Kind: captions
Language: en
as Henry Rollins said I don't have
talent so I just get up earlier the
thing that people think about becoming
great about doing the extraordinary is
that it's just meant for some people and
not meant for others and they spend
their time making other people
extraordinary as a way to let themselves
off the hook because if somebody is just
gifted if they were blessed by God if
they were touched by an angel and then
just have something that you don't and
something that you never will have then
it's fine for them to be great and you
to be ordinary but the reality is it's
not how it works
but somehow the cultural narrative has
become one where we celebrate natural
talent that if somebody is graced by God
that if they have something divine about
them that they're somehow better that
it's more beautiful than the scrappy
person who's had to work for everything
they've ever had the guy who simply
acknowledges like Henry Rollins that he
doesn't have more talent than the next
person he's simply willing to outwork
them he's willing to set the alarm to
get up to do whatever it takes to find
his path to create that skill to outwork
talent to show that by putting in that
energy and that effort there's a
magnification effect that is far greater
than anything that could be given to you
bestowed upon you you have to grab it
you have to take it you have to have a
level of intensity in your life to be
able to leverage it and create something
amazing and as Warren Buffett said
intensity is the price of excellence if
you want to be great
you've got to cultivate that intensity
you've got to understand it's not about
what you were born with it's not about
what you were given where you started or
even where
going it is entirely about what you
plant at the center of your soul how
hard you're willing to go after
something how much focus you're willing
to put in your life and how often you
come back to that level of intensity for
who you want to be because if you want
to be excellent you will have to pay a
price and that price is eternal
vigilance vigilance over how you spend
your time vigilance over the demands you
make of yourself vigilance over what you
allow yourself to think and believe and
when you get to the point that you only
allow yourself to think and believe
things that move you towards your goals
that everyday the actions you take are
things that are designed to get you
there and that you have the intensity to
follow that through to shape yourself to
create a new version of you capable of
doing something extraordinary then your
life is gonna be what you want but not
until then it's never gonna be anything
if you just make other people
extraordinary and say I could never do
that
the reality is you could and you're just
not so the thing you have to face right
now is that it is within your grasp you
just have to go after it
I wanted to spell a myth for you it's
the talent myth it's the belief that
some people were just born with more
than others that some people are
naturally gifted in some art and that's
just the way the cookie crumbles and
whatever you're gonna be is essentially
determined by how you started that your
DNA is exactly your destiny I'm here to
tell you right now that's [ __ ] it's
just not true it's not the truth of the
way that humans are designed as a
species were the ultimate adaptation
machine but the very thing that puts us
at the top of the pyramid is our ability
to adapt it is the fact that the brain
is plastic that it responds to change it
responds to stressors it responds to
repetition and repetition is a slave to
obsession as Conor McGregor said there's
no talent here this is hard work this is
an obsession you could be anyone if you
put in the time that's one of the
greatest athletes of our time telling
you that he's not the result of genetics
he's not the result of natural gifts he
hasn't been bestowed something by God he
has shown up day after day in the most
mundane of conditions on the cold days
on the hot days he put in the work
because he was obsessed with what he
could become and that repetition that
you need to actually gain a skill
follows that obsession so in you right
now right now today you want to start
building that obsession you want to look
at it like an ember that can become a
raging fire but it needs your time and
attention
it needs your time and attention you've
got to take that interest you've got to
take that spark of desire and you've got
a fan the flame
you've got to turn it into that
obsession and from that obsession if you
put in the work if you do the things day
in and day out the back-breaking work
pushing through the pain
fighting through feeling like an idiot
fighting through embarrassment getting
up brushing yourself off doing it again
practicing putting yourself at
somebody's feet and asking what could I
have done better not look at the things
you're doing well but look at the things
you're doing wrong look at the things
you're doing poorly staring at your
inadequacies with no loss of pride
because the only thing you value in
yourself is your willingness to do that
you're willing is to work your ass off
and as Sylvester Stallone said I'm not
the richest smartest or most talented
person in the world but I succeed
because I keep going and going and going
and that's the secret there's nothing
