yeah you just kind of have the the
fearlessness to really take those shots
you know because you missed those shots
then you have to deal with the criticism
you have to deal with us talking about
it right right right so you know a lot
of times a lot of people kind of you
know apprehensive about taking their
shots because of that I only mention it
but you start smiling away just well
it’s it’s it’s always it’s always been a
myth to me as to why certain people
don’t really like those situations
because of the the pressure you know
because we’ve all lost games before so
it’s not like by you missing that shot
you about to face something that you
will never face again or having faced in
the past you know what I mean we’ve all
come up short it’s you know one time or
another so he’s gonna kind of let it all
hang out and you don’t trust your skills
and Trust the work that you put in there
are some mountains that can be climbed
by people like you and me we got to get
a little bit better condition but I mean
it’s not like the mountain climber
mountains that would be way beyond our
skill level but but but some of these
mountains that can be climbing you and
me that it takes a day to get to the top
and then that you just camp up there and
you come in and down the next day and on
many of these places where it’s
Switzerland where you could do that
about halfway up the mountain is what
they call the halfway house halfway
house halfway up the mountain so the
group of people starts off with a guide
in the morning and about noon you’re
kind of tired you’ve been walking now
for four or five hours and here comes
that you’re coming up to the halfway
house it is just a it’s it’s a wonderful
sight because as soon as you enter in
the halfway house you can smell the food
and they’re they’re getting ready for a
good lunch and you sit down there’s a
fire in the fireplace and there’s nice
soft chairs and you can just rest your
body and refresh your body and and so
the people go into the halfway house and
they eat and laugh and enjoy and and
just really really just kind of take in
that that wonderful refreshing
atmosphere
about an hour and a half after be in the
halfway house the guide gets up as his
will gang it’s time to put on your gear
we we got a hike we got to get on up at
the top this is a fact about half the
people decide not to go on up to the top
they’re sitting around the table and
they’re just saying you know what go on
up and you’re gonna be come by here
tomorrow gonna be having lunch here
again tomorrow we’re just gonna hang
here and and so the people that want to
get to the top they put their stuff on
and they kind of leave and the rest of
the people sit behind they you don’t eat
a little bit more food get around the
piano sing some songs get around the
fireplace
enjoy the fire warm themselves above the
fire no I’ve played games all afternoon
kind of enjoy themselves but about 4:30
chordal 5:00 in the afternoon without
anybody saying a word the people who
stayed in the halfway house
they slowly go over to where the window
is the big window and they start looking
outside and they start looking up at the
top of that mountain and as they look at
the top of that mountain they see their
friends their friends are now getting
the tents out and they’re getting ready
to prepare for the night and it becomes
very quiet very somber because everybody
in the halfway house realizes the
mistake they’ve made
they’ve they’ve they’ve they’ve sold
their mission for a little bit of
comfort for a few hours next morning
down come their friends and by noon they
come into the halfway house when they
come in the halfway they are laughing
they’re high-fiving they’re talking
about what they’ve seen where they’ve
been experiences the fact that it was
almost impossible to get up there in
fact they had to help each other get up
there and how they join teams and held
hands and and they just tell all these
stories and talk about the pictures
they’ve taken and the yeah they got the
group picture up there with the flag at
the top and the people who remain behind
they don’t say much they just eat their
lunch and then follow the rest of them
down to the bottom the hill where their
friends are waiting for them
those who paid the price and went to the
top who understood now is the time to
reach the mission they hug can tell
stories and celebrate and the others
they just kind of slip off and get in a
car and go home because they realize
they’re never going to be what they
wanted to be they’re never going to see
what they wanted to see they’re never
going to do what they wanted to do
because they failed to realize when
they’re at the halfway house now’s the
time to rest
and they go on you need to focus on
solutions not ideas all of us here are
really creative and we come up with
loads of ideas throughout the game we
become really excited about that as a
dude we should start a company around
that but that’s when you actually go to
the other side where you talk to where
you you know find out what someone
actually a problem a problem that they
have and solve that is is when you know
real value comes out I think my biggest
tip is just get started I meet a lot of
younger entrepreneurs who have good
ideas or bad ideas or some ideas and you
don’t want to be a person who just talks
and talks and talks you have to actually
go and do something and don’t worry
about if it’s the perfect thing or not
there is this myth of entrepreneurship
that you’ll have the one genius idea and
suddenly everything falls into place it
doesn’t work like that it’s a hard slog
there’s a lot of things to do wrong a
lot of things you’ll do right the sooner
you get started the sooner you’ll get
somewhere optimism has a place but I
think even more so for the first time
entrepreneur you need to be
pragmatically pessimistic what I mean by
that is you need to define all the
worst-case scenarios in terms of
financial loss time loss etc look at
what you will learn if that happens and
accept and come to terms with that
before you ever start if you don’t do
that and you go straight into battling
the world trying to conquer the world
with rose-colored glasses on the first
time you hit a major hiccup you’re gonna
become really demoralized and you’ll
quit and I think where is the
opportunity the opportunity lie always
lies in the place where people complain
some people sit there complain you think
if I can solve that complaint that’s the
man to be able to one day like here
rappers that I looked up to on the radio
and be like yo what if jay-z whoever
what if they heard of me
what if they thought I was dope
you know I’m saying like that was where
my mentality always was was was with it
and I think the reality is just you know
not quite so glamorous there’s sort of a
there’s an ugly side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly with when you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work say I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems
so it’s really important that you kind
of like going with with eyes wide open I
would say that the lesson learned for me
to anybody else out there interested in
starting a business is please find
something you’re passionate about
because it’s so much work it’s so much
time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
it’s not gonna be that big of a drag and
it’s not gonna be that big much work
it’s gonna be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living you’re at the
life that you’re meant to live yes PN
call me they did a story on me this past
summer but they called me one day I
picked up the phone he said is this inky
johnson I said last time I checked I’m
inky johnson they said is this the same
guy that said if you could change what
happened to you you wouldn’t I said
absolutely
they said it’s our understanding the
game of football meant the world I said
at one point it did they said it’s our
understanding that your family was
banking on you making it to the NFL they
can have a better way of life I said
yeah that’s that’s correct and said
we’re coming to see you I said all right
cool come on and said but we don’t want
to see you in Atlanta we want to see you
a Nealon Stadium on the exact yard line
where your life changes the same time of
day the only thing that won’t be present
it’s Air Forces team all right cool and
so they take me to Neyland Stadium they
put me on the exact yard line with my
life changed they said now tell your
younger self why you wouldn’t stop your
injury if you could
if you could be in the NFL right now
making millions of dollars tell you
young yourself why you wouldn’t change
that situation if you could and let’s
say the reason I wouldn’t change it
believe it or not has nothing to do with
me back on a personal level you he
thought I was gonna say because of the
man that I’ve become the perspective
that I’ve acquired my faith that been
fortified he thought I was gonna say
something like that I said no it has
nothing to do it has everything to do
with the lies that have been affected by
the result of the process and the thing
that I represent in the world what my
spirit represents once he might have
seen me they think perseverance well my
spirit represents where somebody see me
they think don’t quit what my spirit
represents when somebody see me they
think that’s a quality individual right
there what my character represents in
the world and every single day we’re
putting something out like that
represent something when people see that
they thinks it’s a thought that comes to
the month when you say goes thinner he
gave me that I felt a certain time woody
but he gave me to go stick I thought for
certain time I felt different gold
standard with me because I think in what
I do a lot of business I’m in I’m gonna
gold standard because I don’t compromise
and every single day I’m gonna give you
my very best you could bet your bottom
dollar every single day I’m gonna bring
that gold standard to life and I’m not
just bringing it and one aspect of life
I’m bringing it every single aspect of
life I’m not gonna be one of these
people in the world that’s a public
success but they’re private failure I
mean they give everything they got to
one aspect of life but the other areas
they lack are no I’m gonna give every
single thing I got to every aspect of my
life because I represent something when
people see me they think something
whether that’s character never given up
never surrender and the thing that we
can never do is forget what we represent
because that’s how guys end up under
bridge on a cardboard box leap they
forget what they represent when life
hits him where that person my only
charge for you
never forget what you represent the two
things we really zero in on a people are
you know two things they sound simple
they end up being very difficult courage
and genius courage is the one we talk
about a lot because it’s the one that
people can learn you know courage
courage which is to say not giving up in
the face of adversity you know just
being absolutely determined to succeed
you know is something that you can you
can like force yourself to do it can be
very painful you can force yourself to
do it
the genius part is a little bit hard to
force yourself to do you know courage
