The UNSTOPPABLE TED TURNER MINDSET – Start Thinking Like a Billionaire

And he said, "I made a mistake doing that. I'm having a lot of trouble now because I've achieved my goals." What is your day like?

The hardest, you know, hustle all day long.

Dropping out?

Mm-hmm. Ha ha ha! No way.

To every man or woman born, death cometh soon or late. You know, money can't solve all the problems. It won't put back the rainforest back when it's clear-cut. Like, if you want to be an Olympic swimmer, Or an Olympic yachtsman. You have to practice all the time. I made the COVID of Success magazine. I held a copy up to Dad and said, Dad, is that enough? I'm on the COVID of Success magazine.

You know, he's an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he's known as the founder of CNN, the first 24-hour all-news TV station. He has an estimated net worth of $2.2 billion. He's Ted Turner, and here is my take on his top 10 rules for success. My personal favorite is rule number 3, and I'm curious to figure out which one you guys like the best.

My father told me when I was a small boy that he strongly recommended that I set my goals so high that I couldn't achieve them in my lifetime because he had, he had set his goals. He set a goal after the Depression that he would be a millionaire and have a yacht and a plantation. And he had a small plantation and he had a small yacht and he was a millionaire and he couldn't refocus his life. And he said, "I made a mistake doing that. I'm having a lot of trouble now because I've achieved my goals." And he said, "Please set your goals so high that you can't achieve them." So I'm trying to help save the world. And I think that's probably, you know, higher than— I don't anticipate achieving it completely. But I would like to.

How early in life did you, uh, your relentless ambition begin? Did this happen when you were very young? You alluded to the fact that you sold papers at age 6 or something.

Well, I don't know, it's just, uh, I don't really feel like I'm that ambitious.

Oh, come on, I'd hate to follow you around for a week.

Yeah, well, I just work hard, but I know a lot of people would work hard. My father worked hard and set an example for me, and, uh, And I know a lot of people that work hard.

What does that mean, working hard? What is your day like?

Work hard is, you know, hustle all day long. You know, you talk about hustlers, Pete Rose on the baseball field, I try and do that all day long. And that's what I think we need to do here in America. I mean, the people working in the American automobile industry, we've got to out-hustle the Japanese. We've got to get that old roll up our sleeves and get back to work, and then we'll get this country out of trouble. We can do anything better than anybody else in the world, I think.

You've got your life, there's no question.

Reawake that, that spirit. That's what I try and do with the Atlanta Braves is get everybody hustling because it sets a good example for the people that are watching the program.

You want to know what made you single-handedly decide to replenish America's bison herd?

Save everything. Remember, I'm supposed to be shooting for something that's impossible to, to have happen in my lifetime.

And he has done the impossible many times, like the 1979 Fastnet Race off the coast of England. A massive storm whipped up winds and waves that left 15 sailors dead. To this day, it's considered the most dangerous ocean race ever. And Ted didn't just survive, he won. And that's where we started our conversation about his amazing life. Was there ever a moment that you thought you wouldn't make it?

No, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about not making it. I was trying to figure out how to keep going.

Were you afraid?

No.

Did you ever think of not going through with the race? Was it ever—

Dropping out?

Mm-hmm. No way. That would have been like dropping out with CNN.

The lines that are on courage Because if you're going to be successful in business, you've got to have a lot of courage. Then stepped forward Horatius. This is from Horatius at the Bridge by Thomas Macaulay. Then stepped forward Horatius, the captain of the gate. He said, to every man and woman born, death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better and facing fearful odds for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods. Hew down the bridge, Sir Counsel, with all the speed ye may. I, with but two beside me, will hold the foe in play. On yon narrow span, a thousand might well be stopped by three. Now who will stand on either hand and guard the bridge with me? Pretty strong. They stopped the whole Etruscan army. You know, money can't solve all the problems. It won't put back the rainforest back when it's clear-cut. But money can solve a lot of problems.

Turner put his money where his mouth is Thursday night, pledging $1 billion to the United Nations over the next 10 years.

If you're working to help others, or make the world better, you'll be a lot happier than if all you're doing is trying to make things better for yourself. You know, if you're a selfish person, I think selfish people are not as happy as generous people, for instance. Because the real greatest joy and satisfaction of all, I think, is helping others. I think the old biblical phrase, "It's more blessed to give than receive," is absolutely true. And, well, you know, I gave away so far close to about half of what I had, and that made me feel real good. I'd like to see us all living in peace and harmony, and most of us are, you know, most of us are living in peace and harmony. We could all be if we just— almost all of us— if we just put a little more effort into it, and I'm going to keep working on it.

