This is one of the most inspiring speeches. I watch this at least once a day to continue to keep my focus on success.
I did not copy this but found it to share and will also post the link to the video that is even more powerful than the transcript.
I'm just curious to know how many of you may have watched this video what you thought of it.
One of the best motivational videos on YouTube is titled ‘How bad do you want it (success)’. There are different versions of it and it’s been around for quite some time, but because things can disappear at any moment on YouTube I thought I would transcribe it for anyone who wanted the heart of the text.
‘How bad do you want it’ really reminds my of my own life. There were some pretty dark days, financially personally, and professionally when I first moved out to DC — not knowing anyone — but those long nights and early mornings eventually paid off. Sleep? There were at least three years where a good night’s sleep was a rarity, and while such a schedule can quickly lead to burn out, it was also necessary to get to where I am today.
No one needs to pay me to write. I’d do it whether I worked for a think tank or a newspaper or if something extremely weird happened and I ended up working for Target again. Today, I’m lucky enough to get paid to do things that I love. But the odd thing is, the old saying is true: the harder you work, the better your luck tends to get.
Who knew.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.
Edited Text, ‘How bad do you want it (Success)’:
There was a young man who wanted to make a lot of money, and so he went to a guru. He told the guru he wanted to reach his level of greatness. And so the guru said: “If you want to be on the same level I’m on, I’ll meet you tomorrow at the beach.”
So the young man arrived at 4:00 a.m. He had on a suit, but he should have worn shorts. The old man grabbed his hand and said: “How bad do you want to be successful?” The young responded: “Badly.”
So the old man told the young man to walk out into the water. It was waist deep. The young man thought: “This old man is crazy.”
The young man said to himself: “I want to make money and this guy has me out here swimming. I didn’t ask to be a lifeguard. I want to make money.
Then the old man said: “Come out a little farther,” and the young man did so.
As the young man was up to his shoulders in water he again thought: “This old man is crazy! He’s making money, but he’s crazy.”
The old man said, “Come out a little farther.”
The young man obeyed, but wavered as if he might turn back.
So the old man said: “I thought you said you wanted to be successful?”
“I do,” said the student.
So the old man ordered the young man to come out even farther, and when he did he pushed the young man’s head under water and held it down. Although the young man fought, the old man would not let him up. Just before the young man passed out the old man raised his head above the surface and said: “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
I don’t know how many of you have asthma today, but if you ever had an asthma attack before and you’re S.O.B. — you’ve got shortness of breath — and you’re wheezing, the only thing you’re trying to do is get some air. You don’t care about no basketball game. You don’t care what’s on TV. You don’t care about anybody calling you. You don’t care about a party. The only thing you care about when you’re trying to breathe is to get some fresh air. That’s it. And when you get to the point where all you want to do is be successful as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.
Most of you say you want to be successful, but you don’t want it bad. You just kind of want it. You don’t want it badder than you want to party. You don’t want it as much as you want to be cool. Most of you don’t want success as much as you want to sleep. Some of you want sleep more than you want success. And I’m here to tell you today that if you want to be successful you got to be willing to give up sleep.
You have to be willing to work off of three hours of sleep, two hours of sleep. If you really want to be successful, some day you’re going to have to stay up three days in a row because if you go to sleep you might miss the opportunity to be successful. That’s how bad you got to want it.
Listen to me. You’ve got to want to be successful so bad, you forget to eat.
Beyonce said one day she was on the set doing her thing and three days went by. She forgot that she didn’t eat because she was engaged.
I’ll never forget, when 50 Cent was doing his movie I did a little research on him and 50 said when he wasn’t doing the movie, he was doing the soundtrack. And they said: “When do you sleep, 50?”
He said: “Sleep? Sleep is for those people who are broke. I don’t sleep.” He said, “I have an opportunity to make a dream become a reality.”
Don’t quit. You’re already in pain. You’re already hurt. Get a reward from it! Don’t go to sleep until you succeed.
