" NOT BEING AFRAID TO TAKE RISKS IS PARAMOUNT TO ANY SUCCESS ." — Tony Hawk
the X Games brought new attention to skateboarding , Hawk made history landing a trick at the 1999 X Games no one had ever done . Shortly thereafter , he launched Tony Hawk ’ s Pro Skater , which is now his billion-dollar video game franchise and one of the biggest franchises in history . The Hawk Empire includes Birdhouse Skateboards , Hawk Clothing , and the Tony Hawk Signature Series products as well as his production company , 900 films . Recently , he was featured in an HBO documentary — Tony Hawk : Until the Wheels Fall Off — directed by the award-winning director Sam Jones .
Despite the criticism and the haters , not being a natural , and years of financial struggle while trying to build his business , he ended up on top , achieving incredible success . Here are his 13 life-changing strategies for winning in business and in life :
1 . SET HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR YOURSELF
It didn ’ t matter what others thought ; Hawk loved skateboarding so much that he truly believed he could be good at it . Once he was good , he didn ’ t stop there . He continued practicing so he could be great at it . “ What got me to be good was the expectation that I had for myself ,” Hawk said . “ I thought , ‘ I want to be able to do these things I see , and I ’ m going to do that however I can . I ’ m going to do whatever it takes to get there .’ Through injury and a lot of perseverance , I was able to do that . Once I got to be able to do those things , I didn ’ t stop . That was the key . I started to get good at it , and it wasn ’ t enough . I had to keep improving my skills . I had to see what was next and eventually started creating new techniques that hadn ’ t been done before . That ’ s when I started to cross over from ‘ Oh , he ’ s pretty good ’ to ‘ Whoa , he ’ s creating something new here .’”