more than that
the people that you see that win at the
highest level they were the ones that
didn't give up they're the survivors and
you've got to ask yourself am i a
survivor type am I the type of person
that continues to push through when it
gets hard when it gets boring when I
feel lost when I don't know what I'm
doing when I have no faith in myself
even in that darkest hour can I push
forward can I accept that the human body
will respond to that stress it will
respond to that stimulus but I have to
show up and I have to do the work and so
that's the beautiful thing you're not
gonna separate yourself based on your
genetics you're not gonna separate
yourself based on who your parents were
where you were born
you're gonna separate yourself by
showing up and you don't want to you're
gonna separate yourself by pushing
forward when it hurts
you're gonna separate yourself by always
moving forward even when the forward is
falling on your face so never lose sight
of that it's the person that keeps going
that can't be defeated as Haroon 'yeah
noted i always wonder why birds stay in
the same place when they can fly
anywhere on earth and then i ask myself
the same question as mark twain put it
the secret of getting ahead is getting
started and that's where people get
stuck you're literally like the bird you
could fly anywhere you want you can go
anywhere you want to go and look I know
you've got a litany of excuses and all
of them are valid you've got a job you
can't just leave when you don't have a
job and you don't have the money your
family is in one place it's the only
thing that you've ever known you only
speak one language you've never traveled
before you don't have a passport you
can't afford the gas money there are a
thousand real reasons not to go but the
truth is that none of them matter the
truth is if you want to build something
in your life that you have to remember
what Mark Twain said you have to get
started because
at the end of the day that is literally
the only thing that's holding you back
you're not moving and once you get the
simplicity of that once you understand
that you could act right now you could
say [ __ ] all the excuses you can stop
making them you could stop giving in to
them no matter how valid they are no
matter how real they may seem you can
finally decide that you're going to get
a permit that you're gonna create that
momentum that you're going to take a
step that you're gonna make the demand
that you create momentum that you get
something done but you [ __ ] find an
answer or as Hannibal said that you're
going to find a way or they make one if
you have to carve through [ __ ] rock
do it because humans before you have
done it and that's the simple truth that
is the simple [ __ ] truth and
everything else is [ __ ] everything
else is the weak voice in your mind
holding you back and making you a less
version of yourself so I ask you why
doesn't the bird fly wherever it wants
to go because that's all it's known
because that's what's safe because
that's what's comfortable well because
it's a dumb [ __ ] animal
what do you want to be if this isn't the
life you want to live do something about
it
[Music]
here's the hard truth about getting
great it takes time and dedication it
takes a willingness to accept that
you're not yet good enough it takes the
ability to stare at the places that you
know that you're weak to really look at
those things and not let it affect your
sense of self-esteem and not let it
affect your sense of self-worth so that
you can still get the momentum going but
you have to understand that in the
beginning we're all terrible
and as Henri cartier-bresson said your
first 10,000 photographs are your worst
and so the thing that really makes great
art are the people that continue to push
and the people that continue to work and
face how inadequate they are and really
understand that at the end of the day
greatness is a craft greatness is a
process greatness is a habit greatness
is the little things that you do every
day
overtime going out every day unafraid of
whether or not this is one of the 10,000
terrible things that you're going to do
it's being unafraid to make those
mistakes as being unafraid that you're
not yet great and as Marianne rad maker
said courage doesn't always war
sometimes courage is the quiet voice at
the end of the day saying I will try
again tomorrow
and that's it if you want to be great
that's what you have to do you've got to
get up again tomorrow you've got to be
willing to face another day you've got
to be willing to accept that you've got
to get through the bad ideas before you
can get to the good you've got to
understand that you have to start as an
apprentice you have to start as a person
going and getting tea and you have to
accept that that's the job that you
should be playing that you should be
working for somebody else you should be
looking up to somebody else's seeing
what they can teach you because what you
know is that you're there
what you notice that you're there to get
through the 10,000 bad photographs that
you need to get through to ultimately
achieve greatness and if you make the
catastrophic error that's so many make
to try to tell the world either
extraordinary today to try to get the
world to follow you and look up to you
and think that you're something today
