I don’t if I need it okay so I was a
little late arriving today
and I had a quick looking through the
door and the event had started and as
reminded that they play I was in not so
long ago marks in Soho and I was playing
Karl Marx and at the start of the play
Marx walks onto the stage and he’s a
little bit uncertain a little bit
diffident but as the lights go up he
looks out and says thank God an audience
and that’s how I feel today thank you
very much for coming thank you for your
time
thank you for your patience thank you
for listening I hope you’ve learned
something or encounter some ideas that
you might not have encountered before
now um you might have realized that I’m
not exactly a local boy and no I’m not
Australian
he never ceases to amaze me I’ve been
living in Maryland or Maryland as I used
to call it for nearly 16 years and I’ll
go into a supermarket and the young
woman behind the checkout will go oh I
love your accent what part of Australia
are you from at which point I go very
BBC and say actually I’m from England
and can you tell me where the tomatoes
are contrast that with how an australian
would respond if you confused him with
an englishman now listen here might do I
look like a stuck-up pommy bastard so
moved across the Atlantic 16 years ago
pretty radical change right for me and
my family but I think about change a lot
I always have done it’s an important
topic so I’d like to thank the
organizers of today’s event for giving
me the opportunity to talk about it Luke
in particular who’s looking very pale
over there because none of what I’m
saying right now was in the transcripts
I gave him when he asked for today’s
speech relax feel the force Luke I had
to say that pretty big topic change
doesn’t get much bigger than survival of
the human race does it two and a half
thousand years ago the Greek philosopher
Heraclitus famously said change is the
only constant and this is the man who
came up with the idea that we cannot
walk into the same river twice because
the water flows on by right and the
person walking into the river will have
changed too with time everything is
changing we’re sitting here in a room in
Stevenson University Owings Mills
Maryland in the United States of America
on a planet which is rotating at a
thousand miles an hour and it’s orbiting
a star which we call the Sun at 70,000
miles an hour and the Sun and all the
planets in the solar system are
themselves whizzing around the galactic
core of 450,000 miles per hour
everything’s moving even the molecules
of the chairs you’re sitting on are
vibrating right now exchanging electrons
between the atoms and so on so that’s
what it is that you can feel
fortunately there are a couple of things
we can count on
I like dichotomies you know those
stories about there are two kinds of
people in the world those who can finish
their sentences and or there are three
kinds of people in the world those who
can count and those who can’t or ten
kinds of people in the world those who
can count in binary and those who can’t
think about it actually my favorite one
is there are two kinds of people in the
world those who divide the world into
two kinds of people and those who don’t
so I’m going to divide change into two
kinds of change external change in the
world around us and internal change in
ourselves and I’m going to try and link
these two kinds of change the internal
and the external to Stephen Covey’s idea
of the circle of concern in the circle
of influence the idea is right that the
circle of concern is where we can spend
a lot of our mental energy and our
emotional energy in worrying about
things big important things things that
nevertheless we have very little
opportunity to change world peace
poverty famine Wars refugees who will
win the world series these can all take
up our time and energy and yet we have
very little influence upon them
these are just like external changes in
the world around us the weather changes
I don’t know whether you notice but it
was throwing it down with rain a few
minutes ago now then you can do about it
climate change
it’s beyond our power right now to
reverse the ice has already melted it’s
already gone and in our lifetimes we’re
not going to see it come back don’t
misunderstand me I’m not suggesting I’m
not advocating passive acceptance of the
way things are on the contrary we should
all do what we can do as individuals
it’s important to reuse to repurpose to
recycle to consume less not more to
reduce our carbon footprints but the
idea that any one of us as an individual
can change the forces of nature that are
put in motion by the changes in our
atmosphere we can’t as individuals of
course when it rains we can carry an
umbrella we can put on a raincoat if the
sun’s out we can put on sunscreen and
don’t forget of course that there are
other ways looking at the weather look
at the rain and think about going
dancing in it getting soaked when it’s
windy standing on a high place and
feeling the power of the wind blow winds
and crack your cheeks to quote
Shakespeare
and of course there are political
