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(Phone ringing)

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Oh!

3
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Hello?

4
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Sweetheart sorry,
I'm in the middle of a TEDxTalk.

5
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I can't talk right now.

6
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Okay, bisou bisou, ciao ciao!
(Laughter)

7
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Sorry.

8
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Girlfriend problems.

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I want you all to close your eyes.

10
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Come on, man.

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Imagine a night has just passed by.

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Open your eyes please, don't fall asleep.

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(Laughter)

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Some of you wake up,

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and some of you don't.

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It is estimated that two hundred thousand
people don't wake up every morning.

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It is said every second two people die.

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I want to take you back
to 2005, April 20th.

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I was a student and I was
working a part-time job.

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I had a call from my work.

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I was asked to cover a shift 
at the petrol station.

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My shift usually runs
from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

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At a quarter past nine,

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since it was a really busy day,

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I decided to pull a chair, sit down,
read my text messages.

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As I was replying to some text messages
and looking at random bullshit,

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(Chuckling)

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I heard the door click.

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Usually when a person comes inside,

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the door clicks.

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So I stood up, I looked,
and I saw a person kneeling down.

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And the person was having his back
turned towards me.

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And then he got up.

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As he was walking towards me,

35
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I realized he had
a black mask on his face.

36
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I said "Hello, good evening.
How can I help you?"

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(Laughter)

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So ...

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Next thing I know,

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he pulled out a black bag,
kept it on the table,and he said,

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"Put all the money inside, 
no funny business."

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Hmm, we are in April.

43
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Maybe it's a late April fool's prank,

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you know.

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(Laughter)

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So, I was smiling and I was thinking
the cameras are going to come out

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and somebody's going to say, "April Fool!"

48
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So ...
(Laughter)

49
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But this really annoyed the person.

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Trust me.

51
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Don't do this, trust me.

52
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And the next minute,

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he took out a gun from his pocket,

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loaded it,

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pointed straight at me.

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(Sigh)

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This was the time I believed this is real.

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It's a real gun.

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I was doing exactly as I was told to do.

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My mind was completely blank.

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I had my eyes on the trigger,

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and I hoped the guy would not push it.

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I was panicking.

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The whole ordeal lasted
for about 120 seconds,

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and trust me, this was the longest
120 seconds of my life.

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What happened after was a lot of stress,
anxiety and sleepless nights.

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I would often go inside my room,
lock myself up, turn the lights off

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and just think about,
"What if there was no tomorrow?

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What if that guy had pushed the trigger?

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What if there was no tomorrow?"

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I did this for a few days,
months, and so on.

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Luckily, I had some friends
I could talk this over to.

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Sooner or later, I realized
I needed to go out of this.

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So, pondering upon this question,
"What if there is no tomorrow,"

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I didn't get an answer.

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I took three fingers, pointed at this way,

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and I asked myself again, 
"What if there was no tomorrow?"

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It made me realise I had to go

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and chase things
that meant the most to me.

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I had to go after what was meaningful,
because time is limited on this planet.

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First things first:

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I was in the UK, I had a stable job,

83
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I had a job offer after my graduation,

84
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and I was well settled there.

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So, I had a choice to make.

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Was I really happy with what I was doing,

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or should I go?

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I discussed this with few
of my friends, my parents,

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my family and my relatives,

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and the often discussion was,

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"Don't go, you have a job,
you have everything."

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But I was not happy with what I was doing.

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Let me tell you a small story.

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So,

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I don't know how many of you know Airbus,

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but we are in Toulouse, 
so we have nothing "to loose."

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So, let me tell you a small story.

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In 2005,

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there was an aircraft that took off,

100
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and the way they described this aircraft

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was that the wingspan
was the size of a football field

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Wow!

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I was in ninth grade in school,

104
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and that caught my fascination 
that I wanted to join Airbus.

105
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So, how do I go there?

106
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Somehow, I had given up on that dream.

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After this incident, I said,

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"Well, I am going to France,
I am going to Airbus."

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So, growing up in India, as a boy,

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you're given two options to study:

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either engineering ...

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or engineering.

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(Laughter)

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So, I decided, "I'm going to change
the course of my studies

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and also apply for a job with Airbus."

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On graduation, I came to France,

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I graduated,

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and upon graduation,
I had to apply for a job.

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So, the only place
I applied for was Airbus.

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When I did my first application,

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I was so excited I kept checking 
"Refresh," "Refresh, "Refresh, "Refresh."

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Did I get an answer? No.

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I waited for a few days,
and the reply was,

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"Thank you for applying.

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After careful consideration,
we have rejected you.

126
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Ooh!

127
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OK!

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So, I said, "Let my excitement not die.

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I am going to try again."

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I applied again.

131
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The result? The same.

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I applied again.

133
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The result? The same!

134
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After 10 applications, I said, 
"Well, You know what?

135
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I have some self-doubt.

136
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Maybe this is not what I want."

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But then,

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I found myself in this dark room again,

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thinking about this question, 
"What if there was no tomorrow?"

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I had to pursue what I wanted to do.

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After 75 applications ...

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(Laughter)

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Guess what?

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I got in!

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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So ...

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

151
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OK.

152
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So, after I got in,

153
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I was always fond of meeting the CEO.

154
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Ask me why: because we shared
the same birthday.

155
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So ...

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(Laughter)

157
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Also Emmanuel Macron,
but don't tell Jilly Jones outside.

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(Laughter)

159
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So ...

160
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So, I decided to write
an email to him to say,

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"Hey, I want to meet you for a coffee,
because we share the same birthday."

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(Laughter)

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Yeah.

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So ...

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I discussed this with few of my mentors,
my teachers, my boss,

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and the answer was, "You're crazy."

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(Laughter)

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"Why would you do that?"

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And I said, "Well, because 
we share the same birthday".

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(Laughter)

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So ...

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Anyway,

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my hands were trembling
when I was sending this email.

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Trust me.

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I was really scared.

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I thought, "I am going to be in trouble."

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But the minute I realized, 
I am in trouble,

178
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Again, I took three fingers out, 
pointed to my head, and ask myself,

179
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"What if there is no tomorrow?

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Can I do this? Or can I not?"

181
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And the answer was:
30 minutes with lovely time,

182
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having coffee and lots of advice.

183
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So, it was amazing.

184
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What if things don't go your way?

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These were the examples 
where things went your way.

186
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Suppose, say, somebody
kept a football here.

187
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Ask me to kick here all the way to India.

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I can't.

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Even if I had a gun
to my head, I just can't.

190
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I don't have the
physical constraints to do it.

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More importantly, what I want to say

192
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is that the gun question
helps you focus on things

193
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whether you can do it or you can't

194
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or you just don't waste time 
and you move on.

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So, with this, I like to tell you:

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next time you have a difficult situation,

197
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ask yourself this question

198
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by taking three fingers, pointing here,

199
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"Can you do this? Or can you not?"

200
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I will leave you
by asking you one more time

201
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"What if there is no tomorrow?"

202
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Thank you.

203
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(Applause)