Chris Gardner on the Pursuit of Happiness | The Saturday Night Show

You and your kid are homeless together. And how how was that? Where did where did you where did you sleep? And well, let me say this to you. There was a major differences between reality and the film. Now, in the film, they have to do things a certain way. Jane Smith plays my son as a five year old. My son was 14 months old. OK, that changes everything. He was still in diapers. Oh, right. Yeah. And there was a scene in the film that takes place in a bathroom. And Will and his son create this alternative universe and play this game about being cavemen. We need to find a cave someplace to spend the night. I had a game I played with my son and the game was real simple. The game was called. And that meant that no matter what anybody said on the other side of that door, no matter how hard they pound on the door, we're not here. We're invisible. And the hardest thing I had to do every day, child care. And you think about that when you've got young children next to your rent or your mortgage, the biggest expense you got every month is what child care. That was the hardest thing I had to do every day. And to leave my little boy with somebody I did not know and hope everything was OK. Man, that told me the pieces every day. Extraordinary. And nobody had a clue in work, no? No, they don't need to be presentable every day. They did not need to know. I was presentable, but I wore the same two suits. I had two suits, man, that I had to wear every day for a year. One blue, one gray. The joke around the office started. Oh, that's Chris Gardner. He's reenacting the Civil War. Some days with the north, some days he's with the south. Listen, Chris, before you go, a bit of practical advice. Right. As you said, there's a lot of people out there. We all feel, to some extent, like, you know, our lives didn't turn out the way we wanted them to be. There's something else maybe we always dreamed of doing. Or we feel, you know, the world is against us. It didn't give us chances and everything. What is the one thing? Like, don't don't give me the big philosophy on it, because that can be hard for, you know, you go, yeah, I agree with that. But I don't know what to do with that. You talk about baby steps in your other book, start where you are. You talk about little baby steps. What are the practical steps that we can do if I want to start changing my life right now? You got to have a plan. Everybody's got a dream. Everybody's got a goal. What's the plan? And your plan has got to have something I call the C5 complex. Your plan has got to be clear, concise, compelling, consistent and committed. You've got to have a plan. And when you're trying to do something that you're truly passionate about, there is no plan B. OK, plan B sucks. All right. OK, so it's as simple as that. You've got to have a plan. I mean, think about that for a second. Three examples. Michael Jordan won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls because he was committed to plan A, not plan B. Oprah Winfrey became the queen of all media because she was committed to plan A, not plan B. Whatever your politics are, Barack Obama is sitting in the White House because he was committed to plan A, not plan B. OK, plan B sucks. OK.