Tom Bilyeu’s Best Motivational Speeches: Eye-Opening Lessons

0:00As William Arthur Ward said, The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sales. And that's how we all have to be. We need to look at the situation and understand not what personality type are we. But what are we going to do about it? That any of us in any moment, we always get to choose how we react. We get to choose our frame of reference. We get to choose whether we're pessimistic. We get to see things in an optimistic way if we want. But at the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is what do you choose to do? And so if you decide to fight the wind, to be angry, to argue about it, to complain, you're never going to go anywhere other than where the wind wants you to go. But if you remember that we have control, that we can react, that we can choose to adjust the sales to harness the wind, to take us where we want to go. And instead of fighting against it, wasting energy, we learn how to harness everything around us.

1:01And as Alice Walker said, the most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. People lose sight of the fact that we always get a choice. No matter what happens in your life, the one thing that you get to choose at all times is the meaning that you ascribe to it. No one can take that away. No one but you get to decide how you react. And your reaction is the bricks by which you build the life that you want. It isn't your intentions, it's not your thoughts. It's simply the things you manifest into the world as you take action. The world reacts. As you take action, you progress. As you take action, you learn. As you build, you create things. And as you create things, you can construct a world that matches your vision. But it's understanding that you have that power. It's understanding that you always get a choice. And you lose that power. When you give that up, you lose that power. When you take the emotional security of complaining, of negativity, of pessimism.

2:05But if instead you're not only optimistic, but you're an action-oriented realist who knows there's always something to do to take advantage of the situation. And that's what I want for you. I want you to understand. You can always take advantage. You can always ask a question as powerful as, how is this worst thing that happened to me? Actually, the best thing that ever happened to me. And when you flip your mindset like that, nothing in the real world changes. But suddenly you see everything differently. And that thing, that bad thing, that you were stressing about, that you were crying over. It becomes empowered. It becomes something totally new. And think about the way that you can transform the past. Simply by thinking about it in a new way. And when you do that, then you can't do it. And when you do that, then you're going to be able to maintain your power and even grow your power. Because it's coming from understanding that if you own your decisions and always respect that you can act, that you can choose to harness any situation. When you remember that, you're in control.

3:06And when you're in control, you can go wherever you want to go. I want to dispel a myth for you. It's the talent myth. It's the belief that some people were just born with more than others. That some people are naturally gifted in some aren't. And that's just the way the cookie crumbles. And whatever you're going to be is essentially determined by how you started. That your DNA is exactly your destiny. I'm here to tell you right now. That's bullshit. It's just not true. It's not the truth of the way that humans are designed. As a species, we're the ultimate adaptation machine. The very thing that puts us at the top of the pyramid is our ability to adapt. It is the fact that the brain is plastic. That it responds to change. It responds to stressors. It responds to repetition. And repetition is a slave to obsession.

4:09As Conor McGregor said, there's no talent here. This is hard work. This is an obsession. You could be anyone if you put in the time. That's one of the greatest athletes of our time telling you that he's not the result of genetics. He's not the result of natural gifts. He hasn't been bestowed something by God. He has shown up day after day in the most mundane of conditions on the cold days, on the hot days. He put in the work because he was obsessed with what he could become. And that repetition that you need to actually gain a skill follows that obsession. So in you right now, right now today, you want to start building that obsession. You want to look at it like an ember that can become a raging fire. But it needs your time and attention. It needs your time and attention. You've got to take that interest. You've got to take that spark of desire. And you've got to fan the flames. You've got to turn it into that obsession. And from that obsession, if you put in the work, if you do the things day in and day out, the back breaking work, pushing through the pain,

5:15fighting through, feeling like an idiot, fighting through embarrassment, getting up, brushing yourself off, doing it again, practicing, putting yourself at somebody's feet and asking. What could I have done better? Not look at the things you're doing well, but look at the things you're doing wrong. Look at the things you're doing poorly, staring at your inadequacies with no loss of pride. Because the only thing you value in yourself is your willingness to do that. Your willingness to work your ass off. And as Sylvester Solon said, I'm not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world. I succeed because I keep going and going and going. And that's the secret. There's nothing more than that. The people that you see that win at the highest level. They were the ones that didn't give up. They're the survivors. And you've got to ask yourself, am I a survivor type? Am I the type of person that continues to push through? When it gets hard, when it gets boring, when I feel lost, when I don't know what I'm doing, when I have no faith in myself,

6:19even in that darkest hour, can I push forward? Can I accept that the human body will respond to that stress? It will respond to that stimulus, but I have to show up and I have to do the work. And so that's the beautiful thing. You're not going to separate yourself based on your genetics. You're not going to separate yourself based on who your parents were or where you were born. You're going to separate yourself by showing up when you don't want to. You're going to separate yourself by pushing forward when it hurts. You're going to separate yourself by always moving forward, even when the forward is falling on your face. So never lose sight of that. It's the person that keeps going that can't be defeated. Here's the hard truth about getting great. It takes time and dedication. It takes a willingness to accept that you're not yet good enough.

