Translator: Viktor Morandini Reviewer: Reka Vegi
[Viktor Morandini: Ready-to-assemble happiness]
Believe it or not, I’ve found the secret to happiness
all I needed was ten shrinks to treat me.
Okay, they didn’t treat me; we just went to Swedish class together.
But I really needed one of them
to ask me this question at some point during the course:
“Viktor, you always seem so calm and happy.
What is your secret?”
And if a shrink ask you this, you have to take it seriously.
So, I really looked into myself.
And realized that it’s all my mother’s fault.
(Laughter)
Even though my mom is more or less pure Hungarian,
she works as a Swedish teacher, interpreter, and translator.
Therefore she raised us the “IKEA” way.
(Laughter)
Besides a love of stylish furniture and meatballs,
she also sowed the seeds of positive attitude into our lives.
I would like to share it’s essence today
Actually, I can sum it up in one sentence:
[“Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder.”]
(Laughter)
(Applause)
No, this is not the name of our kitchen furniture.
(Laughter)
It’s a Swedish proverb, it means:
“There is no bad weather, only wrong clothes.”
It took me about 15 years to realize
that they don’t mean it only for the weather exclusively
but for everything in life.
That your attitude is decisive,
and nothing is as bad as it seems for first.
I am lucky, I always had a raincoat, a pair of rain boots,
ever since I was a child.
Therefore on rainy days, we didn’t have to stay home
we just had to put on the rainwear, and could go jump in the puddles.
As a 29-year-old project manager
unfortunately, I cannot hop from puddle to puddle to the office,
but I still have a raincoat,
touch screen gloves, and a water-resistant phone,
making my morning routine weather resistant.
The idea of “No bad weather, only wrong clothes,”
is also great to protect you from the most dangerous Hungarian question:
“How are you doing?”
(Laughter)
Maybe you have noticed it, that too many Hungarians think
that “How are you?” is a command to flood you with their complaints.
(Laughter)
Contrary to this, up in the North,
it’s impolite to answer this question with a complaint.
Therefore I try to find something positive
every day until I arrive at work.
Like, “Having tailwind on the bicycle on the way to work.”
(Laughter)
or, “A random person smiled at me on the bus.”
This way I can fend off this dangerous question.
But there is something even more dangerous to your happiness:
all those people around us.
The biggest problem with people is that everyone is stupid.
(Laughter)
You there, you there, you in the back, and me too.
(Applause)
Let me elaborate on this: everyone is stupid in their own way.
I didn’t learn this from the Swedes, I first observed it on them.
Luckily they also provide a solution, coming on “moose back.”
Only one word: “Personkemi.”
The “chemistry of people.”
The Swedes, or at least my mom, don’t use it only in romantic relations
but for all people.
Because let’s be honest
we often have a negative first impression of people
and we can’t imagine how we are going to work with that guy.
That’s when “personkemi,” the raincoat of the soul comes in handy.
There are people who seem unlikable
at first, second, third, and often tenth sight, too.
For example my favorite bureaucrat at the Stockholm University,
who just could not ever give a proper answer to my questions.
And when I felt like
beating the answer out of him with a bag of frozen meatballs,
(Laughter)
that’s when my mother’s words came to my mind.
“My little darling, personkemi!
You are probably never going to start liking this person,
but you don’t have to.
Just concentrate on the task and common goal you want to achieve,
keep this in your mind.
And don’t worry you will meet many more people like him in your life.
Believe me, I know, I am raising four teenagers.”
(Laughter)
And it worked!
With the power of personkemi I have upped my game,
and needed to ask everything only about five times to get the right answer.
Besides having a raincoat for my body and soul
I boost my mood with little crumbs of happiness.
We have a ritual with my wife for example,
that we have practiced on almost all 76 days of our marriage.
(Laughter)
Unlike most married couple, every night we…
(Laughter)
… every night we tell each other the good things that happened to us.
(Laughter)
Ten days ago, unfortunately, we had the chance to test this for real,
because on November 9th, I had the worst day of my life.
Three traumatic events happened to me, and even the least bad one
was Donald Trump being elected president.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
And when I was giving up on that day as a 100 per cent awful one,
Hanga, my wife, reminded me to try the evening ritual.
To my biggest surprise,
we could recollect 11 good things that happened to us that day.
It was still the worst day of our lives,
and I hope we won’t outmatch it in the near future,
but this helped us to end the day on a positive note.
And I put on my blue-yellow raincoat with a smile on my face next day.
After ensuring my own happiness,
I share it with others like a good Scandinavian.
So, the people around me will be happier too,
which is good for all of us.
And of course happiness is like a diet:
If you post it on Facebook, tell it to your colleagues
or give a TEDx speech about it, then it is much easier to stick to it.
With this, we have the last piece of the Ready-To-Assemble Happiness.
Maybe it only fits into my living room perfectly
and not all 600 of you will storm to the closest IKEA to buy rainwear
after my speech.
But I truly hope that next time
when you wake up to a foggy, damp, rainy, really crappy Monday…
(Laughter)
(Applause)
So on that next crappy Monday I hope you will remember,
what the skinny kid told you about raincoats.
(Laughter)
And weather.
That there is no bad weather only the wrong clothes.