changes right we’ve seen some of those
recently political change I have noticed
however that Washington DC seems to be
the one place on the planet where
nothing really changes so like the
circle of concern external change is
beyond the power the power of an
individual to control we can no more
change these things than king can you
could hold back the tides closer to home
of course there are things that we do
feel we have some power to control some
power over some power to change like our
our careers yes where to work and what
job to do what person we’re going to
fall in love with and spend the rest of
our lives with maybe not a there may be
people out there who can control those
changes but I never met one certainly
not me those famous philosophers Michael
Jagger you see I graduated many many
years ago the last century from
Cambridge University with a double
master’s in modern medieval and oriental
languages because I wanted to be James
Bond well without the guns you get the
idea but Margaret Thatcher was prime
minister at the time and I decided I
wasn’t going to work for a Conservative
government so then I wanted to be an
actor but I couldn’t get any work and I
was poor so I took a job with a games
company just temporary just until I got
my real career off the ground fast
forward 15 years
and I get the opportunity to come and
work in the United States just for a
couple of years just for a temporary C
convent and the temporary C conmen
becomes a permanent position and then I
was made redundant they let me go I
can’t say that without thinking of the
face of Gandalf as he falls from the
bridge of Qasr doom they let me go and
that believe me that was a big change
that was a dramatic change that was a
change that frightened me I’d worked for
this organization for nearly 20 years I
didn’t know what else I was going to do
and I’m in a foreign country now so I
decided I was going to turn to personal
development and I was going to become a
consultant you know what they say about
consultants right people who borrow you
a watch and then charge you for telling
you what time it is
I turned to personal development and I
tried to put this guy’s words into
action I mean don’t get me wrong I think
there’s a lot of truth in those words he
said that you are if you think about it
the average of the five people you spend
most of your time with the trouble was
the five people I wanted to spend my
time with thought I was a stalker and
took out restraining orders I’m making
that up
okay but the real problem was that my
circle of influence was very small it
had shrunk to next to nothing because it
was all connected with my employment and
when I lost my job I lost my circle of
influence and I had no idea how to make
it grow I had to change
he’s right isn’t he your personalities
not going to change dramatically from
how you are now to how you’ll be when
you’re in your 80s I think I’ll be a bit
grumpy err but that’s about it
subject apart from a serious emotional
or physical trauma my personality will
be what it is today my body will get
older and decay even more and I’ll
probably get fatter and grayer but
essentially Who I am I cannot change we
can’t change our personality I mean it’s
hard enough just changing our bodies
losing weight getting fit giving up
smoking I’ve tried all those things
managed to give up smoking stop laws
please don’t make it sound rehearsed New
Year’s resolutions I became depressed
clinically depressed I was prescribed
antidepressants and I started going to
therapy and the guy was going to therapy
with suggested I go to a 12-step group
where I came across the addicts prayer
I’m an atheist but this changed my life
grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change the courage to
change the things I can and the wisdom
to know the difference and so that’s
what I’ve been trying to do ever since
that first encounter with this thing
I’ve been trying to develop my serenity
I meditate I try and practice
mindfulness and I remind myself on a
daily basis of the need to practice
courage baby steps
I get courage from the inspiring stories
of the people around me and most
recently from the words of Theodore
Roosevelt which inspired brené Brown
who you may know from TED talks to write
a book called bearing greatly and if I
can remember the speech goes it’s not
the critics who count those who point
out where the strong stumble or the
doers of Deeds could have done them
better no no the credit belongs to those
actually in the arena whose face is are
marred with dust and blood and sweat who
strive valiantly who err because there
is no effort without error but who don’t
look it up now
but who do actually strive to do the
deeds who know great enthusiasms and
great devotions and who in the end at
the best finally know the triumph of
high achievement or who at the worst if
they fail at least know that they failed
while daring greatly and so their places
will never be beside those timid cold
souls who will know neither triumph nor
defeat
thank you very much
[Applause]