7:19It takes the ability to stare at the places that you know that you're weak, to really look at those things and not let it affect your sense of self-esteem, and not let it affect your sense of self-worth so that you can still get the momentum going. But you have to understand that in the beginning, we're all terrible. And as Henry Cartier-Bresson said, your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. And so the thing that really makes great art or the people that continue to push and the people that continue to work and face how inadequate they are and really understand that at the end of the day greatness is a craft. Greatness is a process. Greatness is a habit. Greatness is the little things that you do every day over time, going out every day on the frayed of whether or not this is one of the 10,000 terrible things that you're going to do. It's being unafraid to make those mistakes, it's being unafraid that you're not yet great.

8:22And as Marianne Radmaker said, Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes Courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow. And that's it. If you want to be great, that's what you have to do. You've got to get up again tomorrow. You've got to be willing to face another day. You've got to be willing to accept that you've got to get through the bad ideas before you can get to the good. You've got to understand that you have to start as an apprentice. You have to start as a person going and getting tea and you have to accept that that's the job that you should be playing, that you should be working for somebody else. You should be looking up to somebody else and seeing what they can teach you because what you know is that you're there to learn. What you know is that you're there to get through the 10,000 bad photographs and you need to get through to ultimately achieve greatness. And if you make the catastrophic error that's so many make to try to tell the world that you're extraordinary today, to try to get the world to follow you and look up to you

9:24and think that you're something today because the people that really win are the ones that invest today. The ones that listen today. The ones that spend every ounce of their energy, a massing mastery, getting better every day, working their apps off to improve their skill set to relentlessly look at the things that they're not doing well. To understand that they have to break themselves down and get rid of all of their ego before they can really find greatness. Those are the people that we remember. So if you want to be remembered, if you want to achieve real greatness, you just need to have the courage to show up every day and take another swing, take another photo, try another task, do something that scares you and do those little things over and over and over until you win.

10:25As Confucius said, better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. So many people are obsessed with becoming perfect that they never take action and they never learn to enjoy this moment. That may be one of the greatest tragedies any of us can face. That right now, whatever we are, however we are, however good we are, whatever we've accomplished, that we fail to enjoy this moment because we have a judgment about who we are, deep down, because we haven't acted in a way that's perfect. And I get it, we have this drive, it's in nateness, we want to be great. It's one of the five primary human drivers to pursue mastery, to want to master something and truly be extraordinary. I understand the drive, but don't let it corrode you. Don't ever do something that eats you alive from the inside. You've got to have a vision of yourself that allows you to morph and change and learn from your mistakes. But if you value perfection over learning,

11:27then you're never going to become the person that you'd be capable of becoming. And as Anna Quindlin said, the thing that is really hard and really amazing is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. Confucius talks about the diamond for a reason all of us are something precious and amazing. And truly, we'll never be again, giving your unique DNA the way that you were raised in the time period that you were raised in. You will literally never find this exact mind again. And so if you've ever wanted to feel special, there it is, you are special. No one will ever have that exact combination again. But if you're striving for some notion of what you should be, some vision of what perfection is and what it means, then you're not going to have this space to really be you. To find out what it is about you, that's special, that's rare, that isn't like other things, which means that you don't fit in, which means that you were not average,

12:27which means you actually have the chance to be extraordinary. If only you open yourself up to being different. When you're willing to be the outcast suddenly, you can think differently, suddenly you can be different and act differently and suddenly. You can be so different as to be true, useful. Because you're coming at something from a totally unique perspective, and that unique perspective to you may be ugly, it may be bent, it may be broken, it may be imperfect, but it's never going to happen again. It's never going to happen again. And when you understand that, live it to the fullest, understand, this is it, this is one shot, this is the one you, I literally have the chills right now. Because if you understand, there's only one you, and you might as well be you, you might as well see what does that look like when it's taken all the way to the extreme. It's going to be different than other people. It's going to be ugly at times. It is going to be broken and flawed in some way, but it's going to be you. It's going to be unique. It's going to be different. It's going to be rare. And so truly, better to be a diamond with a flaw

