I saw a Facebook post the other day where Will Smith explained the difference between Fault vs. Taking Responsibility. My plan was to share only just this one video with my Fledglings today. And, as is my tendency, I searched for more. I found that I enjoy listening to Will’s insight and motivational thoughts. And, what I really gravitated toward, is the relationship he has with his wife, Jada.
Will, Jada, and Their Family
Long-Lasting Relationship Secrets with Will and Jada Smith
– on Oprah
Marriage Business Plan:
Interesting thing I learned watching this video was that Will and Jada have a marriage business plan. Never thought of creating a vision for your marriage, setting goals, and formulating a business plan to help make it work.
“What we discovered is. If you don’t have a goal. If you don’t have a purpose for your relationship and pretty much anything. If you don’t have a place you are going, something that you want to accomplish, something that you want to do, you can get lost in the murk in the journey. [There has to be a vision] So [we ask] why are we together?”
“As an answer to why two spirits would join together and decide to travel this journey of life together – you fine, you keep the house protected – that’s really not enough. There’s so much more that you have to be dedicated to together.”
“We want to make a family business. How do we incorporate all the talent we have in this family? That’s our vision. To create a place where their dreams can come true and extended family’s dreams can come true as well.”
Jada on how to keep their kids grounded:
“Giving them purpose. When a human being has purpose, then you instill self esteem. And when a person has self esteem, then that’s what grounds an individual.”
About why Will Smith is reading Rich Dad Poor Dad to Trey:
“No matter how successful you get it’s really difficult to shake your mindset. I still have a poor person’s mentality. I can’t shake it and it gets really detrimental when you can’t just shake off the ideas. When I go to sleep right now, I’m as financially nervous as I was twenty years ago.”
About the purpose of the business beyond getting the role or the acting:
“The idea of you creating something that is illustrating some aspect of the human spirit. It can be funny, it can be exciting, it can be scary. But what you’re trying to do as artists and the purpose of art is to advance and elevate humanity. So when you’re choosing your work and you’re choosing the material that you’re putting into the world you have to understand that somebody else’s kids will see that, somebody else’s dad’s going to see that, somebody else’s grandmother is going to see it and ask Are they going to be better or worse after they have contact with your material?”
Will Smith’s philosophy when it comes to motivating his children (Jada, Mama Bear, thinks differently):
“I feel that greatness lives on the edge of destruction. The reason that someone is great is because they survived death. That’s what made you great. You were almost over. That was it. When the Phoenix rises from the ashes…” (yes, I of course LOVED this line)
But do you have to almost die every time?
“Here’s the thing. People look to you because in the face of destruction, you pounded on your chest, put your arms up and said, I’m still standing. Bring it!”
Fault vs. Responsibility
Fault vs. Responsibility
– Will Smith
On your friends:
“The prerequisite for spending time with any person is that they nourish and inspire you. They feed your flame. Look at your last five text messages. Are those people feeding your flames or dousing your fire? Who are the people in your life that are fanning your flames?”
On Self Discipline:
“99% of people are not willing to do what it takes to make their dreams come true…self discipline is the center of all material success.”
“You can not win the war against the world, if you can’t win the war against your own mind.”
Fault vs. Responsibility:
“It really don’t matter whose fault it is that something is broken, if it’s your responsibility to fix it…it is your responsibility to take that pain and how to overcome that and build a happy life for yourself.”
“Your heart, your life, your happiness is your responsibility and your responsibility alone.”
“Taking responsibility and accepting responsibility is not an admission of guilt. Taking responsibility is a recognition of the power that you seize when you stop blaming people.”
On Happiness:
“You cannot make someone happy. You can make a person smile. You can make a person feel good. You can make a person laugh. But whether or not a person is happy is deeply and totally and utterly out of your control.”
“I retire from trying to make you happy. I need you to go make yourself happy and just prove to me that it’s even possible.”
On marriage:
“We got into this false romantic concept that somehow when we got married that we would become one and what we realized was that we were two completely separate people on two completely separate individual journeys and that we were choosing to walk our separate journeys together. But her happiness was her responsibility and my happiness was my responsibility. And we decided that we were going to find our individual internal private separate joy and then we were going to present ourselves to the relationship and to each other already happy.”
On Peace:
“I realized we have to actually cultivate a taste for peace. We’re actually addicted to things that agitate us and aggravate us.”
On Failure:
“Fail early, fail often, and fail forward.”
The One Thing Only 1% of People Do
The One Thing Only 1% of People Do
– Will Smith & Jim Kwik
On Success:
“Successful people fail a far lot more than they succeed, but they extract the lessons from the failure and they use the energy and the wisdom to come around to the next phase of success.”
On Loving Yourself:
“Talk to yourself lovingly. I know you want to eat that pizza and it will be really good. But, you know, I can’t let you eat that man. If you eat that pizza you’ll feel like shit. I love you too much to let you eat that.”
On Discipline:
“I think the word discipline has gotten a bad rap. We think about it in terms of punishment. I’m not talking about discipline in that way. I’m talking about in the sense that you forgo immediate pleasure for the exchange for long term self respect.”
On Happiness:
“The road to sustained happiness is disciplining your behavior.”
Will Smith’s Top 10 Rules
Will Smith’s Top 10 Rules
– by Evan Carmichael
Top Ten Rules:
- Focus
- Improve Yourself
- Don’t Chase Money
- Be Comfortable with Anything
- Laugh at Everything
- Know That You Can
- Provide Value
- Live Life Without Fear
- Express Positive Energy
- Have Fun
Embarrassing Dad – LOVE IT!
I think I have to up my game!
Additional Articles to Check Out
Will Smith Motivation – Greatest Speeches & Videos That Will Change Your Life
20 Inspirational Will Smith Quotes
Jada Pinkett Smith Clarifies Open Marriage Statement: Will Smith and I Have a “Grown” Relationship
Will & Jada Pinkett Smith on 20 Years: “Friendship is Key”
And My Favorite
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