wanted to be a comedic actor.
And I think that was one thing my mom always wanted for me,
she always wanted me to follow my dreams.
Has anyone in here ever wanted to get worse at something?
I think probably in that moment I knew that this is what
I was going to do forever.
You know, the real inspiration comes from just
the pleasure of doing things.
You know, if you get too focused on competition sometimes
and you don’t have anything else happening,
then you get lopsided.
I had many, many years where I had all my energy strictly
going in to trying to improve my surfing, win heats,
and that was my laser focus.
You know, if you’re not getting better,
then it’s not fun anymore, that’s my theory.
I guess a measure of success is, you know, the end result.
I’m not a religious person.
I don’t even know if I believe in God.
But it was a gift from God, it was like this pshh.
– He’s an American professional surfer known
for his competitiveness and style.
He’s been crowned World Surf League Champion
a record 11 times.
In 2007 he became the all time leader in career event wins.
He’s Kelly Slater, and here are his
top 10 rules for success.
(whooshing)
– [Kelly] Surfing in it’s most basic sense is just a true
freedom of expression.
I was just a goofball as a kid, so I actually wanted to be
a comedic actor up until the time I was about 10 years old.
Well, surfing has really defined my life
on probably every level in some way.
I believe in certain people, there’s just this built in
desire and drive to win.
It’s sort of beyond what other people can understand.
(electronic music)
I come from a small city in Florida, in central Florida.
And um, there’s not too many people in my city
who sort of spread out around the world,
and I live around the world, I travel around the world,
and it’s really great, it’s a lot of fun.
But, I think as a kid, I had a lot of ideas that were
really big, and both my parents had passions
that they never really followed.
Both my parents loved to play music.
Dad played guitar, my mom loved to sing and play banjo.
My dad did a little bit of theatrical acting.
But they never really followed their dreams,
either one of them, you know?
And I think that was one thing my mom always wanted for me,
she always wanted me to follow my dreams and to think big.
Don’t just think of like, you know, the little problem
you have at school, or just a little, I mean you got to
take care of those things too, but it’s thinking about the,
you know, someone like the Dalai Lama, he’s thinking
about the whole world every time he make’s a decision.
If more people think that way,
more big great things happen.
(electronic music)
Has anyone in here ever wanted to get worse at something?
(crowd laughing)
I mean, if you’re trying to get better, you’re competitive.
Whether it’s with yourself or with someone else.
Some people try to get more better.
Does that make sense? Mo better.
Hold on that’s not what I meant.
(crowd laughing)
– Mo betta. Better-er. – Better-er.
(crowd laughing)
– But, Rob and I were both raised in very competitive homes.
Rob’s dad made the Malloy brothers’ father
break a ping pong paddle and cry one time
in his own home.
(crowd laughing)
This is not a joke.
– No, it was serious.
– He actually threw the paddle and broke the wall,
screaming, cussing I heard.
– Yes.
– But, Rob’s dad and his older brother are like
crazy, crazy competitive guys.
Like, that’s how I always knew them, hanging out
when we were teenagers, you know?
Like, Jim would beat us at tennis,
and then he was way better than us at golf,
and he would like take us to the golf range
and we would be hittin balls, and he’d be like,
what the hell are you doing?
(crowd laughing)
That looks terrible. That’s awful.
And he’d just like, berate us.
He was constantly pushing that button.
And it wasn’t, it never was like mean.
Well, it was mean, but it was nice.
(crowd laughing)
It was always out of love, because Jim just wanted
to see us be better at things, and he loved,
I think your dad really loved that competitive environment,
and being a part of it, and just experiencing it.
(electronic music)
The wave I rode, I think I was eight years old.
That wave stands out in my head probably more
than any wave in my life for some reason.
It wasn’t any sort of amazing wave, it was
just a little wave, probably waist or chest high.
I took off on it, and then I just did,
I did a bottom turn and I did a little turn off the top
and I just did that three different times,
and when I finished the third one I came down,
I sort of straightened off on the wave,
and I looked over, my dad was smiling at me.
