Rick Rigsby was ready to give up, merely existing day to day.

But then he remembered the lessons his father taught him years before.

Dr. Rigsby recalled these lessons as he delivered a powerfully moving graduation speech at California State University Maritime Academy.

Rigsby spoke about his late father, who despite being a third grade dropout, was regarded as the smartest person that Rigsby knew.

Dr. Rigsby guides us through the practical knowledge that his late father shared with him, which guided him through the most difficult times of his life.

Lessons From A Third Grade Dropout | Dr. Rick Rigsby

Full Transcript | Speaker: Dr. Rick Rigsby

The wisest person I ever met in my life, a third grade dropout.

Wisest and dropout in the same sentence is rather moronic, like jumbo shrimp.. like fun run, ain’t nothing fun about it.. like Microsoft works, ya’ll don’t hear me. I used to say like country music but I’ve lived in Texas so long I love country music now, I hunt, I fish, I have cowboy boots, ya’ll im a blackneck redneck. Do you hear what I’m saying to you? No longer oxymoronic for me to say country music. And it’s not oxymoronic for me to say third grade and dropout.

That third grade dropout, the wisest person I ever met in my life, who taught me to combine knowledge and wisdom to make an impact, was my father.

A simple cook. Wisest man I ever met in my life. Just a simple cook. Left school in the third grade to help out on the family farm but just because he left school doesn’t mean his education stopped.

Mark Twain once said, “I’ve never allowed my schooling to get in the way of my education.”

My father taught himself how to read, taught himself how to write. Decided in the midst of Jim Crowism, as America was breathing the last gasp of the Civil War, my father decided he was going to stand and be a man, not a black man, not a brown man, not a white man, but a man.

He literally challenged himself to be the best that he could all the days of his life.

I have four degrees, my brother is a judge. We’re not the smartest ones in our family. It’s a third grade dropout daddy, a third grade dropout daddy who was quoting Michelangelo, saying to us, “Boys, I won’t have a problem if you aim high and miss but I’m going to have a real issue if you aim low and hit.”

A country mother quoting Henry Ford, saying, “If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you’re right.” I learned that from a third grade dropout, simple lessons. Lessons like these. “Son, you’d rather be an hour early than a minute late.” We never knew what time it was at my house ’cause the clocks were always ahead. My mother said for nearly 30 years, my father left the house at 3:45 in the morning. One day she asked him, “Why, Daddy?”

He said, “Maybe one of my boys will catch me in the act of excellence.”

I want to share two things with you, Aristotle said, you are what you repeatedly do therefore excellence ought to be a habit not an act. Don’t ever forget that.

I know you’re tough but always remember to be kind. Always. Don’t ever forget that. Never embarrass momma. Yeah if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. If daddy ain’t happy, don’t nobody care but you know..

Next lesson, lesson from a cook over there in the galley. Son, make sure your servant’s towel is bigger than your ego.

Ego is the anaesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity. Ya’ll might have a relative in mind you want to send that to.

Let me say it again. Ego is the anaesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity. Pride is the burden of a foolish person.

John Wooden coached basketball in UCLA for a living but his calling was to impact people. And with all those national championships, guess what he was found doing in the middle of the week? Going into the cupboard, grabbing a broom and swiping his own gym floor.

You want to make an impact? Find your broom.

Every day of your life, you find your broom. You grow your influence that way. That way you’re attracting people so that you can impact them.

Final lesson. “Son, you’re going to do a job, do it right.” I’ve always been told how average I can be. Always been criticized about being average but I want to tell you something. I stand here before you, before all of these people not listening to those words but telling myself every single day to shoot for the stars, to be the best that I can be. Good enough isn’t good enough if it can be better. And better isn’t good enough if it can be best.

Let me close with a very personal story that I think will bring all this into focus.

Wisdom will come to you in the unlikeliest of sources. A lot of times through failure. When you hit rock bottom remember this, while you’re struggling, rock bottom can also be a great foundation on which to build and on which to grow. I’m not worried that you’ll be successful. I’m worried that you won’t fail from time to time.

A person that gets up off the canvas and keeps growing, thats the person that will continue to grow their influence.

Back in the 70’s, to help me make this point, let me introduce you to someone. I met the finest woman I’d ever met in my life. Back in my day we’d have called her a brick house. This woman was the finest woman I’d ever seen in my life. There’s just one little problem. Back then ladies didn’t like big old line men. The blindside hadn’t come out yet.. They liked quarterback and running backs.

We’re at this dance and I find out her name is Trina Williams from Lompoc, California.

We were all dancing and we’re just excited and I decide in the middle of dancing with her that I would ask her for her phone number. She, Trina was the first one, Trina was the only woman in college who gave me her real telephone number. The next day we walked to Baskin and Robbins ice cream parlor. My friends couldn’t believe it. This has been 40 years ago and my friends still can’t believe it. We go on a second date and a third date and a fourth date. We drive from Chico to Vallejo so that she could meet my parents. My father meets her. My daddy, my hero, he meets her, pulls me to the side and says, “Is she psycho?” But anyway..

We go together for a year, two years, threee years, four years by now Trina’s a senior in college. I’m still a freshman but I’m working some things out. I’m so glad I graduated in four terms. Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan.

So now it’s time to propose. So I talked her girlfriends and it’s California, it’s the ’70s. It has to be outside, have to have a candle and you have to have, some chocolate. Listen, I’m from the hood. I had a bottle of Boone’s Farm wine. That’s what I had.

She said yes!

She said yes! That was the key. I married the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life, ya’ll ever been to a wedding  and even before the wedding starts you hear this.. “How in the world?” And it was coming from my side of the family!

We get married, we have a few children. Our lives are great.

One day Trina finds a lump in her left breast. Breast cancer.

Six years after that diagnosis, me and my two little boys walked up to mommy’s casket and for two years my heart didn’t beat.

If it wasn’t for my faith in God, I wouldn’t be standing here today. If it wasn’t for those two little boys, there’s of been no reason for which to go on. I was completely lost. That was rock bottom.

You know what sustained me? The wisdom of a third grade dropout. The wisdom of a simple cook.

We’re at the casket. I’d never seen my dad cry but this time I saw my dad cry.

That was his daughter. Trina was his daughter not his daughter-in-law. And I’m right behind my father about to see her for the last time on this Earth and my father shared three words with me that changed my life right there at the casket.

It would be the last lesson he would ever teach me.

He said “Son,

“Just stand. You keep standing. You keep standing. No matter how rough the sea, you keep standing.“

And I’m not talking about just water. “You keep standing. No matter what, you don’t give up.”

As clearly as I’m talking to you today, these were some of her last words to me. She looked me in the eye and she said, “It doesn’t matter to me any longer how long I live. What matters to me most, is how I live.”

I ask you all one question, a question that I was asked all my life by a third grade dropout. “How you livin’?” Every day ask yourself that question. How you livin’?

Here’s what a cook would suggest you to live, this way..

That you would not judge, that you would show up early, that you’d be kind, that you’d make sure that that servant’s towel is huge and used, that if you’re going to do something, you do it the right way.

That cook would tell you this, that it’s never wrong to do the right thing, that how you do anything is how you do everything.

And in that way you will grow your influence to make an impact.

In that way you will honor all those who have gone before you, who have invested in you.

Look in those unlikeliest places for wisdom. Enhance your life every day by seeking that wisdom and asking yourself every night.. “How am I living?”

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Denzel Washington was flunking out of college, with no idea what he was going to do with his life. When one day while sitting in his mother’s beauty parlor, a random lady in the salon sitting under a hair dryer cried out for a pen, because a prophecy, a vision for the future had overcome her.

She told Denzel, “Boy, you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.” Denzel was perplexed, he was flunking out of college and his life was directionless.

No one in the salon that day believed that Denzel would go on to become one of the most recognisable faces in the world.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Denzel Washington, along the way he learned that if you aren’t prepared to dream big and fail big you will never achieve your version of success.

Don’t Be Afraid to Fail Big, To Dream Big – Denzel Washington

Full Transcript | Speaker: Denzel Washington

I was flunking out of college, I had a 1.7 grade point average, I hope non of you can relate.

I had a 1.7 grade point average, I was sitting in my mother’s beauty shop, they still call it beauty shop now?

What they call it now? Yeah, I was sitting in the beauty parlor. I was sitting in my mother’s beauty parlor and I’m looking in the mirror, and I see behind me this woman under the dryer and every time she looked up, every time I looked up, she was looking at me, just looking me in the eye.

I didn’t know who she was, she said “Somebody get me a pen, get me a pencil, I have a prophecy.”

March 27, 1975, she said. “Boy, you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.” Now mind you, I was flunked out of college, I’m thinking about going the army, I didn’t know what I was going to do and she’s telling me I’m going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.

Well, I have travelled the world and I have spoke to millions of people.

That’s not the most important thing, the success that I had, the most important thing is that, what she taught me, and what she told me that day has stayed with me since.

I’ve been protected, I’ve been directed, I’ve been corrected.

Fail BIG. That’s right. Fail big.

You only live once, so do what you feel passionate about, take chances, professionally don’t be afraid to fail.

There’s an old IQ test that was nine dots and you had to draw five lines with a pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil. The only way to do it, was to go outside the box.

So don’t be afraid to go outside the box. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box.

Don’t be afraid to fail big, to dream big. But remember, dreams, without goals are just dreams.

They ultimately fuel disappointment. So have dreams, but have goals, life goals, yearly goals, monthly goals, daily goals.

I try to give myself a goal every day. Understand that to achieve these goals you must apply discipline and consistency. You have to work at it every day. You have to plan every day. You’ve heard the saying “We don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan.”

Hard work works. Working really hard is what successful people do. In this text, tweet, twerk world that you’ve grown up in, remember just because you’re doing a lot more doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot more done. Remember just because you’re doing a lot more doesn’t mean you’re getting a lot more done. Don’t confuse movement with progress. My mother told me, she said “Yeah because you can  run in place all the time and never get anywhere.”

Continue to strive, continue to have goals, continue to progress and anything you want good, you can have. Claim it, work hard to get it, when you get it reach back, pull someone else up. Each one teach one.

Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.

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William Henry Gates III was born in 1955 in Seattle, Washington. Born into an upper middle class family with an older & younger sister. Bill’s father William H. Gates Sr was a successful lawyer and his mother Mary, a teacher. Bill Gates was a voracious reader as a child, spending many hours poring over reference books such as the encyclopedia.

Around age 11 Bill’s parents noticed he was becoming bored and withdrawn at school. They decided to enrol him into Seattle’s exclusive preparatory Lakeside School. Bill excelled at maths and science and did well in English and Drama.

After scoring 1590 out of 1600 on his SAT‘s. Bill Gates applied to Harvard University in the Autumn of 1973 choosing mathematics and graduate level computer science courses. While at Harvard, he met fellow student Steve Ballmer, who would later succeed Bill Gates as Microsoft CEO. Bill Gates left Harvard after two years while Ballmer would stay and graduate magna cum laude.

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard after two years to start a computer software company with friend Paul Allen. Which they name Micro-soft (later dropping the hyphen). Through technological innovation and aggressive business tactics Microsoft grew to become the world’s largest computer software company, in the process making Bill Gates the richest man in the world. (recently overtaken by Jeff Bezos of Amazon).

In 2007, 34 years after dropping out. William Henry Gates III returned to Harvard and delivered a powerful commencement speech to graduating students of the university.

Bill Gates Harvard Commencement Speech

Bill Gates went on to found the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 1994, since contributing more than $30 Billion to charity. In February 2014 Bill stepped down as chairman of Microsoft as he devoted most of his time to philanthropy.

Bill Gates will go down in history as one the most generous men to have ever lived. You can find his greatest quotes and advice below in Bill Gates 5 Rules of Success.

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Matthew McConaughey has lived a life of great success, a life many would dream about living. Here he shares his greatest life lessons in one of the best commencement speeches ever, at the University of Houston.

1. Life Isn’t Easy or Fair

Nothing good in life ever comes easy. Think about the last time you worked hard for a particular goal. How did it feel to finally achieve it? Don’t feel entitled to things and don’t play the victim. As Muhammad Ali said once, the service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

Take full responsibility for what is good and bad in your life and keep moving forward. Don’t expect life to be easy. When you’re a hard worker, it doesn’t matter if life is hard.

2. “Unbelievable” is the Stupidest Word in the Dictionary

Never be too flabbergasted by anything that you fail to give credit to the person who created it. For example, Elon Musk’s plan to dig down the surface of the earth and building cascading lanes for traffic sounds “unbelievable”.

But if you look closely, there’s nothing unbelievable. It’s an exceptional feat but anything is possible with human creativity. Think about the invention of airplanes, the electric bulb, internet, virtual reality – it’s all unbelievable until you realize your own power.

3. Happiness is Different Than Joy

“If happiness is what you’re after, then you are going to be let down frequently and be unhappy much of your time. Joy, though, is something else. It’s not a choice, not a response to some result, it is a constant. Joy is “the feeling we have from doing what we are fashioned to do,” no matter the outcome.”

Happiness is a response to an external outcome – getting a raise at work, seeing the face of your newborn, or meeting an old friend after a long time. It is a conditional, an if-then thing. But joy, we feel, when we are doing something that we are meant to do. For some, it is playing sports, for others, it is building an exceptional physique.

As they say, follow your bliss. Find what you enjoy in life and do more of it. Matthew McConaughey says that when he started to enjoy the making of a movie, the deed itself, instead of treating it as a means to an end, i.e. the respect of his peers or awards, he surprisingly received more awards and more respect. In other words, when you can enjoy your craft, you’ll naturally work harder and the results will be great naturally.

4. Define Success For Yourself

“Whatever your answer is, don’t choose anything that will jeopardize your soul. Prioritize who you are, who you want to be.”

Matthew McConaughey says that we should always keep asking ourselves an important question: “What success means for me? It might be getting rich, raising a healthy family, a happy marriage, or attaining spiritual enlightenment.

“DON’T DRINK THE KOOL AID!!It tastes sweet today but it will give you cavities tomorrow. Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave, take the hill but first, answer the question, “What is my hill?”

5. Process of Elimination is the First Step to Our Identity

The first step to self-actualization, to discover who we are, is to first discover what we are not. It’s only by heading into the wrong direction and hitting a wall, people realize that they have to change their ways.

According to Matthew McConaughey,

“The first step that leads to our identity in life is usually NOT “I know who I am,” but rather “I know who I AM NOT.” Process of elimination.”

For example, sometimes you spend time with friends or colleagues who gossip a lot, complain a lot about how President Trump is ruining their lives, the dog on the street irritates them every morning, and how their spouse is the real reason they’re not making any progress at work.

When we realize that people or places make us feel unpleasant, it’s essential that we stop visiting them again. It’s essential to weed out “what you’re not” to become “what you are”.

6. DON’T LEAVE CRUMBS — and the beauty of delayed gratification

Crumbs are the choices we make today that haunt us in the future, they make us look over our shoulder. They makes us feel regret, guilt, and remorse. For example, you didn’t prepare well for the job and it breaks your spirit to see your colleague getting promoted but not you. You drank too much last night and now you fear that you will blow the presentation. Or you lied to your wife about where you are but she finds out from the text message on your phone later.

Matthew McConaughey says that instead of leaving crumbs for the future, why not plant seeds of goodness for the future. For example, you work harder than required on a project and it impresses the manager so much that they give you an even bigger opportunity.

“So…let’s flip the script. Instead of creating outcomes that take FROM us, let’s create MORE outcomes that pay us BACK, fill us up, keep your fire lit, turn you ON, for the most amount of TIME in your future. These are the choices I speak of and this is the beauty of delayed gratification.” – Matthew McConaughey

7. DISSECT YOUR SUCCESSES (Gratitude Reciprocates)

According to Matthew McConaughey, the only time we stop and assess ourselves is when we fall down. We only gossip about others’ shortcomings, we only write in our diaries when we’re feeling sad.

But if we start to dissect our successes more often, we’ll find that we will have more successes. This is a lesson in gratitude. The more you thank the universe for what you have, the more you will have to thank for.

8. Make Voluntary Obligations

Society wants us to fulfill some responsibilities, to not deviate from morals and ethics, to become productive members of society. But the most important obligations are the ones we put on ourselves. Because when you deviate from your own values, it’ll be hard to go to sleep at night.

So make sure you always follow this personal protocol to have a peaceful life.

“An honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind, and when you lay down on the pillow at night, no matter who’s in our bed we ALL sleep alone. — These are your personal jiminy crickets. And there are not enough cops in the entire world to police them — It’s on YOU.” –  Matthew McConaughey

9. From Can to Want

Don’t say yes to opportunities just because you can. Say yes because you want to. Many people never leave jobs they hate because they can get promoted even though they don’t want to do the work. They’d be better off opening their own yoga studio or becoming a fitness coach, but they keep doing soulless work for money.

Say yes to what you want before it’s too late.

Consider the example of Peter Dinklage, the Lannister from Game of Thrones. He spent 6 years doing data processing, a job he hated to the core, before he finally took a low-paying acting gig. The point is that, never do things because they’re available to you, do them because you want to.

“Just because you CAN?… Nah… It’s not a good enough reason to do something. Even when it means having more, be discerning, choose it, because you WANT it, DO IT because you WANT to.” – Matthew McConaughey

10. A Roof is a Man Made Thing

“It’s because we have created a fictitious ceiling, a roof, to our expectations of ourselves, a limit — where we think it’s all too good to be true. BUT IT ISN’T. AND IT’S NOT OUR RIGHT TO SAY OR BELIEVE IT IS.” – Matthew McConaughey

We often put limitations on our abilities, our self-belief, on what we deserve. So when something beyond those limits happens to us, when we are called to interview for an influential position, when we get a chance to talk to our crush, we freeze inside and can’t control the situation.

But if we were instead focused on the experience, enJOYing the craft as discussed earlier, it wouldn’t matter. The point is to enjoy and focus on the process so much that you score a goal without making it a big deal. The goal, the “big moment” becomes just another part of the process.

11. Turn the page

We often keep running in circles in life. No matter how hard we try to change things for the better, something keeps us taking back to where we were. In this merry-go-round, what we have to realize is that we are the authors of our own story.

The mistake we make is that we believe we can’t change, change is hard, or external things are to blame. But if we realize our power, to create life on our own terms, then change will come easy. First we have to make the internal shift.

“You ever get in a rut? Stuck on the merry-go-round of a bad habit? I have. You are going to make mistakes — own them, make amends, and move on. Guilt and regret kills many a man before their time. Turn the page, get off the ride. YOU are the author of the book of your life. Turn the page.”

12. Give Your Obstacles Credit

You don’t need to eliminate your fears or obstacles. Nah! Admit that they exist and then cross them anyway. When you reach the other side, you’ll realize how good you feel because you took that courageous step.

“Well, instead of denying these fears, declare them, say them out loud, admit them, give them the credit they deserve…..Find the courage to overcome them or see clearly that they are not really worth prevailing over.” – Matthew McConaughey

13. So how do we know when we cross the truth?

Matthew McConaughey takes 21-day trips by himself to get away from the noise of the world. He travels to places where nobody speaks his language and knows him by his name. These adventures serve as a purge, a cleansing ritual for him. He was tired, anxious, and confused about his newfound fame, so he went to Peru.

And on the 13th day, he “crossed the truth”.

As he was going for a walk, he turned a corner and there was this beautiful scenario – a thousand butterflies in front of him. No way further. He had an epiphany. He realized that “All I want is what I can see, and what I can see, is in front of me.” In that moment, he let go of all anxieties, guilt, anticipation and fully embraced the present moment.

To cross your own truth, you have to get away from the noise. Go away for a weekend to be with yourself and see what you find.

“You see, I crossed a truth that morning. Did I find it? I don’t know, I think it found me. Why? Because I put myself in a place to be found. I put myself in a place to receive the truth.”

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