some of the most important discoveries
inventions and innovations cut within a
field come from people who are trained
in a much different field and who have
an outsider’s approach
Louis Pasteur was a classic example of
this he was trained as a chemist in
mineralogist so he brought amidst a much
different way of thinking to the subject
of medicine and germs a method that was
infinitely more creative Albert Einstein
was a complete outsider his two most
important discoveries came when he was
working at the Swiss Patent Office
Google itself exemplifies this idea it
is perhaps the most successful business
on the planet founded by two men who are
relatively complete outsiders to
business and who therefore structured
and directed their company in a very
novel and creative fashion I could go on
and on and on with this list including
many great artists there are two
important reasons why Outsiders
generally have a creative advantage
first they are less steeped in and
burdened by the conventions of the field
that they are attacking they ask a
different set of questions they approach
problems from unconventional angles and
second they are often trained in totally
unrelated fields and so can make
interesting and creative connections
between two very different forms of
thinking like science and business or
chemistry and medicine or engineering
and design now we can’t all consciously
follow such a path but even within the
careers that were pursuing we can train
ourselves to think like outsiders and
help loosen up the mind in the process I
came home one night from work spraying
for cockroaches and long story short I
turned on the Discovery Channel I saw
some guys going through Navy SEAL
training and they’re going through hell
week and they were getting their ass
just beat you know in all the water guys
ringing the bell
there was suffering and I was waiting
like 297 pounds and I had to make a
change in my life you know I was at
all-time low and I wasn’t going anywhere
and I was exactly what everybody said I
was gonna be which was nothing so I had
to make a change what was it about
seeing suffering that’s that’s really
interesting and I actually get it but I
want to hear you explain it why
suffering was the thing that triggered
that thought well for me growing up I
came from a horrible background I got
called nigger every day of my life
growing up lived in a small town the
Klan headquarters at that time was about
20 minutes from where I lived the one of
the high ups in the KKK son sat behind
me in two classes so you called me nigga
a long time got my first car they spray
print nigger we’re gonna kill you on it
so I was just an insecure scared kid and
the only way I could find myself was to
put myself through the worst thing
possible I’m gonna say the exact
opposite of what the world today’s world
is saying so we read a bunch of books
nowadays as humans we we want to find
out how to be someone else what we don’t
do is we don’t go inside so literally
turn yourself inside out read the book
that’s like we’re writing a book every
day four lives every day we’re seeing
who we are as people when I was growing
up I I lied for people to accept me
because I didn’t accept myself so I
would make up stories so you so then you
would accept me into your world I would
uh everything I did was for someone else
to like me it was until I started
reading my own book about how pathetic I
was as human being I could play my dad I
can blame kids at school I could blame
having health issues
ATD my mom not being around great mom
but she was doing her thing right I
could blame a lot of people and that’s
the book I was reading and I put it off
on everybody else it wasn’t so I said
you know what for me to fix this I get a
read what the hell what the is wrong
with David Garvey’s not blame anybody
read my books okay I’m afraid of my
shadow
how can I overcome that go in and
military get your ass kicked
do things you hate to do be
uncomfortable every day of your life
Roger that I’m not the smartest kid in
the world okay it says somebody saying
oh no you’re smart no no don’t say that
to yourself I said to myself no I’m a
dump
okay Roger that how you get smarter
educate yourself so the things that we
run from we run it from the truth we’re
running from the truth man so the only
way I became successful was going
towards the truth as painful and as
brutal as it is it changed me it allowed
me to become in my own right who I am
today I’ll never forget a recent
experience doing my business on Wall
Street getting on the train to come back
to midtown one o’clock in the afternoon
normally there’s a lull
this train should be empty but on this
day the train was full full of people
all in business suits a guy recognizes
me comes over says hey are you Chris
Gardner we started talking turns out I’m
in the car with the first wave of the
55,000 people who had just been laid off
by Citibank
and I noticed something everyone’s
holding a box you’ve seen the boxes
you’ve seen them on television they’ve
got the house plant the coffee mug the
pictures of their kids and they’re all
going home they’re all going home to
tell their wife
husband their children and the landlord
they don’t have a job I began to share
with this young guy that do you know
what yeah you lost your job but you
haven’t lost your skills your talent or
your expertise but we’ve got to do now
is create opportunities for the skilled
talent and expertise can be transferable
creating an opportunity and looking for
a job are two different things this
could be prime time for pushing your
button rather finding your button what
do I mean by that prime time to find
that one thing that you love to do so
much you would get up in the morning and
do it free prime time to find that one
thing that the Sun can that comes up
soon enough in the morning because you
want to go do your thing this could be
that time in your life you get to work
your butt off if you think that you’re
gonna go and accomplish something really
special and be the best in anything in
the world and you think you can do it
without working you make a big mistake
because no matter what I did if it was a
bodybuilding or an acting or if it is in
the political arena it always took a lot
a lot of work and you got to boot out
and you got the you know something to
make a lot of sacrifices notice if
you’re not willing to work hard forget
about it so there’s another rule that is
very important
why do you prioritize sleep so highly
just curious of what makes you so
committed to that and the science behind
it thank you for all you do I find that
I’m slower when I’m fatigued so I find
myself drifting I have more symptoms of
what we’ll call a tea a DD so that my
attention is just drift drift drifts and
then I find I’ll read a sentence or
whatever and be like I have to reread
the sentence like ten times so that was
just going whoa I’m not as efficient as
I could be and then the other is I find
it a unique form of misery there is an
additional ring of Hell that is saved
just for people who are fatigued I hate
it so much
so it’s misery and I don’t understand
people that live a life
that is miserable I just don’t get it
and then on top of that I think you
actually accomplish less if you’re
fatigued so you’re putting more hours
we’re actually getting less done per
hour so if being fatigued puts you at
like 0.6 of what your output could be
and then being just like incredibly well
rested prioritizing that puts you at you
know it’s I guess mathematically I
should be saying just one then like you
have to make up 40% of the number of
hours and waking up early just to break
even and then you put misery on top of
that so that that’s my end of one
experience is that I am so deadly
efficient when I’m rested that I just
get more done so comparing those suicide
by side I get I actually accomplish more
well you know what people do look at me
and see me as creative because I’ve
written so many books and I am curious
but when I start off in college in my in
my freshman psych class they gave us a
test that he preached dude to take on
creativity and there were 17 in that
class I can remember it well and I was
at the bottom of the class on creativity
I mean I was like number 17 out of 17
and and and what the teacher posted the
scores and so I mean I saw how bad I was
and and then I really felt bad not only
because I wasn’t creative but I was
going to go past her I was going to go
in the minister I was gonna teach I was
going to do sermons and then I got to
thinking it myself I’m going to be
another boring preacher and you know I
thought just gripping I thought oh this
is gonna be awful I’m gonna bore people
all my life you know what I mean and I’m
gonna ask him to pay while they hear me
I mean this is an awful deal so it and
and so two things I did and I talked
about in the book one as I started
filing I started taking thoughts in
quotes and the reason I started doing
that is I thought if I’m not gonna be
good at what I say I need to quote
somebody that is good and so I started
filing things that other people would
say so I’d go around and I’d say well
Ken said you know what I mean and Joe
said and Suzy said and so that at least
I would be a little bit more interesting
and that’s how it started but the big
breakthrough the big breakthrough ahead
