You're listening to this because you want motivation, you want to be inspired
but my greatest fear...
is that you'll get motivated, you'll get inspired
and that'll just be a declining arc
for a few minutes after you listen to this video
that ends with you doing nothing.
And what I want, what I really hope for
and the reason that I give myself over to making these so completely
is I know some percentage of you on the other side of this
will ultimately be prepared to take that first step.
You will realize that the only thing that matters is action
and you will take that action and it's in that action
That your potential greatness waits
and as Martin Luther King said "take the first step in faith
You don't have to see the whole staircase
just take the first step."
You've just gotta believe that you can learn
you don't have to believe that you're already capable of doing what you want.
You don't have to believe that you can already build that thing that you dream.
You don't have to believe that you already are extraordinary.
You simply have to believe.
Get to the office at about 8:00 and begin my day.
My dull, gray world is now full of color and life
the noise of the printer replaced by the noises of nature.
That if you take that first step
you put yourself on a journey not of execution
you put yourself on a journey of learning
so that you can execute.
And that, when you understand that difference
that's when you really will be on that path to greatness
and that is the thing that I want for everybody listening to this.
Please, understand the only thing you need to know
is that you have to take the first step.
Whatever the vision is that you have for your life
you absolutely can make it come true.
And the process is very simple, the process is about learning
the process is about growing and getting better.
It's about recognizing what you're not good at.
It's about recognizing what you have to learn
It's about taking that first step on faith.
On faith that you can get better.
On faith that you can become the greatest of all time.
And once you have that faith
once you know that simply being a human being
puts you in this rare category of creature
that can get better through pressure
through pain, through difficulty, through failure.
Those are the things that are gonna be the building blocks of your success.
But in order to begin on that road, in order to have your first glorious failure
you must first take that first step.
So, please don't waste your time being motivated or inspired
spend every second of your time moving forward.
That's how you're gonna get where you wanna go.
Identity and values drive behavior.
So if you want to make a change, you have to change your vision of who you are.
You have to begin telling yourself a different narrative.
And the narrative you tell yourself, about yourself is everything.
Too many people get trapped.
Believing they're powerless over their circumstances.
People talk about their troubles like they're happening to someone else
like they're a passive bystander in their own life
a spectator to their own problems.
These people never take action because they see themselves as a victim.
They feel that every situation is out of their control.
And you want to know the dark secret?
They like it that way.
Because then they don't have to do anything.
And if you tell yourself that you're a scared.
Under educated kid from Tacoma, whose family has never accomplished anything.
Let me tell you what you will become.
A scared, under educated kid from Tacoma
who never accomplishes anything, because that's what you believe.
You tell yourself that story enough and it will become real.
But on the flip side, you can tell yourself a story of you're a learner.
You learn faster than most people.
You're willing to put in more work than most people.
You're willing to read more books than most people.
You're willing to spend an inhuman amount of time every day
improving your mind simply by getting new ideas into the system.
And that you will admit that you're wrong faster than anybody else
that you won't let your ego get in the way.
And you tell yourself that story over and over and over
so that when somebody comes and tells you how stupid you are
that you're just a dumb kid from Tacoma, you go.
"You're right, that's amazing. Thank you for pointing out that flaw
because now that I'm aware of it I can improve it.
Because I'm the learner."
And once I switched my narrative to being the learner
it didn't matter where I started, it only mattered where I was trying to go.
and as long as I had that clarity then I could execute
because I believed I could do anything I set my mind to without limitation.
Every time we form a new opinion about who we are.
We're right.
Not because our opinions are based on fact
or even shared by the people that know us best.
Our opinions about ourselves are correct
because every time we believe something about our identity
it becomes our reality.
We are constantly, subconsciously creating the reality of our existence.
So why not create it consciously?
If you had the opportunity right now in this moment
to create an entirely new reality for yourself.
What would it look like?
Which traits would the new you possess?
How would you react under pressure?
And how would you push yourself to learn and grow?
and how would you push yourself to grow and get better?
That person you're imagining
they're worth becoming. So get to know them.
Get in the habit of thinking their thoughts
of seeing the world the way they see the world.
Because when you do that
when you get deep inside their mind
when you see things the way they see things
then you're really just becoming your future self.
As Daniel Pink 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 gonna 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 no 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 see 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 as Steve Martin said
"Perseverance is a great substitute for talent."
Everybody wants to talk about who's talented
Everybody looks at the person with innate talent as 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 has more perseverance, more grit than you
than they're going to outperform you on a long enough timeline.
The only thing I can guarantee is you will be out worked 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 diamonds."
You've gotta want that pressure, you've gotta 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 laying dormant, that you didn't know about
that's gonna let things be easy for you.
Don't want the easy, want the hard.
Want the pressure, want the thing that is gonna 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 angry that 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 get great?