How Will Smith Became Successful and How You Could Too
Jan 18th, 2008 by Mehdi
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Image credit: Jack Pearce
In 1985 Will Smith & Jeffrey Townes formed the group DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. 4 years later they won the first ever Grammy award in rap category. Will Smith, born in 1968, became a millionaire before his 20s.
But he nearly went bankrupt. Will Smith spent a lot on a house, cars & jewelry. Luckily he met Benny Medina, who had an idea for a sitcom. Will Smith & Jeffrey Townes became the stars of The Fresh Prince Of Bell Air from 1990 to 1996.
Will Smith used the success of the show to launch his acting career. Bad Boys in 1995. Independence Day in 1996. Men in Black in 1997. Ali in 2001. I, Robot in 2004. And now I Am Legend.
According to Forbes, Will Smith is one of Hollywood’s best investment: for each dollar he gets paid, his movies bring in $10 of gross income.
How Did He Do It? Here’s a video of Will Smith explaining what he thinks is the key to life, and I’d say of his own success. Music “For Da Love of Da Game” by Dj Jazzy Jeff. Watch the video before reading the rest of the post.
Reading. You have 2 ways to learn skills: study & practice. It takes long to build experience through practice. You might also not know where to start. Study is faster: read what successful people did & copy them.
When I started in movies, I said, “I want to be the biggest movie star in the world.” The biggest movie stars make the biggest movies, so I looked at the top 10 movies of all time. At that point, they were all special-effects movies. So Independence Day, no-brainer. Men in Black, no-brainer. I, Robot, no-brainer. - Will Smith
One reason I wrote StrongLifts 5×5 eBook is to give you the most important information to get started. It’s inefficient to search Google, to wait for daily updates or to ask people for advice. Read books.
- Safe exercise technique: Starting Strength
- Making your own routines: Practical Programming
- Building muscle & losing fat: Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle
- Achieving goals: Law of Success
There’s nothing you’ll read on this blog that is not already available in a book written before I started strength training. Read those books and you’ll know 90% of what I know. The other 10% you’ll learn through practice.
Read at least one book per month. That’s 12 books per year. You’ll see how much smarter you’ll become than the average population. And remember knowledge is only power if applied.
Running. Replace running by strength training. You know that voice Will Smith talks about. It’s the voice in your head that tells you:
- Don’t go to the gym, it’s too cold
- Don’t get out of bed at 4am to workout, it’s too early
- Don’t go for that one more rep to get all 5 reps, it’s too hard
Reader Caim posted:
There was a time when I did that, i let a voice in my head tell me what to do (laziness, excuses…). And I realised that did not only happen with workouts.
So as i was analyzing those things in life/workouts i get the conclusion that easy is almost always the “bad” choice.
I see a very strong connection between workouts and how you run your life. I can tell about someones character by training with him.
Become successful in strength training and you’ll become successful in business, career, finance, anything. And the other way around. Because you will have learned that persistence is key to success.
“Learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life”. Strength training pushes your limits. It teaches you life is hard. Your mind will get stronger as your body gets stronger. It takes time, but it will happen. If not, you’re not ready yet.
The key to life: running strength training & reading.
Tired of the way you look? You want to build muscle & lose fat while getting stronger? Click here to download my 52 pages 100% FREE eBook.
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Great points although I take exception to one of them: “Don’t get out of bed at 4am to workout, it’s too early.”
Personally I feel that I get more out of my workouts when I go right after work. My body is more awake and it reengergizes me for the rest of my day/evening. It’s not that I couldn’t wake up at that time, it’s that I feel it’s more beneficial for me to get the extra rest in the morning and workout in the afternoon.
Now, if you’re skipping the gym entirely using that excuse, that is an entirely different story altogether.
@Krets
Light upper-body workouts I can take early in the morning. But heavy squatting, I also feel better after a day of work. Not that it can’t be done, it just feels better. Good point Krets.
Reminds me of this T-Nation article, just 1-2 pages down
Great post. While I’m not the biggest Will Smith fan, that video was inspirational.
Big Will Smith fan
Big Mehdi fan
Although Will makes some great points, it’s still very important to listen to others, but to not follow them blindly. He just talks about what works for him. For Mehdi, it’s strength training instead of running. For Joe down the street, it’s his daily meditation class. Or whatever.
Just love what you do, and do what you love
Nice post about a inspirational guy by an inspirational guy. Too bad the YouTube video is no longer available.
