Unlock Your True Potential | Kanye West’s Rules for Living Boldly

Is there any limit to your ambition?

No.

Or any limit to what you think you can achieve?

No. Well, no, because I think right now if I was to quit rapping and I said I want to go to the NBA, I would be in the NBA.

No, you wouldn't.

Yes.

No, you wouldn't.

Yes, I would.

No, you wouldn't.

Yes, I would.

Why would you think you could make it to the NBA?

Because I think I could do anything.

Need motivation?

Watch the top 10 with Believe Nation.

Hey, it's Evan Carmichael, and I watch these videos every day because I need them for motivation. Being around successful entrepreneurs every morning helps me believe that I can do great things too. It's like your morning coffee, but for your goals, kickstarting your day with a blast of positivity. So here is a challenge for you. Try watching one video every morning for the next 30 days, and let's find out together if they help you do great things too. If you're in, leave a hashtag #believe in the comments below so I can celebrate with you. So today, let's learn from one of the best, Kanye West, and our take on his top 10 rules of success. Belief. Rule number 2 is live in the now.

I don't 100% believe in anything, any concept of the future or any concept of history, because history was just written by the victors. Yeah, that's so— if I see stuff happen on the day that later that day is reported wrong, so how wrong is something reported 1,000 years ago? And why would we argue about something that's not in the now? Because that's the only thing that everyone can agree upon is that it is now, right now.

Yeah, well, you try not to make the mistakes of the past. That's the usefulness of history, the limited usefulness of history.

The biggest mistake from the past that we keep making is looking at the past.

Too much, giving too much value to the past.

Too much value to the past. We are now. We are now, we are here, we are one species, we are one race. We're here and it's time. And the leadership is changing because you have Elon as a leader, Ye as a leader, and we are the top leaders. We're more influential than the presidents.

Rule number 3 is follow your dreams.

So many people are just so fucking obvious. They don't even realize that when they box me in or try to verbally put me in some type of box or put Donda in a box, that they're really showing their level of ignorance. They're putting themselves in a box. And people can write, write, write all they want, but what are people doing? And if there's anybody that's out there doing, they know how hard it is to actually do. And I'm like a motivation of the doers. If everything I did failed, which it doesn't, it actually succeeds, but if everything I did failed, just the fact that I'm willing to fail is an inspiration. People are so scared to lose that they don't even try. Like, one thing that people can't say is they can't say I'm not trying, and I'm not trying my hardest, and I'm not trying to do it the best way that I know how with what little information I get. I like just doing these train of thoughts anyway though. It's like, it's kind of fun because when this goes online or whatever it is, it really matters and it really doesn't matter. What matters is the people who are sparked by it and the people who are offended by it, it doesn't fucking matter.

Fuck you.

Because it's about motivating the doers and anyone that wants to sit around and talk shit, they're doing too much time, they're taking too much time talking shit about it instead of getting up off their ass and following their dreams. Because I'm here to follow my dreams. You know, and help other people follow their dreams and inspire people who are dreamers. It's crazy that we live in a world that if you're super positive and super creative, that it's scary. So what does that tell you about the mentality of most people if you're scared of like positivity and creativity?

Rule number 4 is trust your instinct.

There really is a lot of people that look up to you, and you've lived a really difficult life. And you made it through all of it, what do you advise them to do?

Do everything that you feel, even if you are told that it's the wrong thing. No, no, no, no, no. But not anything violent.

So do what you feel, say what you feel. Like, trust your heart.

Yeah.

Trust your gut. Trust your instincts because that instinct is who God made you to be. Not, you know, what lines up with your, like, frat brothers, or what lines up with what your dad wanted, or what lines up with your classmates, or, you know, it's just God has something inside of you. And when you walk down the street, you're thinking about it, and then you just see it in the window. And you go down another street, you see the same thing, or you're thinking about a number and that number pops up, or you see it on a license plate. And that's just You know, something is trying to say, be the maximum. Yay. You know, be the maximum you. And God won't give you anything that you can't handle.

