Best TED Talks
- priscillawrites
- Sep 21, 2015
- 3 min read
In my last post I mentioned that I'm trying to find more ways to keep myself learning this season. Just because I'm out of college doesn't mean I'm ready to abandon the pursuit for knowledge. One awesome way I found to do this is to listen to online TED talks- which are usually given by intelligent researchers, professors, and activists from around the world. I quickly discovered that listening to these talks is a great way to procrastinate. I'd rather take an online break listening to something thought provoking that engages my mind than numbly scroll through my social media feeds.
Luckily for you, I've been finding a lot of extra time to "procrastinate" lately, and I've collected a few awesome TED talks to share with you.
Teacher and researcher Angela Lee Duckworth talks about the defining factor she discovered that best predicted what kind of students- and people in general- would succeed at their long-term goals. The answer she found made a lot of sense to me. It turns out that a person's "grit" (their ability to persevere in the long run) is a better indicator of success than a lot of things, including intelligence. I believe discipline goes hand in hand with this trait, and that's been something I've really been trying to work on lately. Hearing Angela's talked confirmed this for me and inspired me to work hard to improve my habits and develop a "grittier" mentality.
I love hearing talks about things like altruism, nonprofits, and issues like global poverty because they're all things I'm very passionate about. In this talk, Peter Singer discusses how everyday people can make a significant impact with their giving- even if they're nowhere close to being millionaires. I love this talk because it challenges us, and also inspires. I also love that he addressed the issue of effective nonprofits, admitting that some are better equipped at solving problems than others. That's always been something I think is extremely important to consider when deciding how to give.
I love this talk, even though it made me pretty uncomfortable at some points. Sociologist Sam Richards takes his audience through the journey of trying to understand the perspective of someone from a different race, background, and religion than your own, and it's certainly eye-opening. I think that this is the key to what empathy is really about. To empathize with someone, you have to really seek to understand their mentality- even if it challenges your own. It's not easy, and sometimes we'd rather avoid it because we want to protect our own beliefs above all costs. But I think empathy is worth it anyway, because it's the first step to truly loving our neighbor.
This was another very thought-provoking talk for me. Professor Alain de Botton (who's pretty hilarious, by the way) discusses why our society suffers so much career anxiety and low self-esteem, and comes to some very interesting conclusions about these things. I think his suggestion to define success for ourselves and be very aware of how society and others have influenced our definition of success is incredibly important, especially for someone who is young and deciding what they want to do with their life. But honestly, anyone would benefit from this talk.
The last talk I wanted to share is actually one that I watched a long time ago, but it's so good (and pretty popular actually), that I have to share it again. Brene Brown (who's book Daring Greatly I read a few years ago and it's even better than this talk) discusses the power of vulnerability- and why we are so afraid of it. According to her, however, real connection with others (and with God, I believe) cannot be accomplished without vulnerability. I completely agree. If you're going to watch just one talk from this list, make it this one.
If you check out any one of these talks (or if you've seen them before) let me know what you think! Or tell me about your favorite TED talks :)