Hard Work Is The Path To Your DREAMS! - Gary Vaynerchuk Motivation

Summary

The speaker passionately emphasizes the importance of work ethic and self-awareness as key to success. They argue that while we cannot change our innate traits, we can control our decisions and actions. The speaker encourages focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses, and being authentic in our ambitions rather than conforming to societal expectations. They suggest seeking feedback from loved ones to gain self-awareness and to align actions with aspirations, advocating for a fearless and confident approach to personal and professional growth.

Takeaways

• 🔨 Work Ethic: The speaker emphasizes that work ethic is the most controllable factor in one's success, regardless of innate abilities or circumstances.
• 🎯 Self-Awareness: The importance of self-awareness is highlighted as a key to personal and professional growth, urging individuals to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
• 🚀 Leverage Strengths: The speaker suggests focusing on and amplifying one's strengths rather than obsessing over fixing weaknesses.
• 🎲 Life as a Poker Hand: Life is compared to poker, where success is determined by how you play your hand, not necessarily the hand you are dealt.
• 💡 Ambition vs. Action: There is a call to align actions with ambitions, rather than spending time on trivial pursuits.
• 💸 Money Isn't Everything: Happiness and success are not solely tied to wealth, as evidenced by contrasting examples of individuals with varying financial situations.
• 🤔 Question Your Motives: The speaker encourages the audience to reflect on their motivations, ensuring they align with personal values rather than external pressures.
• 🎉 Embrace Your Uniqueness: There's a message to be confident in one's abilities and to not compare oneself to others, as everyone has their own set of strengths and weaknesses.
• 👥 Seek Honest Feedback: The speaker advises seeking feedback from those closest to you to gain insight into your true strengths and areas for improvement.
• 🔑 Unlock Potential: Self-awareness is presented as a key that can unlock one's full potential and lead to a more fulfilling life.
• 🛑 Overcoming Fear: The speaker shares that being unafraid allows for action, which is essential for achieving success and happiness.
• 🏆 Hard Work as a Prerequisite: The necessity of hard work as a baseline for success is underscored, as no one achieves greatness without putting in the effort.

Q & A

What is the main point the speaker emphasizes about work ethic?

The speaker emphasizes that work ethic is the one thing that is in an individual's control and can lead to success, regardless of one's inherent abilities or circumstances.

How does the speaker compare a great poker player to someone navigating life?

The speaker compares a great poker player to someone navigating life by stating that, just like a poker player doesn't need the best hand to win, individuals don't need perfect circumstances to succeed; it's about how they navigate their situation.

What does the speaker suggest people spend too much time on?

The speaker suggests that people spend too much time on trivial matters and distractions, rather than focusing on their ambitions and making the most of their potential.

What advice does the speaker give regarding work-life balance?

The speaker advises against being a workaholic and emphasizes the importance of being happy and content with one's lifestyle, whether that means working a lot or enjoying leisure time.

How does the speaker feel about the concept of self-awareness?

The speaker highly values self-awareness and believes it is crucial for personal and professional success, as it allows individuals to understand their strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly.

What does the speaker suggest people should do with their weaknesses?

The speaker suggests that people should 'punt' their weaknesses, meaning they should focus on their strengths and not obsess over fixing their weaknesses unless they are critical.

What is the speaker's view on the importance of being confident in one's abilities?

The speaker believes that being confident in one's abilities is key to success and that people should focus on what they are good at rather than what they are not.

How does the speaker describe the feeling of being self-aware and grounded?

The speaker describes the feeling of being self-aware and grounded as liberating and empowering, allowing individuals to not be scared and to take action without being overly concerned about others' opinions.

What is the speaker's recommendation for those who struggle with self-awareness?

The speaker recommends that those who struggle with self-awareness should gather feedback from people who know them best, such as family members and co-workers, and have open discussions about their strengths and weaknesses.

What does the speaker suggest is the cost of entry for success?

The speaker suggests that working hard is the cost of entry for success, as no one has achieved significant success without putting in the effort.

How does the speaker feel about the importance of aligning actions with words?

The speaker stresses the importance of actions backing up words, indicating that it is essential for individuals to not just talk about their ambitions but also to demonstrate them through their actions.

Outlines

00:00

🔑 The Power of Work Ethic and Self-Awareness

The speaker emphasizes the importance of work ethic as a controllable factor in life, unlike innate qualities such as beauty, intelligence, or speed. They argue that success lies in the decisions we make with what we have, akin to a poker player's skill in navigating their hand. The speaker encourages the audience to focus on self-awareness, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and doubling down on their strengths rather than obsessing over weaknesses. They share personal anecdotes and observations about people's behaviors on social media, suggesting that actions should align with ambitions. The speaker also discusses the idea of being content with one's achievements, regardless of financial status, and the importance of being authentic and true to oneself.

