This Is How We Do It: A Pep Talk

by Kevin Hart

No matter what you are trying to do, you’re going to face negativity.

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. It does nothing for you. It gets you nowhere. It brings you and other people down.

But if you take a second, you can always take something positive from the negative.

What-is-ness is accepting everything for what it is.

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.

Be like water: allow, adapt, and keep moving.

Without consistency, there’s also no improvement and learning. There’s nothing to pivot from and get leverage to the next level. There’s no opportunity to reflect on prior executions. There’s no refinement.

To be reliable means having an impeccable relationship with your time and obligations.

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.

Determination is about the appreciation of your individual journey.

You have to take responsibility for your bullshit.

Feeling good, and helping those around you feel good, is one of the quickest ways to bring happiness and harmony to your life. It feeds back into your positive mindset to expand and strengthen it even further.

If you want to keep growing, expanding, and improving, then you’ll need a little hint of dissatisfaction in the back of your mind. If you’re not just a little dissatisfied, you’ll never push past your familiar limits and do bigger, better things.

You lose your cool, which means losing the power that comes from being able to perceive accurately, think clearly, and respond intentionally. And often, you violate the boundaries and dignity of the person you are reacting to.

Self-powership means being a self-starter. It’s the ability to pull energy and grit out of yourself at will and decide to keep putting in the work. That’s self-powership. That’s strong, self-generating power.

The smartest person in the room lets everybody talk, and they listen so they can get even smarter. The smartest person in the room is the spongiest.

So I’m keeping my eyes on my prize. I’m not looking around me worried about what other people think of it or whether their prize is better.

Without patience, you also won’t be able to withstand the amount of time it’s really going to take to realize your vision.

It takes time to learn and pivot after each attempt.

Your ability to succeed and accomplish your goals is directly dependent on your ability to deal with adversity and time.

I won’t allow myself to feel comfortable. Because when you feel comfortable, you relax. When you relax, you get lazy. When you get lazy, life passes you by.

When you stay humble, it’s hard to lose yourself in things that don’t matter or things that feed the ego.