I Can Move Mountains

[Music]

[Music]

i’ve always been fascinated by mountains

and the way we use them to describe

different tasks in our lives

i’ve got a mountain of emails to go

through i can move mountains now the

truth is

these saiyans are used so often because

they’re the perfect metaphor

mountains are daunting unpredictable

and they can push us to our limits what

i want to convince you today is while

climbing your own metaphorical mountain

is not only imperative for your own

individual growth for the growth the

world as a whole

how are y’all doing my name is daryl d

ray reynolds now i’m a proud villanova

alum

i graduated in 2017 after playing for

the villanova wildcats basketball team

for four years

and the fall of 2018 i returned to coach

for one season

and i was blessed enough to be around

for some of the most exciting times in

school’s history

and put it in context while i was here i

was a part of five big east

championships

three big east tournament championships

and one national championship that had

the most exciting ending

the world has ever seen it’s me

obviously very excited for chris

after a short summer league stint i want

hometown sixers

i also decided to play my first year

overseas in poland and upon returning

home

in a pickup game at lasalle i toured my

acl

lcl pcl ripped off my hamstring and

suffered residual nerve damage from the

knee down

as you can imagine i haven’t played a

game professional basketball since but

in all honesty i’m actually happy it

happened

you see without basketball’s escape i

was finally able to get to the root of

who i was

what did i love to do what fulfilled me

the more i questioned myself

the more the world around me began to

make sense and eventually i got to my

truth

or i solved for why

it was this paradox of looking

internally at that which was in my

control

to find peace was going on externally

outside of my control

life like the game of basketball can

bring together so many different

perspectives and ideas

they can be overwhelming to take it all

in

therefore we must do is find those

things that fulfill us

those things that speak to us it’s about

finding

our truth or solving for our

why

now it wasn’t easy but i broke this

pseudo science down into seven

successive concepts or themes that are

present in all of our lives

and if you follow them you’ll find what

i found

the strength to be who you want to be

and the courage to be who the world

needs you to be

now these seven successive concepts are

muscle mindset the follow-up

self-assessment

the follow-through gratitude

simplification

and preparation and i base these seven

around one of the most fundamental

understandings of modern society

the calendar week i did this because

each day of the week has a wide spectrum

of emotions and meaning

like each and every one of us

let’s start with mondays the muscle

mindset mondays at their core

mark a new beginning and almost

imperfect juxtaposition represent a

mundane routine

they dread it in some cases their fear

and they’re certainly not associated

with a good time

if anything we’re celebrated for

complaining about mondays what if we

tweaked our thinking just a little bit

what if instead of looking at mondays

this thing that dread

we treated it like a muscle or something

to build on

and nurture now if you were working out

you wouldn’t start with a bad attitude a

bad form of a lack of enthusiasm

so why start anything in your life that

way the truth is

the way you do one thing is generally

how you do everything

that’s why marines make their bed first

thing in the morning it starts the day

off

with the execution of excellence by

building on that small thing that first

step

you build on the overall mountain of

work which is your life

you also give yourself something that’s

invaluable to any endeavor

momentum in my case let’s begin to face

my injury

as i was being wheeled into the hospital

i cracked joke after joke

joined my fingers together like this and

hung the theme song from the bad guys in

star wars

now i knew full well whatever was coming

would not be easy

but i knew it’d be transformative and

feel potential

so why not go into it in high spirits i

would encourage all of you

right now to think of something that

you’ve been wanting to do

but to that you keep saying i’ll do it

tomorrow

maybe it’s that book you’ve been wanting

to write or that twitch page you want to

start

several things might pop up but you know

you found that one thing when completing

that task feels like climbing a mountain

and that you’re willing to do it anyway

when you got it hold on to it take a

deep breath

and understand that the mountain isn’t

going anywhere but it’s also not going

to climb itself

take some sage advice don’t wait and

don’t shrink in the shadow of the task

either

instead attack that first step with

confidence and an

open mind that allow you to adjust if

you slip then

treat every step after it the same way

now tuesdays the follow-up

how many like music

okay we had one hand not raised that’s

good enough for me that’s good enough

for me

now we’re all familiar with that feeling

when you hear a new artist