because the people that living win are
the ones are the best today
the ones that listen today the ones that
spend every ounce of their energy
amassing mastery getting better every
day working their asses off to improve
their skill set to relentlessly look at
the things that they're not doing well
to understand that they have to break
themselves down and get rid of all of
their ego before they can really find
greatness those are the people that we
remember so if you want to be remembered
if you want to achieve real greatness
you just need to have the courage to
show up every day and take another swing
take another photo try another task do
something that scares you and do those
little things over and over and over
until you win
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 in 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 plastic 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 that the suffering that comes
with that of changing yourself of making
yourself into something great
is the suffering well working it's a
suffering that you should embrace it's a
suffering that you should run towards
because in that suffering you can become
any thing you want so start to dwell on
that dwell on a vision of you being
great dwell on a vision of you
accomplishing your goals dwell on a
vision of you having done this amazing
thing that you want to do dwell on an
image of you being willing to sweat and
bend yourself in half and break if need
to and bleed when necessary to become
the vision of yourself you always knew
you could become dwell on that and
nothing can stop
as epictetus said he is a wise man who
does not grieve for things which he has
not but rejoices for those which he has
and that's gratitude isn't it it's the
very base decision that we all have to
make are you grateful for the things you
have in your life or are you always
wanting more and trust me I get it I
understand people that strive for more I
understand people that want something
bigger and better but at the same time
if you allow yourself to only think
about what you don't have to only be
striving for something more that that
obsession will begin to overtake you it
will begin to corrode you but ultimately
it's a choice ultimately at any time
right now in this moment you can stop
and think about what you have you can
put your attention on the things you're
grateful for and watch what it does
watch what it does in that instance the
way that it changes you the way that it
changes your chemistry your feelings in
a moment can shift from negative and
dark to beautiful with nothing else
changing around you nothing but you
deciding that you're gonna focus on the
things you're grateful for nothing but
deciding that there are things in your
life to be grateful for and that is a
decision no matter what is happening in
your life at any moment right now in the
depths of a depression in something
going on terribly in your life you can
choose right now to think about the
things you're grateful for the breeze a
smile from somebody kind a stranger who
holds open a door for you anything but
it's a choice and as Einstein said there
are only two ways to live your life
one is as though nothing is a miracle
the other is as though everything is a
miracle and what choice are you making
what are you choosing to focus on right
now do you let gratitude fill you up or
not and here's the critical part and I
want you to listen to this really well
whatever you decide whether you decide
we live in
of miracles or whether we decide we live
in a world devoid of miracles you are
choosing one thing to the exclusion of
the other and when you focus on
something that you're grateful for when
you look at those little moments in your
life and choose to see them as grand
miracles even winning is only like a
gentle hand on your shoulder even then
it's only a kiss from somebody who you
kissed a thousand times before even when
it is only holding the hand of somebody
who needed their hand held even when
it's something that simple it really is
a miracle that it really is something
that can feel you it really is something
that will change your chemistry bring a
connection between two people allow you
to see a grander Vista or even just open
a window and look out at the world and
realize that you're alive that this is
all a miracle that none of this is
guaranteed that every breath you take
could be your last and in that you can
choose to cherish what you have in that
you can decide to focus on that you have
a breath to take and even when it's
something that simple when you train
your mind to do that when you train
yourself to decide to see the beauty in
that that nobody can ever take it away
from you I know matter where you are
no matter what's going on in your life
you'll be able to rise up and feel the
beauty that is being alive so take a
minute at the worst times in your life
and focus on the things you're grateful
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as Mark Twain said the secret to getting
ahead is getting started that's
something I want all of you guys to
really embody and really think about
really put at the core of your existence
that step number one to accomplishing
whatever it is that you want to do is
actually getting started and I
understand I know the thing that holds
you back I know the thing that is
