SACRIFICE – One of the Best Motivational Speech Videos (Featuring Walter Bond)
In order to get to the next level
I had to make sacrifices
The reality was
I was overweight
I was out of shape
You know what? I started to give up soda
and only drink water
I gave up french fries
before I knew it
I had to get disciplined
So my question for anybody
to get to the next level
What are you willing to sacrifice?
What are you willing to give up?
Who are you willing
to stop hanging around?
You know what? I spent a lot of time
drinking and hanging out with my boys
I had to give that up
and while they were at the nightclub
while they were at the bar drinking
I got into the stadium
I stole the key from the manager
and then midnight
I would get shots up
at midnight I would work on my game
and that’s the kind of passion
that’s the kind of commitment it takes
to get to that next level
So as a training and development person
my first question is to make sure
What are you willing to give up?
What is your discipline like?
What is your work ethic like?
Are you just comfortable right now?
You got an $80,000 job
and you’re comfortable
You work on a work queue
and you’re comfortable
You can’t get comfortable,
none of us can arrive
none of us can just go
through the motions
our job is to get bigger, stronger and faster
Our job is to get better
All my clients at least, minimum
gotta get 10% better
You can’t hang around me
and not get better
You can’t hang around me
and stay the same
Because me staying the same
almost ruined my future
By staying the same
I got stuck
and I got inspired
that I gotta get better
I gotta get to this next level
and I’m obsessed with this next level
Now I’m obsessed with helping you
get to your next level
you can’t afford
to stay the same
I want you to travel
I want you to have a big house
I want you to have a nice car
but most important I want you to get to the top
I want you to have your dreams come true
so you can have this feeling that I have
This feeling that I have
nobody can take it away
I know what it feels like to have a hope
and a dream and to get it
We’re not chasing dreams
we’re catching them
♪♪♪
What is your dream?
What did you stay in front
of that classroom in third grade?
What did you say to
that teacher?
What did you tell
your mom and your friends?
What did you say
before you gave up?
What did you say before reality became…
became your truth?
When did you accept
the lie?
When did you get
comfortable?
When did you get
off track?
When did you stop?
When did you quit?
I’m here to push you
I’m here to drive you
I’m here to connect
with you
When did you give up?
When did you talk yourself out of it?
I need you to talk yourself
back into it
I need you to make sure
that you get those notes out
What are your goals?
What are your dreams?
I’m here to help you
I know you can get there
I know you can get
to that next level
No doubt about it
but you gotta work baby
You gotta work
you gotta rise up early
You got to go to bed late
Let me tell you something
you got to get obsessive
What are you obsessed with?
You can’t act normal
and think you will make normal money
You can’t act common and think
you’re gonna live in a common house
Any successful person
I’ve ever seen in my life
They are different
They are obsessive
They are uncommon
And if you want to get to that next level
you got to do something different baby
because who you are today
is not your potential
Who you are today
is just a point of reference
Don’t you ever confuse your potential
with who you are right now
and my job is to be on a mission
to help you get to your next level
I’m not going to let you quit
I’m not going to let you stop
I’m not going to let you
have excuses
I’m not gonna let you come up
with justifications
Because right now
I promise you
You have justified something in your mind
and in your reality you think it’s true
You think it’s really true
on why you’re not
where you’re supposed to be?
Let me tell you something
You need to get to
where you’re supposed to be
I remember
when I was in high school
the bell would ring and the principal
would come into the hallway
If you were out in the hallway
after the bell
he would yell and say:
“Hey hey, where you supposed to be son?”
“Hey young lady,
where are you supposed to be?”
and all the students
would run to class
because they knew
where they were supposed to be
So, can I ask you a question?
Where are you
supposed to be?
Based on your dreams
Based on your goals
Based on your vision
Where are you
supposed to be?
That night changed my life
My father reminded me
of where I was supposed to be
and all of a sudden
I had to become somebody different
in order to get to
where I’m supposed to be
See I’m in the transformation business
That’s all I’m about
Your next level requires you
to transform
You got to think better
You have to execute better
And you have to win better
But it requires
transformation
You can’t stay the same
and get to where you’re supposed to be
Your company can’t stay the same
and get to where it’s supposed to be
Our job is to improve
Our job is to get bigger
Our job is to get stronger
Our job is to get faster
Every single year
I’m gonna push you
Every single year I’m gonna drive you
until you reach your potential
And you can go back
to your class reunion
And you can look at your classmates and say:
“Yep, yep, yep. I’m that lawyer, I was supposed to be”
I’m that entrepreneur
I’m supposed to be
I’m on the global platform doing
international business just like I told you
way back when
in the third grade
Always get to
where you’re supposed to be
You know, I was a high school star I just thought
I was on to do great things
I was a typical kid, you know, we all sat in front
of class in the third grade and fourth grade
and said what we were gonna be
when we grew up
You know, I was no different
than any other student
Everybody in the world
did that, right?
