[Music]
when I was at TEDx haha five years ago I
was newly married then and my wife was
in the audience yes I was focused on
delivering my message but I was equally
focused on impressing her a lot of
change in my life
since then I used to work seven days a
week
without paying much attention to my
health now five years later I have a
daughter I spend more time with my
family and I run at least five
kilometres a day I still have the same
wife though and I still try to impress
her and it still doesn’t work but let’s
focus on running for a minute I’m sure
many of you in this audience are avid
runners can we have a quick show of
hands how many of you run great
wonderful running can have different
purposes you can run to burn calories
you can run to reach a destination you
might also be running to escape someone
in the trajectory of our life we’re also
running running since the time we were
born running since we enroll in school
running to compete education running to
find the first job running to impress
that special someone or multiple ones
running to advance her career and
running to make more money have you
however paused for a moment to ask why
are you running
you may be running faster than your
peers but how do you know if you’re
running in the right direction for the
past nine years I have been working with
young people and adults helping them
build their leadership capabilities and
realize their potential
I have heard countless times people
saying follow your passion
I am here to tell you differently I am
here to tell you follow your purpose
because you see purpose is what gives
direction pure passion passion is what
you like purpose is what you value
passion is like a ball of energy passion
is desire passion is a drive passion is
a force for unless you deploy this
energy in the right direction passion
can build you passion can also break
you may then ask how do I find purpose
the purpose which will channel my
passion in life a good starting point to
think about purpose may be to look at
your actual behavior your day-to-day
actions how you’re allocating your time
not what you’re saying but actually how
are you spending your hours in the day
and that will give you an indication of
what you really value in your life and
it is possible for you to have multiple
purposes in life and at different stages
in your life you may prioritize them
differently in your twenties your
purpose may be to advance your career in
your 30s you may prioritize your family
in your forties you may prioritize
looking after your aging parents so it
is okay for you to change the priorities
of your purposes but what I am here to
tell you is it is equally important to
have a higher overarching purpose and
overarching purpose that defines the
trajectory of your life and you will
find your higher overarching purpose by
reflecting on your values on your life
experiences and the people you’re
attached to and the loyalty you feel
towards them my overarching purpose in
life is to create a just tolerant and
inclusive world I aspire to live behind
a Bangladesh that is better than the one
that I inherited for me Bangladesh Youth
Leadership Center is the vehicle through
which I am trying to serve my purpose of
creating a better Bangladesh and
creating a better world
but during my interactions with young
people adults I have seen how easy it is
for us to be disconnected from our
purpose I have seen firsthand
well-meaning skilled capable people
getting derailed losing track when they
are disconnected from their purpose and
after nine years of running Bangladesh
Youth Leadership Center I have come to
realize that when divorced from purpose
skills are meaningless
I want to offer two reflections on how
we can stay connected to our overarching
higher purpose in life first staying
connected to purpose requires focus and
consistency and many of you who raised
your hands you will relate to this when
you go for a run
there will be mornings when you get up
and you just don’t feel like going out
but you have to force yourself get up
and go for a run because that builds
consistency that builds focus and once
you do it every day over and over again
that becomes a habit
similarly in life there will be days
when you go to work and you’re just not
connected to what you’re trying to do
but you have to push yourself to stay
connected to that purpose it’s it’s an
effort that we have to put in it may not
always come naturally but for us to
drive our purpose forward we must be
consistent and we must be focused the
second idea that I want to put forward
on how we can stay connected to our
overarching purpose is the idea that in
life we have to be able to differentiate
between what is indispensable and what
is expendable let me illustrate this
with an example imagine you are going to
run a marathon a marathon is for 42
kilometers and your friends family
well-wishers have all come to cheer for
you there we see at the track now after
every kilometer your well wishers
because they mean well come and give you
a bottle of water if you start picking
up every bottle after every kilometer by
the time you reach the 20th kilometer
you are carrying 19 bottles of water
really what do you think is going to
happen to you
similarly in the marathon of life since
we were born
by the time we were three years old our
mother has an expectation of us so she
loads us with her expectation and your
father has his expectations from you so
he gives you his bottle of expectation
you go to primary school and you do do
well in maths and you teach your things
you should be a scientist so that’s
another bottle of expectation for you in
secondary school you write well so you
teach us things that you should be a
writer and in high school you have that
special someone that special someone who
you think you are going to spend the
rest of your life with and by the way
the whole world except you knows that
this relationship has no future and it’s
soon going to sink like the Titanic
gap special someone wants you to be rich
and famous
so that special someone has loaded you
with another bottle of expectation by
the time you’re 20 you are carrying all
these bottles of expectations with you
how can you achieve your overarching
purpose in life if you are carrying all
these expectations
so for you to achieve your potential to
realize your aspirations from your own
life to serve your purpose you have to
start emptying some bottles because in
life if you are not running with your
own purpose you’re running with someone
else’s so I encourage you to start
thinking about recharge the bottles of
expectations in your life that are
absolutely essential for you to take
forward and recharge the bottles that
are no longer serving your purpose which
are the bottles that you need to get rid
of which are the bottles that you need
to start empty so that you can start
serving your purpose
you resume your lights run tomorrow I
invite you to spend a little more time
thinking about your purpose see life
cannot be just about making it to the
finish line
let’s not run just for the sake of
running let’s find our higher
overarching purpose and run with it
thank you very much
you
when I was at TEDx haha five years ago I
