I am Li
Ka-Shing, I became an apprentice at the age of 12. By the time I was 15,
I had to support my entire family, thus depriving me of a formal
education.
At the time I was very certain that I must work hard and acquire knowledge to have good prospects.
I bought second-hand books whenever I had spare money and absorbed them before trading them for more books.
Even today I still read every night before going to sleep.
Knowledge does not guarantee a life of riches, but it does open up more opportunities. And recognising opportunities is really the best that you can expect.
Back from my long break! Hope people are still around. This video that I just uploaded is an edited Commencement Address by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 38th Governor of California, at the University of Southern California on Rules of Life. Enjoy!
Arnold Schwarzenegger:
People ask me all the time, they say to me "What is the secret to Success?" The First rule is Trust Yourself, but what is most important is that you have to be dig down, dig deep down and ask yourselves who you want to be, not what but who. And I'm talking about not with your parents and teachers want you to be, I'm talking about favoring out for yourselves, what makes you Happy, no matter how crazy it may sound to the people.
Rule number one was trust yourselves no matter how, what anyone else thinks.
Rule number Two is Break the Rules. We have so many rules in Life about everything. I say break the rules! Not the law, but break the rules. It is impossible to be maverick or a true original if you're too well behaved and not want to break the rules. You have to think outside the box. That's what I believe. After all, what is the point of being on this Earth if all you want is be like by everyone and avoid trouble?
The only way I ever got anyplace was by breaking some of the rules.
Rule number Three: Don't Be Afraid to Fail. Anything I've ever attempted, I was always willing to fail. You can't always win, but don't be afraid of making decisions. You can't be paralyzed by fear or failure or you will never push yourself. You keep pushing because you believe in yourself and in your vision and you know that it is the right thing to do, and success will come. So don't be afraid to fail.
Rule number Four which is Don't Listen to the Naysayers. How many times have you heard that you can't do this and you can't do that and it's never been done before. I love it when someone says that no one has ever done this before, because then when I do it that means I'm the first one that has done it. So pay no attention to the people that say it can't be done. I never listen that, "You can't!" I always listen to myself and say, "Yes You Can!"
Rule number Five, which is the most important rule of all: Work Your Butt Off. Believe in leaving no stone unturned. Mohammed Ali, one of my great heroes, had a great line in the '70s when he was asked, "How many sit-ups did you do?" He said: "I don't count my sit-ups, I only count when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that's when I start counting, because that's when it really counts." That's what makes you a champion. That's the way it is in everything. No pain, no gain. When you are partying, horsing around, someone out there at the same time is working hard. Someone is getting smarter, and someone is winning, just remember that. If you want to win, there is absolutely no way around hard, hard work.
None of my rules by the way of success will work unless you do.I've always figured out that there's 24 hours a day. You sleep six hours, and have 18 hours left. I know that there are some of you out there that say well, wait a minute, I sleep 8 hours or 9 hours a day. Well then, just sleep faster I would recommend.
Rule number Six which is a very important rule: It's About Giving Back. Whatever path that you take in your lives, you must always find time to give something back, something back to your community, give something back to your state or to your country. Let me tell you something, reaching out and helping people will bring you more satisfaction than anything else you have ever done.
Remember those Six Rules: Trust Yourself, Break Some Rules, Don't Be Afraid To Fail, Ignore The Naysayers, Work Like Hell, and Give Something Back.
Billy Cox is a Motivational speaker, an entrepreneur, an author, Success coach and direct sales expert who has dedicated his adult life to helping others achieve their Dreams and Goals. At the age of 17, he started his sales and marketing career. He worked his way to the very top of every sales and management level in his company over a 10 year period.
Take a look at his speeches on Dreams and Goals below.
Billy Cox:
You got to know what you're doing. My sales manager came in and he pulled me aside one day and he said: 'Billy, quit joking yourself, quit kidding yourself, you don't have any Real Goals, you don't have any Real Dreams, those are wishes. You've got to set a dateline, you've got to know what you want, and you've got to have a target, you need to find what successes to you.' He said: 'I want you to write down your goals, I want you to put them on paper, and I want you to give me a copy of them.'
That took some thought, that took some decision, and also took a commitment. But I did my list and I gave him that list. He took the list and he put it in an envelope and he put it in his drawer, and we forgot about it.
The strange thing is around five years later he was moving offices, and he called me up, and he said: 'Billy you'll never guess this, I have a copy of your Goals and Dreams you wrote five years ago and I'm going to fax them to you. You're going to be very surprised.' He faxed me a copy of those Goals and Dreams and every single thing I had written down on that list, I have accomplished!
The strange thing about that is the time I wrote those dreams down I was broke, I lived in a small apartment. Five years later I had a new home, I had a new car and I was financially free. That's the power of having Goals and Dreams. Dreams and Goals help you know where you're going.
When you set Goals and Dreams you move in that direction. You'll move like a powerful, magnetic force but here's the thing about the power that we have as human beings. Not only will you move in the direction of your Goals and Dreams, but they will move in your direction, they'll be pulled towards you as you move towards them. And eventually, at a certain destination, you'll end up, you and your Goals and Dreams will cross paths.
When you have a Dream, when you have a Vision, when you decide to make changes in your life and take your business or your life to a different level, the first thing that happens is that an opponent shows up. That's why I tell everybody to fasten your seat belts! Get ready for the ride! Because there's going to be some bumps.
The 'G' on the letter is Goals because when you set your Goals and Dreams you can see farther. I can see everyone from here but I can't see part of everyone. When you have a Goal and a Dream and you start to take action on that Goal and Dream, you can see farther.
