the online learning is here and your
prestigious universities are over here
they’re not in the same conversation you
know I was satisfied kind of the small
wins hey my cousins find this valuable
and people are emailing me I’m getting a
lot of satisfaction out of this when you
see someone do something great tell them
about it tell their bosses about it tell
their family about it a good number of
really great teachers are getting
handicapped by this micromanaging
teaching to the test
not even 23 years old I was back in a
hotel room in the middle of nowhere
crying not knowing what I was going to
do with my life and the genie says well
I’ve been listening in to your regrets
you seem like a good person I’m willing
to give you a second chance if you are
open to it what Saul Khan has done is
amazing he’s an American teacher
entrepreneur and former hedge fund
analyst he’s the founder of the Khan
Academy a free online education platform
Forbes magazine featured him on their
cover with the title one trillion dollar
opportunity he Salman Khan and here is
my take on his top ten rules for success
number eight is my personal favorite and
I’m curious to find out which one you
like the most you know if I am Anna and
I used to be kind of quiet about this
dream because it seemed kind of like a
crazy thing maybe you know even even
last year would it seem crazy for me to
say what I’m about to say but now I
think there’s a potential for you know
right now online learning no one takes
it see if they take it seriously they
think it has value but they don’t the
online learning is here and your
prestigious universities are over here
they’re not in the same conversation I’m
hoping Khan Academy can turn into an
institution that I don’t want say rivals
but it’s talked in the same conversation
as some of these things that have been
around in different races where you can
learn in the places where you can learn
and at a very high level so you could
start at arithmetic but you can go deep
and it’s a real learning experience it’s
not something superficial how did and or
and Bill Gates find out about you I
think you must have there must have been
some agency on your part that resulted
in those two people popping up in your
story yes and especially about Bill
Gates about 40 people have taken credit
for introducing him to I haven’t gotten
I thank them all the the for an
it was her daughter was I believe she
was in Middle School in Palo Alto at the
time and one of the other mothers had
told and that my children are really
getting a lot out of this Khan Academy
thing you should check it out and then
Anne checked it out and she her says
it’s not just it’s not just kind of
academic math there’s stuff there about
the financial crisis about accounting
about kind of current events and so she
found herself spending like a full day
on it and so that’s kind of what kind of
inspired her to give the very generous
donation that she did Bill Gates I mean
regardless of who introduced it I heard
someone at the foundation sent him an
email check this out they knew that he
you know he’s famous for reading a lot
and liking online lectures and all of
this and they sent it to him and the
account that I heard is that he normally
sends things back like oh I’ve already
seen it not a big deal or whatever like
he’s a really fast information processor
but he didn’t hear back from him they
sent him the link they didn’t hear back
from him for like a day and then he
emails back he says I just spent the
last day on Khan Academy this is this
which is once again a little bit I still
find that a bit of a stressful Hiedi a–
but but yeah and that’s what kind of
catalyze this this this whole thing in
terms of what I did to make that happen
yeah you know I it I I’d like I can’t
say that I mean what I did is I just
kept going I mean you know throughout
this thing most people thought this was
a fairly crazy project and and
especially because there’s the I there’s
there’s nothing really novel about the
idea the idea of recording lectures and
even exercises putting it online I mean
people were talking about this it’s
radio or radio is going to be the killer
app for education or TV now with VCRs
it’s on-demand you know even exercise as
Steve Jobs famously thought the PC was
going to be the treadmill for the mine
so these weren’t new ideas but I think
it was just you know I was satisfied
kind of the small wins hey my cousin’s
find this valuable and people are
emailing me I’m getting a lot of
satisfaction out of this and I kind of
said oh well one day when I have kids I
have kids now but one day one have kids
they could use these videos how cool is
that and I think that’s what kind of
gave me the the energy to just kind of
keep going and I think you’ll get a lot
of entrepreneurial stories it’s kind of
just as long as you what you’re doing is
kind of unkillable and what I was doing
was unkillable I was a
be for so long that at some point it
finds its moment and if it and if it’s
destined to have a moment and then
people discover it and it just kind of
hits a hockey stick like that I want to
highlight this is there something that
