WATCH THIS EVERYDAY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE - Denzel Washington Motivational Speech — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:07i found that nothing in life
3. 0:10is worthwhile
4. 0:12unless you take risks
5. 0:14nothing
6. 0:16nelson mandela said there is no passion
7. 0:18to be found
8. 0:20playing small
9. 0:21in settling for a life that's less
10. 0:24than the one you're capable of living
11. 0:27now i'm sure in your experiences in
12. 0:28school and applying to college and
13. 0:30picking your major and deciding what you
14. 0:32want to do with life i'm sure people
15. 0:34have told you to make sure you have
16. 0:36something to fall back on make sure you
17. 0:38got something to fall back on honey
18. 0:41but i never understood that concept
19. 0:43having something to fall back on
20. 0:46if i'm going to fall
21. 0:49i don't want to fall back on anything
22. 0:51i want to fall forward
23. 0:54i figure at least this way i'll see what
24. 0:56i'm going to hit
25. 0:58without consistency
26. 1:01you'll never finish
27. 1:04so do what you feel passionate about
28. 1:06passionate about
29. 1:08take chances
30. 1:10don't be afraid to fail there's an old
31. 1:12iq test was nine dots
32. 1:15and you had to draw five lines with a
33. 1:18pencil within these nine dots
34. 1:20without lifting the pencil
35. 1:22the only way to do it was to go outside
36. 1:24the box
37. 1:28don't be afraid to
38. 1:30think outside the box don't be afraid to
39. 1:32fail
40. 1:33big
41. 1:34to dream
42. 1:36big but remember
43. 1:39dreams
44. 1:40without goals
45. 1:43are just dreams
46. 1:48reggie jackson struck out 2600 times in
47. 1:51his career the most
48. 1:52in the history of baseball but you don't
49. 1:54hear about the strikeouts people
50. 1:56remember the home runs
51. 1:58[Music]
52. 1:59fall forward
53. 2:02thomas edison conducted 1 000 failed
54. 2:05experiments did you know that i didn't
55. 2:06know that
56. 2:08because the one thousand and first was
57. 2:11the light bulb
58. 2:12[Music]
59. 2:14fall forward
60. 2:16every failed experiment is one step
61. 2:19closer to success
62. 2:22got to take risks and i'm sure you've
63. 2:24probably heard that before but i want to
64. 2:26talk to you about why that's so
65. 2:27important
66. 2:32you will fail at some point in your life
67. 2:35it you will lose
68. 2:37you will embarrass yourself
69. 2:39you will suck at something there's no
70. 2:42doubt about it
71. 2:43and i know that's probably not a
72. 2:45traditional message for a graduation
73. 2:46ceremony but hey
74. 2:48i'm telling you embrace it because it's
75. 2:50inevitable
76. 2:56in the acting business you fail all the
77. 2:58time early on in my career
78. 3:00i auditioned for a part in a broadway
79. 3:02musical
80. 3:04perfect role for me i thought
81. 3:06except for the fact that i can't sing
82. 3:11i didn't get the job
83. 3:16but here's the thing
84. 3:18i didn't quit
85. 3:20[Music]
86. 3:21i didn't fall back
87. 3:24i walked out of there to prepare for the
88. 3:26next audition and the next audition and
89. 3:28the next audition
90. 3:30i prayed
91. 3:33i prayed
92. 3:34and i prayed
93. 3:38but i continued to fail
94. 3:40and fail
95. 3:41and fail but it didn't matter because
96. 3:43you know what
97. 3:44there's an old saying you hang around
98. 3:46the barber shop long enough sooner or
99. 3:48later you're gonna get a haircut
100. 3:52so you will catch a break and i did
101. 3:54catch a break
102. 3:54[Music]
103. 3:57last year
104. 3:59i did a play called fences on broadway
105. 4:02but here's the kicker
106. 4:04it was at the court theater
107. 4:07it was at the same theater
108. 4:09that i failed that first audition
109. 4:1230 years prior
110. 4:15the point is every graduate here today
111. 4:17has the training and the talent to
112. 4:20succeed
113. 4:21but do you have the guts
114. 4:23to fail
115. 4:26if you don't fail
116. 4:29you're not even trying
117. 4:31[Music]
118. 4:33i'll say it again if you don't fail
119. 4:35you're not even trying
120. 4:38to get something you never had you have
121. 4:41to do something you never did
122. 4:45imagine you're on your deathbed
123. 4:47and standing around your deathbed
124. 4:50are the ghosts representing your
125. 4:52unfulfilled potential
126. 4:54the ghost of the ideas you never acted
127. 4:56on
128. 4:58the ghost of the talents you didn't use
129. 5:01and they're standing around your bed
130. 5:04angry
131. 5:05disappointed
132. 5:07and upset
133. 5:12they say we we came to you because you
