The Greatest Advice You Will Ever Receive Will Smith

[Music]

as a child my parents always told me you

could be whatever you want to be you

could do whatever you want to do

and you know that that office that

position

the highest office on the face of the

earth

it was something i heard my parents

saying it but i didn’t totally believe

it yet i went out in the world and i

carried myself and i held my head high

and i stood there and i looked people in

their eyes and i talked to people

as if i was deserving of everything that

this planet has to offer

[Applause]

so i just i really want to say to to

children out there

and to to people who are watching

confucius said one time

he who says he can and he who says he

can’t

are both usually right and i want you to

keep in your heart just know that you

can

know that you can

i realized that when to have the level

of success

that i want to have it’s difficult to

spread it out

and do multiple things you know it’s in

order to

to be world class and i’ve made a

decision i want to be

world class and it just it takes such

a desperate obsessive focus

to to excel on a certain on the level

that that

i want to make movies you know i was a

star wars when i was young i sat in a

movie theater and watched star wars and

i just couldn’t believe

that that movie made me feel like that

just floored

and just stunned by the creativity and

just i’m realizing that in order

to move people in that way in order to

touch people in that way

you really gotta focus with all of your

fiber and all your heart and all your

creativity

concept of improving lives runs through

the center

of everything i do and then i realize

that

the the the way to improve lives is to

continually improve yourself

right so with that every every morning

when i when i get out of the bed

you know i i haven’t fixed everything

in the world yet so there’s always

something to do and uh

in this film i read an interesting quote

that

um good people have to get out of the

bed

every day and try to empty the ocean

with a ladle trying to empty the ocean

with a soup spoon you know as the the

mentality of how you

you wake up every day to try to do good

in the world so for me i’m uh i’m really

driven by

continually trying to

elevate my elevate my mind and elevate

my

spirit and care for my body and um to be

able to love as many people

as effectively as as possible with

this mystery of life that i’ve been

given

there’s a concept that

i don’t want to be an icon

um i want to be an idea

you know i want to represent an idea i

want to represent

possibilities i want to represent

magic right that you’re in a universe

and two plus two

equals four two plus two only equals

four

if you accept that two plus two equals

four

two plus two is going to be what i want

it to be you know

and there’s there’s a like there’s a

there’s a redemptive

power that making a choice

has you know rather than feeling like

you’re at

effect to all the things that are

happening

make a choice like you just decide

what it’s going to be who you’re going

to be how you’re going to do it just

decide

and then from that point the universe is

going to get out your way

it’s like it’s water it wants to it

wants to move and go around stuff you

know

so for for me i want to represent

possibilities i want to represent the

idea

that you really can make what you want

one of my favorite books

is the the alchemist uh paolo coelho

and that’s just i just

believe that i believe that

i can create whatever i want to create

if i can put put my head on it right

study it learn the patterns

and you know i just i it’s hard to put

into words real

metaphysical esoteric nonsense but i

feel very strongly

that we are who we choose to be the only

thing

that i see that is

distinctly different about me is

i’m not afraid to die on a treadmill

right i will run you would not be

outworked i will not

be outworked right period yeah you know

you might have more talent than me you

might be smarter than me

you might be sexier than me you might

be all of those things you got it on me

in nine categories

but if we get on the treadmill together

right

there’s two things you’re getting off

first yeah or i’m gonna

die it’s really that simple

right so let’s go back to the question

about what if people block me out it’s

gonna be two options i’m gonna get back

in

or i’m going to be dead yeah right it’s

like you’re

not going to outwork me it’s it’s a it’s

a

very it’s such a simple basic

concept it’s the

the guy who is willing to

hustle the most is going to be the guy

that just gets that loose ball

you know he got the oh he got that oh

okay he got two he

oh god he hustle he grabbed that one

that was going to be out of bounds but

he saved it

back in it’s like the commodity

that i see the majority of people

who aren’t getting the places they want

or

aren’t achieving the things that they

want in

this business is strictly based on

hustle

it’s strictly based on being outworked

it’s strictly based

on missing crucial opportunities i say

all the time if you stay ready you ain’t

got to get ready

i believe uh and i learned very young

from parents from my parents absolutely

that

you you don’t try to build a wall

you don’t set out to build a wall you

don’t say i’m gonna be

build the biggest baddest greatest wall

that’s ever been built

you don’t start there you say i’m gonna

lay this

brick as perfectly as a brick

can be laid there will not be one brick

on the face of the earth that’s going to

be laid better than this brick that i’m

going to lay

in this next 10 minutes and you do that

every single day and so you have

and soon you have a wall and i think

psychologically

the advantage that that gives me over

over a lot of people that i’ve um

have been in competition with in

different situations

is it’s difficult to take the first step

when you look how big

yeah the task is the task is never huge

to me

it’s always one breath me too greatness

is not this wonderful

esoteric elusive uh

god-like feature that only the

special among us uh will ever taste

you know it’s something that truly

exists in

all of us it’s very simple

this is what i believe and

i’m willing to die for it period

it’s that simple i know who i am i don’t

know what i believe i know who i

am i know who whatever all i need to

know that’s all i need to know

so from there you do what you need to do

[Music]

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