Motivation Daily by Motiversity - DO IT FOR YOURSELF - Powerful Motivational Speech Compilation

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Speakers Alex Hormozi @AlexHormozi  Labrinth @labrinth  David Harewoodhttps://www.instagram.com/davidharewood/?hl=enAlexander Ludwighttps://www.instagram.com/alexanderludwig/?hl=enMusic: Secession Studios @SecessionStudios  Really Slow Motion Buy their music:Amazon : http://amzn.to/1lTltY5iTunes: http://bit.ly/1ee3l8KSpotify: http://bit.ly/1r3lPvNAudiomachineTwelve Titans Music @twelvetitansmusic  SoundstripeAudio JungleAlain de Bottonhttps://www.alaindebotton.com/Mark Nepohttps://www.instagram.com/mark_nepo/?hl=enMatthew ​McConaughey⁩ ​ @MatthewMcConaughey  Dry Creek Wrangler @DryCreekWranglerSchool  Simon Cowellhttps://www.instagram.com/simoncowell/?hl=enAdam SavageBryan CranstonWalter Bond @WalterBond  Leif Babinhttps://instagram.com/leifbabinHany FaridSpencer Beachhttps://spencerspeaks.ca/https://instagram.com/spencer.beach Dan Nitro Clarkhttps://instagram.com/dannitroclark Coach Pain @coachpain8129  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was a really good student at Vanderbilt. I was vice president of the powerlifting team. I was president of the fraternity that I was in. I had a 3-8, I think, GPA, and I graduated in three years. But I was so afraid of not getting a job that I took the first job that I was offered. It wasn't a great job. But I was so afraid that I would be jobless that I just took that job. And I only say this to say that, like, you can change.

your stars. Like, I was not the type of person who does the types of things that I do now. I retell those stories. I don't talk about them as much because honestly, I blocked most of them out because I was in so much pain during that period of my life. And the reason that I'm willing to keep making content and write books and all that stuff is because I know that there is another person who is going through a similar chapter and worried if they are sane or if it is only them. And it is not. I was so driven by fear. I was so afraid of everything during that chapter.

And so it was like other people's opinions. What if I fail? What if this doesn't work out? What if people make fun of me? Like I had all this fear around it. And like the emotionality that I have now towards it is because of the mix of pity and pride that I have for that young man, the young Alex that was going through that.

because I'm proud that I made it through that, but I also pity the amount of pain that I was going through to make that jump. And so I don't know who's listening, but like, fear can be useful. If you know that you were driven by fear, in some ways it's almost shameful to say it because I behaved like a coward.

I was afraid of everything. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of my dad's judgment. I was afraid of everything. And the flip that made, made it for me was just using that fear against something bigger, was that I was more afraid of looking back on my life and never having tried. And I knew that that would be so empty and I would be so filled with regret and that I knew

that I would beat myself up over it every single day as I got older, that that existence was more terrifying to me than the practical consequences of me taking a step. where I would fail. It's very easy for me to say now, of course the downside's not that big, you'll just sleep on a friend's couch, whatever. But at the time for me, it was everything.

Being you is for you and you have to do it for you and you also have to accept the consequences of being you. I didn't take care of my younger self. I didn't take care of him. So now I try and take care of my younger self. And I always try and tell people, look after yourself.

Really look after yourself because... What does that mean to you? Look after yourself? Control one I can control. And don't... If I don't get a job, I don't get a job. I can't... There's nothing I can do about that.

I can control how I feel about it. And just think it wasn't for me. But that's okay. It'll come around. Maybe it'll come around. I can't control that. I can control what I can control. You know, if I could go back to my younger self, like, especially in my teenage years, and, you know, I just, I feel like I always thought that I would mistake, like, gratitude for complacency.

Yes. Right. And I'm like, they're too, they're so, so different. I'm like, you can stop beating yourself up and still be an ambitious person. Yeah. You may actually do better work because you're. You're not wasting time on the parts that don't matter. You're only focused on what you control.

Exactly. And I wish so badly I could have been like, just let it go. Just allow this to happen. You're doing great. Like just it's all going to be good. Just focus on what you can control and let the rest go. Whenever you look at people doing stuff that seems a bit suboptimal or a bit strange, they're reading too much, they're jogging too much, they're trying to make too much money, whatever.

