The bigger your dream is the early

you
will have to get up longer you
gonna
have to stay up the bigger your
dream in
the more effort you will have to put
in
but do you do when a thousand
other
people want exactly what you want
I'm fascinated by the game of
opportunity if
you want to be an anomaly you've
got an
awkward one listen to me look is
for
leprechauns and you a agree then
I'm
begging you to see yourself right
now
today as average as know better
than
 anyone else the wonderful news
about the
human condition is you can get
good at
anything that you set your mind to
it's
just not gonna be easy if you're
willing
to go these moles you can have
whatever
you want but this is not a time for
any
of you to take your foot off the gas
pedal it's not a time for any of you
to
kind of slow down and it kind of
get complacent
what do you do when you're not
the only
one that wants to make a million
dollars
a year company you're not the only
one
 that wants to be the president
you're
not the only one that wants to be a
CEO
what if you're not the only one that
wants what you want what if there
are
thousands of other people who
want what
you want you have to outwork
them you
think I'm gonna work hard for 10
years
then I'll relax and that's what you're
thinking
this ain't for you
if you do not do what you're doing
right
now well your goal is just going to
be a
fancy desire isn't it whether it's fear
or anxiety whatever it may be I
believe
 that every single person is going
out to
chase their dreams has those voices
in
their head I think it's part of the
human experience
stay strong have faith keep pushing
through I've said this before and
and
I'm living proof of it is that on the
other side of your struggle is
something
good on your other side in your
struggle
is something better on the other
side of
your struggle is some sort of
success so
I'm here to tell you today do you
can
have anything you want be anyone
you
want but you're gonna have to
 work see
dreams aspirations they're not
easily
attained but what hardest things to
do
is to keep going it's to keep chasing
you don't realize your dreams are
so
important because your DNA who
you are
as a person is wrapped up in your
dreams
go after this thing called life don't
look back and have regrets
understand that you're at a place in
a
position right now
with hard work and valuing people
nothing can stop you I promise you
work
in your land will change anybody's
life
there's a proverb that says he who
 works
his land will have abundance but if
you
chase fantasies you lack wisdom
and
people say well what's your land
your
land is what's in front of you if
you're
in the seventh grade work your
seventh
grade land if you're if you're the
cameraman work your land if
you're a
janitor work your land if you're a
single mother work your land your
land
is what's in front of you
so I started studying the law of the
harvest of working your land to get
a
harvest
you got to plow the ground you got
 to
plant the seed
you got to water the seed and then
you
reap a harvest and I think that
mostly
in the age of social media people
see
guys like you and Gary Vee and
others
and they think that they can go
from cam
to BAM it's not going to happen
you got
to work your land you've got a
plow plow
plow plow plow plow plow and
you're
gonna plant the right seeds see if
we go
back to your life somewhere some
house
somewhere somehow you were
 planned some
good seeds and one time and if I
bring
up Oprah once a while because I
love her
she's she's my real sister we were
just
meeting her in her backyard and
she goes
I love to work young man because
she
goes it's right I planted the right
doggone seeds see every day you
got you
got negative seeds and positive
seeds
and and people that are selfish man
you
just plant negative seeds that are
not
gonna come back positive so when
you
plow and you plant the right seeds
and you water which is repetition it
doesn't look like it's gonna grow
come
on man you're working at Taco
Bell
making gorditas taking care of the
Chihuahua doesn't look like it's
working
and all the sudden man payday is
on its
way and that harvest just starts to
kick
another sunrise provides another
opportunity for you to undo the
unwise
things that you did that almost led
to
your academic demise since health
as
well you exercise your option to
revise
your study habits and to the
surprise of
 not only you but all of your
instructors
and advisors you all of a sudden
appeared smarter and wiser see
they had
you flagged for failure but never
had
the heart to tell you
[Music]
I know so many students can relate
to
the struggles in this story but very
few
ever overcome and achieved the
glory
because so many fit until the low is
me
category instead of the OS me
category
which 9 out of 10 times it is so
you're
the one that keeps getting to class
late
 you're the one who decided not to
study
because you had that date you're
the one
that never asked questions
and keeps making mistake after
mistake
after mistake you're the one that
keeps
making excuse after excuse after
excuse
for why your academic status is in
an
unsatisfactory State so the question
I
have for you
why are you even enrolled in
school if
you have no desire to try think
another
reason
it's because she forgot about you
and this is the very moment I need
 you
to go stand in front of a mirror and
look yourself item
it's heart-shaped because you were
born
with great is embedded in your
soul you
were born with a gift to share in a
phenomenal story to be told you
were
born with a will to succeed and the
brilliance to create and achieve
goals
you were born to be mentally and
physically rich and receive your
pot of
gold but up to this point your
storms
have not produced a rainbow and
that's
it's time for you to take a different
angle a different approach so right
now
I'm your new mentor I'm your new
coach
and I'm not here to stroke your ego
