I’m gonna share with you why having 24
hours every single day is more than
enough if you learn to live present but
before I teach you how to live present I
have good news and I have bad news the
good news is I’m going to share with you
a very basic strategy on how you can
maximize your time how you can aim for
excellence in every moment and how you
can become happier and more successful
the bad news is some of you will choose
not to implement this some of you will
choose not to adopt this strategy and
the reason I say choose is I need you to
acknowledge that your habits are in fact
the choice you choose your habits and
your habits are what dictate your
happiness and your success see happiness
and success are not predicated on what
we do every once in a while they’re a
result of what we do every single day
because how you do anything is how you
do everything
in 2007 Nike flew me to Los Angeles to
work the first ever Kobe Bryant Skills
Academy Nike brought in the top high
school and college players from around
the country for an intensive three-day
mini camp with the best player in the
world now I’ve lived in a basketball
bubble my entire life so I had heard the
urban legend of how insanely intense
Kobe’s individual workouts were so since
I was on camp staff I asked him if I
could watch one he said sure I’m going
tomorrow at four and I said but Kobe we
have a camp workout tomorrow at 3:30 he
said no I’m going at 4:00 a.m. well
obviously there’s not a legitimate
excuse I can come up with on why I can’t
be somewhere at 4:00 a.m. so I’d
basically committed myself to being
there and I figured if I was going to be
there anyway I might as well try and
impress Kobe I might as well show him
how serious of a trainer I was so I
planned to beat him to the gym so I set
my alarm for 3:00 a.m. the alarm goes
off I jump up quickly and get myself
together and I hop in a cab and I get to
the gym probably a little after 3:30 and
I step out and it’s pitch black outside
but I can see that the gym lights are
already on and I can faintly hear a ball
bouncing and sneakers squeaking I
slither in the side door and Kobe is
already in a full sweat he was going
through an intense warmup before his
scheduled workout started at 4:00 a.m.
now I didn’t say anything to him and I
didn’t say anything to his trainer I
just sat down quietly to watch and for
the first 45 minutes I was bored out of
my mind for the first 45 minutes
I watched the best player in the game of
basketball do the most basic offensive
moves in footwork he was doing stuff
that I had already done with middle
school age players now please understand
he was doing it at a super high level of
intensity and his precision was razor
sharp but the stuff he was doing was so
basic now the entire workout took around
two hours and when it was done I didn’t
say anything to him I didn’t say
anything to his trainer I just left but
later that day curiosity got the best of
me I had to ask him Kobe you’re the best
player in the world why are you doing
such basic drills and he looked at me
and smiled but said very seriously why
do you think I’m the best player in the
world because I never get bored with the
basics Kobe taught me a really pivotal
lesson that morning and that’s just
because something is basic it doesn’t
mean that it’s easy if it was easy
everyone else would do it
but we live in a world that wants us to
skip steps that begs us to circumvent
the process that encourages us to chase
what’s hot and what’s flashy and what’s
sexy and ignore what’s basic the basics
work they always have and they always
will the most basic concept I know of is
time yet despite its simplicity an
appreciation and a respect for time is
the key to being as happy and as
successful as possible I’m 41 years old
the average life expectancy for males in
the United States is 79 years old which
means statistically I’m at the half time
of my life now if you’re my age you’re
older you can probably agree with me
that first half went by really quick and
the speed at which time has flown by
makes me realize that
is without question our most valuable
resource now I want you to take a second
and I want you to imagine that your life
is like an hourglass and the moment you
were born that hourglass got flipped
over and the sand started falling and
I’ve learned three indisputable truths
about time three indisputable truths
about that hourglass number one none of
us has any idea how much sand is at the
top time is not promised tomorrow is not
guaranteed every one of us knows someone
whose sand ran out unexpectedly number
two we can’t stop the sand from going to
the bottom you can’t stop time you can’t
pause time time is continuous its ever
fleeting that clock is always ticking
and that calendar is always turning and
three once that sand hits the bottom
it’s gone we can’t get time back
they’ve already printed yesterday’s
newspaper there’s nothing we can do
about it so time is without question our
most valuable resource well with that
being true that means our attention is
our number one currency because where
you put your attention that shows what
you value and when you give someone your
full attention you show them that you
care and caring is what creates
connection and connection is the
foundation of happiness and success