without genius might not get you where
you need to go but genius without
courage almost certainly won’t just do
my work for me I’ve always been very
utilitarian on all of this stuff and
that’s what coming from punk rock gave
to me where I don’t feel like I’m
anybody and someone wants me to sign
something I’m like sure I don’t exactly
understand why but I’ll do it for you I
don’t think I’m anything maybe it’s also
not just because of the punk rock
mentality it’s also because you were
scooping ice cream not so long ago and
maybe there’s an element of insecurity
in you that unless you keep working and
keep keep striving you could end up back
there oh I kind of figured that’s
eventual I keep moving forward boldly
because I have nothing to lose I’m
nobody from nowhere you should really
understand that I am from the minimum
wage working world a hundred years ago
but I don’t ever have it in my head that
that’s any less any more than one tour
away of coming back and so I just I like
to work it’s not about money or fame or
anything it’s about activity and
challenge you know I felt like the odds
was against us you know from the from
the summer we just had so many things
going on our team we shuffled in
different lineups we shuffled in
different players we made a trade at the
day line and I can’t see here right now
I say that that that the finals was was
a part of my thinking it was not even
when you saw me at one point early in
the season I think it was in December or
January and you looked at me like okay
well now I know you what you what you’re
doing and it’s crazy because right
before you see me I had already kind of
hit that switch I was like okay I’m not
quite sure what we’re gonna do with this
ballclub
we’re not playing good basketball but
you can’t sell yourself short but to see
I can’t even lie to you seer and Sam but
we’d be a part of finals I would be
definitely lying to you if I said yes we
would be in the finals in January
February yeah you didn’t think that that
was the case it was that point where I
was like okay well the Cavs even make
the playoffs you know and I was okay I’m
not settling for that conversation no
that’s just that’s ridiculous
I got to get into the postseason and
I’ve always said if I get into the
postseason no matter if I’m a 1 seed or
a seed or in this case a 4 seed I
believe that we can we can do something
and look at it we did something we did
something we know from our past
experiences that big things start small
you know the biggest oak starts from an
acorn and you’ve got to recognize
anything new you’ve got to be willing to
let that acorn grow into a little
sapling and then finally into a small
tree and maybe one day it’ll be a big
business on its own and in fact that’s
one of the mottos for one of your
initiatives and forgive my pronunciation
in Latin but Greta team for octa what
does that mean to you well it means step
by step ferociously and it’s the motto
for Blue Origin and basically you can’t
skip steps you have to put one foot in
front of the other things take time
you there are no shortcuts and but but
you want to do those steps with you know
passion and ferocity it looks and lots
of companies and why I thought they
don’t succeed over time we’ve had a more
rapid turnover of companies so what do
they fundamentally do wrong
and one of those companies all do wrong
and they usually it’s just they missed
the future and so I think for me I just
tried to focus on that and say what does
that future really gonna be you know how
do we create it one of the things that’s
really interesting about the Old
Testament is that and the Jews in the
Old Testament is that they don’t take
the path of Cain every time they’re
walloped by God which is like fairly
frequently they say we must have done
something wrong and we have to set our
self right and that’s a an unbelievably
heroic attitude because that’s the
alternative to cursing fate it’s like
you take the responsibility for failure
unto yourself and you think well if I
was just maybe if I just had my act
together a little bit more if I took
advantage of every opportunity that was
put in front of me if I wasn’t resentful
and bitter then I could have done
something that would have tilted the
situation in a different direction and
like that’s almost inevitably true
Dostoevsky I think said something like
every man is responsible for everything
that happens to him and everything that
happens to everyone else and that’s you
know that that’s that’s it’s a crazy
statement right it’s a crazy statement
and he was a pretty extreme person in
many many ways but there’s a level at
which that’s metaphysically true you
know because what happens is that it’s
you its failure to act often that’s the
most catastrophic you know I mean I’ve
it’s it’s it’s to not do the right thing
when the when the situation presents
itself and it’s very specific you know
you’re constantly in situations where
you could do the right thing if you were
willing to take a risk that’s actually a
relatively moderate size and you know
that you could take the risk and you
know that you should take the risk and
you don’t and that happens to people all
the time and then what happens is the
thing that they didn’t oppose grows a
little bit and they shrink a little bit
and that starts a loop hey what are you
gonna do when you wake up and you feel
lost you feel less than you
you feel a sense of either depression or
despair and no direction what I do is
this I show up I show up man
buddy mine told me when I was super low
point in my life he said a man show up
even if your life’s if your eyes are
bleeding and your life is low show up
anyway show up
looks like you always go out of your
comfort zone right coming on to an
island that was completely deserted no
fresh water you don’t even have the
money to buy it and and now you’re
sleeping on a tent on the beach trying
to figure out how to get fresh water
here you do that often you did it with
the airline I mean I was just somebody
that experienced the bad experience of
traveling on Airlines I was actually
trying to get to the BVI the British
Virgin Islands one day from Puerto Rico
and the same lovely lady was waiting for
me and I’ve been away for three weeks
and American Airlines bumped the flight
and and I went to the back of the
airport I had a plane I had a black
board I wrote Virgin Airlines one-way
$29 to the BVI I went around all the
people have been bumped and I filmed my
first plane and and that got me thinking
you know that airlines do bump people
they don’t care about you or me
particularly in the air and so we sigh
then rang up Boeing and said you have
any second 747 okay I mean it was
literally that you just sat in the
airport and said I’m starting an airline
right now because I’m frustrated exactly
and I think most most of the best
entrepreneurial ideas come out of
frustration I think you know if you if
you’re frustrated about something and
the best way of sorting it out is get
out and do it and you’ve got yourself a
business somebody said to you you’ll
have or you’ll be as successful as you
are now what have you had said back then
I believe you
that’s probable to say because I they
believed I believed anything I had very
few people who told me that I had a
small small small group of people that
would tell me something like that order
than that it was just me telling myself
yeah so if someone came up to me and
told me that all the way back then I’d
say you’re damn right if you don’t love
it
you won’t make it through the long
period of pain that is inevitable so
make sure that you take care of yourself
during the process make sure that you
take care of your mental health your
physical health while you’re doing it
because it’s a long road a lot of people
come to me they say well I want to be an
entrepreneur and I go that’s great
what’s your idea and they go well I
don’t have one yet and I say well I
think you should go get a job as a
busboy or something until you find
something you’re really passionate about
because it’s a lot of work and I’m
convinced that about half of what
separates the successful entrepreneurs
from the non successful ones is pure
perseverance it is so hard you pour so
much your life into this thing there are
such rough moments in time that most
people give up I don’t blame them it’s
really tough and it consumes your life I
mean if you’re if you’ve got a family
and you’re in the early days of a
company it’s I can’t imagine how one
could do it I’m sure it’s it’s been done
but it’s rough I mean because it’s a
pretty much a you know an 18 hour day
job seven days a week for a while so
unless you have a lot of passion about
this you’re gonna not survive you’re
gonna give it up so you’ve got to have
an idea of or a problem or a wrong that
you want to write that you’re passionate
about otherwise you’re not going to have
the perseverance to stick it through and
I think that’s half the battle right
there it’s hard to remember how bad it
was you know in 1980s with IBM taking
over the world with the PC with Doss out
there it was it was far worse than the
Apple 2 and they tried to copy the Apple
2 and they’ve done a pretty bad job and
you needed to know a lot and so things
were kind of slipping backwards and
Macintosh was you saw the 1984
commercial you put that I hope you have
that in your archives
you know Macintosh was basically
this this relatively small company you
know in Cupertino California taking on
the Goliath IBM and saying wait a minute
your way is wrong this is not the way we
want computers to go this is not the
legacy we want to leave this is not what
we want our kids to be learning this is
wrong and we are going to show you the
right way to do it and here it is it’s
called Macintosh and this is so much
better that it’s gonna beat you and we
are gonna do it and that’s what Apple
stood for do not cast pearls before
swine and what that means is that if
people are not listening to you stop
talking to them and that’s really that
is the best piece of advice that I can
give you and what happens is is that if
you stop talking to people who aren’t
listening to you and start watching them
instead they will tell you what they’re
up to but so if you have things to say
say them but you find people that will
listen talk to them the ones who aren’t
listening pull back because you’re
you’re devaluing what you have to say by
offering it to an audience that does
nothing but reject it and that’s a good
guideline to life in general so pull
back I say to the my girls all of the
time that your real work is to figure
out where your power base is and to work
on the alignment of your personality
your gifts that you have to give with
the real reason why you’re here that’s
that’s the number one thing you have to
do is to work on yourself and to fill
your self up and keep your cup full keep
yourself full now I used to be afraid of
that I used to be afraid particularly
from people who say oh she’s that she’s
so full of herself
or so and now I embrace it
III considered a compliment that I am
full of myself because you only when
you’re full I’m full I’m overflowing my
cup runneth over
I have so much I have so much to offer
and so much to give and I am not afraid
of honoring myself you know it’s
miraculous when you think about it there
is an advantage to being what I like to
call now hardcore hardcore I don’t know
quite how to describe it it’s a
combination of tenacious and dedicated
and passionate and committed something
like that hardcourt I learned about
being hardcore
from math concentrators at Harvard I’m
not going to ask whether we have any
math concentrators here but I would say
that’s where I got kind of my lesson I
mean people could just go crazy focused
not it wasn’t just the people were
genius but working and working and
working and working
you know I’d sit in my room working on a
problem set after three hours I’m a
little ad D I just couldn’t take it the
most hardcore people power through
anything and the advantage of being that
tenacious and dedicated and committed I
claim it helped us at Microsoft it’s
fundamental at Microsoft but I learned
it here and at HAARP I think successed
first of all is knowing my purpose in
life as I have watched and observed
successful people what I have discovered
about them is they really have figured
out why they’re here they really do have
their act together and and and knowing
their purpose in life is a stability for
them so that when everyone else is
rocking and rolling and and and and
things are a little unsteady and people
are kind of leaving the ship and people
are kind of abandoning their causes with
these people they hold steady right
throughout the storm because they they
have a true North Star they truly are
focused it becomes an it comes
Anker in their life that just holds them
steady and the anchor is a confidence
based upon a knowledge of purpose Oscar
how did you go from being my my
assistant to a famous big-time movie
producer just by never taking no for an
answer I’m kind of following believing I
could do anything which I learned in the
nice dad studio alright seriously this
guy would just over and over again I’d
never seen anything like it you just say
you’re smart figure it out you’re smart
figure it out you’re smart figure it out
I don’t care how long it takes just make
it beautiful and that sounded a little
weird at the time because you’re used to
working in a restaurant or being a
landscaper but it’s actually really
empowering and it took me a while to
figure that out
and the more movies I made the more I
realized it didn’t matter it kind of
applies to everything you know one of
the things that I tell people when they
asked me for advice about what they
should do when they’re wanting to start
their own business or take a next step
in their career is to actually start
small I think a lot of people try to
they kind of psyched themselves out or
they get too overwhelmed with how big
something can get but the truth is
you’ve really just got to start small
and you got to prove it before you scale
it there’s a lot of conventional wisdom
out there built up over time and built
through all the learnings from all the
and this may be fully applicable to most
of the companies out there but before
it’s applied to your organization I
highly recommend that you question it
because it could be absolutely fatal
went to Harvard and you dropped out have
you ever thought how your life could be
better off if you had gotten your
Harvard degree well I I’m a weird
dropout because I take college courses
all the time I love learning company
courses and and things so I love being a
student and there were smart people
around and you know they fed you and
they gave you these nice grades that
made you feel smart so I I feel it was
unfortunate that I didn’t get to stay
there but I don’t think I missed any
knowledge because you know whatever I
needed to learn I would I was still in a
learning mode trying to do something
that you would want to do anyway whether
it’s doesn’t necessarily have to be very
successful business because when you do
decide to become an entrepreneur and
start a business chances are it’s not
gonna do it’s not gonna become like a
multi-million dollar business so at
least do something that you love in the
beginning so that even if it fails you’d
still enjoy it that whatever you do
somebody can do it better you have to
bring your a-game in every single day
there’s nothing unique about any one
individual what’s unique is their
passion their ability to execute to meet
targets and exceed them the minute you
lose that ability in capitalism you’re
gone it’s a fair trade the engine that
makes you rich can take it all away from
you
there are no guarantees I think that’s
incredibly important don’t solicit
feedback on your product your idea or
your business just for validation
purposes be really careful about that
you want to tell the people that can
help move your idea forward but if
you’re just looking to your friend code
her husband wife for validation be
careful because out of love and concern
a lot of people will express some
concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
their tracks in the beginning so the
most important part of getting to a goal
is to start feeling it now is to start
acting as if right if you want to be
that leader if you want to be that
author if you want to be that painter
all it takes is one action and you truly
are in the process of becoming it so
it’s funny that I am literally basically
done with the book and I’m like can I
call myself an author yet I’ve written a
book of course because you have taken
the action you’re doing the actions
there is no final anointing of anyone
there’s no ceremony there’s no fireworks
you just start acting as if and feeling
it and envisioning it and picturing it
and soon enough you become it right so
everybody starts somewhere so whether
you are a famous ballerina or an Olympic
swimmer they all started somewhere they
all had to take that first class they
all had to take that first leap into the
water right and at what point can you
start calling yourself a swimmer a
dancer an author it’s the second that
you start taking action and you start
thinking it and you’re feeling it right
it’s about embodying it so my biggest
tip for you is to start seeing yourself
as that person and start taking the
small actions of being that person that
you want to be that’s the only thing
that is separating you from actually
being it so you have to act as if in
order to really start getting that ball
rolling and all of a sudden you are make
sure you choose you know when you’re
trying to decide whether or not an idea
is good enough to pursue or a particular
business is something you want to want
to go forward with make sure that it’s
the type of business that when you’re
standing in the shower it’s the thing
you want to think about for the next
10 or 20 years to have the level of
success that I want to have it’s
difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way we
gotta focus with all of your fiber and
all your heart and all your creativity
failure is part of life I mean the
difference for me though is I like a
failure as a stepping stone to success
it’s a speed bump I know I’m gonna fail
but it’s not failure if you learn
something and so gosh I’ve made so many
mistakes I’ve screwed so many things up
but every time I do it just becomes it
becomes a way for me to explain to
someone else what it takes you know it’s
like here’s what I’ve done I think I
have the ability to influence people
because I talk about my failures I talk
about all the things that mess me up but
I show people that didn’t let it stop me
and you don’t need to stop you and I
think I think that’s really the secret
matter and if everything you touch was
successful first one got to relate to
people as well oh you’ll be late and
also it’s B total bullsh and everyone
know it’s both and also you’d be bored
silly I mean think about it if you just
said I want this and happen I want this
to happen you know people don’t value it
they don’t fight for you know it’s like
you see kids sometimes in it you know
your parents will say you’re not gonna
value this if you don’t work for it and
your kid going oh well you’ll just give
it to me but it’s true you know about
things we’ve worked the hardest for we
value the most so I think you know the
purpose of the goal is not getting it
anyway the purpose of goal you know is
what who you become well you becomes
gonna make you happier it’s gonna make
you sad
so I’m not looking for an effortless
approach there’s no such thing I’m in
meetings a lot my counter gets very full
with those and then at night after the
kids have gone to bed I’m on
email a great deal I get messages during
the day that’s my chance give long
responses and then over the weekend I
send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called think week so
it’s nice mix of things about 25% of the
time that I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
they they like to see us do better I
don’t like to think too far ahead so you
haven’t told I don’t like too far ahead
people say it like goals long distance
goals and that’s too much for me I
already feel like I’m living it and then
I just carry on the old I you know carry
on day by day already living the final
goal the goal of being the world
champion I already carry myself like I’m
my world champ and I already speak like
I’m a world champion and and that’s it I
just carry on day by day so I’ll take it
as a calms a lot again like I said you
were asking asking me about the future I
let you I’ll let you know a little bit
closer and I mean as far all I can see
right now is the cold that’s all I can
see we took a lot of pride in in
trailblazing and how the game was played
back at that time through we would we
would intimidate teams and we would want
to dominate teams but also too we also
had the thought process that a team was
never gonna outwork us we’re gonna be
the hardest working team in the country
the best piece of advice that I was
given when I started my modeling career
was make sure that you under there was a
lot of things that weren’t given to me
because you know everybody likes to give
you advice one thing that stayed with me
is you’re as good as your last job and
so every job I treat it as if it were my
last job and I think that that kind of
gave me a reputation of hard-working
ready to do whatever it takes to get
this shot and
and I and I think that that’s very
important in any industry the thing that
I do at my company that is very unusual
is that we are completely unreasonable
without reason without we don’t use
yes I’m logical okay yes I’m a sane
person but when it comes to achieving a
target we we do it with like we abandon
reason and logic we don’t talk about
yeah but we never start
yeah but or no we can’t or we couldn’t
because or it didn’t happen because any
any time you’re talking any time you’re
making sense of why something didn’t
work we don’t have the budget we can’t
do that because yeah but we’re different
you are being reasonable the great
things that have happened on this planet
and continue to happen or because people
are unreasonable they literally abandon
reason and logic they defy the universe
now if you look around if you’re a
logical person if you’re a person has to
make sense of it beforehand then spend
some time looking around the universe
look at nature look at all the things
that are done everyday that literally
defy gravity defying
the five physics it’s all over the place
