give her an honest answer not some
cliche response or a motivational line
so I thought about it for a long time
I knew that cancer it motivated me to
pick my dream up again but why did I
stop chasing it in the first place why
does anyone stop well when the answer
came to me was hard to swallow let alone
spit out and say it loud but I told her
we’re all taught that life is tough
life’s a bitch life is hard but it’s not
pretty easy right it’s pretty easy to
skate by and go through life right we
wake up every day most of us in the
world with a roof over our heads a big
comfy bed under our butts fridge full of
food most of us in the world especially
here in America never have to worry
about starvation or homelessness we have
friends and family that will help us out
when those things come those are the
things that made life dangerous 100
years ago now we complain hips life
isn’t convenient this isn’t a statement
on modern society this is a statement
about motivation life is easy
easy to skate by
[Music]
[Music]
it’s pretty easy to grow up put your
dreams aside leave your passions behind
take a job that you read you don’t even
really mind raise some kids who will
most likely be inspired to do the exact
same thing go from point A to point B to
Point C until you end up at point Z
where you pass away and there’s a line
of people waiting to get up and tell
everyone else who knew you what a good
life yeah nothing bad about that nothing
wrong with that but nothing great about
it nothing inspiring about that it’s
easy to look at a dream as something way
off in the distance something that might
or might not be accomplished a thing an
object a goal thought that runs through
our mind every now and then a noun a
dream is also a verb
has to be lived it has to be done has to
be further – has to be acted about it
needs to be chased it’s not just a idea
or a result to dream encompasses every
step that it takes to get there
so I’m gonna give you all a challenge
here figure out the answer to that
question what are you dying to do don’t
stay forward any further in your life
without answering that question but if
you don’t know the answer don’t go to
sleep tonight without answering that
question
don’t wait till someday to answer that
question there’s nothing more important
in your life
than figuring that out when you do
figure it out then when you go to sleep
you sleep like a kid again because then
you’ll be going to sleep not to dream
but with a drink
and
waking up
thank you
I told you about my dream I didn’t reach
my I Letterman dream by my deadline or
my extended deadline nope
it took me five years ladies gentlemen
please welcome Steve Maison five years
of living five of the years of living
for that dream and I was very lucky my
tumors here in that time they didn’t
grow
I stayed healthy but I had that wake-up
call and I’m giving you all the same
wake-up call we’re all dying but if
you’re not chasing your dream you’re
already dead
I don’t think complaining and whining
really solves the problem this is Jackie
Robinson first black major leaguer had
it in his contract not to complain if
people spit on him now I don’t care if
you’re Jackie Robinson or if you’re a
guy like me who’s only got a couple of
months to live you can choose to take
your finite time and energy and effort
and you can spend it complaining or you
can spend it playing the game hard which
is probably going to be more helpful to
you in the long run
[Music]
the top isn’t just about how to achieve
your childhood dreams it’s much broader
than that it’s about how to live your
life because if you lead your life the
right way the Karma will take care of
itself
that we all have people that we don’t
like that have done things we don’t like
and what I have found is no one is pure
evil if you wait long enough they will
show you their good side you can’t make
them do it in a hurry but you can be
patient he said when life can no longer
threaten you with death so what else is
there
what else is
and the majority of the fears that we
have are not life or death fears are not
those kind of fears
[Music]
if you want to begin to move you’ve got
to clear your mind of all the
unnecessary luggage and baggage that’s
weighing us down
I couldn’t move I couldn’t fit about
what am I going to do to get out of this
situation because I was so concerned
about what happened and what he did to
me and how bad it was
I was sold stuck in that I couldn’t even
focus on what I should have done
[Music]
so what’s the worst thing that they can
do to you kill you and he just decided
hey this is what I came here to do I
know that there’s some risk involved and
I’m gonna do it
come what may he said I’m not going to
be afraid anymore feeling sorry for
myself and angry none of that was taking
me anywhere
so pretty soon I learned through effort
made it conscious delivery determine
effort I had to let it go I had to
forgive it let it go and begin to focus
on developing myself and I say to you
you’re gonna have people to do things to
you things are going to happen to you
and the most important thing to do is to
harness your will and let it go and move
so you can grow so you can get on with
your life it doesn’t matter about what
happens to you what matters is what are
you going to do about it what are you
going to do now less this is the
instinct that says you’ve had enough
this is the instinct that says you’ve
you’ve given it your best shot you can
you can stand down you can back off you
can take a knee
this is the instinct that says you can
rest now do not listen to that instinct
do not listen that instinct is a liar
and wants to bring you down that that’s
the instinct that’s a defense mechanism
I want to give you an out place to run
to
a lot of people never get to where they
want to be because they’ll never stop
complaining about where they’re at
I must say it again a lot of people will
never get to where they want to be
because they will never stop complaining
about where they’re at
the word complain means to remain or to
stay overnight so if you want to stay
right where you’re at
just keep complaining about it and I can
pretty much guarantee you that you’ll
still be there and they’ll tell you you
did the best you could now they’ll say
the DAC the deck the deck was stacked
against you and they’ll say it’s not
your
[Music]
and they’ll tell you it’s okay to stop
it’s okay to settle it’s okay to give up
[Music]
and that is the instinct you need to