was and this will help everyone if how
many of you would like to be more
creative let me let me see your
okay how many of you’d like to just
absolutely have an imagination that just
took you to a new level you know I’m
sorry okay how many you already have
that because you’re on drugs okay okay
okay but here’s here’s that here’s the
key this will work for you I promise it
work for you because it worked for me I
made a major change in my early 30s from
just having answers and being a leader
that just had to cast vision and show
everybody what I was doing and where we
were going and I started asking
intentional questions and I became a
person I asked questions all the time
every day I ask questions and I have
found just asking questions we’ll take
you on exciting journeys more than
anything else your for you excel in that
kidding I’ve watched you over the years
you did excel really in that but for my
early years I didn’t ask enough
questions and so therefore I didn’t get
enough ideas and thoughts from others so
when people say I want to be more
creative what step one step number one
is ask more questions just go to people
and start asking questions it’s amazing
what you learn you’ve lived a life
dominated by doubt and fear how do you
step into bravery step that’s how you
step into bravery step take the step
step aggressively towards your fear and
that that step towards your fear is the
step into bravery because we’re we’re
scared of what we don’t know and there’s
only one way to learn and to know and
that is to confront that fear you have
to step you have to go and this simple
action
this simple attitude it answers so many
how do you get to the gym every day you
step you go how do you how do you change
your diet you step you go how do you
overcome fear of failure or fear of
you step and how do you face the fear of
the unknown your step don’t wait anymore
don’t think anymore don’t plan anymore
don’t contemplate anymore don’t make any
more excuses or justifications don’t
instead be aggressive take action now
and what is the first action that you
need to take what’s the first step you
need to take the first step you need to
take is just that step ESPN called me
they did a story on me this past summer
but they called me one day and I picked
up the phone they said is this inky
johnson so 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 alright
cool come on I 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
its Air Force’s team
all right cool and so they take me to
Nealon Stadium they put me on the exact
yard line with my life change they said
now tell your younger self why you
wouldn’t stop your injury if you could
if you could be an NFL why
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 like 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 their lives that have been affected
by the result of the process and the
thing that I represent in the world what
my spirit represents when she 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 he said go standing he
gave me that I felt a certain type of
money but he gave me to ghosts then I
got the certain type I felt different
gold standard I felt like that with me
because I’m thinking what I do the line
of business I’m in I’m gonna go standard
because I don’t compromise and every
single day I’m gonna give you my very
best you can bet your bottom dollar
every single day i’ma bring that gold
standard your life and I’m not just
bringing it in one aspect of life I’m
bringing in 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 all know 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 givin 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 sleep they
forget what they represent when life
hits him with adversity my only charge
for you never forget what you represent
every single person when they’re in
their teens in the early 20th they they
care so much about other people and how
they’re perceived
what impression they make and I wanted
to be perfect I wanted to be good at
everything and big at student and be
prettier and skinnier and successful and
all these things and I cared about what
people said about me and how they felt
about me and as I get older I just
realized that that is that month other
people won’t make me happy it has to be
from within me and I need to keep doing
whatever makes me happy
and whoever responds to that great
whoever doesn’t respond to that it’s
fine – hmm but the less I care about
other people’s opinions the better I
feel about myself and the more I do
things that make me happy
you’re gonna play big say big you’re
gonna play huge say huge you’re gonna
play ginormous say ginormous
but first take baby steps you’re gonna
eat the elephant but take one small bite
first chew it good right we want so much
so fast my grandmother says baby she
starts every sentence with baby I’m sure
it’s because she cannot remember all of
our names she said baby the best things
you’ll ever have from Grandma
will never come from the microwave they
always come from the oven and I was like
I think some somehow she’s trying to
give me a lesson here and I realized
that the best things that you’re gonna
create are gonna take time build it on
cement not sinking saying you’re gonna
get tons and tons and tons of tools here
and you’re gonna want to fast forward
when you fast forward you’re building on
Plexiglas you’ve been on styrofoam
you’ve been on wood you want to build it
on semen your dream is important enough
to outlive you yes yes and so I realized
that that you can’t Google down lower
resiliency you can’t Google download
tenacity you can’t Google download
forgiveness there’s some of the best
qualities and characteristics that’s
gonna take you a long way that you need
to invest time in and energy in and
intention in you don’t just get patience
I want patience I’m waiting for pick
somebody’s gonna piss you off tomorrow
then now you get to test of your
patience
I realized I realized that as I wanted
to develop me I have to be willing to
climb and I wanted to get to the top and
there’s no elevator to the top I got to
do my squats
I got to work on my quads and my
hamstrings and my calves cuz I got a
climb to the top
we got a climb you need to bet on your
strengths and don’t give a about
what you suck at you’re gonna way too
many people in this room are gonna spend
the next 30 40 years of their lives
trying to check the boxes other things
that they’re not as good at and that
you’re gonna waste a load of time and
lose I highly recommend auditing
yourself or if you have no empathy or EQ
or self-awareness then find somebody in
your family or friendship that does and
let them tell you who you are and once
you believe that either for yourself or
someone else told you go directly all
chips all into that because that is the
only possible way in my opinion watching
from the outside that is let me rephrase
that is a very highly likely way of
over-indexing because the truth is if
you want to be an anomaly you’ve got to
act like one you know like and so that’s
it that’s what I got so thanks for
having me well you have to treat
yourself like you matter because if you
don’t then you don’t take care of
yourself and you become vengeful and and
and cruel and you you take you take it
out on people around you and you’re not
a positive force none of that’s good so
you suffer more and so does everyone
around you and there’s a malevolence
that enters into it none of that’s good
so that’s what happens if you don’t
treat yourself like you matter and then
what happens if you don’t treat other
people like they matter
well you lie to them you cheat them you
steal you you you enter into impulsive
relationships with them they can’t trust
you that doesn’t go anywhere they don’t
like you you you end up alone at best
and maybe like incarcerated at worst
like that doesn’t work and so you watch
the people around you who thrive
regardless of what they say they act out
the proposition that everyone matters
and then you have a functional society
and I think ok well if if if when you
act out the proposition that everyone
matters you have a functional society
maybe that’s evidence that that prop
is true it’s like I think it’s I think
it’s true whether it’s personal or
people around me when you see people
that are positive that look at something
good and something bad that took place
they move along in life faster their
veteran and people want to be around
these people I mean too often people
gossip the one gossip person wants to be
around the other person that gossips but
they don’t realize when you gossip
you’re saying something about somebody
else you’re telling everybody what if
part of it was wrong you to go out and
tell every person you told this oh I’m
sorry it was wrong tell everybody you
told it’s not going to happen so it
seems you learn about don’t gossip don’t
belittle people if you don’t have to god
please don’t try and look at the
positive angle what good could come out
of something and that positiveness is
gonna make you live longer happier and
wake up in the morning happy not oh my
god I gotta go to work I can’t wait till
I get home I want to retire because
people are not positive they were not
happy and what happens they retire they
hate their job they retire three or four
years later their debts they have
nothing to do that positive attitude be
