Will Smith is someone I have truly begun to appreciate the more life goes on. Not just for his abilities as an actor but also for his mentality towards being a better human being. In many of his interviews, he drops truth bombs that can seriously cut to your core. Not only are they profound thoughts and ideas, but he also backs them up with his actions.
There are two quotes that have always stuck with me, and over the past few years, they have begun to make more and more sense.
You can read them below, or check out the videos for the full impact:
“Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, god-like feature that only the special among us will ever taste, it’s something that truly exists in all of us.” – Will Smith
“There’s a redemptive power that making a choice has rather than feeling like you’re an effect to all the things that are happening. Make a choice. Just decide what it’s gonna be, who you’re gonna be, how you are going to do it. Just decide. And from that point, the universe will get out of your way.” – Will Smith
The reason I love these quotes is mainly due to the fact that they are both true and simple.
In my article last week I talked about the best way to start a new habit. I briefly mentioned the issue many of us face when we fail to stick to a new habit. When we fail and see others succeed, we often seek out the negatives in ourselves first. We assume that the reason we can’t do it and they can is because we lack something special. We tell ourselves that this person has a unique quality and is simply born with more willpower.
We create all of these excuses and reasons for why we can’t achieve what we want and never try again. The simple truth, however, is that we just don’t have the right design or planning to create a new habit.
It has nothing to do with our willpower.
…
So often we dream up future lives that we want to live and goals that we want to achieve. We spend so much time thinking about these future realities and can’t wait for them to arrive. But there’s one problem. We don’t have a plan for getting there and figuring out how we are going to achieve our goals is just as important as choosing them.
Yes, it’s helpful to create the goals, but what specifically does that mean for this next year?
What do you need to do over the next month, week, day, or even the next hour?
We only have a limited amount of time and if we are to make the most of it, we have to plan how we are going to spend it.
I encourage you to decide on your goals today. But more importantly, plan them out. Create mini goals within your large goals.
If you want to make it to the Olympics, you first have to make the national team, and to do that you have to make the regional team, and before that you need to practice and get better at (a sport specific skill), and before that you need to finish your homework so you can make it to practice.
You have what it takes to be great. Deep down you know this is true. But understanding this truth is just the beginning. It’s up to you to decide on what exactly “being great” means. Once you decide, figure out how you are going to do it — and from there start working.
Step 1) Believe
Step 2) Decide
Step 3) Plan
Step 4) Work
The intricate details, setbacks, and obstacles that lay in between these steps will obviously arise along the way. But worrying about them before you even understand the basic steps is a recipe for failure and disappointment.
Stay hungry, work hard.
-DT