And right at that moment, it was such sheer joy, you know?
Connecting with my dad, but also finding the thing
that I was becoming good at.
I think, probably in that moment I knew
that this is what I was going to do forever.
(electronic music)
And I was inspired to go travel around the world.
I wanted to be able to make money
and travel around the world and surf all these great
tropical places.
At the end of it all, after going all these places
for so many years and doing so many things,
the real inspiration comes from just
the pleasure of doing things.
Just from, you know, it doesn’t have to be the best
or biggest or most exciting wave or journey or whatever.
It still, it really comes down to sharing with people.
You know, having time with your friends and your family
and the people you love.
(electronic music)
Most of the things I do are things I enjoy,
and you know it kind of fulfills my life,
and some things make me busy and can distract me,
so I got to, you know, make sure
I don’t do too many of those.
You know, if you get too focused on competition sometimes
and you don’t have anything else happening,
you get lopsided, you know, and I’ve done that before.
I don’t really want to go back in that direction.
You got to structure things your own way.
Take advice that’s going to help you
and structure it your own way.
I feel like generally I can maintain what I do
and focus on the competition too.
(electronic music)
I’ve been really, you know, no excuses,
I’ve put in 100 percent effort, you know,
when I’ve surfed heats the last couple years.
But I have been, especially in the last year,
been very distracted by a lot of other stuff.
Just, I had many, many years where I had all my energy
strictly going in to trying to improve my surfing,
win heats, and that was my laser focus.
And, you know, the last couple of years have been
a little bit more business and side things.
And also, you know, just a slight lack
of the same amount of interest, you know,
it’s not as exciting after all these years and stuff.
I mean, I don’t know what you felt at the end
of your career but, you know, at some point you start
kind of going, well I’ve been here, I’ve done that,
I’ve surfed against this guy.
What’s the new excitement in that?
(electronic music)
I’m super inspired to get better at surfing.
You know, if you’re not getting better than
it’s not fun anymore, that’s my theory.
If you’re getting worse at something,
you might as well find something else
that you can get good at.
I had an idea of how I wanted to surf waves,
and I wanted to be able to do that.
And I didn’t see really anyone who surfed that way.
You know, the way I thought.
(electronic music)
When you’re forming an idea, when you have a vision,
whether it’s music, or it’s a company, or a technology.
You have people thinking about it that are coming up,
brainstorming all these great ideas
and then it starts to get bigger,
and then you need people who can reach out
in those different branches and grab the right people.
And I think that’s where the success comes in.
You got to have that like mind,
but then you have to have different ideas
and different viewpoints.
I guess a measure of success is, you know,
the end result, whatever comes in the end.
(electronic music)
I was in Fiji just a month after he died.
And I was surfing in this event,
the waves are absolutely perfect.
And I just was sitting there while I was surfing the heat
and just started daydreaming about my dad,
and I just went, gosh my dad’s never surfed one wave
as good as any of these waves out here.
And all the sudden this wave came,
and it was uh, it was, I’m not a religious person,
I don’t even know if I believe in God,
but it was a gift from God, it was like this pssh.
(soft piano music)
And I took off on it, for people that don’t know
about surfing, the ultimate thing is to get a barrel.
Get inside the tube.
And I think I pulled into the barrel for about
10, 12 seconds on this wave or something.
And, it was right, I swear, 15 seconds after I had had
this thought in my head about, I wish my dad
could catch one of these waves.
And then that wave came.
And I came out of the wave, and I just like
pointed at the sky, and it was like,
I knew my dad was there with me.
It was almost like that wave that I got
when I was eight years old, you know?
(electronic music)
– Thank you guys so much for watching.
I made this video because Julia Beatriz Schmidt
asked me to.
So if there’s a famous entrepreneur that you want me
to profile next, leave it in the comments below
and I’ll see it in the comments below.
I’d also love to know which of Kelly’s top 10 rules
had the biggest impact on you.
Leave it in the comments and we’ll join the discussion.
Thank you so much for watching.
Continue to believe and I’ll see you soon.
(dramatic noise)
”
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