absolutely paralyzing for people is you
don't think that you have what it takes
to go out and be good and rather than
face that difficult brutal process of
growing and getting better and quite
frankly facing your inadequacies it's
easier just to sit back but as John
Wooden said never let me you cannot do
interfere with what you can there is
something right now that you're capable
of there is an innate skill inside of
you that's your spark it's that starting
point it's that thing that while you may
not be the best in the world at it it's
a flame that you can fan it's something
that you can breathe life into and
really begin to get good but first you
have to understand the very nature of
progress and that's a Stephen Covey said
you're not the product of your
circumstances but rather a product of
your decisions and it's those decisions
that are going to allow you to build
that skill set so don't worry about
where you started don't worry about what
you already have
remember it's the decisions that you
make it's going down that road it is the
decision to get started
it's the decision to face possible
failure it's the decision to get up once
you've failed and it's the decision of
what to learn
you fail do you learn that you're not
good enough do you learn you never
should have tried well do you learn a
lesson from the failure and get up and
brush yourself off and remember that at
the end of the day you're going to go as
far as you're willing to fight for and
that's it if you're willing to fight to
go all the way then you will go that far
you will set a new bar you will define
for people what is possible to become
that beacon of hope you become that
thing that other people look to as the
standard at the end of the day it
started the huge getting started it
started with you showing up it started
with you pushing and trying
don't worry about what you have and what
new our focus on who you want to become
and the price you're willing to pay to
get it
[Music]
greatness is the most demanding mistress
you're ever going to encounter and I
understand the advice that I'm about to
give you is not for everyone most people
should turn this off but if you're gonna
stick with me if you're going to listen
to what I have to say it's because you
want something tremendous in your life
you want to stand out from everyone else
you want to do something more than other
people think it's possible you literally
want to stand outside the norm and if
that's the case for you then understand
that as Albert Einstein said only one
who devotes himself to a cause with his
whole strength and soul can be a true
master for this reason mastery demands
all of a person if you want to get great
if you really want to make a skill set
your own if you want to be able to do
something and at the end of the day if
you want to transform the world if you
want to make grand changes if you want
to do all of that [ __ ] all the empty
words that people spout all the time let
me tell you the only thing that's going
to separate you from all the other
blowhards we're just talking words and
we'll never do anything is to give
yourself over completely to let that
obsession let that thing that you love
completely consume you and in that your
only chance to really become great lies
as friends Kafka said don't bend don't
water down don't try to make it logical
rather follow your most intense
obsessions mercilessly can you do that
can you become mercilessly obsessed
can you let something occupy you to
where all logic and reason is gone out
the window and the only thing that
matters is whether or not you accomplish
will you hold yourself accountable to
metrics will you look at
and see am I actually making change are
you prepared to hold yourself to that
standard because if you are there is
nothing you can't [ __ ] do if you're
willing to take that responsibility on
to transform yourself as a human being
if you give your self over to getting
great if you give yourself over to that
obsession if you feed it like you would
feed a beast if you feed it like you
would feed a fire that can wipe out an
entire mountainside
then you've got a chance but it's got to
burn within you like that you've got to
feed it like that you've got to feed it
skills you've got to get better every
day you've got to constantly wake up and
understand exactly what it is you're
building towards that and build towards
it with a relentlessness that other
people think is mania that other people
can see only madness in what you do and
if you can push yourself to that level
then the world will bend to your will as
Thomas Edison said our greatest weakness
lies in giving up the most certain way
to succeed is to always try one more
time I know they're gonna be a million
times in your life where you want to
give up where you absolutely ache with
the desire to quit where nothing sits
inside of your gut other than the
certainty that you are going to fail
that you are not good enough to push
forward but that is to fundamentally
misunderstand the nature of a failure
the nature of a failure is not to tell
you who you are the nature of a failure
is to tell you a way that didn't work
it's to inform it's to educate you it's
to test you it's to be a gut check to
find out if you believe in yourself
enough to push forward even when the
world seems to be telling you not to and