and you think wow i like such and such

but in order for them to really stick

with you you got to hear another song

and we can all learn a thing or two from

these artists because where most of us

fall

short it’s in that second step we give

the first one all our energy

but in order to make it concrete the

second step or the follow-up

has to be as strong if not stronger

in our reality this is the easiest step

because you’re more prepared

than you were the first time around in

my case

this is when i went to old professor

mine hezekiah lewis

and pitched the idea for a late night

style talk show

he gathered the students in the month

after my surgery we shot three episodes

on the first day and for so

long that first day was the finish line

it was a dream come true to even reach

that point

so what do we do we shot five episodes

on the next day

and then seven on the following that

turned out even better

not only to solidify our confidence we

were going the right direction but these

interviews are what ultimately landed us

on fs1 and nbc sports philly

now in case of your own personal

mountain this will come into play when

you built up the courage

after you found that thing and you

started to go after it

and then all of a sudden that

undeniable confidence and adrenaline you

had that allowed you to take those first

couple steps

begins to wither doubt seeps in

fear quickly follows you realize the

easiest thing to do

is just stop right there you got nothing

to lose right wrong

i guarantee you if you stay disciplined

enough and persistent enough to stick

with it

or follow up you’ll prove to yourself

right there that you can take

anything the mountain throws at you

wednesdays or self-assessment

is where most people will find the bulk

of their truth for their natural ability

to be at halftime

opens up the door and gives you the

perfect opportunity to self-reflect

or self-assess now if you’re like me

you’re wondering how do i self-assess

it’s simple ask yourself why until you

blue in the face

what this will do is point you towards

that elusive

gut feeling called instinct and our own

collection

of experiences that make up our

understanding on any given subject

especially ourselves call it knowledge

take me for example i’m tall athletic

looking i couldn’t jump over a phone

book now if i tried

but the answer is obvious right at first

sight i should be a ball player

well when i got injured i had to unpack

the type of thing because i figured if

the game was done with me

whatever i did next had to be as

fulfilling if not more

so i started about breaking down

basketball

why did i love the game why did i

dedicate so much time and energy to it

after questioning why time and time

again i realized that basketball was the

perfect vessel for my need of variety

camaraderie the need to compete and the

one to entertain

it was that simple those four

fundamental ideas

laid my foundation for the love of the

game

now the question was how do i find them

elsewhere

instinct knowledge i felt in my gut the

media production was my true calling

because it felt good not only in the

glamorized ending but in the grind of

working through shows beforehand and

planning and the post work

moreover i enjoyed the process more than

the payoff because the process was

something that could be savored

as far as knowledge goes well i’ve

always been an entertainer

i’ve got the pictures to prove it but

even as a kid

i knew that it wasn’t just about me

feeling good it was about bringing joy

to those around me

by questioning why why why i was able to

figure out

what not only fed my soul but

contributed

to my surrounding environment i feel as

though if more people found out when i

only feeds their soul

but contributes to their surrounding

environment the world will be overall

happier place now

in the case of your mountain this is

after you’ve built up the courage

taking those first couple steps you’ve

gotten your second win

and now it’s time to do the unthinkable

nothing

take a beat and stop and reflect for a

second

on why you’re climbing in the first

place we live in a time where stopping

feels like giving up entirely but that’s

just not the case

a simple practice like meditating i

don’t mean to dramatize

baby yoda style trying to levitate and

call something to you

but just simply sitting there and

letting your thoughts flow for 10

minutes

is a game changer it can also

re-center you and re-energize you to

attack the climb

with purpose now

thursdays or the follow through

now for me this is when it actually came

time to release the show

my anxiety was all-time high but in a

good way

you see most of us hear anxiety and we

think oh that thing that such and such

struggles with

but in all reality we all know what it’s

like to feel anxious

like fear and happiness it’s a

biological response

so why not find a way to use it instead

of it

using you so what did i do i tricked my

mind into using anxiety

to fuel the sharpness to fuel the focus

that allowed us to put out

the best show we could and it took off

and that is the power of following

through

all right mountain talk time now

you’ve built up the courage you’ve gone