They're feeling too much. They're feeling too little. All of these departures from so-called health, normality, et cetera, always ask yourself, why are they doing it? And it's normally a defense. It is a defense against a situation that was very difficult at some point. They learned that defense. And even though it would be optimal now to let go of that defensive structure, they're still clinging on to it because that's what feels safe. It feels safe to make jokes all the time. It feels safe to be very serious all the time. It feels safe to be depressed. it feels safe to give up.

It feels safe to try and win at all costs, including your own health, etc. All these are defensive structures that once kept us safe that I think in order to evolve, we almost want to say thank you, thank you to your younger self for working this out, for finding a way of coping with reality. But could we learn to cope in a slightly different way? But I think one of the things that I would have said to my younger self would be keep following your heart.

Your heart is your greatest teacher and your strongest muscle. Listen to what people feel, not what they think. If I said I can't, my dad's teeth, it just started to go, excuse me? Sure you're not just having trouble? I remember this one time I was going out to do my chores Saturday morning and mow the lawn and I couldn't get the damn lawnmower to start. I checked everything could get to start.

I'm going inside and said, Dad, can you help me? I can't get the lawnmower started at me. Longmore started and he turned around, I saw his molders and went, and he got up, walked with me through the kitchen, through the garage, out the backyard, went to the lawnmower, messed around, pulled a couple things out, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. After about 10 minutes, boom, cranked it. And while the lawnmour was running right there, he came over to me and bent down and looked me and he goes, see, son, you were just having trouble. You need to work on being a good man. Your neighbor down the road is in a difficult place and they can't get their yard mode.

The old lady across the street, the old gentleman across the street, it snows. Just take your shovel and go over and shovel their sidewalk. Just somebody at work, you watch and you look and people at work, they're going through a hard time. Just, hey, are you all right? Anything I can do to help? Being good is proactive. It's doing something. Be a dangerous man.

Now, being dangerous is not being a threat. There are two different things. All right. And it's not about going out and lifting weights and getting a bunch of tattoos and wearing leather jackets and walking around. We're chest and shoulders up hulking around saying, I'm dangerous. That's very rarely is that a dangerous man. Often the most dangerous man in the room is the quietest man in the room.

Third, be educated. Listen, you want to know how to be a man among men. you start following and reading and listening to guys like Jocko Willett, Jordan Peterson, these guys, and start learning. And start learning, start reading. The brain is a muscle, and like any muscle, the more you work it, the stronger it becomes. My dad worked for a large corporation, and before he retired, he said to me, don't work for a large company because when you're 65 or whatever, they're going to retire you

and you'll never hear from them again. And that is exactly what happened to my dad and it was heartbreaking. And he said, look, whatever you do, you're going to have to be patient because it's not going to happen overnight. If you want to do well, you've got to learn to be good at it. And it could take 20 years, it could take 30 years, but understand that. And I'm like, I'm fine with that. Are you, do you have a plan? You don't have to be rich now, but do you have a plan, right? Have you do, have you found means of being confident? Can you demonstrate kindness and excellence across anything? My granddad always said this. The greatest gifts in life are not in the plans. They're in the detours. There is no way I could plan my way to being on the stage. I have failed a lot more and a lot

longer than I've succeeded. I didn't originally get the role in Top Gun that I auditioned for, and it's worked out better than I could have ever even imagined. So if you want your life to be a great story, like a great movie, if you want it filled with adventure, comedy, romance, action, thrills, when you go out there and things inevitably don't go according to plan, just remember, that's when your movie's plot is just getting interesting. That's when your protagonist is being tested. That's when the writers are working overtime. to give the audience some nail-biting drama. Enjoy things not going according to plan.

If you knew the ending, it wouldn't be worth the watch. No good story happens from things going right. What advice would you give to someone who is unsure about what to do in life? I would start asking you questions, asking you to investigate yourself for the things that you like doing, for the things that you can't stop thinking about, for, the kind of fiction or non-fiction that you read, the areas of the world that fascinate you or irritating. Each one of us is sitting here in these, you know,

roughly ambulatory engines of our bodies and looking out, and each of us latches on to different stuff about the world that moves us in different ways. And I think that there is value in invests, Those those parts of your point of view. We look down now to 16-year-olds and say, where are you going to go to college? What are you going to do for the rest of your life? And it's like they're sick, they're not fully baked yet.