as Brian Tracy said
temp be impossible in order to improve
your work think about that for a second
attempt the impossible just to get
better to try the things that you know
are going to fail things that the world
is gonna tell you simply cannot be but
even if it violates the laws of physics
if there's something in that attempt
that you're going to learn you owe it to
yourself you have a [ __ ] moral
obligation to try because all of the
people that will lie in your wake are
the people that didn't try simply
because they didn't believe that they
could do it you have to be willing to
look at the world you have to be willing
to see things that you yourself think
are impossible and try because in that
you will stretch yourself you have to be
willing to look inward at the state of
your current skill set and say I am
going to play outside of that I'm not
going to play words safe I'm going to
play where it hurts I'm going to play
where I feel clumsy I'm going to play
only in the areas that make me feel
stupid because in that I know that the
way that the brain responds is to
adaptation but I have to stress myself
you can't ever lose sight of that the
only way that the human animal adapts is
through stress you have to be willing to
break things in order to
so if you want to push the boundaries if
you want to see just how far you can go
if you want to succeed at the highest
level if you want to play on a global
scale you have got to be willing to try
the impossible because right now the
things that you need to do are
impossible for you but they won't remain
that way forever and as Aristotle said
pleasure in the job puts perfection in
the work this doesn't have to be a tale
of always being terrified everybody
myself included screaming at you telling
you that you need to go do something
great the part they're leaving out is
why the [ __ ] should you care
you should character this is the
greatest joy you should only listen to
this if it's leading you down a path
that makes you feel more alive and
that's the point the point is to get in
touch with something that makes you feel
great but not to let yourself starve or
be stopped by a fear that you'll fail by
a fear that it can't be done have fun
have the guts to enjoy yourself have the
guts to go out and attempt something
audacious and terrifying knowing that
all along if you're doing it right
you're gonna have a good time so all of
this going balls out trying to prove
something to yourself trying to do
something amazing never lose sight that
it's to build a better life never lose
sight of the fact that you're doing it
to create the person that you want to be
never lose sight of the fact that it's
fun as muhammad ali said impossible is
just a word thrown around by small men
who find it easier to live in the world
they've been given and to explore the
power they have to change it and that's
the thing you have to remember this
world everything you see around you
yourself your mindset your beliefs it's
all malleable everything about your life
is a choice everything that you see in
your life from your job to your bank
account to your spouse to your
loneliness to your happiness to all of
it everything is a result of the choices
that you've made everything is either a
result of what you've chosen to accept
or chosen to change so the question that
you're gonna answer with your life is
whether you're somebody who just takes
it or whether you're somebody who takes
it and does something with it and as
Michael Jordan said you must expect
great things of yourself before you can
do them before you can make these
changes before you can grab life and
shape it into what you want you've got
to be willing to believe that you can do
it you've got to make a demand of
yourself that you're going to do
something great that you are going to
become capable of the extraordinary you
have to place that demand on you and
whatever you accept from yourself is
what you'll get but if like Larry Bird
you understand
that if you give 100% all the time
somehow things will work out
then you might actually have a chance of
taking those ephemeral dreams taking
those things that the small men tell you
are impossible and making them possible
and when you look around at this
extraordinary world and see all the
amazing wonders that we have created
with our hands and understand that first
it started with someone who allowed
themselves to believe held themselves to
a standard made enormous demands of
themselves including the demand to take
action including the demand to put in a
hundred percent effort at all times once
you realize that once you realize there
is no difference between you and the
people who have built all of these
incredible things then you'll be able to
do something extraordinary with your
life so we make that demand refuse to be
one of the small people that clutch on
like it's a life raft to the word
impossible who find solace in comfort in
believing that they can do something
because it means they never have to try
[Music]
go home
[Music]
embarrass yourself be terrible pick
yourself up learn from that try again
refuse to listen to anyone that tells
you that you can't do it and in that not
only find the limits of what you're
capable of but push them back and
redefine for everyone the very notion of
what's possible
[Music]