around positive people encourage
positiveness if you find yourself
walking around just complaining all the
time around people that complain a lot
man move or just try and do something
different change your life being
positive and a positive attitude is find
something positive and something bad
makes you look for solutions when I was
down and out okay whoo Oh pop bottles
let’s get the pop bottles cash em in as
I started studying people that did more
now people that didn’t do more not
people that said do less not people that
said hey don’t be satisfied or be
satisfied not people that said they’d be
grateful for what you have I started
studying people that said and had done
more that you can do more that’s who I
listen to today I listen to the people
aren’t my friends in my life the people
I listen to the people I talk to the
people that I follow on Facebook or
YouTube or Instagram I don’t follow
everybody I follow the people that say
you can do more dude I follow the people
that say I am doing more
I follow the people that are actually
doing something on this planet to make a
difference for the better you have to be
selective you have to give something up
okay you cannot listen to everybody to
every voice to every person is quit or
given up you got to make a decision if
you have that little voice inside of you
that says you can do more you have to
get of attention to that voice and you
got to feed it with those that support
that idea that you can do more everyone
in this room knows how to create you’re
not a manager of your life you’re a
creator of your life or you wouldn’t be
in this room how do you create your life
you get hungry for something don’t you
who has done something in your life that
once seemed difficult or impossible and
now it’s part of your life who’s got
something in your life for this area say
I how did you do it you created it three
ways number one you decided there’s
something you wanted so bad that you
unleashed all your desire you became
obsessed with it if it was a business or
a car or a relationship or a
transformation in your body if there’s
something you want sin vision and now
it’s real it’s because you didn’t just
envision it you brought so much emotion
to it then now it’s in your life it was
once a dream
it was once a goal and now it’s in your
life how many have something like that
in your life now say I you may take it
for granted now hopefully not but it was
once just a vision may have seemed
impossible at one time so how did you do
it you started with a concrete vision of
what you wanted and you focused on it
continuously didn’t you wherever focus
goes energy flows you envision something
you got clear about it and then you
started thinking about all the reasons
why you wanted it you got excited about
it so this is what’s next for me now I
want this you may have dreamed about a
fawn about I talked about it but when
you focus on something continuously
something magical happens you get
insights don’t you you overhear a
conversation you hear something
wouldn’t have heard if you didn’t have
that outcome or goal that you wanted so
badly who’s ever come up with something
obsessed about it didn’t even know how
to do it and it just happened and it
came together who’s that that experience
say I so why don’t we tap into that
power now for your business in life you
want to be great
like you want to be good and you sort of
set these funny expectations for
yourself you know one of the funniest
things that the Fogerty ever said to me
he was like yeah I was I tried to learn
I was learning to play the drums but I
realized that I would never be as good
as John Bonham from Led Zeppelin so I
stopped my you’re who is as good as John
but nobody like what how could you do
that so like there should be no right or
wrong you know you should just be cool
with what you do and how you sound like
I’m it’s it’s one of the things that I
have a problem with like a lot of those
song contest shows on TV
not not only because you know whatever
its corporate cheese or whatever but I
have a problem with like if my kid
walked up on stage and sang her heart
out as best as she could and Jennifer
Lopez said like nah sorry that’s not
good enough I’d be like I’d be so pissed
you know cuz that’s not how it works you
know you should be you should go you
should go to a yard sale and buy a steel
guitar and then go find a friend and get
into your garage and just suck there’d
be awful and then write some songs and
that’s how it’s that’s how it works I
mean it works other ways to I’m sure but
I mean as a as a young musician you know
first of all you’re not gonna make a
living doing it like except that I
realize that because then if you do your
the reward of playing music playing
music should be the reward of playing
music like that’s that’s what you that’s
what you kind of get like when I was a
little kid when I was playing punk rock
music as a teenager like there was never
any career opportunity because we’ve
played punk rock music nobody wanted to
buy that but we’d love to do it it was
so it was so much fun and like if you
start from a place like that that you
just love to create and you just love to
play music and you can’t stop thinking
about it
and you do it every day and you do it by
yourself or you do it with your friends
and that’s enough for you to survive the
rest of your life that’s great
and then once you start getting good you
start playing for people and once you
start playing for people if you’re good
then those people will tell other people
that girl’s really good so then all of a
sudden you’re playing to all these
different people and that to me is the
most important thing when you doing it’s
you on stage and people are seeing when
people see another person doing that
it’s really inspiring like it’s cool to
see a human being
jamming that’s great one night Chris had
gone to bed I had been struggling
struggling struggling we still had all
the same problems I we stalled a lien on
the house still facing bankruptcy still
fighting like crazy I was still
unemployed
he still they still hadn’t figured out
like the solution yet for the business
and I was about to turn off the TV and
there on the the TV there was this
rocket launching and I thought oh my
gosh I am gonna launch myself out of bed
like a rocket ship like NASA right here
had launched me out of that bed and I’m
gonna move so fast that I don’t think
hmm I’m gonna beat my brain now here’s a
really interesting point I talked a lot
about your instincts and inner wisdom
and we can get into this a little bit
later but a lot of us talk about the
fact that you have a gut feeling but
what all this research that I’ve done
for the book and and all the speaking
that I do what I’ve discovered that’s
fascinating is actually when you set
goals when you have an intention on
something that you want to change about
your life your brain helps you what it
does is it opens up a checklist and then
your brain goes to work trying to remind
you yeah of that intention that you set
and it’s really important to develop the
skill and I say that word purposefully
the skill of knowing how to hear that
inner wisdom and that intention kicking
in and leaning into it quickly so for me
my brain saying that’s it right there
move as fast as a rocket Mel I wanted to
change my life and I think most people
that are miserable or that are that are
really like dying to be great and dying
to have more we want to change we want
to live a better life we want to create
more for our families we want to be
happier the the desire is there again
it’s about how do you go from knowledge
to actions so the first thing in the
story that’s important is realizing that
the answer was in me and my mind was
telling me pay attention I could have
also been a bourbon anyway
the next morning the alarm goes off and
I pretended NASA was there it’s a
stupidest story I literally went 5 4 3 2
1 I counted out loud and then I stood up
and I’ll never forget standing there in
my bedroom it was dark it was cold it
was winter in Boston and for the first
time in three months I had beaten my
habit of hitting the snooze button I
couldn’t believe it and I thought wait a
minute
counting backwards that is the dumbest
thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life
well the next morning I used it again
and it worked the next morning I used it
again and it worked
the next morning I used it again and it
worked and then I started to notice
something really interesting there were
moments all day long all day long
just like that five-second moment in bed
where I knew knowledge what I should do
and if I didn’t move within 5 seconds my
brain would step in and talk me out of
it
every human being has a five-second
window might even be shorter for you you
have about a five-second window in which
you can move from idea to action before
your brain kicks into full gear and
sabotages any change in behavior because
remember your brain is wired to stop you
from doing things that are uncomfortable
or uncertain or scary it’s your job to
learn how to move from those ideas that
could change everything into acting on
lot of so-called unhappiness is also a
childish way of trying to change things
by being as unhappy as you can about
them and the underlying unconscious or
semi-conscious assumption is if I’m