little late arriving today
and I had a quick looking through the
door and the event had started and as
reminded that they play I was in not so
long ago marks in Soho and I was playing
Karl Marx and at the start of the play
Marx walks onto the stage and he’s a
little bit uncertain a little bit
diffident but as the lights go up he
looks out and says thank God an audience
and that’s how I feel today thank you
very much for coming thank you for your
time
thank you for your patience thank you
for listening I hope you’ve learned
something or encounter some ideas that
you might not have encountered before
now um you might have realized that I’m
not exactly a local boy and no I’m not
Australian
he never ceases to amaze me I’ve been
living in Maryland or Maryland as I used
to call it for nearly 16 years and I’ll
go into a supermarket and the young
woman behind the checkout will go oh I
love your accent what part of Australia
are you from at which point I go very
BBC and say actually I’m from England
and can you tell me where the tomatoes
are contrast that with how an australian
would respond if you confused him with
an englishman now listen here might do I
look like a stuck-up pommy bastard so
moved across the Atlantic 16 years ago
pretty radical change right for me and
my family but I think about change a lot
I always have done it’s an important
topic so I’d like to thank the
organizers of today’s event for giving
me the opportunity to talk about it Luke
in particular who’s looking very pale
over there because none of what I’m
saying right now was in the transcripts
I gave him when he asked for today’s
speech relax feel the force Luke I had
to say that pretty big topic change
doesn’t get much bigger than survival of
the human race does it two and a half
thousand years ago the Greek philosopher
Heraclitus famously said change is the
only constant and this is the man who
came up with the idea that we cannot
walk into the same river twice because
the water flows on by right and the
person walking into the river will have
changed too with time everything is
changing we’re sitting here in a room in
Stevenson University Owings Mills
Maryland in the United States of America
on a planet which is rotating at a
thousand miles an hour and it’s orbiting
a star which we call the Sun at 70,000
miles an hour and the Sun and all the
planets in the solar system are
themselves whizzing around the galactic
core of 450,000 miles per hour
everything’s moving even the molecules
of the chairs you’re sitting on are
vibrating right now exchanging electrons
between the atoms and so on so that’s
what it is that you can feel
fortunately there are a couple of things
we can count on
I like dichotomies you know those
stories about there are two kinds of
people in the world those who can finish
their sentences and or there are three
kinds of people in the world those who
can count and those who can’t or ten
kinds of people in the world those who
can count in binary and those who can’t
think about it actually my favorite one
is there are two kinds of people in the
world those who divide the world into
two kinds of people and those who don’t
so I’m going to divide change into two
kinds of change external change in the
world around us and internal change in
ourselves and I’m going to try and link
these two kinds of change the internal
and the external to Stephen Covey’s idea
of the circle of concern in the circle
of influence the idea is right that the
circle of concern is where we can spend
a lot of our mental energy and our
emotional energy in worrying about
things big important things things that
nevertheless we have very little
opportunity to change world peace
poverty famine Wars refugees who will
win the world series these can all take
up our time and energy and yet we have
very little influence upon them
these are just like external changes in
the world around us the weather changes
I don’t know whether you notice but it
was throwing it down with rain a few
minutes ago now then you can do about it
climate change
it’s beyond our power right now to
reverse the ice has already melted it’s
already gone and in our lifetimes we’re
not going to see it come back don’t
misunderstand me I’m not suggesting I’m
not advocating passive acceptance of the
way things are on the contrary we should
all do what we can do as individuals
it’s important to reuse to repurpose to
recycle to consume less not more to
reduce our carbon footprints but the
idea that any one of us as an individual
can change the forces of nature that are
put in motion by the changes in our
atmosphere we can’t as individuals of
course when it rains we can carry an
umbrella we can put on a raincoat if the
sun’s out we can put on sunscreen and
don’t forget of course that there are
other ways looking at the weather look
at the rain and think about going
dancing in it getting soaked when it’s
windy standing on a high place and
feeling the power of the wind blow winds
and crack your cheeks to quote
Shakespeare
and of course there are political
changes right we’ve seen some of those