you can do in your own way tonight you
can validate others empower others
increase the net happiness the
positivity in the world I mean it could
be as simple as your family’s going to
have dinner tonight and you go to a
restaurant and you see someone do
something great and too often we kind of
just set back says oh that was good that
was good service maybe you give an extra
tip you’re at work or you see a
colleague who goes above and beyond and
you say oh that was pretty good they did
a nice nice thing and what would I hope
and this is something that I tell myself
all the time is don’t just sit by and
observe it recognize it when you see
someone do something great tell them
about it tell their bosses about it tell
their family about it and when you do
that all sorts of neat exciting things
are going to start percolating into the
universe obviously you’re going to make
that person today you’re going to make
their year you might make their career
I’ve seen it happen before you you
probably in some way will make their
life even more they’re going to start
doing that ultra positive thing more the
people around them are going to see the
recognition they got for it and they’re
going to start emulating it and even
though that wasn’t your intent you just
wanted to highlight something good
that’s happening in the world people
will recognize that you are our source
of positivity and when you’re a source
of positivity people will just will just
naturally naturally gravitate to you
what is it you know what is it you do
that somehow makes learning more
attractive more interesting more
satisfying and more productive you know
I don’t know that I definitely have the
answer I have guesses yeah yeah yeah I
think it’s um you know I started off
making it for my cousins and so I kind
of didn’t care and I was kind of like
this liberated person if someone had
told me in 2004 I’m gonna give you a
couple million dollars produce something
that’s going to reach millions of people
and Bill Gates is gonna watch it and all
the rest I probably would have produced
something different I probably would
have gotten fancy lighting and put some
makeup on and got some computer graphics
and probably produced a lot of the
education material that that’s already
out there is computer graphics the next
stage of photosynthesis is when the
you know and but I think the reality is
is that’s what we all assume as good
content but when someone watches that
it’s so dehumanizing it’s me you kind of
check out you’re like that that’s not
talking to me and and so when I made it
it was literally just me in a room
people could tell some dude he’s not
getting paid and he’s making it for his
cousins and so they can tell there’s a
human element to it they can tell that
you know a lot of times when people are
trying to get people engaged into math
they try to distract them they’ll do
like a rap song or they’ll play all this
music and I think people find that
patronizing they’re like look don’t
distract me if math is good it should be
able to stand up on its own you know the
traditional reform mindset towards
education is let’s micromanage teachers
more like a good number of really great
teachers are getting handicapped by this
micromanaging teaching to the test or
whatever else and forcing like on
Tuesday September 27th you have to cover
this and you can’t question that and you
have to say it in these words and you
have no time to run your own project and
you have no time to think of your own
curriculum or whatever you want to do we
genuinely feel like the teachers are
getting liberated here do what you want
on every day and the students are going
to what what they wanted to say and
we’re freeing tons of class time for you
to do what I think you went into
teaching to begin with like when I when
I ran my little summer camp and you know
I will claim him 30 years of experience
and all the rest but what was fun for me
was not having to give a lecture on
least common multiple not having to give
a lecture on probability to know that
that was out of the way and getting to
do this super fun simulation where the
kids are trading pieces and others and I
got to felt like I was able to express
my creativity I was able to go home and
say what would be a really cool way to
understand to understand this concept
intuitively and when I went to classroom
that’s what we did and I felt like it
was a much richer experience and so I I
we generally feel and we generally hope
that it’s doing that for teachers and
the teachers in Los Altos have expressed
that that they love that if you
liberated they feel like they have data
that they never had before it’s only the
fifth grade teachers they don’t they
teach all the classes because they’re in
elementary school and they feel
handicapped in their other classes now
because they are doing that the lecture
they are doing the stuff that I would
say is lower value than what they’re
doing in there
classes which is the projects which are
the one-on-one interactions and so
they’re they’re actually asking us as
quickly as possible when are the when
are the grammar videos coming one of the