really unhappy somebody perhaps God is
going to do something about it or I’m
going to prove him wrong I’m going to
show him how dreadful it is and then
finally this is an unconscious
assumption behind the unhappiness
because you believe if you are
habitually and frequently unhappy you
believe that it has a purpose it’s an
underlying assumption perhaps you
wouldn’t verbalize it in that way but
you believe that it it’s it works for
you because it doesn’t but things are
going to change if but just need to be
really unhappy so that God finally evens
you don’t believe in God this this can
still be the mechanism the underlying
unconscious assumption behind it
it’s something’s going to happen and of
course the opposite is true because the
more happy are with something the more
you’re stuck in the situation my first
passion before food was but as always
the garita
Craig
she grew up partly in Scotland polygon
south so we had that sort of token of
appreciation of home-cooked food then I
was very lucky to get on foundation
course spending the last year of my
school at a foundation course studying
maths English – not days a week and then
learning to cook for – not days a week
and it was a sort of new experiment
there we had trouble with by my first
set of whites and chef knives and we
depended on the boundary round table to
come up with something like 85 90 pounds
that didn’t have to get my first set of
whites so I still remember that day now
and how I ecstatic and happy I was when
I got given my first set of whites my
knives and all of a sudden I want to go
on that mission football was a sort of
huge burning ambition and I was trying
to decide yeah I had a horrific injury
where I smashed my car pigeon and then
all of a sudden you know what you do he
said they can get better but I had this
little burning desire of this sort of a
chef there’s this this ambition and then
I sort of channeled that frustration
from football into cooking in a way that
I I just I just wanted to learn the
foundation course was huge did a city
guild seven oh six I was a mature
part-time students and mum doesn’t have
the money to send me to college
full-time so it was it was hard but what
I did do is take a job in the industry I
work six days a week and went to college
one day which so then everything started
becoming clearer got my qualifications
the basic and then went to London and
that’s where it really just took off
well there’s a world champion boxer
basketball player track star horsey
manimals
I found out that this Mark Spitz for an
example he’s a world champion but what
made him the world champion was that he
seemed to at the right time when the
pressures down at the last few yards he
can get that lead he’s got enough left a
million I found Ken Norton
my last fight if I was even up in the
last round but I had something that he
didn’t have all I’m much older that was
the last minute kick what’s that last
minute kick is that sometimes the
stamina the strength but more than
training
capacitor mental image I realize what’s
involved and how important it is and
make it by to do something is really
hard to do your mind makes you do it
marks bitch this Olympic track star was
mentioning he wasn’t that much greater
than all the people in the world was
sometime he won by just that much and
the son of champion is just one who can
come out at the last minute and the
closes show us and say the star closes
show a 1415 round fight and this even
and that usually this champion you can
depend on him to come to the last few
seconds and find some interpreters it’s
a discipline not only that it’s mental
and physical give his bodies in physical
shape to do it plus mentally – he’s got
a self in condition where both fellas
maybe sometimes the wheel can outdo the
skill and sometimes a fellow’s wheel is
stronger than the man who is actually
better physically and the determination
and weakens the other man just to see
him so determined yeah I believe in
manifestation I believe in you know
putting a rocket of desire out into the
universe and and you get it when you
believe it you get it when you believe
you have it and that’s the key is like
people still they sit around going
when’s it gonna come when they’re gonna
come when they’re gonna come ones are
gonna come and that’s the wrong way
you’re you’re facing the wrong way
you’re facing away from it you have to
go it’s here it’s here it’s here every
single human being has value and my
value is not determined on how I look or
what job I have or where I’m from where
I was born
how much money all that stuff is nothing
so many teenagers you know tease each
other for how we look and I tell the
teenagers do you think that I’m cool
enough to be your friend
they’re like yeah of course I said but I
have no arms no legs they said doesn’t
matter said really so it doesn’t matter
that I have no arms no legs I said no it
doesn’t matter I said then actually if
it doesn’t matter then why do we kill
each other with our words if it actually
doesn’t matter why do we look ourselves
in the mirror and see ugly instead of
valuable
I wanna ask you today what are you
looking for if I gave you a billion
dollars would you be happy if you gave
me a billion dollars I’d be very happy
but then if my mom dies tonight am I
happy no with all the money in the world
I’ll never be happy Mike because money
is something that cannot heal the soul I
don’t make notes
I don’t react very instinctively to
everything I’m a great believer in
traveling a great deal
I don’t believe meeting more than two
it’s true do you know about stand-ups
okay so in Silicon Valley now when you
have a meeting everybody stands in a
circle like they’re meditating that’s
that’s how maybe I should try that I
think the more you go out the more you
see the more you experience life and
more you bring back to your day job so
as I was trying to say in my remarks I
think the problem that big corporations
is you get a lot of people my age trying
to hold on to their jobs and you know
clinging on to their pensions and their
retirement and they’re not experiencing
new things and they don’t like change
and they don’t like disruption so
they’re either they don’t make a
decision or they say no and as a result
they stagnate
so it’s terribly important to bring
people in from the outside and not to
remain too insular and also to hire as
many young bright people like all of you
as you can just to teach you how to
think about things completely
differently I was a very headstrong
young person and by nineteen eighty
three or four had started my own
publishing company to publish my own
books realizing that no one else will
publish me and I was right about that
and so my first book I saved my food
money from Black Flag little here little
there and I saved enough to make a fold
and staple book I couldn’t
so I handed out the things and I made a
dummy that I could offset print fold and
staple and I sold them for $2 mainly
gave them away but I sold enough and
they blew out 500 just went and then I
took that money to make another print
run of that and from that money I made
my first paper back and 33 years later
that’s a fully staffed company with
books in translation and hardcover
editions and the whole you know the
whole nine yards but it started with I’m
gonna do my thing I’ll be city lights
jr. without the talent and that’s I did
that at the same time I was doing my
first spoken word gigs and why did I
have the gumption and the audacity to
start my own book company because I come
from punk rock I come from watching Ian
MacKaye invent Dischord records on his
mom’s kitchen table I come from folding
and gluing picture sleeves together
black flag had their own label of course
you do it yourself you want to make a
book sit down and write it then go to
the printing place where as a printer
getting the phone book and find a
printer we make records make some books
it was you just do it it’s like you
don’t even think about you just do it
and I’m sure that writing is this awful
but I did it and without even hesitation
I’m making my own book companies stop me
I dare you I’ve never thought about it
twice just because DIY man like let your
voice be heard the cookie jar is
something I invented as you all know
your mom has a cookie jar and sometimes
you might have an Oreo sometimes you
might have a Chips Ahoy way sometimes
you might have a Oakland raisin cookie
you never know just in there my cookie
jar has every single failure and success
of my life stop my overcame so what
happens in this in time of life when
you’re stressed out and things get bad
even the hardest guy in the world me
everybody thinks and I think I’m the
hardest guy in the world you got to
believe that you gotta believe you are
something
I will in my mind reach into my cookie
jar and sometimes you forget how hard
you are in times of need because you’re
you’re stressed but you forget I’m a
Navy SEAL I’m a ranger I’m missing that
but you forget all that cos your life
sucks
I calm down take that one second get
control of my life
reaching the cookie jar well you got
caught nigger your whole life and you’re
now the only person history do justice
and this put it back in the cookie jar
reset my mind you have to remind
yourself of how badass you really are in
times of need that’s the cookie jar [Applause]
