Will

Will Smith & Mark Manson

📚 GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

📃 PAGES: 432

✅ COMPLETED: April 7, 2022

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Will Smith opens up about the ups and downs of his life and how he went from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history. The four-time Grammy Award artist and Academy Award-winning actor shares insight into his upbringing, career highlights, and inner transformation.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Think Brick, Not Wall — Achieve goals and complete projects by concentrating on one small thing at a time. Focus on completing one small step perfectly and then move to the next one, rather than thinking of the project in its entirety. 

2️⃣ Attack Fear — Some of the best things in life are on the OTHER SIDE of fear. Will talks about running towards fear when he feels it. Don’t allow the fear of anything to hold you back from what you want to do. Get in the habit of attacking fear, rather than letting it attack you.

3️⃣ Be Disciplined — There has to be order, structure, and discipline to achieve success and make steady progress. You can’t reach your goals without it. Commit to your routine and be disciplined to it. 

Favorite Quote

"I knew I was good (at Hip-Hop and Rap), but I also knew I had to work. It wasn’t just going to come to me. I had to go get it."

Book Notes 📑

The Wall

  • Will Smith grew up in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
  • When he was a kid, Will’s dad had Will and his brother Harry rebuild a wall at the family shop.
    • This required Will and Harry to mix concrete, carry buckets of it to the wall, and lay brick after brick after brick.
      • This took a year of daily work. 
    • One day, Will and Harry were complaining about the process of building the wall. They felt like it was never going to get built.
      • Their dad came out and scolded them for thinking about the wall in totality. He stressed the importance of focusing on laying each brick rather than thinking about the entire wall. 
  • Quote: “When I focused on the wall, the job felt impossible and never-ending. But when I focused on one brick, everything got easy. I knew I could lay one damn brick well.”
    • This is how you should think of every project. Focus on doing one small thing perfectly within the project rather than thinking about the project as a whole. 
    • Are you focusing on the wall or are you focusing on the brick? 
  • Quote: “I realized that what felt like impossibly large goals could be broken down into individually manageable tasks.”
  • Quote: “For my entire career, I have been absolutely relentless. I have been committed to a work ethic of uncompromising intensity. The secret to my success is as boring as it is unsurprising — you show up and you lay another brick. Pissed off? Lay another brick… No matter what you’re going through, there is always another brick sitting right there in front of you waiting to be laid. The only question is: are you going to get up and lay it?”
    • Powerful.
    • Every day is an opportunity to get better and lay another brick in pursuit of your goals.
    • Focus on one thing at a time. Focus on laying one brick at a time and don’t get caught up in the totality of the project or goal.
      • When you STRICTLY narrow your focus to laying one brick at a time, you can really make a lot of progress. Procrastination and frustration can set in if you think about the entire project as a whole (The Wall).
      • Ex. Whitepapers 
      • Ex. Mack’sBookNotes

Ch. 1: Fear

  • Will grew up with a lot of fear — fear of other kids, fear of his father, fear of being judged. 
  • Will’s dad was a bit of a rebel growing up. He later enlisted in the US Air Force.
    • He discovered order and discipline while serving. He loved these values and later passed them on to Will. 
    • Will’s dad would wake up at 4 am and train all morning. He would then work all day and then study all night. This was his routine. 
    • He was later discharged because of his temper and drinking issues. 
    • He started an ice packing company called Akrack, where Will bagged ice at night during his high school years. 
  • Will’s mom loved education and knowledge. She was very smart.
    • She loved business and finance. 
  • Will Smith was born on September 25, 1968.
    • Full Name — Willard Carrol Smith II
    • Family Home Address — 5943 Woodcrest Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
  • Will grew up in a nice neighborhood with a nice house. 
    • As a rapper early in his career, people used this against him. The worse your upbringing was, the more ‘street cred’ you had as a rapper. 
  • Will’s father was an alcoholic and a bit abusive. 
    • One of the defining moments in Will’s life was when his dad hit his mom multiple times. 
    • Will was 9 years old and saw the whole thing. He still feels guilty about not doing anything to help his mom in that situation. 
  • Quote: “How we decide to respond to our fears dictates the person we become.”
    • Rather than running from what you fear, you have to attack it. That’s how you eliminate the fear’s power over you. 