05:01

🚀 Embracing Strengths and Ignoring Weaknesses

The speaker continues to stress the significance of self-awareness, urging individuals to be confident in their abilities and to avoid wasting time trying to fix their weaknesses. They suggest that people should instead focus on their strengths and what they enjoy, as this will lead to greater success and satisfaction. The speaker proposes an exercise where individuals gather feedback from those closest to them to gain a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. They argue that being self-aware and secure in one's identity can lead to a fearless and fulfilling life, where actions align with words and social media portrayals, unlocking personal potential.

10:02

🛠 The Cost of Entry: Hard Work and Time Investment

In the final paragraph, the speaker discusses the inevitability of hard work in achieving success, dismissing the concept of 'working smart' as a potential cop-out. They assert that hard work is the baseline requirement for winning and that no one achieves significant success without it. The speaker also addresses the issue of time investment, suggesting that when people are unhappy, they often waste their time on trivial pursuits as an escape. They encourage the audience to invest their time in activities that will lead to happiness and fulfillment, which in turn will bring them closer to their goals.

Keywords

💡Work Ethic

Work ethic refers to the idea of working hard and being dedicated to achieving goals. It is central to the video's theme as the speaker emphasizes that work ethic is something within an individual's control and is a key determinant of success. The speaker contrasts work ethic with inherent traits like beauty or intelligence, which are not changeable, and argues that a strong work ethic can lead to significant achievements, as exemplified by the poker player metaphor.

💡Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires. In the context of the video, self-awareness is presented as a crucial step towards personal and professional development. The speaker suggests that understanding one's strengths and weaknesses is vital for success and encourages the audience to be introspective and honest with themselves about their abilities and goals.

💡Strengths and Weaknesses

The terms 'strengths' and 'weaknesses' are used to describe the inherent abilities and limitations of an individual. The speaker advises the audience to focus on amplifying their strengths and to 'punt' or minimize their weaknesses. This concept is integral to the video's message, as it suggests that recognizing and leveraging one's natural talents can lead to greater success than trying to fix every flaw.

💡Ambition

Ambition is the strong desire to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. The speaker mentions ambition in the context of wasted potential, criticizing those who talk about their ambitions but do not back it up with action. Ambition is portrayed as a driving force that, when combined with self-awareness and hard work, can lead to significant accomplishments.

💡Punting Weaknesses

The concept of 'punting weaknesses' suggests that instead of focusing on fixing every flaw, one should accept and manage their weaknesses while concentrating on their strengths. The speaker uses this term to encourage the audience to be strategic about their personal development, arguing that it is more productive to invest time and energy into areas where they naturally excel.

💡Success

Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. In the video, success is linked to the idea of hard work, self-awareness, and the strategic use of one's strengths. The speaker implies that success is not just about wealth or status but also about finding fulfillment and happiness in one's work and life.

💡Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching, and running a new business, which is often seen as a path to success. The speaker discusses the current trend where entrepreneurship is highly regarded and many people aspire to be entrepreneurs. However, he criticizes those who merely talk about it without putting in the necessary work and effort.

💡Confidence

Confidence is a feeling of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities. The speaker encourages the audience to be confident in their strengths and to not be afraid to acknowledge and embrace them. This confidence is portrayed as a key factor in achieving success and happiness.

💡Fear

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. The speaker discusses the paralyzing effect of fear on action and progress, stating that when one is not scared, they can take bold steps towards success. Fear is presented as an obstacle that must be overcome to achieve one's goals.

💡Happiness

Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. The speaker relates happiness to the concept of self-awareness and doing what one loves. He argues that when people are unhappy, they waste their time on trivial pursuits, and it is only through finding and pursuing what they truly enjoy that they can achieve happiness and fulfillment.

💡Hard Work

Hard work is the act of exerting physical or mental effort, especially to achieve a goal or result. The speaker emphasizes that hard work is a prerequisite for success and warns against the idea of 'working smart' as a shortcut. He suggests that there is no substitute for putting in the effort and that hard work is the foundation upon which success is built.

Highlights

Work ethic is the one thing that's uncontrollable and in your control.

You can't change who you are or where you were born, but you can control your decisions and actions.

Success is not about having the best hand but navigating with the hand you have.

Ambition is often wasted on trivial pursuits instead of focusing on what truly matters.

Happiness and success are not tied to money; they come from doing what you love.

Entrepreneurship is on a pedestal, but not everyone's actions match their ambitions.

Many people are busy with activities that don't contribute to their goals.

Self-awareness is key to professional and personal success.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses allows you to focus on what you're good at.

It's better to excel in your strengths than to fixate on your weaknesses.

Confidence in your abilities and ignoring your weaknesses can lead to success.