13:29than the perfect pebble. The reality is, if you want to achieve something great in your life, you've got to be willing to accept who you really are right now. You've got to know exactly what you're good at, and what you're not. And the reason that the truth is going to piss you off, is it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt to acknowledge that you're not yet who you want to be. It's going to hurt to know that you're not. That you're not going to be, that you're not. That you're not going to be, that you're not going to be. It's going to hurt to know that you're not yet capable of the things that you want to be capable of and it's really Going to hurt to know that the things that people say behind your back the things that they say to hurt you that they're actually true That they're right. They have a point. You aren't good at that thing. You aren't as good as you could be You did embarrass yourself. You have fallen down all of those things are almost certainly true But when you can look at those things when you can stare nakedly at your inadequacies when you can really

14:29Stop and not protect yourself with ego, but protect yourself by knowing that you're going to learn from where you failed You're going to learn from the places you've fallen down. You're going to learn your inadequacies So that you can build something new so that you can move from that place into a place of Purpose into a place of skill set where you can dominate the field because you've built those skills But if you don't first acknowledge that you need to build them you can never begin the process in earnest And as Michio Kaku says all great ideas come from a picture You've got to know what you want you've got to know what that thing is that you're building towards you've got to know Exactly who you're trying to become and once you have that crystal clear vision of who you want to be It is far easier to acknowledge who you really are So you've got to start with that picture You've got to accept the reality pain and all

15:29You've got to have that picture. You've got to know where you're going You've got to know what the skills are that we need to build the order to get there and once you do that Once you have that picture and that picture is your obsession It's the thing that you think about you dream about you put it up on your wall. You tattoo it in your mind You know exactly who you're trying to become If you do that If you're honest with yourself about where you are and you know exactly where you want to go You can go anywhere As Kendrick Lamar said It was always me versus the world Until I found it's me versus me I think that's where most of us start we think that there's something outside that we're struggling against We think that literally the world is against us and we're raging against something But we don't even know what that thing is that we're raging against and as you fight and try to make your way And as you try to accomplish something incredible you find that you're not making any headway and that moment that you finally

16:35Begin to break through and build something extraordinary in that moment The realization is that it was always you trying to figure out how to become the best version of yourself and Once you grasp that once you let the noise die away once you stop worrying about what other people think what other people want What other people have accomplished what other people have Once you let go of all of that and ask one simple question How extraordinary can I become What am I capable of? What are my limits? How far can I push myself in this time that I have on this earth exactly how much of my potential Can I ring out of myself and by that? I don't mean something mystical by that. I mean how much can I become capable of How far can I push myself? What can I build? How can I change this world? But all by doing one simple thing Pushing myself to give better every day and as Napoleon Hill said strength and growth come only

17:41Through continuous effort and struggle So the irony is when you let go of trying to please the world when you let go of trying to change the world When you stop trying to move mountains you will realize that a far harder struggle awaits you And that struggle is becoming something new that struggle is becoming something different that struggle is Recentering yourself finding out who you are building yourself piece by piece until finally you realize what it takes To actually become a better version of yourself you realize that it takes nothing less than your everything your total commitment Every bit of focus that you have a willingness to break yourself down So that you can build yourself back up But if you're willing to put in that effort if you're willing to transform if you're willing to change and fight and struggle You will be rewarded with growth You'll be rewarded with improvement You'll be rewarded with the ability to close your eyes

18:44Imagine a world and then open your eyes and make that world come true As Maya Angelou said if you don't like something change it if you can't change it Change your attitude That's some of the best advice you're ever going to hear at the end of the day You should always be trying to change the things that you have the ability to change There are inevitably going to be things that you can't change But you're never helpless you're never a victim in that moment you still Have the Unbelievable ability to choose to look at it in a new way to choose to reframe it and in that reframing you change Everything you don't just change your own neurochemistry You're not just changing the way that you feel you're actually changing the way that you're going to approach the problem something That was moments before something that seemed impossible something that was breaking your will to continue to fight

19:45With a change in attitude become something completely different and as Hans Selie said Adopting the right attitude can turn a negative stress into a positive one And that game of mental jujitsu is what's about that game of flipping something on its head of turning something around of seeing an in a new way So that you can act in a new way Is how you make forward progress and understanding that understanding the need to take control of your perceptions Understanding that understanding your need to change your perspective That's how you begin to get ahead once you understand your perspective is a choice It is not objective truth burn that into your mind It is not objective truth the world that you see around you is Simply the perspective through which you see it all of life is a fun house mirror And when you acknowledge that when you understand that you're looking at a distorted view of the way the world is you realize that you can Adop a different Distortion you can adopt a distortion that allows you to see things more clearly that allow you to see things in a way that empower you

