(audience cheers and claps)
- Good evening, y'all.
Yo, first and foremost, graduates,
give yourselves a round of applause, please.
(audience cheers and claps)
Now, I know
I'm one of the final things between you all and 6th Street,
so I'm gonna keep this short.
(audience cheers and claps)
Okay, look, if you are sitting in these seats,
you find yourselves in one of two buckets.
The first bucket,
you know exactly what you're going to do
for the next 30 years.
You know where you're gonna work,
you know where you're gonna live,
you know who you're gonna marry,
you know how many kids, preferably twins.
Or,
you find yourself in the second bucket,
and you have no idea what you're doin' next.
(audience cheers)
Now, I'm gonna be honest,
whichever bucket you find yourself in,
and whatever you think your life is going to look like,
you're wrong.
And I couldn't be more excited that you're wrong,
because life never looks anything like
we plan it to look like.
Many of you sitting in these seats
will be working in a profession that doesn't exist yet.
Many of you sitting in these seats will find a cure
for a disease that hasn't hit yet.
Many of you sitting in these seats
will solve a crisis that hasn't struck yet,
and I can't wait to watch.
At Texas, we say, "What starts here changes the world,"
but they never really told us how to change the world.
So for the next 15 minutes,
I'm gonna give y'all the three tips that you have to follow,
if you want to change the world.
(audience cheers)
Now, tip number one,
you gotta delight in the detour.
What do I mean?
See, I was sitting in the first bucket.
Ten years ago, I was in your seats.
I graduated from Texas.
I was drafted to the Cleveland Browns, and I was like,
I'm gonna play 10 years in the NFL,
have a Hall of Fame career, go on to be a businessman,
and settle in Dallas, Texas.
I tore my MCL my rookie year,
that didn't happen.
I ended up getting traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Cleveland, Philadelphia,
I still couldn't find either place on the map,
but it was fine.
So, I'm in Philadelphia playing for the Eagles,
and I go up to my coach's office,
I'm trying to brown nose.
Y'all know how y'all went to your TA's office
during office hours, that's what I was doing.
So, I go up to my coach's office,
and I'm trying to brown nose,
but while I'm in his office, I look at the depth chart.
What the depth chart is, is
an order of where you fall on your team.
So I look under my position group, linebackers,
I don't see my name.
I check again, linebackers,
I don't see my name.
Finally, I start to check other position groups.
I still don't see my name.
I scan to the bottom of the list,
and I find my name under the word "cut,"
that means I was gettin' fired.
Imagine going to your professor's office,
and you look under the grades of A, B, C, and D,
searching for your name,
but instead, you find your name under F.
That's what happened to me.
So I had to delight in the detour,
'cause I realized at that point in time,
my life was going to take a drastic detour.
I wasn't gonna have this illustrious NFL career
that I thought.
But here's the beauty of a detour,
see a detour prepares you for your destiny,
while your destiny is being prepared for you.
So many of y'all, you have these brilliant plans.
Maybe you've already gotten a job in private equity.
Maybe you've already gotten into law school.
Maybe you've already gotten a job at a fantastic startup.
Just understand, you might have to take a detour,
and that's okay, 'cause it's preparing you for your destiny.
So now,
it's 2016, I'm out of the NFL.
I have broken my thumb.
I have torn my quad.
I have a sports hernia.
I have torn my MCL, and I've torn my other MCL.
I'm in Austin.
I'm in grad school.
I'm unemployed.
I email every news director in Austin,
all the local stations,
'cause I was trying to get a job, y'all.
I gotta change the world, right?
I email every news director in Austin,
and, by the grace of God, one News Director,
Pam Vaught from Fox Seven Austin, she responds,
and that's how I get into TV.
If you wanna change the world,
you gotta delight in the detour.
That's the first point.
But if you wanna change the world,
the second point, you gotta be illogical.
So, what is being illogical?
Being illogical is believing that it is so,
even when it's not so, so that it can be so.
(audience cheers)
Okay, I'm gonna tell y'all a story.
I'm gonna tell y'all a story.
1952, May 5th,
no one had ever run a mile in under four minutes.
