just keep going find that thing you love
because it’s tough work and my father
gave me this advice when I said I wanted
to be an actor he said have a back-up
profession like welding but I think if
you can find that thing that really
gives you joy that’ll be it because for
me it’s always been comedy and stand-up
and enacting – because of exploring
behavior but it’s tough work but it’s
and as you can get it even better well I
think it’s important to have a very to
apply critical thinking – this may sound
trite but to apply critical critical
thinking to what what one is doing and
by that I mean just the fundamentals of
logic you know of do you have the right
axioms are they relevant and are you
making the right conclusions based on
those on those axioms that that’s the
essence of critical thinking and yet it
is amazing how often people fail to do
that
I think wishful thinking is innate in
the human brain
you you want things to be the way you
you wish them to be in so you tend to
filter information that you shouldn’t
filter that’s the most common flaw that
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 so 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 a 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 a all the time
we don’t know where to go and you will
wind up somewhere else just do it some
pretty motivational quotes from some
pretty inspirational people including
Lombardi Proust and the little engine
that could 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
so you’re running you’re CEO of two
companies you’re chairman of SolarCity
talk about time management how on earth
do you do this you get any sleep yes
sometimes not enough sleep it’s really
great because because if you find if I
don’t get enough sleep then I’m I’m
quite grumpy I mean obviously I think
most people that way and and and also I
can try to sort of figure out what’s the
right amount of sleep because I thought
I could have though I could drop below a
certain threshold of sleep and although
I’d be awake for hours and I could
sustain it I would get less done because
I’m mental acuity would be affected so I
found generally the right number for me
is around six to six and a half hours on
average per night that’s not too bad
yeah and any other tips on average that
any other tips on just managing to run
two companies simultaneously I mean do
you do you find I mean I know you’re up
here on Monday Tuesday is it all Tesla
when you’re up in Silicon Valley and all
SpaceX Wednesday Thursday it’s having a
service of s having a smartphone is
incredibly helpful because that means
you can do email during interstitial
periods like you’re in a car you’re
walking in the bathroom everywhere you
can do email practically when you’re
awake and and so that’s really helpful
to have email for SpaceX and Tesla
and then it’s just you have to apply a
lot of hours to actual working actually
working so the way I generally do it is
I’ll be working at SpaceX on Monday and
then Monday night fly to the area spent
Tuesday and Wednesday at the barrier
then at Tesla and then fly back on
Wednesday night it’s been Thursday and
Friday at SpaceX in the last several
months then I would fly back here on a
Saturday and either spend Saturday and
Sunday at Tesla or spend Saturday at
Tesla Sunday at SpaceX and where did the
boys fit in you have five sons yeah did
he tag along with dad on some of these
babes I do drag him along and a lot of
things actually they’re remarkably
unimpressed by one of the I think most
common questions I hear young people and
bishops young people ask is I want to be
the next to Gila musk how do I do that
obviously the next Elon Musk will work
on very different things then than you
did but what have you done or what did
you do when you were younger that you
think sort of set you up to have a big
impact
well I think this well I should say that
I do not expect to be involved in all
these things so the the the the five
things that I thought about the time in
in college quite a long time ago 25
years ago you know being you know making
life multiplanetary selling accelerating
the transition to sustainable energy the
the Internet
broadly speaking and and then genetics
and AI I think I didn’t expect to be
involved in it in all of those things I
actually at the time in college I sort
of thought helping with electrification
a bit of cars was how we start out and
that’s that’s actually what I worked on
as an intern was an advanced
ultracapacitors with to see if they
there would be a breakthrough relative
to batteries for energy storage and and
car
and then when I came out to go to
Stanford that’s what I was going to be
doing my grad studies on is it was
working on her best at energy storage
technologies for electric cars and I put
that on hold to start an Internet
company hit in 95 because that there
doesn’t seem to be like a time for
particular technologies when they were
at a steep point in the inflection coat
and and I didn’t want to you know do a
PhD at Stanford and then and what should
will happen and then and I wasn’t
entirely certain that the technology I’d
be working on would actually succeed I
can get you can get a you know doctrine
on many things that ultimately are not
do not have practical bearing on the
world and I wanted to you know just I
really was just trying to be useful
that’s the optimization I was like what
are what can I do that would actually be
useful do you think people that want to
be useful today should get PhDs um
mostly not so what what is the best some
yes but mostly not how should someone
figure out how they can be most useful
or whatever this thing is that you’re
trying to create what would what would
be the utility Delta compared to the
current state-of-the-art times how many
people it would affect so that’s why I
think having something that has a that’s
that has a makes makes a big difference
but affects a sort of small to moderate
number of people it’s great as is
something that makes even a small
difference but but affects a vast number
of people like the area yeah under you
know under the yeah exactly
I don’t know area under the curve is
would actually be roughly similar for
those two things so it’s actually really
about yeah just trying to be useful and
matter when you’re trying to estimate
probability of success so you say
something will be really useful then
area under the curve I guess to use the
example of SpaceX mmm-hmm when you made
the go decision that you’re actually
gonna do that this was kind of a very
crazy thing at the time very crazy there
Rosie yeah I’m not shy about saying that
but I kind of regret I agreed with them
that it was quite crazy crazy if
if the objective was to achieve the best
risk-adjusted return starting our
company is insane but that was not that
was not my objective I cancer I was
dying but I got more bad news you are
all dying – maybe not from cancer maybe
but I basically just given you all the
same diagnosis I was giving your time is
limited and that’s a real diagnosis so
we say that discipline is the loop of
all good qualities but you have to
absolutely apply it to things outside of
just waking up early it’s it’s
