I saw myself as the weakest person got
every created I came from a horrible
background I got called nigger every day
of my life growing up living a small
town one of the high up in the KKK son
stabbed behind me in two classes and
called Lila got on got my first car they
sprayed nigger we’re going to kill you
on it so I was just an insecure scared
kid but the best thing that happened to
me no one helped me so the things that
we run from we want from the truth we
running from the truth man as painful
and grief as it is we have the ability
to go in such a space if you’re willing
to suffer and I mean suffer your brain
and your body
what’s connected together can do
anything the only way you’re ever going
to get to the other side of this journey
is you have got to suffer to grow to
grow you must suffer so I wanted to
change to be the hardest man ever
created and my goal when I was sitting
there not going to school being bullied
being having no self-esteem my goal was
the only person that’s gonna turn this
person around is me how that’s the
question how are you going to do that I
had to build calluses in my brain the
same way I built calluses on my hand so
I broke again from the world’s record
for folks a long time ago but I felt at
it twice and I just 67,000 pull-ups and
trying to break this record so to do
four thousand thirty pull over I had to
do 67,000 for training for that but if
you can get through to doing things that
you hate to do on the other side is
greatness that’s what people said by me
running I am callous in my mind I’m not
training for a race
I’m training for life I’m training for
the time when I get that two o’clock in
the morning call that my mom is dead or
some happens tragic in life I won’t fall
apart I’m training my mind and my body
my spirit so it’s all one so I can
handle with life ability because the
life I’d live if there was a whole bunch
at you if you’re not physically
initially prepared for that you’re going
to come and you’re good for nobody even
the hardest men in times of suffering
what we do is we forget how hard we
losing our sufferings the true test of
life we are all great no matter if if
you did you’re dumb and that make your
staff and after you are fat you know if
you didn’t bullied or no matter if you
got back from Iraq or Afghanistan and
you have no legs or your arms of ever
as Oprah Winfrey said what you dwell on
is what you become once you understand
that humans are the ultimate adaptation
machine and you understand that the
brain actually builds faster and better
connections between the things you think
on you will begin to understand that it
is incredibly important to be thoughtful
about what you think about it’s
incredibly important to pick a direction
that you want to grow and to decide who
you want to become and then make that
the center of your focus your thoughts
your time your energy and if you look
inward or if you look outward and you
don’t like what you see
remember what Jim Rohn said if you don’t
like how things are change it you’re not
a tree and that’s the beauty that’s the
beautiful thing about being a human we
are so classic and we can change so
dramatically we are so good at adapting
that we forget that’s literally what we
do but if you can take control of that
process if you can grab ahold of it and
make it your own if you can make it your
daily obsession to make the most of your
potential to pick a very specific
direction to pick an end goal and end
state and end identity and work your way
backwards find out the steps that you’re
going to need to take to get there to
execute and have your willingness to put
in the work to have the willingness to
be both the sculptor and the clay to
understand the good suffering that comes
with that of changing yourself of making
yourself into something great
is the suffering well worth it it’s a
suffering that you should embrace that
the suffering that you should run
towards because in that suffering you
can become anything you want so start to
dwell on that well on a vision of you
being great dwell on a vision of you
accomplishing your goal well on a vision
of you having done this amazing thing
that you want to do do well on an image
of you being willing to sweat and bend
yourself in half and break it me too and
bleed when necessary to become the
vision of yourself you always knew you
could become dwell on that and nothing
as Joseph Campbell said we’re so engaged
in doing things to achieve purposes of
outer value that we forget the inner
value the rapture that is associated
with being alive is what it’s all about
that my friends is the name of the game
you’ve got to figure out what it is that
actually makes you feel alive and if you
understand that the game that you’re
playing is actually a game of brain
chemistry and that nothing else matters
there’s no objective truth there’s no
one path to glory there’s no one life
for you to live there’s only the
subjective truth the thing inside you
that gut instinct that voice that
whispers to you you’ve got to learn to
trust that you’ve got to learn to trust
it by building it up you’ve got to learn
to trust it by taking actions and gut
checking yourself in asking is that me
is that who I want to be or is that
somebody else cultural voice my parents
my love or whatever trying to speak
through me and it’s Harley Davidson said
when writing a story of your life don’t
let anyone else hold the pen so right
now ask yourself who’s writing your
story is it you are you really listening
to the voice in your head are you
looking at and living by the things that
give you the chill or are you trying to
live a life that somebody else wants for
you and remember when you think about
that question where William James said
activist what you do matter because
even if nobody of every step you take
every thought that you allow to create
your mind everything you obsess about
your you means the things that you want
the hope that you spend your time with
they matter to you because they tell you
who you are they tell you who you’re
trying to become and ultimately those
things that you let monopolize your mind
will you coming you so if somebody else
is holding the pen if somebody else is
forcing you to write something it
doesn’t make you feel alive that is a
lifelong and that is how you die my
friends before you ever had a chance to
live as Derek Jeter said there may be
people who have more talent than you but
there’s no excuse for anyone to work
harder than you do at the end of the day
whether you believe in talent or not is
