10
Motivational TED Talks to Start Your Morning
Enjoy a side order of inspiration and knowledge with your breakfast.
One of my favorite innovations in recent years is the idea of TED Talks. Whether you attend a session in person or watch online, you can learn
and gain inspiration and see and hear people tell their
stories and share their expertise firsthand. It's accessible, substantive
information on virtually every topic imaginable.
If reading the
news first thing in the morning is bringing you down, why not save that task
for a bit later in the day? Instead, take in one of these great
TED talks with your breakfast. Since they're
under 20 minutes, it's the perfect amount of time to spend with your breakfast
and coffee--and you'll start the day informed, motivated, and ready to go do great
things.
1. Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation
"The
science confirms what we know in our hearts. So if we repair this mismatch
between science and business, if we bring our motivation, notions of motivation
into the 21st century, if we get past this lazy, dangerous ideology of carrots
and sticks, we can strengthen our businesses, we can solve a lot of those
candle problems, and maybe, maybe--we can change the world."
Career analyst Dan Pink looks at motivation
from a social science perspective. The kind of traditional rewards embraced by
most managers aren't always as effective as we think. So what really does work?
2. James Veitch: This
Is What Happens When You Reply to Spam Email
"Crazy stuff
happens when you start replying to scam emails. It's really difficult, and I
highly recommend we do it. I don't think what I'm doing is mean. There are a
lot of people who do mean things to scammers. All I'm doing is wasting their
time. And I think any time they're spending with me is time they're not
spending scamming vulnerable adults out of their savings, right?"
What if,
instead of deleting all those offers for unclaimed bank accounts in foreign
countries, long-lost cousins in need of a place to keep their jewelry, and
too-good-to-be-true deals, you reply instead? Comedian James Veitch found out.
3. Laura Snyder: The Philosophical Breakfast Club
3. Laura Snyder: The Philosophical Breakfast Club
"It's
shocking to realize that only 28 percent of American adults have even a very
basic level of science literacy, and this was tested by asking simple questions
like "Did humans and dinosaurs inhabit the earth at the same time?"
and "What proportion of the earth is covered in water?" Once
scientists became members of a professional group, they were slowly walled off
from the rest of us. This is the unintended consequence of the revolution that
started with our four friends."
A historian
and philosopher, Laura Snyder discusses four friends at Cambridge
University who referred to themselves as natural philosophers until they
later coined the term scientists. Their 19th-century
breakfast meetings generated some of the major principles of scientific
inquiry.
4. Elizabeth Gilbert: Success,
Failure, and the Drive to Keep Creating
"I know
that there's something in this world that you love more than you love yourself.
Something worthy, by the way, so addiction and infatuation don't count, because
we all know that those are not safe places to live. Right? The only trick is
that you've got to identify the best, worthiest thing that you love most, and
then build your house right on top of it and don't budge from it. And if you
should someday, somehow get vaulted out of your home by either great failure or
great success, then your job is to fight your way back to that home the only
way that it has ever been done, by putting your head down and performing with
diligence and devotion and respect and reverence whatever the task is that love
is calling forth from you next. You just do that, and keep doing that again and
again and again, and I can absolutely promise you, from long personal
experience in every direction, I can assure you that it's all going to be
OK."
Elizabeth
Gilbert, the author of the best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, has
experienced both huge success and devastating rejection. She speaks engagingly
and insightfully about both conditions, and offers a way to keep yourself
moving forward through every outcome.
5. Amy Cuddy: Your
Body Language Shapes Who You Are
"Tiny
tweaks can lead to big changes. Before you go into the next stressful
evaluative situation, for two minutes try doing this--in the elevator, in a
bathroom stall, at your desk behind closed doors. That's what you want to do.
Configure your brain to cope the best in that situation. Get your testosterone
up. Get your cortisol down. Don't leave that situation feeling like 'Oh, I
didn't show them who I am.' Leave that situation feeling like 'I really feel
like I got to say who I am and show who I am.'"
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy finds that body
language goes much deeper than influencing how others perceive us--it can
change the way we see ourselves, and even affect our hormonal levels. Just the
act of standing in a confident posture can affect testosterone and cortisol
levels in the brain, improving our odds for success from the inside out, as
well as from the outside in.
6. Stefan Sagmeister: 7
Rules for Making More Happiness
"I've
been keeping a diary since I was 12. And I've found that it influenced my life
and work in a very intriguing way. In this case also because it's part of one
of the many sentiments that we build the whole series on--that all the
sentiments originally had come out of the diary."
Designer Stefan Sagmeister shares his
thoughts on both conscious and unconscious happiness along with seven rules for
happiness in life and design.
7. Tony Robbins: Why
We Do What We Do
"What is
your motive for action? What is it that drives you in your life today? Not 10
years ago. Are you running the same pattern? Because I believe that the
invisible force of internal drive, activated, is the most important thing. I'm
here because I believe emotion is the force of life. All of us here have great
minds. Most of us here have great minds, right? We all know how to think. With
our minds we can rationalize anything. We can make anything happen."
Famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins
discusses the forces that we all respond to.
8. Emilie Wapnick: Why
Some of Us Don't Have One True Calling
"Embrace
your many passions. Follow your curiosity down those rabbit holes. Explore your
intersections. Embracing our inner wiring leads to a happier, more authentic
life. And perhaps more importantly--multipotentialites, the world needs
us."
Some people have a clear sense of vocation
almost from birth. Others have a harder time settling down into any one field--and
those are the ones who writer and artist Emilie Wapnick calls
"multipotentialites." They may have a wide range of interests and
jobs over one lifetime, and they contribute to the world in a way that more
singularly purposeful people cannot.
9. Celeste Headlee: 10
Ways to Have a Better Conversation
"Why do
we not listen to each other? No. 1, we'd rather talk. When I'm talking, I'm in
control. I don't have to hear anything I'm not interested in. I'm the center of
attention. I can bolster my own identity. But there's another reason: We get
distracted. The average person talks at about 225 words per minute, but we can
listen at up to 500 words per minute. So our minds are filling in those other
275 words. And look, I know, it takes effort and energy to actually pay
attention to someone, but if you can't do that, you're not in a conversation.
You're just two people shouting out barely related sentences in the same
place."
After spending decades as a radio host,
Celeste Headlee knows what goes into a great conversation: honesty, brevity,
clarity, and a healthy amount of listening. She also knows how difficult it is
for most of us to do. To help alleviate that difficulty, she shares 10 useful
rules for having better conversations.
10. Matt Cutts: Try
Something New for 30 Days
"I
learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing,
they were more likely to stick. There's nothing wrong with big crazy
challenges. In fact, they're a ton of fun. But they're less likely to
stick."
If you're finding yourself stuck in making
changes, Matt Cutts suggests that you pick out a new habit and try it for 30
days. It's an entertaining discussion of goal-setting and achievement.
BY LOLLY DASKAL
http://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/10-motivational-ted-talks-to-watch-with-breakfast.html?cid=em01016week29a
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