everything it’s working now every day
making yourself stronger and faster and
more flexible and healthier discipline
is eating the right foods too a few
layer system it it’s about disciplining
your emotions so you can make good
decisions it’s about having the
discipline to control your ego so your
ego doesn’t get out of hand and control
you it’s about treating people the way
you would want to be treated and and
doing the tasks that you don’t
necessarily want to do but that you know
will help you or help your team it’s
about facing your fears takes discipline
to face your fears so you can conquer
them and that’s what discipline is
discipline means taking the hard road
the uphill road to do what’s right for
it’s so often the easy path the easy
path that calls to us to be weak for
that moment to break down for that
moment to give in to the desire and the
short-term gratification but the
discipline will not allow that the
discipline calls for strength and
fortitude and will it won’t accept
weakness it won’t tolerate another
breakdown the discipline can seem like
discipline is your best friend it will
take care of you like nothing else can
and it’ll put you on that path the path
to strength and health and intelligence
and happiness and most importantly it’ll
right everybody has different models of
the world some people are driven by
money some people aren’t but I will say
there I think there’s three things that
will quote motivate somebody right
there’s push motivation trying to make
somebody do something and then there’s
pull another one’s incentives incentives
are fantastic for certain people it
everybody appreciates them but the
problem with an incentive is there’s
only so much you can give out of the
margin of the business the most powerful
incentive by now is autonomy and growth
the sense that I’ve become more that I
can give more that can create more I
always say people you know if you want
to know where happiness comes and give
to you one word progress progress equals
happen is we’re not supposed to sit at
the table of success and just feel good
about ourselves forever what makes us
feel alive is growing and when we grow
we have something to give people have
large meters today I do you do and we
tend to think it’s all bull but there
are patterns that control the way you
think and feel and think about it
whether you’re performing in sports or
whether it’s government or whether it’s
you know in the financial markets or
whether it’s in your relationship as
much as we want to think it’s just the
way we think our emotions play a huge
role in our performance or lack thereof
and I know how to help people make a
an academic tradition called the last
lecture hypothetically if you knew
you’re gonna die and you had one last
lecture what would you say to your
students well for me there’s an elephant
in the room and the elephant in the room
is that for me it wasn’t hypothetical
I’ve been fighting pancreatic cancer it
has now come back after surgery
chemotherapy and radiation and the
doctors tell me there’s nothing more to
do and I have months to live these are
my most recent CT scans the pancreatic
cancer has spread to my liver they’re
approximately a dozen tumors I don’t
like this I have three little kids let’s
be clear this stinks but I can’t do
anything about the fact that I’m going
to die I’m pursuing medical treatments
but I pretty much know how this movie’s
going to end and I can’t control the
cards I’m dealt just how I play the hand
but I don’t choose to be an object of
pity Jackie Robinson first black major
leaguer had it in his contract not to
complain if people spit on him all right
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 the brick walls
that are in our way are there for a
reason they are not there to keep us out
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 the dreams will come to you if
you live properly the dreams will come
to you I think it’s great that so many
people have benefited from this lecture
but the truth of the matter is that I
didn’t even really give it to the 400
people at Carnegie Mellon who came I
only wrote this lecture for three people
and we’re no older they’ll watch it
thank you
[Applause]
how to stop the laziness and they will
know how to stop the procrastination and
you know they have some idea in their
head you know some kind of a vision what
they want to do but they don’t know
where to start they’d in order start it
you know they don’t know where to start
and say they say hey where do I start
and and when’s the best time to start
and I have a very simple answer for that
year and now that’s it you you want to
improve you want to get better you want
to get on a workout program or a clean
diet you want to start a business you
want to write a book or make a movie or
build a house or a computer or put
together some mobile application where
you start right here and when you start
you start right now you initiate the
action aggressively you go because the
idea isn’t gonna execute itself and the
book isn’t gonna write itself and the
weights out in the gym they’re not gonna
move themselves you have to do it and
you have to do it now and that means you
gotta stop thinking about it and stop
dreaming about it and stop researching
every aspect of it and reading all about
it and debating the pros and cons of it
just start doing it take that first step
and make it happen get after it and get
after it
here and now
[Music]
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 tree I
was gonna pull out all the stops and I
gave myself a goal of getting on
Letterman within one year I was gonna
make someday happen I started yelling my
dream to anyone who would listen started
calling in every favor I was owed 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’d see me to
email the show and beg Dave to book me
and guess what I didn’t make it
my ironically named deadline came and
went but I was so renewed about my dream
and my newfound passion for it I decided
to give myself an extension one more
year to get on Letterman
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 and
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 because 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 the world
wasn’t full of uninspired people I know
person’s strengths are often their
biggest weaknesses and so that also
means that their weaknesses can be their
strengths
[Music]
so me I am weak in all those ways that I
listed I am weak but I don’t accept that
I don’t accept that I am what I am and
that that is what I’m doomed to be no I
don’t accept that I’m fighting I’m
always fighting I’m struggling and I’m
scrapping and I’m kicking and clawing at
those weaknesses to change them to stop
them some days I win some days I don’t
but each and every day I get back up and
I move forward with my fists clenched
and I fight with everything I’ve got to
overcome those weaknesses and those
shortfalls and those flaws as I strive
than I was yesterday why do people stop
chasing their dreams I don’t think
people choose to be uninspired Jeanne
one of the people helping me with my
TEDx experience actually asked me that
she said Steve why do you think people
