Wisdom for Success

Check this out; Interviews with Will Smith.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5nVqeVhgQE

Will Smith talks some about the universe.  I am unsure where these philosophies come from.  I know he was raised in a Baptist church, went to a Catholic junior high, but as of now I think he defines his religious beliefs as Scientology.  Which is quite unfortunate, but that is the way most Hollywood actors tend to go sadly.  The advice regarding the universe might be from the book "The Secret" that basically talks about karma; what you do is what will happen to you.  If you put out positive engery, positive things will happen to you.  I do not know about that though, knowing the biblical story of Job.  Job was blameless in God's sight.  He would have put out a lot of "positive energy" but part of his life was absolutely horrible.  As much as we would like to, we ultimately have no control over what happesn to us.  The rain falls on the good and the bad. 

However, Will Smith has great wisdom on other topics. :) 

Great quotes from Will Smith:

"Greatness is not this wonderful, elusive god-like feature that only the special amoung us will ever taste.  It's something that truly exists in all of us."

"We didn't grow up with the sense that where we were was where we were gonna be....we were becoming something greater."

"My dad said don't you ever tell me there's something you can't do."

"My grandmothers always said if you're gonna be here there's a necessity to make a difference...the responsibilty you have to make every group you have in contact with better."

"If you're not making someone else's life better, then you're wasting your time.  You're life will become better by making others' lives better."

"I believe that I can create whatever I want to create.....the first step before anyone else believes it is YOU have to believe it."

"You have to believe that something different than what has happened for the last thousands of years of history can happen.

"Confucious says, 'He who says he can and he who says he can't are both right.' "

"Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity." He says electricity and flying in a plane does not seem realistic, but it happens.

"I'm motivated by fear....fear of fear, I hate being scared to do something."

"In my early days I started attacking things that I was afraid of."

"Roosevelt said the only thing you have to fear is fear itself."

"Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something....you got a dream, you gotta protect it.  People can't do something themselves they want to tell you you can't do it.  You want something, go get it, period." 

Will Smith said he never considered himself that talented, which is funny because I have always considered him one of the most talanted people alive! lol  But he just has a very, very hard work ethic.  It is true that if you want something in life, you have to work at it.  Things don't just come to you.  A farmer's crop will not just grow by itself.  You have to sow so that you can reap. 

Something does not come from nothing.  If you do nothing, you will get nothing.  If you do not invest in something, you will not get a pay off.  If you want something, you have to do something about that want. 

I love the quote from Thoreau, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately."

How many of us DON'T live deliberately?  We just sit around and expect life to happen to us.  We want things to just happen for us without putting any work into it.  Life doesn't work that way.  Relationships don't work that way.  Everything worth doing is hard.  Every good thing takes hard work.