Peter Dinklage | This is Why Only 1% SUCCEED and What 99% Are Not DOING

ever tried ever failed no matter try again fail again fail better I had so many dreams of where I wanted to go who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do theater companies I wanted to start with classmates movies I wanted to be in directors I wanted to work with stories I needed to tell it might take a little time I thought but there would happen what I didn't have was cash a bank account a credit card or an apartment I just had debt a big hungry growing larger every moment debt I packed

the life that I knew with socks and a toothbrush into my backpack and I slept on couch after couch after couch after couch at friends apartments in New York until I wore out their rent paying roommates welcome I dusted pianos at a piano store on Ludlow Street for five months I worked on the property of a Shakespeare scholar for a year pulling weeds and removing bees nests I went on unemployment once but for not for long I couldn't handle the guilt eventually I was able to pay rent for a spot on the floor of an

apartment on the Lower East Side but my roommate had a breakdown and disappeared and then finally after two years of job and couchsurfing I got a job an application process as a data enter er at a place called professional examination services and I stayed for six years six years from the age of 23 to 29 while they loved me there I was funny I wore black no cape no tights I smoked in the loading docks with the guys from the mailroom and we shared how hungover we all were I called them sick almost every Friday

because I was out late the night before I hated that job and I clung to that job because of that job I could afford my own place my dream of running a theater company with my friend and fellow Bennington graduate Ian Bell had died [Music] when I was 29 I told myself the next acting job I get no matter what it pays I will from now on for better or worse be a working actor I got a low-paying theater job in a play called imperfect love which led to a film called 13 moons with the

same writer which led to other roles which led to other roles and I've worked as an actor ever since [Music] I didn't know that would happen at 29 walking away from data processing I was terrified ten years in a place without you six years of a job I felt stuck in maybe I was afraid of change are you and so at 29 in a very long last I was in the company of the actors and writers and directors I'd sought out that first year that first day after school I was I am by their sides

raise the rest of your life to meet you don't search for defining moments because they will never come the moments that define you have already happened and they will already happen again and it passes so quickly so please bring each other along with you you you just get a bit derailed but soon something starts to happen trust me the rhythm sets in just try not to wait until like me you're 29 before you find it and if you are that's fine too some of us never find it but you will I promise you you are

already here you'll find your rhythm or continue the one you have already found don't wait until they tell you you are ready get in there [Music] Singh [Music] the world might say you are not allowed to yet I waited a long time out in the world before I gave myself permission to fail my parents didn't have much money but they struggled to send me to the best school and one of the most important things they did for me is that once I graduated I was on my own financially it was my journey [Music] this made

me very hungry literally I couldn't be lazy [Music] at the end of the day none of us are happy with our jobs all the time but I just sort of had some perseverance in terms of what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do and I think and know is a very powerful word in our business that is very hard to use early on in your career but I also think I was pretty arrogant when I was younger so I used that word maybe too much but it also helped me with the

finding girls that I did like [Music] we burn very brightly please don't ever stop [Music] please [Music] don't even bother asking don't bother telling the world you are ready show it do it [Music] what did Beckett say ever tried ever failed no matter try again fail again fail better the world treat everyone kindly and light up the night [Music]