[Applause]
hi thanks for coming to my TED talk I
never thought I’d get a chance to say
that because not many people give tit
talks for a start not many people have
the chance to do this I’d like to thank
all of you for giving me this
opportunity and so today I’m going to be
judging judging I’m going to be going
through the reasons we’re pessimistic
the consequences of us being pessimistic
and how you can stop being pessimistic
and how you can prevent your future from
looking like mine which is going to
likely end up me being watching the
office for the tenth time eating Buddha
Mix alone in my bed I really make myself
look appealing on here don’t I okay so
the first main cause I’d like to give
you this is going to sound like the most
cliche cause possible but September 11
2001 what we saw was a wave of media
pessimism sensationalism was widespread
scapegoating became the new norm people
thought what could be worse and why
won’t things get better because things
have already gone in the figurative
toilet and due to the New Zealand
landscapes growing Americanization this
way the pessimism actually hit us as
well what we saw was a widespread wave
of news outlets constantly reporting on
the worst and I’d like I’d challenge you
to look at news reports from let’s say
in 1990 and look at one from 2004 and
you’ll see completely different tones in
the way that they speak and although
9/11 did have a massive impact it wasn’t
the major trigger cause and that title
of that crate that title of that major
trigger cause goes to the Great
Recession of 2008 while 9/11 caused
media pessimism the recession caused
global and personal pessimism eight
point eight million jobs were lost in
the USA an employment in New Zealand
doubled from 4% to 8.5% and what this
did was this instilled media pessimism
people would just
completely unhappy with their lives and
groups of people had deeply ingrained
cynicism which kind of just lingered
with us to this day and we didn’t see it
at the time but what we saw was a
complete cultural shift from the
optimism that we saw to the pessimism of
today and as someone who was born in the
millennia
I’ve been entirely used to living my
entire life
with this pessimism almost ingrained
into me for some of you older audience
members you can remember a time when
people weren’t as pessimistic as they
were but these times are rapidly
shifting what we see is like what we see
is the Democratic Party of America which
is supposedly the Progressive Party over
half of these people think life was
better 50 years ago than it is today and
that’s a shocking step because 50 years
ago a lot of woman didn’t have the right
to get an abortion woman didn’t have the
right to go out and get the same jobs
minted with the same pay
black people were still in separate
communities and had to access different
facilities and for a socially
progressive group to say life was better
in those times than it is today really
highlights a pessimism which has become
normalized and you might be asking oh
what’s wrong with cynicism because it’s
basically just realism if you expect the
worst you’re going to be positively
surprised I used to think the same way
what I used to think was oh yeah because
if I just expect I’m gonna get a not
achieved if I get an achieved then you
know what at least I passed and I’m sure
that’s a lot for practically every NCAA
student where if you expect yourself to
get a not achieved and you get an
excellence you’ve succeeded if you get a
not achieved what you’ve done is at
least I’ve met my expectations because
there’s literally nothing worse this
pessimism may seem normal and it might
seem okay to have this but two
consequences which we seem to just look
over and these problems get worse and
these two main consequences are
disenfranchisement and the normalization
of these depressive circumstances when
you’re children in the audience when
you’re children or if you’re ready
have children when your children’s
children when the next generation is
born they’ll be surrounded by pessimism
as we normalize it in our society what
we’ll be seeing is pessimism cynicism
negativity are all regular outlooks to
have on life where it would be
essentially raising our children to
believe that being negative is normal
and this has massive consequences in
ourselves because if we raise our
children this way we’re gonna see a
rising amount of disinterest in
participating in society what’s the
point of voting if it’ll just negatively
affects me what’s the point of
participating in helping others when it
doesn’t give me a benefit all of this is
happening why won’t it benefit me in the
short run why should I do this
what’s the point in this life why do I
choose to live life this might seem like
a straw man with a lot of hypotheticals
involved but this type of external dread
thinking is a lot more common than you’d
think and I’ve had like as many external
crisis’s as I have fingers like I can’t
imagine like my life without thinking
about things are going to go wrong and I
can’t do anything to solve them and
that’s a main consequence of pessimistic
pessimism by raising our children in a
shroud of negativity we are reinforcing
that negative self-centered thinking we
reinforce the idea if there’s no visible
benefit there’s no reason to do it we
reinforce youth disenfranchisement of
society which leads to much more
negative consequences like rising rates
and depression and a fallen productivity
