I want you to take a long hard look at the people you surround yourself with you can't expect to become a millionaire when you're hanging out with drug addicts you cannot expect to become the absolute highest level version of yourself if you surround yourself with people that never want to see you do better than them wake the [ __ ] up the goals that you want to achieve in your life are your [ __ ] goals and nobody else's hundreds of people give up on their goals on a daily basis and it's usually because they
realized quickly after starting their Journeys that they're alone nobody's waking them up in the morning [Music] nobody's pushing them when they start to make excuses and nobody's patting them on the back when they hit a milestone so whatever you want to achieve in life maybe it's losing a certain amount of weight to become the best version of yourself maybe it's building a business to provide Financial Freedom for your family and to travel the world or maybe it's just being a better father mother or partner for your spouse whatever it is it's all on you and
the quicker you realize that nobody's going to come and hold your [ __ ] hand through life through this journey the faster you will start to see success stop relying on outside sources of inspiration motivation and support to [ __ ] get you there put your goddamn head down and take charge of your [ __ ] life and this shit's gonna mess with your head but sometimes this means you need to let go of the people that you think are your closest friends this means you might have to let go of the people that are
the closest family members to you your mom or your dad or your brothers or your sisters or that best friend you've had since first grade they might not be bad people but you need to understand that some people just aren't meant to be in your life long term they're not meant to help you get to the highest level of yourself if every time you go to better yourself somebody hits you with a line like why would you want to do that you need to find another [ __ ] Social Circle you need to make a
shift and surround yourself with people that challenge you to grow you gotta surround yourself with lions you gotta surround yourself with [ __ ] wolves with people that are going to push you to be the absolute best [ __ ] version of yourself that people are gonna push you to your absolute [ __ ] breaking point because you can only grow when you're uncomfortable I don't know about you and I would much rather be a unique [ __ ] wolf in a field full of sheep then a sheep blending in with the others if it's
important to you you're gonna find a way you won't have to look for a resource you will become resourceful it's not always about the accomplishment it's about the effort if we can just keep that effort going the excuse is irrelevant got to be stronger than your excuses excuses don't get results now we've got to go through the process of being stronger than our excuses we get one opportunity to come this way we get one shot we get One Life to Live life is too short to make excuses truth is everybody's got purpose right everybody's got
a dream everybody's got something they have to pass or achieve or become but we are generationally programmed to Love convenience and the truth of the matter is it is so convenient to make an excuse I want to give you just a few things that you can do to help you to stop making excuses to help you to stop habitually gravitating to the place called convenience if you can hear my voice you've got work to do foreign [Music] [Music] we've got to stop habitually gravitating to excuse number one you gotta stop preparing yourself to everybody else
rule number one kill the comparison day a woman I don't I don't do it like them and I don't say it like them and I don't I'm not as tall as them and I'm not as strong as them and I I don't have the money that they have I don't have the resources that they have I don't well the reason why I I couldn't do it because my parents weren't there for me and the reason why I didn't get to go to college on a full ride because my coach he didn't create the Highlight for
your for the sports scholarship and the reason why and so we're equipped with just programmed to blame everybody else when will you look in the mirror and stuff can bury yourself to everybody else to prepare ourselves to the way people look and prepare our stories and our relationship to their relationship every single thing the excuses that we make are like a warm blanket cools over us covering up under under my spirit the personality of people truth is that the reason why you haven't done it is because you're afraid maybe if you could just listen to
this a couple times maybe you'll stop making so many excuses because the excuse is nothing but a cosmetic it's makeup it's a blanket it's a convenience that we habitually gravitate to because it just makes us feel better but the underlining issue the underlying cancer the inflammation in sphere we're afraid afraid that if we give our best the best isn't good enough we're afraid because we're constantly comparing ourselves to other people we're afraid that that we won't be seeing we're afraid that people will change if we evoke we're afraid that maybe we'll lose our friends if
we began to shift our thinking you have to have a marriage mentality when it comes to achieving what it is that's on the inside of you what it is that's in your head to manifest it and hold it in your hands you have to have a marriage mentality the problem many of you is you keep reading the idea the potential of focus and success and determination and discipline your only discipline once a week you're only determined twice a week you're only you're only enthusiastic about the journey on Sundays or Wednesdays once you make a covenant
you know what I'm gonna commit to this you're gonna put the blood you're going to put the sweat you're gonna put the tears in you're gonna lose sleep you're going to go days without eating you're going to do whatever it takes to make the sacrifices necessary to manifest there are too many in your life who have left you there are too many people in your life who have counted you out there are too many people in your life who have whispered in your ear and said you'll be worse off without them prove them wrong keep