inventions and innovations cut within a
field come from people who are trained
in a much different field and who have
an outsider’s approach
Louis Pasteur was a classic example of
this he was trained as a chemist in
mineralogist so he brought amidst a much
different way of thinking to the subject
of medicine and germs a method that was
infinitely more creative Albert Einstein
was a complete outsider his two most
important discoveries came when he was
working at the Swiss Patent Office
Google itself exemplifies this idea it
is perhaps the most successful business
on the planet founded by two men who are
relatively complete outsiders to
business and who therefore structured
and directed their company in a very
novel and creative fashion I could go on
and on and on with this list including
many great artists there are two
important reasons why Outsiders
generally have a creative advantage
first they are less steeped in and
burdened by the conventions of the field
that they are attacking they ask a
different set of questions they approach
problems from unconventional angles and
second they are often trained in totally
unrelated fields and so can make
interesting and creative connections
between two very different forms of
thinking like science and business or
chemistry and medicine or engineering
and design now we can’t all consciously
follow such a path but even within the
careers that were pursuing we can train
ourselves to think like outsiders and
help loosen up the mind in the process I
came home one night from work spraying
for cockroaches and long story short I
turned on the Discovery Channel I saw
some guys going through Navy SEAL
training and they’re going through hell
week and they were getting their ass
just beat you know in all the water guys
ringing the bell
there was suffering and I was waiting
like 297 pounds and I had to make a
change in my life you know I was at
all-time low and I wasn’t going anywhere
and I was exactly what everybody said I
was gonna be which was nothing so I had
to make a change what was it about
seeing suffering that’s that’s really
interesting and I actually get it but I
want to hear you explain it why
suffering was the thing that triggered
that thought well for me growing up I
came from a horrible background I got
called nigger every day of my life
growing up lived in a small town the
Klan headquarters at that time was about
20 minutes from where I lived the one of
the high ups in the KKK son sat behind
me in two classes so you called me nigga
a long time got my first car they spray
print nigger we’re gonna kill you on it
so I was just an insecure scared kid and
the only way I could find myself was to
put myself through the worst thing
possible I’m gonna say the exact
opposite of what the world today’s world
is saying so we read a bunch of books
nowadays as humans we we want to find
out how to be someone else what we don’t
do is we don’t go inside so literally
turn yourself inside out read the book
that’s like we’re writing a book every
day four lives every day we’re seeing
who we are as people when I was growing
up I I lied for people to accept me
because I didn’t accept myself so I
would make up stories so you so then you
would accept me into your world I would
uh everything I did was for someone else
to like me it was until I started
reading my own book about how pathetic I
was as human being I could play my dad I
can blame kids at school I could blame
having health issues
ATD my mom not being around great mom
but she was doing her thing right I
could blame a lot of people and that’s
the book I was reading and I put it off
on everybody else it wasn’t so I said
you know what for me to fix this I get a
read what the hell what the is wrong
with David Garvey’s not blame anybody
read my books okay I’m afraid of my
shadow
how can I overcome that go in and
military get your ass kicked
do things you hate to do be
uncomfortable every day of your life
Roger that I’m not the smartest kid in
the world okay it says somebody saying
oh no you’re smart no no don’t say that
to yourself I said to myself no I’m a
dump
okay Roger that how you get smarter
educate yourself so the things that we
run from we run it from the truth we’re
running from the truth man so the only
way I became successful was going
towards the truth as painful and as
brutal as it is it changed me it allowed
me to become in my own right who I am
today I’ll never forget a recent
experience doing my business on Wall
Street getting on the train to come back
to midtown one o’clock in the afternoon
normally there’s a lull
this train should be empty but on this
day the train was full full of people
all in business suits a guy recognizes
me comes over says hey are you Chris
Gardner we started talking turns out I’m
in the car with the first wave of the
55,000 people who had just been laid off
by Citibank
and I noticed something everyone’s
holding a box you’ve seen the boxes
you’ve seen them on television they’ve
got the house plant the coffee mug the
pictures of their kids and they’re all
going home they’re all going home to
tell their wife
husband their children and the landlord
they don’t have a job I began to share
with this young guy that do you know
what yeah you lost your job but you
haven’t lost your skills your talent or
your expertise but we’ve got to do now
is create opportunities for the skilled
talent and expertise can be transferable
creating an opportunity and looking for
a job are two different things this
could be prime time for pushing your
button rather finding your button what
do I mean by that prime time to find
that one thing that you love to do so
much you would get up in the morning and
do it free prime time to find that one
thing that the Sun can that comes up
soon enough in the morning because you
want to go do your thing this could be
that time in your life you get to work
your butt off if you think that you’re
gonna go and accomplish something really
special and be the best in anything in
the world and you think you can do it
without working you make a big mistake
because no matter what I did if it was a
bodybuilding or an acting or if it is in
the political arena it always took a lot
a lot of work and you got to boot out
and you got the you know something to
make a lot of sacrifices notice if
you’re not willing to work hard forget
about it so there’s another rule that is
very important
why do you prioritize sleep so highly
just curious of what makes you so
committed to that and the science behind
it thank you for all you do I find that
I’m slower when I’m fatigued so I find
myself drifting I have more symptoms of
what we’ll call a tea a DD so that my
attention is just drift drift drifts and
then I find I’ll read a sentence or
whatever and be like I have to reread
the sentence like ten times so that was
just going whoa I’m not as efficient as
I could be and then the other is I find
it a unique form of misery there is an
additional ring of Hell that is saved
just for people who are fatigued I hate
it so much
so it’s misery and I don’t understand
people that live a life
that is miserable I just don’t get it
and then on top of that I think you
actually accomplish less if you’re
fatigued so you’re putting more hours
we’re actually getting less done per
hour so if being fatigued puts you at
like 0.6 of what your output could be
and then being just like incredibly well
rested prioritizing that puts you at you
know it’s I guess mathematically I
should be saying just one then like you
have to make up 40% of the number of
hours and waking up early just to break
even and then you put misery on top of
that so that that’s my end of one
experience is that I am so deadly
efficient when I’m rested that I just
get more done so comparing those suicide
by side I get I actually accomplish more
well you know what people do look at me
and see me as creative because I’ve
written so many books and I am curious
but when I start off in college in my in
my freshman psych class they gave us a
test that he preached dude to take on
creativity and there were 17 in that
class I can remember it well and I was
at the bottom of the class on creativity
I mean I was like number 17 out of 17
and and and what the teacher posted the
scores and so I mean I saw how bad I was
and and then I really felt bad not only
because I wasn’t creative but I was
going to go past her I was going to go
in the minister I was gonna teach I was
going to do sermons and then I got to
thinking it myself I’m going to be
another boring preacher and you know I
thought just gripping I thought oh this
is gonna be awful I’m gonna bore people
all my life you know what I mean and I’m
gonna ask him to pay while they hear me
I mean this is an awful deal so it and
and so two things I did and I talked
about in the book one as I started
filing I started taking thoughts in
quotes and the reason I started doing
that is I thought if I’m not gonna be
good at what I say I need to quote
somebody that is good and so I started
filing things that other people would
say so I’d go around and I’d say well
Ken said you know what I mean and Joe
said and Suzy said and so that at least
I would be a little bit more interesting
and that’s how it started but the big
breakthrough the big breakthrough ahead
was and this will help everyone if how