Ch. 2: Fantasy

  • Will has always had a really creative and imaginative mind. 
    • He’s used it to create a really successful career in television, music, and movies. 
  • Our mind likes to create stories and assumptions when the full story hasn’t been revealed yet. 
    • It’s important to recognize this and, instead of getting caught up in your mind’s story, focus on reality and what’s actually happening. 

Ch. 3: Performance

  • Will was heavily influenced by his mom, dad, and grandma (Gigi). Together, they made up his ‘philosophical triangle.’
    • Dad — Work ethic, discipline 
    • Mom — Education, knowledge, study, learn
    • Gigi — Love, God
    • Discipline, Education, and Love are what Will focuses on the most. These three values have been at the center of his life. 
  • Will began to get hooked on performing when he sung in church as a kid. 
    • In many ways, he used comedy as a way to cope with things. He was always trying to make people laugh as a kid. 
  • Quote: “I trust God and I am so thankful for His grace in my life. I know every breath I take is a gift. It’s impossible to be unhappy when you’re grateful.” — Gigi to Will. 
    • Be grateful for your life and everything in it. It all starts here. This is the key to love. 
    • For everything He has given us, He asks us to do one thing: To love everybody and everything. 

Ch. 4: Power

  • Will’s cousin Paul moved in shortly after Will’s mom moved out following another fight with his dad.
    • Paul was a quiet, rough dude who kept to himself mostly and knew karate. He didn’t take shit from anybody. 
    • He was one of the few people who got along great with Will’s dad. 
    • Paul introduced Will to Hip-Hop and Rap in the 1980s. Will was hooked.
      • At the time, Hip-Hop and Rap was just getting started and began to grow in popularity. 
  • As Hip-Hop became more popular in the 1980s, Will began to get into rap battles with people at his high school.
    • He was very, very good at it. His verses were focused on rhyming and humor. 
    • The key to his success was the work ethic his dad had instilled in him.
      • He spent hours and hours writing out rhymes in his notebooks every day. 
      • He practiced his verses in the mirror🪞. 
  • Will became known as “The Fresh Prince” in high school after he was late for class one day and his teacher said to him, “his heinous the Prince… you’re two minutes late.”
    • Will corrected her and called himself “The Fresh Prince.” The class laughed and it stuck.
    • This name later served as the inspiration for Will’s hit show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
  • Quote: “In order to feel confident and secure, you need to find something to feel confident and secure about.”
    • This takes work and effort. You have to find something you’re good at and commit to becoming great at it.
      • When you do this, you become confident in that skill/area of your life. 
      • You feel strong and you feel like you have something to offer. 
  • Quote: “Being good at something allows you to be calm in a storm, knowing you can handle anything that comes.”
    • When you become really good at something, you can rely on it no matter what is going on. You know you can depend on your abilities under any kind of pressure. 
  • Quote: “I knew I was good (at Hip-Hop and Rap), but I also knew I had to work. It wasn’t just going to come to me. I had to go get it.”
    • You have to work hard to become great at something. Success and greatness don’t just happen without a ton of effort. 
    • Once you’ve identified something that you’re good at, commit yourself to becoming great at it and developing the skill. 