completely irrelevant
everyone should believe in hard work
everything in your life is literally a
result of that you’re born an infinite
lump of flesh that can’t even hold its
own head up and yet somehow by
practicing by learning by growing you’re
able to get better you’re literally
incapable of anything when you’re born
every skill that you have in your life
all the things that you take for granted
at one point you couldn’t do them so
understanding the humans truly are an
adaptation machine and that they are
capable of acquiring any skill that they
want but it requires hard work it
requires that you do the reps it
requires that you put in the effort and
at the end of the day the people that
you’re going to pass are not going to be
the people to have less talent than you
maybe they didn’t have more talent than
you it’s going to be the people that
you’re willing to outwork but until
you’re willing to work them you’re
always going to be stuck there’s John
Irving said to do anything really well
you have to overextend yourself and
that’s the key if you want to put in an
extraordinary performance if you want to
absolutely
dazzle people then you have to do
something amazing you have to be willing
to put yourself out there you have to be
willing to do things that other people
think are going to break you that other
people simply believe there’s no way
that you could be able to pull that off
so the human-animal just is not capable
of the lengths to which you are
professing to go and when you profess it
you have to be willing to back it up and
you have to put yourself on that March
knowing in no uncertain terms under no
circumstances and for no reason
whatsoever would you ever be willing to
back down and when you go in with that
level of certainty then and only then
are you actually going to be able to
pull this off
and there’s Billie Jean King fed
champions keep playing until they get it
right fatigue will literally chip away
at your will to win it is the thing
inside of your mind that weak voice that
tells you that you’re not going to be
able to make it the weak voice that begs
you to stop and the weak voice that
promises safety and security if you
would just quit and here’s the worst
part about that it’s right
if you quit right now if you stop just
sit down relax you’re not at risk
anymore you’re not a risk of
embarrassment you’re not a risk of
failure but you’re also not at risk of
greatness
if you really want to achieve something
you’ve got to find ways to put yourself
at risk of something great happening
you’ve got to put yourself at risk of
overextending yourself you’ve got to be
willing to face that you may die that
you may actually fall and here’s the
thing for the people that dismissed that
that say they would never put themselves
in that situation then you have limits
and make no mistake those limits are
self placed and for the people that are
willing to push that for people that are
willing to go beyond that for people who
understand there are things in this
world that they’re prepared to die for
and it is the thing that they put at the
center of their life it is the thing
that they are living for but they’re not
going to stop and they understand that
we’re the human mind thinks that will
break is far short of where it will
actually break but before you can find
that point you’ve got to be willing to
push yourself you’ve got to be willing
to go harder and farther than anybody
thinks is reasonable or sensible that’s
the path and so the question is
community thought of or the question is
do you believe in something so much that
you would put yourself at risk like that
the question is can you face down
everyone including the weak voice inside
of your own mind to make the world come
true that you want to see come true
because at the end of the day nobody’s
going to do it for you so if you’re a
champion
keep going until it’s done
here’s the hard truth people don’t
necessarily want you to succeed and the
bigger your dream the more people that
are going to come out of the woodwork to
try to stop you as Oliver M Burton said
the only way to avoid pissing people off
is to do nothing important but if you’re
striving for something important if
you’re trying to make real change if
there’s something in your life B you are
absolutely held then to make happen you
have got to understand that you’re going
to be fighting against something people
are going to be pushing back against you
and it is going to be your ability to
hold true to that vision that’s going to
determine whether you can pull it off
and as Victor Hugo said you have enemies
good
it means you stood up for something at
some point in your life and that’s what
people missed they somehow want to get
through this unscathed they somehow hope
that with this grand change that they
want to make that people just all in
love that they see your vision because
they fall in line behind you that they
want you to lead them that’s not the way
that people work
having a vision already puts you in an
incredibly rare group of people being
able to see something that other people
can’t see that is the role of visionary
is literally to interpret the world that
other people don’t even know exist and
bring it into fruition and get people
excited about to get them to fall in
line but understand when you build an
army you will have an opposing force but
as Mark Twain said keep away from those
who try to belittle your ambition small
people always do that but the really
great ones they make you believe that
you too can become great and that’s the
kind of person that you want to surround
yourself with you want to surround
yourself with people that believe in you
you want to surround yourself with
people that even when they can’t see it
they can see you even when they don’t
understand what you’re trying to build
they believe in you and they’re willing
to get in line and they’re willing to
meet that opposing force and when you’re
able to galvanize people around your
idea and push it forward and pay for
them the world not as it is but as it
could be that’s when you can make change
but you can’t be afraid to piss people
off you have to know that they’re coming
for you and you have to be willing to
fight because if you’re not willing to
fight you might as well sit down now so
if you’re going to be one of the few
that stands up you’ve got to stand up
prepared for war as Daniel ping said
people fail to achieve mastery not
because they aren’t talented but because
they aren’t disciplined the wonderful
