This is the real secret of life
to be completely engaged
with what you are doing in the here and now.
And instead of calling it work,
realize it's play.
Oftentimes people go, okay,
here's really what I want to do
and this is what I'm trying to accomplish.
And then they see all these other things
that other people are doing,
and then they kind of see that as like a grab bag.
And they're like, I don't want a little of this
and a little of this and a little of this.
And I want it all at the same time,
And that's not really possible, you know.
You can't play five sports at the same time.
You gotta pick one, you gotta specialize.
Maybe you can do two,
but you probably can't do five, right?
Number one is that you need to really get amped up
about why that goal matters to you.
Because once you know why the goal matters,
that's gonna be that thing
that gives you meaning and purpose
that turns into a passion
that allows you to show up
and keep doing it when you're bored.
What would you like to do?
If you don't like what you're doing
and you don't like where you are
and you don't like your relationships
and you don't like X, Y or Z.
What do you want?
What do you like?
And then you gotta be able to add passion to it,
to activate that thing
and make that dream a reality.
And to find that meaning and to develop it,
to create meaning in our lives,
we have to set an intention
and we have to pursue that intention.
Start small.
Know what you want.
Get outta bed, get after it.
Set rules for yourself.
Follow those rules.
You have to understand
that you're not your own servant, so to speak.
You're someone that you have to negotiate with.
And you're someone that you want to present
the opportunity of having a good life too.
And that's hard for people
because they don't like themselves very much.
Once you discover your purpose,
it's your job to live with passion.
That's when you're passionate,
that's when you are ready
to go to that next level.
You determine your legacy.
It's up to you.
Your legacy is in your hands.
As long as you can breathe,
as long as you can hear,
as long as you can see.
If you're passionate and driven
and focused in what you do.
If you're really good at it, people will take notice.
That's basically it.
So those dreams and goals that some of you have
that may seem larger than life.
Good.
That's what I want you to go after.
And don't let the fear of the failure,
don't let the fear of perfection holds you back.
You won't be perfect.
You will make mistakes.
But I promise you this,
you're never going to know
if you can sink or if you can swim
unless you jump in the water.
So continue to fight forward,
continue to believe in yourself.
Hold onto the possibilities.
Get away from the negativity.
Push yourself.
Believe in yourself and go as far as you can.
I will remember that my choices,
create my reality.
My responses create my outcome.
I will speak with compassion.
I will stay true to my heart.
See, whatever you decide to do, look at it
and find out what is it that I have
that I could bring to the table
that can begin to enable me to ensure that I could be successful in this.
Where is the opening for you?
There's room for you out here.
Out here in the arena, call life.
There's room for you to come out and live your dream.
Don't allow but to keep you in the
corner or keep you up in the bleaches,
looking at life, being a spectator,
not being a participant, making a difference in life.
I believe that all of us came here with something.
All of us showed up
to give something and that nobody,
but nobody's going to give that service that you have to give.
No one's gonna produce your product.
No one's going to write your book.
No one's gonna open your academy.
No one's gonna begin to create your daycare
with a special curriculum to help to cultivate the high self-esteem.
And our children that's your idea.
And if you don't bring your idea out here,
when you die, all of us will suffer
because we've been deprived of your genius.
Because you are allowed but to keep you in
the bleaches and not pursuing your greatness.
You take it to your grade with you,
and that's what most people do.
Now, here's the simple formula for setting goals.
It goes like this.
A work on your goals.
That's step one.
Work on them.
And I put the word work there deliberately.
Setting goals is playing hard work.
I don't want the kids, you, we haven't come here tonight to kid each other.
It's work.
I know it's work.
That's why a lot of people just let it slide.
It's work.
Many people work hard on their job,
but they don't work hard on their future.
They just let that slide.
And the work involved is making plans.
I know most people don't.
I understand that, but don't let that be you.
Guy says, well, yeah, you work where I work,
but the time you struggle home, it's late.
You got to eat by the supper, watch a little tv, get to bed.
You can't set up half the night.
Plan, plan, plan, and the guys be.
Good worker, hard worker, sincere,
but you've got to be better than sincere.
Working hard.
You've got to be better than a good worker.
You've got to be a good planner.
Somebody wants wisely said,
the people who fail to plan are planning to fail.
Well said.
So work on your goals.
Here's step two.
Write your goals down.
That's so important.
I teach my staff around the world.
Put your goals in your journal
because one of the major people you want to study is yourself.
Say, here's the list of goals I put together three weeks ago.
Here's the list of goals I put together two years ago.
Here's some of the changes I made rearranging of my priorities.
I scratched these off.
I put these on.
I've gotten these.
Study your accomplishments.
Study what your desires are.
Put 'em on paper, write 'em down.
Here's another reason for writing your goals down.
It shows you're serious about doing better.
And to do better, you gotta get serious.
You don't have to be grim, but you must be serious.
Everybody hopes things will get better.
Everybody hopes.
Poor people hope that ought to tell you something.
It means the future does not get better by hope.
It gets better by plan.
In studying warfare and battles over the centuries,
I have always been fascinated by the situations
where a smaller force defeated a numerically superior force.
In every case,
what I discovered was that the numerically smaller force was far better organized,
more methodical and more orderly in its plan of attack and execution
than was the larger, more disorganized force.
By the same token, an ordinary person,
with a system or recipe for problem solving,
can run circles around highly intelligent or well educated people
who throw themselves at their problems without a method or process for solving them.
Always be sure to think on paper.
Write things down.
There is something that happens between the brain and the hand when you write.
You get a greater sense of clarity and understanding with regard to the issues involved.
You think better.
Your perception is sharper.
You actually become smarter and more creative by the very act of writing everything down
as you go along, and before you make a decision.
One of the most important parts of your personal philosophy should revolve around the development of options.
The rule is, “You are only as free as your well developed alternatives.”
If your goal is to be happy, successful and free, you must have choices.
There must be more than one thing that you can do, in every situation.
You can never allow yourself to be trapped with only one course of action open to you.
From the time you take your first job, make your first investment or embark on any part of life,
you should immediately begin to develop an alternative to that, if something should go wrong.
Always be looking for ways to use your creativity to add value
by doing things faster, better, cheaper or easier in some way.
Just as the word “deserve” comes from the Latin roots “de” and “servus” which mean “from service”
you should always be looking for ways to deserve greater rewards from serving your customers better in some way.
In the final analysis, as a member of society, as a “player”
in our economic system, your riches and rewards will come from your ability
to serve other people better than your competitors.
Use your intelligence and your creativity every single day
to find ways to make yourself more valuable to your company, your industry and your world.
This is the true hallmark of personal genius.