DWAYNE JOHNSON: From BROKEN to UNSTOPPABLE in 12 MINUTES

Hello, Believe Nation. I started the Mentor Me series to try to hang around people who've done a lot more than us, and hopefully by spending a little bit more time with them, some of how they think, their values, their beliefs, their mindsets, their attitudes seeps into us to help us become the best version of ourselves. So today we're gonna learn from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and some of his best motivation for you. Mentor me, Rock. And as always, guys, as you're watching, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it down in the comments below. Put quotes around it so other people can be inspired as well. And when you write it down, it's much more likely to stick with yourself as well. Enjoy.

They say that nothing good happens in the 4 AM hour. Well, I can guarantee you this, it's 4:45 AM, it's still dark outside. Look at that, the lights just went out. And I'm getting ready to kill this AM cardio. You can't even see me, but it's going to be so good, it's bad.

I did a lot of my growing up in Hawaii and all my years of struggling as a family. I was evicted out of Hawaii. We were evicted out of our little, uh, efficiency, forced to move, forced to leave Hawaii. My grandfather years ago bought the wrestling promotion, um, in Hawaii, uh, and it— he struggled with it.

He died struggling.

My grandmother took over the wrestling promotion promotion. She became the first woman promoter in pro wrestling, uh, in a very cutthroat, shark-infested world. And anyway, Hawaii just always represented so much struggle. I started getting arrested when I was 14 years old, doing a lot of stupid I shouldn't have been doing. Uh, I was at that time when we got evicted out of our efficiency. I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen, and actually at that time it was, but now in hindsight it was the greatest thing to ever happen because it forced me got me into this mindset, honestly, of hard work, because I was like, if I could do anything, I would do everything I can to make sure we never get evicted again. And anyway, that kind of mentality drives me today.

Yes, I get up at crazy hours, whether it's 3 o'clock in the morning— by the way, when we were talking in London, I was getting up at 3 because I had to be on set by 4— I'm sorry, by 7. So whatever time my call time is, and I tell this to studios and directors and our producers, whatever time my call time— so my call time is at 7:00, then you back your clock up 4 hours, and then that's when I get up and train twice. I'll get my cardio in and breakfast, and then I'll go hit the weights. Clanging and banging, we call it. Jacking iron.

But like, what time do you go to bed? I mean, you might shoot really late at night.

I'm averaging on a movie, I average probably about 5 hours of sleep.

OK. All right, empty gym, the way we like it. It's Sunday. Just finished my warm-up. It is family day. It's the Lord's day.

It is also leg day, so. This pain ought to be fun.

Happy Sunday. All right, Saturday afternoon, empty gym, the way we like it. Tripping over here. It's leg day, which means it's going to be sweaty, painful, and fun. Focus. Go on, get it. Come on, 4 left. Come on, one more. Come on, good. All right, workout number 2. I'm outworking all my competition. All right, empty gym the way we like it. Getting ready to to get after it. Me and my favorite training partner, bring it home! Let's bring it home. I was raised in a household where my old man was kicking shit out of me at an early age, um, teaching me hard work and discipline. I was up before the sun with him. And, um, in wrestling, uh, a world that I grew up in, professional wrestling, especially in the '80s, '70s, '80s, where wrestling was a lot different than it is today. Um, it was, uh, there was no off-seasons. Obviously there's no off-season in wrestling, and there's no off-season then, and there's no off-season now. Um, so I think having that mentality of no off-season and being in a constant state of training and trying to get better— and by the way, it's like, look, I've got a lot of professional athletes who are my friends, UFC fighters to pro football players, pro soccer players, amateur weekend warriors. The greatest part, I think, about training is— I always tell this to people— is, look, you can't play football forever. I played for 10 years. You can't be in the ring forever. You can't be in the octagon forever. You can't be in a boxing ring forever or a football field. But you can always train and get better and push yourself. Work begets work, and I always enjoy working, and I love what I do in terms of making movies. So I'm always preparing for some sort of role that keeps me lean and mean.

I wanted to entertain.

I did.

When I was 8 years old, I thought I was a I thought I was a combination of Chuck Norris, Richard Pryor, Harrison Ford, and Rocky Balboa. Harrison Ford from Indiana Jones. I was like all these guys in my— oh, and Elvis Presley too, at 8, right?

Pretty lofty ambitions.