news about the human condition is you
can get good at anything that you set
your mind to it’s just not going to be
easy and it’s not going to be fast but
the willingness to put in that work is
what’s going to separate you from
everybody else and I’m begging you to
see yourself right now today as average
as know better than anyone else but I
beg you with more force than I know how
to convey with this language to see
yourself as malleable to seeing yourself
as capable of becoming anything you want
to become to become truly
extraordinary if you can find within
yourself the discipline to stick with it
long enough and a Steve Martin said
perseverance is a great substitute for
talent everybody wants to talk about
who’s talented and everybody looks at
the person with innate talent is if they
have something magical but to me it’s a
gift it’s a handout it’s a freebie
it hasn’t been earned and no matter what
it is it’s only the beginning even
somebody that has talent even if you get
an early win if you let somebody outwork
you if you let somebody who have more
perseverance more grit than used and
they are going to outperform you on a
long enough timeline the only thing I
can guarantee is you will be outwork by
somebody unless you pour your heart and
soul into getting great if you don’t
take days off if you put yourself into
it as if your life depended on it when
you act like that then you’ve got a
chance to be great and as Robert Horry
said pressure can bust pipes but it can
also make diamond you’ve got to want
that pressure you’ve got to want things
to be hard you can’t seek out the easy
life you can’t just hope and pray that
you can uncover inside of you some
talent that’s laid dormant that you
didn’t know about that’s going to let
things be easy for you don’t want the
easy what a hard lot the pressure wants
the thing that’s going to turn you into
something because when it’s easy you
don’t work for it when it’s easy you
don’t push when it’s easy you get
surpassed by the person who has to give
it their all who’s prepared to do blood
sweat and tears in order to become that
thing that they want to be so badly
because they are so fucking angry but
they were never given anything and with
that chip on their shoulder they’re
determined to become anything that they
set their mind to so whether you have
talent whether you don’t the only thing
that matters is will you persevere
will you stick with it long enough to
as John F Kennedy said there are risks
and costs to a program of action but
they are far less than the long-range
risk and cost of comfortable inaction
there’s just something about the status
quo that is literally intoxicating you
don’t want to move you don’t want to put
things at risk you want to keep things
as they are and I get it changes scary
change maybe one of the single most
paralyzing elements that we as humans
face that in your space in that little
area that you’ve carved out for yourself
it may be small and it may keep you less
than you could be but god damn it does
it feel good because it’s safe because
you know your enemies you know where
everything is that you know all the
things you need to know to feel
comfortable but in that comfort is a
world that shrinks around you it’s a
world that literally is forcing you to
confine yourself to the size of that box
it’s making you only as big as the space
that you’ve allowed yourself so whatever
change you refuse to embrace not only
does it frees you in time but if sons
your growth and if you want to become
something that is literally the act of
changing it is literally the act of
rebirth of making yourself something new
but in that you must face the terror of
change you must face that you may fail
you must face that you may embarrass
yourself you have to face that in the
unknown could be the work but unless
you’re able to do that you’ll never get
to taste the vastness of living outside
the box that merely having a life that
isn’t confined is in and of itself far
more interesting and beautiful than
anything could ever be when it is locked
in one place when you have a box that
has no windows your world can be nothing
but a wall but when you have a window
when you have a door
that becomes an entryway into something
completely new and as Pablo Picasso said
action is the fundamental key to all
success so if you want to succeed if you
want something more for you like you
have to be willing to walk through that
door and if you’re in a box that has no
door then you’ve got to be willing to
kick one open you’ve got to be willing
to cooperate of concrete if that’s what
it takes to get on the other side but
you’ve got to be willing to push
yourself out of that comfort zone to
find out what could be to take control
of your destiny and realize the
fundamental human truth only you control
what you can be and if you want to
escape the one thing you need is belief
and this phil knight said belief is
irresistible once you believe that you
can act in accordance with something
that will actually help move you forward
once you believe to the core of your
being that there is no one no one better
suited to building the life of your
dreams than you then suddenly safety
becomes the least safe thing that you
could do suddenly being in a space that
is so narrowly defined is the only thing
that’s going to choke the life out of
you so the only real risk is not to have
faith in yourself the only real risk is
to stay put the only real risk is to
play it safe so my friends find that
belief in yourself take that risk act
move do something to find a new life
build a new you that’s the key to
everyone takes the limits of their own
vision for the limits of the world
arthur schopenhauer there is all around
you right now the reflections of your
world belief they’re so ever-present
that you don’t even see them all the
assumption that you’ve made about the
world the things that are possible what
you’re capable of who you are the very
definition of what it means to be alive
all of it is completely invisible and
you’re mistaken what you have for what
could be and once you break free of that
once you understand that right now
you’re a moment in time and that you
have latent potential and that latent
potential can be expressed in the form
of skills but you can get good at things
that you can develop yourself in any
direction that brain plasticity alone is
one of the greatest weapons that you’re
not using but you have to move beyond
what you can perceive today you have to
begin to look beyond that and see that
which doesn’t yet exist and you have to
