situation the question is can you handle
your mind
[Music]
can you manage the thoughts and the
emotions that are trying to poison your
progress
forget managing the situation
manage your mind no matter whose fault
it is that something is broken if it’s
it’s not somebody’s fault if their
father was an abusive alcoholic but it’s
for damn short their responsibility to
figure out how they’re gonna do with
those traumas and try to make a life out
it’s not your fault if your partner
cheated and ruined your marriage but it
is for damn sure your responsibility to
figure out how to take that pain and how
to overcome that and build a happy life
fault and responsibility do not go
together his socks but they don’t was
something is somebody’s fault
to suffer we want them punished we want
them to pay we want it to be their
responsibility to fix it but that’s
that’s not how it works especially when
it’s your heart your heart your life
your happiness your responsibility
fear
[Music]
the only place that fear can exist is in
a product of our imagination causing us
to fear things that do not at present
and may not ever exist as long as we’re
pointing a finger and and stuck in whose
fault
something is we’re jammed and trapped
into victim mode when you’re in victim
oh you’re stuck in suffering the road to
power is in taking responsibility your
heart your life your happiness is your
responsibility and your responsibility
alone
I and I learned very young from parents
from my parents absolutely that you you
don’t try to build a wall you don’t set
out to build a wall you don’t say I’m
gonna bake this build the biggest
baddest greatest wall that’s ever been
built you don’t start there you say I’m
gonna lay this brick as perfectly as a
brick can be laid there will not be one
brick on the face of the earth that’s
gonna be laid better than this brick
that I’m gonna lay in this next ten
minutes and you do that every single day
and so you have soon you have a wall and
I think psychologically the advantage
that that gives me over over a lot of
people that I have been in competition
with in different situations is it’s
difficult to take the first step when
you look how big yeah the task is the
task is never huge to me it’s always
mean one Brett me too I mean it’s
amazing how if you know people are
paralyzed mm-hmm from doing anything
absolutely because they can’t take the
first step whereas you just say look all
I’m doing is laying this one brick I’m
not building the Great Wall of China
putting a brick here and I’m gonna have
the best brick I can and your father
many times Italy had you and your
brother mm-hmm work on a ball oh yeah
yeah we that we’re talking about our
figurative wall that comes from work on
a literal one yeah right
my father owned it actually was an old
bakery when I was growing up my my
father was an electrician and a
refrigeration man we would install
supermarkets you see the long freezer
cases in supermarkets we would install
those long freezer cases and all the
lights that’s what we that’s what we
would do every summer yeah so this is
one year my father had his shop and he
decided for whatever reason that he
wanted a new wall on the front of his
shop so he tore down probably about you
know 16 feet high and probably about 30
feet long he just completely tore
the wall down and my brother and I had
to dig a six-foot hole we were the mix a
ship for the foundation we would mix in
the concrete by hand in a year and a
half we were building this wall for a
year and a half every day after school
we would come in mixing concrete put it
in the hole doing it and it was just
myself and my little brother and I
remember standing back looking at that
wall saying there’s gonna be a hole here
forever a year and a half later that
many days I know a year and a half later
we laid the the final brick and my
father stood back with my brother and I
and I know he plan as he says he thought
he says he didn’t but I know he had been
planning this and rightness for the past
two years but he we stood back we looked
at the wall and he looked at me and my
brother says don’t y’all never tell me
you can’t do something and walked into
the shop the child my parents always
told me you could be whatever you want
to be you could do whatever you want to
do and you know that that office that
position that the highest office on the
face of the earth it was something I
heard my parents saying it but I didn’t
totally believe it yet I went out in the
world and I carried myself and I held my
head high and I stood there and I look
people in their eyes and I talked to
people as if I was deserving of
so I just I really want to say to two
children out there and to two people who
are watching Confucius said one time he
who says he can and he who says he can’t
are both usually right so I want to
stand here before you and as I hold this
award I want to give love to my wife and
I want you to keep in your heart just
know that you can know that you can
concept that I would suggest to people
to take a daily confrontation with his
fear the the the problem with fear is
that it lies right so fear tells you hey
you know if if you say that to that girl
she’s gonna know she has you you know
and she’ll never really be attracted to
you if she knows how much you attracted
to her don’t say that know how we get
her is when she walks by ignore her for
