The BEST Commencement Speeches To Get You PUMPED For Life | Top 5 Speeches | Goalcast

✪ Graduating or not, these 5 fiery graduation speeches will inspire you to live to your maximum potential and be your best self. Includes "The Wisdom of Third Grade Dropout", arguably the best commencement speech of all time.
✪ The BEST Commencement Speeches To Get You PUMPED For Life | Top 5 Speeches | Goalcast

Video Script:: 

[Music] the wisest person I ever met in my life a third-grade dropouts why is this and drop out in the same sentence as rather oxymoronic like jumbo shrimp mmm-hmm like fun run ain't nothing fun about it like Microsoft Works y'all don't hear me I used to say like country music but I've lived in Texas so long I love country music now I Beck yeah I hunt I finish I have cowboy boots and cowboy y'all I'm a black neck redneck do you hear what I'm sayin no longer oxymoronic for me to say country music and it's not oxymoronic for me to say third grade and drop out that third grade dropout the wisest person I ever met in my life who taught me to combine knowledge and wisdom to make an impact was my father a simple cook why is this man ever men in my life just a simple cook left school in the third grade to help out on the family farm but just because he left school doesn't mean a jessyca education stop Mark Twain once said I've never allowed my schooling to get in the way of my education my father taught himself how to read taught himself how to write decided in the midst of Jim Crow ISM as America was breeding the last gasp of the Civil War our father decided he was going to stand and be a man not a black man not a brown man not a white man but a man he literally challenged himself to be the best that he could all the days of his life I have four degrees my brother is a judge we're not the smartest ones in our family it's a third grade dropout daddy a third grade dropout daddy who was quoting Michelangelo saying to us boys I won't have a problem if you aim high and miss but I'm gonna have a real issue if you aim low and hit a country mother quoting Henry Ford saying if you think you can or if you think you can't you're right I learned that from a third grade rum simple lessons lessons like these son you'd rather be an hour early than a minute late we never knew what time it was at my house cuz the clocks were always ahead my mother said for nearly 30 years my father left the house at 3:45 in the morning one day she asked him why daddy he said maybe one of my boys will catch me in the act of X once I want to share two things with you Aristotle said you are what you repeatedly do therefore excellent sought being a habit not an act don't ever forget that I know you're tough but always remember to be kind always don't ever forget that never embarrass mama mm-hmm yeah if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy the daddy ain't happy don't nobody care but you know I tell you next lesson lesson from a cook over there in the galley son make sure your servants towel is bigger than your ego ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity y'all might have a relative in mind you want to send that to let me say it again ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity pride is the burden of a foolish person John Wooden coach basketball in UCLA for a living but it's calling was the impact people and with all those national championships guess what he was found doing in the middle of the week going into the cupboard grabbing a broom and sweeping his own gym floor you want to make an impact find your broom every day of your life you find your broom your grow your influence step way that way you're attracting people so that you can impact them final lesson son [Music] you're gonna do a job do it right I've always been told how average I can be always been criticized about being average but I want to tell you something I stand here before you before all of these people not listening to those words but telling myself every single day to shoot for the stars to be the best that I can be good enough isn't good enough if it can be better and better is it good enough if it can be best let me close with a very personal story that I think will bring all this into focus wisdom will come to you in the unlikeliest of sources a lot of times through failure when you hit rock-bottom remember this while you're struggling rock-bottom can also be a great foundation on which to build and on which to grow I'm not worried that you'll be successful I'm worried that you won't fail from time to time person that gets up off the canvas and keeps growing that's the person that will continue to grow their influence back in the 70s to help me make this point let me introduce you to someone I'm at the finest woman I'd ever met in my life mm-hmm back in my day way to call there a brick house this woman was the finest woman I'd ever seen in my life there's just one little problem back then ladies didn't like big old linemen The Blind Side hadn't come out yet they'd like quarterbacks and running backs breathless dance and I find out her name is Trina Williams from Lompoc California and and we were all dancing and we're just just excited and I decide in the middle of dancing with her that I would ask her for a phone number she Katrina was the first one Trina was the only woman in college who gave me her real telephone number the next day we walked to Baskin and Robbins ice cream parlor my friends couldn't believe it this has been 40 years ago and my friend still can't believe it we go on a second date and a third date and a fourth date mm-hmm we drive from Chico to Vallejo so that she could meet my parents my father meets her my daddy my hero he meets her pulls me to the side and says is she psycho but anyway we go together for a year two years three years four years by now Trina's a senior in college I'm still a freshman but I'm working some things out I'm so glad I graduated in four terms