Will Smith is an actor, producer and musician, two-time Academy Award nominee, Grammy Award and NAACP award winner who has enjoyed a diverse career encompassing films, television and multi platinum records. Starting as a rapper in 1985, Smith is best known for his acting roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I Am Legend, the Bad Boys and Men in Black film series, Aladdin and Hitch. His vast filmography also includes transformative portrayals of true-life icons in Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness and Concussion.
Today, I sit down with Will Smith to talk about his commitment to family, straying away from his father’s military mindset in search of true happiness, and how to live the golden rule - to treat others how you want to be treated.
00:47 Today, Jay Shetty welcomes his dear friend, Will Smith as they reminisce about the happy times and adventures they spent together, and how their friendship flourished as Will studies the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
07:00 Jay asks Will: “Tell us a bit about what you learned from your parents and how you were able to process it positively? It’s not easy to process negative emotions with positive thoughts.
12:02 Jay is curious about how Will continues to achieve success with a loving heart. It’s never easy to live with a military mindset yet even with success and fame it didn’t feel like true happiness.
17:29 Jay asks listeners to put their minds in the middle path while Will suggests learning from an athlete’s mindset and level of discipline to manifest the things that they want in their life.
20:11 Jay mentions how Will’s grandmother had a huge impact in his life. It's all about finding peace by living your life in service. His parents, on the other hand, had different principles and pushed for totally different things, yet they showed him how life should be lived.
25:14 Jay talks about the hard work Will had to do that people don’t really see. A lot of people have not seen the learning accumulated through hard work, the sacrifices made along the way, and the military mindset that Will cradled so deeply within.
32:06 Jay points out that most superheroes get their powers when bad things happen to them. This is also true for everyone, that most of our experiences happen to teach us a lesson. Will then added that there is no such thing as a bad experience.
35:57 Jay taps into Will’s last moments with his father and how he coped with the loss. The lesson learned from the experience is to always be genuine with your every “Hello” and “Goodbye”, who knows it could be the last.
42:51 Jay asks Will about how the tradition to learn new religion every year, how this strengthened his bond with Jada, and the lessons learned while studying these different religions.
49:07 Jay talks to Will about the wisdom within books, how past people had lived through the same problems that most of us are dealing with today. Treating people the way you want to be treated is essential in maintaining peaceful relationships around you.
54:53 Jay explains the Analogy of the Mirror wherein people become so disconnected from nature that everything becomes instant and our mindset has become NOW whereas nature is never instant.
56:29 Jay shares the first time he communicated with Will. It surprised him how Will can be so committed to the things he sets his mind on. And that prompted Jay to relearn and fall back in love with the things he fell in love years ago. Commitment is changing yourself through constant practice.
58:54 Will explains why the central focus of his life is having a successful love relationship. This determination came after his experience with his parents divorce. He continues to seek knowledge on achieving this goal.
01:01:28 Will discusses why the concepts of ignorance and delusion are always the center of problems in every human relationship. All issues within human relations stem from a lack of understanding.
01:07:59 Will retells his unforgettable encounter with Nelson Mandela and how he was offered to be his student about life struggles.
01:13:42 Jay is curious why Will is so moved by the Story of Arjun. Will eagerly explains the story and why it resonated with so much.
01:21:06 Jay explains that most of us are living our life based on the result of our actions, which we think is a sign of success. We shouldn’t be living a life based on the possible results of our actions, instead we should live for ourselves and our own happiness.
01:26:25 Jay and Will agree on this: It's not a problem if you have comprehension of what's happening around you. You don't call things problems that you have complete comprehension of.
01:31:05 Will relives his character as The Genie, a character so similar to his personality, his core. The concept of the sacred clown, the singing, dancing, and joy it brings, is beautiful conduit for the ideas.
01:33:18 Will Smith ON the Fast Five questions