stop chasing their dreams everyone wants
to achieve them why do people leave them
behind that was a tough question to
answer I want to give her an honest
answer at some cliche response or
motivational line so I thought about it
I knew that cancer
it motivated me to pick my dream up
again but why did I stop facing 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 aloud but I
told her we’re all taught that life is
tough life’s a bitch life is hard but
it’s not it’s pretty easy right it’s
pretty easy to skate by and go through
life right we wake up everyday most of
us in the world with the 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 a hundred years ago now we
complain if life isn’t convenient this
isn’t a statement on modern society this
is a statement about motivation life is
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 you have nothing bad about that
nothing wrong with that but nothing
great about it nothing inspiring about
that the awful truth is is that life is
easy living truly living chasing a dream
and truly living is hard living is a
bitch living is tough especially when
you switch it and you ask yourself what
am i dying to do what is it that puts
that fire in my heart answering that
question is at the end though it’s
really just the spark because once you
get that fire burning you need to feed
it
need to keep reminding yourself putting
new poles in there and remind yourself
every day about that Gulf is we’ve all
taken up a a hobby or a goal or a
workout that we stopped for just a
couple days and then we never pick it up
again you need to constantly remind
yourself that you’re dying and that
you’re dying to do something because the
minute you forget life creeps right back
in and life is easy anything you try to
do in America today you got to be
excited people America won’t follow or
believe in a negative dull disillusioned
frustrated dadgum crybaby people want
people that are positive and excited and
enthusiastic and tough the greatest
lesson the greatest definition I ever
heard I thought about this ten million
times when I wanted to quit along the
way of a winner this guy said almost
everybody in America can stay excited
for two or three months a few people can
stay excited for two or three years but
a winter a stay excited for thirty years
or how long it takes to win she told me
a story about her dad talking to her
about love when she was younger and her
dad told her don’t look at love as an as
an object not a thing not something to
obtain not a noun
hope it is a verb
it’s something to do something to act on
something something to constantly give
action to I love that story and I think
a dream works exactly the same way 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 a thought that runs
through our mind every now and then a
noun but 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 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 five years of
five of the years of living for that
dream I was very lucky
by 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
boom one has a problem with time but the
day is 24 hours and be sleep six I know
there’s some out there that say I need
eight well I say just sleep a little
faster because the bottom line is we
have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your Brooke
your family your hobbies and also to
learn something new or to do something
new which could easily be that you want
to learn a new language or that you want
to read as a New Year’s resolution I
have to read a book every week or where
you say I’m gonna go and reshape my
party so you’re gonna go and take this
hour out of your schedule and say I’m
gonna train an hour every day so this is
for most people a huge challenge but it
is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working in
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12 midnight I
was doing all of those things I wanted
to make sure that out of the 24 hours of
the day that I don’t waste one single
hour those hours were too precious and
so they’ll just want to tell people
don’t give me this thing I have a
difficult time with the time and I don’t
have time for this neither of that you
have time you make the time if you want
to win folks you got it you got to stand
up and you got to say I’m so sick and
tired
to be an average and ordinary I’m so
sick and tired of telling myself and
telling my wife and telling my mama and
telling everybody I’m gonna win I found
it this time watch my slow see folks if
you go win you gonna change 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 just sleep like a kid again
because then you’ll be going to sleep
not to dream but with a dream and waking
up with one
Thank You sweet dreams the only way you
can change life the only way the future
can be better than the past is you gotta
cheat nobody can change for you okay
nobody’s gonna give you something for
nothing it’s gonna be up to you you’re
controlling your future and if you don’t
change just look in the dadgum mirror
look at the last five to ten years of
your life and the next five or ten years
gonna be just like that ain’t that
depress it experiencing of pain in your
muscles and aching and just think oh on
and go on and go on and this last two or
three or four repetitions that’s what
makes actually the muscle then grow and
it divides then one from a champion and
one from not being a champion if you
can’t go through this pain period you
make it to be a champion if you can’t go
through forget it and that’s for most
people luck is on this having the guts
the guts to go in and just say I go
through and I don’t care what happens
you know it aches and if I fall down I
have no fear of fainting in a gym
because I know it’s it could happen I
threw up many times father was working
out but it doesn’t matter because it’s
all worth it
another key to building this winning
edge in this mental toughness is you’ve
got to become a dreamer again you know
I’m a Methodist so we just changed
ministers a few weeks ago and our new
minister came in and and the church was
just packed and the first thing he said
he says well looks like everybody came
out to see the monkey perform and the
second and second thing out of his mouth
he said for church to be a great church
you got to have a dream if you don’t
have a dream you’re dead
and boy I sat up and I said man me and
this guy gonna get along good cuz he
knows what he’s talking about see folks
I believe in order to win you got to
feel good about yourself I I was
coaching football for seven years back
in Georgia and I had a paddle in my
coaching office and it’s about this
thick and this long and in the fatty and
I had little holes board in it so you
could really get some speed and blisters
a little but you know when they
misbehaved and
and I had a rule on my football team
that if any kid said I can’t if any
football player hurt I’ve heard one of
my football players said I can she got
to bring him in the coach’s office and
give him three legs and it took me about
a month to get all that thinking out of
my players every year you know and I’d
have football players knock on my door
at recess and at lunch and after school
