In this December 1, 2022 video, the speaker, speaking from Qatar during the World Cup, delivers a motivational “moment of yes.” He recounts the United States’ recent victory over Iran, noting the intense geopolitical backdrop that could have turned the match into an us‑versus‑them narrative. Instead, he emphasizes looking beyond politics to see the shared humanity of the players and staff on both sides, highlighting moments of love, respect, and sportsmanship after the game. He urges listeners to “dig below the surface” in everyday interactions—whether with neighbors, coworkers, or family—to connect on a human level. The talk concludes with a light‑hearted jab about the upcoming round‑of‑16 match against the Netherlands and a call to have an awesome day.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your moment of yes for Thursday, December first. Since I didn't get to it yesterday, happy first day of December. Still here in Qatar, which is good news. It means we're still in the tournament after winning our last game against Iran on when was that two days ago? There was no stress involved in that at all. Yeah, so on to the round of 16 against the Netherlands on Saturday. Super excited, feel good about it. Your moment of yes for today though is to dig below the surface. And so there was so much, there was so much kind of intensity and stress going into our game with with Iran around a lot of the political stuff, the geopolitical stuff between the 2 nations, which then of course becomes about the 2 teams and about the players and the coaches and all that. And there was— it was easy to turn this game into an us versus them, an American against Iranian. It was easy to, to make it feel like there was hatred, that this was a war, this was And, and there, and there was this, uh, it was, yeah, it was, it was very easy to, to make it good guys versus bad guys, whichever perspective you're coming from. And I just remember, you know, really my focus going into and surrounding and thinking about the entire match was that, that maybe on the surface you can create that narrative, but it's not about that, right? This is about sort of people humans, athletes who were just kind of stuck in the middle of a little bit of that political mess, especially from the Iranian side of things. You had players that were speaking out against their government. You had— and then threats against their families, threats against them. And it was just a mess. And so my focus was really just trying to see the humanity of both sides, not who's right, who's wrong, but just seeing the humanity that at the end of the day, for the most part, we're literally just all people who want the same things. So I was just really, really impressed and grateful that regardless of the result of the game, that at the end of the game, it was about You know, it was about love. It was about respect. It was about sportsmanship. Our players, you know, consoling our players, acknowledging their players, their staff. I remember, you know, I remember walking around the field after the game and just trying to, you know, just thank as many Iranian players and staff as possible. And there was just, you could feel that there was a genuine connection on a player-to-player, human-to-human basis. So again, it was just a good reminder to me about it's not us versus them. It's really, really never us versus them. It's person to person, it's heart to heart. And to be able to see how people behaved on both sides was really inspiring. And so what was it? It was having to go below that superficial surface, which is constantly trying to create an us versus them mentality, And it's just, it doesn't really hold a lot of weight until you dig under the surface. And so maybe that's, maybe that's a neighbor, maybe that's a coworker, maybe that's just one of your kids. But are we willing to dig below the surface a little bit deeper to connect with the humanity? Yeah, there you have it. That's your moment of yes for today. Now to take on Netherlands. I hate those guys. Just kidding. All right, that's your moment of yes for today. Have an awesome day, everybody.
