“If you want something, go get it. Period.”
This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. It is short and to the point, yet so powerful.
This impactful line was said by Will Smith’s character, Chris Gardner, in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. In the scene, Chris is playing basketball with his young son who gets excited after making a shot and says, “I’m going pro!” Smith’s character then tells his son that he himself wasn’t very good at basketball growing up and so he probably wouldn’t be too good either. He tells his son that he will excel at other things in life, just not basketball. His son is quickly dejected and gives up, throwing the ball away.
It is at this point that Smith’s character realizes what he said. He is clearly disappointed in himself for telling his son not to pursue his dreams. It is then when he says, “Don’t ever let someone tell you that you can’t do something. Not even me. OK? You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves they want to tell you that you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.”
Wow! That line was so powerful when I first heard it that I have since probably watched it on YouTube over 200 times.
To give you full context, Smith’s character tells his son not to pursue his dreams while at the same time he is pursuing his own dream of making a better life for the two of them. The road is extremely difficult for Smith’s character so, in a moment of weakness, he verbally bashes his son with the same negative signals that the world seems to be giving him daily. Soon Smith realizes that he is playing the same antagonist role that he fights against every day and tells his son that he needs to push through those naysayers and go for what he wants, even if that naysayer is his Dad.
The way he phrases that message is so beautiful and true to me. “If you want something, go get it. Period.” The message, just like life, leaves no room for naysayers or excuses. At the end of the day you either did or you didn’t.
We all have reasons why we can’t do something. Those reasons, also known as excuses, are extremely easy to find. Choose your poison.
- I could have done it when I was young and on my own, but not now when I have a family
- If I just had some money I could make it work
- Guys like me don’t get business loans
- The industry is too competitive
- It was a good business to be in 10 years ago
- No matter what I eat I can’t lose weight
- Nobody will listen to me, why bother?
- I don’t have the right connections
Sound familiar? Trust me, we have all had these thoughts and we have all taken the easy way out by using excuses like this.
“Excuses are simply wastes of breath. They move us no closer to our goals.”
But where has that gotten us? Have you ever made an excuse and then gotten where you wanted to be without putting in the work? No, life doesn’t work like that. Excuses are simply wastes of breath. They move us no closer to our goals. In fact, they accomplish absolutely nothing except helping make ourselves feel better when we give up on our dreams. They are metaphorical hugs as we lay on the couch watching TV, telling us “It’s OK sweetie, it was just too hard”. They’re bullshit. Plain and simple.
But make no mistake, excuses and naysayers will rear their ugly heads at every turn of the corner. Pursuing your dream is hard and when something is hard it’s easy to quit. Believe me, you will want to quit.
“To keep going requires you to keep pushing. It requires more pain and suffering. But that pain and suffering will lead you to your goal.”
Do you know how much effort it takes to quit? Zero. Think about running around a track. You set a goal of running 5 miles because you want to be in better shape but your body starts hurting at mile 4. You feel fatigued, your muscles ache, and your lungs feel like they are about to collapse. To quit all you have to do is stop your legs from moving. That’s it, it’s simple. Go ahead, quit. It’s easy.
To keep going requires you to keep pushing. It requires more pain and suffering. But that pain and suffering will lead you to your goal.
Which will you choose? If you quit that’s the end of the story. Nothing happens. You are no better than you were yesterday. In the end, it doesn’t matter why you quit. It only matters that you quit. No one cares that you were tired, or that your muscles were sore, or that you couldn’t breathe as well. They just know that you quit. And you know that you quit. It’s black and white. You either did or you didn’t.
But if you keep going and fight through the pain, you will get better. You will eventually achieve your goal and people will remember that you did it. More importantly, you will know that you did.
Remember, it’s black and white. Don’t get caught up in today’s participation trophy culture or this BS “it’s about the journey” nonsense. You either did or you didn’t.
I’m not saying you have to always achieve exactly what you set out to achieve because you can’t always control that. But what you can always control is your effort. Did you give it everything you had or did you quit when it got hard? Did you try your absolute best, meaning there is literally nothing more that you could have done? Did you push through the muck and the garbage and the haters to pursue your dream in the face of punishing adversity?
If you did then you can be proud. If not, you didn’t “go get it”.
So if you know what you want then go get what you want. Don’t let anyone or anything stop you. There will be tough times and there will be people who tell you that you can’t do it, I guarantee it. You will want to quit and give up. There will be times when you think you hit the proverbial brick wall. But if you really want something, if you really believe in it, then you need to push through it all. It is those that persevere in the face of these challenges that are labeled “successful”. But much more importantly, it is those people that can hold their head up high when they look in the mirror and say “I got it. Period”.