and what we’re going to be seeing is a
generally less interested Society and
one that almost refuses to act by
societal norms which we’ve seen the past
I’d like to take you to let’s say the
1920s 1920s there was a complete boom
going on a society like if you were like
the elite which in our case is basically
the middle class and up your life was
amazing you could go out on your yacht
and you could just live life and even if
you didn’t have that the growing like
perspective that you could have this
really integrated it’s almost a belief
that you can be anything and what we saw
was the perception of the American Dream
and in New Zealand circumstances
the New Zealand dream what we saw was
people really believing that they could
push up and become the upper echelon of
society as we’ve grown up and as we’ve
lit media negativity and our own social
and personal pessimism take over our
life what we see is a lack of what we
would call pushing up breaking the
ceiling we see a lack of productivity
and we see a lack of people actually
being interested so I’d like to ask what
can we do luckily for you I have the
answers and that’s why I’m giving a TED
talk now
I’ve chosen to give you the approach of
giving you tangible advice because you
can implement this in your life right
now yes every single one of you I’m not
this is an advice exclusive for people
who are born past 2000 you could be born
in 1920 and this advice would reign true
and I’m not gonna advocate for like
government action because Justin iron is
not in the audience as far as I’m aware
and she’s not saying you know what Ryan
you can do this I’m going to add a law
I’m advocating for things that all of
you can do right now and yes I sound
Jordan Peterson or any other self-help
professional but that’s kind of what you
need to do to get through to people you
and like I’ve chosen to go for three
step guide because 3 is a nice whole
number I could give you 50 steps on like
just benefiting your life and going
through life as you could but that would
be boring and no one wants to listen to
me talking about you know you could do
this this this this this no I’m going to
give you three pieces of tangible advice
you could actually add into your life
right now and the first one is don’t
treat assumptions as facts the reason
for this is negativity actually thrives
in assumptions and assumptions go one of
four ways and I’m gonna use the excuse
of my exams
as like this example so if I assume I’m
going to get a not achieved and I get a
not achieved I’m kind of just like I got
a not achieved that was expected because
I told myself I’m gonna get a not
achieved that’s a bad assumption if I
say oh yup I’m going to get a not
achieved and I get excellence I’m still
gonna be thinking you know what I could
have done bitter and even though I got
the highest possible grade I still
thought of myself
as not being able to achieve to their
aspiration that’s a negative
circumstance and let’s say I think they
say I kill that exam and I get it
saloons and I think I’m gonna get
excellence that’s the only good thing
when you think something good will
happen in it doesn’t you feel a wave of
disappointment that’s matched by
literally nothing the worst feeling in
the world is not living up to your own
expectations believe me I do this
constantly and the solution is just
don’t assume things and I know brains
make assumptions no matter what it’s a
survival strategy
if you sing a shadow and you’re like oh
yup that’s a tiger is going to eat me
that’s your caveman ancestors telling
you yeah things are there are shadows
and things that sound weird are normally
going to kill you but we live in 2018
Tigers don’t lurk the streets of Cuba
Street waiting for people I hope and
we’ve kind of evolved past a need to
assume that someone’s going to be a mass
murderer and take everything I think
hopefully I hope we all live in a
society where we can say you know what
yeah I’m not yet murdered in my bedroom
alone at night and in the same vein we
should live in a world where it’s okay
to like say I don’t know what’s going to
happen but this is going to happen maybe
and that’s a good thing and you’ve got
to take every situation as it comes and
roll with the punches because what this
does is build resilience and resilience
is essentially the kryptonite of
pessimism because what negativity is is
it just feeds off your own insecurities
by refusing to take assumptions aspect
you’re taking unnecessary any negativity
off yourself and you’re like one step
ahead to improving your life the second
piece of advice is that I’ll give you is
don’t take everything to heart and the
things other people do in the things
that happen around you aren’t always
because of you every action has a
reaction but your actions may not cause
what you think are reactions because
what other people do is essentially a
projection of their own reality that
effect tripped me up so hard when I read
that for the first time I was like whoa
other people don’t just live as my side
characters in my story people have their
own lives how dare they
but you know that’s what happens and
other people yes actually have their own
lives other people have their own
destinies everyone is the main character
in their own unwritten story people
aren’t just waiting there to be a little
side character in your story to give you
a piece of advice and by following this
piece of advice that I’ve given you