People who love what they do have a disproportionate advantage because it doesn't feel like work.

Find what you like about your work and focus on that to be successful.

If you're not happy with your work, it's a sign you're not where you should be.

Working hard is the cost of entry for winning; nobody has made it without hard work.

When you're not scared, you can achieve great things.

Being self-aware and grounded in who you are can lead to a fulfilling life.

Spend time with people who know you best to gain self-awareness and understand your strengths and weaknesses.

Transcripts

the thing that i'm super passionate

about as a lot of you know is i think

work ethic

is the one thing that's super

uncontrollable

right like a lot of us were born with

what we were born with

right like you're only so pretty you're

only so smart you're only so fast you're

only like you're only what you are

the one thing that i'm fascinated by as

you sit here the way you were parented

where you were born what you got the one

thing that actually is in your control

is the decisions of what you do with

your hand it's like a great poker player

right a great poker player doesn't need

the best hand every time to win it's how

she or he navigates with that hand

we're not going to change

who we are or where we were born or to

whom we were born with

but no matter where you are in the life

cycle right now we all have the

opportunity to start looking at a little

different and to me very frankly i just

think we spend

an enormous amount of time on dumb [ __ ]

when we have ambition to do so much more

now look

you do you i'm no i'm not interested in

pedaling being a workaholic i'm really

not

you can do whatever you want the

happiest friend i know from growing up i

think he makes 50 000 a year he's on 17

[ __ ] softball teams he [ __ ] takes

every vacation day off and he's happy as

[ __ ] and i

i love him and it makes me so damn happy

i have friends who are early employees

at facebook they have 100 million

dollars in a bank and they're miserable

and it's [ __ ] this is not a money

conversation this is uh very simply do

your actions

back up your mouth

to me

looking at the hashtag looking at people

talking about this looking at their

social media i you know when i have the

whole east coast to west coast long

flight i get into a lot of work i get

all my work done and then i start

looking at all of your social media on

the way here and i look at the hashtag

and i see what you said about the

earlier speaker and i do my thing right

the thing that fascinated me a lot about

this conference is you've got a lot of

people peacocking in this organization

there's a aka a lot of you were talking

big [ __ ] and i don't mean about this

conference i went back and looked at all

your tweets did you know there were 37

billionaires sitting with us today

i'm fascinated by that

i'm fascinated because we're sitting in

a world right now where entrepreneurship

is on a pedestal of cool so everybody's

flocked to it and everybody's talking

about how they're gonna crush it and

what they're gonna do and who they're

gonna be and then you look at their

content

and every friday night they're at a

[ __ ] concert and every sunday morning

they're this and every tuesday afternoon

they're that and they watch a shitload

of [ __ ] netflix and they're

incredible at [ __ ] candy crush and

[ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ]

and so

i go on this rant not to do anything or

to razz or to [ __ ] call anybody out

i'm just asking a very simple question

i promise you if you want to be pumped

professionally and personally there's

one thing that will drive you to the

biggest success it's called

self-awareness

do you know who you are do you know what

you're about are you actually talking

about [ __ ] that you care about are you

talking because three or four people

that you love talk that game and you

just feel like you've gotta fit in or

appease your mom or dad or uncle or aunt

or grandmother's ambition

the thing that helped me so much was

just self-awareness in fourth grade i

punted school because i knew i sucked at

it i knew that i could make three 3 000

a weekend as a 10 year old selling

baseball cards but i couldn't spell 90

of the words that were being thrown at

me it was just who i was it was how i

was wired and i implore everybody in

this

conference to really think about this

incredibly interesting thing which is

when you're self-aware and you can get

to that place of understanding yourself

i implore you to triple down on your

strengths

and punt your weaknesses

this country

is really good at selling down our

throats what we're not good at

we're always being sold what to fix

i

truly believe that most of the people in

this room will succeed by not addressing

those things now something could be

fatal right like something could really

hurt you but i think you need to just

lift those get them to a certain place

so they're not a vulnerability and

triple down on your charisma and triple

down on your salesmanship and triple

down on your work ethic whatever those

three to four one two three four five

pillars are it's fascinating when you

study who's winning and who's not it's

the people that have the confidence to

suck at [ __ ]