many of you would like to be more
creative let me let me see your
okay how many of you’d like to just
absolutely have an imagination that just
took you to a new level you know I’m
sorry okay how many you already have
that because you’re on drugs okay okay
okay but here’s here’s that here’s the
key this will work for you I promise it
work for you because it worked for me I
made a major change in my early 30s from
just having answers and being a leader
that just had to cast vision and show
everybody what I was doing and where we
were going and I started asking
intentional questions and I became a
person I asked questions all the time
every day I ask questions and I have
found just asking questions we’ll take
you on exciting journeys more than
anything else your for you excel in that
kidding I’ve watched you over the years
you did excel really in that but for my
early years I didn’t ask enough
questions and so therefore I didn’t get
enough ideas and thoughts from others so
when people say I want to be more
creative what step one step number one
is ask more questions just go to people
and start asking questions it’s amazing
what you learn you’ve lived a life
dominated by doubt and fear how do you
step into bravery step that’s how you
step into bravery step take the step
step aggressively towards your fear and
that that step towards your fear is the
step into bravery because we’re we’re
scared of what we don’t know and there’s
only one way to learn and to know and
that is to confront that fear you have
to step you have to go and this simple
action
this simple attitude it answers so many
how do you get to the gym every day you
step you go how do you how do you change
your diet you step you go how do you
overcome fear of failure or fear of
you step and how do you face the fear of
the unknown your step don’t wait anymore
don’t think anymore don’t plan anymore
don’t contemplate anymore don’t make any
more excuses or justifications don’t
instead be aggressive take action now
and what is the first action that you
need to take what’s the first step you
need to take the first step you need to
take is just that step ESPN called me
they did a story on me this past summer
but they called me one day and I picked
up the phone they said is this inky
johnson so 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 alright
cool come on I 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
its Air Force’s team
all right cool and so they take me to
Nealon Stadium they put me on the exact
yard line with my life change they said
now tell your younger self why you
wouldn’t stop your injury if you could
if you could be an NFL why
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 like 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 their lives that have been affected
by the result of the process and the
thing that I represent in the world what
my spirit represents when she 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 he said go standing he
gave me that I felt a certain type of
money but he gave me to ghosts then I
got the certain type I felt different
gold standard I felt like that with me
because I’m thinking what I do the line
of business I’m in I’m gonna go standard
because I don’t compromise and every
single day I’m gonna give you my very
best you can bet your bottom dollar
every single day i’ma bring that gold
standard your life and I’m not just
bringing it in one aspect of life I’m
bringing in 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 all know 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 givin 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 sleep they
forget what they represent when life
hits him with adversity my only charge
for you never forget what you represent
every single person when they’re in
their teens in the early 20th they they
care so much about other people and how
they’re perceived
what impression they make and I wanted
to be perfect I wanted to be good at
everything and big at student and be
prettier and skinnier and successful and
all these things and I cared about what
people said about me and how they felt
about me and as I get older I just
realized that that is that month other
people won’t make me happy it has to be
from within me and I need to keep doing
whatever makes me happy
and whoever responds to that great
whoever doesn’t respond to that it’s
fine – hmm but the less I care about
other people’s opinions the better I
feel about myself and the more I do
things that make me happy
you’re gonna play big say big you’re
gonna play huge say huge you’re gonna
play ginormous say ginormous
but first take baby steps you’re gonna
eat the elephant but take one small bite
first chew it good right we want so much
so fast my grandmother says baby she
starts every sentence with baby I’m sure
it’s because she cannot remember all of
our names she said baby the best things
you’ll ever have from Grandma
will never come from the microwave they
always come from the oven and I was like
I think some somehow she’s trying to
give me a lesson here and I realized
that the best things that you’re gonna
create are gonna take time build it on
cement not sinking saying you’re gonna
get tons and tons and tons of tools here
and you’re gonna want to fast forward
when you fast forward you’re building on
Plexiglas you’ve been on styrofoam
you’ve been on wood you want to build it
on semen your dream is important enough
to outlive you yes yes and so I realized
that that you can’t Google down lower
resiliency you can’t Google download
tenacity you can’t Google download
forgiveness there’s some of the best
qualities and characteristics that’s
gonna take you a long way that you need
to invest time in and energy in and
intention in you don’t just get patience
I want patience I’m waiting for pick
somebody’s gonna piss you off tomorrow
then now you get to test of your
patience
I realized I realized that as I wanted
to develop me I have to be willing to
climb and I wanted to get to the top and
there’s no elevator to the top I got to
do my squats
I got to work on my quads and my
hamstrings and my calves cuz I got a
climb to the top
we got a climb you need to bet on your
strengths and don’t give a about
what you suck at you’re gonna way too
many people in this room are gonna spend
the next 30 40 years of their lives
trying to check the boxes other things
that they’re not as good at and that
you’re gonna waste a load of time and
lose I highly recommend auditing
yourself or if you have no empathy or EQ
or self-awareness then find somebody in
your family or friendship that does and
let them tell you who you are and once
you believe that either for yourself or
someone else told you go directly all
chips all into that because that is the
only possible way in my opinion watching
from the outside that is let me rephrase
that is a very highly likely way of
over-indexing because the truth is if
you want to be an anomaly you’ve got to
act like one you know like and so that’s
it that’s what I got so thanks for
having me well you have to treat
yourself like you matter because if you
don’t then you don’t take care of
yourself and you become vengeful and and
and cruel and you you take you take it
out on people around you and you’re not
a positive force none of that’s good so
you suffer more and so does everyone
around you and there’s a malevolence
that enters into it none of that’s good
so that’s what happens if you don’t
treat yourself like you matter and then
what happens if you don’t treat other
people like they matter
well you lie to them you cheat them you
steal you you you enter into impulsive
relationships with them they can’t trust
you that doesn’t go anywhere they don’t
like you you you end up alone at best
and maybe like incarcerated at worst
like that doesn’t work and so you watch
the people around you who thrive
regardless of what they say they act out
the proposition that everyone matters
and then you have a functional society
and I think ok well if if if when you
act out the proposition that everyone
matters you have a functional society
maybe that’s evidence that that prop
is true it’s like I think it’s I think
it’s true whether it’s personal or
people around me when you see people
that are positive that look at something
good and something bad that took place
they move along in life faster their
veteran and people want to be around
these people I mean too often people
gossip the one gossip person wants to be
around the other person that gossips but
they don’t realize when you gossip
you’re saying something about somebody
else you’re telling everybody what if
part of it was wrong you to go out and
tell every person you told this oh I’m
sorry it was wrong tell everybody you
told it’s not going to happen so it
seems you learn about don’t gossip don’t
belittle people if you don’t have to god
please don’t try and look at the
positive angle what good could come out
of something and that positiveness is
gonna make you live longer happier and
wake up in the morning happy not oh my
god I gotta go to work I can’t wait till
I get home I want to retire because
people are not positive they were not
happy and what happens they retire they
hate their job they retire three or four
years later their debts they have
nothing to do that positive attitude be
around positive people encourage
