Dwayne Johnson - The Wake Up Call | One Of Most Compelling Speeches!

I'm not working on all my competition, you have to get to box number two, there is nothing that can stop, this is paid for with these fun empty gyms, just the way we like it, focused and the gym the way we like it and ready to go. I got my

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now it's your turn. This shit is being set up to be a difficult training montage. I have to be the hardest workers in the room and not jump at the opportunity instead of telling you what I think you should be doing. How could you be better?

Or I thought well, let me speak from the heart, speak from my gut and I don't really have anything prepared, but just tell you what worked for me, maybe some of the things that work for me could work for you now. Currently, as you guys have your goals and ambitions and are championship MVPs in this room, things like that, but later on, as you continue to live your life, the first thing I would like to say is this idea and this notion. that you can be anything you want, you can achieve anything you want, right, we hear you've heard it from the moment your little ones hear that now you're incredibly successful, you can win an NBA championship, the league MVP in the that you could become. president you could become governor you could be an entertainment you can do whatever you want you guys know what has worked for me is remembering the hard times so I'm sure you all have your processes and again I'm going to tell you which worked for me, so before a big movie comes out back in the days when I was wrestling at WWE WrestleMania, anything big that happened, I always took a moment and reminded myself that okay, I got evicted. when I was 14 we were kicked off the island we couldn't live in Hawaii we didn't have a place to live a lot of things happened later when I moved to Nashville and I was arrested several times when I was 16 I have to remember that if we were playing on this team before to tie myself before entering the court before playing in these important games if I could remember that and that allows me to be present in the moment and understand that these are the things that I have around me right now.

This is what I dreamed of when I was a child. I'm here. I played for the University of Miami. I played on great teams. Warren Sapp. Ray Lewis. They were my companions. They were playing. Warren Sapp played tight end when I was a starting defensive tackle. They moved. He came up to the D line and looked at me and said, "I'm going to take your place" and I said "you're not taking my place." "He'll take your place." We fought and he took my place. They could imagine how. that with me because there goes my chance he changed to defensive tackle he set the world on fire well what did that do?

He questioned me to crush my dreams. I had a poor last year of zero production no NFL no combine invite nothing finally went to the CFL Calgary Stampeders made $250 a week Canadian Canadian. I had to send it home. My wife at the time had no money, so I remember well, they cut me off from Canada. She had 7 dollars in my pocket and I always tell that story. so now my production company costs seven dollars, advertising agency, seven dollars, everything costs seven dollars, so always remember that what helps me is to keep the difficult moments in mind because it allows me to go into these great moments where I have worked.

I worked my ass off and you guys have worked hard, it allows me to go into these big moments with a different perspective, which it also does for me and again, this is who we are to me. I keep my back against this. everyday is against this wall except it starts this because it's what I believe in and when my back is against this then there's nowhere to go but that's it so I feel like this could be something, a mentality ideological that could help you if you look. that's how for me I need this, I need this, so every day my back is against this and that's how I operate now doesn't mean you don't smile, there's me, there's no laughing joke, right, you're happy. happy I'm a happy guy but when it comes to business and when it comes to executing you're faced with this and I have to go down that path and I don't care who's in front of me, they're not going to stop me I feel like for me it feels perfect , the preparation is where the characters were made and I am not referring to the character that I play, but to the character here, so for me the preparation is with the director, with the producers, with the The writers get with the, so in essence is like being with all your coaches and your different position coaches and all the meetings you have to have right, so that's the work you put in the key for me was where does it start? the presenter what the presenter is so that I can have all these ambitions and you have all these ambitions, which is great, it's important, I will play this role, you will play that role, I will execute this and it will come out this summer.

You guys will run this over the summer right when it's time to work a lot harder, but the key for me is always finding what the anchor is and the anchor is up at four in the morning every day. day before anyone else and base my thought process is that no one will work better than me, no one I love and respect, you will not work. I'll start with these two hands, it will work, the anchor for me has always been work in terms of training in the weight room, so when I started wrestling I was six years old rolling on the mats with my dad, my old man, a lot of you You'll know this, yes, Rocky Johnson, my old man was Rocky Johnson, he was the first black man.

WWF Tag WWWF at the time, the first black WWE Tag Team Champions with Tony Atlas back in 1983, my uncles were wild Samoans. I come from a long line of professional wrestlers, but before the wrestling part happened, I was in the gym working out at six. years rolling on the mats and finally when I was able to touch weights at 13, that's what I was doing, but the weight part for me and the gym part has always been the anchor, allowing me to keep everything grounded, even your bodies. your body, you're young now, your ball and everything feels good, you have your little scratches and dents and everything you're going to have, you're going to have your surgeries, we all have them, but yes, eventually, and I promise you this is the indicated one.