Will Smith: I have a great time with my life and I wanna share it.
Shares his WISDOM on Life
I love living, and I think that's infectious, it's something that you can't fake.
GREATNESS exists in all of Us
Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, illusive, God-liked feature that only the special among us will ever taste. It's something that fully exist in all of us. Very simple, this is what I believe and I'm willing to die for it. I know who I am and I know what I believe, and that's all I need to know, so from there, you do what you need to do. And I think what happens is we make the situation more complex. It can be that easy.
YES it can
We didn't grow up with the sense that where we were was where we were gonna be. We grew up with the sense that where we were almost didn't matter because we will becoming something greater.
There's no shortcut to SUCCESS
The separation of talent and skill is one of the greatest misunderstood concepts for people who were trying to excel, who have dreams, they want to do things. Talent you have it naturally, skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.
I've never really viewed myself as particularly talented, where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work effort. You know while the other guys sleeping, I'm working, while the other guys eating, I'm working.
There's no easy way around it, no matter how talented you are, your talent is going to fail you if you are not skilled. You know if you don't study, if you don't work really hard, and dedicate yourself to be better every single day, you will never be able to communicate with people, with your artistry the way that you want.
The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I'm not afraid to die on a treadmill. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, but if we get on the treadmill together, there's two things - You are going to get off first, or I'm going to die. It's really that simple.
Lay one Brick at a TIME
One summer his dad tore down a brick wall in front of his business, and told twelve year old Will and his nine year old brother to rebuild it, the job they said was impossible. It took them a year and a half... but they did it. Will Smith: And he said: "Now don't you ever tell me there's something that you can't do."
You don't try to build a wall, you don't set out to build a wall, you don't say "I'm going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that's ever been built." You don't start there. You say, 'I'm going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid." You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.
FOCUS on making a difference
You know there's an idea that my grandmother always said, "If you gonna be here, then there's a necessity to make a Difference." She always instilled the spiritual responsibility that you have to make every group you come contact with better.
I want to do good. I want the world to be better because I was here.
I want my life, I want my work, my family, I want it to mean something. If you're not making someone else's life better then you're wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.
Represent an IDEA
I want to represent an Idea. I want to represent possibilities. I want to represent the Idea that you really can make what you want. One of my favorite books is the Alchemist, Paulo Cohelo... and I just believe that. I believe that I can create whatever I want to create.
You have to BELIEVE
The first step before anybody else in the world believes it is you have to Believe it. There's no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from plan A. I think that there's a certain delusional quality that all successful people have to have. You have to believe that something different than what has happened for the last 50 million years of history... you have to Believe that something different can happen.
Confucius said, "He who says he can't and he who says he can't are both usually right."
NOTHING is Unrealistic
Being Realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity. Why would you be Realistic? What's the point of being Realistic? I'm going to do it! It's done! It's already done. The second I decide it's done it's already done, now we just got to wait for you to see.
It's unrealistic to walk into a room and flip a switch and the lights come on, that's unrealistic! Fortunately Edison didn't think so. It's unrealistic to think you're gonna bend a piece of metal and fly people over an ocean. That's unrealistic! But fortunately the Wright Brothers and others didn't believe that, and it just seems like such a ridiculous idea to me to embrace the idea that it's not going to happen and that's not real for that to happen. As soon as you say it, now you just made that real.
Our THOUGHTS are Physical
Our Thoughts, our Feelings, our Dreams, our Ideas are physical in the Universe, that if we dream something, if we picture something, if we commit ourselves to it ... that is a physical thrust towards realization that we can put into the Universe. That the Universe is not a thing that's going to push us around. That the world and people and situations are not something that push us around. That we are going to bend the universe and command and demand that the Universe becomes what we want it to be.
I study the patterns of the Universe.
There's a redemptive power that making a Choice has, you know rather than feeling like you're an effect to all the things that are happening. Make a Choice! Just decide, what it's going to be, who you're gonna be, how you're gonna do it. Just Decide! And from that point the Universe is going to get out of your way, it's like water. It wants to move and go around stuff.
You know there's a flow of the Universe that I've grown to know just how to go with it.
You really gotta FOCUS
I realised that to have the level of success that I wanna have it's difficult to spread it out and do multiple things. It takes such a desperate, obsessive Focus. You've really gotta Focus with all your fiber, and all of your heart, and all of your creativity.
Attack your Fears
I'm motivated by fear. Fear of fear! I hate being scared to do something, and I think what developed in my early days was the attitude that I started attacking things that I was scared of.
Be WILLING to die for the TRUTH
You can't be scared to die for the Truth. The Truth is the only thing that is always going to be constant.
Protect your DREAM
Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me, alright? You got a Dream? You've got to protect it! People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. You want something? Go get it! Period.
I’m wondering what would be the single most valuable piece of advice you’d give us to even attempt to create some of the value that you guys have done in both your very impressive companies.
Steve Jobs:
People say you have to have a lot of Passion in what you're doing, it's totally true, and the reason is because it's so hard, and if you don't, any rational person would give up. It's really hard, and you have to do it over a sustain period of time, so if you don't love it, you don't have fun doing it, you don't really love it, you gonna give up.
That's what happened to most people actually, if you look at the ones that being successful in the eyes of society and those that didn't, oftentimes it's the ones who were successful love what they did so they can persevere, when it got really tough, and the ones that didn't love it quit, because they're sane, right? Who would want to put up with this stuff if you don't love it?
So it's a lot of hard work and it's a lot of worrying constantly, and if you don't love it, you gonna fail, so you've got to love it, you've got to have passion and I think that's the high-order bit.