I'm
gonna get you away from them
turkeys and
back to soar with them Eagles
because
you forget that you said your wife
was
to be the first one from your family
to
graduate with honors you said your
wife
was to never again be average and
to do
that you had to be a Scarlett
you said your why was you fill in
the
blank and let that be all the fuel
that
you need to put back in your tank
and
now that you realized I expect you
to
quickly rise up your class rank and
get
back on track to graduate which
means
more money in the bank you can
thank me
later but right now you got a paper
that's due and you got to do what
you
got to do which means focus
concentration and execution until
you
get through so this is the moment
that
your gray skies of academia turn
blue
[Music]
you told all your slack and friends
to
do them because you're back to do
you
because you refuse to being at 57%
of
students that don't graduate on time
your light was still in flickering but
now it's about to shine they might
not
like it but they got a respected
greatness requires planning so you
created a daily success checklist
because you were failing miserably
because you were unprepared and
reckless
and so you had a one-on-one with
your
advisor and even visited your own
campus
career spatulas
definition of an overcomer because
you
would never fall even in the winter
spring awesome through all your
pitfalls
and blunders you kept on easy
 even if it was too
so this is for any student who feels
like their life and school balance is
unbearable for any student who
feels
like in a certain class they're just
doing terrible any student feels like
the damage to that grade is not
repairable
any student who feels that giving
up is
acceptable because giving up is
unacceptable and for an incredible
individual like you I know you're
human
and the times you will be skeptical
but
please believe me when I say any
mistake
you made it's correctable and you
just
have to remember you have
impeccable
 strength to power through and
overcome
any hardship so let this propel lift
and
give you the air to fight to
remember
your life and your gift and help you
create that mental shift that allows
you
to pick yourself right back up
whenever
you slip and remember all of your
files
and trips are preparing you for that
magical trip and the ultimate
feeling of
satisfaction and elation you'll get
when
you walk across that stage with
your
arms held high get your diploma
and
throw your cap up in the sky
 spray the celebrate job well done
it's
what that moment will signify you
are an
unbreakable force and don't you
never
ever ever forget that this is great
[Music]
to
[Music]
through our biggest failures
sometimes
the most amazing opportunities
will
sprout right before us how many of
you
in the last six months has had an
idea
that you would have liked to
implement
that you did not act on that you
wish
you would have I have the
 opportunity to
step on the campus of Princeton
University the youngest of seven
mom
went to high school and I'm
looking up
and I'm in Princeton New Jersey
and I'm
I have so much passion inside
[Music]
there's so much pride in me and the
way
in which I'm walking on campus is
not
just like everyone else
right there's something that's
pulling
inside of me because I know how
many
people have sacrificed for me to be
in
that situation in the beautiful thing
about being in a situation where
 people
have sacrificed for you is that you
have
the power of so many people why
are we
doing this right and there are
certain
people in our lives that allow us to
continue on that allow us to push
forth
I stand here as one person but I
come as
10,000 I stand as one but 10,000
support
me because the way in which we
operate
many of us operate in the in the
practical what we're doing every
day we
do what we're doing I know that
my job
from 9:00 to 5:00 is to do this right
then several of us maybe take that
 next
step how we do it do we do it with
passion do we do it with conviction
but
there's this next step that's amazing
why are you doing what you're
doing
who's your wife
who are the people in your life
right
now who are the people in your life
who
you can see their face and you say
you
know what because of you I will
do more
be more and become more because
of you I
will do more be more and become
more
every time I get the opportunity to
tell
my story
I start with my mom she is me her
heart
is my heart everything that I do I
know
the sacrifice I know the sacrifice
and
the most amazing part is I believe
that
each and every one of us can bring
that
passion to what we do if we
remember who
our why is each and every one of
you has
a story to pull from has an
experience
like nobody else each and every
one of
you has sacrificed each and every
one of
you has had people who have
sacrificed
for you to be in the situation you
 are
in today and sometimes sometimes
as we
go through the day-to-day of what
we do
and how we do it we forget that
why we
forget about the people who have
sacrificed and we lose our fire
there were so many times I didn't
think
I was going to graduate I'll be a
hundred percent honest with you
there
were so many times it was so
difficult
and I remember in 2013 and this is
kind
of my story the reason where that
TED
talk came from the reason where
why I
wrote how to network in college
 for
students and I can remember
graduating
imagine from the number one
academic
institution in the country
unemployed
and going would and spending the
next
six to nine months thinking what
on
earth is going on in the world I
thought
I did everything right but it's a
beautiful thing how many of you
guys
know that through our biggest
failures
sometimes the most amazing
opportunities
will sprout right before us right and
amazingly that failure for me made
me
change my questioning it made me
change
my questioning I returned to
Princeton
University worked just like you in