and he said coach he said it coach he
said it and I’d make that kid bend over
and I’d give that other kid the board
hit bust him three times in folks it
didn’t take long you couldn’t create a
word game to get one of my semi kids to
say I can’t bring it home a little bit
more personal in April a little art
where we’re just this little and could
understand words every time they said I
can’t I made them do three push-ups
folks there ain’t nothing you can’t do
in America if you want too bad nah stop
doing the things that you know are wrong
that you could stop doing right so it’s
it’s a fairly it’s a fairly limited
attempt first of all we’re not going to
say that you know what the good is or
what the truth is in any ultimate sense
but we will presume that there are
things that you’re doing that for one
reason or another you know are not in
your best interests there’s something
about them that you just know you should
stop there are kind of self-evident to
you
other things you’re gonna be doubtful
about you’re not gonna know which way is
up and which way is down but there are
things that you’re doing that you know
you shouldn’t do now some of those you
won’t stop doing for whatever reason you
don’t have the discipline or maybe
there’s a secondary payoff or you don’t
believe it’s necessary or it’s too much
of a sacrifice or you’re angry or
resentful or or afraid who knows so
forget about those for now but there’s
another subset that you could stop doing
it might be little thing well that’s
fine stop doing it and see what happens
and what will happen is your vision will
clear a little bit and then something
else will pop up in your field of
apprehension that you will also know you
should stop doing and that you could
stop doing because you’ve strengthened
yourself a bit by stopping doing the
particular stupid thing that you were
doing before that just puts you together
a little bit more and you could do that
repeatedly for for an indefinite period
of time and and
you know that doesn’t necessarily mean
that you’re going to ever be able to
formulate a clear and final picture of
what constitutes the truth and the good
but it does mean that you’ll be able to
continually move away from what’s
untruth and what’s bad leave desire and
will to win is everything I don’t know
why I’m like I am but my butt’s always
burning there’s always something say art
dadgummit you’re supposed to go for it
alright dadgummit you’re supposed to be
somebody you’re supposed to make a
difference with you lie what does the
$500,000 your person do the $50,000 your
person doesn’t do you look at outside
and study those two individuals
everything seems to be the same they
both are the same sex they both are the
same aids and have the same training the
same positions the same contract the
same fringe benefits
they both are successful they work hard
they’re good family people make tough
commitments but what’s the difference
what does the $500,000 your person do
the $50,000 your person doesn’t do he
pays the price and a little bit more he
works hard and a little bit more he’s
loyal to the company a little bit more
he believes and a little bit more he
makes Maine a little bit more he saves
money a little bit more if you want to
win in these United States you got to be
tough and you can’t quit
the last thing I’ll talk to you about
today and building this winning edge is
folks if you want to win in business
you’ve got to be a leader leadership is
everything you show me anything in these
United States that win I’ll show you a
leader at work you show me a successful
church Boy Scout Troop club football
team business I’ll show you some a run
by leader see see I thought at one time
in my life you had to be smart to win I
used to have these smart people that
dress so pretty and talk so pretty and
use these big words they just
intimidated me and I said aren’t you
can’t ever be that good why don’t you
just throw in the towel and go on back
coach football for living and I found
two things out about smart people I
think it’s almost impossible for a smart
person to win in business in America
today because I find smart people spend
their whole lifetime figuring things out
they always trying to figure
an easier way in a quicker way and
another thing I found out about smart
people as they just don’t get around to
doing nothing they see somebody like art
Williams everybody says well he can’t do
it and somebody like that can’t do it
but he does it see folks I want you to
know almost everybody in America almost
does enough to win they almost get there
they almost are over the hump they
almost have it going
they almost in everything they do almost
is a way of life to almost everybody in
America but the winners do it what do
they do they do whatever it takes to get
the job done they do it and do it and do
it and do it and do it until the job
gets done and then they talk about how
great it is to be somebody they’re proud
of we need leaders in America who can do
it if you want to become somebody do it
if you want to go and finish for
yourself do it if you want to become
financially independent do it I hear too
much talk in these United States
everybody can talk a good game we need
people in America who can do it
I go all over this country with Al
weaves and I have people say aren’t you
you count on me wonderful just do it all
right I guarantee this is my light last
stop I’m gonna win now SuperDuper just
do it all right if I could just have one
good month and get the ball going I know
I could make it big super just do it
all right if I could just pay off this
debt I could really go great just do it
hard if I could just say on my house do
it but how does a ceiling do it anyway
I’m not making any money what can I do
you just do it
do what art you do it and do it and do
it all right I can’t you win this
contest
SuperDuper just do it all right I’m over
the hump now watch my smoke grades just
do it my heart I want to make it so bad
I’m tasting what I do you just do it all
right I’m a vice president now can I
quit doing it no all right I don’t know
if I can keep on keepin on I’m really
hurting what I do you just do it do what
art you do it and do it and do it all
right all my life I want to be somebody
important well what do it then all right
I’m gonna save money so I don’t have to
go through this again
great just do it all right I don’t feel
like I’ve had enough training what’d I
do you just do it all right my manager
don’t give me no help what I do you just
do it all right you don’t understand I
was mr. everything in my former company
you don’t mean I I have to start off
down at the bottom and do it do you yep
you really got to do it all right what’s
the primary difference between winners
and losers the winner the winners do it
they do it and do it and do it and do it
until the job gets done and then they
talk about how great it is to finally
have achieved something unique and how
glad they are that they didn’t quit like
everybody else and how wonderful it is
to finally be somebody they’re proud of and make a difference with their life
because it’s tough work and my father
gave me this advice when I said I wanted
