Sylvester Stallone - A VERY thick thick skin is necessary to get what you desire

Did anyone ever study an alligator, crocodile, and wonder how they survived so many hundreds of millions of years? Thick skin. Thick skin. Almost impervious to pain. That is an element that I think is so necessary in this day and age to be successful. Talent. All right. That's a given. You have to have some of that ambition. Yeah. You got to have a hell of a lot of that. And this fear of failure. Good helping of that. Certainly inspires one to get out of bed in the morning. But the most important thing is the alligator hide. You have to be able to take criticism. I believe that some of the most talented people in the world fail because they can't take the criticism. They're too sensitive. Their artistic part of them just can't withstand the withering intellectual verbal bullets that rip them to shreds. In other words, criticism. Believe me, I was told a thousand times. Well, not a thousand, but a few hundred. You're not cut out for this. You slur. You're this. You're that. We can't fit you into any kind of category. You should really quit. Seriously. You know what? You should work behind the scenes. And we're, well, yeah. Thank you for that. But everything you're saying is bouncing off. It's like bulletproof tabloid. And that's what I'm trying to pass on to individuals that you have to be able to be like a solid tree. You hear that hammer in the background? Guess what? People are working on the house. Thank God. We're getting back to the subject at hand. If you really develop this numbness, numbness, this inability to develop selective hearing. I don't want to hear it. I don't want that to dampen. I don't want you to rain on my parade, put out my fire, whatever term you want to use. It's the same thing. Don't be so sensitive to criticism. I've lived with them my whole life. Most people have. And most people give into it. They actually believe those words from other people. Believe the words that come from inside here. This is the greatest voice in the world. Your heart doesn't lie. Your brain. Your heart. It tells you the truth. It really does. But quite often, we don't have that commitment to our own individual. What is the word I'm looking for? Individual commitment to succeed at all costs. You have to be so committed to the cause blindly charging into the building. I don't care if it's on fire, because that's like what the future is sometimes. It's like going into a burning building. You don't know what's going to happen, but you hope you come out the other side because your goal is on the other side. Anyway, I don't know if this touches home, but I was asked that question the other day in an interview, and I just wanted to pass it on because I think it's a very, very important element to arriving at your destination. That's my opinion. Be an alligator or crocodile. Whichever one you prefer. Ciao.