Ch. 5: Power

  • In his senior year of his school, Will met Jeff Townes (“DJ Jazzy Jeff”), who became Will’s DJ. 
    • DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince worked together from 1986-1994.
    • Jazzy Jeff did nothing but work on his beats. He was a really hard worker. He and Will became a great duo. 
    • He won the ‘Battle for World Supremacy’ DJ competition in New York in 1985. 
  • Will and Jazzy Jeff began making original music together. 
    • Will handed out their tapes to everybody at Overbrook High School. 
  • March, 1986 — Girls Aint Nothin’ But Trouble is released under the Word Up Records label. 
    • This was the first official song release of Will and Jeff’s career. 
    • Nobody really heard it because the label was brand new. The person running the label was not an established person in the industry. 
  • Quote: “Hope sustains life. Hope is the elixir of survival during our darkest times. The ability to envision and imagine a brighter day gives meaning to our suffering and renders it bearable.”
    • Hope is the fuel that keeps us going. When we can visualize and see better things for ourselves on the horizon, it gives us the energy to keep pushing forward in pursuit of that vision. 
    • When you lose hope, you lose your central source of strength and resilience. 
      • Always remain optimistic and hopeful about the future. Keep pushing. Never stop believing. 
  • Will’s Mom was all about education and wanted Will to go to college. Will didn’t want to go because he wanted to pursue his music career.
    • This caused a short rift between he and his Mom. 
    • The family decided Will had one year to make it as a rapper. If he didn’t make it big, he would have to go to college. 
  • Quote: “The thing I’ve learned over the years about advice is that nobody can accurately predict the future, but we all think we can… People’s advice is based on their fears, their experiences, and their prejudices. And at the end of the day, their advice is just that… THEIRS.”
    • It’s good to get people’s advice, but, at the end of the day, you have to take it with a grain of salt because it’s THEIR advice, which is formed by their own unique worldview and opinions. 
      • None of us are the same. Our entire mindset and belief system is based on our upbringing, past experiences, and unique opinions. A person’s advice is based on those unique and personal factors. 
    • At the end of the day, you have to go follow your heart and do what you want to do. You have the best understanding of who you are and what you want in life. 

Ch. 6: Ignorance

  • May, 1986 — Girls Ain’t Nothin’ But Trouble finally caught on and became a huge hit.  
  • July, 1986 — Will and Jeff began reciting their first album, Rock the House. 
    • They quickly went on tour and played shows at locations around the country. 
  • Quote: “Living is the journey from not knowing to knowing… From not understanding to understanding.”
    • Life is learning!
    • Often, we try to wait until we have everything we need and have acquired the knowledge needed to tackle a certain situation. But that’s not the way to approach life. 
      • Instead, you need to push forward with experiences that might make you uncomfortable and be willing to fail. When you fail, you quickly LEARN what you needed to know so you can do it better the next time. 
        • If you wait until you feel fully prepared to tackle a situation, you will be waiting forever. 
        • Don’t wait! Jump in and attack a situation that you’re fearful of with a good attitude. You will learn a ton and start to get comfortable with that situation you are fearful of. 
  • Quote: “The universe only teaches through experience.”
    • Spot on. 
    • Even when you don’t have a clue what you’re doing, you have to take a deep breath, get on the bus, and do it. 
    • LeBron James once said: “Experience is the greatest teacher in life.”
  • March, 1987 — Rock the House is remastered and re-released under the London-based record label, JIVE.
    • It became a global hit. 
    • This got DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince off the ground. 

Ch. 7: Adventure

  • Rock the House went Gold, sold 500,000 copies, and reached No. 83 on the Billboard 200 Chart.
  • 1986-1988 — DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince played 200 shows on tour. They played with:
    • Run DMC
    • LL Cool J
    • Houdini 
    • Public Enemy
    • Queen Latifa  
    • And many more 
  • 1987 — DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince began recording their second album with JIVE in London.
    • The recording sessions went so well, JIVE decided to put out a ‘double album’, the first one in Hip-Hop history. 
  • March 29, 1988 — DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Prince’s release their second album, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper.
    • It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 Chart.
    • It went Triple Platinum.
    • It sold 3 million copies. 
    • That year, the Grammy Awards included a rap category for the first time ever and one of the album’s songs — Parents Just Don’t Understand — was nominated.
      • The song won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance, making DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince the first rap artists to ever win a Grammy. 
  • At 20 years old, Will was a Grammy Award winner, a millionaire, and a global rap superstar. 

