 All right. Hey, how's everybody doing up here? Brad, Ed, and Bushy-tailed. As you can tell by my outfit, I'm a bit of a comedian, and my name's Peter Murphy. If this outfit speaks too loud, just let me know. We'll turn the mic up. Now, welcome to the 21 convention, 2010, and as he's done every single year of this convention, whether it be here in Orlando or all the way over in Europe. Stockholm just recently, last month in June 2010 this year. He's going to kick off the convention. This is the guy, you know, a lot of people that are going to be here are either, you know, students of whether exercise, nutrition, pickup, or coaches, but this is the guy that is in charge of bringing all of them here together. So give him a warm round of applause and listen intently. This is the guy you guys all know and love, Anthony Dream Johnson. Wow. Thanks, man. I remember I actually had anyone introduce me before. So that's the first, man. There you go. Yeah, they are out there. Boom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool guys, thanks for coming. Appreciate it. Like I told you guys earlier, good? Yeah. Thanks for guys coming on time. Not everyone does, it's early in the morning, but I do appreciate it. My speech today is actually going to be an essay form. The title of it is Changing the Course of a Generation. I'm just going to read it verbatim to you and inflict some passion into it. Let's go with you guys. The ideas I'm about to communicate are of the utmost importance to me. Some important fact that I've decided to deliver them in an essay format is I feel as strong as communicating my ideas in this medium despite an almost parallel amount of speaking experience. So what am I here to talk about today and kick the start of the event with? Picking up chicks, exercise, nutrition, self-confidence, self-esteem, passion, truth, setting up what you believe in. How about a bit of everything, more aptly put, changing the course of a generation, our generation, of which the leaders, whether they know it or not, are sitting in this very room. Now if I'm here to discuss changing the course of a generation, this begs the question, what's wrong with the current course? Well that depends on who you ask. And at the end of the day, we are all here for own reasons, we all have our own interests, and we all have our own worldviews. As such, I will not give an arbitrary list of arbitrary problems. I'll leave you to decide and find your own path, your own values, and your own morals. Just as I and many others in this very room have found their own, and their own unique ways. For argument's sake, and to at least set some stage for the following list of suggestions on how to change the course of a generation, I present the following idea with the full disclaimer that I'm not here to discuss economics or public policy of any kind. Some estimates put the total debt of our country, including unfunded liabilities like Social Security, in excess of $110 trillion, not billion dollars. Think about what a staggering sum of money that is. Money that simply does not, and will not, never exist. Now consider the consequences and repercussions of this debt that is never going to be repaid, and the promises that simply cannot be kept. This has been one of many dire problems we face as a generation, and how the hell are we going to deal with it? How are we going to embrace the difficulty sure to spring from this, and at the same time, grows individuals, leaders, and men? Perhaps more importantly for our discussion, where did this staggering, staggering amount of debt stem from? What was the ultimate source? But enough doom and gloom, let's dig into the meat of this essay. Changing the course of a generation, step one. We must choose uncertainty over unhappiness and act accordingly, which by default entails relentless positivity and deeply masculine optimism. I believe leading is best done by example, so how have I made this choice and taken this action in my own life? With the 21 convention in 2010 of Stockholm, Sweden. Some of you are aware of this, most of you aren't. Our event in Sweden almost flopped, flat on its face, wildly coyote-style. I grew arrogant in a way I had never experienced before, and was unaware of it until the result of that arrogance was staring me straight in the face mid-April of 2010, in the form of ticket sales that were simply not on track to cover expenses, the expenses of the Europe event, not even close. I probably started freaking out as a solid chunk of 2010 US event revenue had already gone to produce the Community Tapes documentary series, and there would be no money coming to help compensate for the expenses of doing the convention in Europe. Sweden had to stand on its own two feet as a convention or disappear into the history of books forever. After frantically scrambling on the internet for a few weeks, trying to generate and direct attention to the event, a choice presented itself to me, a choice that provided two possible conclusions for Sweden. The choices boiled on to this. I can be uncertain over my own future and the future of this convention, or I can be unhappy and this convention and everything it represents will never happen in Europe. My decision was made in a single night, uncertainty over unhappiness and not seeing this convention continue to approach its fullest potential. By no means was this decision the decision to immediately fly to Europe and make the 21 convention there happen at all cost easy to make. In fact, it nearly brought me to tears, as this is one of the most terrifying decisions of my life, which leads us to the final point of step one for changing the course of a generation. The why? Why did I make this decision? Why did I put my entire financial life in the fate of the 21 convention on the line? Because it's the only true choice I, or anyone else, has left. If the course of our generation is to change, this choice has to be chosen individual by individual, day by day. The buck stops with us and the individual way to the world rests on our shoulders. In my case, this individual way to the world was that I had to bear the weight of our first convention in Europe. I believe the uncertainty of trying to make the convention happen was the right action I chose accordingly. The ensuing five weeks of my life were by far the most difficult of my life to date, but I have never looked back. I chose the happiness of following my passion and I'm better because of it, along with all those involved with the 21 convention of Stockholm, Sweden. Changing the course of a generation, step two. We have to build our self-esteem ourselves. Self-esteem is an interesting concept and even more interesting catchphrase thrown around in our social language from time to time, often meaningless at this point, along with other such terms as food, exercise, and health. Never defined, only abused and pillaged. For our purposes, I will quote, quote, and ran from the virtue of selfishness. The attack on selfishness is an attack on man's self-esteem. To surrender one is to surrender the other. So how have I built or perhaps uncovered the layers of nonsense surrounding the self-esteem I have possessed