- I'm scared.
I'm super scared.
I'm scared because I know exactly what happens this month
every year.
- [Reporter] It's that time of year again when
college students turn their tassels
and start a new chapter in their lives.
- [Gary] I'm scared.
I'm scared because I know that there are
so many of you that graduate this month
and have no
idea what you want to do.
- I'm stuck, I'm in a rut.
- Because?
- Because I just finished Army,
two years,
I just came by, don't really know why
- And that's okay!
Most people don't!
You should not be stressed about that.
I'm actually not scared about that.
You're five seconds out.
- [Female] I know.
- [Gary] The end!
- [Female] I feel like I did so well in school
I was like, how do I translate that
- [Gary] You don't.
But you don't think you can't not.
- [Female] No, I just don't know how to
- [Gary] Right, you've got to get out of that rhythm.
- Yeah.
- You gotta get into real life rhythm.
- Yes. - But you're a kid.
You're a kid.
- I'm only 23.
- Don't beat yourself up if it's not coming easy yet.
You have to decompose from that old environment.
Everybody's judging themselves way too early.
What I would do is gather as many experiences as possible.
You know?
You're not lost in life,
you're just early in the process.
You know what I mean?
- Okay. - You're lost by
other people's standards,
not by your actual, if you actually took it practically,
you haven't even started.
- Right. - Too many people view
post-University as like, oh
this is now real and I'm lost.
They don't put it in the context of
being alive for a hundred years
and realizing they're only 20 percent of the way done.
I'm scared that you don't realize that
you're entering the greatest five-year window
of your life.
If you are 22 years old,
and graduating from college,
if you're 22 years old and not graduating from college,
if you are 22 years old,
you are entering, first of all,
some of the greatest years of your life, A,
but B, this
this is the moment.
Watch this video twice.
If momma's watching this,
send this to your daughter Sally right now.
Because you have to understand,
this next five year window is
when you don't go practical and safe.
You've got to try stuff.
The biggest reason you don't know what you want to do
is you haven't tasted enough things,
and the biggest reason you're not tasting enough things
is you're worried about finding it too fast.
How old are you?
- 23.
- You can literally do nothing for the next eight years
and be a child.
But you don't think that.
Because when you're 22 you don't think 31 is young.
But it is.
This is not the time to get the job
Mom wanted you to.
This is not the time to try to maximize as much money
so you can buy a fat whip.
You need to stop giving a
about what anybody else has,
and realize that if you put your head down
and just work for the next 10 years,
no glamour, no new
car, suitcase, jewelry, trip, event,
no Coachella, no
new sneakers.
Work, you will have it!
And every time you care about one of the things
I just mentioned, it will slow down your process
of having it.
You got your head up, that's right.
That's why it's interesting.
You got your head up.
And you're trying to score at 22.
It's slowing you down.
And everybody else.
Dude you wrap your head around not giving a
about any advancement, 'til you're 29,
but then every day trying to get better
you will win.
Just close your eyes until you're 29.
The number one reason I push patience
is 'cause patience will give you
the air cover to take risks.
You've got plenty of time to do it all.
And yeah, it's gonna take a lot of hard work
to do the insanity you want.
But that's what I would tell myself.
That you will not believe how young you will feel at 40.
This is the time to realize that
you have a five year window.
And it's three for some, it's eight for others,
but there's a five year window
for you to attack the life that you want to win.
Not because it's the secret,
or 'cause the world's so zen,
'cause it's hard as
out there.
As a matter of fact,
I'm probably more scared about your naivete
to how hard.
Class is easy!
Right?
What you've been doing for the last 16 years is easy.
It's a game, it's structured, it's easy.
The world?!
This thing?!
This thing is hard.
However, that contradicts what I'm gonna tell you right now
which is, this is the best and
easiest five years of your life,
because this is when you need to attack
what you love and what you want to do.
Here's why:
you don't have all the baggage.
You may have college loans.
Respect, it's hard.
You may have the expectations of your parents.
Mentally hard, fake hard.
Parents.
Please let them win,
on their terms, not yours.
The children are not a direct indication of who you are.
You may have a lot of other things.
But this is exactly when you can live with
four roommates, in a basement,
and eat fast food.
What I really worry about is a lot of you
looking back in 30, 40, 50, 60 years
and thinking back to this exact speech
and saying to yourself, why didn't I
listen to him?
Because, what you have right now in timing
and circumstance is this ridiculous, ridiculous
50 month window to not be practical.
50 month window to not do it the way
you thought you were always gonna do it.
50 month window that if you go for it
as much as you possibly go for it,
if you decide you gave it a good shot,
and you felt good about it,
that if you started then becoming practical,
you'd be far less behind than you think.
Do you understand?
This is not when the baby's there.
Some of you have babies.
This is not when you've been married
and you promised.
This is not when the world has sucked out
all your dreams and hopes yet.
You should really go to a retirement home one day
and volunteer and just talk to them.
It will make you want to do
every minute of your life
because when you see regret in a man's eyes,
it's painful.
Because you can't do
about it.
When you're 90, and you're not mobile,
and you're tired and it's over,
you can't do it.
You can't do it.
You can't build that company you wanted.
You can't spend that time with your kid.
It's regret!
And it drives the
out of me.
You still got this window.
And yet, so many of you are so hungry for short term,
short term gains.
Like maximizing the job that
paid you $3,000 dollars more
but it's not as fun, but you want that $3,000 dollars.
For what?!
For what?
For a new iPhone?
Your need of things is killing you.
I don't need a watch.
I don't need a whip.
I need to happy!
You get to live life one time.
This is the time right now to understand
what is actually happening
and actually map your behavior
to something that will impact you
for the next 80 years so promise me,
promise me, all you youngsters that are
watching this right now, in the comments,
'cause I'll jump in and talk to you.
Promise me that you understand that the land grab
of happiness starts right now.
That you don't have to worry about getting that job.
What you should do is
go and travel and learn.
Go and start that business that you've always wanted.
Hook up with those three teammates and
start that band you've always wanted.
This is the time to be massively risk.
Massively risk oriented.
Because let me tell you what's way more scary than failure.
Regret.
I'm so desperate to figure out
how to convince people that
there is no loss in going for it.
That, yeah you might get made fun of
and you might have it in your own mind.
But trying to figure out how to make people drop that fear
of going and building a business for themselves
in 2012, trying to figure out how to make a video
or give a talk or send a tweet
or write a book.
Just something that makes people understand that
executing the way it always is,
following the school business model
is just such horse----.
It's gonna lead you to a place
where you're not going to win.
I know that this is when you're supposed to grow up
and go see the world but guess what?
The world isn't what mommy and daddy told you.
The world is exactly going to be
what it's going to be with or without
the way you thought it was gonna be.
A ton of
is gonna change.
The world changes every day.
Right now what you need to recognize
is you can afford to.
Your biggest advantage is your youth.
And too many kids don't take advantage of time.
So I would take advantage of your youth
and your flexibility at this kind of age
and try to taste everything, play with everything,
figure out what you might be good at,
what you might like, and then you make a decision.
- [Caller] Got it. - Nobody else defines you,
not me, not everybody watching,
not your Mom, not the Kardashians, you.
- [Caller] Got it.
- You can grind and be patient for 10 years
every day and still be nine years younger than me
and I would trade places with you.
That's how amazing having time on your side is.
This is when you put in the 18 hours a day
to make your life that you want happen.
I used to work in a liquor store from 7 in the morning
to 10 at night for seven straight years.
And the only days off I took were to
watch the New York Jets.
And again,
'cause I'm scared,
I can hear myself talking.
I'm not saying it's the secret,
it's practicality.
When you are in your early 20's,
this is when you can grind at your highest levels,
'cause there isn't all the
baggage that comes across in life.
It's harder for the 42 year olds
that are watching right now
to listen to this advice.
You can't just wake up tomorrow and be like,
let's go.
'Cause little Sally has soccer practice.
And because you've got a million other things
that are holding you down.
But boy, if you're lucky enough to be graduating today,
with not a
idea of what you're gonna do with your future,
nobody's ever been luckier than you.
Please recognize it.
(light reflective pop music)
Too many people view post-University as, oh,
this is now real and
I'm lost.
They don't put it in the context of being alive
for a hundred years and realizing
they're only 20 percent of the way done.
Almost everything is perspective.
I think I'm just starting.
So imagine what I think for most of you.
(light reflective pop music)