I believe 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 then I’m gonna lay in this
next ten minutes and you do that every
single day and so you know as 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
one Brett me too I mean it is 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 khayrat
absolutely had you and your brother
mm-hmm work on a model 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 freezing 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 sick
we were the mix a ship for the
foundation we were mixing the concrete
by hand and 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 sister
don’t y’all never tell me that 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 everything that
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 all right 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
Yeah right and you go home but you by
yourself you like hmm right you’re like
well yeah 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 kid 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 say
where you were going to meet and
everybody’s there you’re like alright
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 they’re pretending 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 this 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 your BA to
help with what could happen that 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 gonna 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’re sitting on some dudes lap some
stranger you know you got trying to make
so you deal 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
people grab one three 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 the 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 that
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
it’s like a big spoon a big bone 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 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
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 or 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 would have never gone down
that path absolutely no if I was
somebody said to our league no one can
beat this guy he’s this much stronger as
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 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 it 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 or I’m
gonna die it’s really that simple to
spread it out and do multiple things you
knows it’s in order to to be world-class
and I made a decision I want to be
world-class and it just it takes such a
desperate obsessive focus to to excel on
assert honor on the level that I want to
make movies you know I was a Star Wars
when I was young i sat in the movie
theater and watched Star Wars and I just
couldn’t believe that that movie made me
feel like that just floored and just
stunned by the creativity and just I’m
realizing that in order to move people
in that way in order to touch people in
that way you really gotta focus with all
of your fiber and all your heart all
your creativity
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
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
climb 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 go my appreciation for
the gifts up and get 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 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 symbol is
you know but it’s so connected to
symbolically being able to turn lead
into gold you know my grandmother used
to say you know life get your 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 2 plus 2 equals 4 2 plus 2
only equals 4 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 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 its 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 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
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 fear of fear 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
that’s 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 we’re
looking for complexities got to be
something complex to understand it can’t
be that easy
duration 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
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 then I’m gonna lay in this
next ten minutes and you do that every
single day and so you know as 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
one Brett me too I mean it is 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 khayrat
absolutely had you and your brother
mm-hmm work on a model 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 freezing 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 sick
we were the mix a ship for the
foundation we were mixing the concrete
by hand and 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 sister
don’t y’all never tell me that 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 everything that
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 all right 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
Yeah right and you go home but you by
yourself you like hmm right you’re like
well yeah 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 kid 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 say
where you were going to meet and
everybody’s there you’re like alright
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 they’re pretending 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 this 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 your BA to
help with what could happen that 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 gonna 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’re sitting on some dudes lap some
stranger you know you got trying to make
so you deal 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
people grab one three 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 the 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 that
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
it’s like a big spoon a big bone 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 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
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 or 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 would have never gone down
that path absolutely no if I was
somebody said to our league no one can
beat this guy he’s this much stronger as
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 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 it 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 or I’m
gonna die it’s really that simple to
spread it out and do multiple things you
knows it’s in order to to be world-class
and I made a decision I want to be
world-class and it just it takes such a
desperate obsessive focus to to excel on
assert honor on the level that I want to
make movies you know I was a Star Wars
when I was young i sat in the movie
theater and watched Star Wars and I just
couldn’t believe that that movie made me
feel like that just floored and just
stunned by the creativity and just I’m
realizing that in order to move people
in that way in order to touch people in
that way you really gotta focus with all
of your fiber and all your heart all
your creativity
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
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
climb 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 go my appreciation for
the gifts up and get 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 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 symbol is
you know but it’s so connected to
symbolically being able to turn lead
into gold you know my grandmother used
to say you know life get your 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 2 plus 2 equals 4 2 plus 2
only equals 4 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 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 its 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 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
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 fear of fear 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
that’s 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 we’re
looking for complexities got to be
something complex to understand it can’t
be that easy
duration 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
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