Ch. 8: Pain

  • Will was cheated on by his high school girlfriend while he was out on tour.
    • This sent him into an emotional tailspin. He began drinking and partying a lot to try to cope.
      • He also began buying a ton of stuff — cars, houses, motorcycles. 
  • 1989 — DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince finish their third album, And in This Corner. 
    • They completed it in Philadelphia three weeks after they originally went to the Bahamas to record it, but were so distracted that they didn’t get a single song recorded.
      • Their manager had to call Will’s dad to come set him straight in the Bahamas. Will and Jeff were so distracted by everything going on there. 

Ch. 9: Destruction

  • October 31, 1989 — And in This Corner is released. 
    • It did terrible. Nobody liked it. 
    • This was the beginning of the end for DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Everything began to go downhill. 
  • 1990 — The IRS informs Will that he owes taxes on $3 million of income.
    • He had purposely not paid his taxes in previous years.
    • To pay the taxes, Will had to sell everything — cars, houses, motorcycles. 
      • He went from being rich to broke in an instant. 
  • 1989 — Rock bottom for Will. 
    • He spent a weekend in jail because his bodyguard broke a man’s left eye socket after he made threats while Will was doing an interview on a Philadelphia radio station.
      • There’s a law in Philly called the Master Slave Clause that states, “if one person commits a crime under the control or direct influence of a master then the master is legally liable for the submissive party.”
        • Because of this law, Will faced aggravated assault. The charges were later dismissed. 
  • 1990 — Will was broke and decided to move to Los Angeles to try acting. 

Ch. 10: Alchemy

  • After moving to Los Angeles, Will began attending the Arsenio Hall Show almost daily just to meet famous people. 
    • The Arsenio Hall Show was huge. Celebrities, politicians, executives, and athletes all came on the show. 
    • Arsenio Hall was the premier talk show host at the time. 
      • Will kind of knew Arsenio from his brief flash of fame with DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince so he was able to meet celebrities at the show without being thrown out. 
  • At one of Arensio’s shows, Will met Benny Medina, who worked at Warner Brothers and was looking to break into television. 
    • Medina asked Will if he could act. 
    • Medina knew Quincy Jones, the legendary musician and and producer. Medina and Jones had an idea for a television show and wanted Will to be one of the main characters.
  • March 14, 1990 — The television idea was pitched to Will at Jones’s Bel-Air LA mansion during Jones’s birthday party.
    • Will was then basically convinced to do an impromptu audition for the show at the mansion in front of NBC executives. 
      • He killed it. They loved his performance. 
      • Jones was able to convince the NBC legal team to draw up a contract for Will on the spot at the mansion. 
    • The show was The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — a show that became one of the most successful television sitcoms of all time. 
  • September 10, 1990 — The first episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is released. 
    • The show went from conception (March 1990) to release (September 1990) in record speed. 
    • Will had never acted before. 

Ch. 11: Adaptation

  • Quote: “Change can be scary, but it’s utterly unavoidable. If you’re unwilling, or unable, to pivot and adapt to the tides of life, you will not enjoy being here.”
    • Change is really uncomfortable, but it’s ultimately a good thing. It is what leads to growth and improvement. 
      • When you get too comfortable being in the same life situations every single day, your progress stalls and you become complacent. 
      • You should consistently seek change and welcome it when it comes, not avoid it. 
        • Seek new opportunities and experiences. 
  • Will was able to get a role created for DJ Jazzy Jeff on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
    • Jeff was reluctant to join the cast at first, but he ended up loving it and became one of the most popular characters on the show. 
      • He was reluctant because music was what he really wanted to do. Will begged him to come out to LA and give the show a try.
  • Season 1 of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a huge hit. 
    • It was one of the most successful debut shows ever. 
    • Friday nights were when the live shows were taped. 
  • Quote: “My personal and professional crash and burn had taught me a harsh universal lesson — Nothing lasts forever. Everything rises and falls. No matter how hot the summer gets, the winter is inevitable.” 
    • Learn to enjoy the good times in life, but know that nothing last forever. 
      • It’s important to begin planting the seeds of your next life endeavor while things are going well. Don’t wait until things get rough, because they will get rough — it’s an inevitable part of life. 
      • Think ahead. Don’t get complacent. 
  • 1991 — DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince begin recording their third album Homebase. 
    • They recorded this on the side while they were both acting on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. 
    • Will wrote the album’s most popular song — Summertime — while at the Chicago O’Hare airport during a flight delay. 
      • The beat was provided. He listened to it and wrote the entire song in one sitting. He never changed a word after it was written. 
      • Instead of hopping on the plane when the delay was over, Will went back to the studio on Chicago and recorded the song. 
      • The song was written and recorded impromptu. The album was technically already finished by that point. 
  • May 20, 1991 — Summertime is released as a single.
    • It became one of the pair’s most popular songs. 
    • It won a Grammy for Best Single.
    • It hit No. 1 on the Hot R&B and Hip-Hop chart.
    • It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 
  • July 23, 1991 — Homebase is released. 
    • It went Platinum in two months. 
    • It won an American Music Award.
  • Quote: “There’s a difference between talent and skill. Talent comes from God — you were born with it. Skill comes from sweat, practice, and commitment. Don’t skate through your opportunity… Hone your craft.”
    • Develop your skills. Identify what you’re good at and commit to becoming elite at it. 
    • Ex. Basketball Player — Work on your dribbling, jumper, passing, footwork. Commit to becoming great in all areas. 