How do they know? Give them a break. Just say, look, I think after high school, take a year off, take two years off, join the Peace Corps, travel, go figure things out or just enjoy yourself. For the first time in their lives, they're adults, and they don't have to be somewhere. They're not told to be somewhere.

Get used to that freedom. Even at the age of about seven or eight, you know, in our neighborhood, go around to people's houses, knock on their door and say, can I, can I wash your car? Can I mow the lawn? Because my mom and dad said, if we pay for the holiday,

you've got to earn your spending money. So I'm like, fine. But I used to love it. If you got 10 quid for like washing a car, I mean, it was like, bingo. It was the best feeling. The things that always stuck in my mind, and it was quite an old thing to say to a 12-year-old,

he said, everyone in life, Simon, has a sign on their head, and it says, make me feel important. And I want to think about that. I'm thinking, sighing on there. I have no idea what that means. Why do you say that? Maybe he's had a couple of drinks.

And then I forget when I realized what it meant, but boy, did that stick in my mind, which was, if you want to do one in life, it's going to be a team effort and make sure you recognize every single person on that team. And so if I walk into a room, I instantly I think pretty much

the point I understood it is that I can walk into a room and I can see I see everything in one moment I see the person who's opening the door I see the person who's doing a particular job so in other words I see

the room always as a team and you did that the minute you walked into this room because there was what 10 people here from the person I opened the door, the person I got the coffee, the people take care of the cameras and you, and this is rare. And obviously I've done 300 of these conversations. You went around to every single person in this room and took an interest in every single person, which is, it's not typical. First game of my senior year, I break my foot. I come back in six weeks and I break my foot a second time. In my mind, my college career was

over and my NBA dreams were dead. I have it seven points a game. I have a seven points a game. I I got to offer the $75,000 job because one of our season ticket holders like me. And I'm going to close with this. Right before I took the job, my daddy called me on the phone. He would always ask the right questions at the right time. He said, you had a tough year, son. What's next? I said, Daddy, I'm going to be a hospital administrator, $75,000 job. He said, not bad son, but can I ask you a question?

Do you believe? You're an NBA player? Don't start that, Dad. Come on, Dad, Dad. Come on, Dad. I only having seven points a game, Dad. We're not like these other black families that just need basketball, Dad.

We're educated, Dad. We're not dependent on basketball, Dad. We're balanced, Dad. We're educated, Dad. I got a $75,000 job, Dad. Do you believe, son? Go for it, son. Go for it.

He said, you know, my dad always told me that you only get one name, invest in it accordingly. Just like you only get one name. Like, you can change your companies, you can go bankrupt, but like your name stays one. days with you. That can either be an asset or can be a liability. And why not have a brand power

into itself? What I would say to a 20 year old is to learn from people who have enough life experiences to be humble, right? So when you, when you're humble enough to recognize that you don't even know what you don't know, if you'd ask young Lieutenant Laf Babin, uh, and the Charlie Baton commander, I've been through seal training, I've been through a deployment to Iraq, so I had some, some, you know, combat experience. And when we were going through our workup cycle and tasking a bruiser, if you'd ask me if I was going to get in a terrible, friendly fire situation with other U.S. forces, would that happen?

If you'd ask me that before we deployed to Ramadi in 2006, I'd have said, hell no. That happens to losers who don't know how to plan, who don't know how to train, who don't know how to prepare their team. And if you read the book of Extreme Ownership, that is Chapter 1. That's chapter one, the very first major operation that we were a part of. So what we recognize is just how easily something like that can happen. And in fact, it's going to happen if you don't take extreme measures to mitigate the risk of it happening every time. So I think you got to humble yourself, realize that there's a lot that you may be.

You don't even know that you don't know at this point. If they don't have what you want, don't listen to what they say. There's no greater waste of time than justifying your actions. to people who have a life you don't want. That was a message to my younger self. When you have the friends who are telling you, oh, must be nice, or you think you're better than us, or, oh, so we can't drink anymore, that's when you can be like, yeah, then what?