if you need to be reasonable now in my
case I don’t need to be reasonable
because there’s enough cases of super
successful people doing things that are
amazing whether it was a manufacturing a
new product or whether Steve Jobs coming
back to Apple and turning that company
around every day ever you look at the
Amazon look what Amazon is done
okay now you look at it you’re like dude
does a no-brainer make it make all
products available online now it’s a
no-brainer now it’s like it’s so logical
look at Velcro velcro was like god I
should have thought of that
see but beforehand it was completely out
of reason that you could stick things
together because they scratch one
another you understand what I’m saying
so look this is what I want you to try
try this in your life it’s gonna be very
difficult one of the most difficult
things I do is being unreasonable
because all the people I’m
roundabouts are trying to make sense of
why they can’t do something quit making
sense of why you can’t do something and
become unreasonable until you do do
something it’s all in the mindset when
you get up in the morning you do what
you normally do
I would eventually say a lot of you here
probably turn on your cellphone’s your
computers and what’s the latest email
what’s the latest text that comes then
you start your day off like that that’s
your mindset try this get up in the
morning do whatever you have to do don’t
turn the computer on don’t turn the TV
on go right back to bed again either lay
there or sit there and just bring the
universe to you here’s how you do it you
just be it’s virtually impossible when
you first do it because the thousand
thoughts come through your head were
human beings so what you do is you’re
sitting in bed look at the wall look at
the off TV set look at the ceiling look
at the door look at something the room
to get your attention and just look at
it and just be for a couple of minutes
not 10 minutes not 20 minutes not two
days just be when your mind wanders find
another spot in the room to look at so
you’re back in present time even for a
couple of minutes now go about your day
don’t think about what you’re gonna do
for that split few minutes you’re now
becoming part of a universe which is
also part of global thinking I think
things through I’m a games and Theory
guy and I and I sort of ponder options
before I make decisions hmm so I’m less
the act from my heart guy and just sort
of say what I’m thinking and instance 10
Holland turn internalize a bit and try
and imagine like chess game the possible
outcomes and then act accordingly to
what I think might be the best and I
think that goes sort of with what a
magician thinks through as well right
like a stage magician has to keep two
steps ahead look over here look over
here while something else is going on
over here
close-up magicians got to be very aware
of outs and options so I guess a
magician that hard would probably be
that I sort of think like the magician
my parents couldn’t afford to put me in
a lot of like dance classes and things
like that but we would throw me into
like the community ones and it created
this the free ones
yeah the free ones yeah and then
eventually when I started acting or it
it started with modeling and then I turn
into acting they didn’t approve of it
they didn’t have the money to support it
so with my jobs I would pay for the
headshots and I would go take classes
and take four different buses and a
subway to get downtown from the suburbs
in Toronto where I loved to get to the
class I get a hat I wanted it and if
like if I didn’t actually put in the
work for it I wouldn’t have gotten to
where I am and and I really had to be
from women I’m a very effective person
when I’m by myself and when I have to
work in groups like I fall to pieces
like does not work well with others is
what it said in every report card I got
until I dropped out of high school in
the tenth grade and I think that’s
that’s very true so for me that creative
process is one where in finding that
cadence that you talked about of making
a video every day was one where I
removed every obstruction between me and
finishing it and other people are the
biggest obstructions I have an idea well
let’s talk through that idea and the
metaphor that I use of discussing ideas
and groups is like when an idea at its
inception it’s an ice cube and it’s
rock-hard you can look at it you can see
it you can study it you know what it is
but when a discussion begins you have to
pass that ice cube around the room it
starts to melt and melt and melt and
after enough discussions the ice cubes
gone and everybody’s hands are wet and
nobody quite remembers what that idea
was that’s a major obstruction so for me
when it comes to creation like remove
that obstruction don’t talk don’t
involve other people don’t need anything
from anyone to realize this new video
every 24 hours and that’s that’s wildly
effective really sad to see that people
are disenchanted and nihilistic and
depressed and anxious and aimless and
and perverse and vengeful and and all of
those things it’s terrible and then
to see people question whether that’s
necessary and then to start to rise out
of it it’s like it’s so fun like last
night I was at after my talk it’s
overwhelming
I don’t usually think about these things
but I was I was after my talk last night
and so all these people line up and you
know they have their 15 15 seconds with
me and they’re kind of tentative they’re
excited and attentive when they come up
to talk to me and then they have you
know 15 seconds of time to tell me
something I’m really listening to them
and they’re hesitant about whether or
not to share the good news about their
life you know and I think it’s often
because when people share good news
about their life people don’t
necessarily respond positively you know
they don’t get encouragement and people
need so little encouragement it’s just
unbelievable and so there comes
something good and I’m a god that’s so
good you know when somebody says well
I’m getting along way better with my
father I haven’t seen him for 10 years
and now we get along great and then the
power of that you can’t overstate the
power of that for individuals to get
their life together the individual is an
unbelievably powerful force and every
single person who gets their act
together a little bit has the capacity
to spread that around them it’s it’s a
chain reaction and so it’s a lovely
thing to see God here’s what I think I
think we get one at bat um
the number one thing that scares me in
life is regret I really really really
don’t want to be on my deathbed whether
that’s tomorrow or when I’m 97 and think
I should have done that I should like
that’s that spooks me right like hard
work people judging me leaving you know
trolling me on social media like all the
stuff that normal people worry about I
don’t worry about I worry about regret
and so I’m trying to squeeze the
everything out of my life and so yeah I
do a lot fail early fail often fail
forward
you know it’s always a little bit
frustrating to me when people have a
negative relationship with failure
failure is a massive part of being able
to be successful you have to get
comfortable with failure yet you have to
actually seek failure failure is where
all of the lessons are you know when you
go to the gym and you work out you’re
actually seeking failure you want to
take your muscles to the point where you
get to failure because that’s where the
the adaptation is that’s where growth is
successful people who fail a lot they
fail a whole lot more than they succeed
but they extract the lessons from the
failure and they use that the the energy
and they use the wisdom to come around
to the next phase of success you got to
take a shot you have to live at the edge
of your capabilities you got to live
where you’re almost certain you’re gonna
fail that’s the reason for a practice
practice is controlled failure you’re
getting to your limit getting to your
limit getting to your limit you can’t
lift that you can’t do that you until
you get to the point that all of a
sudden your body makes the adjustment
and then you can do it
failure actually helps you to recognize
the areas where you need to evolve so
fail early fail often fail forward
too many of you in here have ego around
your time when it’s the only thing you
got so the reason I always know is cuz I
work because I work I work I try things
I test i DM you back i sweet I’ve work
so when you’re inch you taste it and
when you’ve done it for 20 years
you see patterns Facebook’s still
underpriced you just can’t target 22 to
25 year old african-american fans of
football because other people are doing
that too now it’s just like Google early
on you could just target soccer one-word
5 cents a click I did it
wine wine wine but then I had to put at
the end of the game now I got to put
2013 you know Heller cellars Zinfandel
like longtail real-estate if you’re
right about London
look it’s my favourites do you know what
you understand that somebody once bought
this building for a dollar somebody
bought the land we’re on for a dollar
once that happened it’s a long time ago
how do you know you’re a practitioner
the reason I do is to how I learned you
got to put up all of you were like well
I can’t do podcasting and Facebook and
Twitter oh but I can’t I can blog but I
can’t why if you want it so bad my thing
is why if you want it so bad why kid if
you want to have a media company around
Caribbean food culture
why can’t you I want it you know what I
want to see I want to see all your
minutes I want to see all your minutes I
want to give you a d-roc for today I
want to watch you from the moment you
wake up to the moment you go to sleep
let me promise you something you’re
gonna get exposed so so that’s why daily
be happened because you guys were like a
lot of you didn’t know me before daily
be how many people knew me before daily
be well not bad right you got you got to
really know me post daily big you heard
hard work and hustle before you were
confused and I’ve been doing that every
day for 20 years bigger is better how
many of you agree with this okay if you
can live on 900 grand the only people
that won’t go to 9 million are the
people that are selfish unselfish people
grow their businesses selfish people
don’t okay if you’re taking notes if
you’re gonna walk away with something
today I’m talking to the able people
here give me the name of a great company
that has seven employees I’m waiting
give me the name of a great company that
doesn’t spend a load of money on
advertising who is this company
tell me give me one name one name of any
see see you you built a business on a
fantasy right like I’m gonna get it stay
for I’m gonna get a stay for I’m gonna
get an all-state company I’m gonna I’m
gonna be an Allstate guy and I’m gonna
make 900 grand a year you’re selfish
folks see see what I’m saying about the
selfish person makes what they need the
unselfish person says I’m gonna make more than I need
fearlessness to really take those shots
you know because you missed those shots
then you have to deal with the criticism
you have to deal with us talking about
it right right right so you know a lot
of times a lot of people kind of you
know apprehensive about taking their
