Whilst doing my 6-monthly (and a bit embarrassing) self-nomination to speak at a TED event (one day they’ll relent and ask me to speak, just like the guy in Shawshank Redemption who sends endless letters until he succeeds.) Anyway… as I was saying… Whilst doing my 6-monthly self-nomination to speak at a TED event I came across a great talk by a guy called Gary Vaynerchuk.
He’s a bit of a douchebag (I can call him that – it’s how he describes someone else in his talk) and he swears quite a lot. But I love what he is saying. He is like an angry, successful, rich version of me!
The message is simple:
Do What You Love.
Stop Making Excuses!
You can watch the video below, or take these final few sentiments as a succinct summary of the whole thing,
“Do what you love. Position yourself to succeed. Do it after hours if you don’t have time. Come home, kiss the dog, then get on with it, whatever it is that excites you. Start building whatever it is you want to accomplish after hours.
Everybody has time.
Stop watching f***ing bad TV!
If you want something enough; if you want to achieve it… then WORK!”
UPDATE (20th March): Mr Angry / Passionate above has not gone down very well with my readers! I found that interesting to hear. But the people have spoken, and the people are the power.
So here is what I deem to be another excellent talk, by surf photographer Mickey Smith, and one that I imagine will be welcomed more warmly here on this blog…
“If I can only scrape a living, at least it will be a living worth scraping”
He inherits a multi-million dollar company and stability from his parents. He has a safety net to fall back on. He has a capital to grow his idea and nothing to lose if it goes wrong.
He is the height of arrogance… barely literate… and extremely condescending.
Hi Sean,
All of that may well be true, but do you not still agree with the sentiment here?
Al
Nothing wrong with the sentiment.
I guess my grievance is that he has no idea what he is talking about… he has never had to take a major leap to achieve what he wants or risked losing the comfortable (but boring) life he currently has. He is not qualified to lecture on this.
Hi Sean,
I take your point – thanks for taking the time to share it. It’s good to have a bit of a debate and look at other views, so I really appreciate it.
I’ll try and rustle up something you like better next time!
Cheers
Al
Hi… please don’t try to please everyone all the time :-) I enjoy your blog and your style (I’ve been a fan since I read your blog of you cycling in Ethiopia…). You really have made your own way and documented your journey – don’t look up to that guy. He’s a step down.
Hmm. He talks a lot about hustling, but that’s the one thing I hate more than anything else. Mind you, he’s certainly right about the bad TV.
How about TedX?
http://tedxlondon.com/
watching the video. I am at less than a minutes. He sounds like a preacher :)
I do appreciate the sentiment, but I’d much rather listen to someone such as yourself giving a talk on life ambitions. There are people out there who are more encouraging and inspirational, and frankly a little calmer, which usually means happier. He doesn’t seem to be very happy or fulfilled to be honest.
Love the Mickey Smith Video : )
“let laughter be a dis-armer and a reflective shield” beats “monetise that shit” in my book.
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis, as they say and 1 Dark side of the lens is worth a thousand video’s of a booming Gary Vaynerchuk monetising his pseudo passion for Chilean Pinot Noir.
It was definitely one of the more bold and brash talks I’ve watched… I think if he cut out the swearing and the condescension he might be received a bit more positively and taken more seriously.
Whilst he did have a head start with an already pre-established business, I think he can be credited for significantly scaling up the business as well as he did. There are plenty of people out there that don’t value what’s been given to them, squander the resources and destroy their business overnight. He certainly hasn’t done that. It undoubtedly took him a lot of skill, a lot of luck and plenty of ‘hustle’ to achieve what he has. However, I think I’d find him more endearing if he showed a bit of humility about what he’s achieved and recognised that not everybody wants or feels the need to achieve ‘success’ in such a ruthless manner.
At the end of the day I think we are best measured not by what we achieve (like Gary Vaynerchuk seems to believe), but by how we feel about our life at the end when the final curtain closes. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, admitted on his deathbed that he had ‘blown it’ because of neglecting his family in pursuit of growing his business. You must wonder if he was ever truly happy whilst building his corporate empire (nonetheless good on him for doing well at this). Gary Vaynerchuk seems disdainful of what he’s achieved and almost as if he doesn’t enjoy what he does. To me that makes him unqualified to preach to the masses and inspire us as it doesn’t seem he’s truly following his heart. To me, it almost doesn’t matter what you’re doing or trying to achieve in this life as long as you love doing it and it is meaningful.
Let’s just hope Gary Vaynerchuk isn’t the next Sam Walton and he stays true to what he wants and believes, whatever that is.
First video was OK, although didn’t make it to end. It teetered between a passionate and inspiring call to arms and a loudmouth rant.
I love Mickey Lee’s talk. Yes. The wild spirit. He is an great example of progression as Taking Life as It Comes. Never fussing about and going with the tide. And the film, dark side of the lens, was amazing. Always believe. Thanks for posting this, Alastair.
Super inspiring talk – the guy’s not angry he’s just being 100% himself and wants others to stop making excuses and get out there and do the same. Don’t be a hater just get out there and take action!