Denzel Washington | Super U Podcast
Our new episode of the Super U Podcast is live! The Super U Podcast delivers curated tips from top performers and thought leaders to help unlock and unleash your inner superpower. This week’s episode features tips from Denzel Washington, the sixth actor in history to win both the Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor Oscar. Click here to subscribe to the Super U Podcast. Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from Denzel Washington| Super U Podcast:
[0:11] Introducing Denzel Washington
“Don’t be afraid to fail big to dream big. But remember, dreams without goals, are just dreams.” A quote from one of the most recognizable voices in the world—Denzel Washington. He is here today to give us our 7 super tips.
[1:46] Put God First—Have Faith
Put God first in everything you do. Everything that you have accomplished everything that you think you have is by the grace of God and understand that it’s a gift. Denzel explains his journey in finding God, throughout his life—through failure in college and his ultimate success, he can attribute his experiences to God. He says, “I’ve been protected. I’ve been directed. I’ve been corrected.”
[5:51] Fall Forward
Nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Nelson Mandela said there is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that’s less than the one you are capable of living. Washington says, “If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything except my faith. I want to fall forward. I figured at least this way I’ll see what I’m going to hit. Fall forward.” It’s all about failing fast, failing forward, and failing better.
[8:40] Never Give Up
Without commitment, you’ll never start but more importantly, without consistency, you’ll never finish. If it were easy, there would be no Denzel Washington. Keep working, keep striving and never give up. Fall down seven times, get up eight. Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship so keep moving, keep growing and keep learning.
[11:40] Have Dreams & Goals
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Don’t be afraid to fail big and to dream big. But remember, dreams without goals, are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment. It’s important to have goals to go along with your dreams. Have goals and understand that to achieve these goals you must apply discipline and consistency.
[13:31] Follow Your Path
Denzel explains his multitude of career choices that ultimately led him to the arts. From thinking about premed to political science to the liberal arts, whatever you choose to do: follow your own path. In order to do that, you need to step off the path. Sometimes you don’t have to be like Little Red Riding Hood and stay on your path, you need to be the wolf and go on a path untaken. You need to be the wolf so whatever that might be today, just act like the wolf.
[14:26] Movement is Not Progress
Working really hard is what successful people do. But you have to remember that just because you’re doing a lot more doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot more done. Denzel’s mother told him “don’t confuse movement with progress.”
[16:26] Don’t Avoid Failure
You will fail at some point in your life. You will embarrass yourself and you will suck at something; there’s no doubt about it. That’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony today, but you should embrace it because it’s inevitable. And Denzel would know—he explains how his countless failures through auditions made him the successful actor and human he is today.
To ensure you don’t miss future episodes, subscribe to our podcast by clicking here >> Super U Podcast. We hope these tips help unlock and unleash your inner superpower!
The Super U podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.