loving those who have lied on you keep blessing those who have cursed you don't be bitter don't be frustrated listen just remain faithful behind the scenes motion is coming stages and opportunities are prepared right now as you sacrifice in secret as you put the work in in the dark room as you do what is required to hold in your hand what you see in your head okay live your life like you're the hero in your movie and right now pretend you're in the part of the movie that starts and it shows you as a loser
if I gotta fight to get you in the gym that's a problem [Music] I got no money and you sitting here complaining about but then you watching all the TV programs I'm never gonna feel like doing the things that are tough or difficult or uncertain or scary or new so I need to stop waiting until I feel like it we all have a habit of hesitating idea isn't going to actually write itself they're not going to move themselves you have to do it and you have to do it now who wants the job you have
who wants the white fish you have or the husband the simple answer hungry and wants everything you can have but if you're lazy man I don't want to talk to you I won't deal with you you don't make me feel Dumber you know you're gonna lower my level I don't think so the reason why reason why I'm so lazy because your dream's so small I believe in myself every day I know I make mistakes I know I'm not perfect but I am not lazy you could keep sleeping I'ma keep working they say things like I'll
start Monday it's not my fault it's not fair I'm too damn tired or my personal favorite I don't have enough time they have a loser mentality through and through and until they recognize that the problem is them they'll never improve I know many talented people who had a great deal of potential ize their greatness and they will end up going to their grave of all the good stuff still in it will be tested and how you face that test and how you overcome that test after your life you got to have something that is inside
something that inspires you up something that drives you something that gives you more power than you've ever had in your life foreign comes down to your decisions and if you change your decisions you will change everything the best of the best they don't sleep they keep working what are you going to do where do I start and when's the best time to start I have a very surprised here and now but I got an opportunity to make a dream become a reality when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe then you'll
be successful you have to give it everything you got no more TV no more parties no more playing if you don't have a 4.0 what you need to be doing is studying the phone sorry I'm not available until the end of this year no I'm for real you reached the right number but you call me at the wrong time like January 1st I'm about to get busy now stop being this High School Dropout stop giving up stop sleeping on the streets stop walking up and down Finkel Avenue like you ain't got none and get your
GED stop being afraid to take a test [Music] I gotta commit my very being to this thing I gotta I gotta breathe it I gotta eat it I gotta sleep it and until you get there you'll never be successful in life but once you get there I guarantee you the world is yours so work hard and you can have whatever it is you want and when I went to college guys were way smarter than me 4.0 3.0 they went to the ivy league high schools came to Oakwood from these great high schools most of them
are not doing what I'm doing why because it's not about where you come from it's about Hearts you come to a place where you know being smart and enough you got to have hearts don't go to sleep until you succeed there are a lot of people that are sitting around waiting for something to happen now what you gonna do about it we're getting out of college and we're having the safest idea what we want to do so I always ask the question what would you like to do if money were no object what how would
you really enjoy spending your life well it's so amazing as a result of our kind of educational system crowds of students say Well we'd like to be painters we'd like to be poets we'd like to be writers but as everybody knows you can't earn any money that way another person says well I'd like to live an out of door's life and ride horses I said you want to teach in a riding school let's go through with it what do you want to do when we finally got down to something which the individual says he really
wants to do I will say to him you do that and uh forget the money because if you say that getting the money is the most important thing you will spend your life completely wasting your time you'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living that is to go on doing things you don't like doing which is stupid better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way and after all if you do really like what you're doing
it doesn't matter what it is you can eventually turn it you could eventually become a master of it the only way to become a master of something to be really with it and then you'll be able to get a good fee for whatever it is so don't don't worry too much that's the everybody's somebody's interested in everything and anything you can be interested in you'll find others who are but it's absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don't like in order to go on spending things you don't like doing things you don't like
wake up from your dream and make your dream a reality wake up wake up and understand the significance of the purpose that you have within yourself [Music] understand that if there's something that you are truly ultimately seeking in your life then you got to go after it there are a lot of people that are sitting around waiting for something to happen now what you gonna do about it how are you going to go about doing the things that are necessary to get you where you need to be in your life everybody has a dream but
how much are you applying to that dream how far are you pushing that dream when are you going to realize that the dream is not going to work by itself you got to have the ability to rise up and push yourself and believe in yourself and make that dream a reality what's your why hey if I don't give y'all nothing else you better start that what's your why you know why I do what I do when I do it so passionately because my grandfather was a high school dropout my father was a high school dropout
