to excel on a level that I want to make movies.

You have to be able to laugh at everything.

He who says he can and he who says he can't

are both usually right.

- He's an American actor, producer, rapper, and songwriter.

He's been ranked as the most bankable

movie star worldwide by Forbes.

As of 2016, his films have grossed

over $7.5 billion worldwide.

He's Will Smith and here's my take

on his Top 10 Rules for Success, volume two.

Rule number one is my personal favorite

and I'd love to know which one you guys liked the best.

Also guys, as you're watching

if you hear something that really resonates with you,

please leave it down in the comments below

and put quotes around it

so other people can be inspired.

Also, when you write it down,

it's much more likely to lock in for yourself as well.

Enjoy!

(dramatic music)

I realize that to have the level of success

that I want to have,

it's difficult to spread it out

and do multiple things,

in order to be world class.

And I made a decision, I want to be world class.

It takes such a desperate, obsessive focus

to excel on a level that I want to make movies.

I was, Star Wars, when I was young,

I sat in the movie theater and watched Star Wars

and I just couldn't believe

that that movie made me feel like that,

just floored and just stunned by the creativity.

And just, I'm realizing that

in order to move people in that way,

in order to touch people in that way,

you really got to focus with all of your fiber

and all of your heart and all your creativity.

The concept of improving lives

runs through the center of everything I do

and then I realize

that the way to improve lives

is to continually improve yourself, right?

So with that,

every morning when I get out of the bed,

I haven't fixed everything in the world yet.

So there's always something to do.

And in this film I read an interesting quote

from the Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha,

he said that

good people have to get out of the bed every day

and try to empty the ocean with a ladle.

And I thought that was,

I knew that was profound and I paused for a second

and I said all right,

what the hell is a ladle, right?

(audience laughing)

Right?

So that, I just I touched it on my iPad,

is ladle, oh it's like a big spoon,

a big spoon, okay.

It's like a soup spoon, yeah.

A soup spoon, I was like why a soup spoon?

So trying to empty the ocean with a soup spoon.

As the mentality of how you wake up every day

to try to do good in the world.

So for me I'm really driven by continually trying

to elevate my mind and elevate my spirit

and care for my body

and to be able to love as many people

as effectively as possible with this mystery of life

that I've been given.

For me, I never did anything for money.

It was never about money.

My experience has been when people do things for money

you make bad choices.

Find what you love and then you'll learn how to make money

doing what you love.

When I changed careers,

I was never changing to something for money,

I was changing to something I loved more.

And that, to me that's really the only way

to keep the passion.

If you have two choices,

and one is playing the piano and another one is bowling,

and you can make more money bowling

but you love playing the piano more,

you got to play the piano.

It's like you'll tear yourself apart

if you're not doing the thing that you love most in life.

And you know what it is right now.

Right now, there's something that you love

more than everything.

Whatever it is that you love crazy,

has to be the thing that you dedicate your life.

You have to be able to be vulnerable in front of anybody.

You have to be comfortable looking silly,

you have to be comfortable making mistakes,

and you have to break the thing inside of you

that doesn't want people to see.

Because as soon as you allow people to see,

all of a sudden you get access to things

that you didn't realize you had access to.

For example, like a thing I used to do,

is when I was probably 18 or 19 years old,

I got in touch with those blocks,

the camera hates emotional blocks.

You put a camera in somebody's face

and they're uncomfortable about delivering emotion,

it looks fake and you feel it.

You'll immediately know it's not real.

Especially, look at the size of this screen

and in a shot that whole screen could be just your eyes.

So it's like, you can't hide discomfort, uncertainty.

So you have to be able to get comfortable

just being anything,

anything that you have to be for the role,

you have to be comfortable being it.

(audience cheering and applauding)

I got in probably two weeks

into my preparation for the film

and my father was diagnosed with cancer.

So we just started talking

about love, time, and death.

And we, it was some of the most open

and powerful conversations that we'd ever had.

And they gave him six weeks

and he actually, he lived for four months.

So about three months into the six weeks,

I go to see him one day

and he said, "Man, this is embarrassing."

And I said, "What, Daddy?"

And he said, "Man, you tell everybody

"you would be dead in six weeks.

"Three months later you still hanging around."

Laughing is the elixir.

And that was another thing that my father taught me.

He was joking all the way up 'til the end like laughing.

You have to be able to laugh at everything

and for me the beautiful part

is that's my natural

color on the spectrum.

I naturally go to comedy.

And when I'm looking at something

I'm always trying to find why that's funny.

And it's been really really helpful in this experience.

And even just this point in my life,

keep, remember to laugh, remember to laugh.

And spend time with people that make you laugh,

that is hugely important.

As a child my parents always told me

you could be whatever you want to be,

you could do whatever you want to do,

and that office, that position,

the highest office on the face of the earth,

it was something I heard my parents saying it,

but I didn't totally believe it.

Yet I went out in the world

and I carried myself and I held my head high

and I stood there and I looked people in their eyes

and I talked to people as if I was deserving

of everything that this planet has to offer.

(audience cheering and applauding)

So I just, I really want to say to children out there

and to people who are watching,

Confucius said one time,

he who says he can and he who says he can't

are both usually right.