The company's called Turner, and they got rid of Turner. Did you ever imagine in your wildest dreams that that would happen?

No, no, that's, that's a mistake I made.

Will you ever get over it?

No, I don't have to get over it. I live with it, you know. At least I haven't had this serious bout of cancer. I've had a little skin cancer, but, you know, you've got to be— you've got to be able to take some disappointment in life too. Not always is everything going to go going to go well. So you just have to roll with the punches when adversity hits you.

How did you ignore all those naysayers and continue to sort of blaze the trail?

Well, 95% of all new ventures fail. So if you just bet against all new ventures, the odds are 90% that you're going to be right 90% of the time. But you're going to miss that 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 20 chances to to really hit a home run. And I wasn't worried about the naysayers saying it wasn't going to work. I just laughed about it because I knew it was. And you worked very hard at it as well. I wasn't going to let it fail. And even if you read my book, it's right there. I wasn't going to let it fail. And I'm not going to let humanity fail to get rid of nuclear weapons and and, uh, and, and, and handle this energy thing. I'm going to keep fighting until, until we start getting it right. I also was tired. The one thing that did happen to me, I mean, I worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. When I owned the Braves and the Hawks, I went to almost every game, and I watched the away games on television, even the ones from the West Coast that came on at 10 o'clock at night and went till 3 in 6 o'clock in the morning, and most people, you know, I went to work at 8 or 8:30 in the morning, and I lived in my office, so I didn't have to drive, and I lived in my office for 15 years, and then at 6 o'clock, when most people go home from work, I had to go over to the ballpark and shake hands, and so I was working until 11 o'clock, and then I'd go back to my office and sleep on my couch, And I did that every day for 20-something years, and I got tired. And when you get tired, your judgment's not as good as if you stay fresh, so one thing I think I said in the book is if you decide you're really gonna try and go for it, like if you wanna be an Olympic swimmer or an Olympic yachtsman, you have to practice all the time. You've gotta give up your whole life to do it, basically. And you've got to decide whether you want to be the jack of all trades and master of none, or the master of one and not so good at the rest. And I decided I wanted to be a world champion in sailing and I wanted to be one of the best businessmen that ever lived. And I tried to do both, and I wanted to be a good father too. So it's a lot, and not everybody could do it, but I tried my best to do it.

Can you do Shakespeare?

A little bit.

Do you have anything you'd like to declaim?

On honor.

This is, I think, Richard III, anyways, one of the Richards. Oh, my honor is my life. We live in one. Take honor from me and my life is done. Then pray, my liege, my honor let me try. For that I live, and for that will I die. And I've lived with that. There's not one blemish on my honor in my entire 76-year career. Not once. How many times have you heard protesters saying, "Get rid of Turner's, you know, corruption"? No, no, never paid anybody off, never. And, and in the news business, there were times when putting a little money on the table would get you some access that you wouldn't get otherwise. Or it's very easy to to slip into corruption. Very easy. But I resisted it all the way along. Not one time.

When I look back at all my business accomplishments, CNN was the most exciting and most challenging and the most satisfying when we were successful because, you know, I got proven Right, I was Time Magazine's Person of the Year for the whole world. I mean, that's, you know, what more could you do than that? I made the COVID of Success Magazine. I held a copy up to Dad and said, "Dad, is that enough? I'm on the COVID of Success Magazine," you know. So, you know, and then we had the AOL merger, so it didn't last very long, and I was down and out again. One of the worst mistakes that's ever been made in business. We went into it half-cocked and unprepared, and that, that's something you don't want to do on a merger of that consequence. You know, you want to really be careful when you're dealing with billions and billions of dollars and the careers of literally thousands of people that were, you know, their life savings was wiped out too. I had some doubts, and I voiced them, and I talked to the best people I could for advice, and they felt like there was no way I could have stopped it, so I went along with it. Be a good soldier. And I lost 80% of my money. I lost my job at CNN and Turner Broadcasting. At that same time, Jane Fonda and I got a divorce, and I lost a grandchild that passed away. And so I was really down. And I had two choices. One, either go down, which I had plenty of excuses for, but I didn't want to go down. I still felt like I had contributions to make. And I just gritted my teeth and said, I'm gonna come out of this. You know, like Scarlett O'Hara did at the end of the first half of Gone with the Wind. Remember, she was standing up on the hill as the camera went back and she said, as God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again. You know, I said, as God is my witness, I'm gonna get through this and I'm gonna make a comeback.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Mr. Forsten asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of Ted Turner's rules and clips meant the most to you and why. Leave it in the comments and I will join in the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.