since birth? In two ways. One is that I have chosen to become inflexible and unflappable in my demand and thirst for truth. Hint, the unifying theme of the 21 convention since July of 2007, regardless of the topic being discussed. No exceptions, no buts, no ifs, no variables, just truth. The truth that is always there, irrelevant of all opinions, all meddling, and universal to all fields and subjects. The second way is that I become increasingly selfish in a paradoxily, voluntarily generous way. At some point, I have yet to identify my life. I decided that a gift I was born with was the unique desire and passion to bring others together. I transformed into the following, perhaps, unique guiding principle. One of, if not the best ways to help myself is to voluntarily help others. Solidifying this principle was a quote I read from Marcus Aurelius while in Stockholm this past May. No one objects to what is useful to him. To be of use to others is natural. And don't object to what is useful to you, being of use. My interpretation of this was to stop being ashamed for doing what was in my best interest, helping others in the most effective and efficient way as I know how. The expression of doing what is in your best interest may be different than my own, but I strongly encourage you to follow it for your own sake and mine. The why of this step is hidden within the preceding line and mine. Doing what is in your own best interest is ultimately in everyone else's best interest. If you need proof, look around yourself right now, and once again the closing of the event. And remember this part of my speech. We can help each other best by helping ourselves first. Changing the course of a generation. Step three. We have to embrace responsibility for our own actions. No one is responsible for you or your actions but you. This at first seems disempowering and distancing. We're a social species after all. Shouldn't we help each other? Shouldn't we care for others? Indeed, these are true statements and well-intentioned questions, and I agree we should help each other and in the meantime, we need to recognize the truth of the matter that I and only I am responsible for my own actions. Nothing else is even possible. Everything else is a distortion or dismissal of reality. This however is a powerful realization to make, one of the most powerful of all in fact. How awesome is it that I have complete and total control over my own actions. Sure I can't control the environment and sure I fortunately can't control their people, but I have total control of every action I take. It is my God-given free will to choose every action I take, every moment of my life, from birth to death. Nothing can be more liberating than embracing this fundamental truth. How did I embrace it? By receiving more passionate, heartfelt, grassroots support for the 21 convention than I ever dreamed possible in Europe and many thousands of miles away from Orlando, Florida, the truth was revealed to me, the soft reliance. A paradox, yes, but that's exactly what so much help taught me. An extreme revealed, its inverse. I realized I was the one constant individual in this convention, this movement and that I was the only individual truly responsible for its success no matter how passionate the support it is my weight to bear. At the same time, I quickly realized there were variables simply out of my control of the convention in Sweden, time among them. This is when I both embraced and accepted my free will as a man. I accepted that I had absolutely zero control over the time leading up to the event and the location I chose and hosted in and other logistical variables. What I did, I've complete 100% control over all my actions and I embraced that. I embraced it by ignoring when didn't help me. Environmental aspects I could not change whether it was the resources I did have. Sweden came down to being resourceful not how many resources I had at my disposal. I didn't have the money for a massive advertising campaign but I did find the funds for a speaking tour around Europe to promote the event. I didn't have the capital for a sick conference room but I did have the drive to ask people who knew of better ones at more affordable rates and so on and so forth. The examples are not the point. The point is that I learned very clearly that whatever potential for success was left in the 2021 convention 2010 of Stockholm, Sweden was in my hands the minute I landed in Stockholm and here I am speaking to you about a convention that was a total success for everyone involved. Changing the course of a generation, step four we have to get our lives handled as men. Women can take right action as well of course live their lives as they see fit and possess the same potential to lead as men. These are human, not gender based traits but the bottom line the responsibility lies with men. It is our birthright as men to lead, hunt and protect. The specifics of those roles change from generation to generation millennia to millennia but the roles themselves are constant and ever present. As such it is up to us as men to lead the charge the change in course of an entire generation men and women alike. We can do this by focusing intensely on shaping our lives as we see fit and uncovering the truths of the world hidden all around us. More specifically we have to get our social and people skills down pat. They are beyond foundational. We have to dig deep and find the core confidence we were born with that requires nothing but our reason. We have to experience the world and get back to our born innocence. We have to try, try and try again to find out what we are meant to be doing for a career. Still can't figure it out lost, dazed and confused, try again. Your purpose is waiting for you buying those failures. We have to learn to think independently and become filters of the wealth of information available about our fingertips. We have to have the initiative the balls to spark new ideas and begin new ventures. We have to challenge the status quo and conventional wisdom in all fields being nutrition, exercise, history social dynamics or even government. Most importantly of all we have to rise to the call of action and get shit done taking one step, one individual at a time, it is doable. Hell look around you, it's already in motion. And there you have it that's my speech, a written essay detailing the four steps that I as an individual see for changing the course of a generation. One, choosing uncertainty over unhappiness and acting accordingly. Don't forget the act part. Two, we have to build our self-esteem ourselves. Three, we have to embrace responsibility for our own actions which is like embracing our free will. We have to get out we have to get our life situations handled as men. I hope this has helped you in some way shape or form. I hope you decide to spread the word through your own individual interpretation what was said today to your friends family, even random strangers. I'm not going to take any questions on stage. I want this to resonate with you guys for a little while. I will take questions personally throughout the event. Thank you for listening. Enjoy the 21 convention.