The Greatest Advice You Will Ever Receive | Will Smith

[Music] as a child my parents always told me you could be whatever you want to be you could do whatever you want to do and you know that that office that position the highest office on the face of the earth it was something i heard my parents saying it but i didn't totally believe it yet i went out in the world and i carried myself and i held my head high and i stood there and i looked people in their eyes and i talked to people as if i was deserving of everything that this planet has to offer [Applause] so i just i really want to say to to children out there and to to people who are watching confucius said one time he who says he can and he who says he can't are both usually right and i want you to keep in your heart just know that you can know that you can i realized that when to have the level of success that i want to have it's difficult to spread it out and do multiple things you know it's in order to to be world class and i've made a decision i want to be world class and it just it takes such a desperate obsessive focus to to excel on a certain on the level that that i want to make movies you know i was a star wars when i was young i sat in a movie theater and watched star wars and i just couldn't believe that that movie made me feel like that just floored and just stunned by the creativity and just i'm realizing that in order to move people in that way in order to touch people in that way you really gotta focus with all of your fiber and all your heart and all your creativity concept of improving lives runs through the center of everything i do and then i realize that the the the way to improve lives is to continually improve yourself right so with that every every morning when i when i get out of the bed you know i i haven't fixed everything in the world yet so there's always something to do and uh in this film i read an interesting quote that um good people have to get out of the bed every day and try to empty the ocean with a ladle trying to empty the ocean with a soup spoon you know as the the mentality of how you you wake up every day to try to do good in the world so for me i'm uh i'm really driven by continually trying to elevate my elevate my mind and elevate my spirit and care for my body and um to be able to love as many people as effectively as as possible with this mystery of life that i've been given there's a concept that i don't want to be an icon um i want to be an idea you know i want to represent an idea i want to represent possibilities i want to represent magic right that you're in a universe and two plus two equals four two plus two only equals four if you accept that two plus two equals four two plus two is going to be what i want it to be you know and there's there's a like there's a there's a redemptive power that making a choice has you know rather than feeling like you're at effect to all the things that are happening make a choice like you just decide what it's going to be who you're going to be how you're going to do it just decide and then from that point the universe is going to get out your way it's like it's water it wants to it wants to move and go around stuff you know so for for me i want to represent possibilities i want to represent the idea that you really can make what you want one of my favorite books is the the alchemist uh paolo coelho and that's just i just believe that i believe that i can create whatever i want to create if i can put put my head on it right study it learn the patterns and you know i just i it's hard to put into words real metaphysical esoteric nonsense but i feel very strongly that we are who we choose to be the only thing that i see that is distinctly different about me is i'm not afraid to die on a treadmill right i will run you would not be outworked i will not be outworked right period yeah you know you might have more talent than me you might be smarter than me you might be sexier than me you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories but if we get on the treadmill together right there's two things you're getting off first yeah or i'm gonna die it's really that simple right so let's go back to the question about what if people block me out it's gonna be two options i'm gonna get back in or i'm going to be dead yeah right it's like you're not going to outwork me it's it's a it's a very it's such a simple basic concept it's the the guy who is willing to hustle the most is going to be the guy that just gets that loose ball you know he got the oh he got that oh okay he got two he oh god he hustle he grabbed that one that was going to be out of bounds but he saved it back in it's like the commodity that i see the majority of people who aren't getting the places they want or aren't achieving the things that they want in this business is strictly based on hustle it's strictly based on being outworked it's strictly based on missing crucial opportunities i say all the time if you stay ready you ain't got to get ready i believe uh and i learned very young from parents from my parents absolutely that you you don't try to build a wall you don't set out to build a wall you don't say i'm gonna be build the biggest baddest greatest wall that's ever been built you don't start there you say i'm gonna lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid there will not be one brick on the face of the earth that's going to be laid better than this brick that i'm going to lay in this next 10 minutes and you do that every single day and so you have and soon you have a wall and i think psychologically the advantage that that gives me over over a lot of people that i've um have been in competition with in different situations is it's difficult to take the first step when you look how big yeah the task is the task is never huge to me it's always one breath me too greatness is not this wonderful esoteric elusive uh god-like feature that only the special among us uh will ever taste you know it's something that truly exists in all of us it's very simple this is what i believe and i'm willing to die for it period it's that simple i know who i am i don't know what i believe i know who i am i know who whatever all i need to know that's all i need to know so from there you do what you need to do [Music] you