How watching Pierce Brosnan´s graduation speech today can remind you of the importance of meaningful actions in our lives

Hello everybody,

I know that it´s Friday the 13th but that doesn´t stop me from posting! I hope that you are not afraid of superstitions like this and will also enjoy this Friday. I think that Friday the 13th is even for some people a lucky day! Maybe we can also see it as our lucky day? I certainly wish you all a lot of luck today and for the weekend. So, here is my post:

Today during my procrastination-YouTube-marathon (we could call it P.Y.M. to make it sound fancy and better) I arrived at a graduation speech that Pierce Brosnan gave.

I really must get better at constantly avoiding those P.Y. marathons… However, that´s a different subject. Special greetings to everybody that is fighting this or a comparable battle daily! Please tell me your secrets, I will make a post summarizing the best pieces of advice.

But now back to the subject. So, I watched his speech. First, he told about his childhood, it was truly interesting because I didn´t know that his childhood was difficult. It´s amazing how some people come from a genuinely difficult childhood to such fame, fortune and start to influence the world this much. Many times, the influence is really big and positive. Pierce, for example, tries to save the last breeding grounds of California grey whales.

However, that wasn´t the thing that stroke me the most. At one moment he told:

“Our world doesn´t need you to chase the superspy 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 build a future. You are the architects and engineers of a new tomorrow. Like no species before us you have the power to shape the future. So, when you leave here today, I urge you to pursue something that is exactly to you as important as to the world. Make something that matters. The world needs your will. It needs your imagination, your courage, your appetite for adventure. It needs your hands, your minds, and your hearts. 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 greatness ever offered to any generation. So, take it. Raise up. Safe it.”

Pierce Brosnan

Yes, this is a long quote I put here. But don´t despair. I really liked how he said it so I couldn´t resist. In my mind, he will forever be the best James Bond actor and I really liked how he made his point with the comparison to this famous character. But he urges us not to become all superspies that safe the world on our own. This surprised me a little bit to be honest. I expected him to use his fame from the movies differently. But instead, he pledges us to remember that “Greatness comes from the courage to create”. Hence, let´s have the courage to create wonderful things.

As I mentioned in my post “What to do if you have no clear idea of how to choose your career” we all have our unique abilities to create great things. Each of us different and that´s great and valuable! Some through music or art, others through excellence in medicine, science, law or other professions. Some in multiple things and skills. However, we all must start somewhere.

Let´s listen to a man that achieved undoubtedly greatness and let´s have the courage to create. Let´s listen to a man that started with close to nothing. If somebody could go from nothing to something great than everybody can do it. I don´t know if you know this story but before Roger Bannister ran the first time a mile (1,61 km) under 4 minutes everybody believed that it´s physically impossible. They thought that we reached the limit, and nobody ever will run faster. However, after he broke the record in a year some other man ran it too! So, only because he dared to challenge this limit and he broke it others believed that it´s possible too and achieved it. So, if Pierce could achieve such great things than we can also do it!
Because “We are the architects and engineers of a new tomorrow. We have the power to shape the future.” and we should take this power to shape a good future.
We all have our unique gifts that we can deliver to this future. Let´s find them, improve them and then apply them. Every day in all areas. Let´s create meaningful connections and produce mind-blowing and inspiring pieces of art. All in our own ways.

Will they be perfect? No, certainly not. Especially not in the beginning. However, over time we will become better. And then we can use our unique skills to influence the world in becoming a better place for everybody.
Do we know how much time it will take? Certainly not but we know that the best moment to start is right now! Because the earlier we start, the earlier we will reach the level of skills we need to influence the world good.

I believe that we all can do this while we enjoy our lives. It starts with the small things every day. Like being friendly to strangers and attentive to your loved ones. Or demanding a lot from ourselves but still allow us to enjoy what we have. And if we all do our best to create every day something good then the future will be brighter for all of us. Creating can be so many things, maybe a song, a picture or just a smile on another person’s face. In this way, each of us can have an impact in shaping our future. Every small thing counts because over a long period of time all the small actions sum up to a great picture. As Vincent Van Gogh said: “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” So, let´s focus on a series of small things, starting together, that finally will be brought together to something great.
Together, we can make the world better. One step at a time. Every day in our surroundings and if we focus on creating meaningful things, we can even have this effect on a bigger scale.

To summarize it simply (I have a post-it with it on my computer screen):

“Consume less and create more”

I certainly try my best to do it. However, I understand it´s difficult. But don´t lose hope. Try your best every day. Try different things and don´t beat yourself up. Life is a process and we should focus rather on daily small improvements than on great changes or big goals in the future.

I want to finish with Pierce´s words: “When you leave here today, I urge you to pursue something that is exactly to you as important as to the world. Make something that matters.”. Let´s have the courage to create.

All the best,

Alexander

P.s.: Here is the link to the video in case you want to see it. And I don´t have any affiliation going on with this video. I just enjoyed it. Pierce Brosnan’s Secret to Saving the World | Speech | Goalcast