to be an actor he said have a back-up
profession like welding but I think if
you can find that thing that really
gives you joy that’ll be it because for
me it’s always been comedy and stand-up
and enacting – because of exploring
behavior but it’s tough work but it’s
and as you can get it even better well I
think it’s important to have a very to
apply critical thinking – this may sound
trite but to apply critical critical
thinking to what what one is doing and
by that I mean just the fundamentals of
logic you know of do you have the right
axioms are they relevant and are you
making the right conclusions based on
those on those axioms that that’s the
essence of critical thinking and yet it
is amazing how often people fail to do
that
I think wishful thinking is innate in
the human brain
you you want things to be the way you
you wish them to be in so you tend to
filter information that you shouldn’t
filter that’s the most common flaw that
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 so 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 a 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 a all the time
we don’t know where to go and you will
wind up somewhere else just do it some
pretty motivational quotes from some
pretty inspirational people including
Lombardi Proust and the little engine
that could 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
so you’re running you’re CEO of two
companies you’re chairman of SolarCity
talk about time management how on earth
do you do this you get any sleep yes
sometimes not enough sleep it’s really
great because because if you find if I
don’t get enough sleep then I’m I’m
quite grumpy I mean obviously I think
most people that way and and and also I
can try to sort of figure out what’s the
right amount of sleep because I thought
I could have though I could drop below a
certain threshold of sleep and although
I’d be awake for hours and I could
sustain it I would get less done because
I’m mental acuity would be affected so I
found generally the right number for me
is around six to six and a half hours on
average per night that’s not too bad
yeah and any other tips on average that
any other tips on just managing to run
two companies simultaneously I mean do
you do you find I mean I know you’re up
here on Monday Tuesday is it all Tesla
when you’re up in Silicon Valley and all
SpaceX Wednesday Thursday it’s having a
service of s having a smartphone is
incredibly helpful because that means
you can do email during interstitial
periods like you’re in a car you’re
walking in the bathroom everywhere you
can do email practically when you’re
awake and and so that’s really helpful
to have email for SpaceX and Tesla
and then it’s just you have to apply a
lot of hours to actual working actually
working so the way I generally do it is
I’ll be working at SpaceX on Monday and
then Monday night fly to the area spent
Tuesday and Wednesday at the barrier
then at Tesla and then fly back on
Wednesday night it’s been Thursday and
Friday at SpaceX in the last several
months then I would fly back here on a
Saturday and either spend Saturday and
Sunday at Tesla or spend Saturday at
Tesla Sunday at SpaceX and where did the
boys fit in you have five sons yeah did
he tag along with dad on some of these
babes I do drag him along and a lot of
things actually they’re remarkably
unimpressed by one of the I think most
common questions I hear young people and
bishops young people ask is I want to be
the next to Gila musk how do I do that
obviously the next Elon Musk will work
on very different things then than you
did but what have you done or what did
you do when you were younger that you
think sort of set you up to have a big
impact
well I think this well I should say that
I do not expect to be involved in all
these things so the the the the five
things that I thought about the time in
in college quite a long time ago 25
years ago you know being you know making
life multiplanetary selling accelerating
the transition to sustainable energy the
the Internet
broadly speaking and and then genetics
and AI I think I didn’t expect to be
involved in it in all of those things I
actually at the time in college I sort
of thought helping with electrification
a bit of cars was how we start out and
that’s that’s actually what I worked on
as an intern was an advanced
ultracapacitors with to see if they
there would be a breakthrough relative
to batteries for energy storage and and
car
and then when I came out to go to
Stanford that’s what I was going to be
doing my grad studies on is it was
working on her best at energy storage
technologies for electric cars and I put
that on hold to start an Internet
company hit in 95 because that there
doesn’t seem to be like a time for
particular technologies when they were
at a steep point in the inflection coat
and and I didn’t want to you know do a
PhD at Stanford and then and what should
will happen and then and I wasn’t
entirely certain that the technology I’d
be working on would actually succeed I
can get you can get a you know doctrine
on many things that ultimately are not
do not have practical bearing on the
world and I wanted to you know just I
really was just trying to be useful
that’s the optimization I was like what
are what can I do that would actually be
useful do you think people that want to
be useful today should get PhDs um
mostly not so what what is the best some
yes but mostly not how should someone
figure out how they can be most useful
or whatever this thing is that you’re
trying to create what would what would
be the utility Delta compared to the
current state-of-the-art times how many
people it would affect so that’s why I
think having something that has a that’s
that has a makes makes a big difference
but affects a sort of small to moderate
number of people it’s great as is
something that makes even a small
difference but but affects a vast number
of people like the area yeah under you
know under the yeah exactly
I don’t know area under the curve is
would actually be roughly similar for
those two things so it’s actually really
about yeah just trying to be useful and
matter when you’re trying to estimate
probability of success so you say
something will be really useful then
area under the curve I guess to use the
example of SpaceX mmm-hmm when you made
the go decision that you’re actually
gonna do that this was kind of a very
crazy thing at the time very crazy there
Rosie yeah I’m not shy about saying that
but I kind of regret I agreed with them
that it was quite crazy crazy if
if the objective was to achieve the best
risk-adjusted return starting our
company is insane but that was not that
was not my objective I cancer I was
dying but I got more bad news you are
all dying – maybe not from cancer maybe
but I basically just given you all the
same diagnosis I was giving your time is
limited and that’s a real diagnosis so
we say that discipline is the loop of
all good qualities but you have to
absolutely apply it to things outside of
just waking up early it’s it’s
everything it’s working now every day
making yourself stronger and faster and
more flexible and healthier discipline
