This Is How We Do It: A Pep Talk

by Kevin Hart

You may not control all the events

that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. —Maya Angelou

These are challenging times. Only the strong survive. And by the strong, I mean people with a strong enough mindset to make it through

Energy flows where attention goes, and some of that attention is just emboldening the negative forces in the world. There are many reasons for this, but one is because people who can’t get positive attention often opt for negative attention, rather than getting no attention at all.

In most cases, good and bad are matters of perspective.

I’m focused on what serves my higher life goals and chasing my best,

that success is earned. It’s not given.

I am driven by the same thing I want you to be driven by: big questions. If your questions are big enough and positive enough, you can transcend the ordinary. Here are some of the questions I ask myself: What am I building? What is the endgame? And when I get to the endgame, is it really the end? When I die, what will other people talk about? What will the conversation be like? What is the legacy I’m leaving for my children?

look in the mirror right now and say, “I’m proud of myself.” Really feel a deep respect and admiration for your grind, your will, your effort, your blood, sweat, and tears.

Because all those things are you. And this is where we are starting: loving who you are today.

What path are you on now? Who chose that path? Where is it ultimately leading if you don’t change anything? Whose approval are you seeking? How far will you go off your path to get it? What decisions are you making out of fear? What decisions are you making out of joy? If you are marching to the beat of a drum, who or what is beating out the tempo? The only path that leads to the ultimate you—because beyond goals,...

All the information you need to take care of yourself in the best possible way is out there.

You think I’m busting my ass and putting 110 percent into every single day of my life and career to not be healthy and die too soon so I can’t enjoy what I’ve built? Is that what I’m doing? Do I not want to see the benefits of hard work?

Success, they say, is where preparation meets opportunity. And there are two kinds of preparation: One is dedication to your personal craft, to the specific skill set you need to reach your goal. The other is to prepare your life and your mind to find, embrace, and receive that success.

if we don’t do anything in order to avoid the negativity, then we’ve wasted this life.

You have to risk negativity, risk banishment, risk hatred to have a life worth living.

Mindset. Is. Everything.

How you interpret other people and your environment, and how you feel about yourself and your direction in life, shapes everything that you do.

You can decide to feel miserable and feel limited, or you can decide to feel optimistic and feel expansive, with an enduring sense of possibility.

Positive mindset is so key because when you have it, it makes you completely free. It means you have somehow figured out a way to think about the bright side, no matter what. You don’t let yourself get stuck walking in circles, dwelling on the negative. You keep your head up and keep moving forward.

Negativity (when it’s not processed) is completely unproductive.

With a positive mindset, you can’t be stopped. You can’t be knocked down, at least for long. How can you be held back when every obstacle becomes an opportunity? When every trial and tribulation life throws at you becomes a gift to make you grow and become stronger?

Jail today doesn’t mean jail tomorrow. Divorce today doesn’t mean you won’t get married again. Getting fired doesn’t mean you’ll never work again. Nothing short of death is the end of the world. It’s not over. Don’t give up. It’s a long life that we live.

Keep a positive mindset.

When you depart with the automatic mental position of wanting to be the best possible version of you that you can be, you will succeed.

Develop a positive mindset. Try to simply understand what it really can do for you.

What-is-ness is accepting everything for what it is. When shit inevitably happens: it is what it is. You are at peace with the nature of this new reality.

People create so much friction and agitation in themselves by not accepting the reality of their situation.

Sometimes we’re bitching and complaining about shit we can’t fucking change. Make the best of those moments. Complete those moments. And after completing them, move on rather than sitting there and letting it fuck up your day. That’s my suggestion. Be like water: allow, adapt, and keep moving.

Consistency is important not just because it takes time to create change but because it gives your mind an opportunity to see new results—to see what you’re capable of—and change its belief systems around what’s possible for you.

All it takes is getting up, intentionally applying your mind over the course of whatever period of time, and doing it.

Being consistent in new behaviors creates proof positive that you’re an independent, powerful, creative, strong, functional person.

But when you’re feeling your best, you’ll find that it’s because of the decisions you made to put the work into yourself to feel your absolute best.

So, when you start feeling down, it’s because you know that you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do and applying yourself 100 percent in order to give yourself the best possible opportunity to be great.

When you tell someone you’ll do something or you’ll be somewhere, you follow through and back it up with action.

You have to have the courage and self-respect to be able to say no.

Being on time is the key to success not just in any job but in everything.

To be determined is to be committed to your best self, your dreams, and the expression of life, enough that you will not throw in the towel.

You will not prevail without determination.

it all ultimately comes down to you living your life for you. The endgame is being able to look in the mirror and say, “I’m proud of myself.”

Feeling good, and helping those around you feel good, is one of the quickest ways to bring happiness and harmony to your life.

“Give yourself permission to be you, and let go of the anxiety that comes from the impossible pursuit of being liked by everyone. It’s so liberating.”

This is why the higher you climb, and the more attention you start to get, the more you need to master your mental in order to survive.

If you want to keep growing, expanding, and improving, then you’ll need a little hint of dissatisfaction in the back of your mind.

We as people should always be asking ourselves the questions, “Am I truly applying myself 100 percent? Can I do more?”

Nonreactivity is remaining centered in the eye of the storm.

When you overreact, whether it’s to the news, a friend, a partner, or worst of all, your own child, you flip the switch on an unintentional and unconscious course of action, emotion, or thinking.

You lose your cool, w...

you violate the boundaries and dignity of the person you are reacting to.

Nonreactivity keeps you centered, in control, and on track.