administration in the athletic
department and I'm looking around
and
I'm remembering how much pain
and how
much confusion I had and and I
remember
asking the question why didn't I get
a
job when I graduated why was it so
difficult for me and there was a
turn
when I asked a new question and
things
started to change
instead of saying why doesn't
Princeton
do this for me
I asked what can I do for Princeton
and
it hit me and I said you know what
there
might be other student athletes just
like me who don't understand the
concept
so I created a program the program
was
called profound I view as a
mentoring
program and I said can I get some
of the
student athletes together and we'll
come
in and we'll talk about networking
and
professional development and
academic
efficiency and the athletic
department
looked at me and they said oh
that's
 awesome we won't pay you for it
but this
is great go ahead and so that's what
I
did 9:00 to 5:00 you work and then
6:00
to 9:00
is doing my own thing of how I
could
contribute back and it was
interesting
because the group grew right it was
eight students and then it was
twelve
students and there was 25 students
and
then it was 40 students and then it
was
70 students and then I get an email
from
the university president and says
did
you create the profound Ivy
 mentoring
program yes it's me it's like well I
would like to come support it and
financially support it as well is that
okay you guys can clap for that
there's
a point here I'm trying I want to
drill
this in and I remember at that
moment
profound Ivy was it was a
mentoring
program for student athletes and
has
been running ever since I left the
campus and I thought to myself I
was
just one guy out of a hundred thirty
person department with one idea
that
came from me changing my
question from
being a selfish act to a selfless act
from what can this community give
me -
what can I contribute to this
community
I'll say that one more time
I changed the question in my head
from
what can this community give me -
what
can I contribute to this community
and I
learned something amazing and I
hope
that you can take this nugget right
here
is that when you switch the
question in
your mind from what can I get
from this
community - what can I uniquely
give the
doors open up opportunities come
flooding through it's an amazing
 mindset
perspective it's amazing change
something that I learned at the age
of
24 and I will never forget to this
day
every community that I'm a part of
any
door that I walk in my first
question is
5149 what can I give to this
situation
5050 when you meet someone new
of 50 50
hey how are you doing hey my
name is
Isaac hey nice to meet you Rick
boom
5149 be the 51 everybody repeat
after me
be the 51 a little bit more be the 51
in
any situation or an environment
 you want
to be a part of and you want to say
how
do I extract that value I promise
you
this wins every time if you guys
see I'm
walking around and I have this
shirt and
two words are plastered on my
chest and
it says one says inform and the
other
says inspire and there are two
words
that I absolutely live by inform
write
inform means the information is
coming
to you from the outside right how
do we
take information from the outside
to
 make us better second word is
inspire
everybody say inspire so I took a
little
bit of Latin so inspire inspir RA
right
so spur RA is the spirit so the spirit
within so information comes from
without
inspiration comes from within and
when
you put the two together you can
do some
amazing things there's a guy by the
name
of Howard Thurman and he was
the mentor
to Martin Luther King and
Mahatma Gandhi
he was a deeply spiritual and
reflective
man and the way in which he wrote
in the
way in which he spoke everything
that I
read from him it's just like
powerful
but this one quote is fitting don't
ask
what the world needs
ask yourself what makes you come
alive
because what the world needs is
people
who have come alive don't ask
what the
world needs if you saw the most
amazing
part of what each and every
individual
was sharing their idea can you feel
how
much emotion and impassioned
they had in
their idea right gripping the mic
like
 just ready to because this was an
idea
when you have a great idea it
comes from
somewhere deep right it allows you
every
single one when I'm listening and
you
guys are listening to these stories
there's a passion behind it there's a
helping a community behind it
there's
not only a what's your why but
who's
your why behind it there's a vision
so
the quote again is do not ask what
the
world needs ask yourself what
makes you
come alive because what the world
needs
is people who have come alive
you either know what you want to
do or
you don't and if you don't the more
you
keep hitting your head against the
wall
trying to figure that out it's not
going
to come to you and so we're faced
with
this cold hard reality that we need
to
make decisions about our career
before
we've got any knowledge of how to
make
them we know that most people
will get
the choice wrong in their heart
there's
a study by the University of
Phoenix
that says that over 70% of people
 under
the age of 30 we want to change
careers
so you're forced to make this
decision
before you know how to make the
decision
and then once you do you're gonna
feel
like it's wrong so we're forced to
feel
like we're failures in this sense the
majority of people come out of
school
and feel like the choice they made
was
the wrong choice so instead of
putting
so much pressure on the answer to
that
question what do you want to do
we need
to help students get much more
 excited
about the question to explore that
because it's not about the right
platform creating the right life
there
is no right platform you find a
platform
and then you start to build it and
start
to adjust it to make it fit your life
so many people feel like I got the