is eating the right foods too a few
layer system it it’s about disciplining
your emotions so you can make good
decisions it’s about having the
discipline to control your ego so your
ego doesn’t get out of hand and control
you it’s about treating people the way
you would want to be treated and and
doing the tasks that you don’t
necessarily want to do but that you know
will help you or help your team it’s
about facing your fears takes discipline
to face your fears so you can conquer
them and that’s what discipline is
discipline means taking the hard road
the uphill road to do what’s right for
it’s so often the easy path the easy
path that calls to us to be weak for
that moment to break down for that
moment to give in to the desire and the
short-term gratification but the
discipline will not allow that the
discipline calls for strength and
fortitude and will it won’t accept
weakness it won’t tolerate another
breakdown the discipline can seem like
discipline is your best friend it will
take care of you like nothing else can
and it’ll put you on that path the path
to strength and health and intelligence
and happiness and most importantly it’ll
right everybody has different models of
the world some people are driven by
money some people aren’t but I will say
there I think there’s three things that
will quote motivate somebody right
there’s push motivation trying to make
somebody do something and then there’s
pull another one’s incentives incentives
are fantastic for certain people it
everybody appreciates them but the
problem with an incentive is there’s
only so much you can give out of the
margin of the business the most powerful
incentive by now is autonomy and growth
the sense that I’ve become more that I
can give more that can create more I
always say people you know if you want
to know where happiness comes and give
to you one word progress progress equals
happen is we’re not supposed to sit at
the table of success and just feel good
about ourselves forever what makes us
feel alive is growing and when we grow
we have something to give people have
large meters today I do you do and we
tend to think it’s all bull but there
are patterns that control the way you
think and feel and think about it
whether you’re performing in sports or
whether it’s government or whether it’s
you know in the financial markets or
whether it’s in your relationship as
much as we want to think it’s just the
way we think our emotions play a huge
role in our performance or lack thereof
and I know how to help people make a
an academic tradition called the last
lecture hypothetically if you knew
you’re gonna die and you had one last
lecture what would you say to your
students well for me there’s an elephant
in the room and the elephant in the room
is that for me it wasn’t hypothetical
I’ve been fighting pancreatic cancer it
has now come back after surgery
chemotherapy and radiation and the
doctors tell me there’s nothing more to
do and I have months to live these are
my most recent CT scans the pancreatic
cancer has spread to my liver they’re
approximately a dozen tumors I don’t
like this I have three little kids let’s
be clear this stinks but I can’t do
anything about the fact that I’m going
to die I’m pursuing medical treatments
but I pretty much know how this movie’s
going to end and I can’t control the
cards I’m dealt just how I play the hand
but I don’t choose to be an object of
pity Jackie Robinson first black major
leaguer had it in his contract not to
complain if people spit on him all right
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 the brick walls
that are in our way are there for a
reason they are not there to keep us out
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 the dreams will come to you if
you live properly the dreams will come
to you I think it’s great that so many
people have benefited from this lecture
but the truth of the matter is that I
didn’t even really give it to the 400
people at Carnegie Mellon who came I
only wrote this lecture for three people
and we’re no older they’ll watch it
thank you
[Applause]
how to stop the laziness and they will
know how to stop the procrastination and
you know they have some idea in their
head you know some kind of a vision what
they want to do but they don’t know
where to start they’d in order start it
you know they don’t know where to start
and say they say hey where do I start
and and when’s the best time to start
and I have a very simple answer for that
year and now that’s it you you want to
improve you want to get better you want
to get on a workout program or a clean
diet you want to start a business you
want to write a book or make a movie or
build a house or a computer or put
together some mobile application where
you start right here and when you start
you start right now you initiate the
action aggressively you go because the
idea isn’t gonna execute itself and the
book isn’t gonna write itself and the
weights out in the gym they’re not gonna
move themselves you have to do it and
you have to do it now and that means you
gotta stop thinking about it and stop
dreaming about it and stop researching
every aspect of it and reading all about
it and debating the pros and cons of it
just start doing it take that first step
and make it happen get after it and get
after it
here and now
[Music]
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 tree I
was gonna pull out all the stops and I
gave myself a goal of getting on
Letterman within one year I was gonna
make someday happen I started yelling my
dream to anyone who would listen started
calling in every favor I was owed 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’d see me to
email the show and beg Dave to book me
and guess what I didn’t make it
my ironically named deadline came and
went but I was so renewed about my dream
and my newfound passion for it I decided
to give myself an extension one more
year to get on Letterman
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 and
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 because 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 the world
wasn’t full of uninspired people I know
person’s strengths are often their
biggest weaknesses and so that also
means that their weaknesses can be their
strengths
[Music]
so me I am weak in all those ways that I
listed I am weak but I don’t accept that
I don’t accept that I am what I am and
that that is what I’m doomed to be no I
don’t accept that I’m fighting I’m
always fighting I’m struggling and I’m
scrapping and I’m kicking and clawing at
those weaknesses to change them to stop
them some days I win some days I don’t
but each and every day I get back up and
I move forward with my fists clenched
and I fight with everything I’ve got to
overcome those weaknesses and those
shortfalls and those flaws as I strive
than I was yesterday why do people stop
chasing their dreams I don’t think
people choose to be uninspired Jeanne
one of the people helping me with my
TEDx experience actually asked me that
she said Steve why do you think people
stop chasing their dreams everyone wants
to achieve them why do people leave them
behind that was a tough question to