shots because of that I only mention it
but you start smiling away just well
it’s it’s it’s always it’s always been a
myth to me as to why certain people
don’t really like those situations
because of the the pressure you know
because we’ve all lost games before so
it’s not like by you missing that shot
you about to face something that you
will never face again or having faced in
the past you know what I mean we’ve all
come up short it’s you know one time or
another so he’s gonna kind of let it all
hang out and you don’t trust your skills
and Trust the work that you put in there
are some mountains that can be climbed
by people like you and me we got to get
a little bit better condition but I mean
it’s not like the mountain climber
mountains that would be way beyond our
skill level but but but some of these
mountains that can be climbing you and
me that it takes a day to get to the top
and then that you just camp up there and
you come in and down the next day and on
many of these places where it’s
Switzerland where you could do that
about halfway up the mountain is what
they call the halfway house halfway
house halfway up the mountain so the
group of people starts off with a guide
in the morning and about noon you’re
kind of tired you’ve been walking now
for four or five hours and here comes
that you’re coming up to the halfway
house it is just a it’s it’s a wonderful
sight because as soon as you enter in
the halfway house you can smell the food
and they’re they’re getting ready for a
good lunch and you sit down there’s a
fire in the fireplace and there’s nice
soft chairs and you can just rest your
body and refresh your body and and so
the people go into the halfway house and
they eat and laugh and enjoy and and
just really really just kind of take in
that that wonderful refreshing
atmosphere
about an hour and a half after be in the
halfway house the guide gets up as his
will gang it’s time to put on your gear
we we got a hike we got to get on up at
the top this is a fact about half the
people decide not to go on up to the top
they’re sitting around the table and
they’re just saying you know what go on
up and you’re gonna be come by here
tomorrow gonna be having lunch here
again tomorrow we’re just gonna hang
here and and so the people that want to
get to the top they put their stuff on
and they kind of leave and the rest of
the people sit behind they you don’t eat
a little bit more food get around the
piano sing some songs get around the
fireplace
enjoy the fire warm themselves above the
fire no I’ve played games all afternoon
kind of enjoy themselves but about 4:30
chordal 5:00 in the afternoon without
anybody saying a word the people who
stayed in the halfway house
they slowly go over to where the window
is the big window and they start looking
outside and they start looking up at the
top of that mountain and as they look at
the top of that mountain they see their
friends their friends are now getting
the tents out and they’re getting ready
to prepare for the night and it becomes
very quiet very somber because everybody
in the halfway house realizes the
mistake they’ve made
they’ve they’ve they’ve they’ve sold
their mission for a little bit of
comfort for a few hours next morning
down come their friends and by noon they
come into the halfway house when they
come in the halfway they are laughing
they’re high-fiving they’re talking
about what they’ve seen where they’ve
been experiences the fact that it was
almost impossible to get up there in
fact they had to help each other get up
there and how they join teams and held
hands and and they just tell all these
stories and talk about the pictures
they’ve taken and the yeah they got the
group picture up there with the flag at
the top and the people who remain behind
they don’t say much they just eat their
lunch and then follow the rest of them
down to the bottom the hill where their
friends are waiting for them
those who paid the price and went to the
top who understood now is the time to
reach the mission they hug can tell
stories and celebrate and the others
they just kind of slip off and get in a
car and go home because they realize
they’re never going to be what they
wanted to be they’re never going to see
what they wanted to see they’re never
going to do what they wanted to do
because they failed to realize when
they’re at the halfway house now’s the
time to rest
and they go on you need to focus on
solutions not ideas all of us here are
really creative and we come up with
loads of ideas throughout the game we
become really excited about that as a
dude we should start a company around
that but that’s when you actually go to
the other side where you talk to where
you you know find out what someone
actually a problem a problem that they
have and solve that is is when you know
real value comes out I think my biggest
tip is just get started I meet a lot of
younger entrepreneurs who have good
ideas or bad ideas or some ideas and you
don’t want to be a person who just talks
and talks and talks you have to actually
go and do something and don’t worry
about if it’s the perfect thing or not
there is this myth of entrepreneurship
that you’ll have the one genius idea and
suddenly everything falls into place it
doesn’t work like that it’s a hard slog
there’s a lot of things to do wrong a
lot of things you’ll do right the sooner
you get started the sooner you’ll get
somewhere optimism has a place but I
think even more so for the first time
entrepreneur you need to be
pragmatically pessimistic what I mean by
that is you need to define all the
worst-case scenarios in terms of
financial loss time loss etc look at
what you will learn if that happens and
accept and come to terms with that
before you ever start if you don’t do
that and you go straight into battling
the world trying to conquer the world
with rose-colored glasses on the first
time you hit a major hiccup you’re gonna
become really demoralized and you’ll
quit and I think where is the
opportunity the opportunity lie always
lies in the place where people complain
some people sit there complain you think
if I can solve that complaint that’s the
man to be able to one day like here
rappers that I looked up to on the radio
and be like yo what if jay-z whoever
what if they heard of me
what if they thought I was dope
you know I’m saying like that was where
my mentality always was was was with it
and I think the reality is just you know
not quite so glamorous there’s sort of a
there’s an ugly side to being an
entrepreneur and also just more
importantly with when you’re actually
spending your time on is just a lot of
hard work say I mentioned this but
you’re basically just sitting at your
desk heads down focused answering
customers customer support emails doing
sales figuring out hard engineering
problems
so it’s really important that you kind
of like going with with eyes wide open I
would say that the lesson learned for me
to anybody else out there interested in
starting a business is please find
something you’re passionate about
because it’s so much work it’s so much
time it’s so much effort but if the
subject matter is something that you you
genuinely love to be involved with it’s
it’s not gonna be that big of a drag and
it’s not gonna be that big much work
it’s gonna be incredibly exciting and
rewarding because to your point you’ll
feel like you’re living you’re at the
life that you’re meant to live yes PN
call me they did a story on me this past
summer but they called me one day I
picked up the phone he said is this inky
johnson I said last time I checked I’m
inky johnson they said is this the same
guy that said if you could change what
happened to you you wouldn’t I said
absolutely
they said it’s our understanding the
game of football meant the world I said
at one point it did they said it’s our
understanding that your family was
banking on you making it to the NFL they
can have a better way of life I said
yeah that’s that’s correct and said
we’re coming to see you I said all right
cool come on and said but we don’t want
to see you in Atlanta we want to see you
a Nealon Stadium on the exact yard line
where your life changes the same time of
day the only thing that won’t be present
it’s Air Forces team all right cool and
so they take me to Neyland Stadium they
put me on the exact yard line with my
life changed they said now tell your
younger self why you wouldn’t stop your
injury if you could
if you could be in the NFL right now
making millions of dollars tell you
young yourself why you wouldn’t change
that situation if you could and let’s
say the reason I wouldn’t change it
believe it or not has nothing to do with
me back on a personal level you he
thought I was gonna say because of the
man that I’ve become the perspective
that I’ve acquired my faith that been
fortified he thought I was gonna say
something like that I said no it has
nothing to do it has everything to do
with the lies that have been affected by
the result of the process and the thing
that I represent in the world what my
spirit represents once he might have
seen me they think perseverance well my
spirit represents where somebody see me
they think don’t quit what my spirit
represents when somebody see me they
think that’s a quality individual right
there what my character represents in
the world and every single day we’re
putting something out like that
represent something when people see that
they thinks it’s a thought that comes to
the month when you say goes thinner he
gave me that I felt a certain time woody
but he gave me to go stick I thought for
certain time I felt different gold
standard with me because I think in what
I do a lot of business I’m in I’m gonna
gold standard because I don’t compromise
and every single day I’m gonna give you
my very best you could bet your bottom
dollar every single day I’m gonna bring
that gold standard to life and I’m not
just bringing it and one aspect of life
I’m bringing it every single aspect of
life I’m not gonna be one of these
people in the world that’s a public
success but they’re private failure I
mean they give everything they got to
one aspect of life but the other areas
they lack are no I’m gonna give every
single thing I got to every aspect of my
life because I represent something when
people see me they think something
whether that’s character never given up
never surrender and the thing that we
can never do is forget what we represent
because that’s how guys end up under
bridge on a cardboard box leap they
forget what they represent when life
hits him where that person my only
charge for you
never forget what you represent the two
things we really zero in on a people are
you know two things they sound simple
they end up being very difficult courage
and genius courage is the one we talk
about a lot because it’s the one that
people can learn you know courage
courage which is to say not giving up in
the face of adversity you know just
being absolutely determined to succeed
you know is something that you can you
can like force yourself to do it can be
very painful you can force yourself to
do it
the genius part is a little bit hard to
force yourself to do you know courage
without genius might not get you where
you need to go but genius without
courage almost certainly won’t just do