remember that many of the things that
are holding you down are rules that you
don’t even realize are rules and as
General Douglas MacArthur said you’re
remembered for the rules you break and
right now you’re following rules that
you don’t even realize exist and some of
those rules are simply what the okay to
dream but I’m here to tell you the power
is in recognizing that you can do it the
power is in having the arrogance of
belief the power is an understanding
that you yes you are going to be capable
of something simply because you are
willing to believe in yourself and
that’s the thing it’s a willingness to
believe in yourself no one’s going to
give it to you even the people that love
you they’re not going to give you that
they are incapable of giving it to you
people cannot see past their limitations
and they take them for truth people
actually believe the things that have
stopped them will forever not only stop
them but they will stop other people how
can they hope to give you anything but
limitation so if you know that if you
know that even the people that love you
what they’re handing you with limitation
with the best of fucking intentions with
all the love in the world
how are you going to break out of that
how are you going to break past those
rules how are you going to fight the
anxiety that inevitably comes your way
when you think about going against the
grain but my friends until you can do
that you can never get beyond the
bullshit that limits you if people said
gravity is what it is we never would
have reached the skate velocity and yet
as the species we have been able to hurl
a fucking rocket into space get it
outside of gravity take us to other
planets that is real only because
somebody said I refuse to be held down
by the most obvious rule that we have
the one that everybody says is beyond
reproach and that is gravity but even
gravity will break under the weight of a
superior will so recognize this
Epictetus said if you want to improve be
content to be thought foolish and stupid
can you be content to be thought foolish
and stupid or do you allow yourself to
be caged to be hemmed in by what other
people think and look I get it
I understand the theme of contempt I
understand how much it sucks when
someone you respect doesn’t respect you
but you cannot be anything more than
their captive if you think about what
they think about you if you let yourself
be defined by what other people perceive
of as you then you will forever be
limited by what they give you permission
to do and I don’t know about you but
when I was a kid I said when I’m an
adult I will never fucking be told what
to do again I will never be held back by
somebody else I will define myself I
will figure out what I need to do and I
will do it and at the end of the day
that is it my goals drive my behavior I
am not held back by what other people
think about me no matter how fucking
intoxicating it is to be loved you have
to decide what you want more do you want
to be you or do you want to be someone
else’s reflection of you
[Music]
everybody wants to be successful but
virtually nobody understands that
success is a path it’s a process it’s
not a finish line it’s not something
that you do once and then you finish it
is literally the systematic acquisition
of skills and a Scott Adam says every
skill you acquire doubles your odds of
success and that’s it that’s the secret
if you really want to do something in
your life if you really want to be great
if you want to smash it if you want to
be remembered the key is to acquire as
many skills as you can because
everything you bring into your world
gives you an exponentially greater
chance of winning of doing the thing
that you want to do but you have to be
totally focused and committed on gaining
those skills and is the rock pointed out
success at anything will always come
down to this focus and effort and we
control both once you understand that
that’s what you have to do you have to
get control of yourself you have to stay
focused on something you have to learn
the discipline and apply it on your path
to success to acquire the skills that
you want to acquire that it is going to
demand of you that you work harder you
work smarter and you work longer than
anybody else and that’s the fucking
secret there really is no grand mystery
if you want to be successful do you want
to do something other people can’t do
then you have to become capable of the
extraordinary
you have to become capable of doing
something that other people can’t and
that is the best possible news I could
give you because it doesn’t matter what
you’re born with it doesn’t even matter
who you are what matters is who you want
to become and the price that you’re
willing to pay to get there and let me
tell you this the price is known and
that price is the acquisition skill that
price is getting so good that people can
ignore you that price is being able to
beat anyone at the game that you’ve
chosen the plate once you get to that
point once people stand back in awe when
they watch what you’re doing then you
will have won then success will be yours
but it was in no uncertain terms the
result of the path that you walked and
is Angela Duckworth notes enthusiasm is
common but endurance is rare so when you
sneak out that first lead when you get
ahead of people and you think hey I’ve
acquired the skill I’ve done something
people are looking at me like I can’t be
stopped
remember that right now at this moment
someone is practicing well you’re not
doing the thing that you need to be
doing while you’re sitting back in your
roles very happy with what you’ve
accomplished somebody else is going to
eat your lunch because they have a
passion and enthusiasm that endures and
at the end of the day if you can want
something so badly if you fucking burn
from the inside to do something to
become something to become capable of
more then you will endure then you’ll be
able to push past other people then when
other people
break and they lie in your weight you
will push forward because that fucking
thing in you that you have cultivated is
the ability to endure it is not the
ability to be a badass it is not the
ability to think that you’re cool it is
the ability to kick your own ass to deal
with what is boring to live in the pain
to step towards anguish to know that
suffering is a choice and you choose to
turn it off because you know on the
other side on the other side of
endurance on the other side of
outlasting everybody else is a skillset that makes you unstoppable