grammar exercises coming so I can do
more interesting things with that part
of my day in in class keep things in
perspective I know we all say it but it
really used to have to keep reinforcing
it you know all of everyone in this
editing this audience you know knock on
wood you’re going to do just fine you’re
going to have your four bedroom house
you’re going to have your car with with
power windows you’ll be able to go to
SeaWorld whenever you want to and but
but along that way they’re going to be
ups and downs and actually those ups and
downs tend to happen a lot when you go
to transition points when you you’re
entering the workforce you’re entering
some type of a new phase in your life
and and you just always have to keep on
the kind of the long-term game the end
game and I’ll tell you myself I’ve gone
through some fairly dramatic ones right
when I was out the gate you know when I
was this is 1998 I just graduated I was
a few months older than most of y’all
and some computer magazine had seen
something I had done and they wrote this
you know this neat profile about me they
say call it future so bright and and I
saw that magazine I was very proud of it
as like oh look I’m set you know I have
I have this career ahead of me I’m
already profiled in a magazine and and
frankly I got kind of kind of into
myself and and that’s okay you can enjoy
your successes but I had really didn’t
have any perspective and and and and
frankly it was it was a dangerous thing
to happen and and to really put things
in perspective and I’m happy it did
happen two months later I had kind of
switched jobs and you know higher salary
I thought I was on the fast track and I
had a new boss and on the first three
days of work he spent an hour just
completely castigating me essentially
telling me that I was not worth his time
that I I I was incompetent as far as he
was concerned and so you can imagine you
know like a lot of successful whole life
fancy degrees from fancy universities
two months ago I was profiled in a
magazine and and then now all of a
sudden not even not almost not even 23
years old
back in a hotel room in the middle of
nowhere crying not knowing what I was
going to do with my life convinced that
it was all end of everything that all
everything was for naught and you know
saw you get through them you wake up in
the morning things look a little bit
better a week later things look a little
better you start circulating your resume
around I did find another job two months
later and and it’s okay and and and the
one thing I want to stress because you
know I’ve gone through ups and downs and
you only have one perspective for your
own life but I suspect many of y’all are
going to have higher ups than I’ve had
and many are going to have higher lower
downs and I and I and and I worry about
that sometimes the ones of you who have
higher ups just keep them in perspective
and it’s inevitable some of your going
to race ahead and be so successful that
none of us can imagine it right now but
keep them in perspective you know when
you would enjoy the successes but when
you know when your ego starts feeling a
little bit large keep in mind the Sun
will supernova one day the galaxies will
collide we are these small little
mammals on the small planet or you know
there’s a hundred two hundred billion
stars in the galaxy and just our galaxy
alone and and and just have peace in the
little success and when you have a hard
time and you will and those will go
through painful periods you you you
might stumble and start your first few
times out the gate also keep in
perspective that those stresses are put
them in perspective of the universe they
are small they’re going to be things
that you’ll be able to laugh about talk
about a 10-15 years from now we’re
hopefully 10-15 days from then and this
idea of making your videos funny or your
lectures funny where did that come from
and what’s one of the funniest things
you’ve invented there oh I I guess it
was unintentional hi hi you know I maybe
have a little eccentricity that comes
out every you know it was a blessing
those first videos were for my cousins
so I didn’t think anyone else was going
to watch them so you know there’s some
times where I’m making a video and
someone calls and I just answer the
phone or you know my wife comes and I
I’m afraid that she sees that I’m making
a video again because I’m spending all
of my time but no you know I guess I
have some quirks and it comes out every
now so tell us about some of the funny
things you did of those videos and oh
I mean you know they’re I mean I just
make random comments you know wherever
my I think people enjoy that wherever I
have a very open filter so whatever is
going on in my brain I say so sometimes
I guess people find it entertaining
imagine yourself imagine yourself in 50
years you’re in your your early 70s
you’re the kind of the you’re near the
end of your career and you yeah yeah
we’re very good we have a few we have a
few models here if you have trouble
visuals visualizing that but imagine at
that stage or you’re on your couch 2062
and you’ve just finished watching the