fight you need to polish back to smash
into the ground do not take the easy way
out
do not give up based on instinct if you
are forced to stand down to retreat
so that you can build and we attack
so
but make that decision based on logic
not on the instinct of surrender and
defeat get up go fight on my history of
being sort of on all sides of my journey
you know I didn’t I didn’t have success
very early and I went through some very
dark times and you know the main one
thing I kept doing is you know inspiring
myself looking for inspiration and
growing and and it hasn’t stopped and I
want to keep doing that and I also wanna
inspire others you know there were
millions of me sitting at home right now
and they don’t know it and it’s just
good to be able to get me sort of
platform tests or to say come a man go
for it so listen man knows yes I don’t
do things for money and I’ve been broke
most of my life
so because of that I can’t sort of
suddenly go I need to do a job just to
get some cash you know I mean I know
that’s a lot of times it is people’s
motivations because people need to eat
but in my position
I’ve been poor most of my life so now
I think I think my imaginations always
kept me going in
you know just imagine myself collecting
awards just imagine myself you know I
mean getting big parts imagine myself
working with the greatest actors my
imagination was the one I know I mean
like I’ve known you but not overthink it
but you just kind of like yeah man I see
myself driving that car one day but I
get
[Music]
actually if I can see myself doing it I
could probably do it she can’t bottled
up and sell it to someone you can do it
or you can’t but everybody can imagine
themselves you know
[Music]
I’m innocent poor not to give yourself
boundaries which we can do quite easy
okay
people talk about aiming for the skies
sometimes even aiming for the skies is
intimidating just don’t give yourself
boundaries your sky and my sky might be
different and I mean but neither of us
will touch the sky if we give ourselves
boundaries and I mean whatever your sky
is whatever your biggest dream is but
I’ve already touched that you know so in
other words what sky where does the sky
end I’d rather people go you know what
I’m not gonna restrict myself to the guy
I can only do this so I can only do that
oh I have to do it this way or I have to
do it that way
the first step before anybody else in
the world believes it is you have to
believe it there’s no reason to have a
plan because it distracts from plan a it
was 16 contemplated being an actor I was
in sound systems deejay and I mean and
you know it was like that all this so I
always go back to deejay I always have a
studio I always have turntables always
been doing that a long time in anime and
there was a there was a drive to be
famous to be you know that that pinnacle
to be that guy and I’m not not that not
it’s not it’s not my ambition happier
than that as much you know I mean good
work keep working so it’s very hard for
me to sort of glide me be like you know
harm lifted up by this wonderful life
that I have I love it but you know I’m I
feel you’re on the ground you know I
sleep you know
it’s work it’s a job
achievement achievement is inspirational
to me you know people doing it some on
that on Monday didn’t know how to do
this by Friday can do it that is an
inspiration to me I’m not afraid to fail
I’m not afraid to fall over make a
mistake that often time cripples people
on the onset of getting too into
anything the first time ever Peter the
DJed eggs was horrible horrible now but
I’m not afraid of that I’m not afraid of
that feeling it actually propels me it
works quite the opposite
but I really loved to do it so I just
said I want to do what I love you know I
mean
like I can do 18 22 hours a day easily
it’s definitely one of those components
to me as a human being my makeup my
genetics that allows me to actually keep
moving
I’m a veteran at being able to look at
an opportunity and go is that gonna take
me further or not you know some people
don’t have that you won’t is something
you develop you know that’s why most
times out of 10 any head of a company
has been doing it for a long time
because they inherently can make a
decision and the blink of an eye but you
have to learn that
the other thing that’s important I think
is to keep your head down you know keep
your head down like when I swim 25 laps
guaranteed if I look up and start
counting those laps
I’m petered out by 15 if I put my head
down I keep working away and work a
technique work it internal rhythm work
it ooh I hit that for length I don’t
even know what length come on guarantee
you I’ll look up it’ll be 20 and two
more three more to go
and that’s a very simple device but I
think people will find themselves
incremental each eken how far they’ve
gone and now you know when you compare
to anybody else or whatever it’s just a
it’s a recipe for disaster just keep
banging on you know
[Music]
[Music]
mountain climbers would probably tell
you the same thing you know there’s no
point looking at the difference between
climbing a hundred feet and climbing 503
it’s a point of view you don’t know
you’re at the top until you get there
pal and that’s what you need to remember
[Music]
you know just gana just don’t look down
[Music]
the more I grow you know in 43 is point
now considered a middle-aged man and
happiness is without a doubt the best
thing that I am I strive for health and
happiness kid you know I couldn’t any of
it means nothing if I’m not happy about
it my breakthrough was actually decided
I wanted to be an actor and go into a
drama college not a drama college I did
a performing arts course they changed my
life it turns my dreams into a reality
it gave me an actual tangible target to
go oh actually I could do this that was
my breakthrough because it was a
breakthrough of my mind
[Music]
that was my biggest break from of course
have been numerous breakthroughs over my
career in my life which I’m all proud of
but none so much is that realization
that I want to be an actor to thrive in
whatever you to please understand your
terrain know what your target is don’t
guess it be as clued up as the next man
because that’s that’s that’s your petrol
that’s your fuel to get you moving if
you don’t know where you’re going what
your targets are you’re never gonna get
there period
work hard sleepless
[Music]
you
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