What will never ever go away is you get your butt in that weight room and work on what's going to happen when you're 30 40 50 60. He said that never goes away, you get on the court, you just shoot some shots, but you're still going to finish. back in the weight room, back in your ad, the film gives me the greatest opportunity to make the greatest global impact. I don't want to make small films. I love and respect our film. business, but I want to make great movies that do well and when they do well it's not a question of money because we have the right money, money is good, money is good, it ebbs and flows, it's the idea that I can impact so many people as possible with a big global movie and when the global movie is touching a billion dollars, that sounds good right, it's good for the bank accounts, good for everyone involved, everyone gets their piece of the pie, it's great, but what that does, I know I'm impacting people all over the world. giving you good entertainment, making you feel good, leaving the theater floating, so it's the same when you guys have this bigger goal, so for example when you become world champions again, as polarized as the world of sport, it's something incredibly inspiring, even if they're not a fan of their team, even if they're not a fan, so think about that, you know, when you do it, the impact that it has the ripple effect that it has for the city of La California, United States United, the world.

Little kids, damn, I want to be that someday, you know, and what WWE taught me, which I think you can learn and can apply to a little bit of your practice, your business and your game, is that WWE taught me. taught to always listen to people, you always want to listen to people, so when I go out, you know, look, you go out, there's always a lot of ego and you know I want to do my thing and then someone else fights for their honor, to do my thing. I want to make my finishing move there and make mine, final boom.

I have to look good. I have to do all this. My last match in WWE. I will share this with you because again there is something to learn here. This whole thing is that I wrestled John Cena and I walked in and I think it's 2013. I walked in as WWE Champion and we went to MetLife Stadium. We had record attendance, which was incredible. That night we achieved our goal, so I rested with John Cena. We had 45 minutes planned for the match, it's non-stop and it's good for testing your conditioning and at that time I wasn't in WWE full time, I was just doing these one-off matches where I was still filming GI Joe, I think our pain and gain at that time or not, it was um, it was quick bottom six in London I had to travel in the ring get all my work in the ring on the return trip to shoot fast and furious then go back to WWE Raw doing those shows the big buildup to WrestleMania against John we get to MetLife Stadium it's a great night this is game night right it's their championship night for me 45 minute matches planned no cut no no okay well let's pick it up tomorrow you know what it is Time to go, it's just like you guys in a game in the 15th minute, bang, I feel a dad, my boom laying there and we're both outside, I said, "Fox's limbs move forward and I poke my head out, now it's 85,000 people and we are ready.

So I turn around, put my hand in the trunk just to see. I want to make sure there's a bone sticking out, so if there's no bone sticking out, what just happened? The referee comes over and is like Rocky. right, yeah, yeah, they're coming, okay, I said, I get up, I'm going to take a step and I can't stop, I can't do this, I have to use my leg as momentum, I have to do that, so now, at that moment , you are I'm going to have these moments, you probably already had them, where you're in the game and you're in the thick of things and you have to make a decision, what do I have to do.

I'm going to stay in the game, committed to the team. I committed the entire roster to my team and in the wrestling world, when you have a big show like this and you have a big main event where the whole show is based on the wrestlers, the two people in the main event will come. at some point throughout the night in the locker room and just like hey, thanks for the house, I appreciate it, thanks for the house and what that means is that's his way of saying thanks for drawing, helping to attract 85,000 people and put a lot. of money in my paycheck in my bank account thanks for the house we have a lot of thanks for the houses that night bang this happens and now I realize I can't move my leg I have 30 minutes left in this game and it's not just like around, I mean, it's like we have to put on a show, there's a lot of big flies and suplexes, all that, so I could tell the wrestlers if they're okay and I have a moment right now, it was a defining moment.

Or tell him no, I'm done, he'd give the signal. The match is over or let's move on and again this is a little wrap up for you guys, if you ever have this moment I'm sure you will, if you haven't it's coming. We have this decision I said no, let's continue I said how much time is left, it's like 32 minutes, okay, the rest of the game I couldn't move doing everything like that. I'm freaking out because I'm thinking, man, well, what if? If I pinch something or something, you know, I don't know, your mind starts with you the moment there's 85,000 people, your adrenaline runs thinking, man, what's going on?

We're going to lose our leg or something if I just did something to my artery. The last move of the match is his big finishing move and I remember getting up and turning like that because I have to land on him. He'll hit me with the big finisher of his. It's like a massive suplex where I go over his head and he hits me and I remember turning, I remember turning into John and he says and I remember thinking, God, please don't let this be so bad, just take care of me, take care of me, bang .