Well, then we wouldn't be friends. You're not going to be friends with them eventually anyways, I promise you. Anyone who says that you're not going to be friends with, if you want to ultimately become the person you want to become, they're only going to reject you harder and harder until eventually you have nothing to share about. and the only thing that you'll talk about is the past, which, by the way, one of the great leading indicators of, at least in my opinion, of a great way to know when to cut a friend is when they

only talk about your past. What would you tell your 20-year-old self? When I think back on the last 20, 25, 30 years, the things I do regret are how I treated people is, you know, treat people well. Because it's the one thing that sort of, I would say, still haunts me. It made lots of mistakes in my life, lots of things. But the, The way we treat people, I think, is really the one thing we can do. Because here's the thing I know that when you treat people well, it has an amazing ripple effect in a positive direction. And when you treat people badly, it's exactly the opposite. It's not just that you're treating that person badly, but there's a ripple effect associated with that.

It took me five years. And I honestly five years. And I was standing there and I was going through everything that I had overcome and achieved. and I'm out of the hospital and graduate through university with a distinction. I'm a fully trained safety professional. My speaking business is taking off, and I looked back five years later, back to when I was suicidal. I looked back and I'm like, I didn't see this outcome.

Not at all. But at that time, I didn't see any outcome. So I say work with the change. And I can promise you, it will take you places you never imagine possible. We expect instant gratification. There is no one that goes through trauma or hardship or life circumstances where time is not the solution. You need to allow the time to happen. You can't expect everything to change down the dime.

It's not going to. And you need to work with it. So work with it and let that time happen. And I guarantee you if you work with it and let the time happen, you will go five years into it, look back and go, I didn't see this outcome. I think young men need to know that, hey, it's okay for you to say. sit down and to read and have a cigar and to chill and to think because i guarantee if you're in the weight room um pumping out all these reps and running on the machine and then you're going into the cubicle and you're flip open a computer and you're not thinking you're learning you're taking in

but you're not meditating on stuff and you're not you're not thinking but that can be taken so far that young men are made to feel guilty for just setting down and thinking and relaxing. And I understand that there was a tendency in this country. We had a lot of young men that were not raised with dads. They weren't raised to work, you know, and so it's sitting on the couch playing the stupid Xbox, you know, not growing up learning to work. so that pendulum went too far this way. So now you've got guys who, in order to counteract that,

they swung the pendulum too far this way. And a balanced man needs to be somewhere in the middle. He needs to be able to work, to do what needs to be done, to improve himself. And he also needs to sit around by the fire in the backyard and have a cigar and read some Kipling and just stay balanced. there needs to be balanced.

What advice would you give to your younger self? The advice I would give to my 20-year-old self would be to work. Work harder. You know, even when it feels like the work isn't matter, it will know. You know, delayed does not be denied. I know young man that you want things.

Keep putting the work. It's all about the work. Have faith and trust that the seeds that you plant today will grow into the tree that you want it to be. I know the reason I didn't have a long football. It was because I didn't do enough work. I had chances when I was at San Jose State to stay the summer at San Jose, work out, get a job up there, and continue to train in a very structured and secluded environment. But I chose to go back to Southern California, where the beach was, where my dad was, where the drugs were, the parties.

So by choosing to do that and not being disciplined enough, not being focused enough, slow down. Don't grow up too fast. My 18-year-old self, I wouldn't say he was reckless. I wouldn't say he was the most responsible person, but I would tell him, slow down, be patient, and let it happen. when it needs to happen. Everything has a season.

Okay. Society is a little different these days, but people like, they want the now. It's like working out. I want to look like this now. I want this right now. No, be patient. And would your 18-year-old self listen?

Yes and no. That's why I mean, yeah, yeah. Yes and no. I can honestly tell you, because there's that stubborn side, I got this. I know what I'm doing. And then there's the other guy.

Yeah. You know, hey, you know, I need to. So I would tell my 20-year-old self, do the work now. Work when you're tired, work when you're exhausted, work when you don't see results. But it's all like money in the bank. And that interest of the work will compound and you'll get what you want.