me the the daily confrontation with fear
has become a real practice for me since
about three three years ago I went I
went skydiving in Dubai right and
skydiving skydiving is a really
interesting confront with fear right so
so I got I gotta stand up so so all your
friends what happens you go out how you
oh sorry
all right drop my thing so what happens
is you go out the night before and you
know you take a drink with your friends
and somebody says yeah we should go
skydiving tomorrow and you go yeah we’ll
go skydiving or yeah
[Applause]
Yeah right and you go home but you by
yourself you like him right you’re like
well I mean they was drunk too right so
so maybe maybe they not maybe maybe I
mean we don’t have to go we don’t have
to do it so then that night you’re
laying in your bed and you just get
killed and you’re terrified you keep
imagining over and over again jumping
out of an airplane and you can’t figure
out why you would do that right and
you’re laying there and you have the
worst night’s sleep of your life but you
still have the hope that your friends
were drunk right so you wake up the next
day and you go you know down and you
said where you were going meet and
everybody’s there you’re like oh all
right cool cool cool cool cool cool
right so you get in a van and you don’t
know that your friends had the same
night that you had cuz their pretended
like they didn’t it like yeah man my
uncle is a Navy SEAL and you know this
is gonna be great I’ve been looking
forward to this you like oh my god oh my
god and your stomach is terrible you
can’t eat and everything but you don’t
want to be the only punk who doesn’t
jump out of this airplane so you get
there and then you have the safety brief
and you’re standing there and the guys
that tell you what the chute doesn’t
open what’s gonna happen is you’re doing
you a lot of help with what could happen
but the shoe the shoe wouldn’t open
right so you do a thing and what you do
is your first jump you’re attached to a
guy who is going you know he’s going to
walk you out so you go and you get there
and there’s an airplane and nobody
stopping everybody’s still going so you
get onto the airplane and you’re sitting
there and and you know it’s extra
because you said no some dudes lap some
stranger you know you got trying to make
so you dill you’d be you be jumping with
people all the time right you know
what’s so and then you just want to make
sure you know you got you got kids right
you have people you need to see right
just want to make sure he’s serious
right so you get in there
so everything’s normal so you fly and
you go up you go up you go up you go up
to 14,000 feet and you notice there’s a
light it’s red and it’s yellow and green
right so right now the lights red so
then you start thinking at some point
the lights going to go green it because
you don’t know what’s going to happen
right and you wait and it goes yellow
and the light goes green and somebody
opens the door and in that moment you
realize you’ve never been in a freaking
airplane with the door open right terror
no sorry I’m Spit terror terror terror
terror right so you go and then you know
if you’re if you were smart you sat in
the back so you don’t go first right and
then people start going out of the
airplane and you go and the guy walks
you up to the end of the thing and
you’re standing and your toes are on the
edge and you’re looking out down to
death and they say on three and they say
one two and he pushes you on to because
and you go and you fall out of the
airplane and in one second you realize
that it’s the most blissful experience
of your life you’re flying right it
doesn’t feel like falling right it’s
like that you actually are kind of held
a little bit about a win and then you
start and you you start falling you
falling and you there’s zero fear you
realize at the point of maximum danger
is the point of minimum fear it’s bliss
it’s bliss and you’re flying right
you’re doing it and then 20 seconds 25
seconds 40 seconds and you have enough
time to just kind of like ah that’s that
building that’s not like that right you
start doing all that and the the lesson
for me was why were you scared in your
bed the night before why did you what do
you need that fear for just don’t go why
are you scared in your bed
16 hours before you jump why are you
scared in a car why could you not enjoy
breakfast what would what did you need
that fear is fear of what you’re know
where to even near the airplane
everything’s up to the stepping out
there’s actually no reason to be scared
it only just ruins your day you don’t
have to jump and then in that moment all
of a sudden where you should be
terrified is the most blissful
experience of your life
and God placed the best things in life
on the other side of terror on the other
side of your maximum fear or all of the
best things in life separation of talent
and skill is one of the the the greatest
misunderstood concepts for people who
are trying to excel who have dreams that
want to do things talent you have
naturally skill is only developed by
hours and hours and hours of
beating on your craft for me it it has
been the to be that guy that does what
people say can’t be done you know and I
think it started with trying to please
my mother and trying to please my
grandmother and they always wanted
