Denzel Washington - DREAM BIG - One of The Best Motivational Speech Ever

it's a gift 40 years ago march 27 1975 it was 40 years ago uh just this past march i was flunking out of college i had a 1.7 grade point average i hope none of you can relate at a 1.7 grade point average i was sitting in my mother's beauty shop they still call it beauty shops now but they call it yeah i sit in the beauty parlor i was sitting in my mother's beauty parlor and i'm looking in the mirror and i see behind me this woman under the dryer and every time she looked up she every time i looked up she was looking at me just looking me in the eye i didn't know who she was and i said you know she said somebody give me a pen give me a pencil i have a prophecy march 27 1975 she said boy you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people now mind you all flunked out of college i'm thinking about joining the army i didn't know what i was going to do and she's telling me i'm going to travel the world and speak to millions of people well i have traveled the world and i have spoke to millions of people but that's not the most important thing the success that i had the most important thing is that what she taught me and what she told me that day has stayed with me since i've been protected i've been directed i've been corrected kept god in my life and has kept me humble i didn't always stick with him but he always stuck with me so stick with him in everything you do if you think you want to do what you think i've done then do what i've done and stick with god number two fail big that's right fail big today is the beginning of the rest of your life and it can be it's going to be very frightening it's a new world out there it's a mean world out there and you only live once so do what you feel passionate about passionate about take chances professionally don't be afraid to fail there's an old iq test was nine dots and you had to draw five lines with a pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil the only way to do it was to go outside the box so don't be afraid to go outside the box don't be afraid to think outside the box don't be afraid to fail big to dream big but remember dreams without goals are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment so have dreams but have goals life goals yearly goals monthly goals daily goals i try to give myself a goal every day sometimes just to not curse somebody out simple goals but have goals and understand that to achieve these goals you must apply discipline and consistency in order to achieve your goals you must apply discipline which you've already done and consistency every day not just on tuesday and miss a few days you have to work at it every day you have to plan every day you heard the saying we don't plan to fail we fail to plan hard work works working really hard is what successful people do and in this text tweet twerk world that you've grown up in remember just because you're doing a lot more doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done remember that just because you're doing a lot more doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done don't confuse movement with progress my mother told me yeah yeah cuz you can run in place all the time and never get anywhere so continue to strive continue to have goals continue to progress number three you'll never see a u-haul behind a hearse i'll say it again you'll never see a u-haul behind a hearse i don't care how much money you make you can't take it with you the egyptians tried it they got robbed that's all they got you can't take it with you with you and it's not how much you have it's what you do with what you have we all have different talents some of you will be doctors some lawyers some scientists some educators some nurses some teachers yeah okay some preachers the most selfish thing you can do in this world is help someone else why is it selfish because the gratification the goodness that comes to you the good feeling the good feeling that i get from helping others nothing's better than that well one or two things but nothing's better than that not not jewelry not big house i have not the cars but the it's the joy that's where the joy is in helping others that's where the success is in helping others finally i pray that you put your slippers way under the bed tonight so that when you wake up in the morning you have to get on your knees to reach them [Applause] and while you when while you're down there say thank you for grace thank you for mercy thank you for understanding thank you for wisdom thank you for parents thank you for love thank you for kindness thank you for humility thank you for peace thank you for prosperity say thank you in advance for what's already yours it's how i live my life that's why i why i am one of the reasons why i am today say thank you in advance for what is already yours true desire in the heart for anything good is god's proof to you sent beforehand to indicate that it's yours already say it again true desire in the heart that it's that you have whatever it is you want to do that thing that you want to do to help others and to to grow and to make money that desire that it's that's god's proof to you sent beforehand already to indicate that it's yours and anything you want good you can have so claim it work hard to get it when you get it reach back pull someone else up each one teach one don't just aspire to make a living aspire to make a difference so i had to be here i had to come even though i was afraid i might make a fool of myself in fact if you really want to know the truth i had to come exactly because i had to come exactly because i might make a fool of myself now what am i talking about here it is i found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks nothing nelson mandela said there is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living now i'm sure in your experiences in school and applying to college and picking your major and deciding what you want to do with life i'm sure people have told you to make sure you have something to fall back on make sure you got something to fall back on honey but i never understood that concept having something to fall back on if i'm going to fall i don't want to fall back on anything except my faith i want to fall forward i figure at least this way i'll see what i'm going to hit fall forward this is what i mean reggie jackson struck out 2600 times in his career the most in the history of baseball but you don't hear about the strikeouts people remember the home runs fall forward thomas edison conducted one thousand failed experiments did you know that i didn't know that because the one thousand and first was the light bulb fall forward every failed experiment is one step closer to success you've got to take risks and i'm sure you've probably heard that before but i want to talk to you about why that's so important i got three reasons and and you can pick up your iphones first you will fail at some point in your life accept it you will lose you will embarrass yourself you will suck at something there's no doubt about it and i know that's probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony but hey i'm telling you embrace it because it's inevitable and i should know in the acting business you fail all the time early on in my career i auditioned for a part in a broadway musical perfect role for me i thought except for the fact that i can't sing so i'm i'm in the wings i'm about to go on stage but the guy in front of me he's singing like like like pavarotti he's just just going on and on and on and i'm just shrinking i'm getting smaller and smaller so they say oh thank you very much thank you very much and you will you'll be hearing from us so i come out with my little sheet music and it was it was a just my imagination by the temptations that's what i came up with so i hand it to the the the accompanist and uh she looks at it and looks at me and looks out at the director and is like all right so i start you know that's i'm gonna sing i'm like this is my imagination once again and then and i'm not saying anything so i'm thinking i'm getting better i could start getting into it [Applause] running this thing yeah thank you thank you thank you very much mr washington thank you so i assumed i didn't get the job but the next part of the audition he called me back the next part of the audition is the acting part of the audition you know i'm like hey okay maybe i can't sing but i know i can act so they pair me with this guy and again i didn't know about musical theater and musical theater is big so they can reach everyone all the way in the back of the of the stadium and i'm more from realistic naturalistic kind of acting where you you know you actually talk to the person next to you so i don't know what my line was my line was well hand me the cup and his line was well i will hand you the cup my dear the cup will be there to be handed to you i said i said okay well should i give you the cup back oh yes you should give it back to me because you know that is my cup and it should be giving back to me i didn't get the job but here's the thing i didn't quit i didn't fall back i walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition and the next audition i prayed i prayed and i prayed but i continued to fail and fail and fail but it didn't matter because you know what there's an old saying you hang around the barber shop long enough sooner or later you're going to get a haircut so you will catch a break and i did catch a break last year i did a play called fences on broadway [Music] so someone talked about it won the tony award and i didn't have to sing by the way but here's the kicker it was at the court theater it was at the same theater that i failed that first audition 30 years prior the point is and i'll pick up the pace the point is every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed but do you have the guts to fail here's my second point about failure if you don't fail you're not even trying i'll say it again if you don't fail you're not even trying my wife told me this great expression to get something you never had you have to do something you never did les brown's a motivational speaker you made an analogy about this says imagine you're on your deathbed and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential the ghost of the ideas you never acted on the ghost of the talents you didn't use and they're standing around your bed angry disappointed and upset they say we we came to you because you could have brought us to life they say and now we have to go to the grave together so i ask you today how many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes you invest you you've invested a lot in your education and people have invested in you and let me tell you the world needs your talents man does it ever i just got back from africa like two days ago so if i'm rambling on it's cause i'm jet lag i just got back from south africa it's a beautiful country but there are places there with terrible private poverty that need help when africa is just the the tip of the iceberg the middle east needs your help japan needs your help alabama needs your help tennessee needs your help louisiana needs your help philadelphia needs your help the world the world needs a lot and we need it from you we really do we need it from you young people i mean i'm not speaking for the rest of us up here but i know i'm getting a little grayer we need it from you the young people because remember this so you got to get out there you got to give it everything you got whether it's your time your your your talent your prayers or your treasures because remember this you will never see a u-haul behind a hearse [Music] i'll say it again you will never see a u-haul behind a hearse you can't take it with you the egyptians tried it and all they got was robbed [Applause] so the question is what are you going to do with what you have i'm not talking about how much you have some of you are business majors some of you are theologians nurses sociologists some of you have money some of you have patience some of you have kindness some of you have loved some of you have the gift of long-suffering whatever it is whatever your gift is what are you going to do with what you have all right now here's my last point about failure sometimes it's the best way to figure out where you're going your life will never be a straight path i began at fordham university as a pre-med student i i took a course called the cardiac morphos i still can't say it cardiac cardiac morphogenesis i couldn't read it i couldn't say it i surely couldn't pass it so then i decided to go into pre-law then journalism and with no academic focus my grades took off in their own direction [Music] yeah down i was a 1.8 gpa one semester and the university very politely suggested that it might be better to take some time off i was 20 years old i was at my lowest point and then one day and i remember the exact day march 27 1975 i was helping my mother in her beauty shop my mother owned a beauty shop up in mount vernon and there's there was this older woman who was considered one of the elders in the town and i didn't know her personally but i i was looking in the mirror and every time i looked through the mirror i could see her behind me and she was staring at me she just kept looking at every time i looked at her she kept giving me these strange looks so she finally took the dryer off her head and said to some she said something i'll never forget first of all she said somebody give me a piece of paper give me a piece of paper she said young boy i have a prophecy a spiritual prophecy she said you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people now mind you i'm 20 years old i'm flunked out of school in fact like a wise ass i'm thinking to myself maybe she's got something in that crystal ball about me getting back into school next fall [Music] but maybe she was on to something because later that summer while working as a counselor at the ymca camp in connecticut we put on a talent show for the campers and after the show another counselor came up to me and asked have you ever thought about acting you're good at that so when i got back to fordham that fall i got in and i changed my major once again for the last time and in the years that followed just as that woman prophesied i have traveled the world and i have spoken to millions of people through my movies millions who up until this day couldn't see me i who up till this day i couldn't see while i was talking to them and they couldn't see me they could only see the movie they couldn't see the real me but i see you today and i'm encouraged by what i see and i'm strengthened by what i see and i love what i see one more page and i'll shut up [Music] let me conclude with this one final point and actually the president kind of brought it up has to do with the movie philadelphia she stole my material many years ago i did this movie called philadelphia we filmed some of the scenes right here on campus philadelphia came out in 1993 most of you are probably still in diapers some of the professors too but that cracked me up but it was a good movie running on what do you call it netflix it's a good movie rent it i get 23 cents every time you run it please true parents up there rent rent rented netflix please tell your friends too it's about a man played by tom hanks who's fired from his law firm because he has aids he wants to sue the firm but no one's willing to represent him until a homophobic ambulance chaser lawyer played by yours truly takes on the case in a way if you watch the movie you'll see everything i'm talking about today you'll see what i mean about taking risk or being willing to fail because taking risk is not just about going for a job it's also about knowing what you know and what you don't know it's about being open to people and to ideas in the course of the film the character i play begins to take small steps small risks very very very slowly begins to overcome his fears and i feel ultimately his heart becomes flooded with love and i can't think of a better message as we send you off today to not only take risks but to be open to life to accept new views and to be open to new opinions to be willing to speak at a commencement at one of the best country best universities in the country even though you're scared stiff while it may be frightening it will also be rewarding because the chances you take the people you meet the people you love the faith that you have that's what's going to define you so members of the class of 2011 this is your mission when you leave the friendly confines of philly never be discouraged never hold back give everything you got and when you fall throughout life and [Music] remember this fall forward you

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Keywords: motivation, motivational, life, success, inspiration, work, grind, inspirational, speech, business, motivational video, best motivation, Denzel Washington, denzel washington grad speech, denzel washington motivational, denzel washington speech, denzel washington interview, denzel washington motivation, denzel washington, motivational speech

Id: WxDSat6ehjc

Length: 23min 39sec (1419 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 09 2020