Nixon Ford Carter Reagan so now it's time to propose so I talked to her girlfriends and it's California it's in the 70s so it has to be outside let's have a candle and they have to have you know some chocolate listen I'm from the hood I had a bottle of Boone's Farm wine that's what I had she said yes that was the key I married the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my y'all ever been to a wedding and even before the wedding starts you hear this how in the world and it was coming from my side of the family we get married we have a few children our lives are great one day Trina finds a lump in her left breasts breast cancer six years after that diagnosis me and my two little boys walked up to mommy's casket and for two years my heart didn't beat it wasn't for my faith in God I wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for those two little boys there'd have been no reason for which to go on I was completely lost that was rock bottom you know what sustained me the wisdom of a third grade dropout the wisdom of a simple cook rat the casket I'd never seen my dad cry but this time I saw my dad cry that was his daughter Trina was his daughter not his daughter-in-law and I'm right behind my father about to see her for the last time on this earth and my father shared three words with me to change my life right there at the casket it would be the last lesson he would ever teach me he said son just stand you keep standing you keep still no matter how rough the sea you keep standing and I'm not talking about just water you keep standing no matter what you don't give up and as clearly as I'm talking to you today these were some of her last words to me she looked me in the eye and she said it doesn't matter to me any longer how long I live what matters to me most is how I live - all one question a question that I was asked all my life by a third grade dropout how you live in how you live in everyday asked yourself that question how you live in here's here's what a kook would suggest you to live this way that you would not judge that you would show up early that you'd be kind that you make sure that that servants town is huge and use that if you're gonna do something you do it the right way that that cook would tell you this that it's never wrong to do the right thing that how you do anything is how you do everything and in that way you will grow your influence to make an impact in that way you will honor all those who have gone before you who have invested in you look in those unlikeliest places for is enhance your life every day by seeking that wisdom and asking yourself every night how am i living may God richly bless y'all thank you [Applause] I dropped out of the University and I got dropped from the rugby team it became a shut-in in my parents house unable to leave and all of this caused me to slide into a depression now these feelings lasted for months until my friends insisted that I join them to live and work in a new town for the summer puddling then did I start to feel like I was coming out of my fog and after that summer I made a decision to only surround myself with people that inspired me I didn't know it then but that one small decision would completely change the rest of my life and what kid came to mind his name is Johnny I said Johnny let's make a movie the problem was we had no idea what we wanted to make a movie about there were so many things that we wanted to do but we hadn't done them because they were buried we were buried by work by school by life and we had moments of inspiration but eventually those became buried by the day-to-day we asked the question what do you want to do before you die and with that we made a list of our buried dreams right we just decided to make the most epic bucket list of all time so if anything were possible what would you do and the list items that I was convinced were impossible have somehow been checked off well we would make our own TV show write a number one New York Times bestseller tell a judge you want the truth you can't handle the truth walk away from an explosion in slow motion and have a beer with Prince Harry we all made a promise every item we crossed off our bucket list we'd help a complete stranger do something on their list I wanted to find a story in Utah a story of helping someone else do something they want to do and we found an incredible story with the help of the University and it's proof that sometimes it doesn't take much to make a huge impact we have this really cool thing for you tonight because you're such an amazing person we know how much you love basketball yes they made you your own Jersey [Music] if he can do that I can do anything so oddly enough it's not these big list items that mean the most it's been the times when we've helped other people do what they love that remain the highlight and it all started with the bucket list we asked the question what do you want to do before you die and the list items that I was convinced were impossible have somehow been checked off list items like number 95 play basketball with President Obama at the White House sit with Oprah and we even crossed off have a beer with Prince Harry just know that there will be ups and there will be downs there will be times when you struggle we're all human beings and when you hit that struggle know this you are not alone our struggles can be our strengths when we embrace them rather than try to hide them because this is our true self and who you truly are is exactly who you need to be now take a second to think about your secret dream right what is it now that you're thinking about it how do you accomplish it I only know five things here are the five steps to making the impossible possible write down your dream you take an idea and you make it real you're effectively breathing life into your dreams you've begun to prioritize your goals studies show that people that write down their goals are 40% more likely to