higher for me they always wanted more
for me and it got to the point that I
wanted to be something I wanted to be
somebody and it it made me choose
certain roles it made me turn down
certain roles there is more than an
image that I want to project I want to
be the person that is the first person
there and the last person to leave
that’s who I want to be because I think
that the the road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is going to get hard
and you’re gonna want to quit sometimes
but it’ll be colored by who you are and
more who you want to be I definitely
found
wanting to be an actor stems from
wanting to be somebody and wanting to
say something to people never really
viewed myself as particularly talented
where I excel is ridiculous sickening
work ethic you know while the other guys
sleeping I’m working what other guys
eaten I’m working concept of improving
lives runs through the center of
everything I do and then I realize that
the the way to improve lives is to
continually improve yourself right so
with that every every morning when I
when I get out of the bed you know I I
haven’t fixed everything in the world
yet so there’s always something to do
and in this film I read an interesting
quote the Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha
he said that good people have to get out
of the bed every day and try to empty
the ocean with a ladle right and I
thought that was you know I knew that
was profound and I paused for a second
and I said all right what the hell is a
ladle right right so there you know I
just I touched it on my iPad is ladle oh
trying to empty the ocean with a soup
spoon you know as the the mentality of
how you you wake up every day to try to
do good in the world so for me I’m I’m
really driven by continually trying to
elevate my elevate my mind and elevate
my spirit and care for my body and to be
able to love as many people as
effectively as as possible with this
mystery of life that I’ve been given
there’s no easy way around it no matter
how talented you are your talent is
going to fail you if you’re not skilled
you know if you don’t study if you don’t
work really hard and dedicate yourself
to being better every single day
you’ll never be able to communicate with
with people with your artistry the way
that you want certain delusional quality
that all successful people have to have
you have to believe that something
different than what has happened for the
last 50 million years of history you
have to believe that something different
can happen it’s almost a kind of
innocence absolutely in other words if
you knew how difficult it was right you
have never gone down that path
absolutely somebody said to our league
no one can beat this guy he’s this much
stronger this much bigger he’s got that
much bigger punch than you do and he
believed that he would have said never
you gotta have an innocent just somehow
absolutely and I think they did that’s a
huge part of me because and I say to my
friends all the time and we laugh about
it I truly honestly as I sit here before
you right now
honestly as I can say to you I truly
believe that I could be the president if
I wanted to and as bizarre as that may
sound to people that have traveled the
path before me and to people who
actually know how difficult it is
foolish Will Smith honestly believes
it’s the only thing that I see that is
distinctly different about me is I’m not
afraid to die on a treadmill you might
have more talent than me you might be
smarter than me but if we get on the
treadmill together right there’s two
things you’re getting off first
yeah or I’m gonna die it’s really that
simple
anytime you inject extremes into the
universe you can expect extremes to to
come back I think that you know one of
the best pieces of advice I ever got was
don’t let your successes go to your head
and don’t let your failures go to your
heart do you follow that I try it’s
absolutely a difficult even more so now
with my my wife and my children
expanding into it the the scope of it is
actually becoming more difficult to
manage the things that almost in a
spiritual sense the things that you
attract to yourself and also if you
think about it in terms of altitude the
higher you go the harder it is to
breathe there’s less oxygen and I think
in that phrase what I get from that with
marlon brando but what happens is if you
think about it in terms of mountain
climbing mountain climbing the higher
and the higher you get the less oxygen
there is the harder it is to breathe as
you get to this successful space and the
first thing people want to do is get
down and what you do by getting down
is self-destructive and I’m just working
hard to make sure that I don’t allow the
lack of oxygen to dull my appreciation
for the gifts up again one of my
favorite books is the the Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
and that’s just I just believe that I
believe that I can create whatever I
want to create if I can put my head on
it right study it learn the patterns and
you know I just it’s hard to put into
words real metaphysical esoteric
nonsense but I feel very strongly that
we are who we choose to be I consider
myself an alchemist an alchemist is
basically a mystical chemist right and
one of the great feats that alchemists
used to do is they would take lead
just take a chunk of lead and they could