20:52And that should always be the first step is figuring out not what is Not what you can change But instead understanding what you need to change it too And understanding that that change comes from inside you It isn't a manifestation that you have to make in the outside world first It's a change you have to make inside yourself It is a shift the perspective it is simply stepping to the side of what you're used to and how you used to seeing things and Understanding that in reframing things you take that negative and turn it into something that builds you up But you've got to choose You've got to decide You've got to believe that you can do it But once you believe that you can see things in any way that you need to to reach your goals your life will change forever Because you'll actually reach your goals As Martin Luther said

21:53Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces I would still plant my apple tree some things you Build whether you can control the outcome or not Sometimes it's the process that is the thing that's meant to be enjoyed It's the process that you're meant to invest in and rather than always thinking about the goal the outcome or what you're going to get out of something Focus on the something Focus on the part of it that you can control because you can't always control the outcome You can't know what's going to happen tomorrow tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us and yet we all act and yet we create Momentum in our lives when we're at our best But we do that not because we can control every aspect we do that because we accept that there are things that we cannot control and As Steve Meriboli said Incredible change happens in your life When you decide to take control of what you do have power over Instead of craving control over what you don't And that's where a lot of people get lost they focus not on what they have in their hands

22:57They focus instead on the things that they can't control it irritates them it frustrates them It's like a splinter in their mind they can't stop thinking about the things that they don't have control over and they're blinded to the Incredible wealth that is around them of things that they could enjoy right here right now That's why gratitude is such an empowering practice to sit there and not think of the glorious things may awake you in your future But rather to think about the things that you have here in this moment Oxygen in your lungs a simple breeze on your face a window in your house someone that you love someone that loves you Nothing that costs money nothing that was the pot of gold at the end of a glorious rainbow It's not even about becoming something extraordinary and waiting for the results of that It's simply understanding that the one thing you can control are your actions today the choices that you make what you get to do how you Think about yourself the beliefs you choose to bring into your life those things you control And when you understand the power in acknowledging that control and taking control and using it

24:03That's when your life is going to begin to change but first you have to divorce yourself from being obsessively interested only in an outcome If instead you build yourself a steam you build your pride on pursuit You build your pride on allowing yourself to care about something so deeply that even though tomorrow is not guaranteed that you're going to plant your Apple tree today that you're going to love that process because it is the thing that you can control you can control how you show up You can control how you play you cannot control how other people react you cannot control what they think about you But you can control what you think about yourself you can earn credibility with yourself even control what you do And when you take full ownership of that and realize that your life is an exact reflection of your Choices of the things you could control and what you did with them Then everything begins to change you're not looking to blame somebody else. You're not even worried about anybody else You're just asking one simple question

25:03What can I do right now Regardless of tomorrow to improve my life today? Focus there and you'll enjoy every day of your life I want you to burn into your nervous system the following statement because it is a Fundamental truth of the human condition. It is literally the base line physics of what it means to be a person As Earl Nightingale said we become what we think about and that's an idea that I want you to hold firmly in your mind That's something that I really want you to internalize. I really want you to stop right now whatever you're doing I want you to stop lean into this video and listen to what I'm saying You will become what you think about really think about that for a second as if it wasn't just a phrase as if it's More than just words as if it were a truth about how the brain works because it is

26:08You're going to become the thing that you think about and I know that you're dwelling on a lot of negative I know that you're carrying a lot of baggage with you and I know that is you think about how things might go wrong that you believe You believe To the core of your being that you're just Planning for the hard times, but the truth is you're going to become those things that you fear You're going to become the things that you dread if you're thinking about all the things that you've done long in the past You are going to simply continue that cycle But if on the other hand and let this be true let this ring in your ears with the weight of everything that I carry if I've Ever added an ounce of value to you if anything I have ever said it seems remotely true believe that these are the most important words I'm ever going to say to you if you begin to focus on positive things if you begin to focus on your capabilities if you begin to focus on the potential that you have if you really dig in

27:11Build those skills drive towards something beautiful something Amazing something that leaves you an odd when you want to create that you want to become the vessel for that then you will You will become that thing because you will take those steps because you become What do you think about? And as Mark Twain said 20 years from now You'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do So if you don't take those steps if you don't focus on those things if you don't manifest what you want to become If you don't believe in it if you don't see how real it could be if you can't Picture the version of yourself that you want to become and even though people have told you that it's not possible for you But the things you did in the past are never going to allow you to do that that you're not smart enough If you let that creep into your mind and that's what's gonna happen But if you can see that vision if you can allow yourself to believe it then you're going to take the steps that you need to execute against that

28:12And if you go out there and do those things You won't regret it, but you will regret it if you don't So get out right now and Build the person you want to be so you can have the life you want to have You