answer wrong and I'm screwed
you're not
screwed you just need to start
thinking
about it a different way and so that
was
the epidemic and it's not just you
it's
not just me it's almost everyone
that
idea that you're gonna change
career is
 five or seven times there's actually
no
group who study so there's no
group that
says this is a career change and
you're
going to do it this many times
because
nobody can define what a career
changes
the best way to think about this is
you
have one career you have one
journey of
work one life's work and so the
important thing is to figure out
how to
navigate that one path as opposed
to
feeling like you're going able to do
something for a little while and
then
jump onto a different track because
 here's the challenge
people come to school in their
career
and they feel like they made the
wrong
choice and so they feel like they've
got
one of three options they can either
just keep doing the same thing
even
though they don't like it they look
at
their boss's job you don't want it so
they can either just keep doing that
climb that ladder or they can
disengage
and feel like this isn't for me I'm
gonna live for my evenings and my
weekends or the third option is
they
feel like they can start all over
again
but starting all over again becomes
 very
difficult even though in our brain it
makes sense because a couple
years into
your career you actually earn a bit
more
than when you started
but your life cost a little bit more
as
well and so very quickly you feel
like
you're stuck on this path and so we
see
so many people start to lose
satisfaction of work lose happiness
it works they feel like I made the
wrong
choice and now there's nothing I
can do about it
this is what I'm doing and it's not
ideal so this is what I want to do
and I
can find a way to start to bend my
 path
to do more and more and more of
that
because I've only got one path I've
only
got one journey so how do I make
the
most of that one journey that's the
question
but the first question is what's your
dream life and so many people
have a
general idea of that they'll see the
success of somebody else and feel
like
well that looks like a dream that
must
be for me but they've never put the
time
in to actually figure out what is the
specific life that I'm looking for
what's the specific mix of life and
work
 that I'm looking for so for me I'm
seeking extreme flexibility through
my
work extreme flexibility so I can
go and
do the things that I want to do and
still work as I'm doing it so I'm not
running away from my work when
I go away
to different countries I'm actually
embedding that in my life's work
and so
as a result I needed to get really
good
at something unique something so
unique
that others had value it and when I
did that it allowed me to be in
control one
of the challenges we have with
jobs
nowadays is that we allow
somebody else
 to own our control of work we
allow
somebody else to write down our
job
description to define the
boundaries of
our work and so as a result we
never
declared for ourselves and it's
totally
a mistake that people make you
need to
be in control of your life's work
you need to be in control of what
you do
with your productive time and once
you start to own that once you start
to own
the path get good at something
very
unique that others have value in
you can
start to shape the career and life
 that
you want graduates I have some
very
important advice for you this is the
very thing that I wish someone had
told
me when I was graduating when I
was
graduating I felt hopeless I felt lost
I felt alone my parents have been
sending
me letters for the five months
leading
up to my graduation counting
down to the
moment where they were no longer
going
to help me financially and so as I
walked out a university I had no
idea
how to make the dream that I had
in my
head actually come true and I think
 that
my life would be very different if
somebody had told me the
following it is
okay to be poor right now
it is okay to be poor right now so
your
goal right now should not be to
make the
most money possible it should be
to
build your ideal life and the way
that you're going to do that you're
gonna
find the person who's already
living
your ideal life and you're gonna
give
them the following speech I will
work
harder and smarter than anyone
you've
ever met and I will do it for free for
90 days at the end of those 90 days
if you'd rather pay me then lose me
then
I've got a job and if not we shake
hands
and we part ways no hard feelings
because you will have gotten
knowledge
and connections and knowledge
and connections is the currency
that you
should be obsessed with at this
point in
your life because that is gonna be
the
thing that shapes you that's gonna
be the thing that sets you up for
your
career I believe that my life would
be fundamentally different if
somebody had
told me that this is me having to
stumble my way into them so my
 challenge
to you guys is this week I want you
to identify the people that are
living your
ideal life I want you to reach out to
them as many as you can and try to
get in front of them so that you can
make
that appeal and then the person
who lets
you in the door I want you to
actually
make good on your promise and
work
harder and smarter than anyone
else to
put more energy into something to
be
more enthusiastic more upbeat and
to
never let anything be beneath you
the
person that comes in with that level
 of
hustle and is uplifting other people
they're gonna be the kind of person
that
people want to stick around so if
you're
going to take this challenge on I
want
you to drop in the comments below
that
you're in and then put who it is that
you think is living your ideal life
all
right guys get after it I'm telling
you
if I had had that advice it would
have
changed the course of my life
you

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