I was a high school dropout and we bout to break the cycle I do what I do so my son won't have to go through what I went through when I was at the football game my old dude wasn't with me I saw other kids when they fired I said that'll never happen to me I do what I do because my daughter said she going to Harvard it ain't even about y'all I'm about to come here and Blaze y'all why cause I'm trying to get you all the NFL I ain't about to miss this opportunity
this is the first NFL team I've ever done in my life and I'm about to lick it I'm about to give everything I got and I will know if I don't get another gig it won't have nothing to do with the fact that I didn't put everything on the field what's your why why do you wake up in the morning why do you put on that Jersey why do you go out and practice why I gotta commit my very being to this thing I gotta I gotta breathe it I gotta eat it I gotta sleep
it and until you get there you'll never be successful in life but once you get there I guarantee you the world is yours so work hard and you can have whatever it is you want I want to talk to someone out there who is thinking about quitting and giving up this is for you there are going to be times when you are down and you feel that you are alone they're gonna be times when darkness is going to Blind you from your truth but how much pain can you endure please don't give up remember this
when it gets tough you gotta get a little tougher pain will push you beyond your threshold will remind you that you are still alive you feel like you can't carry on [Music] your body is getting a little numb your muscles fill weekend there are gonna be some setbacks but that doesn't mean you can't come back put yourself back together if you're down lift yourself up once again [Music] take a moment and just look up I know that you feel like you're not strong enough right now but I'm here to let you know anything that is
in your way you have the ability to move it out of your way you wonder why is it hurting so bad because you've given so much of yourself maybe this pain wasn't my enemy maybe this pain was building me up so when it gets tough you get tougher well it may be frightening it will also be rewarding so you got to get out there you got to give it everything you got whether it's your time [Music] your talent your prayers or your Treasures because taking risk is not just about going for a job it's also
about knowing what you know and what you don't know it's about being open to people and two ideas [Music] to get something you never had you have to do something you never did [Music] because the chances you take the People You Meet the people you love the faith that you have that's what's going to Define you [Music] I found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks nothing Nelson Mandela said there is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living now
I'm sure in your experiences in school and applying to college and picking your major and deciding what you want to do with life I'm sure people have told you to make sure you have something to fall back on make sure you got something to fall back on honey but I never understood that concept having something to fall back on if I'm going to fall I don't want to fall back on anything I want to fall forward I figure at least this way I'll see what I'm going to hit fall forward this is what I mean
Reggie Jackson struck out 2600 times in his career the most in the history of baseball but you don't hear about the strikeouts people remember the home runs [Music] fall forward Thomas Edison conducted 1 000 failed experiments did you know that I didn't know that because the one thousand and first was the light bulb fall forward [Music] fail big today's the beginning of the rest of your life and it can be it can be very frightening it's a new world out there it's a mean world out there you only live once so do what you feel
passionate about take chances professionally don't be afraid to go outside the box don't be afraid to think outside the box don't be afraid to fail big to dream big but remember dreams without goals are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment so have dreams but have goals life goals yearly goals monthly goals daily goals I try to give myself a goal every day sometimes it's just to not curse somebody out simple goals but have goals and understand that to achieve these goals you must apply discipline and consistency in order to achieve your goals you must
apply discipline which you've already done and consistency every day not just on Tuesday and just a few days you have to work at it hard work s you'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse I don't care how much money you make you can't take it with you the Egyptians tried it they got robbed that's all they got you can't take it with you and it's not how much you have it's what you do with what you have we all have different talents some of you will be doctors some lawyers some scientists some Educators some
nurses some preachers the most selfish thing you can do in this world is help someone else why is it selfish because the gratification the goodness that comes to you the good feeling the good feeling that I get from helping others nothing's better than that well one of two things but nothing's better than that not not jewelry not big house I have not the cars but it's the joy that's where the joy is in helping others that's where the success is and anything you want good you can have so claim it work hard to get it
when you get it reach back pull someone else up Each one teach one [Applause] remember just because you're doing a lot more doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done remember that just because you're doing a lot more [Music] doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done don't confuse movement with progress my mother told me she said yeah cause you can run in place all the time and never get anywhere so continue to strive continue to have goals continue to progress [Music] those times when you get up early and you work hard those times when
