Fall Forward with Denzel Washington

[MotivationDistrictYT]

“Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives”

My post does not do Denzel Washington’s speech justice. In his speech, Washington encourages his audience to not only take risks throughout their life but to leave everything they have on the field of life. Failure is an inevitable possibility in our lives; however, it is extremely necessary. Failure often points us in the direction we are meant to take.  One of the most profound quotes from this video is from Nelson Mandela’s statement that “there is no passion to be found playing small in settling for life that’s less than the one you are capable of living.” Accepting the risks of failure is a part of life, and Washington encourages his listeners to “fall forward,” as every failed experiment is one more step towards success.

Throughout the video, he provides his listeners vivid imagery to compel action and motivation from his audience. If every thought, idea, call for action, and/ or aspiration were a ghost, he asks the audience, how many of these ghosts would be upset at you for not acting on them and bringing them to life? Fear of failure is inevitable, whether we decide to pursue these inklings or not.

Living big, reaching for our dreams is the only way to live a life worthwhile. While talking about our aspirations is an important first step into building our lives, it is critical that we put these words and ideas to use. We must practice what we preach.

I could not recommend listening to this speech enough. The video provides easy to read captions over top Washington’s audio. The only question I would like to leave you with is, “what are you going to do with what you have.”