Also, to make sure you're actually taking action after watching this video, I've designed a special free worksheet just for this video. The worksheet will highlight our favorite lessons from the video that will inspire you to remember what you learned today and actually apply them. The worksheet will also give you space to write down what your key takeaways are and your specific plan of action to make sure you're getting results. If you want the worksheet designed specifically for this video, absolutely for free, there's a link in the description below. Go click on it and start building the momentum in your life and your business. I'll see you there. Rule number 5 is give it your all.

Anything in life that you put your mind to, you can do.

The world is your oyster.

That's all I tell people.

And I really have a grasp of that being that I nearly died.

It's this and it's heaven. While you're on earth, especially if you're not incarcerated, if you— you got to take advantage of this.

And that doesn't mean for everybody to be a rapper, for everybody to be a producer.

Do what you do to the fullest, and live your life and just, and just be happy.

Rule number 6 is care about your vision.

As a visionary— visionaries are more extreme than business people. Because a visionary would do bad business for their vision. A business person will never do bad business. It's well put.

Yeah, it's really well put.

So when you say I don't care about money, it's like, yeah, I feel you. Like, I feel that I care in a way that I need that. But I care about the vision that I have to a Steve Jobs level, to the point of putting that above my regular human existence, meaning having to go and take all the arrows, that I become a soldier of the vision. Because someone could say, a wife could say to, like, say, like in the '60s, their husband's about to go to war. The wife may not want their husband to go to war. Because of their children, but he's going to war because of their children.

Definitely. Do you regret any aspect of just giving everything to your vision? I mean, you've spoken about that, saying like, I got fucked over in the business side.

I promise that I had to stop envying cool people at their current cool time. If anything, if someone's cool, and I say their name a lot, I'm gonna flash the light on them so much that it ages their coolness. It's actually a war technique. Showered in compliments. Yeah. You know, because that, that you, that to be able to stay at 45 years old to still be the bad kid in class. At 45, I'm still in the principal's office. Because if you look at like, say fashion, right? If you think of something fashionable, it's probably going to look like the kid in the principal's office. That's going to be the fashion. And that's part of the reason why I'm the most influential person and fashion, and fashion, because I refused to leave the principal's office. If the substitute teacher comes in, I'm going to say, "You got a big butt!" Yeah. And I'm going to get— and they're going to—

Right back.

Right back to the principal's office.

And people are going to be like, "Yo." And that's what you keep on saying, like, "Who can we talk to?" Because no one can talk to me. No one. I'm out of control, bro. It's just God, then me, and then— Fuck everybody. You know what I mean? That's how I, that's really how I live my life.

Rule number 7 is define who you are.

You've kind of equated yourself to all these different people, you know, Da Vinci, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Michelangelo. And he's asked, how would you define a genius in that context? But also, why do you feel the need to call yourself that?

Because otherwise I'm called celebrity. I'm called nigger. I'm called rapper. And when they use the word celebrity, nigga, or rapper, it's not in a positive way. And all these things, all those words can be used in an extremely positive way. What's up, my nigga? You know, but that's not the way it's used. So I have to define who I am. You know, all of my aspirations are things that currently only 60-year-old white people do. So I have to redefine and let people know exactly who I am. And it's not letting them know by wearing a suit, or letting them know by wearing a Rolex, or letting them know by bragging about how much money a sponsorship made on top of a rap. It's letting them know by saying, let's start with this. I'm a creative genius. And it's proven, and I will continue to prove it. You know, when people try to take the piss out of me for clothing and this and that.

Rule number 8 is add value.

You don't realize I am so frustrated. Like, I am so frustrated. Like, I am so— I've got so much I want to give. I've got ideas on color palettes. I've got ideas on silhouettes. And I've got a million people telling me why I can't do it. You know, that I'm not a real designer, I'm not this, I'm not a real rapper either. I'm not a real musician either. Like, I don't know how to play the piano. Like, I'm an artist. I went to art college. I went to art college and was looked at like I'm soft because I like wore like Italian clothes.

You know what I'm saying?

When I'm rapping in front of Cam'ron and my pants is tight, trying to spit a verse for Cam, you know? So that's the same when I'm sitting there You know, like sitting there at a fashion show, like I'm there because I appreciate Phoebe Philo. I appreciate Raf Simons. I appreciate Riccardo Tisci.