turn lead into gold right so the
[Applause]
but it’s so connected to symbolically
being able to turn lead into gold you
know my grandmother used to say you know
life give you lemon you go ahead and
make lemonade to me that’s that’s
alchemy that’s that that’s the same
concept behind the the alchemists
there’s a concept that I don’t want to
be an icon
I want to be an idea you know I want to
represent an idea i want to represent
possibilities I want to represent magic
right that you’re in a universe in two
plus two equals four two plus the only
equals four if you accept that two plus
two equals four two plus two is gonna be
what I wanted to be you know and there’s
that there’s a like there’s that there’s
a redemptive power that making a choice
has you know rather than feeling like
you’re at effect to all the things that
are happening make a choice like you
just decide what is gonna be who you’re
gonna be how you’re gonna do it just
decide and then from that point the
universe is going get out your way it’s
like it’s water it wants to it wants to
move and go around stuff you know so for
me I want to represent possibilities I
want to represent the idea that you
really can make what you want one of my
favorite books is the The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho and that’s just I just
believe that I believe that I can create
whatever I want to create if I can put
them put my head on it right study it
learn the patterns and you know I just I
it’s hard to put into words some real
metaphysical esoteric nonsense but I
feel very strongly that we are who we
choose to be he didn’t grow up with the
sense that where we were was where we
were going to be you know we grew up
with the sense that where we were almost
didn’t matter I’m motivated by fear fear
you know
fear of what
fear of fear I hate being scared to do
something I hate that feeling of the
feeling that I had before I had a
meeting with Quincy Jones because it’s
really Quincy Jones and a guy named
Benny Medina I know
and Jeff Pollan came with the idea for
the Fresh Prince of bel-air and I hated
being scared you know that I didn’t want
to even take the meeting there were
there were opportunities during when I
first my first year as a rapper Bill
Cosby and the people in The Cosby Show
had seen my music video and called me to
your character to come right and try out
for the Cosby Show and just every time
it was set up for some reason I couldn’t
make it the therapy the fear I hate it I
just hated that being scared to do
something and I think what developed in
my in my early days was the the attitude
that I started attacking things that I
was scared greatness is not this
wonderful esoteric illusive godlike
feature that only the special among us
will ever taste you know it’s something
that truly exists in all of us it’s very
simple this is what I believe and I’m
willing to die for it period it’s that
simple I Know Who I am I don’t know what
I believe I know who I am I know who
what else all I need to know so from
there you do what you need to do you
know and I think what happens is we make
this situation more complex than it has
because we’re looking for complexities
got to be something complex to
understand it can’t be that easy
raishin of talent and skill is one of
the the
the greatest misunderstood concepts for
people who are trying to excel who have
dreams that want to do things talent you
have naturally skill is only developed
by hours and hours and hours of beating
on your craft the road to success is
through commitment and through the
strength to drive through that
commitment when it gets hard and it is
gonna get hard and you’re gonna want to
quit sometimes but it’ll be colored by
who you are and more who you want to be
I definitely found that wanting to be an
actor stems from wanting to be somebody
and wanting to say something to people
there’s no easy way around it no matter
how talented you are your talent is
going to fail you if you’re not skilled
you know if you don’t study if you don’t
work really hard and dedicate yourself
to being better every single day you’ll
never be able to communicate with with
people I was just having a debate with a
friend of mine and we got stuck on the
difference between fault and
responsibility she kept talking about
how something was somebody’s fault
somebody’s fault and I was like it
really don’t matter whose fault it is
that something is broken if it’s your
responsibility to fix it not somebody’s
fault if their father was an abusive
alcoholic but it’s for damn sure their
responsibility to figure out how they’re
gonna do with those traumas and try to
make a life out of it it’s not your
fault if your partner cheated and ruined
your marriage but it is for damn sure
your responsibility to figure out how to
take that pain and how to overcome that
and build a happy life for yourself
fault and responsibility do not go
together it sucks but they don’t when
something is somebody’s fault we want
them to suffer we want them punished we
want them to pay and we want it to be
their responsibility to fix it but
that’s that’s not how it works
especially when it’s your heart your
heart your life your happiness is your
responsibility
and your responsibility alone as long as
we’re pointing a finger and and stuck in
whose fault
something is we’re jammed and trapped