every created I came from a horrible
background I got called nigger every day
of my life growing up living a small
town one of the high up in the KKK son
stabbed behind me in two classes and
called Lila got on got my first car they
sprayed nigger we’re going to kill you
on it so I was just an insecure scared
kid but the best thing that happened to
me no one helped me so the things that
we run from we want from the truth we
running from the truth man as painful
and grief as it is we have the ability
to go in such a space if you’re willing
to suffer and I mean suffer your brain
and your body
what’s connected together can do
anything the only way you’re ever going
to get to the other side of this journey
is you have got to suffer to grow to
grow you must suffer so I wanted to
change to be the hardest man ever
created and my goal when I was sitting
there not going to school being bullied
being having no self-esteem my goal was
the only person that’s gonna turn this
person around is me how that’s the
question how are you going to do that I
had to build calluses in my brain the
same way I built calluses on my hand so
I broke again from the world’s record
for folks a long time ago but I felt at
it twice and I just 67,000 pull-ups and
trying to break this record so to do
four thousand thirty pull over I had to
do 67,000 for training for that but if
you can get through to doing things that
you hate to do on the other side is
greatness that’s what people said by me
running I am callous in my mind I’m not
training for a race
I’m training for life I’m training for
the time when I get that two o’clock in
the morning call that my mom is dead or
some happens tragic in life I won’t fall
apart I’m training my mind and my body
my spirit so it’s all one so I can
handle with life ability because the
life I’d live if there was a whole bunch
at you if you’re not physically
initially prepared for that you’re going
to come and you’re good for nobody even
the hardest men in times of suffering
what we do is we forget how hard we
losing our sufferings the true test of
life we are all great no matter if if
you did you’re dumb and that make your
staff and after you are fat you know if
you didn’t bullied or no matter if you
got back from Iraq or Afghanistan and
you have no legs or your arms of ever
as Oprah Winfrey said what you dwell on
is what you become once you understand
that humans are the ultimate adaptation
machine and you understand that the
brain actually builds faster and better
connections between the things you think
on you will begin to understand that it
is incredibly important to be thoughtful
about what you think about it’s
incredibly important to pick a direction
that you want to grow and to decide who
you want to become and then make that
the center of your focus your thoughts
your time your energy and if you look
inward or if you look outward and you
don’t like what you see
remember what Jim Rohn said if you don’t
like how things are change it you’re not
a tree and that’s the beauty that’s the
beautiful thing about being a human we
are so classic and we can change so
dramatically we are so good at adapting
that we forget that’s literally what we
do but if you can take control of that
process if you can grab ahold of it and
make it your own if you can make it your
daily obsession to make the most of your
potential to pick a very specific
direction to pick an end goal and end
state and end identity and work your way
backwards find out the steps that you’re
going to need to take to get there to
execute and have your willingness to put
in the work to have the willingness to
be both the sculptor and the clay to
understand the good suffering that comes
with that of changing yourself of making
yourself into something great
is the suffering well worth it it’s a
suffering that you should embrace that
the suffering that you should run
towards because in that suffering you
can become anything you want so start to
dwell on that well on a vision of you
being great dwell on a vision of you
accomplishing your goal well on a vision
of you having done this amazing thing
that you want to do do well on an image
of you being willing to sweat and bend
yourself in half and break it me too and
bleed when necessary to become the
vision of yourself you always knew you
could become dwell on that and nothing
as Joseph Campbell said we’re so engaged
in doing things to achieve purposes of
outer value that we forget the inner
value the rapture that is associated
with being alive is what it’s all about
that my friends is the name of the game
you’ve got to figure out what it is that
actually makes you feel alive and if you
understand that the game that you’re
playing is actually a game of brain
chemistry and that nothing else matters
there’s no objective truth there’s no
one path to glory there’s no one life
for you to live there’s only the
subjective truth the thing inside you
that gut instinct that voice that
whispers to you you’ve got to learn to
trust that you’ve got to learn to trust
it by building it up you’ve got to learn
to trust it by taking actions and gut
checking yourself in asking is that me
is that who I want to be or is that
somebody else cultural voice my parents
my love or whatever trying to speak
through me and it’s Harley Davidson said
when writing a story of your life don’t
let anyone else hold the pen so right
now ask yourself who’s writing your
story is it you are you really listening
to the voice in your head are you
looking at and living by the things that
give you the chill or are you trying to
live a life that somebody else wants for
you and remember when you think about
that question where William James said
activist what you do matter because
even if nobody of every step you take
every thought that you allow to create
your mind everything you obsess about
your you means the things that you want
the hope that you spend your time with
they matter to you because they tell you
who you are they tell you who you’re
trying to become and ultimately those
things that you let monopolize your mind
will you coming you so if somebody else
is holding the pen if somebody else is
forcing you to write something it
doesn’t make you feel alive that is a
lifelong and that is how you die my
friends before you ever had a chance to
live as Derek Jeter said there may be
people who have more talent than you but
there’s no excuse for anyone to work
harder than you do at the end of the day
whether you believe in talent or not is
completely irrelevant
everyone should believe in hard work
