Come on I'm better than Jackie Chan right? (laughter) When I was growing up in high school, I was one of the only three Chinese in my school. So I was an outsider. And growing up, I didn't have a lot of friends.
And at that time, because I spoke funny, I didn't get along with the other kids. I mean, they made fun of me. They tease me. They laugh at me. I got beat up a couple of times. In fact, how many of you still have friends, from those high school and growing up days. Can I see a show of hand? Wow, well good for you cause I have none. (laughter) Okay. (Chuckles) I have a few enemies though. I have a few enemies.
My mom and dad got divorced when I was 16 years old. And that's one of the reasons why we immigrated to Canada, later I found out. So even you can imagine going to a new country where you don't speak the language. Growing up I wasn't, unlike most of you, I wasn't one of those people that was born to do some great or wonderful things. I wasn't one of those people that had big dreams that I was gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. I wasn't one of those people that had great talents.
I was more, my instructor would say, average intelligence, or sometimes below average intelligence, depends on the course. And I wasn't one of those people that had a good education or great resume. In fact I dropped out of college. So, not in a million years could ever imagine that I would be doing what I'm doing today. Building companies and writing books and speaking around the world and speaking in front of you and doing all these things.
Not in a million years could ever imagine I would be doing this. Because, a lot of people I believe that it's because of that, in fact, let me ask you a question. How many of you come from a dysfunctional family? Can I see a show of hand? (laughter) See, everybody comes from a dysfunctional family nowadays. Okay. It is exactly this dysfunctional childhood that made me the functional achiever that I'm today. (applause) Thank you.
It is because of my parents divorce. It is because of the tough time in high school. It's because I'm the only child in my family, that I had to learn to stop being a fucking boy and grow up to be a man and take care of my mom. You see a lot of people, they look at their childhood as wounds. When I believe that you're adversity is your greatest advantage. (audience cheers) So the very first lesson that I would like to share with you is that I hoped that your childhood sucked too. (laughter) Because it means you have developed that, it's like a workout, going through difficult times is like working out for your emotion, and for your physique.
Think about it. That, how do you work a muscle? How do you work a muscle? You put pain and you put stress on it. Yes? And literally you basically, you destroy your muscle, and you tear apart your muscle fiber, and then when it grows back it becomes what? - [Audience] Stronger. - Stronger. So that's my very first lesson that I would like to share with you. Please write this down. Your adversity is your advantage. Your adversity is your advantage. So don't look at your past as wounds. They are your muscles. They are your muscles. Because... business... is not... a sport... for the wannabe. Business is tough. I failed at 13 businesses before having my first success. So my question is, how bad do you want it? See, statistics. 96% of companies, going out of business, fail, they all fail within the first ten years. It means that, only four out of 100 companies, make it in ten years.
*Note: Full Speech is in the video above.