positiveness if you find yourself
walking around just complaining all the
time around people that complain a lot
man move or just try and do something
different change your life being
positive and a positive attitude is find
something positive and something bad
makes you look for solutions when I was
down and out okay whoo Oh pop bottles
let’s get the pop bottles cash em in as
I started studying people that did more
now people that didn’t do more not
people that said do less not people that
said hey don’t be satisfied or be
satisfied not people that said they’d be
grateful for what you have I started
studying people that said and had done
more that you can do more that’s who I
listen to today I listen to the people
aren’t my friends in my life the people
I listen to the people I talk to the
people that I follow on Facebook or
YouTube or Instagram I don’t follow
everybody I follow the people that say
you can do more dude I follow the people
that say I am doing more
I follow the people that are actually
doing something on this planet to make a
difference for the better you have to be
selective you have to give something up
okay you cannot listen to everybody to
every voice to every person is quit or
given up you got to make a decision if
you have that little voice inside of you
that says you can do more you have to
get of attention to that voice and you
got to feed it with those that support
that idea that you can do more everyone
in this room knows how to create you’re
not a manager of your life you’re a
creator of your life or you wouldn’t be
in this room how do you create your life
you get hungry for something don’t you
who has done something in your life that
once seemed difficult or impossible and
now it’s part of your life who’s got
something in your life for this area say
I how did you do it you created it three
ways number one you decided there’s
something you wanted so bad that you
unleashed all your desire you became
obsessed with it if it was a business or
a car or a relationship or a
transformation in your body if there’s
something you want sin vision and now
it’s real it’s because you didn’t just
envision it you brought so much emotion
to it then now it’s in your life it was
once a dream
it was once a goal and now it’s in your
life how many have something like that
in your life now say I you may take it
for granted now hopefully not but it was
once just a vision may have seemed
impossible at one time so how did you do
it you started with a concrete vision of
what you wanted and you focused on it
continuously didn’t you wherever focus
goes energy flows you envision something
you got clear about it and then you
started thinking about all the reasons
why you wanted it you got excited about
it so this is what’s next for me now I
want this you may have dreamed about a
fawn about I talked about it but when
you focus on something continuously
something magical happens you get
insights don’t you you overhear a
conversation you hear something
wouldn’t have heard if you didn’t have
that outcome or goal that you wanted so
badly who’s ever come up with something
obsessed about it didn’t even know how
to do it and it just happened and it
came together who’s that that experience
say I so why don’t we tap into that
power now for your business in life you
want to be great
like you want to be good and you sort of
set these funny expectations for
yourself you know one of the funniest
things that the Fogerty ever said to me
he was like yeah I was I tried to learn
I was learning to play the drums but I
realized that I would never be as good
as John Bonham from Led Zeppelin so I
stopped my you’re who is as good as John
but nobody like what how could you do
that so like there should be no right or
wrong you know you should just be cool
with what you do and how you sound like
I’m it’s it’s one of the things that I
have a problem with like a lot of those
song contest shows on TV
not not only because you know whatever
its corporate cheese or whatever but I
have a problem with like if my kid
walked up on stage and sang her heart
out as best as she could and Jennifer
Lopez said like nah sorry that’s not
good enough I’d be like I’d be so pissed
you know cuz that’s not how it works you
know you should be you should go you
should go to a yard sale and buy a steel
guitar and then go find a friend and get
into your garage and just suck there’d
be awful and then write some songs and
that’s how it’s that’s how it works I
mean it works other ways to I’m sure but
I mean as a as a young musician you know
first of all you’re not gonna make a
living doing it like except that I
realize that because then if you do your
the reward of playing music playing
music should be the reward of playing
music like that’s that’s what you that’s
what you kind of get like when I was a
little kid when I was playing punk rock
music as a teenager like there was never
any career opportunity because we’ve
played punk rock music nobody wanted to
buy that but we’d love to do it it was
so it was so much fun and like if you
start from a place like that that you
just love to create and you just love to
play music and you can’t stop thinking
about it
and you do it every day and you do it by
yourself or you do it with your friends
and that’s enough for you to survive the
rest of your life that’s great
and then once you start getting good you
start playing for people and once you
start playing for people if you’re good
then those people will tell other people
that girl’s really good so then all of a
sudden you’re playing to all these
different people and that to me is the
most important thing when you doing it’s
you on stage and people are seeing when
people see another person doing that
it’s really inspiring like it’s cool to
see a human being
jamming that’s great one night Chris had
gone to bed I had been struggling
struggling struggling we still had all
the same problems I we stalled a lien on
the house still facing bankruptcy still
fighting like crazy I was still
unemployed
he still they still hadn’t figured out
like the solution yet for the business
and I was about to turn off the TV and
there on the the TV there was this
rocket launching and I thought oh my
gosh I am gonna launch myself out of bed
like a rocket ship like NASA right here
had launched me out of that bed and I’m
gonna move so fast that I don’t think
hmm I’m gonna beat my brain now here’s a
really interesting point I talked a lot
about your instincts and inner wisdom
and we can get into this a little bit
later but a lot of us talk about the
fact that you have a gut feeling but
what all this research that I’ve done
for the book and and all the speaking
that I do what I’ve discovered that’s
fascinating is actually when you set
goals when you have an intention on
something that you want to change about
your life your brain helps you what it
does is it opens up a checklist and then
your brain goes to work trying to remind
you yeah of that intention that you set
and it’s really important to develop the
skill and I say that word purposefully
the skill of knowing how to hear that
inner wisdom and that intention kicking
in and leaning into it quickly so for me
my brain saying that’s it right there
move as fast as a rocket Mel I wanted to
change my life and I think most people
that are miserable or that are that are
really like dying to be great and dying
to have more we want to change we want
to live a better life we want to create
more for our families we want to be
happier the the desire is there again
it’s about how do you go from knowledge
to actions so the first thing in the
story that’s important is realizing that
the answer was in me and my mind was
telling me pay attention I could have
also been a bourbon anyway
the next morning the alarm goes off and
I pretended NASA was there it’s a
stupidest story I literally went 5 4 3 2
1 I counted out loud and then I stood up
and I’ll never forget standing there in
my bedroom it was dark it was cold it
was winter in Boston and for the first
time in three months I had beaten my
habit of hitting the snooze button I
couldn’t believe it and I thought wait a
minute
counting backwards that is the dumbest
thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life
well the next morning I used it again
and it worked the next morning I used it
again and it worked
the next morning I used it again and it
worked and then I started to notice
something really interesting there were
moments all day long all day long
just like that five-second moment in bed
where I knew knowledge what I should do
and if I didn’t move within 5 seconds my
brain would step in and talk me out of
it
every human being has a five-second
window might even be shorter for you you
have about a five-second window in which
you can move from idea to action before
your brain kicks into full gear and
sabotages any change in behavior because
remember your brain is wired to stop you
from doing things that are uncomfortable
or uncertain or scary it’s your job to
learn how to move from those ideas that
could change everything into acting on
lot of so-called unhappiness is also a
childish way of trying to change things
by being as unhappy as you can about
them and the underlying unconscious or
semi-conscious assumption is if I’m
really unhappy somebody perhaps God is