Scientists thought it was physically impossible.
If you were to run a mile in under four minutes,
your heart would literally explode,
that's what scientists suggested.
But one man in Oxford, England, Roger Bannister,
he was illogical.
He said to himself, this can be done,
even though it hasn't been done,
and I'm going to make it happen.
On May 6th, 1952, for the first time in our history,
a man ran a mile in under four minutes.
That's what being illogical looked like then,
but what does being illogical look like now?
I was in Austin.
I lived in Mueller.
It's 2020.
Shout out to my one person that lives in Mueller.
(audience laughs)
I was in Austin.
I was in Mueller.
It was 2020.
George Floyd had just been murdered.
I realized I had to do something.
As a graduate of Texas, I had been empowered to speak.
You all have been empowered to speak.
So, what did I do?
I rented a studio space in Austin, Texas.
I hired a wedding videographer,
'cause I didn't have a video team,
and my best friend,
an Olympic gold medalist that graduated from Texas,
stood in as my producer.
I sit in this room, and I answer four questions,
trying to reconcile the racial divide in our country.
Within five days, it had 25,000,000 views.
I was shocked.
(audience cheers and claps)
I get a call from a no caller ID number.
For whatever reason, I pick it up.
"Acho, McConaughey speaking, I wanna have a conversation."
"McConaughey?
"Like, Matthew McConaughey?"
"Yeah, man, I wanna have a conversation."
I was like, "Okay, okay."
M-m-m-m-m-m, I mean, I start stuttering.
McConaughey wants to have a conversation, we can do that.
I said, "Okay, here's what we're gonna do, bro.
"Let's do it in four days."
McConaughey says, "Let's do it tomorrow."
Okay.
Academy Award Winner wants to talk to you tomorrow,
then we talk tomorrow.
Now, here's the secret I haven't told the rest of the world,
but I'm telling y'all.
I shoot "Uncomfortable Conversations" in an all white room,
problem, the studio was painted sky blue.
It takes 24 hours to paint, 24 hours to dry,
but how am I gonna tell Matthew McConaughey that?
I'm not.
So, we steal like a white sheet of paper
from somewhere in Austin,
and we cheat the camera to make it look
like I was in an all white room.
We were in a sky blue room for the second episode.
McConaughey and I record the second episode
of "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man."
I end up partnering with Oprah.
We write a book, and it ends up being a best seller,
which leads to a quick aside.
So many of you all are probably wondering,
what in the world is my calling in life.
To that I say this,
"Your calling will call you, just pick up."
See (audience claps),
when I got called from that no caller ID number,
I realized at that point in time, this is my calling.
And while I don't advise picking up no caller ID numbers,
it worked for me, that's all I'll say.
Okay, so now,
I've done an episode with McConaughey.
I've partnered with Oprah Winfrey
for "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man."
It's now February of 2021.
I get a call from my television agent.
He says, "Hey Acho.
"I just got a call from the producers of 'The Bachelor,'
"you're gonna need a host."
Okay, our two "Bachelor" fans spoke up.
"I just got a call from the producers of 'The Bachelor,'
"they want you to host their 'After the Final Rose' episode.
"It's gonna be viewed by seven to 10,000,000 people,
but no pressure."
Okay.
So now, I'm in Los Angeles, I'm hosting "The Bachelor,"
and this was a six hour shoot that was cut into 44 minutes.
Don't tell them, I told y'all.
I think that was private information.
So,
when you are illogical,
you will end up in places you never imagined,
doing things you'd never dream of,
and opening doors that have never been opened.
What I didn't tell y'all about Roger Bannister,
that man that ran the mile in under four minutes,
the craziest part of the story,
within the next two years,
10 people ran a mile in under four minutes,
because they saw one man do it,
because one person chose to be illogical.
Imagine the doors that you all will open
for those that come after y'all
when you all choose to be illogical.
If you wanna change the world,
you gotta delight in the detour,
you gotta be illogical,
but finally, if you wanna change the world,
you gotta use your thing.
July 9th, 2020,
I get a call from Oprah Winfrey,
another no caller ID number.
I don't know why they do this.