Ch. 12: Desire

  • Quote: “What someone desires is a portal into the essential truth of their personality.”
    • If you want to understand why someone did something, all you have to do is figure out what it is was they wanted. 
  • Quote: “You tell me what you want, and I’ll tell you who you are.”
    • How a person behaves, and the decisions they make, reveals a lot about what they want. 
      • We are always making decisions and behaving in alignment with what we want and what we desire. 
      • Our desires are what motivate us to make the decisions we make and behave how we behave.  
  • There are only two human problems:
    1. Knowing what you want but not knowing how to get it.
    2. Not knowing what you want.
    • Clarity of mission gives direction to your life. Everything you do is designed to get you what you want. 
      • If you don’t know what you want, you’re spinning your tires. You won’t go anywhere or make progress. 
  • After a few years of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will decided he wanted to pursue movie acting. 
  • November 11, 1992 — Will’s son, Will Smith III, is born.
    • The family has always called him ‘Trey’ because he’s the third generation Will Smith. 
    • Will married Sheree Zampino a few months after meeting her at a show. Soon after that, they had Trey. 
      • Interestingly, he also met Jada Pinkett, his current wife, around this same time. 
  • 1993 — Will takes his first career movie role. He starred as Paul in Six Degrees of Separation. 
    • The role paid him $300,000. This was after he had just turned down a different movie that would have paid him $10,000,000.
      • The role he turned down just wasn’t a high-quality role, despite the money. 
    • Will was so focused on nailing his part that he lost touch with himself — he became Paul, his character in the movie. 
      • This caused issues in his marriage and on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when he returned. 
    • Will was applauded for his performance in the movie. It was the springboard to his ultra-successful cinematic career. 
  • Quote: “Achieving goals requires strict organization and unwavering discipline.”
    • There has to be order, structure, and discipline to achieve success. There just has to be. 
    • You can’t reach your goals without commitment and discipline. 

Ch. 13: Devotion

  • Will and Sheree get divorced. 
    • Will begins to see Jada Pinkett soon after receiving the divorce papers. 
  • Quote: “Your mind is trying to protect you from hard things — to defend you from pain. The problem is that all of your dreams are on the other side of pain and difficulty.” 
    • Progress and improvement are difficult things. If it was easy, everyone would do it. 
    • By choosing easy, pleasurable, comfortable, convenient things over the hard things that require discipline and effort, you’re sacrificing your dreams and progress. 
      • Ex. When you choose television over reading at night, you’re missing out on a chance to expand your mind and grow. 
      • Ex. When you choose to sleep in instead of go to the gym before work, you’re missing out on a chance to develop your body. 
    • You have to fight that constant urge in your mind to choose the easy route. Have the commitment and discipline to choose the tasks and habits that are going to lead you toward your goals and help you maximize your potential.
  • 1994 — Martin Lawrence invites Will to star alongside him in Bad Boys, directed by Michael Bay. 
    • The original screenplay was terrible, so a lot of the movie was impromptu work. 
      • Will and Martin would literally come up with their own lines the night before shooting a new scene. 
    • The movie was released in 1995.