you stay up late and you work hard those times when you don't feel like working you're too tired you don't want to push yourself but you do it anyway um that is actually the dream that's the dream it's not the destination it's the journey and if you guys if you guys can understand that then what you'll see happen is that you won't accomplish your dreams your dreams won't come true something greater will it's amazing thing about passion if you love something if you have a strong passion for something you would go to the extreme to
try to understand or try to get it whatever you have a love for you have to walk you would go get it if you have to beg someone you'll go get it I don't think you guys understand how present you guys are with me you know you guys were there with me at 5 30 in the morning when I was running the track and I was midway through my workout that about the expectations you guys have for me and you have for our team push me through it got me through those 800s and 400s and
100 at 5 30 in the morning so I thank you we're not on the stage just because of Talent OR ability we're up here because of 4 a.m we're up here because of two a days or five days we're up here because we had a dream and let nothing stand in our way if anything tried to bring us down we used it to make us stronger we were never satisfied never finished we'll never be retired my high school English teacher Mr Fisk he had this beautiful quote and it read rest at the end not in
the middle and I took that to heart I believe there's time for resting at the end but for me that time is not now thank you for this tremendous honor and acknowledging my basketball career but I'm far from done my next dream is to be honored one day for inspiring the next generation of athletes to have a dream sacrifice for it and never ever rest in the middle rest at the end not in the middle be yourself that's it me you be you there's no gimmick there's no you don't have to contrive anything who are
you where are you today what is your story where does that come from and uh if you guys can understand that and I'm doing my job as a father thank you guys so much I love you foreign because if you play with the fear of failing you'll have the pressure on yourself to play you know to capitulate to that fear if you play with the sense of I want to win I want to win then you have the fear of what happens if you don't but if you find common ground in the middle in the
center then it doesn't matter you're in Phase by either right and that enables you to really just stay in the moment stay connected to it and not feel anything other than what's in front of you so you know I try to just be dead center good you start with what do you want your game to be what would make your game most Unstoppable or hard to deal with and now you work backwards from there and you start building in one piece at a time one move at a time one counter at a time who would
Shack be if you had your work ethic it'd be the greatest of all time [Music] if Shaq had your work they'd be the greatest of all time sure he he'd be the first to tell you that for sure I mean this guy was a a force like I have never seen I mean it was crazy you know a guy at that size generally guys at that size or a little timid and they don't want to be tall they don't want to be big man this dude was he did not care he was mean it was
nasty he was competitive he was vindictive I mean he was yeah I wish he was in the gym I would have had 12 rings he had to work at it my God yeah let me be close if you're lazy man I don't want to talk to you I won't deal with you you don't make me feel Dumber you know you're gonna lower my level I don't think so you can go over there plenty of teams in here where you'll fit right in I don't I don't deal with people that don't commit at that level but
then act as if they do I don't deal with that I don't it's real [ __ ] I mean I listen so like we were used to getting this stuff all the time because it was like you know he would say Okay Kobe's not throwing me the ball and you know media would take it and run with it and all sort of stuff and I'm like well bro if you were in shape by the time I run down on a fast break and run back and then run down you're still coming down the first time
bruh like what the hell do you want me to do right so a lot of our contention came from that came from that and even though he was older you were still confronting him you didn't you didn't care oh I didn't care man listen day one bro from day one I knew for sure Rick Fox my teammates they all thought I was absolutely crazy the day me and Shaq got in a fist fight after that day they were like okay Kobe you're a certifiable [Applause] but you know ain't no way hey you know there's a
there's a level of respect and and for Shaq too by the way and that I know he he's told me that that day was a big turning point for him because it was like you know he's generally used to talking trash and saying what he wants and nobody really stepping up and challenging him on that and when he saw me challenge him on that he was like this kid's crazy all right I can win with that you know and so that was kind of the beginning of our relationship I think that's probably never happened to
him that's probably not something that's common to him no I mean it's awesome years old or something right this is all coming back to me right now it was also a game in Phoenix my first year we were playing and he kept posting up but they kept found him so he kept going to the free throw line he kept missing him and so he throw the ball out to me I'm not throwing that back in there right so I kept shooting them right so we're getting the timeout he's like hey hey uh hey I'm open
I'm like okay and so we go out and same thing coming hey I'm open okay here you go come back in hey dude you gotta throw me the ball I said man that get it off the rebound if I miss bro you told them this first year 18 years old man 18 years old and I must have been out of my damn mind the story continues the story continues so if you fail on Monday the only way it's a failure on Monday is if you decide to not progress from that right so that so to
me that's why failure is not existent because you know if I fail today okay I'm gonna learn something from that failure and I'm gonna try again on Tuesday those times when you don't feel like working you're too tired you don't want to do it anyway that's the dream it's not the destination it's the journey thank you