answer I want to give her an honest
answer at some cliche response or
motivational line so I thought about it
I knew that cancer
it motivated me to pick my dream up
again but why did I stop facing 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 aloud but I
told her we’re all taught that life is
tough life’s a bitch life is hard but
it’s not it’s pretty easy right it’s
pretty easy to skate by and go through
life right we wake up everyday most of
us in the world with the 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 a hundred years ago now we
complain if life isn’t convenient this
isn’t a statement on modern society this
is a statement about motivation life is
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 you have nothing bad about that
nothing wrong with that but nothing
great about it nothing inspiring about
that the awful truth is is that life is
easy living truly living chasing a dream
and truly living is hard living is a
bitch living is tough especially when
you switch it and you ask yourself what
am i dying to do what is it that puts
that fire in my heart answering that
question is at the end though it’s
really just the spark because once you
get that fire burning you need to feed
it
need to keep reminding yourself putting
new poles in there and remind yourself
every day about that Gulf is we’ve all
taken up a a hobby or a goal or a
workout that we stopped for just a
couple days and then we never pick it up
again you need to constantly remind
yourself that you’re dying and that
you’re dying to do something because the
minute you forget life creeps right back
in and life is easy anything you try to
do in America today you got to be
excited people America won’t follow or
believe in a negative dull disillusioned
frustrated dadgum crybaby people want
people that are positive and excited and
enthusiastic and tough the greatest
lesson the greatest definition I ever
heard I thought about this ten million
times when I wanted to quit along the
way of a winner this guy said almost
everybody in America can stay excited
for two or three months a few people can
stay excited for two or three years but
a winter a stay excited for thirty years
or how long it takes to win she told me
a story about her dad talking to her
about love when she was younger and her
dad told her don’t look at love as an as
an object not a thing not something to
obtain not a noun
hope it is a verb
it’s something to do something to act on
something something to constantly give
action to I love that story and I think
a dream works exactly the same way 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 a thought that runs
through our mind every now and then a
noun but 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 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 five years of
five of the years of living for that
dream I was very lucky
by 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
boom one has a problem with time but the
day is 24 hours and be sleep six I know
there’s some out there that say I need
eight well I say just sleep a little
faster because the bottom line is we
have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your Brooke
your family your hobbies and also to
learn something new or to do something
new which could easily be that you want
to learn a new language or that you want
to read as a New Year’s resolution I
have to read a book every week or where
you say I’m gonna go and reshape my
party so you’re gonna go and take this
hour out of your schedule and say I’m
gonna train an hour every day so this is
for most people a huge challenge but it
is totally doable I can tell them
because the kind of things that I did
when I came to this country I mean I
went to school I was working in
construction I was working out my five
hours a day I was taking acting classes
from 8 o’clock at night to 12 midnight I
was doing all of those things I wanted
to make sure that out of the 24 hours of
the day that I don’t waste one single
hour those hours were too precious and
so they’ll just want to tell people
don’t give me this thing I have a
difficult time with the time and I don’t
have time for this neither of that you
have time you make the time if you want
to win folks you got it you got to stand
up and you got to say I’m so sick and
tired
to be an average and ordinary I’m so
sick and tired of telling myself and
telling my wife and telling my mama and
telling everybody I’m gonna win I found
it this time watch my slow see folks if
you go win you gonna change 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 just sleep like a kid again
because then you’ll be going to sleep
not to dream but with a dream and waking
up with one
Thank You sweet dreams the only way you
can change life the only way the future
can be better than the past is you gotta
cheat nobody can change for you okay
nobody’s gonna give you something for
nothing it’s gonna be up to you you’re
controlling your future and if you don’t
change just look in the dadgum mirror
look at the last five to ten years of
your life and the next five or ten years
gonna be just like that ain’t that
depress it experiencing of pain in your
muscles and aching and just think oh on
and go on and go on and this last two or
three or four repetitions that’s what
makes actually the muscle then grow and
it divides then one from a champion and
one from not being a champion if you
can’t go through this pain period you
make it to be a champion if you can’t go
through forget it and that’s for most
people luck is on this having the guts
the guts to go in and just say I go
through and I don’t care what happens
you know it aches and if I fall down I
have no fear of fainting in a gym
because I know it’s it could happen I
threw up many times father was working
out but it doesn’t matter because it’s
all worth it
another key to building this winning
edge in this mental toughness is you’ve
got to become a dreamer again you know
I’m a Methodist so we just changed
ministers a few weeks ago and our new
minister came in and and the church was
just packed and the first thing he said
he says well looks like everybody came
out to see the monkey perform and the
second and second thing out of his mouth
he said for church to be a great church
you got to have a dream if you don’t
have a dream you’re dead
and boy I sat up and I said man me and
this guy gonna get along good cuz he
knows what he’s talking about see folks
I believe in order to win you got to
feel good about yourself I I was
coaching football for seven years back
in Georgia and I had a paddle in my
coaching office and it’s about this
thick and this long and in the fatty and
I had little holes board in it so you
could really get some speed and blisters
a little but you know when they
misbehaved and
and I had a rule on my football team
that if any kid said I can’t if any
football player hurt I’ve heard one of
my football players said I can she got
to bring him in the coach’s office and
give him three legs and it took me about
a month to get all that thinking out of
my players every year you know and I’d
have football players knock on my door