the State of the Union holograph by
president Kardashian and you start to
reflect on your life you start to think
of all of the successes you’ve had
career successes family successes the
great memories that you’ve had but then
you also start to think about the things
that you wish you had done a little bit
different your regrets and I could
imagine what they might be you’ll wish
you spent more time with your children
you wish that you had spent you told
your spouse that you love them more
frequently you’ll wish that you had
spent more time and told your parents
how much you appreciated them before
they passed away and just while that’s
happening a genie appears and the genie
says well I’ve been listening in to your
regrets you seem like a good person I’m
willing to give you a second chance if
you are open to it and so you say sure
and the genie snaps his fingers and you
blink your eyes and when you open your
eyes you find yourself right there right
where you are right now June 8 2012 in
Killian Court some crazy guys giving a
commencement speech and you say oh my
god I’m in my twenty something fit
pain-free body again I’m around my peers
again this genius was serious I have a
second chance I can have all the
successes all of the all of the
adventures that I had the first time
around but now I can optimize things now
when I see my classmates and I give them
that hug at commencement I can hug them
a little bit harder I can show them how
much I care about them now that I my
parents are bad
I can finally tell them how much I
appreciate them I can finally give them
more hugs more time I can do everything
that I can laugh more I can sing more I
can dance more I can be more of a source
of positivity for people around me and
empower more people one thing that I
have kind of a unique vantage point at
the Khan Academy is that we see all of
these lifelong learners and and how much
it’s changing their their own views on
life and you know early on in in 2008
I had a when the financial crisis hit I
started making videos it was my
background I start making videos on the
Federal Reserve and credit default swaps
and mortgage-backed securities and and
and I got a letter from a Jag on all
sorts and you know this was really
helpful I understand what’s happening
the news but I got one particularly
powerful letter it was a gentleman who
worked at a I will say an unnamed
investment bank and he says thank you
for that video on mortgage-backed
securities I now know what I do for a
living jeez I guess that’s more of a
scary story than a good one but it goes
it goes to the extreme it’s not just
something that’s going to affect you in
a practical way forward your career you
know probably and we get all sorts of
amazing letters and testimonials from
people around the world but still the
one that resonates in my brain the most
and it really is this testament to
lifelong learning and it really is a
testament that it goes beyond the
practical it goes beyond what what you
might make use of I got a letter also in
2008 a terminal cancer patient she had
two months to live and she said and and
it blew my mind I have I’ve got two
months she said in a in a shockingly
positive tone and and she said but my
life’s dream was to learn calculus and
Khan Academy has given that and I look
forward to spending the last two months
of my life learning it and when I saw
that it changed my own perspective it
made me excited to be a learner for as
long as I have the privilege of being
around what Saul Khan has done is
amazing he’s taken all this material and
broken them down into little twelve
minute lectures I use it myself to
remind myself of things I’ve children
like it so I was super happy he came up
and we got to talk about where does he
go now how can my foundation help him
pursue
stream and connect it up with the other
great things going on on the Internet
I want to be a standalone Virtual School
where anyone in the world wants to learn
anything can go there start from the
basics progress as far as they need to
go get feedback get assessment get
practice and eventually I wanted to
actually become the operating system for
what goes on in the classroom where
every student’s allowed to work at their
own pace and the teacher actually
becomes more of a mentor or a of a coach
so I see Saul Khan as a pioneer in an
overall movement to use technology to
let more and more people learn things
know where they stand it’s the start of
a revolution all the videos are all free
openly accessible
ww Khan Academy or I think it’s a huge
contribution everybody should check it
out thank you guys so much for watching
I made this video because budge rule
Hussain asked me to so if there’s a
famous entrepreneur you want me to
profile next leave it in the comments
below and I’ll see what I can do
I’d also love to know which of the top
ten rules have the biggest impact on you
and why which one did you like the most
which one resonated with you the most
leave it in the comments and I will join
in the discussion thank you so much for
watching and continue to believe and
I’ll see you soon