It was like an exercise
we all did
So my message was I’m gonna play pro sports
and when I’m done playing pro sports
I’m gonna make more money in business than
I did in sports and everything was going along fine
Until when I got to college
I found myself sitting on the bench
A high school star basically becoming
a scrub sitting on the bench
And I never forget all of a sudden
I recalibrated my dreams and goals
and my father called me on the phone
this was a turning point
He asked me a question
that really changed my life
He said:
“Son, you don’t play. Why not?”
And I gave him
what I thought was my truth
I gave him what I thought
was my reality only to find out now
It was an excuse
I said:
“Dad it’s pure politics”
“Dad it’s political”
My father said:
“What?”
He said: “Son if you can help
that coach win you will play”
“Go back and do what you said
you’re gonna do”
Now all of a sudden I got reconnected
to that little kid on the inside of me
I had dreams and goals
that get into the next level
I went to my coach and I said:
“Coach, what do I need to do to play in the NBA?”
See, in many cases sometimes
we get stuck
We get stagnant
and we lose that fire and that passion
because we forgot
our vision
We forgot our goals
We forgot our dreams
and all of a sudden reality takes over
All of a sudden circumstances
take over
Ladies and gentlemen I’m on a mission to make
sure that everybody in this world knows that
that next level
is waiting for you
You can become that person you wanted
to be when you were 10, or 11 and 12
You don’t have to let your reality take over
and all of a sudden you live this normal life
You don’t want to have
a normal life
I’ll have a job
and just be normal
I’ll have a company
and just be average
I’m telling you
You should be on a mission
to get to that next level
My coach told me
what I needed to work on
And ladies and gentlemen
I had to up my game
I had to start working hard, right?
I stole the key from a manager
and I would go into the arena at midnight
and work on my game
work on my left hand
work on my right hand
I got fundamentally sound
All of a sudden I began to realize
that I gotta get better
I’m not just good enough and I began to confuse
my potential with who I was at the time
That might be the biggest mistake
that people make around the world
they confuse their potential
with who I was at the time
People get hired based on their potential but your
work ethic is what’s gonna make you vice president
Your work ethic is gonna make sure
that you become a CEO
being fundamentally sound in marketing,
in selling and customer service
I became fundamentally sound
and I made it to the NBA
and before I knew it…
I got cut
Because I realized that
all I wanted to do was to get there
I had no vision to be
an impact player
Ladies and gentlemen
you got the job
But that’s not enough
Don’t relax
don’t settle
You got to get bigger,
stronger and faster
You got to get better, you got to make sure
that your work ethic
Getting that job is just the beginning
that’s not the end
You want to live your dreams
you want to have your goals
You want to get to that next level
ladies and gentlemen
You want to take trips
you want to have a nice house
you want to have a nice car
You want to know powerful people
so your kids can have access
and their life
can be easier than yours
You are beginning a legacy and your job is not
just take your career to the next level
your job is to take
your family to the next level
so your kids are better positioned
than you were
All of a sudden when my career ended
I had no money coming in
and I was starting over from scratch
but there was a difference
I knew what it took to be
the best in the world
I sat down with the speaker
who was a Hall of Fame speaker
and I said: “What do I need to do to become
a Hall of Fame speaker like you?
and at this breakfast I did not have
enough money to pay for it
And he told me what I needed to do
to get to the next level
And did it
So here I am
it’s the Hall of Fame induction
and another speaker
came up to me and says:
“You know what? aren’t you excited?
you’re getting inducted into the Hall of Fame”
and I looked her in her eyes and I said:
“you know what? Miss, I am very excited
But this time… I expected to be here”
This time I knew exactly
what it took to get to that next level
So when I go and speak
I’m all about the next level
When I coach executives
I’m all about the next level
You have to match the fundamentals
you have to have a good vision
You have to make sure
your mindset is right
you have to make sure you understand
how to operate in a team
but most importantly
you have to be accountable
We live a world where people
lack accountability
that’s why my best-selling book
All Buts Stink! is so popular
It’s how to live your best life
and eliminate excuses
because until any of us
own our situation
Until we become accountable
We are all crippled by our own excuses
that we believe are real
All I want people to know is that
they can get 10% better every single year
If we get 10% better every single year
In 5 years you won’t notice you-
in 5 years you won’t notice
your own bank account
you won’t notice your own career,
you will get bigger, stronger and faster
you will get more effective,
you will get promoted
you’ll drive more revenue
But ladies and gentlemen
next level is about purpose
next level is about understanding
what it takes to get there
I’m on a mission because if I can get
to that next level in two different industries
I know that I got a message
for the whole world
and I have the information that I can teach
to make sure that anyone
can have that dream come true
that they had in their third grade class
that they had in
their fourth grade class
Don’t give up on
your dreams
Don’t quit
Don’t pick reality
I’m telling you that dream
that you had way back when
can become true
and it can become…
your reality,