which means we need to give the people
that matter in our lives our full
attention which means we need to put our
phones down we need to close our laptops
we need to turn off our TVs in order to
truly connect we actually need to unplug
that doesn’t get any more basic than
that
so how do we do that we live present so
what does it mean to live present it
means be where your feet are wherever
your feet are that’s where your head and
your heart need to be if you’re with
your kids be with your kids when you’re
at work be at work you need to make sure
that you pour into everything that
you’re doing now I’m a
that sound very basic but trust me it is
not easy in fact living present is one
of the biggest challenges that all of us
have and it takes practice it takes a
lot of practice a couple of months ago I
was involved in a charity event it was
being put on by serial entrepreneur
author and endurance Superman Jessie
it’s learn and the event was basic in
premise but trust me it was not easy we
had to run up and down in 80-yard Hill
that was at a 40 degree slope a hundred
times yes a hundred times
that’s over eight miles so the event was
appropriately named hell on the hill the
head basketball coach at Marquette was
also one of the runners and he and I
were on about the same pace and around
three hours into it right around the
seventy rep mark I hit a wall I was
struggling I was physically mentally and
emotionally spent if I can be quite
honest with you guys I wanted to quit
and since I knew he and I were on about
the same pace and I asked him I said how
many do you have left
and he said one rep and I was confused
to be honest I was really pissed off
because there’s no way he only had one
rep and then he finished his sentence he
said I have one rep thirty more times
and that is the definition of living
present you don’t focus on the hundred
you focus on the next rep and living
present is what allowed me to get
through that somewhat brutal yet fun
event and living present is what is
allowing me now to be happier and more
fulfilled than I’ve ever been in my life
but it’s important you know there is a
big difference between knowing how to
live present in actually living present
we’ve all heard that knowledge is power
guess what it’s not that’s a lie that’s
a myth knowledge is not power it’s the
application of knowledge that is
powerful knowing is not enough and
knowledge unapplied is completely
worthless every human being on the
planet knows that smoking is bad for
your health yet smoking is still the
number
preventable cause of death in the United
States that kills half a million people
every single year and every one of those
500,000 people knows that smoking is bad
form
so clearly knowing is not enough you
have to make the choice to act you have
to make the choice to commit to the
basics you have to make the choice to
live present because the choices you
make today will determine who you are
tomorrow I want to thank you very much
for your presence I want to thank you
for your attention but my sand has run
out thanks
[Applause]
hours every single day is more than
enough if you learn to live present but
before I teach you how to live present I
have good news and I have bad news the
good news is I’m going to share with you
a very basic strategy on how you can
maximize your time how you can aim for
excellence in every moment and how you
can become happier and more successful
the bad news is some of you will choose
not to implement this some of you will
choose not to adopt this strategy and
the reason I say choose is I need you to
acknowledge that your habits are in fact
the choice you choose your habits and
your habits are what dictate your
happiness and your success see happiness
and success are not predicated on what
we do every once in a while they’re a
result of what we do every single day
because how you do anything is how you
do everything
in 2007 Nike flew me to Los Angeles to
work the first ever Kobe Bryant Skills
Academy Nike brought in the top high
school and college players from around
the country for an intensive three-day
mini camp with the best player in the
world now I’ve lived in a basketball
bubble my entire life so I had heard the
urban legend of how insanely intense
Kobe’s individual workouts were so since
I was on camp staff I asked him if I
could watch one he said sure I’m going
tomorrow at four and I said but Kobe we
have a camp workout tomorrow at 3:30 he
said no I’m going at 4:00 a.m. well
obviously there’s not a legitimate
excuse I can come up with on why I can’t
be somewhere at 4:00 a.m. so I’d
basically committed myself to being
there and I figured if I was going to be
there anyway I might as well try and
impress Kobe I might as well show him
how serious of a trainer I was so I
planned to beat him to the gym so I set
my alarm for 3:00 a.m. the alarm goes
off I jump up quickly and get myself
together and I hop in a cab and I get to
the gym probably a little after 3:30 and
I step out and it’s pitch black outside
but I can see that the gym lights are
already on and I can faintly hear a ball
bouncing and sneakers squeaking I
slither in the side door and Kobe is
already in a full sweat he was going
through an intense warmup before his
scheduled workout started at 4:00 a.m.