going to do something about it or I’m
going to prove him wrong I’m going to
show him how dreadful it is and then
finally this is an unconscious
assumption behind the unhappiness
because you believe if you are
habitually and frequently unhappy you
believe that it has a purpose it’s an
underlying assumption perhaps you
wouldn’t verbalize it in that way but
you believe that it it’s it works for
you because it doesn’t but things are
going to change if but just need to be
really unhappy so that God finally evens
you don’t believe in God this this can
still be the mechanism the underlying
unconscious assumption behind it
it’s something’s going to happen and of
course the opposite is true because the
more happy are with something the more
you’re stuck in the situation my first
passion before food was but as always
the garita
Craig
she grew up partly in Scotland polygon
south so we had that sort of token of
appreciation of home-cooked food then I
was very lucky to get on foundation
course spending the last year of my
school at a foundation course studying
maths English – not days a week and then
learning to cook for – not days a week
and it was a sort of new experiment
there we had trouble with by my first
set of whites and chef knives and we
depended on the boundary round table to
come up with something like 85 90 pounds
that didn’t have to get my first set of
whites so I still remember that day now
and how I ecstatic and happy I was when
I got given my first set of whites my
knives and all of a sudden I want to go
on that mission football was a sort of
huge burning ambition and I was trying
to decide yeah I had a horrific injury
where I smashed my car pigeon and then
all of a sudden you know what you do he
said they can get better but I had this
little burning desire of this sort of a
chef there’s this this ambition and then
I sort of channeled that frustration
from football into cooking in a way that
I I just I just wanted to learn the
foundation course was huge did a city
guild seven oh six I was a mature
part-time students and mum doesn’t have
the money to send me to college
full-time so it was it was hard but what
I did do is take a job in the industry I
work six days a week and went to college
one day which so then everything started
becoming clearer got my qualifications
the basic and then went to London and
that’s where it really just took off
well there’s a world champion boxer
basketball player track star horsey
manimals
I found out that this Mark Spitz for an
example he’s a world champion but what
made him the world champion was that he
seemed to at the right time when the
pressures down at the last few yards he
can get that lead he’s got enough left a
million I found Ken Norton
my last fight if I was even up in the
last round but I had something that he
didn’t have all I’m much older that was
the last minute kick what’s that last
minute kick is that sometimes the
stamina the strength but more than
training
capacitor mental image I realize what’s
involved and how important it is and
make it by to do something is really
hard to do your mind makes you do it
marks bitch this Olympic track star was
mentioning he wasn’t that much greater
than all the people in the world was
sometime he won by just that much and
the son of champion is just one who can
come out at the last minute and the
closes show us and say the star closes
show a 1415 round fight and this even
and that usually this champion you can
depend on him to come to the last few
seconds and find some interpreters it’s
a discipline not only that it’s mental
and physical give his bodies in physical
shape to do it plus mentally – he’s got
a self in condition where both fellas
maybe sometimes the wheel can outdo the
skill and sometimes a fellow’s wheel is
stronger than the man who is actually
better physically and the determination
and weakens the other man just to see
him so determined yeah I believe in
manifestation I believe in you know
putting a rocket of desire out into the
universe and and you get it when you
believe it you get it when you believe
you have it and that’s the key is like
people still they sit around going
when’s it gonna come when they’re gonna
come when they’re gonna come ones are
gonna come and that’s the wrong way
you’re you’re facing the wrong way
you’re facing away from it you have to
go it’s here it’s here it’s here every
single human being has value and my
value is not determined on how I look or
what job I have or where I’m from where
I was born
how much money all that stuff is nothing
so many teenagers you know tease each
other for how we look and I tell the
teenagers do you think that I’m cool
enough to be your friend
they’re like yeah of course I said but I
have no arms no legs they said doesn’t
matter said really so it doesn’t matter
that I have no arms no legs I said no it
doesn’t matter I said then actually if
it doesn’t matter then why do we kill
each other with our words if it actually
doesn’t matter why do we look ourselves
in the mirror and see ugly instead of
valuable
I wanna ask you today what are you
looking for if I gave you a billion
dollars would you be happy if you gave
me a billion dollars I’d be very happy
but then if my mom dies tonight am I
happy no with all the money in the world
I’ll never be happy Mike because money
is something that cannot heal the soul I
don’t make notes
I don’t react very instinctively to
everything I’m a great believer in
traveling a great deal
I don’t believe meeting more than two
it’s true do you know about stand-ups
okay so in Silicon Valley now when you
have a meeting everybody stands in a
circle like they’re meditating that’s
that’s how maybe I should try that I
think the more you go out the more you
see the more you experience life and
more you bring back to your day job so
as I was trying to say in my remarks I
think the problem that big corporations
is you get a lot of people my age trying
to hold on to their jobs and you know
clinging on to their pensions and their
retirement and they’re not experiencing
new things and they don’t like change
and they don’t like disruption so
they’re either they don’t make a
decision or they say no and as a result
they stagnate
so it’s terribly important to bring
people in from the outside and not to
remain too insular and also to hire as
many young bright people like all of you
as you can just to teach you how to
think about things completely
differently I was a very headstrong
young person and by nineteen eighty
three or four had started my own
publishing company to publish my own
books realizing that no one else will
publish me and I was right about that
and so my first book I saved my food
money from Black Flag little here little
there and I saved enough to make a fold
and staple book I couldn’t
so I handed out the things and I made a
dummy that I could offset print fold and
staple and I sold them for $2 mainly
gave them away but I sold enough and
they blew out 500 just went and then I
took that money to make another print
run of that and from that money I made
my first paper back and 33 years later
that’s a fully staffed company with
books in translation and hardcover
editions and the whole you know the
whole nine yards but it started with I’m
gonna do my thing I’ll be city lights
jr. without the talent and that’s I did
that at the same time I was doing my
first spoken word gigs and why did I
have the gumption and the audacity to
start my own book company because I come
from punk rock I come from watching Ian
MacKaye invent Dischord records on his
mom’s kitchen table I come from folding
and gluing picture sleeves together
black flag had their own label of course
you do it yourself you want to make a
book sit down and write it then go to
the printing place where as a printer
getting the phone book and find a
printer we make records make some books
it was you just do it it’s like you
don’t even think about you just do it
and I’m sure that writing is this awful
but I did it and without even hesitation
I’m making my own book companies stop me
I dare you I’ve never thought about it
twice just because DIY man like let your
voice be heard the cookie jar is
something I invented as you all know
your mom has a cookie jar and sometimes
you might have an Oreo sometimes you
might have a Chips Ahoy way sometimes
you might have a Oakland raisin cookie
you never know just in there my cookie
jar has every single failure and success
of my life stop my overcame so what
happens in this in time of life when
you’re stressed out and things get bad
even the hardest guy in the world me
everybody thinks and I think I’m the
hardest guy in the world you got to
believe that you gotta believe you are
something
I will in my mind reach into my cookie
jar and sometimes you forget how hard
you are in times of need because you’re
you’re stressed but you forget I’m a
Navy SEAL I’m a ranger I’m missing that
but you forget all that cos your life
sucks
I calm down take that one second get
control of my life
reaching the cookie jar well you got
caught nigger your whole life and you’re
now the only person history do justice
and this put it back in the cookie jar
reset my mind you have to remind
yourself of how badass you really are in
times of need that’s the cookie jar [Applause]
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