prestigious universities are over here
they’re not in the same conversation you
know I was satisfied kind of the small
wins hey my cousins find this valuable
and people are emailing me I’m getting a
lot of satisfaction out of this when you
see someone do something great tell them
about it tell their bosses about it tell
their family about it a good number of
really great teachers are getting
handicapped by this micromanaging
teaching to the test
not even 23 years old I was back in a
hotel room in the middle of nowhere
crying not knowing what I was going to
do with my life and the genie says well
I’ve been listening in to your regrets
you seem like a good person I’m willing
to give you a second chance if you are
open to it what Saul Khan has done is
amazing he’s an American teacher
entrepreneur and former hedge fund
analyst he’s the founder of the Khan
Academy a free online education platform
Forbes magazine featured him on their
cover with the title one trillion dollar
opportunity he Salman Khan and here is
my take on his top ten rules for success
number eight is my personal favorite and
I’m curious to find out which one you
like the most you know if I am Anna and
I used to be kind of quiet about this
dream because it seemed kind of like a
crazy thing maybe you know even even
last year would it seem crazy for me to
say what I’m about to say but now I
think there’s a potential for you know
right now online learning no one takes
it see if they take it seriously they
think it has value but they don’t the
online learning is here and your
prestigious universities are over here
they’re not in the same conversation I’m
hoping Khan Academy can turn into an
institution that I don’t want say rivals
but it’s talked in the same conversation
as some of these things that have been
around in different races where you can
learn in the places where you can learn
and at a very high level so you could
start at arithmetic but you can go deep
and it’s a real learning experience it’s
not something superficial how did and or
and Bill Gates find out about you I
think you must have there must have been
some agency on your part that resulted
in those two people popping up in your
story yes and especially about Bill
Gates about 40 people have taken credit
for introducing him to I haven’t gotten
I thank them all the the for an
it was her daughter was I believe she
was in Middle School in Palo Alto at the
time and one of the other mothers had
told and that my children are really
getting a lot out of this Khan Academy
thing you should check it out and then
Anne checked it out and she her says
it’s not just it’s not just kind of
academic math there’s stuff there about
the financial crisis about accounting
about kind of current events and so she
found herself spending like a full day
on it and so that’s kind of what kind of
inspired her to give the very generous
donation that she did Bill Gates I mean
regardless of who introduced it I heard
someone at the foundation sent him an
email check this out they knew that he
you know he’s famous for reading a lot
and liking online lectures and all of
this and they sent it to him and the
account that I heard is that he normally
sends things back like oh I’ve already
seen it not a big deal or whatever like
he’s a really fast information processor
but he didn’t hear back from him they
sent him the link they didn’t hear back
from him for like a day and then he
emails back he says I just spent the
last day on Khan Academy this is this
which is once again a little bit I still
find that a bit of a stressful Hiedi a–
but but yeah and that’s what kind of
catalyze this this this whole thing in
terms of what I did to make that happen
yeah you know I it I I’d like I can’t
say that I mean what I did is I just
kept going I mean you know throughout
this thing most people thought this was
a fairly crazy project and and
especially because there’s the I there’s
there’s nothing really novel about the
idea the idea of recording lectures and
even exercises putting it online I mean
people were talking about this it’s
radio or radio is going to be the killer
app for education or TV now with VCRs
it’s on-demand you know even exercise as
Steve Jobs famously thought the PC was
going to be the treadmill for the mine
so these weren’t new ideas but I think
it was just you know I was satisfied
kind of the small wins hey my cousin’s
find this valuable and people are
emailing me I’m getting a lot of
satisfaction out of this and I kind of
said oh well one day when I have kids I
have kids now but one day one have kids
they could use these videos how cool is
that and I think that’s what kind of
gave me the the energy to just kind of
keep going and I think you’ll get a lot
of entrepreneurial stories it’s kind of
just as long as you what you’re doing is
kind of unkillable and what I was doing
was unkillable I was a
be for so long that at some point it
finds its moment and if it and if it’s
destined to have a moment and then
people discover it and it just kind of
hits a hockey stick like that I want to
highlight this is there something that
you can do in your own way tonight you