I feel boom, I don't know what just happened now, good luck, leave the games, he pins me down lunches, go in the back, go in the back, I can't move now I'm getting a little nervous and the doctors come in, John comes in, you, what? OK? he comes in where it was like celebrating with alcohol he brings like moonlight like legit moonlight that's like a crazy white boy they bring like in a jar this is moonlight let's have more chances okay I don't know what's going on hurry get on a rush jet I go home to my doctors in Florida and get an MRI.

I discover that I have completely torn the top of my doctor and the top of my quadriceps off of my pelvis. Yes, really, very high up, so it's a very long story to tell you. What I was proud of was going out alone, but not only that, but in this moment when the odds are against you, people are watching your teams depending on you saying I'm done or whatever. happening, it's temporary and it made me better at some point along the way, but I'm not going to let this opportunity pass me bywithout giving it a look at the end of the day, again, that's the kind of thing I talked about at the beginning.

I have to hang on to my dad in his truck, he came at 4 in the morning to pick me up in Miami from Tampa, we lived in a shitty little apartment in Tampa, he drove his little truck to Miami to get me. When they kicked me out of the CFL I was driving on I 75. I don't know if you guys are from Florida. If you know what I-75 is, it's especially in Florida Alligator Alley. I will never forget that it is 4 in the morning and I thought well that I would leave the house like you left the house.

I'm ready to face the world. pursue it achieve my dreams and goals crushed by being between 20 and 23 years old. Now I have to go back to live with my mom and dad. I played on great teams. Oh, wait a second. This is not supposed to be my future. I'm supposed to be in the NFL right now. I'm supposed to be making a lot of coins and behind my parents buying me, I took care of my wife, but that never happened, so I took out my wallet and said, well, let me see how much money I have.

I opened it, it was 5 to 1 and change, I'm not close and I said, well, at least I rounded up to 7 dollars, but I thought, man, isn't this it? I've got seven dollars in my pocket where I go now, what did I do? I can't watch FL again because I know, it gets to the point where you hear that big voice that runs over me, you already did it right, so I heard that voice and while the coach was saying man. I hold on to that, I'm telling you, I hold my back against it, we laugh, we joke, we have a good time, pushing is always fun, sometimes you gotta make it fun, that's another thing he had to do the best he could. to make. press as fun as I can, but my back is still against this.

I don't forget, so the coach was saying that you are going to go through difficult times as a team, you are on the rise, you are on the rise, what? this also helps me do it and again if it works for me it's that at some point you have to be tired of not being number one you have to be and you have to play angry and I play angry now I'm cool and calm with my approach. and when I go out on my field, which is a set or you know there are some and you will always have enemies and enemies like, I'll be afraid, man, how many movies are you going to make with her, how much are you going to make like you?

I do a lot I say yes, it's my ambition, of course, why not, I could do it, yes, I love what I do and not only that, but in what world do we not work every day? It doesn't mean I'm like you guys in the Off-season, you have work every day, is it over? My back is against this, you know? And me and I and I started playing angry by the way and I'm still playing angry in my last game. Brock Lesner transitioned and I realized that if he had to be great at something. He wanted to be great in this world of Hollywood, movie making, production and entertainment.

He had to commit to me, and just like you guys, you have to commit, obviously you commit to something, you commit to the goal, so I quietly retired two years later. I thought what did I do in my career because my films were not doing well. They discarded me. It was like it was around 2006 2007. I was like, damn, I'm gone. I pulled out a Jim Brown. I left when he was at the top as number one. in the wrestling business and I left it, it was a brave and brave move, some

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it a stupid move, but I had to commit and I had to stick with it, it was in my gut.

I'll share this with you and Will Smith is my guy and I sat down. at that time with the agency I was with I said what do you want to achieve I said I want to achieve the world I want the world and I want I want Will Smith's career but and I said I say it with respect because I know that he is here In this agency with us I want to do it bigger and better and they looked at me like I had three heads and said mm-hmm, okay, but I still stayed focused and still had these working hard with my two. hands and that's it and that's what it comes down to you too, you know, look, I appreciate you giving me the time.

I kind of enjoyed this back-and-forth wrap, but all I want to leave you with is how you guys are. guys, know that there is nothing you can't achieve, you will keep going, you will become world champions, the key for me, I think one of the keys is, remember where you come from, keep it in your mind and when it will be. bad and goes sideways many times they boo you out of the building or you are going through this injury or people are writing you off, will you make it? You know some of that you have to keep it in here, and it really has to, it should push you, it should work for me, it should push you, you have all the talent in the world, it's all here, it's all here, the best option for everyone, They're all the best, they're all the best, it's all here, but damn.

I want to do it better I would like to do it better how is it because they even told me well how do you do it better than him? This was in 2006. I said I don't know, but I do think there is a better way to do it. do it in a different way do it maybe it's through social media global connectivity I don't know let me understand the market is all that and here I am you you