Denzel Washington's Advice That Can Change Your Life Too
In case you don’t him, Denzel Washington is a talented American actor, director, and producer. He has received many awards and nominations.
“I found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks.”
“Dreams without goals, are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment.”
“Nelson Mandela said there is no passion to be found in playing small and settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.”
“You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.”
“I’m sure people have told you to make sure you have something to fall back on, to make sure you got something to fall back on honey, but I never understood that concept. I don’t want to fall back on anything except my faith. I want to fall forward, I figure at least this way I’ll see what I’m going to hit. Fall forward. This is what I mean:
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. Fall forward.
Thomas Edison conducted one thousand failed experiments. Did you know that? I didn’t know that. because the one thousand and first was the light bulb. Fall forward.”
“Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.”
“You’ve 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, accept 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 to embrace it because it’s inevitable and I should know in the acting business, you fail all the time.”
“I’ve worked in a factory. I was a garbage man. I worked in a post office. It’s not that long ago. I like to think that I’m just a regular guy.”
Early in his career, Denzel auditioned for a part in a broadway musical that he thought would be a perfect role for him he didn’t get the job since his acting skills weren’t fit for the job, and wasn’t prepared enough.
“I didn’t get the job but here’s the thing, I didn’t quit, 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; if you hang around the barber shop long enough, sooner or later you’re going to get a haircut, so you will catch a break and I did catch a break.
Last year I did a play called Fences on broadway and I didn’t have to sing by the way 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.”
I should mention that even though Denzel is sharing this beautiful experience to give a lesson and show the irony but he rose to fame and proved his amazing talent long before Fences.
“If you don’t fail you’re not even trying. My wife told me this great expression. To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. Les Brown’s a motivational speaker. He made an analogy about this, he says to 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 came to you because you could have brought us to life, and now we have to go to the grave together, so I ask you today.
How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?”
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