can validate others empower others
increase the net happiness the
positivity in the world I mean it could
be as simple as your family’s going to
have dinner tonight and you go to a
restaurant and you see someone do
something great and too often we kind of
just set back says oh that was good that
was good service maybe you give an extra
tip you’re at work or you see a
colleague who goes above and beyond and
you say oh that was pretty good they did
a nice nice thing and what would I hope
and this is something that I tell myself
all the time is don’t just sit by and
observe it recognize it when you see
someone do something great tell them
about it tell their bosses about it tell
their family about it and when you do
that all sorts of neat exciting things
are going to start percolating into the
universe obviously you’re going to make
that person today you’re going to make
their year you might make their career
I’ve seen it happen before you you
probably in some way will make their
life even more they’re going to start
doing that ultra positive thing more the
people around them are going to see the
recognition they got for it and they’re
going to start emulating it and even
though that wasn’t your intent you just
wanted to highlight something good
that’s happening in the world people
will recognize that you are our source
of positivity and when you’re a source
of positivity people will just will just
naturally naturally gravitate to you
what is it you know what is it you do
that somehow makes learning more
attractive more interesting more
satisfying and more productive you know
I don’t know that I definitely have the
answer I have guesses yeah yeah yeah I
think it’s um you know I started off
making it for my cousins and so I kind
of didn’t care and I was kind of like
this liberated person if someone had
told me in 2004 I’m gonna give you a
couple million dollars produce something
that’s going to reach millions of people
and Bill Gates is gonna watch it and all
the rest I probably would have produced
something different I probably would
have gotten fancy lighting and put some
makeup on and got some computer graphics
and probably produced a lot of the
education material that that’s already
out there is computer graphics the next
stage of photosynthesis is when the
you know and but I think the reality is
is that’s what we all assume as good
content but when someone watches that
it’s so dehumanizing it’s me you kind of
check out you’re like that that’s not
talking to me and and so when I made it
it was literally just me in a room
people could tell some dude he’s not
getting paid and he’s making it for his
cousins and so they can tell there’s a
human element to it they can tell that
you know a lot of times when people are
trying to get people engaged into math
they try to distract them they’ll do
like a rap song or they’ll play all this
music and I think people find that
patronizing they’re like look don’t
distract me if math is good it should be
able to stand up on its own you know the
traditional reform mindset towards
education is let’s micromanage teachers
more like a good number of really great
teachers are getting handicapped by this
micromanaging teaching to the test or
whatever else and forcing like on
Tuesday September 27th you have to cover
this and you can’t question that and you
have to say it in these words and you
have no time to run your own project and
you have no time to think of your own
curriculum or whatever you want to do we
genuinely feel like the teachers are
getting liberated here do what you want
on every day and the students are going
to what what they wanted to say and
we’re freeing tons of class time for you
to do what I think you went into
teaching to begin with like when I when
I ran my little summer camp and you know
I will claim him 30 years of experience
and all the rest but what was fun for me
was not having to give a lecture on
least common multiple not having to give
a lecture on probability to know that
that was out of the way and getting to
do this super fun simulation where the
kids are trading pieces and others and I
got to felt like I was able to express
my creativity I was able to go home and
say what would be a really cool way to
understand to understand this concept
intuitively and when I went to classroom
that’s what we did and I felt like it
was a much richer experience and so I I
we generally feel and we generally hope
that it’s doing that for teachers and
the teachers in Los Altos have expressed
that that they love that if you
liberated they feel like they have data
that they never had before it’s only the
fifth grade teachers they don’t they
teach all the classes because they’re in
elementary school and they feel
handicapped in their other classes now
because they are doing that the lecture
they are doing the stuff that I would
say is lower value than what they’re
doing in there
classes which is the projects which are
the one-on-one interactions and so
they’re they’re actually asking us as
quickly as possible when are the when
are the grammar videos coming one of the
grammar exercises coming so I can do