into victim mode when you’re in victim
oh you’re stuck in suffering the road to
power is in taking responsibility your
heart your life your happiness is your
responsibility and your responsibility
alone me a personal confrontation with
death made me see the value of time and
the fact that the only elixir is love
the the time that you spend has got to
be in preparing yourself and giving and
receiving the most about a love you can
you know my mission is to improve lives
so I want to do things that put
positivity and positive energy and love
into the world you know I’ve always been
really product oriented you know it’s
like I want to win when I do something I
want to win I want it to be number one
and I want to smash it you have a
daughter and I was over 15 year old
daughter and she really she got me and
shifted my focus from product to people
they took a couple of years but as soon
as I gotten knocked off of product and
started shifting to people the whole
world opened up for me again and acting
opened up in a whole new way to not go
into day one of a movie trying to figure
out what everybody has to do so we win
versus opening up and every person’s a
new it’s a whole new world generally
when I went into a product when I went
into a meeting with director my focus
was can this guy win can this girl win
the pathology that got broken for me a
couple of years ago and then releasing
that and just wanting to connect with
people and wanting to grow and wanted to
get new ideas and have new experiences
that don’t have to have an outcome they
just opened up a whole new world for me
and I fell in love and then I couldn’t
imagine what else I could do in acting
that could add so much to my life other
than acting difference between
depression and joy right and I think its
purpose when you wake up in the morning
and your life means something to
somebody other than you that you have a
purpose if you don’t go do the things
that you’re going to do people’s lives
will suffer to live in service not to
you but to live in service to humanity
to live in service to your family to
live in service to your church to your
city to your country to the world living
in service is that I feel like that is
the purest form of joy the taking
responsibility accepting responsibility
is not an admission of guilt
you’re not admitting that your fault
taking responsibility is a recognition
of the power that you sees when you stop
blaming people it’s not like you’re
letting somebody who wronged you off the
hook like taking responsibility as an
act of emotional self-defense
taking responsibility is taking your
power back I look at the world through a
lens of comedy my natural reaction is
always no matter when something happens
and I can’t even help it it’s why is
that funny you know so even at a funeral
I can’t help but think why that’s funny
extremely helpful for me just
psychologically that no matter what’s
going on I can’t keep my mind from
finding joke a beautiful way to stay
joyous and positive I live in complete
terror everything for me about this
business and a you know about what I’ve
been trying to build and what I’ve been
trying to do if my life keeps me in
terror I’m I am deeply motivated by fear
I’m trying to to develop a more
realistic perspective
of what this business is when I was 15
years old my first girlfriend cheated on
me oh and I remember making a decision
that nobody would ever cheat on me again
and the way I was going to do that is by
being the biggest actor on earth ah
right
so is there’s there’s been this weird
psychology that I’ve always felt like if
my movies are number one my life is
gonna work out great I’ve always been
the type of person who thought of I
thought of myself as resilient you know
that I could always make my way back
being stuck in the past is a it makes it
extremely difficult to find your way out
and future thinking for me has always
been the way to get over difficult times
to be able to look over the darkness to
a potential time of light very rarely do
I look backwards I’m always looking
forward you know to me showbiz is not
separated from the rules of the universe
whether you’re in show business or you
know you’re selling cars or you’re
farming you know you’re not you’re not
separate from the laws of the universe
and all of the rules are the same
everywhere from my children the most
important thing is that they be
encouraged to fully and thoroughly be
themselves no matter what when you when
you have yourself and you’re thorough
and confident in who you are you can
survive anywhere
as a certain delusional quality that all
successful people have to have you have
to believe that something different than
what has happened for the last 50 years
of history you have to believe that
something different can happen it’s
almost a kind of innocence absolutely in
other words if you knew how difficult it
was right you have never gone down that
path absolutely no and somebody said to
Ollie no one can beat this guy he’s this
much stronger this much bigger he’s got
that much bigger punch than you do and
he believed that he would have said
never you gotta have an innocence that
somehow absolutely no and I think they
did that’s a huge part of me because and
I say to my friends all the time and we
laugh about it I truly honestly as I sit
here before you right now as honestly as