Great post. Very inspirational.
Fantastic!
I love these kinds of threads, more of em!
Great post, Mehdi — Will Smith really is an inspiration. I remember an article I read about him a little over a year ago, where he reiterated a story from his childhood: Will’s Dad told him and his brother to build a large brick wall. It took over two years, but Will and his brother finally did it. When they had laid the last brick, Will’s Dad turned to him and said, “There. Now don’t you ever tell me there’s something you can’t do.” Then he turned around and walked inside.
Awesome stuff, isn’t it? Will’s one of the most inspirational people in Hollywood today. And have you seen the SICK shape he was in in I Am Legend?
Mehdi, another great topic. I’m so glad i stumbled upon your website it has really helped me to work harder to improve my body and mind.
Fact:Exercise is the best exercise for your mind.
When I started working out my whole life changed I worked harder at everything I did. I did things right the first time. Persistence is key :P.
Glad to read you all like the article, expect more of this in the future.
@Galapogos
Thanks for that post. I remember reading it a few years back, best post on t-nation ever.
@Defries
Try reloading the page, sometimes youtube videos hang. Just tested the video it works.
@Trev
Yeah he was really in shape in I am Legend. And he’s over 40!
@ Medhi: Bedankt, I got the movie working now.
Will is definitely an inspiration. During the Fresh Prince sitcom, the IRS was taking approx 75% of his check, for back taxes, etc. That’s enough to break most people right away.
Will’s break out role was 6 degrees of separation. That distanced him from the TV/Rap image most people held in their minds. There was a decent article in Entertainment Weekly about 50 smartest people in Hollywood. And Will is definitely that. He had the opportunity to go to MIT after high school.
I like that Will is trying deeper and more complex roles, I would love to see him do more movies that really let him stretch his abilities.
One of my favorite quotes is “Whether you tell yourself you can or you can’t, you’re right!”
He even invented his own machine “the smith machine”
@DeFries
Graag gedaan
@Mike
I growed up watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I liked him most in “Ali”.
@Flupn
Rofl
I love that little voice in my head. He says no I say screw you. don’t tell anybody but I torture him constantly. The more lazy I feel the harder I have to push. I love running but I havne’t been able to do it lately because skiing ihas taken priority. Only one impact sport per season for me. And I am destroying my legs jumping at terrain parks. Awesome page
Nice article, do like Mr Smith shut up that voice and be happy
The solution of most of my problems comes from the inside… it is you and nobody else who wants to accomplish your goals. As Frank Costello said “No one gives it to you. You have to take it.” (stronglifts5×5 ebook, page 27)
I’m glad my words helped on something.
Very inspiring video! Will Smith seems like a good and loving man and I suspect that has a lot to do with him becoming who He became. But something has to be said about those millions of people who worked themselves to an early death, or into diseases and injuries of all sorts because they were told that if they worked hard enough they would succeed. There are millions of them! (you never hear about these guys do you?) But also, how about those people who succeeded only to drug or drink themselves to death.
Before you think success, some questions about your life need to be answered.
I want to succeed, and I’m willing to make some huge sacrifices but there’s got to be boundaries my friends. The person who works the hardest DOES NOT ALWAYS win. The truth is much more subtle than that. The picture is a bigger one. Now obviously, without hard work and perseverance, no one gets anywhere, and there is definitely a considerable amount of truth in Smith’s preaching, but I’ve discovered that a lot of what’s being said about success can be destructively misleading for young, hungry minds. Some people are exceptionally gifted, talented, or even lucky. You try to duplicate their performance, and you end up hurting yourselves badly. And not just yourself, but also your loved ones because you are so concerned about yourself and your success that you forget that without these guys you are nothing. No my friends, the picture is a complex one. There are millions of factors that go into this.
Ask Will Smith what is the most important thing to him? What do you think his answer will be?
What is the key to success than? After years of studying and reading and pondering on the question, if I had to sum it up in 1 word, I’d say the key to success is LOVE. But please feel free to do your own research and see if you can come up with a different answer. And remember, a lot (not all) of the people who seem successful, you would not want their life!
Inspirational message… I just wish someone could’ve slipped Will a copy of Carl Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World” before Tom Cruise got him involved in Scientology
@Ario
Yeah I find that weird too that he’s good friend with Cruise.
i listend and it worked great advice thankyou very much i dream about strength training and reading i like the new rugrats book and the downhill slopes near my house