Ch. 14: Boom

  • July 4, 1996 — Independence Day is released and sets all-time records at the box office. 
    • The film made $817 million globally on a $75 million budget. 
      • It became the highest grossing movie ever at the time. 
    • This movie firmly established Will as a movie star in Hollywood. 
  • 1997-2007 — Will stars in some incredible movies that brought in $8 billion in global box office sales. 
    • Men in Black (1997)
    • Enemy of the State (1998)
    • Wild Wild West (1999)
    • Ali (2001)
      • Academy Award Nominee
    • Men in Black II (2002)
    • Bad Boys II (2003)
    • IRobot (2004)
    • Hitch (2005)
    • The Pursuit of Happiness (2006)
      • Academy Award Nominee 
    • I am Legend (2007)
    • Hancock (2008)
    • And More 
  • 1997-2007 — Will sells over 30 million records. Top songs included:
    • Men in Black
    • Wild Wild West 
    • Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It
      • Will’s first ever song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 
      • This song didn’t actually start out very successful. Jerry Seinfeld used the term in an episode of Seinfeld and that sent the song’s download numbers through the roof. 
    • Just the Two of Us 
    • Miami 
    • Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme Song
  • May 20, 1996 — The final episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is released. 
    • The show lasted 6 seasons. 
    • Will decided to end it because he senses that the show was starting to drag on and had lost its flavor. 
  • July 2, 1997 — Men in Black, created by Steven Spielberg, is released. 
    • Spielberg specifically asked for Will to play one of the main characters, but Will originally turned down the role because it was another alien movie after he just released Independence Day. 
      • Will changed his mind after Spielberg invited him to his house and discussed the film with him. 
    • Will recorded the song Men in Black to go with the film. 
      • It was a great move — the result was a No. 1 movie and No. 1 song. 
      • Men in Black later went on to win a Grammy — Will’s third Grammy award. 
    • The movie was a worldwide hit.
  • December 31, 1997 — Will and Jada get married. 
  • July 8, 1998 — Will and Jada’s son, Jaden, is born. 

Ch. 15: Inferno

  • October 31, 2000 — Will and Jada’s daughter, Willow, is born. 
  • The Taj Mahal in India — Built over the span of nearly 20 years (1632-1653).
    • Built, designed, and maintained as a tomb for one woman — Mumtaz Mahal. 
      • Mumtaz Mahal was the favored wife of Emperor Shah Jahan, who was so sad about her death that he commissioned the construction of the Taj Mahal. 
    • The Taj Mahal costed Shah Jahan 32 million Indian rupees to build. 
      • That’s almost a billion dollars in today’s currency. 😮 
    • 20,000 of the world’s most talented artisans were brought in to design and build it. 
      • Italian marble was also imported, which wasn’t an easy thing to do in 17th century India.  
    • Will visited the Taj Mahal around 2000 and was inspired by the fact that such an amazing place was built out of love and dedication for one woman. 