now I didn’t say anything to him and I
didn’t say anything to his trainer I
just sat down quietly to watch and for
the first 45 minutes I was bored out of
my mind for the first 45 minutes
I watched the best player in the game of
basketball do the most basic offensive
moves in footwork he was doing stuff
that I had already done with middle
school age players now please understand
he was doing it at a super high level of
intensity and his precision was razor
sharp but the stuff he was doing was so
basic now the entire workout took around
two hours and when it was done I didn’t
say anything to him I didn’t say
anything to his trainer I just left but
later that day curiosity got the best of
me I had to ask him Kobe you’re the best
player in the world why are you doing
such basic drills and he looked at me
and smiled but said very seriously why
do you think I’m the best player in the
world because I never get bored with the
basics Kobe taught me a really pivotal
lesson that morning and that’s just
because something is basic it doesn’t
mean that it’s easy if it was easy
everyone else would do it
but we live in a world that wants us to
skip steps that begs us to circumvent
the process that encourages us to chase
what’s hot and what’s flashy and what’s
sexy and ignore what’s basic the basics
work they always have and they always
will the most basic concept I know of is
time yet despite its simplicity an
appreciation and a respect for time is
the key to being as happy and as
successful as possible I’m 41 years old
the average life expectancy for males in
the United States is 79 years old which
means statistically I’m at the half time
of my life now if you’re my age you’re
older you can probably agree with me
that first half went by really quick and
the speed at which time has flown by
makes me realize that
is without question our most valuable
resource now I want you to take a second
and I want you to imagine that your life
is like an hourglass and the moment you
were born that hourglass got flipped
over and the sand started falling and
I’ve learned three indisputable truths
about time three indisputable truths
about that hourglass number one none of
us has any idea how much sand is at the
top time is not promised tomorrow is not
guaranteed every one of us knows someone
whose sand ran out unexpectedly number
two we can’t stop the sand from going to
the bottom you can’t stop time you can’t
pause time time is continuous its ever
fleeting that clock is always ticking
and that calendar is always turning and
three once that sand hits the bottom
it’s gone we can’t get time back
they’ve already printed yesterday’s
newspaper there’s nothing we can do
about it so time is without question our
most valuable resource well with that
being true that means our attention is
our number one currency because where
you put your attention that shows what
you value and when you give someone your
full attention you show them that you
care and caring is what creates
connection and connection is the
foundation of happiness and success
which means we need to give the people
that matter in our lives our full
attention which means we need to put our
phones down we need to close our laptops
we need to turn off our TVs in order to
truly connect we actually need to unplug
that doesn’t get any more basic than
that
so how do we do that we live present so
what does it mean to live present it
means be where your feet are wherever
your feet are that’s where your head and
your heart need to be if you’re with
your kids be with your kids when you’re
at work be at work you need to make sure
that you pour into everything that
you’re doing now I’m a
that sound very basic but trust me it is
not easy in fact living present is one
of the biggest challenges that all of us
have and it takes practice it takes a
lot of practice a couple of months ago I
was involved in a charity event it was
being put on by serial entrepreneur
author and endurance Superman Jessie
it’s learn and the event was basic in
premise but trust me it was not easy we
had to run up and down in 80-yard Hill
that was at a 40 degree slope a hundred
times yes a hundred times
that’s over eight miles so the event was
appropriately named hell on the hill the
head basketball coach at Marquette was
also one of the runners and he and I
were on about the same pace and around
three hours into it right around the
seventy rep mark I hit a wall I was
struggling I was physically mentally and
emotionally spent if I can be quite
honest with you guys I wanted to quit
and since I knew he and I were on about
the same pace and I asked him I said how
many do you have left
and he said one rep and I was confused
to be honest I was really pissed off
because there’s no way he only had one
rep and then he finished his sentence he
said I have one rep thirty more times
and that is the definition of living
present you don’t focus on the hundred
you focus on the next rep and living
present is what allowed me to get
through that somewhat brutal yet fun
event and living present is what is
allowing me now to be happier and more
fulfilled than I’ve ever been in my life
but it’s important you know there is a
big difference between knowing how to
live present in actually living present
we’ve all heard that knowledge is power
guess what it’s not that’s a lie that’s
a myth knowledge is not power it’s the
application of knowledge that is
powerful knowing is not enough and
knowledge unapplied is completely
worthless every human being on the
planet knows that smoking is bad for
your health yet smoking is still the
number
preventable cause of death in the United
States that kills half a million people
every single year and every one of those
500,000 people knows that smoking is bad
form
so clearly knowing is not enough you
have to make the choice to act you have
to make the choice to commit to the
basics you have to make the choice to
live present because the choices you
make today will determine who you are
tomorrow I want to thank you very much
for your presence I want to thank you
for your attention but my sand has run
out thanks
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: