WATCH THIS EVERYDAY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE - Denzel Washington Motivational Speech

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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

in 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

i want to fall forward

i figure at least this way i'll see what

i'm going to hit

without consistency

you'll never finish

so do what you feel passionate about

passionate about

take chances

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

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

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

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fall forward

thomas edison conducted 1 000 failed

experiments did you know that i didn't

know that

because the one thousand and first was

the light bulb

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fall forward

every failed experiment is one step

closer to success

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

you will fail at some point in your life

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

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

i didn't get the job

but here's the thing

i didn't quit

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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 gonna get a haircut

so you will catch a break and i did

catch a break

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last year

i did a play called fences on broadway

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 every graduate here today

has the training and the talent to

succeed

but do you have the guts

to fail

if you don't fail

you're not even trying

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i'll say it again if you don't fail

you're not even trying

to get something you never had you have

to do something you never did

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

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how many ghosts are going to be around

your bed when your time comes

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i just got back from south africa it's a

beautiful country

but there are places there with terrible

private poverty that need help

and africa is just 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 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

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

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 took a course called the

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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

i was a 1.8 gpa

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 was looking in the

mirror and every time i looked in the

mirror i could see her behind me and she

was staring at me

she just kept looking at me every time i

looked at her she kept giving me these

strange looks

so she finally took the dryer off her

head and said

she said something i'll never forget

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

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and in the years that follow just as

that woman prophesies 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

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

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but i see youth today

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and i'm encouraged by what i see

i'm strengthened

by what i see

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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

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

never be discouraged

never hold back

give everything you got

and when you fall throughout life

remember this

fall forward

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you