everything in your life is literally a
result of that you’re born an infinite
lump of flesh that can’t even hold its
own head up and yet somehow by
practicing by learning by growing you’re
able to get better you’re literally
incapable of anything when you’re born
every skill that you have in your life
all the things that you take for granted
at one point you couldn’t do them so
understanding the humans truly are an
adaptation machine and that they are
capable of acquiring any skill that they
want but it requires hard work it
requires that you do the reps it
requires that you put in the effort and
at the end of the day the people that
you’re going to pass are not going to be
the people to have less talent than you
maybe they didn’t have more talent than
you it’s going to be the people that
you’re willing to outwork but until
you’re willing to work them you’re
always going to be stuck there’s John
Irving said to do anything really well
you have to overextend yourself and
that’s the key if you want to put in an
extraordinary performance if you want to
absolutely
dazzle people then you have to do
something amazing you have to be willing
to put yourself out there you have to be
willing to do things that other people
think are going to break you that other
people simply believe there’s no way
that you could be able to pull that off
so the human-animal just is not capable
of the lengths to which you are
professing to go and when you profess it
you have to be willing to back it up and
you have to put yourself on that March
knowing in no uncertain terms under no
circumstances and for no reason
whatsoever would you ever be willing to
back down and when you go in with that
level of certainty then and only then
are you actually going to be able to
pull this off
and there’s Billie Jean King fed
champions keep playing until they get it
right fatigue will literally chip away
at your will to win it is the thing
inside of your mind that weak voice that
tells you that you’re not going to be
able to make it the weak voice that begs
you to stop and the weak voice that
promises safety and security if you
would just quit and here’s the worst
part about that it’s right
if you quit right now if you stop just
sit down relax you’re not at risk
anymore you’re not a risk of
embarrassment you’re not a risk of
failure but you’re also not at risk of
greatness
if you really want to achieve something
you’ve got to find ways to put yourself
at risk of something great happening
you’ve got to put yourself at risk of
overextending yourself you’ve got to be
willing to face that you may die that
you may actually fall and here’s the
thing for the people that dismissed that
that say they would never put themselves
in that situation then you have limits
and make no mistake those limits are
self placed and for the people that are
willing to push that for people that are
willing to go beyond that for people who
understand there are things in this
world that they’re prepared to die for
and it is the thing that they put at the
center of their life it is the thing
that they are living for but they’re not
going to stop and they understand that
we’re the human mind thinks that will
break is far short of where it will
actually break but before you can find
that point you’ve got to be willing to
push yourself you’ve got to be willing
to go harder and farther than anybody
thinks is reasonable or sensible that’s
the path and so the question is
community thought of or the question is
do you believe in something so much that
you would put yourself at risk like that
the question is can you face down
everyone including the weak voice inside
of your own mind to make the world come
true that you want to see come true
because at the end of the day nobody’s
going to do it for you so if you’re a
champion
keep going until it’s done
here’s the hard truth people don’t
necessarily want you to succeed and the
bigger your dream the more people that
are going to come out of the woodwork to
try to stop you as Oliver M Burton said
the only way to avoid pissing people off
is to do nothing important but if you’re
striving for something important if
you’re trying to make real change if
there’s something in your life B you are
absolutely held then to make happen you
have got to understand that you’re going
to be fighting against something people
are going to be pushing back against you
and it is going to be your ability to
hold true to that vision that’s going to
determine whether you can pull it off
and as Victor Hugo said you have enemies
good
it means you stood up for something at
some point in your life and that’s what
people missed they somehow want to get
through this unscathed they somehow hope
that with this grand change that they
want to make that people just all in
love that they see your vision because
they fall in line behind you that they
want you to lead them that’s not the way
that people work
having a vision already puts you in an
incredibly rare group of people being
able to see something that other people
can’t see that is the role of visionary
is literally to interpret the world that
other people don’t even know exist and
bring it into fruition and get people
excited about to get them to fall in
line but understand when you build an
army you will have an opposing force but
as Mark Twain said keep away from those
who try to belittle your ambition small
people always do that but the really
great ones they make you believe that
you too can become great and that’s the
kind of person that you want to surround
yourself with you want to surround
yourself with people that believe in you
you want to surround yourself with
people that even when they can’t see it
they can see you even when they don’t
understand what you’re trying to build
they believe in you and they’re willing
to get in line and they’re willing to
meet that opposing force and when you’re
able to galvanize people around your
idea and push it forward and pay for
them the world not as it is but as it
could be that’s when you can make change
but you can’t be afraid to piss people
off you have to know that they’re coming
for you and you have to be willing to
fight because if you’re not willing to
fight you might as well sit down now so
if you’re going to be one of the few
that stands up you’ve got to stand up
prepared for war as Daniel ping said
people fail to achieve mastery not
because they aren’t talented but because
they aren’t disciplined the wonderful
news about the human condition is you
can get good at anything that you set