succeed it's an easy 40 percent take it if you don't talk about your dreams no one can help you that guarantee help will show up in the most unexpected ways some people don't talk about their biggest dreams because they're afraid of what other people might think or they're afraid of failure well failure is usually a course correction to success persist you fail because you stop trying success depends on consistency of effort as much as it does of quality of work you can produce great work and not have it recognized trying again and again makes all the difference step 4 take moonshots quite simply a big dream motivates you to get out of bed every morning and it attracts the best people and best talent by your you want those people standing next to you and finally step 5 give where people see you out in the world helping others they want to help you Jim Carrey says the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is is it times when I stepped into someone else's life in a moment that means so much to them like our friend Doug that I know will stick with me until I die by doing what you love you inspire other people to do what they love and that ripple effect goes far beyond what you'll ever know it's time for you to track your true original course because today is the youngest you will ever be she says the most offensive thing to me that you can say to a person of color in the United States of America she asks me were you born in this country and I was immediately offended I put my hands on my hips and I said yeah I was born in this country she then goes on to ask me how old are you I said in 19 years old she says are you married I said no ma'am she says do you have any kids I said no ma'am and may I help you find something she then goes on to tell me something that changed my life forever she says you look like you could be the next Miss USA and I laughed at this woman hysterically I said lady I don't know what you're talking about I'm a I'm going into my sophomore year at Virginia State I'm about to Commission in three years go on active duty be a military officer somehow this crazy woman convinced me to meet her at Starbucks the very next day she brought this foot tall stack of pageant books and she goes on to convince me to compete in my very first pageant I compete in my first pageant three months later and I lose I go back the second year compete in my state pageant and I lose I go back the third year competing my state pageant and I lose go back the fourth year compete in my state pageant and lose go back the fifth year compete in my state pageant and lose but guess what happens the sixth year I lose I called her on the phone six years after our target conversation and I said you told me I could be the next Miss USA and she says dashana keep trying keep trying keep trying in June of 2015 this amazing kind of cuckoo woman passes away from leukemia in December 2015 I win Miss District of Columbia USA in June 2016 I'm crowned the first soldier to win Miss USA and last January in Manila Philippines I walk to the Miss Universe stage and placed top nine amongst 86 countries do not fear failure but please be terrified of regret when you walk out this door into the real world you'll receive a lot of shut doors a lot of turn down applications you will hear way more noes than you hear yeses giving up is something I did a lot of growing up and I don't think I really challenge myself to stick anything through until I joined the track team in middle school I remember having to ask my mom after tryouts and making it to the team for my very first pair of track shoes now at the time she walks into our house and she has a bag that has a nice Nike check sign on it so I get excited because I wasn't getting these shoes very often I go to take the shoe box out the bag and I notice that it says a size 9 on it mind you in the seventh grade I was a size five I opened the box and I slide my feet into the shoe and I look at my mother and I said these shoes are too big she says I know I did that on purpose I was like why would you buy shoes that are too big on purpose mom and she says because I know that you're going to grow into them coach has us line up on the starting line and he wants us to run over lap around the track as we go to take off I immediately fall to the ground twist my ankle because the shoes are entirely too big see I couldn't run at the speed that I wanted to because I didn't fit the shoes I was wearing at the time now many of us have goals we're trying to achieve but the person we are right now is not the person that we need to be when we cross the finish line to our dreams so we must walk and pace ourselves on this journey to our goals because we haven't grown enough in ourselves to fit the shoes that we need to achieve our aspirations but let me tell you something if I have won Miss USA my very first year I would not have been Miss USA I would not have been the version of myself that I needed to be to properly handle a national title many of us aren't ready to walk the race but understand that as we walk this race we pace ourselves and as we pace ourselves we grow and as we grow our foot gets bigger and as our foot gets bigger our shoes begins to fill in as our shoes begin to fill we can now run a little bit faster and as we pick up the pace we get to the finish line at the exact time we are destined to cross it do not fear the word no but be afraid of the possibility of a yes that you have prematurely destroyed because you decided to quit before the clock strikes 12:00 there are a lot of questions that is going to keep you up at night but I guarantee there isn't one question that will keep you up longer at night than the question what if I didn't give up my father Tom Brosnan he left when I was an infant it was not a good time to be a single mother but my mother was courageous in her determination to make a better life for us both and thus she left the shores of Ireland