more interesting things with that part
of my day in in class keep things in
perspective I know we all say it but it
really used to have to keep reinforcing
it you know all of everyone in this
editing this audience you know knock on
wood you’re going to do just fine you’re
going to have your four bedroom house
you’re going to have your car with with
power windows you’ll be able to go to
SeaWorld whenever you want to and but
but along that way they’re going to be
ups and downs and actually those ups and
downs tend to happen a lot when you go
to transition points when you you’re
entering the workforce you’re entering
some type of a new phase in your life
and and you just always have to keep on
the kind of the long-term game the end
game and I’ll tell you myself I’ve gone
through some fairly dramatic ones right
when I was out the gate you know when I
was this is 1998 I just graduated I was
a few months older than most of y’all
and some computer magazine had seen
something I had done and they wrote this
you know this neat profile about me they
say call it future so bright and and I
saw that magazine I was very proud of it
as like oh look I’m set you know I have
I have this career ahead of me I’m
already profiled in a magazine and and
frankly I got kind of kind of into
myself and and that’s okay you can enjoy
your successes but I had really didn’t
have any perspective and and and and
frankly it was it was a dangerous thing
to happen and and to really put things
in perspective and I’m happy it did
happen two months later I had kind of
switched jobs and you know higher salary
I thought I was on the fast track and I
had a new boss and on the first three
days of work he spent an hour just
completely castigating me essentially
telling me that I was not worth his time
that I I I was incompetent as far as he
was concerned and so you can imagine you
know like a lot of successful whole life
fancy degrees from fancy universities
two months ago I was profiled in a
magazine and and then now all of a
sudden not even not almost not even 23
years old
back in a hotel room in the middle of
nowhere crying not knowing what I was
going to do with my life convinced that
it was all end of everything that all
everything was for naught and you know
saw you get through them you wake up in
the morning things look a little bit
better a week later things look a little
better you start circulating your resume
around I did find another job two months
later and and it’s okay and and and the
one thing I want to stress because you
know I’ve gone through ups and downs and
you only have one perspective for your
own life but I suspect many of y’all are
going to have higher ups than I’ve had
and many are going to have higher lower
downs and I and I and and I worry about
that sometimes the ones of you who have
higher ups just keep them in perspective
and it’s inevitable some of your going
to race ahead and be so successful that
none of us can imagine it right now but
keep them in perspective you know when
you would enjoy the successes but when
you know when your ego starts feeling a
little bit large keep in mind the Sun
will supernova one day the galaxies will
collide we are these small little
mammals on the small planet or you know
there’s a hundred two hundred billion
stars in the galaxy and just our galaxy
alone and and and just have peace in the
little success and when you have a hard
time and you will and those will go
through painful periods you you you
might stumble and start your first few
times out the gate also keep in
perspective that those stresses are put
them in perspective of the universe they
are small they’re going to be things
that you’ll be able to laugh about talk
about a 10-15 years from now we’re
hopefully 10-15 days from then and this
idea of making your videos funny or your
lectures funny where did that come from
and what’s one of the funniest things
you’ve invented there oh I I guess it
was unintentional hi hi you know I maybe
have a little eccentricity that comes
out every you know it was a blessing
those first videos were for my cousins
so I didn’t think anyone else was going
to watch them so you know there’s some
times where I’m making a video and
someone calls and I just answer the
phone or you know my wife comes and I
I’m afraid that she sees that I’m making
a video again because I’m spending all
of my time but no you know I guess I
have some quirks and it comes out every
now so tell us about some of the funny
things you did of those videos and oh
I mean you know they’re I mean I just
make random comments you know wherever
my I think people enjoy that wherever I
have a very open filter so whatever is
going on in my brain I say so sometimes
I guess people find it entertaining
imagine yourself imagine yourself in 50
years you’re in your your early 70s
you’re the kind of the you’re near the
end of your career and you yeah yeah
we’re very good we have a few we have a
few models here if you have trouble
visuals visualizing that but imagine at
that stage or you’re on your couch 2062
and you’ve just finished watching the
the State of the Union holograph by