134. 5:15could have brought us to life they say
135. 5:20and now we have to go to the grave
136. 5:21together
137. 5:24so i ask you today
138. 5:25[Music]
139. 5:27how many ghosts are going to be around
140. 5:29your bed when your time comes
141. 5:33[Music]
142. 5:42i just got back from south africa it's a
143. 5:44beautiful country
144. 5:46but there are places there with terrible
145. 5:48private poverty that need help
146. 5:51and africa is just the tip of the
147. 5:53iceberg the middle east needs your help
148. 5:55japan needs your help alabama needs your
149. 5:58help tennessee needs your help louisiana
150. 6:00needs your help philadelphia needs your
151. 6:02help
152. 6:06the world needs a lot and we need it
153. 6:08from you
154. 6:10we really do we need it from you young
155. 6:12people i mean i'm not speaking for the
156. 6:14rest of us up here but i know i'm
157. 6:15getting a little grayer
158. 6:18we need it from you the young people
159. 6:20because remember this
160. 6:22you got to get out there
161. 6:24you got to give it everything you got
162. 6:25whether it's your time
163. 6:28your your your talent
164. 6:30your prayers
165. 6:32or your treasures
166. 6:35what are you going to do with what you
167. 6:37have i'm not talking about how much you
168. 6:39have
169. 6:40some of you are business majors some of
170. 6:42you are theologians nurses sociologists
171. 6:44some of you have money some of you have
172. 6:46patience some of you have kindness some
173. 6:49of you have loved some of you have the
174. 6:51gift of long-suffering whatever it is
175. 6:53whatever your gift is
176. 6:55what are you going to do
177. 6:57with what you have
178. 7:00all right now here's my last point about
179. 7:01failure
180. 7:03sometimes
181. 7:06it's the best way
182. 7:08to figure out where you're going
183. 7:12your life will never be a straight path
184. 7:15i began at fordham university as a
185. 7:16pre-med student
186. 7:18i took a course called the
187. 7:19[Music]
188. 7:21cardiac morphogenesis i couldn't read it
189. 7:23i couldn't say it i surely couldn't pass
190. 7:25it
191. 7:26so then i decided to go into pre-law
192. 7:28then journalism and with no academic
193. 7:31focus my grades took off in their own
194. 7:33direction
195. 7:35i was a 1.8 gpa
196. 7:38and the university very politely
197. 7:40suggested that it might be better to
198. 7:42take some time off
199. 7:46i was 20 years old i was at my lowest
200. 7:48point
201. 7:49and then one day and i remember the
202. 7:51exact day march 27 1975 i was helping my
203. 7:56mother in her beauty shop my mother
204. 7:57owned a beauty shop up in mount vernon
205. 7:59and there's there was this older woman
206. 8:01who was considered one of the elders in
207. 8:03the town and i didn't know her
208. 8:05personally but i was looking in the
209. 8:07mirror and every time i looked in the
210. 8:08mirror i could see her behind me and she
211. 8:10was staring at me
212. 8:12she just kept looking at me every time i
213. 8:14looked at her she kept giving me these
214. 8:15strange looks
215. 8:16so she finally took the dryer off her
216. 8:18head and said
217. 8:19she said something i'll never forget
218. 8:22she said young boy
219. 8:24i have a prophecy a spiritual prophecy
220. 8:29she said you are going to travel the
221. 8:31world
222. 8:32and speak to millions of people
223. 8:35[Music]
224. 8:37and in the years that follow just as
225. 8:38that woman prophesies i have traveled
226. 8:41the world and i have spoken to millions
227. 8:43of people through my movies
228. 8:45millions who up until this day
229. 8:48couldn't see me
230. 8:49who up till this day i couldn't see
231. 8:52while i was talking to them and they
232. 8:53couldn't see me they could only see the
233. 8:55movie
234. 8:56they couldn't see the real me
235. 8:58[Music]
236. 9:00but i see youth today
237. 9:02[Music]
238. 9:03and i'm encouraged by what i see
239. 9:08i'm strengthened
240. 9:09by what i see
241. 9:10[Music]
242. 9:14because taking risk is not just about
243. 9:16going for a job
244. 9:18it's also about knowing what you know
245. 9:20and what you don't know
246. 9:22it's about being open to people
247. 9:25and to ideas
248. 9:28the chances you take
249. 9:29the people you meet
250. 9:31the people you love
251. 9:33the faith that you have
252. 9:35that's what's going to define you
253. 9:40never be discouraged
254. 9:42never hold back
255. 9:45give everything you got
256. 9:47and when you fall throughout life
257. 9:50remember this
258. 9:52fall forward
259. 9:55[Music]
260. 10:04you