my work for me I’ve always been very
utilitarian on all of this stuff and
that’s what coming from punk rock gave
to me where I don’t feel like I’m
anybody and someone wants me to sign
something I’m like sure I don’t exactly
understand why but I’ll do it for you I
don’t think I’m anything maybe it’s also
not just because of the punk rock
mentality it’s also because you were
scooping ice cream not so long ago and
maybe there’s an element of insecurity
in you that unless you keep working and
keep keep striving you could end up back
there oh I kind of figured that’s
eventual I keep moving forward boldly
because I have nothing to lose I’m
nobody from nowhere you should really
understand that I am from the minimum
wage working world a hundred years ago
but I don’t ever have it in my head that
that’s any less any more than one tour
away of coming back and so I just I like
to work it’s not about money or fame or
anything it’s about activity and
challenge you know I felt like the odds
was against us you know from the from
the summer we just had so many things
going on our team we shuffled in
different lineups we shuffled in
different players we made a trade at the
day line and I can’t see here right now
I say that that that the finals was was
a part of my thinking it was not even
when you saw me at one point early in
the season I think it was in December or
January and you looked at me like okay
well now I know you what you what you’re
doing and it’s crazy because right
before you see me I had already kind of
hit that switch I was like okay I’m not
quite sure what we’re gonna do with this
ballclub
we’re not playing good basketball but
you can’t sell yourself short but to see
I can’t even lie to you seer and Sam but
we’d be a part of finals I would be
definitely lying to you if I said yes we
would be in the finals in January
February yeah you didn’t think that that
was the case it was that point where I
was like okay well the Cavs even make
the playoffs you know and I was okay I’m
not settling for that conversation no
that’s just that’s ridiculous
I got to get into the postseason and
I’ve always said if I get into the
postseason no matter if I’m a 1 seed or
a seed or in this case a 4 seed I
believe that we can we can do something
and look at it we did something we did
something we know from our past
experiences that big things start small
you know the biggest oak starts from an
acorn and you’ve got to recognize
anything new you’ve got to be willing to
let that acorn grow into a little
sapling and then finally into a small
tree and maybe one day it’ll be a big
business on its own and in fact that’s
one of the mottos for one of your
initiatives and forgive my pronunciation
in Latin but Greta team for octa what
does that mean to you well it means step
by step ferociously and it’s the motto
for Blue Origin and basically you can’t
skip steps you have to put one foot in
front of the other things take time
you there are no shortcuts and but but
you want to do those steps with you know
passion and ferocity it looks and lots
of companies and why I thought they
don’t succeed over time we’ve had a more
rapid turnover of companies so what do
they fundamentally do wrong
and one of those companies all do wrong
and they usually it’s just they missed
the future and so I think for me I just
tried to focus on that and say what does
that future really gonna be you know how
do we create it one of the things that’s
really interesting about the Old
Testament is that and the Jews in the
Old Testament is that they don’t take
the path of Cain every time they’re
walloped by God which is like fairly
frequently they say we must have done
something wrong and we have to set our
self right and that’s a an unbelievably
heroic attitude because that’s the
alternative to cursing fate it’s like
you take the responsibility for failure
unto yourself and you think well if I
was just maybe if I just had my act
together a little bit more if I took
advantage of every opportunity that was
put in front of me if I wasn’t resentful
and bitter then I could have done
something that would have tilted the
situation in a different direction and
like that’s almost inevitably true
Dostoevsky I think said something like
every man is responsible for everything
that happens to him and everything that
happens to everyone else and that’s you
know that that’s that’s it’s a crazy
statement right it’s a crazy statement
and he was a pretty extreme person in
many many ways but there’s a level at
which that’s metaphysically true you
know because what happens is that it’s
you its failure to act often that’s the
most catastrophic you know I mean I’ve
it’s it’s it’s to not do the right thing
when the when the situation presents
itself and it’s very specific you know
you’re constantly in situations where
you could do the right thing if you were
willing to take a risk that’s actually a
relatively moderate size and you know
that you could take the risk and you
know that you should take the risk and
you don’t and that happens to people all
the time and then what happens is the
thing that they didn’t oppose grows a
little bit and they shrink a little bit
and that starts a loop hey what are you
gonna do when you wake up and you feel
lost you feel less than you
you feel a sense of either depression or
despair and no direction what I do is
this I show up I show up man
buddy mine told me when I was super low
point in my life he said a man show up
even if your life’s if your eyes are
bleeding and your life is low show up
anyway show up
looks like you always go out of your
comfort zone right coming on to an
island that was completely deserted no
fresh water you don’t even have the
money to buy it and and now you’re
sleeping on a tent on the beach trying
to figure out how to get fresh water
here you do that often you did it with
the airline I mean I was just somebody
that experienced the bad experience of
traveling on Airlines I was actually
trying to get to the BVI the British
Virgin Islands one day from Puerto Rico
and the same lovely lady was waiting for
me and I’ve been away for three weeks
and American Airlines bumped the flight
and and I went to the back of the
airport I had a plane I had a black
board I wrote Virgin Airlines one-way
$29 to the BVI I went around all the
people have been bumped and I filmed my
first plane and and that got me thinking
you know that airlines do bump people
they don’t care about you or me
particularly in the air and so we sigh
then rang up Boeing and said you have
any second 747 okay I mean it was
literally that you just sat in the
airport and said I’m starting an airline
right now because I’m frustrated exactly
and I think most most of the best
entrepreneurial ideas come out of
frustration I think you know if you if
you’re frustrated about something and
the best way of sorting it out is get
out and do it and you’ve got yourself a
business somebody said to you you’ll
have or you’ll be as successful as you
are now what have you had said back then
I believe you
that’s probable to say because I they
believed I believed anything I had very
few people who told me that I had a
small small small group of people that
would tell me something like that order
than that it was just me telling myself
yeah so if someone came up to me and
told me that all the way back then I’d
say you’re damn right if you don’t love
it
you won’t make it through the long
period of pain that is inevitable so
make sure that you take care of yourself
during the process make sure that you
take care of your mental health your
physical health while you’re doing it
because it’s a long road a lot of people
come to me they say well I want to be an
entrepreneur and I go that’s great
what’s your idea and they go well I
don’t have one yet and I say well I
think you should go get a job as a
busboy or something until you find
something you’re really passionate about
because it’s a lot of work and I’m
convinced that about half of what
separates the successful entrepreneurs
from the non successful ones is pure
perseverance it is so hard you pour so
much your life into this thing there are
such rough moments in time that most
people give up I don’t blame them it’s
really tough and it consumes your life I
mean if you’re if you’ve got a family
and you’re in the early days of a
company it’s I can’t imagine how one
could do it I’m sure it’s it’s been done
but it’s rough I mean because it’s a
pretty much a you know an 18 hour day
job seven days a week for a while so
unless you have a lot of passion about
this you’re gonna not survive you’re
gonna give it up so you’ve got to have
an idea of or a problem or a wrong that
you want to write that you’re passionate
about otherwise you’re not going to have
the perseverance to stick it through and
I think that’s half the battle right
there it’s hard to remember how bad it
was you know in 1980s with IBM taking
over the world with the PC with Doss out
there it was it was far worse than the
Apple 2 and they tried to copy the Apple
2 and they’ve done a pretty bad job and
you needed to know a lot and so things
were kind of slipping backwards and
Macintosh was you saw the 1984
commercial you put that I hope you have
that in your archives
you know Macintosh was basically
this this relatively small company you
know in Cupertino California taking on
the Goliath IBM and saying wait a minute
your way is wrong this is not the way we
want computers to go this is not the
legacy we want to leave this is not what
we want our kids to be learning this is
wrong and we are going to show you the
right way to do it and here it is it’s
called Macintosh and this is so much
better that it’s gonna beat you and we
are gonna do it and that’s what Apple
stood for do not cast pearls before
swine and what that means is that if
people are not listening to you stop
talking to them and that’s really that
is the best piece of advice that I can
give you and what happens is is that if
you stop talking to people who aren’t
listening to you and start watching them
instead they will tell you what they’re
up to but so if you have things to say
say them but you find people that will
listen talk to them the ones who aren’t
listening pull back because you’re
you’re devaluing what you have to say by
offering it to an audience that does
nothing but reject it and that’s a good
guideline to life in general so pull
back I say to the my girls all of the
time that your real work is to figure
out where your power base is and to work
on the alignment of your personality
your gifts that you have to give with
the real reason why you’re here that’s
that’s the number one thing you have to
do is to work on yourself and to fill
your self up and keep your cup full keep
yourself full now I used to be afraid of
that I used to be afraid particularly
from people who say oh she’s that she’s
so full of herself
or so and now I embrace it
III considered a compliment that I am
full of myself because you only when
you’re full I’m full I’m overflowing my
cup runneth over
I have so much I have so much to offer
and so much to give and I am not afraid
of honoring myself you know it’s
miraculous when you think about it there
is an advantage to being what I like to
call now hardcore hardcore I don’t know
quite how to describe it it’s a