your mind to it’s just not going to be
easy and it’s not going to be fast but
the willingness to put in that work is
what’s going to separate you from
everybody else and I’m begging you to
see yourself right now today as average
as know better than anyone else but I
beg you with more force than I know how
to convey with this language to see
yourself as malleable to seeing yourself
as capable of becoming anything you want
to become to become truly
extraordinary if you can find within
yourself the discipline to stick with it
long enough and a Steve Martin said
perseverance is a great substitute for
talent everybody wants to talk about
who’s talented and everybody looks at
the person with innate talent is if they
have something magical but to me it’s a
gift it’s a handout it’s a freebie
it hasn’t been earned and no matter what
it is it’s only the beginning even
somebody that has talent even if you get
an early win if you let somebody outwork
you if you let somebody who have more
perseverance more grit than used and
they are going to outperform you on a
long enough timeline the only thing I
can guarantee is you will be outwork by
somebody unless you pour your heart and
soul into getting great if you don’t
take days off if you put yourself into
it as if your life depended on it when
you act like that then you’ve got a
chance to be great and as Robert Horry
said pressure can bust pipes but it can
also make diamond you’ve got to want
that pressure you’ve got to want things
to be hard you can’t seek out the easy
life you can’t just hope and pray that
you can uncover inside of you some
talent that’s laid dormant that you
didn’t know about that’s going to let
things be easy for you don’t want the
easy what a hard lot the pressure wants
the thing that’s going to turn you into
something because when it’s easy you
don’t work for it when it’s easy you
don’t push when it’s easy you get
surpassed by the person who has to give
it their all who’s prepared to do blood
sweat and tears in order to become that
thing that they want to be so badly
because they are so fucking angry but
they were never given anything and with
that chip on their shoulder they’re
determined to become anything that they
set their mind to so whether you have
talent whether you don’t the only thing
that matters is will you persevere
will you stick with it long enough to
as John F Kennedy said there are risks
and costs to a program of action but
they are far less than the long-range
risk and cost of comfortable inaction
there’s just something about the status
quo that is literally intoxicating you
don’t want to move you don’t want to put
things at risk you want to keep things
as they are and I get it changes scary
change maybe one of the single most
paralyzing elements that we as humans
face that in your space in that little
area that you’ve carved out for yourself
it may be small and it may keep you less
than you could be but god damn it does
it feel good because it’s safe because
you know your enemies you know where
everything is that you know all the
things you need to know to feel
comfortable but in that comfort is a
world that shrinks around you it’s a
world that literally is forcing you to
confine yourself to the size of that box
it’s making you only as big as the space
that you’ve allowed yourself so whatever
change you refuse to embrace not only
does it frees you in time but if sons
your growth and if you want to become
something that is literally the act of
changing it is literally the act of
rebirth of making yourself something new
but in that you must face the terror of
change you must face that you may fail
you must face that you may embarrass
yourself you have to face that in the
unknown could be the work but unless
you’re able to do that you’ll never get
to taste the vastness of living outside
the box that merely having a life that
isn’t confined is in and of itself far
more interesting and beautiful than
anything could ever be when it is locked
in one place when you have a box that
has no windows your world can be nothing
but a wall but when you have a window
when you have a door
that becomes an entryway into something
completely new and as Pablo Picasso said
action is the fundamental key to all
success so if you want to succeed if you
want something more for you like you
have to be willing to walk through that
door and if you’re in a box that has no
door then you’ve got to be willing to
kick one open you’ve got to be willing
to cooperate of concrete if that’s what
it takes to get on the other side but
you’ve got to be willing to push
yourself out of that comfort zone to
find out what could be to take control
of your destiny and realize the
fundamental human truth only you control
what you can be and if you want to
escape the one thing you need is belief
and this phil knight said belief is
irresistible once you believe that you
can act in accordance with something
that will actually help move you forward
once you believe to the core of your
being that there is no one no one better
suited to building the life of your
dreams than you then suddenly safety
becomes the least safe thing that you
could do suddenly being in a space that
is so narrowly defined is the only thing
that’s going to choke the life out of
you so the only real risk is not to have
faith in yourself the only real risk is
to stay put the only real risk is to
play it safe so my friends find that
belief in yourself take that risk act
move do something to find a new life
build a new you that’s the key to
everyone takes the limits of their own
vision for the limits of the world
arthur schopenhauer there is all around
you right now the reflections of your
world belief they’re so ever-present
that you don’t even see them all the
assumption that you’ve made about the
world the things that are possible what
you’re capable of who you are the very
definition of what it means to be alive
all of it is completely invisible and
you’re mistaken what you have for what
could be and once you break free of that
once you understand that right now
you’re a moment in time and that you
have latent potential and that latent
potential can be expressed in the form
of skills but you can get good at things
that you can develop yourself in any
direction that brain plasticity alone is
one of the greatest weapons that you’re
not using but you have to move beyond
what you can perceive today you have to
begin to look beyond that and see that
which doesn’t yet exist and you have to
remember that many of the things that