president Kardashian and you start to
reflect on your life you start to think
of all of the successes you’ve had
career successes family successes the
great memories that you’ve had but then
you also start to think about the things
that you wish you had done a little bit
different your regrets and I could
imagine what they might be you’ll wish
you spent more time with your children
you wish that you had spent you told
your spouse that you love them more
frequently you’ll wish that you had
spent more time and told your parents
how much you appreciated them before
they passed away and just while that’s
happening a genie appears and the genie
says well I’ve been listening in to your
regrets you seem like a good person I’m
willing to give you a second chance if
you are open to it and so you say sure
and the genie snaps his fingers and you
blink your eyes and when you open your
eyes you find yourself right there right
where you are right now June 8 2012 in
Killian Court some crazy guys giving a
commencement speech and you say oh my
god I’m in my twenty something fit
pain-free body again I’m around my peers
again this genius was serious I have a
second chance I can have all the
successes all of the all of the
adventures that I had the first time
around but now I can optimize things now
when I see my classmates and I give them
that hug at commencement I can hug them
a little bit harder I can show them how
much I care about them now that I my
parents are bad
I can finally tell them how much I
appreciate them I can finally give them
more hugs more time I can do everything
that I can laugh more I can sing more I
can dance more I can be more of a source
of positivity for people around me and
empower more people one thing that I
have kind of a unique vantage point at
the Khan Academy is that we see all of
these lifelong learners and and how much
it’s changing their their own views on
life and you know early on in in 2008
I had a when the financial crisis hit I
started making videos it was my
background I start making videos on the
Federal Reserve and credit default swaps
and mortgage-backed securities and and
and I got a letter from a Jag on all
sorts and you know this was really
helpful I understand what’s happening
the news but I got one particularly
powerful letter it was a gentleman who
worked at a I will say an unnamed
investment bank and he says thank you
for that video on mortgage-backed
securities I now know what I do for a
living jeez I guess that’s more of a
scary story than a good one but it goes
it goes to the extreme it’s not just
something that’s going to affect you in
a practical way forward your career you
know probably and we get all sorts of
amazing letters and testimonials from
people around the world but still the
one that resonates in my brain the most
and it really is this testament to
lifelong learning and it really is a
testament that it goes beyond the
practical it goes beyond what what you
might make use of I got a letter also in
2008 a terminal cancer patient she had
two months to live and she said and and
it blew my mind I have I’ve got two
months she said in a in a shockingly
positive tone and and she said but my
life’s dream was to learn calculus and
Khan Academy has given that and I look
forward to spending the last two months
of my life learning it and when I saw
that it changed my own perspective it
made me excited to be a learner for as
long as I have the privilege of being
around what Saul Khan has done is
amazing he’s taken all this material and
broken them down into little twelve
minute lectures I use it myself to
remind myself of things I’ve children
like it so I was super happy he came up
and we got to talk about where does he
go now how can my foundation help him
pursue
stream and connect it up with the other
great things going on on the Internet
I want to be a standalone Virtual School
where anyone in the world wants to learn
anything can go there start from the
basics progress as far as they need to
go get feedback get assessment get
practice and eventually I wanted to
actually become the operating system for
what goes on in the classroom where
every student’s allowed to work at their
own pace and the teacher actually
becomes more of a mentor or a of a coach
so I see Saul Khan as a pioneer in an
overall movement to use technology to
let more and more people learn things
know where they stand it’s the start of
a revolution all the videos are all free
openly accessible
ww Khan Academy or I think it’s a huge
contribution everybody should check it
out thank you guys so much for watching
I made this video because budge rule
Hussain asked me to so if there’s a
famous entrepreneur you want me to
profile next leave it in the comments
below and I’ll see what I can do
I’d also love to know which of the top
ten rules have the biggest impact on you
and why which one did you like the most
which one resonated with you the most
leave it in the comments and I will join
in the discussion thank you so much for
watching and continue to believe and
I’ll see you soon
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