that are winning i

can't read

right like i'm terrible at it like

reading a

two you know a second grade book to my

daughter's like

you sure you want to read michigan look

a bird you know like like

yet standing in front of 800 000 people

i'm like cool i'm good like we need to

start thinking more and more and as

you're going through your careers right

now i implore you to be confident in

what you're good at and to

punt what you suck at because i promise

you everybody else sucks at [ __ ] too

everybody's got strengths and weaknesses

and i'm fascinated by people's obsession

to pour all their efforts into fixing

their weaknesses which is playing

defense

and not triple hitting down on strengths

to figure out

do they really want stuff do they love

the how many people love working because

they just love the game of trying to win

at a career or building a business raise

your hands

those people are going to have a

disproportionate advantage because it

doesn't feel like work it's just their

zone for the rest of you you need to

figure out what you like about it and

spend all your time on that because if

you're in a place where you don't like

it you're not going to put in the amount

of work that's needed to actually

achieve the things that most of you want

it's very very simple put yourself in a

position to succeed put yourself in a

position to succeed and i will find how

many people here feel like they are not

self-aware because i want to address

this if i can just raise your hands if

you struggle you think a little bit with

self-awareness raise your hands nobody

wants somebody left

let me i'll just go to it because

i i respect why that's a tough one why

we got half the hands that we should

have and more importantly the ones i got

were [ __ ] you know crocodile hands

if you're listening for the last seven

minutes and i'm going through towards

unfunded i'm going to an awkward

territory i'm going there because it has

been clearly in the last four years the

thing that i've seen that has won and

lost i would highly implore you take the

five people that spend the most time

with you co-workers or family members if

you feel like you're struggling with

this issue and invite them to dinner

create a weird event where it's like

your mom and a co-worker and i was like

what the [ __ ] is happening

create a weird event

and tell everybody like you really want

to figure out what you're good at what

you're not good at and spend three hours

getting the people that love you or know

you the best comfortable with telling

you the truth because nobody wants to

tell you because most people are kind

right we don't tell people because we

like each other like especially the

people that are closest to you but this

is something i threw out about a year

ago in a blog post maybe two years ago

and it's been the thing that i've been

most emailed about it's remarkable and

it's an unlock because when you don't

see it when you're blinded to it you're

doing the same repeat behavior that's

stopping you from the thing and once you

can break it if you have the humility to

be comfortable with yourself to go there

it's a humongous unlock

but if you're [ __ ] insecure it's not

gonna mean dick

if you don't know what the [ __ ] you're

doing with yourself it's not gonna mean

[ __ ]

the reason i spent my time on talking

about this is not because i want to be a

[ __ ] motivational speaker and fluffy

fluff fluff and rah-rah-rah it's because

it's the [ __ ] thing

it's the thing

if your operating system isn't right you

got no [ __ ] chance if you're not

[ __ ] in a do you know how [ __ ]

unbeatable i feel do you know that if

you think i'm the best and i'm [ __ ]

the best and you're wearing my [ __ ]

hoodie and i'm the [ __ ] best do you

know how good that feels phenomenal do

you know if you're sitting here right

now never heard of me and you're like

[ __ ] this guy i don't like his bravado i

don't give a [ __ ] either

i don't care if you think i'm the best i

don't care if you think i'm the worst

i'm just in my [ __ ] because i'm grounded

because i know what i am and i know how

i'm trying to live my life and i want

that for every [ __ ] person because

let me tell you something it [ __ ] is

the best

it's such a good place to be do you know

what it's like to be in your own head

and nothing else matters do you know

what it feels like to give a [ __ ] so

much about what everybody thinks yet not

care at all do you know that when i

leave here i'm gonna look at every

single tweet about this talk and if

somebody said eh i'm gonna be devastated

like i [ __ ] died yet equally don't

give a [ __ ]

when you can get to that place amazing

[ __ ] happens you know why

because you stop being scared

when you're not scared you do [ __ ]

when you're scared you do nothing

and when you're not scared you do [ __ ]

and even better

when you're coming from a good place and

you're intense good because you're good

and you have good to give

[ __ ] really starts happening

and so i implore you

let's go get the mics ready i'm ready

let's go into the q a but i implore you

i'll go into every detail but i implore

you to get inside your head real quick

figure out who you really are and figure

out if what you're talking is being

mapped by what you're doing because the

second you put those things together

[ __ ] [ __ ] unlocks

there's best practices

everybody's different even if you follow

the right

you know i put out all my content for

free i want people to follow the model

but they're all gonna max that

everyone's gonna do it their own way

but even when i hear when i hear anybody

a startup

somebody starting at zero or potentially

starting at zero anybody here the second

i hear working smart i get scared i try

to get him off that

because working hard is the cost of

entry of winning you know nobody on

earth that's made it that didn't work

hard you might know somebody who

inherited money that didn't work hard

but you know nobody who's actually made

it that didn't work hard so i would just

put the head down and try them all

try them all here's my big thing what is

your time worth when you're not happy

like i hear people all the time like oh

but i don't want to waste time i'm like

you're [ __ ] unhappy here's what

people do they're unhappy

you're not where you're at so you put

your time into dumb [ __ ] like 2k and

netflix and [ __ ] fortnite because

you're escaping your real life

your time's not worth anything when

you're unhappy so put it into making

yourself happy which is the [ __ ] work

to get you to where you want

you