recently political change I have noticed
however that Washington DC seems to be
the one place on the planet where
nothing really changes so like the
circle of concern external change is
beyond the power the power of an
individual to control we can no more
change these things than king can you
could hold back the tides closer to home
of course there are things that we do
feel we have some power to control some
power over some power to change like our
our careers yes where to work and what
job to do what person we’re going to
fall in love with and spend the rest of
our lives with maybe not a there may be
people out there who can control those
changes but I never met one certainly
not me those famous philosophers Michael
Jagger you see I graduated many many
years ago the last century from
Cambridge University with a double
master’s in modern medieval and oriental
languages because I wanted to be James
Bond well without the guns you get the
idea but Margaret Thatcher was prime
minister at the time and I decided I
wasn’t going to work for a Conservative
government so then I wanted to be an
actor but I couldn’t get any work and I
was poor so I took a job with a games
company just temporary just until I got
my real career off the ground fast
forward 15 years
and I get the opportunity to come and
work in the United States just for a
couple of years just for a temporary C
convent and the temporary C conmen
becomes a permanent position and then I
was made redundant they let me go I
can’t say that without thinking of the
face of Gandalf as he falls from the
bridge of Qasr doom they let me go and
that believe me that was a big change
that was a dramatic change that was a
change that frightened me I’d worked for
this organization for nearly 20 years I
didn’t know what else I was going to do
and I’m in a foreign country now so I
decided I was going to turn to personal
development and I was going to become a
consultant you know what they say about
consultants right people who borrow you
a watch and then charge you for telling
you what time it is
I turned to personal development and I
tried to put this guy’s words into
action I mean don’t get me wrong I think
there’s a lot of truth in those words he
said that you are if you think about it
the average of the five people you spend
most of your time with the trouble was
the five people I wanted to spend my
time with thought I was a stalker and
took out restraining orders I’m making
that up
okay but the real problem was that my
circle of influence was very small it
had shrunk to next to nothing because it
was all connected with my employment and
when I lost my job I lost my circle of
influence and I had no idea how to make
it grow I had to change
he’s right isn’t he your personalities
not going to change dramatically from
how you are now to how you’ll be when
you’re in your 80s I think I’ll be a bit
grumpy err but that’s about it
subject apart from a serious emotional
or physical trauma my personality will
be what it is today my body will get
older and decay even more and I’ll
probably get fatter and grayer but
essentially Who I am I cannot change we
can’t change our personality I mean it’s
hard enough just changing our bodies
losing weight getting fit giving up
smoking I’ve tried all those things
managed to give up smoking stop laws
please don’t make it sound rehearsed New
Year’s resolutions I became depressed
clinically depressed I was prescribed
antidepressants and I started going to
therapy and the guy was going to therapy
with suggested I go to a 12-step group
where I came across the addicts prayer
I’m an atheist but this changed my life
grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change the courage to
change the things I can and the wisdom
to know the difference and so that’s
what I’ve been trying to do ever since
that first encounter with this thing
I’ve been trying to develop my serenity
I meditate I try and practice
mindfulness and I remind myself on a
daily basis of the need to practice
courage baby steps
I get courage from the inspiring stories
of the people around me and most
recently from the words of Theodore
Roosevelt which inspired brené Brown
who you may know from TED talks to write
a book called bearing greatly and if I
can remember the speech goes it’s not
the critics who count those who point
out where the strong stumble or the
doers of Deeds could have done them
better no no the credit belongs to those
actually in the arena whose face is are
marred with dust and blood and sweat who
strive valiantly who err because there
is no effort without error but who don’t
look it up now
but who do actually strive to do the
deeds who know great enthusiasms and
great devotions and who in the end at
the best finally know the triumph of
high achievement or who at the worst if
they fail at least know that they failed
while daring greatly and so their places
will never be beside those timid cold
souls who will know neither triumph nor
defeat
thank you very much
[Applause]
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