are holding you down are rules that you
don’t even realize are rules and as
General Douglas MacArthur said you’re
remembered for the rules you break and
right now you’re following rules that
you don’t even realize exist and some of
those rules are simply what the okay to
dream but I’m here to tell you the power
is in recognizing that you can do it the
power is in having the arrogance of
belief the power is an understanding
that you yes you are going to be capable
of something simply because you are
willing to believe in yourself and
that’s the thing it’s a willingness to
believe in yourself no one’s going to
give it to you even the people that love
you they’re not going to give you that
they are incapable of giving it to you
people cannot see past their limitations
and they take them for truth people
actually believe the things that have
stopped them will forever not only stop
them but they will stop other people how
can they hope to give you anything but
limitation so if you know that if you
know that even the people that love you
what they’re handing you with limitation
with the best of fucking intentions with
all the love in the world
how are you going to break out of that
how are you going to break past those
rules how are you going to fight the
anxiety that inevitably comes your way
when you think about going against the
grain but my friends until you can do
that you can never get beyond the
bullshit that limits you if people said
gravity is what it is we never would
have reached the skate velocity and yet
as the species we have been able to hurl
a fucking rocket into space get it
outside of gravity take us to other
planets that is real only because
somebody said I refuse to be held down
by the most obvious rule that we have
the one that everybody says is beyond
reproach and that is gravity but even
gravity will break under the weight of a
superior will so recognize this
Epictetus said if you want to improve be
content to be thought foolish and stupid
can you be content to be thought foolish
and stupid or do you allow yourself to
be caged to be hemmed in by what other
people think and look I get it
I understand the theme of contempt I
understand how much it sucks when
someone you respect doesn’t respect you
but you cannot be anything more than
their captive if you think about what
they think about you if you let yourself
be defined by what other people perceive
of as you then you will forever be
limited by what they give you permission
to do and I don’t know about you but
when I was a kid I said when I’m an
adult I will never fucking be told what
to do again I will never be held back by
somebody else I will define myself I
will figure out what I need to do and I
will do it and at the end of the day
that is it my goals drive my behavior I
am not held back by what other people
think about me no matter how fucking
intoxicating it is to be loved you have
to decide what you want more do you want
to be you or do you want to be someone
else’s reflection of you
[Music]
everybody wants to be successful but
virtually nobody understands that
success is a path it’s a process it’s
not a finish line it’s not something
that you do once and then you finish it
is literally the systematic acquisition
of skills and a Scott Adam says every
skill you acquire doubles your odds of
success and that’s it that’s the secret
if you really want to do something in
your life if you really want to be great
if you want to smash it if you want to
be remembered the key is to acquire as
many skills as you can because
everything you bring into your world
gives you an exponentially greater
chance of winning of doing the thing
that you want to do but you have to be
totally focused and committed on gaining
those skills and is the rock pointed out
success at anything will always come
down to this focus and effort and we
control both once you understand that
that’s what you have to do you have to
get control of yourself you have to stay
focused on something you have to learn
the discipline and apply it on your path
to success to acquire the skills that
you want to acquire that it is going to
demand of you that you work harder you
work smarter and you work longer than
anybody else and that’s the fucking
secret there really is no grand mystery
if you want to be successful do you want
to do something other people can’t do
then you have to become capable of the
extraordinary
you have to become capable of doing
something that other people can’t and
that is the best possible news I could
give you because it doesn’t matter what
you’re born with it doesn’t even matter
who you are what matters is who you want
to become and the price that you’re
willing to pay to get there and let me
tell you this the price is known and
that price is the acquisition skill that
price is getting so good that people can
ignore you that price is being able to
beat anyone at the game that you’ve
chosen the plate once you get to that
point once people stand back in awe when
they watch what you’re doing then you
will have won then success will be yours
but it was in no uncertain terms the
result of the path that you walked and
is Angela Duckworth notes enthusiasm is
common but endurance is rare so when you
sneak out that first lead when you get
ahead of people and you think hey I’ve
acquired the skill I’ve done something
people are looking at me like I can’t be
stopped
remember that right now at this moment
someone is practicing well you’re not
doing the thing that you need to be
doing while you’re sitting back in your
roles very happy with what you’ve
accomplished somebody else is going to
eat your lunch because they have a
passion and enthusiasm that endures and
at the end of the day if you can want
something so badly if you fucking burn
from the inside to do something to
become something to become capable of
more then you will endure then you’ll be
able to push past other people then when
other people
break and they lie in your weight you
will push forward because that fucking
thing in you that you have cultivated is
the ability to endure it is not the
ability to be a badass it is not the
ability to think that you’re cool it is
the ability to kick your own ass to deal
with what is boring to live in the pain
to step towards anguish to know that
suffering is a choice and you choose to
turn it off because you know on the
other side on the other side of
endurance on the other side of
outlasting everybody else is a skillset that makes you unstoppable
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