Yes, exactly. So I knew at that time when I was 8 I wanted to be an entertainer, and I loved the idea of that and what it meant. And when I was 8, I saw Indiana Jones for the first time, and I loved that character. Like, wow, that guy was so heroic, and he kicked ass, and he— I knew I wanted to be something, and it was important to me to be something. It was, it was important to me that I didn't fail. But by the way, and if I did fail, at least that— what was also important was the lesson. And I didn't realize that until I got older, because, you know, when you're in it, you're in the grind, you don't really recognize those things when you're younger. But I could recognize them now and the importance of them now.

And just in terms of the drive and the determination, A lot of it was experience too. Get your ass kicked, get back up, and you put the gloves back on and you swing away.

Me, failing has become critical in my growth. I graduated from the University of Miami. I had a terrible senior year. I had a bad injury. I had a bad injury. You only get one shot as a senior. You don't come back. And Warren Sapp came in and lit the world on fire with how he played.

We pushed each other.

We were partners. Um, he outplayed me, beat me out of my position. Uh, and I had a really terrible year that year. Graduated, didn't get invited to the combine, the NFL combine, and I didn't get drafted in the NFL. And I had one option, and that option was the CFL. So now you work so hard for 10 years And draft day comes. You only get one shot. Warren Sapp gets taken in the first round. All my other teammates who were NFL-worthy were gone. They're in the NFL signing their big contracts. And I sign a contract in the CFL to make $350 a week Canadian. That lasted for 3 months and I got cut. I got sent back home and I had to move back in with my parents at 24 years old after I left at 18 ready to tackle the world. And in my way I did, but I had fallen so flat on my face for the first time in my life. I was depressed, asking myself why, why, why me? How can this happen? I worked so hard. Hard work pays. I always thought it's not paying for me. I got nothing. I literally had $7 in my pocket. So my $7 story, that failure, rising from that to say it's not over for me. I'm immediately gonna launch myself into training for professional wrestling. I couldn't have launched myself with that type of training that I did every day for hours in a boxing ring that was stiff like concrete every day for hours. I couldn't have launched myself with that type of mentality had I not fallen on my face after 10 years of football and failed. Failed football player who wound up moving back in with his parents at 24.

What inspires me in terms of what I do in film or TV or, or anything else, by the way, any other platform, the first thing that comes to mind when I read a script or a television project that we're either producing or in front of the camera or behind the camera is, will the audience like it? That is my number one thing I think about. Is will the audience like it? Will the audience like this TV show that I'm putting up? For example, Ballers. Will the audience like Ballers? Will the audience like this role? Will the audience like this movie, like a San Andreas? Um, uh, will the audience like it? And then that's— so that's part 1. Uh, part 1B is, well, I like it. Am I going to enjoy playing this? Because look, you— cameras don't lie. And as good as an actor as I am, or as I think I am, if I didn't feel anything and it wasn't coming from my heart, my soul. Even if it's a comedy or dramatic role, action, whatever it is, uh, TV, digital, Instagram, whatever. If I wasn't feeling it, then you guys would be able to tell.

So training and some sort of physical activity becomes my anchor every day. Try and stay focused. For me, I got to get up at 3:45 in the morning, I do my cardio, I'll have my breakfast, then I'll go train and hit the iron, then I'll go to set. If I could get those things done before I go to Then I could work for the next 12, 14, 16 hours. Fun part is the strategy behind it. Training for a role like Ballers is different than training for a role like Baywatch, Fast and Furious, for a role like San Andreas. They're all different, because if you do anything, you never want to do anything half-assed, especially when it comes to your training. Get in, be intense, execute on it, and then get out. For a lot of guys out there, and I was certainly one of those guys in my 20s, I thought I had all the answers. Didn't know shit, by the way. In my 30s, I'm still trying to find myself, as a lot of guys are out there.

Hopefully when you hit your 40s, you're hitting a nice stride.

Every day today, I'm just more appreciative of the moment. Been through relationships, been through a divorce, have a beautiful daughter, one on the way. Very, very lucky man. If I'm going to do it, I need to do this job right. I need to stay focused on it. I need to give the best effort I possibly can. And not only that, but just between us, I was like, I'm going to be the baddest motherfucker walking at 43, 44, 45, 46, 47.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed. I'd love to know what did you take from this video that you're going to immediately apply to your life or to your business? What was the most important lesson that you learned? Please leave it down in the comments below. I'm super curious to find out. I also want to give a quick shout out to Charles. Charles, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, and doing that review on your YouTube channel. I'm glad you enjoyed the book, and I really, really appreciate the support.

Gonna be reviewing his book, Evan Carmichael, who is one of the—

probably one of my original YouTube subscribers.

So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. As always, much love. I'll see you soon.