I can say to you I truly believe that I
could be the president if I wanted to
and as bizarre as that may sound to
people that have traveled the path
before me and to people who actually
know how difficult it is foolish Will
I feel very strongly that we are who we
choose to be consider myself an
alchemist an alchemist is basically a
mystical chemist one of the great feats
that alchemists used to do is they would
take lead
just take a chunk of lead and they could
turn lead into gold being able to turn
lead into gold you know my grandmother
used to say you know like get your lemon
you go ahead and make lemonade to me
that’s that’s alchemy that’s that’s the
same concept behind the the alchemists
you don’t set out to build a wall you
don’t say I’m gonna bake this build the
biggest baddest greatest wall that’s
ever been built you don’t start there
you say I’m gonna lay this brick as
perfectly as a brick can be laid there
will not be one brick on the face of the
earth that’s gonna be laid better than
this brick then I’m gonna lay in this
next ten minutes and you do that every
single day and so you have a soon you
have a walk it’s difficult to take the
first step when you look how big yeah
the task is the task is never huge to me
it’s always one brick I don’t want to be
an icon I realized that when you to have
the level of success that I want to have
it’s difficult to spread it out and do
multiple things you know it’s in order
to to be world-class and I’ve made a
decision I want to be world-class and it
just it takes such a desperate obsessive
focus to to excel on assert honor on the
level that I want to make movies you
know I was a Star Wars when I was young
i sat in the movie theater and watched
Star Wars and I just couldn’t believe
that that movie made me feel like that
just floored and just stunned by the
creativity and just I’m realizing that
in order to move people in that way in
order to touch people in that way you’ve
really got to focus with all of your
fiber and all your heart and all your
creativity
you didn’t grow up with the sense that
where we were was where we were going to
be you know we grew up with the sense
that where we were almost didn’t matter
because we were becoming we were
becoming something greater
as a child my parents always told me you
could be whatever you want to be you
could do whatever you want to do it was
something I heard my parents saying it
but I didn’t totally believe it yet I
went out in the world and I carried
myself and I held my head high and I
stood there and I look people in their
eyes and I talked to people as if I was
deserving of everything that this planet
has to offer
confucius said one time he who says he
can and he who says he can’t are both
usually right so i want to stand here
before you and as I hold this award I
want to give love to my wife and I want
you to keep in your heart just know that
you can road to success is through
commitment and through the strength to
drive through that commitment when it
gets hard and it is gonna get hard and
you’re gonna want to quit sometimes but
it’ll be colored by who you are and more
who you want to be I definitely found
that wanting to be an actor stems from
wanting to be somebody separation of
talent and skill is one of the the the
greatest misunderstood concepts for
people who are trying to excel who have
dreams that want to do things talent you
have naturally skill is only developed
by hours and hours and hours of beating
on your craft for me it it has been the
to be that guy that does what people say
can’t be done you know and I think it
started with trying to please my mother
and trying to please my grandmother and
they always wanted higher for me they
always wanted more for me and it got to
the point that I wanted to be something
I wanted to be somebody
and it it made me choose certain roles
it made me turn down certain roles there
is more than an image that I want to
project I want to be the person that is
the first person there and the last
person to leave never really view myself
as particularly talented where I excel
is ridiculous sickening work ethic you
know while the other guys sleeping I’m
working what other guys eaten I’m
working
anytime you inject extremes into the
universe you can expect extremes to to
come back I think that you know one of
the best pieces of advice I ever got was
don’t let your successes go to your head
and don’t let your failures go to your
heart do you follow that
I try it’s absolutely a difficult even
more so now with my my wife and my
children expanding into it the the scope
of it is actually becoming more
difficult to manage the things that
almost in a spiritual sense the things
that you attract to yourself and also if
you think about it in terms of altitude
the higher you go the harder it is to
breathe there’s less oxygen and I think
within that phrase what I get from that
with marlon brando but what happens is
if you think about it in terms of
mountain climbing mountain climbing the
higher and the higher you get the less
oxygen there is the harder it is to
breathe as you get to this successful
space and the first thing people want to
do is get down and what you do by
getting down is self-destructive and i’m
just working hard to make sure that i
don’t allow the lack of oxygen to
though my appreciation for the gifts I’ve been given