Seven Amazingly Brilliant Motivational Speeches That Teach the Key to Success
Seven inspirational speeches that will help set you on the path to living a happy and successful life
There have been many motivational speeches delivered over the years, here are seven of the best.
Admiral William. H. McRaven — University of Texas — 2014
In this speech, McRaven recounts ten lessons he learned during his time as a Navy Seal, and the essence is that everyone has the power to change the world, you just need the courage to do it.
Perhaps the standout point made in this speech is how you only need to change the lives of a few people to change the world.
“If every one of you changed the lives of just 10 people — and each one of those folks changed the lives of another 10 people — just 10 — then in five generations — 125 years — the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.”
McRaven also expresses brilliantly the power of hope:
“If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.”
Other gems are his comments about how giving up is never an option, and as long as you persevere, in the end, you will win. And how if you make your bed at the start of the day, you will begin the day having accomplished something.
“It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.”
All in all, this is a brilliant speech about leadership and how to live a fulfilling life and it is well worth listening to it in its entirety.
Matthew McConaughey — University of Houston — 2016
This speech is full of gems, McConaughey highlights how life is neither fair nor easy and that it’s important to take responsibility for what is good and bad in your life because that’s how you keep moving forwards.
He also highlights how happiness is different from joy:
“If happiness is what you’re after, then you are going to be let down frequently and be unhappy much of the time. Joy, though, is something else. It’s not a choice, not a response to some result, it is a constant.”
McConaughey brilliantly explains how happiness is an emotion which you will rarely feel because it only comes about during rare moments like, for example, when your child is born. Joy, on the other hand, is frequently felt, all you have to do are things that bring you joy. That could be simply working out in the gym because you enjoy getting a great physique, it could socialising with friends, it could be anything.
He makes clear that the key to a happy life is finding what you enjoy in life, and doing as much of it as you can.
Other great gems include how the word unbelievable is the stupidest word in the dictionary, the importance of believing in yourself and other people, and, one of my personal favourites, the importance of avoiding antagonistic behaviours.
“Prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and don’t spend time with anything that antagonizes your character.”
All in all, this is a brilliant speech that provides a recipe for how to be happy and is well worth listening to.
Steve Jobs — Stanford University — 2005
This speech will resonate with pretty much everyone. It is aimed at how to find meaning in both your life and career. The essence of it can be captured from this simple quote:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.”
Jobs recounts three life stories, perhaps the most interesting one being the one where he talks about how being fired from his own company, Apple, is what set him on the path to the great success he went on to achieve.
He also highlights brilliantly how keeping it simple, and remembering that money need not dictate your projects, are highly important when it comes to succeeding in life.
He also has some interesting comments about death:
“Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
All in all, this is a brilliant speech about the importance of embracing what life throws at you and is well worth listening to.
JK Rowling — Harvard University — 2008
This speech by JK Rowling is highly sincere and full of that typical British self-depreciating wit, which perfectly captures the story she tells of how she succeeded through a blend of failure and imagination.
Perhaps this quote best emphasises the essence of the speech:
“Had I ever succeeded at anything else I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena where I felt I truly belonged. I was set free. Because my greatest fear had been realised and I was still alive.”
What she means is that failure set her free of the fear of failure and gave her the strength to succeed. So failure was her beginning, not her end.
“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.”
Other brilliant elements of the speech are what she has to say about imagination, along with what she has to say about how by choosing not to empathise we enable real monsters simply through our own apathy.
All in all, this is a brilliant speech about the power of overcoming adversity and the strength it bestows upon us, and is well worth listening to.
Arnold Schwarzenegger — University of Southern California — 2009
This is a brilliant speech in which Arnold Schwarzenegger lists his six rules for success. Have a vision, don’t listen to the naysayers, break the rules, don’t be afraid to fail, work like hell and advertise, and give back.
He goes into detail about each of these points and what they mean to him. I especially like how he highlights that you need to trust yourself and pursue your vision until it becomes commercially viable. And how it’s best not to follow people but to discover your own style.
His rule about not listening to the naysayers is especially important, and perhaps this quote best encapsulates the rule:
“Whenever someone said to me it can’t be done, I heard it can be done. When they say no, I heard yes. They said it is impossible, I heard it is possible.”
His comments about the importance of advertising are also well worth listening to if you want to understand how to succeed.
But perhaps the best point he makes in his speech is the following:
“I always tell people that you can call me anything that you want. You can call me Arnold. You can call me Schwarzenegger. You can call me the Austrian oak. You can call me Schwarzy. You can call me Arnie. But don’t ever, ever call me the self‑made man.”
He goes on to detail how the notion of the self-made man or woman is a myth, and the comments he makes are well worth hearing.
All in all, this is a brilliant speech that emphasises the true path to success and is well worth listening to.
Denzel Washington — University of Pennsylvania — 2011
This is the speech in which Denzil Washington coined the words: fall forwards.
“Never be discouraged. Never hold back. And when you fall in life, remember this: fall forward.”
He highlights how so often we fall back, and when we fall back we end up giving up. This is why you should never fall back, when you fall, you should fall forwards.
He makes clear that everyone will fail, and perhaps this quote encapsulates this point:
“First, you will fail at some point in your life. Accept it, you will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There’s no doubt about it.”
He highlights how you should not fear failure because failure breeds success, from Thomas Edison and his one thousand failed experiments to Reggie Jackson striking out two thousand six hundred times in his baseball career, failure brings us one step closer to success.
All in all, this is a brilliant speech about how we should not fear failure but embrace it, and is very much worth listening to.
Jim Carrey — Maharishi International University — 2014
This speech is full of so much wisdom it is crazy, though perhaps the quote that best encapsulates its essence is this one:
“Fear is going to be a player in life, but you get to decide how much.”
He makes clear that fear is with us all but how it affects us is our choice.
“So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it.”
He also talks about how his father took the safe option but that it did not pay off, and he lost his job and ended up having to fight tooth and nail to survive.
“I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”
All in all, this is a brilliant speech about the importance of taking that chance and doing what you love, and is very much worth listening to.
That’s all from me, thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy the following:
How to Win Friends and Influence People — a Life Changing Read
Acknowledging That It’s Impossible to Resist Temptation Is the Key to Self-Discipline
Five Ways I Make an Extra £1000 A Month Online
To learn more about me see this link, to support me click the link below:
