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The Pursuit of Happiness: Gardner’s Climb to the Top
The Pursuit of Happiness: Gardner’s Climb to the Top
“One of the things young people always ask me about is what is the secret to success,” says Gardner. “The secret is there is no secret. It’s the basics. Blocking and tackling.” Gardner has gone from homeless to Hollywood, rising from the depths and despair of poverty to become not only a millionaire stockbroker and successful entrepreneur and author, but also the star of a major motion picture. How did he do it?
Passion: “Find something that you love,” says Gardner. “Something that gets you so excited you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Forget about money. Be happy.” From the moment Gardner first heard about just what it was to become a stockbroker, he knew it was for him. It was the passion in his pursuit that carried him over the obstacles along the way. “The money thing will come,” he says. “I know so many people who have so much more money than I. They are miserable. It is so important to be happy.”
Commitment: “The cavalry ain’t coming,” says Gardner. “You’ve got to do this yourself.” Once his mother had convinced him that he truly could be anything that he set his heart and mind out to be, Gardner grew bent on becoming the best. After that point, it wasn’t about surviving or making a living; it was about developing his talent and mastering the competition.
Opportunity: “Stay in school,” Gardner now warns. “It's what will give you options. You don't want to try to do this thing the way that I did.” Despite not having much education and despite the numerous obstacles that stood in his way, Gardner pursued success relentlessly and refused to stand down in the way of discrimination and doubt.
Determination: During one of Gardner’s low points, he was forced to give his son a bath by candlelight since they had no electricity. “It was at a point in time, where honestly, I didn't know whether I was going to quit, crack or cry,” recalls Gardner. “Some kind of way this child, this baby, picks up on it, and he stands up in the bathtub, and he says, 'Papa, you know what? You're a good papa.' That was all I needed to go on.” No matter what the situation was or how difficult it appeared to be, Gardner always found the fortitude to stay the course.
Duty: “When I look back at the journey from homelessness to prosperity, I hold one thing dearer than all else – my commitment to my son,” says Gardner. “Doing a movie with the top movie star portraying me, doing a book with an editor who's last book won the Pulitzer Prize – all that stuff is great, but the most important thing that I will have ever done in my life was break the cycle of men who were not there for their children.” From mentoring future leaders to making education more accessible, Gardner always felt a greater obligation to society that went beyond mere moneymaking.
Today, in addition to heading up his brokerage firm, Gardner is busy working on what he considers the biggest deal of his career. He is setting up an investment venture in South Africa, which will not only net him a large profit, but which will create hundreds of jobs and inject foreign currency into the nation. This man who was once homeless now has the choice of living in one of the three homes that he owns. He might not have become the next Miles Davis, but there are surely young people out there now wishing to be the next Chris Gardner.
Even before “the pursuit of happiness” became one of the most famous phrases in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, mankind worldwide had been on a quest to chase down this elusive goal. In his 2006 autobiographic...
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Chris Gardner Video - The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father, Chris Gardner, who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street
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Even before “the pursuit of happiness” became one of the most famous phrases in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, mankind worldwide had been on a quest to chase down this elusive goal. In his 2006 autobiographic...
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