combination of tenacious and dedicated
and passionate and committed something
like that hardcourt I learned about
being hardcore
from math concentrators at Harvard I’m
not going to ask whether we have any
math concentrators here but I would say
that’s where I got kind of my lesson I
mean people could just go crazy focused
not it wasn’t just the people were
genius but working and working and
working and working
you know I’d sit in my room working on a
problem set after three hours I’m a
little ad D I just couldn’t take it the
most hardcore people power through
anything and the advantage of being that
tenacious and dedicated and committed I
claim it helped us at Microsoft it’s
fundamental at Microsoft but I learned
it here and at HAARP I think successed
first of all is knowing my purpose in
life as I have watched and observed
successful people what I have discovered
about them is they really have figured
out why they’re here they really do have
their act together and and and knowing
their purpose in life is a stability for
them so that when everyone else is
rocking and rolling and and and and
things are a little unsteady and people
are kind of leaving the ship and people
are kind of abandoning their causes with
these people they hold steady right
throughout the storm because they they
have a true North Star they truly are
focused it becomes an it comes
Anker in their life that just holds them
steady and the anchor is a confidence
based upon a knowledge of purpose Oscar
how did you go from being my my
assistant to a famous big-time movie
producer just by never taking no for an
answer I’m kind of following believing I
could do anything which I learned in the
nice dad studio alright seriously this
guy would just over and over again I’d
never seen anything like it you just say
you’re smart figure it out you’re smart
figure it out you’re smart figure it out
I don’t care how long it takes just make
it beautiful and that sounded a little
weird at the time because you’re used to
working in a restaurant or being a
landscaper but it’s actually really
empowering and it took me a while to
figure that out
and the more movies I made the more I
realized it didn’t matter it kind of
applies to everything you know one of
the things that I tell people when they
asked me for advice about what they
should do when they’re wanting to start
their own business or take a next step
in their career is to actually start
small I think a lot of people try to
they kind of psyched themselves out or
they get too overwhelmed with how big
something can get but the truth is
you’ve really just got to start small
and you got to prove it before you scale
it there’s a lot of conventional wisdom
out there built up over time and built
through all the learnings from all the
and this may be fully applicable to most
of the companies out there but before
it’s applied to your organization I
highly recommend that you question it
because it could be absolutely fatal
went to Harvard and you dropped out have
you ever thought how your life could be
better off if you had gotten your
Harvard degree well I I’m a weird
dropout because I take college courses
all the time I love learning company
courses and and things so I love being a
student and there were smart people
around and you know they fed you and
they gave you these nice grades that
made you feel smart so I I feel it was
unfortunate that I didn’t get to stay
there but I don’t think I missed any
knowledge because you know whatever I
needed to learn I would I was still in a
learning mode trying to do something
that you would want to do anyway whether
it’s doesn’t necessarily have to be very
successful business because when you do
decide to become an entrepreneur and
start a business chances are it’s not
gonna do it’s not gonna become like a
multi-million dollar business so at
least do something that you love in the
beginning so that even if it fails you’d
still enjoy it that whatever you do
somebody can do it better you have to
bring your a-game in every single day
there’s nothing unique about any one
individual what’s unique is their
passion their ability to execute to meet
targets and exceed them the minute you
lose that ability in capitalism you’re
gone it’s a fair trade the engine that
makes you rich can take it all away from
you
there are no guarantees I think that’s
incredibly important don’t solicit
feedback on your product your idea or
your business just for validation
purposes be really careful about that
you want to tell the people that can
help move your idea forward but if
you’re just looking to your friend code
her husband wife for validation be
careful because out of love and concern
a lot of people will express some
concerns and it can stop a lot of
multi-million dollar ideas right in
their tracks in the beginning so the
most important part of getting to a goal
is to start feeling it now is to start
acting as if right if you want to be
that leader if you want to be that
author if you want to be that painter
all it takes is one action and you truly
are in the process of becoming it so
it’s funny that I am literally basically
done with the book and I’m like can I
call myself an author yet I’ve written a
book of course because you have taken
the action you’re doing the actions
there is no final anointing of anyone
there’s no ceremony there’s no fireworks
you just start acting as if and feeling
it and envisioning it and picturing it
and soon enough you become it right so
everybody starts somewhere so whether
you are a famous ballerina or an Olympic
swimmer they all started somewhere they
all had to take that first class they
all had to take that first leap into the
water right and at what point can you
start calling yourself a swimmer a
dancer an author it’s the second that
you start taking action and you start
thinking it and you’re feeling it right
it’s about embodying it so my biggest
tip for you is to start seeing yourself
as that person and start taking the
small actions of being that person that
you want to be that’s the only thing
that is separating you from actually
being it so you have to act as if in
order to really start getting that ball
rolling and all of a sudden you are make
sure you choose you know when you’re
trying to decide whether or not an idea
is good enough to pursue or a particular
business is something you want to want
to go forward with make sure that it’s
the type of business that when you’re
standing in the shower it’s the thing
you want to think about for the next
10 or 20 years to have the level of
success that I want to have it’s
difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way we
gotta focus with all of your fiber and
all your heart and all your creativity
failure is part of life I mean the
difference for me though is I like a
failure as a stepping stone to success
it’s a speed bump I know I’m gonna fail
but it’s not failure if you learn
something and so gosh I’ve made so many
mistakes I’ve screwed so many things up
but every time I do it just becomes it
becomes a way for me to explain to
someone else what it takes you know it’s
like here’s what I’ve done I think I
have the ability to influence people
because I talk about my failures I talk
about all the things that mess me up but
I show people that didn’t let it stop me
and you don’t need to stop you and I
think I think that’s really the secret
matter and if everything you touch was
successful first one got to relate to
people as well oh you’ll be late and
also it’s B total bullsh and everyone
know it’s both and also you’d be bored
silly I mean think about it if you just
said I want this and happen I want this
to happen you know people don’t value it
they don’t fight for you know it’s like
you see kids sometimes in it you know
your parents will say you’re not gonna
value this if you don’t work for it and
your kid going oh well you’ll just give
it to me but it’s true you know about
things we’ve worked the hardest for we
value the most so I think you know the
purpose of the goal is not getting it
anyway the purpose of goal you know is
what who you become well you becomes
gonna make you happier it’s gonna make
you sad
so I’m not looking for an effortless
approach there’s no such thing I’m in
meetings a lot my counter gets very full
with those and then at night after the
kids have gone to bed I’m on
email a great deal I get messages during
the day that’s my chance give long
responses and then over the weekend I
send a lot of mail as well as well I
take two weeks a year to just go off and
read and think where I’m not interrupted
by work or anything else I’m just
solidly trying to think about the future
and people get to send me things to read
as part of that so-called think week so
it’s nice mix of things about 25% of the
time that I’m out traveling around
meeting with customers Europe Asia and
that sort of helps me think okay do we
have the right priorities what what are
people responding well to and what would
they they like to see us do better I
don’t like to think too far ahead so you
haven’t told I don’t like too far ahead
people say it like goals long distance
goals and that’s too much for me I
already feel like I’m living it and then
I just carry on the old I you know carry
on day by day already living the final
goal the goal of being the world
champion I already carry myself like I’m
my world champ and I already speak like
I’m a world champion and and that’s it I
just carry on day by day so I’ll take it
as a calms a lot again like I said you
were asking asking me about the future I
let you I’ll let you know a little bit
closer and I mean as far all I can see
right now is the cold that’s all I can
see we took a lot of pride in in
trailblazing and how the game was played
back at that time through we would we
would intimidate teams and we would want
to dominate teams but also too we also
had the thought process that a team was
never gonna outwork us we’re gonna be
the hardest working team in the country
the best piece of advice that I was
given when I started my modeling career
was make sure that you under there was a
lot of things that weren’t given to me
because you know everybody likes to give
you advice one thing that stayed with me
is you’re as good as your last job and
so every job I treat it as if it were my
last job and I think that that kind of
gave me a reputation of hard-working
ready to do whatever it takes to get
this shot and
and I and I think that that’s very
important in any industry the thing that
I do at my company that is very unusual
is that we are completely unreasonable
without reason without we don’t use
yes I’m logical okay yes I’m a sane
person but when it comes to achieving a
target we we do it with like we abandon
reason and logic we don’t talk about
yeah but we never start
yeah but or no we can’t or we couldn’t
because or it didn’t happen because any
any time you’re talking any time you’re
making sense of why something didn’t
work we don’t have the budget we can’t
do that because yeah but we’re different
you are being reasonable the great
things that have happened on this planet
and continue to happen or because people
are unreasonable they literally abandon
reason and logic they defy the universe
now if you look around if you’re a
logical person if you’re a person has to