Ch. 16: Purpose

  • 2000 — Will is approached by director Michael Mann about playing Muhammad Ali in the movie Ali. 
    • Will initially declined because it was a huge role with a ton of risk because of Ali’s legacy. 
      • Ali then specifically asked Will to play the role. 
    • Will was also nervous because he had zero boxing experience and weighed 190 lbs. Ali weighed 220 lbs in his prime. 
    • The film was released in 2001. 
  • At the height of his career and in the prime of his athletic life, Muhammad Ali gave up everything to oppose the Vietnam War in the 1960s. 
    • He refused induction into the US Army and, in 1967, was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to 5 years in prison. 
      • He was also banned from boxing for 3 years. 
  • Quote: “Dreams are built on discipline. Discipline is built on habits. Habits are built on training. Training takes place every single second of every situation of your life.”
    • Training — How you do one thing is how you do all things. 
      • You are always training. How well you do the dishes translates to how well you perform at work.
  • Quote: “You either do your best ALL THE TIME, or you don’t.”
    • It’s all about how you conduct yourself and carry yourself. If you give full effort and attention to detail on the small things, you’ll naturally do the same on the big things without second thought. 
      • Effort and discipline is not something you can just switch on or off at any time. 
      • When you take the time to make your bed, you’ll make the time to go the extra mile on a project. It’s just natural. 
  • Will’s training for Ali was pretty intense. It was one year of training and 5 months of filming. 
    • He worked with a brain scientist to ‘burn new neural passages’ in his brain. 
      • The scientist put together a 20-minute video of Ali’s footwork and jab. Will watched it twice per day to burn those patterns into his mind and help him mimic the movements. 
    • He ran miles in the snow and altitude of Colorado in combat boots. 
      • ‘5 at 5’ — 5 mile run at 5 a.m.
    • He lifted daily and raised his body weight from 190 lbs to 223 lbs.
      • 365 lb one-rep max on the bench. 
    • He sparred actual, real pro boxers. 
  • The final scene of Ali was filmed in Africa. Will and the crew got to have dinner with Nelson Mandela.
    • Mandela spent 27 years in prison for opposing the South African apartheid regime.  
      • His eyes had been damaged from hard labor in the lime quarries.
    • After the regime fell, Mandela was elected President of South Africa as soon as he was released from prison. 
      • He forgave and provided amnesty to the people who were involved and admitted their wrongdoings. 
        • He was widely criticized for letting these people off the hook, but he knew reconciliation begins on the inside first. 
    • Mandela died in December 2013 at age 95. 
  • The Rumble in the Jungle — Ali vs. Foreman 
    • This fight was in 1974.
    • The fight took two weeks to shoot for the movie. 
      • An entire arena was built just for the scenes. 
      • 20,000 extras in the stands. 

Ch. 17: Perfection

  • The rigorous experience of shooting Ali gave Will a drive for perfection. 
    • He developed really strong discipline and work ethic that boosted his career. 
    • He began to run his life “like a fight camp.”
    • Quote: “Everybody (his team) embraced the philosophy of the fight camp. We were building our lives, we were striving for perfection. We demanded excellence of each other and everybody around us.” 
      • You have to grind and sacrifice to make big things happen for yourself. 
  • Quote: “I was working 70-80 hours a week. Holidays, weekends, even vacations became an opportunity to advance. I noticed that most people came back from Christmas vacation heavier and out of shape, so the holidays, for me, became an opportunity to extend my lead.”
    • This is the type of mindset you need to achieve your goals and dreams — every day has to be directed towards improving and progressing. 
  • Quote: “The reality of the math was very simple to me — if I could wake up and start an hour earlier than everyone else AND stay an hour later than everyone else AND work through my lunch break, I would be gaining 15 extra hours every week on the competition. That works out to 780 more productive hours in a year than the next guy. That’s the equivalent of one month. If you give me a one month head start on anybody, they’ll never catch me. And if they need their weekends and vacations so they can get their beauty rest and recover and maintain their punkass work-life balance, then they will always be looking at my taillights.”
    • This is the mindset you need. 
    • Kobe Bryant said almost the same thing in an interview. When you put in the extra time and work, it pays off over the long haul. 
      • It takes a lot of discipline and sacrifice to do this consistently, though. 
  • 2006 — The Pursuit of Happiness is released. 
    • The movie starred Will as Chris Gardner and Jaden as Gardner’s son.
      • Jaden auditioned 9 times before finally getting the role. He was 6 years old. 
  • Quote: “The problem was, I had conflated being successful with being loved and being happy. These are three totally separate things.”
    • Will discuss the problems that can come when you constantly chase more and more and more success.
      • It’s great to chase goals and pursue things you don’t have, but you need to make sure you never lose gratitude for what you already have.
      • Quote: “You end up with a mind consumed with what it DOESN’T HAVE and what it didn’t get and a spiraling inability to enjoy what it ALREADY HAS.”