And I look at them as my peers, as creative people who dedicate their entire life to making something better for the world.

Let me explain what anybody that knows an artist and you know someone that's giving that. If you know an artist there's only one thing you can say, give, or ask them when you see them. There are two words: thank you. There's no, why didn't you do this? Yo, I want that. What's up? No. We dedicate our entire life to making our current time in civilization better, to adding something to the culture. And there is only two words that you can say Thank you.

Rule number 9 is stop complaining.

Do I worry about, you know, being in the public eye and raising kids? Yeah. Uh, any situation you're in, you're gonna worry about raising kids, but it's, you know, it's champagne problems too. There's people who can't feed their kids. That's something more to worry about. So I'm not gonna sit here and complain about the so-called issues I have. These aren't real issues. There's people at war. There's people trying to make it to London right now.

There's people, you know what I mean?

It's like, it's really fucking serious. You guys talk to me about like some celeb shit, you know? That's that, that's not real shit.

You know what I mean? It's fine. It's up. I'm mad.

I'm upset. I'm this mad.

Oh, they got that wrong about me. You know what?

I'm alive.

I'm breathing. I did a show. We selling, we doing a second collection. I got no problems.

And rule number 10, the last one before a very special bonus clip, is be exceptional.

Some people say everyone was born an artist and society, their parents, they beat it out of them. You know, there's times, there was someone after I said I was gonna run for president that showed me like a videotape of somebody making fun of me about that concept. And I was thinking like, wow, if this person was doing this from my age of 3, I would have never been me. And people say geniuses are kids with good parents. How do you nurture the things that people would call weird and to something that could be considered to be, to something that would be exceptional? Like, so many movies are based on this anti-hero that's up against all odds doing the exceptional.

6 albums, original albums of your own, a Throne record, various records with good music to talk about, man. But seriously, Yeezus. Bravo, dude. I mean, that is one of the most creative records of, you know, of any genre I've heard in a very, very long time. And, you know, just in terms of your output, your most exciting sounding record, I think, man.

Oh, thank you very much. Yeah, I feel, you know, I was able to start just making exactly what was in my mind again and not having to speak with the textures of the time. Because, you know, Cruel Summer is definitely Kanye West, and there's something kind of weird and off about Mercy, like when it has the high-pitch, that type of sound. It sounds like art still a little bit, even though it obviously was a radio smash. But it's still— when I, you know, get into the idea, like the trap drums and things like that, are certain you know, songs that are blatant, you know, radio hits. It's like I'm speaking with today's textures. And that's, you know, and you look, if you look at it 200 years from now, it's not gonna stand out in the way that, you know, "808s" or "Yeezus" stands out and completely can push or redefine or make people say, you know, "Hey, I completely hate that," or "I completely love that." But let me just think differently because everybody is like bound to these, you know, no pun intended, they're bound to 16 bars and 8 bars and, you know, the normal radio, the radio thing. I was talking to Frank Ocean about this and said, like, you know, my mom got arrested for the sit-ins, and now we're more like the sit-outs, like sit off of radio and say, hey, radio, come to us. You know, we need to find something new because it's being you know, controlled in a way and manufactured in a way that, you know, really awesome, you know, artists, you know, can make amazing music and not break as far past as like something that's very like formulaic.

So it almost feels like a duty to you in a weird way, having the people's ear, having people's attention, and for great music to be able to say, well, if I'm not challenging them, if I'm not challenging myself, not challenging radio, what am I doing?

Yeah, well, I'm not trying to regurgitate myself. I showed people that I understand how to make perfect. You know, dark fantasy could be considered to be perfect. You know, I say I know how to make perfect, but that's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to crack and crack the pavement and make new grounds, you know, sonically and in society, culturally.

For 10 more amazing rules from Jay-Z, check the video right there next to me. I think you'll love it. Continue to believe, and I'll see you there.

Shakespeare was a man who wrote poetry. I'm a man who writes poetry. I mean, why not compare yourself to the best? I'm supposed to be here to be second best? You don't make music to be second best. You make music to be the best. Whatever you do, whatever you do, don't have to be music,