I get a call from Oprah Winfrey.
I pick it up.
"You have the thing, my friend, you have the thing.
"And coming from someone,
"who had the thing and has the thing,
"you, my friend, you have the thing."
Well, what in the world is the thing?
I didn't know I had it until just now,
so now you gotta tell me, Miss Oprah.
She says, "You have a unique ability to speak hard truth,
"and people still want to listen to you."
You all, by sitting in this audience,
ready to be alumni of the University of Texas,
you all each have the thing.
But it's nothing to find the thing,
what you have to do after you find your thing,
because you all have it, you have to develop your thing.
What is the thing?
The thing is your natural ability to be great,
whatever you find a natural passion for,
what do you naturally excel at?
Because I promise, you all have the thing,
but you have to develop your thing.
But I must tell you a secret.
It's your development in private,
that leads to your praise in public.
See (audience cheers and claps),
so many of you all are going to do phenomenal things,
but understand, it might not happen overnight.
Hone your skills in private, hone your skills in private.
Roger Bannister, before he broke the four minute mile,
what he was doing was training privately.
Remember, in 2017, before I won the Emmy,
before McConaughey called, before Oprah,
I was working in Austin, Texas, in private,
and ultimately, that might lead to public praise.
Develop your thing in private,
and it will lead to your praise in public.
However, if you find your thing,
and you develop your thing,
it's irrelevant, unless you use your thing.
See,
the third point, if you wanna change the world,
you gotta use your thing, and each one of y'all have it.
The author of "Harry Potter" wrote her first book at six,
her first novel at 11.
J.K. Rowling had the thing.
But in 1990, when she penned "Harry Potter,"
she had moved overseas.
She had gotten married, had a child,
and had not used her thing.
Well, by the late '90s,
when she publishes "Harry Potter" and uses her thing,
the world as we know it is changed,
because children's literature changed,
because she decided to use her thing.
"The New York Times'" Best Sellers List was altered.
They had to create an entirely different version,
specifically for children,
because her books sat atop the list.
Pop culture and literature became synonymous.
See, by using your thing, you can change the world.
In 2017, I was at Texas getting my Master's Degree.
Dr. Bart, are you here, and, if so, can you stand?
Dr. Bart. (audience cheers and claps)
Thank you, sir.
I was getting my Master's Degree,
under the tutelage of Dr. Bart,
and I had to write one final paper
in order to get my degree.
He said, "Write it on anything that pertains to the mind."
Well, I had failed at so many goals,
trying to play in the National Football League,
amongst others,
that I committed my final paper to the ideology
that goals are dumb.
Truly.
Sorry, professors, but goals are dumb.
I said this, "A goal is an end,
"towards which energy is aimed,
"but why would I start something with the end in mind?"
Instead of setting goals,
I committed to believing in an objective
with no limitations.
An objective is simply energy aimed in a direction.
I believe that a goal in life is the simplest way to fail.
If you set a goal,
at best, you limit your achievement,
but at worst,
you might ruin your self-esteem and self-efficacy.
So, it was on that day, I wrote this paper.
Well,
this paper in 2021
turned into the cornerstone for this book,
my latest book with Oprah.
So this paper,
which started at the University of Texas in Austin,
turned into Chapter 11 of this book.
And I said,
"What starts here, literally, changed my world."
And after partnering with Oprah on that book,
has the potential to change the world.
I hope you all fervently believe,
what starts here, genuinely changes the world.
Class of 2022,
man, I'm so incredibly proud of y'all.
You all endured a global pandemic.
You all endured racial tension
that this country has not seen in years,
and now, you all have endured my commencement speech.
(audience laughs)
Clap for yourself for that one.
(audience cheers and claps)
Giving you all my verbal appreciation is simply not enough,
you all are too incredible,
so instead, I'm giving every student a copy of my book.
(audience cheers)
When you all leave the exits,
there will be copies waiting for you all,
because you all are incredible.
(audience cheers)
Class of 2022, you all have started here,
but now, it's time to go change the world.
Hook 'em.
(audience cheers and claps)
Thank you, Class of 2022.
(audience cheers and claps)