make sense of it beforehand then spend
some time looking around the universe
look at nature look at all the things
that are done everyday that literally
defy gravity defying
the five physics it’s all over the place
if you need to be reasonable now in my
case I don’t need to be reasonable
because there’s enough cases of super
successful people doing things that are
amazing whether it was a manufacturing a
new product or whether Steve Jobs coming
back to Apple and turning that company
around every day ever you look at the
Amazon look what Amazon is done
okay now you look at it you’re like dude
does a no-brainer make it make all
products available online now it’s a
no-brainer now it’s like it’s so logical
look at Velcro velcro was like god I
should have thought of that
see but beforehand it was completely out
of reason that you could stick things
together because they scratch one
another you understand what I’m saying
so look this is what I want you to try
try this in your life it’s gonna be very
difficult one of the most difficult
things I do is being unreasonable
because all the people I’m
roundabouts are trying to make sense of
why they can’t do something quit making
sense of why you can’t do something and
become unreasonable until you do do
something it’s all in the mindset when
you get up in the morning you do what
you normally do
I would eventually say a lot of you here
probably turn on your cellphone’s your
computers and what’s the latest email
what’s the latest text that comes then
you start your day off like that that’s
your mindset try this get up in the
morning do whatever you have to do don’t
turn the computer on don’t turn the TV
on go right back to bed again either lay
there or sit there and just bring the
universe to you here’s how you do it you
just be it’s virtually impossible when
you first do it because the thousand
thoughts come through your head were
human beings so what you do is you’re
sitting in bed look at the wall look at
the off TV set look at the ceiling look
at the door look at something the room
to get your attention and just look at
it and just be for a couple of minutes
not 10 minutes not 20 minutes not two
days just be when your mind wanders find
another spot in the room to look at so
you’re back in present time even for a
couple of minutes now go about your day
don’t think about what you’re gonna do
for that split few minutes you’re now
becoming part of a universe which is
also part of global thinking I think
things through I’m a games and Theory
guy and I and I sort of ponder options
before I make decisions hmm so I’m less
the act from my heart guy and just sort
of say what I’m thinking and instance 10
Holland turn internalize a bit and try
and imagine like chess game the possible
outcomes and then act accordingly to
what I think might be the best and I
think that goes sort of with what a
magician thinks through as well right
like a stage magician has to keep two
steps ahead look over here look over
here while something else is going on
over here
close-up magicians got to be very aware
of outs and options so I guess a
magician that hard would probably be
that I sort of think like the magician
my parents couldn’t afford to put me in
a lot of like dance classes and things
like that but we would throw me into
like the community ones and it created
this the free ones
yeah the free ones yeah and then
eventually when I started acting or it
it started with modeling and then I turn
into acting they didn’t approve of it
they didn’t have the money to support it
so with my jobs I would pay for the
headshots and I would go take classes
and take four different buses and a
subway to get downtown from the suburbs
in Toronto where I loved to get to the
class I get a hat I wanted it and if
like if I didn’t actually put in the
work for it I wouldn’t have gotten to
where I am and and I really had to be
from women I’m a very effective person
when I’m by myself and when I have to
work in groups like I fall to pieces
like does not work well with others is
what it said in every report card I got
until I dropped out of high school in
the tenth grade and I think that’s
that’s very true so for me that creative
process is one where in finding that
cadence that you talked about of making
a video every day was one where I
removed every obstruction between me and
finishing it and other people are the
biggest obstructions I have an idea well
let’s talk through that idea and the
metaphor that I use of discussing ideas
and groups is like when an idea at its
inception it’s an ice cube and it’s
rock-hard you can look at it you can see
it you can study it you know what it is
but when a discussion begins you have to
pass that ice cube around the room it
starts to melt and melt and melt and
after enough discussions the ice cubes
gone and everybody’s hands are wet and
nobody quite remembers what that idea
was that’s a major obstruction so for me
when it comes to creation like remove
that obstruction don’t talk don’t
involve other people don’t need anything
from anyone to realize this new video
every 24 hours and that’s that’s wildly
effective really sad to see that people
are disenchanted and nihilistic and
depressed and anxious and aimless and
and perverse and vengeful and and all of
those things it’s terrible and then
to see people question whether that’s
necessary and then to start to rise out
of it it’s like it’s so fun like last
night I was at after my talk it’s
overwhelming
I don’t usually think about these things
but I was I was after my talk last night
and so all these people line up and you
know they have their 15 15 seconds with
me and they’re kind of tentative they’re
excited and attentive when they come up
to talk to me and then they have you
know 15 seconds of time to tell me
something I’m really listening to them
and they’re hesitant about whether or
not to share the good news about their
life you know and I think it’s often
because when people share good news
about their life people don’t
necessarily respond positively you know
they don’t get encouragement and people
need so little encouragement it’s just
unbelievable and so there comes
something good and I’m a god that’s so
good you know when somebody says well
I’m getting along way better with my
father I haven’t seen him for 10 years
and now we get along great and then the
power of that you can’t overstate the
power of that for individuals to get
their life together the individual is an
unbelievably powerful force and every
single person who gets their act
together a little bit has the capacity
to spread that around them it’s it’s a
chain reaction and so it’s a lovely
thing to see God here’s what I think I
think we get one at bat um
the number one thing that scares me in
life is regret I really really really
don’t want to be on my deathbed whether
that’s tomorrow or when I’m 97 and think
I should have done that I should like
that’s that spooks me right like hard
work people judging me leaving you know
trolling me on social media like all the
stuff that normal people worry about I
don’t worry about I worry about regret
and so I’m trying to squeeze the
everything out of my life and so yeah I
do a lot fail early fail often fail
forward
you know it’s always a little bit
frustrating to me when people have a
negative relationship with failure
failure is a massive part of being able
to be successful you have to get
comfortable with failure yet you have to
actually seek failure failure is where
all of the lessons are you know when you
go to the gym and you work out you’re
actually seeking failure you want to
take your muscles to the point where you
get to failure because that’s where the
the adaptation is that’s where growth is
successful people who fail a lot they
fail a whole lot more than they succeed
but they extract the lessons from the
failure and they use that the the energy
and they use the wisdom to come around
to the next phase of success you got to
take a shot you have to live at the edge
of your capabilities you got to live
where you’re almost certain you’re gonna
fail that’s the reason for a practice
practice is controlled failure you’re
getting to your limit getting to your
limit getting to your limit you can’t
lift that you can’t do that you until
you get to the point that all of a
sudden your body makes the adjustment
and then you can do it
failure actually helps you to recognize
the areas where you need to evolve so
fail early fail often fail forward
too many of you in here have ego around
your time when it’s the only thing you
got so the reason I always know is cuz I
work because I work I work I try things
I test i DM you back i sweet I’ve work
so when you’re inch you taste it and
when you’ve done it for 20 years
you see patterns Facebook’s still
underpriced you just can’t target 22 to
25 year old african-american fans of
football because other people are doing
that too now it’s just like Google early
on you could just target soccer one-word
5 cents a click I did it
wine wine wine but then I had to put at
the end of the game now I got to put
2013 you know Heller cellars Zinfandel
like longtail real-estate if you’re
right about London
look it’s my favourites do you know what
you understand that somebody once bought
this building for a dollar somebody
bought the land we’re on for a dollar
once that happened it’s a long time ago
how do you know you’re a practitioner
the reason I do is to how I learned you
got to put up all of you were like well
I can’t do podcasting and Facebook and
Twitter oh but I can’t I can blog but I
can’t why if you want it so bad my thing
is why if you want it so bad why kid if
you want to have a media company around
Caribbean food culture
why can’t you I want it you know what I
want to see I want to see all your
minutes I want to see all your minutes I
want to give you a d-roc for today I
want to watch you from the moment you
wake up to the moment you go to sleep
let me promise you something you’re
gonna get exposed so so that’s why daily
be happened because you guys were like a
lot of you didn’t know me before daily
be how many people knew me before daily
be well not bad right you got you got to
really know me post daily big you heard
hard work and hustle before you were
confused and I’ve been doing that every
day for 20 years bigger is better how
many of you agree with this okay if you
can live on 900 grand the only people
that won’t go to 9 million are the
people that are selfish unselfish people
grow their businesses selfish people
don’t okay if you’re taking notes if
you’re gonna walk away with something
today I’m talking to the able people
here give me the name of a great company
that has seven employees I’m waiting
give me the name of a great company that
doesn’t spend a load of money on
advertising who is this company
tell me give me one name one name of any
see see you you built a business on a
fantasy right like I’m gonna get it stay
for I’m gonna get a stay for I’m gonna
get an all-state company I’m gonna I’m
gonna be an Allstate guy and I’m gonna
make 900 grand a year you’re selfish
folks see see what I’m saying about the
selfish person makes what they need the
unselfish person says I’m gonna make more than I need
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