at recess and at lunch and after school
and he said coach he said it coach he
said it and I’d make that kid bend over
and I’d give that other kid the board
hit bust him three times in folks it
didn’t take long you couldn’t create a
word game to get one of my semi kids to
say I can’t bring it home a little bit
more personal in April a little art
where we’re just this little and could
understand words every time they said I
can’t I made them do three push-ups
folks there ain’t nothing you can’t do
in America if you want too bad nah stop
doing the things that you know are wrong
that you could stop doing right so it’s
it’s a fairly it’s a fairly limited
attempt first of all we’re not going to
say that you know what the good is or
what the truth is in any ultimate sense
but we will presume that there are
things that you’re doing that for one
reason or another you know are not in
your best interests there’s something
about them that you just know you should
stop there are kind of self-evident to
you
other things you’re gonna be doubtful
about you’re not gonna know which way is
up and which way is down but there are
things that you’re doing that you know
you shouldn’t do now some of those you
won’t stop doing for whatever reason you
don’t have the discipline or maybe
there’s a secondary payoff or you don’t
believe it’s necessary or it’s too much
of a sacrifice or you’re angry or
resentful or or afraid who knows so
forget about those for now but there’s
another subset that you could stop doing
it might be little thing well that’s
fine stop doing it and see what happens
and what will happen is your vision will
clear a little bit and then something
else will pop up in your field of
apprehension that you will also know you
should stop doing and that you could
stop doing because you’ve strengthened
yourself a bit by stopping doing the
particular stupid thing that you were
doing before that just puts you together
a little bit more and you could do that
repeatedly for for an indefinite period
of time and and
you know that doesn’t necessarily mean
that you’re going to ever be able to
formulate a clear and final picture of
what constitutes the truth and the good
but it does mean that you’ll be able to
continually move away from what’s
untruth and what’s bad leave desire and
will to win is everything I don’t know
why I’m like I am but my butt’s always
burning there’s always something say art
dadgummit you’re supposed to go for it
alright dadgummit you’re supposed to be
somebody you’re supposed to make a
difference with you lie what does the
$500,000 your person do the $50,000 your
person doesn’t do you look at outside
and study those two individuals
everything seems to be the same they
both are the same sex they both are the
same aids and have the same training the
same positions the same contract the
same fringe benefits
they both are successful they work hard
they’re good family people make tough
commitments but what’s the difference
what does the $500,000 your person do
the $50,000 your person doesn’t do he
pays the price and a little bit more he
works hard and a little bit more he’s
loyal to the company a little bit more
he believes and a little bit more he
makes Maine a little bit more he saves
money a little bit more if you want to
win in these United States you got to be
tough and you can’t quit
the last thing I’ll talk to you about
today and building this winning edge is
folks if you want to win in business
you’ve got to be a leader leadership is
everything you show me anything in these
United States that win I’ll show you a
leader at work you show me a successful
church Boy Scout Troop club football
team business I’ll show you some a run
by leader see see I thought at one time
in my life you had to be smart to win I
used to have these smart people that
dress so pretty and talk so pretty and
use these big words they just
intimidated me and I said aren’t you
can’t ever be that good why don’t you
just throw in the towel and go on back
coach football for living and I found
two things out about smart people I
think it’s almost impossible for a smart
person to win in business in America
today because I find smart people spend
their whole lifetime figuring things out
they always trying to figure
an easier way in a quicker way and
another thing I found out about smart
people as they just don’t get around to
doing nothing they see somebody like art
Williams everybody says well he can’t do
it and somebody like that can’t do it
but he does it see folks I want you to
know almost everybody in America almost
does enough to win they almost get there
they almost are over the hump they
almost have it going
they almost in everything they do almost
is a way of life to almost everybody in
America but the winners do it what do
they do they do whatever it takes to get
the job done they do it and do it and do
it and do it and do it until the job
gets done and then they talk about how
great it is to be somebody they’re proud
of we need leaders in America who can do
it if you want to become somebody do it
if you want to go and finish for
yourself do it if you want to become
financially independent do it I hear too
much talk in these United States
everybody can talk a good game we need
people in America who can do it
I go all over this country with Al
weaves and I have people say aren’t you
you count on me wonderful just do it all
right I guarantee this is my light last
stop I’m gonna win now SuperDuper just
do it all right if I could just have one
good month and get the ball going I know
I could make it big super just do it
all right if I could just pay off this
debt I could really go great just do it
hard if I could just say on my house do
it but how does a ceiling do it anyway
I’m not making any money what can I do
you just do it
do what art you do it and do it and do
it all right I can’t you win this
contest
SuperDuper just do it all right I’m over
the hump now watch my smoke grades just
do it my heart I want to make it so bad
I’m tasting what I do you just do it all
right I’m a vice president now can I
quit doing it no all right I don’t know
if I can keep on keepin on I’m really
hurting what I do you just do it do what
art you do it and do it and do it all
right all my life I want to be somebody
important well what do it then all right
I’m gonna save money so I don’t have to
go through this again
great just do it all right I don’t feel
like I’ve had enough training what’d I
do you just do it all right my manager
don’t give me no help what I do you just
do it all right you don’t understand I
was mr. everything in my former company
you don’t mean I I have to start off
down at the bottom and do it do you yep
you really got to do it all right what’s
the primary difference between winners
and losers the winner the winners do it
they do it and do it and do it and do it
until the job gets done and then they
talk about how great it is to finally
have achieved something unique and how
glad they are that they didn’t quit like
everybody else and how wonderful it is
to finally be somebody they’re proud of and make a difference with their life
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