I’m here to tell you today that you can come here, you can jump up, you can do flips, you can be excited when we give out money but listen to me: You will never be successful until I don’t have to give you a dime to do what you do. You won’t be successful until you say: “I don’t need that money because I got it in here.”
I'm glad you have found your calling and feel fulfilled in the way you chose to live your life. But never ever preach, even in a blog, that's just asking for trouble.
On March 28 2014 07:09 Harajuku wrote: I'm glad you have found your calling and feel fulfilled in the way you chose to live your life. But never ever preach, even in a blog, that's just asking for trouble.
Not preaching. No one has to read anything I say or take any advice I give. I just happen to enjoy writing and thinking of things. Hence the reason I decided to open up a blog. Negative or positive feedback is welcome but at the end of the day I write and share because I enjoy it, not to gain anyone's approval.
I remember this lesson from high school, my science teacher told me it was Socrates' first lesson to Plato where he put him under water and told him he could be his student when he wanted to learn as badly as he wanted to breathe :D It's a good story, thanks for sharing your secret to motivation, reminded me of something good.
On March 28 2014 08:54 CakeSauc3 wrote: I remember this lesson from high school, my science teacher told me it was Socrates' first lesson to Plato where he put him under water and told him he could be his student when he wanted to learn as badly as he wanted to breathe :D It's a good story, thanks for sharing your secret to motivation, reminded me of something good.
This makes me kind of sad. Reminds me of my experience with the varsity basketball team at school. I like basketball, but I never felt the motivation to be really good or do anything great so I never got very good and I ended up quitting when I knew I had no chance of making the team. But I remember how vainly our coach would always try to start the season off with some motivational speeches and whatnot to try and inspire the players to work extra hard in the preseason, since our team was historically bad and they would not get any better if they didn't work extra hard. And it was just so sad to see that the whole team was full of people who just didn't give a shit. I remember one day he asked each one of us "Why do you want to play basketball" and most people answered something like "I like basketball" or "I want to play basketball because it's fun" or "I want the varisty letter" or "I want to play my favorite sport with my friends." And after everyone had answered, about 25 in total, our coach said, "well based on this, I don't want to put any of you on the team. Not one of you said that your reason for wanting to play on the team was to be successful as a team. And if nobody wants to be successful as a team, then we never will be. This is called not actually giving a shit about basketball. I don't want players who don't give a shit about basketball." This was what really got me thinking about quitting. Occasionally I come across motivational videos like this and I think to myself whether or not I should feel bad about quitting and not giving a shit like I did, or if I should follow the advice of this quote that I once heard "The time to quit is before you wish you had." It's interesting how taking a pessimistic perspective on motivational concepts can really be just as persuasive.
The motivational speak is eric thomas or he calls himself by the acronym E.T. Great speaker he has a lot of other good stuff on youtube such as TGIM or thank god it's monday motivational speeches. I enjoy listening to this to start my week.
As for the basketball theme Banjoe mentioned, i think sometimes quitting is not a "BAD" choice. If you really don't like basketball and was just experimenting then quitting should not be frowned upon. However, if quitting is be because you can't get through practice or is always a bench player, then i think that can be "bad" because then you'd be quitting because it's hard not because you don't like it.
I think coaches all want the same thing from athletes for the most part. They want athletes to take the sport seriously, work hard, and be very dedicated. You have to remember that coaches for a sport are coaches for a reason, they LOVE the game, they love the game so much that they clung on to it after retirement. The passionate coaches that tries to motivate their players aren't in it for the money for the most part, but because they have passion for the game and takes it seriously and wants all his players to. It's really unmotivating for a coach to try to coach athletes who doesn't give a shit. Eventually the coach won't give a shit either because none of the players take it seriously.
I understand the idea behind this but as far as content, this is one of the worst motivational speeches I have ever seen. A lack of sleep is not a way to be successful. Research shows that there is a significant drop in an individual's performance as sleep is reduced. You want to be more likely to get into an accident? Sleep less. You want to be less productive with your time? Sleep less. Don't even get me started on the forgetting to eat portion. The message to take away from this video is to work hard. Other than that, there is no substance here.
EPT
