Remember: If you don't schmooze, you lose. Used wisely, a bit of chitchat helps create a personal connection with your boss and colleagues.
— Chris Gardner
Many have forged a path to greatness lit only by a vision in their minds.
My first ambition in life, I made up my mind I was going to become Miles Davis. I studied music, music theory. I played trumpet for nine years. One day, my mother explained, 'You can't be Miles Davis. There's one, and he's got that job.'
I had spent years in the United States military. Specifically in the U.S. Navy.
I cut grass, I did yard work, I did roofing, I cleaned basements to take care of my family.
Baby steps count, too, as long as you're moving forward.
I had never gone to college. I was not from a politically connected family. I had no money of my own. Who is going to do business with you?
I have one of those old-fashioned mothers who told me every single day, 'Son, you can do or be anything that you want to do or be.' And I believed it. I bought into it 100%.
I'm known to be aggressively early.
I've been talking to a lot of young people, especially here in America. I let them know that the people who they're competing with for opportunities live all over the place. They're probably not in your city, state, or country; they are hungry, and they are grinding! Some of the things that a lot of us take for granted, these people don't.
Fortunately, our digital age has created some wonderful tools for finding employers and showing your strengths. But when it comes to discovering or keeping a job, nothing beats good old-fashioned face time and up-to-date skills.
I initially moved to San Francisco to become a research associate for one of the top young heart surgeons in the country. Everything that I learned in that position is that skills, talent, and expertise are transferable.
No matter what you accomplish, when you're doing something you're truly passionate about... the opportunities are always going to be bigger.
I didn't grow up in a household where dinner conversation was, 'How did the market do today?'
Will Smith played Chris Gardner better than Chris Gardner ever did.
Probably the hardest question I get asked is, 'How do I choose between passion and practicality?' I can't answer that. I had to do both. I was passionate about pursuing a career in financial services. But I was also passionate about feeding my child.
So many men have holes in their souls the shape of their fathers. You can pass that on to your kid, or you can do something about it, and I'm seeing a lot of men doing something about it.
I went through pain as a child so my children wouldn't have to.
I am very, very conscious of time. I always wear two watches. People ask me, 'Why do you do that?' Because I was late once,and it cost me a huge opportunity.
I chose to embrace the spirit of my mother, who, though she had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred, and destroyed, she still instilled in me, her child, that I could have dreams and that I did have a responsibility and the power.
What can we be in life? Few figures in history have answered this question with as much clarity and moral authority as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The hardest thing that I had to do every day as a working single parent was child care, to have to leave my child with people that I did not know and hope everything was OK, that was the most painful part of every day.
Everything that I learned in the Navy, I took it with me into the next phase of my life.
I hold one thing dearer than all else: my commitment to my son.
When you're doing something you're truly passionate about, there is no plan B.
I'm encouraged by what I see of men trying to be there for their children.
I've said that if you're not doing something that you're passionate about, you're compromising yourself every single day.
I made a decision as a five-year-old boy that my kids will know who their father is.
You want be young and have fun, that's great. But while you're having fun, someone you don't see is studying and preparing. You might end up working for that person. No one wants to hear that! But I try to tell young people: You want to be the one signing the front of the check, not the back.