(Applause)
[Viktor Morandini: Ready-to-assemble happiness]
Believe it or not, I’ve found the secret to happiness
all I needed was ten shrinks to treat me.
Okay, they didn’t treat me; we just went to Swedish class together.
But I really needed one of them
to ask me this question at some point during the course:
“Viktor, you always seem so calm and happy.
What is your secret?”
And if a shrink ask you this, you have to take it seriously.
So, I really looked into myself.
And realized that it’s all my mother’s fault.
(Laughter)
Even though my mom is more or less pure Hungarian,
she works as a Swedish teacher, interpreter, and translator.
Therefore she raised us the “IKEA” way.
(Laughter)
Besides a love of stylish furniture and meatballs,
she also sowed the seeds of positive attitude into our lives.
I would like to share it’s essence today
Actually, I can sum it up in one sentence:
[“Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder.”]
(Laughter)
(Applause)
No, this is not the name of our kitchen furniture.
(Laughter)
It’s a Swedish proverb, it means:
“There is no bad weather, only wrong clothes.”
It took me about 15 years to realize
that they don’t mean it only for the weather exclusively
but for everything in life.
That your attitude is decisive,
and nothing is as bad as it seems for first.
I am lucky, I always had a raincoat, a pair of rain boots,
ever since I was a child.
Therefore on rainy days, we didn’t have to stay home
we just had to put on the rainwear, and could go jump in the puddles.
As a 29-year-old project manager
unfortunately, I cannot hop from puddle to puddle to the office,
but I still have a raincoat,
touch screen gloves, and a water-resistant phone,
making my morning routine weather resistant.
The idea of “No bad weather, only wrong clothes,”
is also great to protect you from the most dangerous Hungarian question:
“How are you doing?”
(Laughter)
Maybe you have noticed it, that too many Hungarians think
that “How are you?” is a command to flood you with their complaints.
(Laughter)
Contrary to this, up in the North,
it’s impolite to answer this question with a complaint.
Therefore I try to find something positive
every day until I arrive at work.
Like, “Having tailwind on the bicycle on the way to work.”
(Laughter)
or, “A random person smiled at me on the bus.”
This way I can fend off this dangerous question.
But there is something even more dangerous to your happiness:
all those people around us.
The biggest problem with people is that everyone is stupid.
(Laughter)
You there, you there, you in the back, and me too.
(Applause)
Let me elaborate on this: everyone is stupid in their own way.
I didn’t learn this from the Swedes, I first observed it on them.
Luckily they also provide a solution, coming on “moose back.”
Only one word: “Personkemi.”
The “chemistry of people.”
The Swedes, or at least my mom, don’t use it only in romantic relations
but for all people.
Because let’s be honest
we often have a negative first impression of people
and we can’t imagine how we are going to work with that guy.
That’s when “personkemi,” the raincoat of the soul comes in handy.
There are people who seem unlikable
at first, second, third, and often tenth sight, too.
For example my favorite bureaucrat at the Stockholm University,
who just could not ever give a proper answer to my questions.
And when I felt like
beating the answer out of him with a bag of frozen meatballs,
(Laughter)
that’s when my mother’s words came to my mind.
“My little darling, personkemi!
You are probably never going to start liking this person,
but you don’t have to.
Just concentrate on the task and common goal you want to achieve,
keep this in your mind.
And don’t worry you will meet many more people like him in your life.
Believe me, I know, I am raising four teenagers.”
(Laughter)
And it worked!
With the power of personkemi I have upped my game,
and needed to ask everything only about five times to get the right answer.
Besides having a raincoat for my body and soul
I boost my mood with little crumbs of happiness.
We have a ritual with my wife for example,
that we have practiced on almost all 76 days of our marriage.
(Laughter)
Unlike most married couple, every night we…
(Laughter)
… every night we tell each other the good things that happened to us.
(Laughter)
Ten days ago, unfortunately, we had the chance to test this for real,
because on November 9th, I had the worst day of my life.
Three traumatic events happened to me, and even the least bad one
was Donald Trump being elected president.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
And when I was giving up on that day as a 100 per cent awful one,
Hanga, my wife, reminded me to try the evening ritual.
To my biggest surprise,
we could recollect 11 good things that happened to us that day.
It was still the worst day of our lives,
and I hope we won’t outmatch it in the near future,
but this helped us to end the day on a positive note.
And I put on my blue-yellow raincoat with a smile on my face next day.
After ensuring my own happiness,
I share it with others like a good Scandinavian.
So, the people around me will be happier too,
which is good for all of us.
And of course happiness is like a diet:
If you post it on Facebook, tell it to your colleagues
or give a TEDx speech about it, then it is much easier to stick to it.
With this, we have the last piece of the Ready-To-Assemble Happiness.
Maybe it only fits into my living room perfectly
and not all 600 of you will storm to the closest IKEA to buy rainwear
after my speech.
But I truly hope that next time
when you wake up to a foggy, damp, rainy, really crappy Monday…
(Laughter)
(Applause)
So on that next crappy Monday I hope you will remember,
what the skinny kid told you about raincoats.
(Laughter)
And weather.
That there is no bad weather only the wrong clothes.
(Applause)
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