Ch. 18: Mutiny

  • At age 9, Willow released Whip My Hair and it was a smash.
    • She toured the world and opened for Justin Bieber. 
    • But she didn’t enjoy being a performer. In the middle of her tour, she decided to quit.
      • Will told her she couldn’t quit because she had made a commitment. Willow then shaved her head one night and no longer had hair to whip on stage. 
    • Willow retired at age 11. 
  • Quote: “Feelings come and go and change like the weather — you can’t plan anything around them. And just because somebody feels something doesn’t make it true. Just because your feelings are extreme doesn’t mean that you’re right. In fact, the more extreme your feelings are, the more likely it is that they are skewed.”
    • Emotions come and go. Try to be still and OBSERVE your emotions rather than get caught up in them. 
    • Emotions can cloud your judgement and decision-making. It’s really important that you don’t make emotional decisions and judgements.
      • Let the emotion wear off before making a decision. 
  • Quote: “People care less about facts, truth, probabilities, or intentions than they do about how they feel and how well you have displayed that you care about those feelings.”
    • At the end of the day, we all care about our feelings first and foremost.
      • Show people you care. 
  • Quote: “In my mind, the sum total of a happy life is the quality of your memories.”
    • Be adventurous. Always look to make memories and accumulate stories. 

Ch. 19: Retreat

  • Will and Jada’s relationship begins to hit a rough patch.
    • Will went to Trinidad to get away for a bit. He discovered the easy-flowing, loving way of life the people there lived with. 
    • He noticed how they all allowed life to come to them and they just rolled with the punches. They were all about accepting and going with the flow. They were also very grateful and focused on the things they already had in their lives. 
      • It inspired him to sort of move away a bit from the ‘fight camp’, discipline mentality he had developed where he was always trying to achieve something and get something he didn’t have.  
  • Will later went to his mountain house in Utah and decided to participate in a silence challenge. 
    • He was silent for 14 straight days — no phone calls, texting, or speaking at all. 
      • During this stretch, he read a ton of books and began meditating. 
        • How to Mediate — A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind
      • During this stretch, be realized that his mind was dominating him. He didn’t like it. 

Ch. 20: Surrender

  • Will began to work with a life coach around 2015. He realized his opinion of himself was far too tied up in the opinions of other people. 
    • The life coach was trying to help him become a ‘free-standing man.’
    • Free-Standing Man — Self- aware, self-reliant, self-motivated, self-confident, and utterly unswayed by other people’s approval or disapproval. 
      • He knows who he is and he knows what he wants. 
  • Will’s life coach was really trying to get him to put honesty and authenticity above his need for approval. 
    • He was too much of a people pleaser at the time. 
    • He found it really difficult to say ‘no’ to people and requests.
    • You have to get away from valuing yourself based on other people’s opinions. 
      • Your confidence and self-worth should come from yourself. 
      • Live by your rules — do what you want to do and be how you want to

The Jump

  • Quote: “God placed the most beautiful things in life on the OTHER SIDE of fear. If we are not willing to stand in the face of the things that most deeply unnerve us, and then step across the invisible line into the land of dread, then we won’t get to experience the best that life has to offer. I have made a conscious effort to attack the things I’m most scared of.”
    • THIS ☝️☝️
    • You have to face your fears in life and be willing to fail. Running from what you’re scared of will lead to a lot of pain and regret. 
      • Every time you face your fear, you diffuse it a little. If you do it enough, you can completely diffuse the fear altogether and take away the power it has over you. 
        • ATTACK FEAR 
        • Make attacking fear a mindset. Every time you feel that fear hit you, make a conscious effort to resist it and attack it. Try to make it your default response to fear. Get excited about attacking it. 
      • Even if you do face your fear and fail, it’s a great thing. Every failure is bringing you closer to success. 
      • One of the worst things you can do is live your life scared all the time and let it prevent you from living a full life. 
  • 2018 — Will bungee jumped out of a helicopter over the Grand Canyon on his 50th birthday. 
    • The event was filmed live on YouTube