to become a nurse in England such a decision came a number of years of separation and heartache at the age of four I went to live with my grandparents after they passed on I ended up living with a friend of the family Eileen Reilly was her name Eileen was a saint of a woman to me she was a classic Irish woman with an apron wrapped around a full figure there was always covered in baking powder I lived upstairs in a room that I shared with two other lodgers there were some sadness and longing I remember how she wept the day I left her I was 11 years old my life began again that day as I traveled alone on the plane to London with rosary beads in one hand and an empty aspirin bottle filled with holy water in the other once they're freshly off the plane with a thick Irish brogue for some reason they could not or would not say my name pierce so I was known as Irish each and every day trying to find my footing in this new landscape of prejudice and racism learning words I'd never known I never wanted to know I learned to assimilate it was in some ways my first acting job to be someone else and eventually I found people I didn't need to act for I found friends who accepted me Umbro and all friends who called me by my name on my own I had learned to survive but through friendship learn to thrive those boys acceptance Eileen's generosity my mother's sacrifice that is what got me through my childhood I can tell you this wherever you're going you won't get there alone I certainly didn't it's easy to feel overwhelmed or daunted by the challenges facing our world in those moments when you feel outmatched you need people you can turn to you need people who can support you who can swell spirits who can pick you up and dust you off and set you right and once you're ready to get back into the fight you would need people to stand by your side our world doesn't need a lone hero out to solve things solo that world doesn't need a hero who only chases adventure and glamour we need people who have a passion and a sense of a mission my own environmental awareness and activism were born out of a love of nature a love for the ocean and the love of the great world namely my wife kee my wife and I helped save the last pristine breeding ground of the California gray whales that is our passion that is our mission many in your position have sought the routes of the flashy exciting more adventurous they've taken the high-powered job or the well-regarded profession because they want the thrill that comes with first class cabins penthouse suites and swanky clothes well I have worn the tuxedo so I can tell you this our world doesn't need you to chase the super spy lifestyle it needs you to find a passion and a mission greatness doesn't come from destruction it comes from the courage to create to see the opportunity we have been given to seize it and to build the future you are the architects and the engineers of a new tomorrow like no species before us you have the power they urge you to pursue something that is exacting to you as it is important to the world makes something that matters the world needs your will it needs your imagination your courage your appetite for adventure it needs your hands and your minds and your thoughts our world doesn't need a hero with a license to kill we need people with the courage to create you have before you the most singular opportunity for brains [Music] laser saved forty-five minutes is exactly how long it took to transform my life my father and I were involved in a terrible accident three miles beyond the Golden Gate Bridge an open ocean our boat of 20 years capsized and sank dumping the two of us in the shark-infested 55-degree cold waters of the Pacific our boat was sinking fast but he was able to make a single 911 phone call that reached the operator he said they would contact help we never knew if help was coming as her phones died as soon as we hit the salt water we spent 45 minutes together in the ocean desperately swimming for the land on the horizon racing against the facts of hypothermia our only hope was to reach land before we went unconscious from the cold and perished in the waves the human fight-or-flight response is a powerful force and does interesting things to your mind to sustain my motivation I focused my mind on a singular thought that drove me the feeling of joy a person experiences from new love is unparalleled and strength and is the pinnacle of human emotion luckily for me Kelly my girlfriend of six months lived in Scottsdale I focused 100% of my mind on the joy I would feel from seeing her again after I reach land the 9-1-1 operator got through to the Coast Guard who sent a rescue helicopter which miraculously plucked us from the sea we were treated for hypothermia and sent home that night still lacking composure I called Kelly and told her what had happened and that she was the joy in my life that fueled my swim I felt something unexpected when my boat went down I'll never forget how serene and calm being in the ocean was and the feeling of euphoria I felt during my swim when I faced my own potential death fear did not exist in that moment as so many young people do I was struggling to find purpose in my life and create passion for something I believed in I found purpose that day I often felt like I had a surplus of time until I was faced with losing all of it at once and realized that it is the scarcest resource in the world all fear of change lost relationships personal failure and self-doubt became irrelevant when facing death like the waves of the ocean I faced we will all likely face waves of adversity throughout the rest of both our personal and professional lives if you have a passion act on it today there is no time to waste if you were ever caught on a sinking ship or just get a sinking feeling in life always remember that with a little luck and through absolute resolve and massive action you alone have the power to create your own path