after it got your second win

taken a beat you stopped and

self-assessed and now you can attack the

climb

re-energized and repurpose you’re back

to trekking up

you’re moving and you’re moving and

you’re moving and then all of a sudden

that little voice that tells you

hey you know you’re just gonna come back

down gets a little louder

and real reality this makes the clown

futile because you’re gonna go

right where you came back from but

i’m challenging you to keep going and

understand

that the knowledge you gain on this

climb is paramount

to the overall mountain of work which is

your life

fridays or in this case

gratitude tgif

we got off of work just got paid

we’re heading to see our friends

or we will be going to see our friends

if it wasn’t the pandemic

what more could you ask for right most

people would say

i’d ask for that every day but the truth

is it wouldn’t be special if every day

was friday

you see gratitude isn’t about looking

too far back or too far ahead

it’s about focusing on the moment and

winning where your feet are

so forget about being sad about what

happened earlier in the week

or worried about what could happen over

the weekend just be grateful

that it’s friday when where your feet

are

you’ll look back one day and realize you

won a lot

my case this is when i started being

happier and happier for the little

things

and then bigger things began to happen

you see i just think it was the opposite

you make it to a certain point obtain a

certain level of success

make a certain amount of money and then

boom happiness drops in like one of

those army men

from toy story but no it was actually

about being happy for my newfound

perspective

for my ability to have a sense of humor

for the chance

to heal when where your feet are

and you’ll look back one day and realize

you want a lot

now i’m going to give all y’all practice

to help me with gratitude

set your alarm for five minutes earlier

in the time you usually wake up

and the moment you roll out of bed your

feet hit the ground stop

and on all ten fingers count off

something you’re grateful for

and this can be as simple as waking up

that morning

the day off you’re about to enjoy or the

rain outside that’s actually water in

the plants that you need

it can be that small but what this will

undoubtedly do is begin to trick your

mind to realizing

that when life looked at in the right

light is

always playing into your favor

i’m going to keep saturdays real simple

simplify your life y’all remember math

class right

simplify this simplify that well the

lesson was

to make things easier to solve by

simplifying

so you want to solve for y simplify your

life

something’s not beneficial to your

health stop doing it

if something makes you happy and doesn’t

bring harm to anybody else

do more of it if you’re working living

or thinking space is cluttered

clean it out if something’s not making

it easier for you to climb the mountain

leave it behind knowing full well you

can grab it on the way down

or if you need it all keep

life simple take what you need

give when you can and keep

life simple it’s like dodgeball

duck dip dive dodge and dodge

and lastly sundays or

preparation now these steps don’t go in

a straight line like the days of the

week

it’s a cycle and to keep evolving and

revolving

you have to prepare to take the next

step

in all honesty this is the most

important step because so many times in

life we ask for a change

but don’t do any of the prep work to

help life help us

you have to prepare when you start

something new you have to prepare the

pivot when things don’t go as planned

you have to prepare to make a new plan

when the old one rips itself in half

but most of all and more optimistically

you’re prepared to win time

and time again i felt my life on the

cusp of changing

and rather that change was good or bad

was left up to later interpretation

but i knew i was prepared i was prepared

to leave the game behind for the sake of

filling free

i’ll prepare to work for all the things

i want in the future but most of all

i was prepared to fail and get up and

try again

and again and again

some people get to the top of their

mountain they prepare to walk back down

some people prepare to stay there as

long as humanly possible but if you’re

like me

prepare to jump for the sake of showing

yourself you can fly

now here’s the thing there’s a chance

your wings may not open in time

but just like taking that first step you

have to just go for it and have faith in

what could happen

versus fearing what may not

mountains are daunting unpredictable

and they can push us to our limits yet

we still feel the need to climb them

i think that’s one of the best traits we

display as human beings the need to

conquer great feats

now throughout all this mountain talk i

didn’t mention

my favorite quote on mountains which

comes from edmund hillary

the new zealand explorer philanthropist

and mountaineer

he said it’s not the mountain we learn

to conquer

but ourselves find your mountain

prepare yourself and take the climb

but understand it’s not about the view

at the top

it’s about the journey and all the

things you learn along the way

thank you