was newly married then and my wife was
in the audience yes I was focused on
delivering my message but I was equally
focused on impressing her a lot of
change in my life
since then I used to work seven days a
week
without paying much attention to my
health now five years later I have a
daughter I spend more time with my
family and I run at least five
kilometres a day I still have the same
wife though and I still try to impress
her and it still doesn’t work but let’s
focus on running for a minute I’m sure
many of you in this audience are avid
runners can we have a quick show of
hands how many of you run great
wonderful running can have different
purposes you can run to burn calories
you can run to reach a destination you
might also be running to escape someone
in the trajectory of our life we’re also
running running since the time we were
born running since we enroll in school
running to compete education running to
find the first job running to impress
that special someone or multiple ones
running to advance her career and
running to make more money have you
however paused for a moment to ask why
are you running
you may be running faster than your
peers but how do you know if you’re
running in the right direction for the
past nine years I have been working with
young people and adults helping them
build their leadership capabilities and
realize their potential
I have heard countless times people
saying follow your passion
I am here to tell you differently I am
here to tell you follow your purpose
because you see purpose is what gives
direction pure passion passion is what
you like purpose is what you value
passion is like a ball of energy passion
is desire passion is a drive passion is
a force for unless you deploy this
energy in the right direction passion
can build you passion can also break
you may then ask how do I find purpose
the purpose which will channel my
passion in life a good starting point to
think about purpose may be to look at
your actual behavior your day-to-day
actions how you’re allocating your time
not what you’re saying but actually how
are you spending your hours in the day
and that will give you an indication of
what you really value in your life and
it is possible for you to have multiple
purposes in life and at different stages
in your life you may prioritize them
differently in your twenties your
purpose may be to advance your career in
your 30s you may prioritize your family
in your forties you may prioritize
looking after your aging parents so it
is okay for you to change the priorities
of your purposes but what I am here to
tell you is it is equally important to
have a higher overarching purpose and
overarching purpose that defines the
trajectory of your life and you will
find your higher overarching purpose by
reflecting on your values on your life
experiences and the people you’re
attached to and the loyalty you feel
towards them my overarching purpose in
life is to create a just tolerant and
inclusive world I aspire to live behind
a Bangladesh that is better than the one
that I inherited for me Bangladesh Youth
Leadership Center is the vehicle through
which I am trying to serve my purpose of
creating a better Bangladesh and
creating a better world
but during my interactions with young
people adults I have seen how easy it is
for us to be disconnected from our
purpose I have seen firsthand
well-meaning skilled capable people
getting derailed losing track when they
are disconnected from their purpose and
after nine years of running Bangladesh
Youth Leadership Center I have come to
realize that when divorced from purpose
skills are meaningless
I want to offer two reflections on how
we can stay connected to our overarching
higher purpose in life first staying
connected to purpose requires focus and
consistency and many of you who raised
your hands you will relate to this when
you go for a run
there will be mornings when you get up
and you just don’t feel like going out
but you have to force yourself get up
and go for a run because that builds
consistency that builds focus and once
you do it every day over and over again
that becomes a habit
similarly in life there will be days
when you go to work and you’re just not
connected to what you’re trying to do
but you have to push yourself to stay
connected to that purpose it’s it’s an
effort that we have to put in it may not
always come naturally but for us to
drive our purpose forward we must be
consistent and we must be focused the
second idea that I want to put forward
on how we can stay connected to our
overarching purpose is the idea that in
life we have to be able to differentiate
between what is indispensable and what
is expendable let me illustrate this
with an example imagine you are going to
run a marathon a marathon is for 42
kilometers and your friends family
well-wishers have all come to cheer for
you there we see at the track now after
every kilometer your well wishers
because they mean well come and give you
a bottle of water if you start picking
up every bottle after every kilometer by
the time you reach the 20th kilometer
you are carrying 19 bottles of water
really what do you think is going to
happen to you
similarly in the marathon of life since
we were born
by the time we were three years old our
mother has an expectation of us so she
loads us with her expectation and your
father has his expectations from you so
he gives you his bottle of expectation
you go to primary school and you do do
well in maths and you teach your things
you should be a scientist so that’s
another bottle of expectation for you in
secondary school you write well so you
teach us things that you should be a
writer and in high school you have that
special someone that special someone who
you think you are going to spend the
rest of your life with and by the way
the whole world except you knows that
this relationship has no future and it’s
soon going to sink like the Titanic
gap special someone wants you to be rich
and famous
so that special someone has loaded you
with another bottle of expectation by
the time you’re 20 you are carrying all
these bottles of expectations with you
how can you achieve your overarching
purpose in life if you are carrying all
these expectations
so for you to achieve your potential to
realize your aspirations from your own
life to serve your purpose you have to
start emptying some bottles because in
life if you are not running with your
own purpose you’re running with someone
else’s so I encourage you to start
thinking about recharge the bottles of
expectations in your life that are
absolutely essential for you to take
forward and recharge the bottles that
are no longer serving your purpose which
are the bottles that you need to get rid
of which are the bottles that you need
to start empty so that you can start
serving your purpose
you resume your lights run tomorrow I
invite you to spend a little more time
thinking about your purpose see life
cannot be just about making it to the
finish line
let’s not run just for the sake of
running let’s find our higher
overarching purpose and run with it
thank you very much
you
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