don’t let other by following this piece
of advice that I’ve given you
essentially what you’re doing is giving
yourself a shield from negativity
because negativity spreads from person
to person like a disease and not taking
everything to heart is like a vaccine
for this by not taking everything to
heart what you’re essentially doing is
making sure that other people’s words
aren’t affecting you and your like own
actions are the ones that you control
because you control your own destiny and
that’s like the one thing I want you to
come away with chances are you’re not
going to remember me after this talk I’m
going to be very real with you because
I’ve watched TED talks and school and I
can’t remember most of them like let’s
be real but if there’s one thing I hope
you remember I hope the fact that I’m
stuttering over literally every word I
hope it’s the fact that you know that
first speaker after the break he told me
don’t take everything to heart I hope
that’s what you remember me by the third
and final step is it’s in lesson and
this is the furthest my white self has
been to a different culture so this
third step it’s a lesson and it’s copied
in quam minimum curricular posture oh
and this basically translates to Yolo
and I could have just said Yolo but then
you’d look at me like I’m a Yi right
which I hope you’re not already doing
and so it essentially translates exactly
actually to live in the moment as the
future is untrustable and what I said
basically sounds like a poster you could
get it count down for like two bucks but
you know it’s true and it’s the one step
which really turned my life around me
and so many other high schoolers
especially fall into a trap of
uncertainty because believe me I’ve
spent a like hours alone in my room
planning my entire life out and when I
get or not achieved and I’d realize I’m
not going to go to Harvard and become a
brain surgeon
I just collapse so many other people
have the exact same problem as me you
plan your entire life out step by step
by step and when one of those steps
Falls your entire life falls apart and
you’re like well looks like I’m not
becoming an author
mcDonald’s it is and by focusing on your
future you ignore your prison and I know
this sounds like another poster you
could get it came out but you know live
in the moment don’t fixate yourself on
an uncertain fate because what you’re
doing is ignoring the moments that
actually matter I’m going to sound a lot
like a guidance counselor here live in
the moment put your phone down for 10
minutes a day reflect journal listeners
like read books
think about life find friends spend time
with people you love we’re alive for 40
million minutes approximately and it
takes five of those minutes for your
entire life to change and my life has
changed maybe 60 times I’ve used to want
to be an astronaut joke’s on me I’m
colorblind I can’t be an astronaut I
wanted to be I wanted to be a brain
surgeon joke’s on me I only got achieved
into US last year I’m not being a brain
surgeon my life in Korea has changed
basically every three weeks as I think
about what I actually want to do with my
life and I’m sure all of you other
people in the room have had the same
problem as me you changed careers I’ve
on average like three times in your life
you can’t focus on a shore which you’ve
planned out for yourself because the
future is untrustable if you spend your
whole life thinking something will
happen and it doesn’t you’ll be like me
sitting alone in your room watching the
office again we’re alive for 40 million
minutes and it takes five of those to
change your life and your life would end
probably sixty to a hundred times per
year as different events happen and if
you look at the 30 million minutes in
your future you’re ignoring the 20
minutes that have actually happened
around you if you keep looking in your
future what you’re going to be seeing is
a lack of being able to comprehend your
past and you’ll go
what you’re going to be seeing is not
being able to actually look at yourself
and say this is what I want to do
fixating your future on a single fact
will basically mean you don’t get that
at the start of my talk I told you my
topic was how to raise an optimistic
child in a pessimistic world and you’re
all probably confused because I don’t
think I’ve used the world child apart
from like 20 seconds’ n and the truth is
again I am NOT a parenting expert I
don’t understand children I don’t want
children children frustrate me children
they don’t know how to use a bathroom
they have the mental capacity of literal
four-year-olds because that’s what they
are four-year-olds but I know one thing
about children because I’ve been a child
for most of my life and that’s your kid
will seek to emulate you and that’s why
I’ve given you three steps because you
can’t force your these steps on your
child you’re not going to be sitting
your kid down and saying you know what I
went to a TED talk today and now your
life is going to revolve around doing a
Rubik’s Cube for five hours a day until
you’re the best at that that’s what I’m
gonna make my money off no what I want
you to do is actually emulate what I’ve
given you into your own life because
your kid will emulate you my dad’s in
the audience and I emulate him heavily
do things because my parents do them I
wanted to play basketball look at me
look at me when I realized that I was
not going to grow past six foot I had a
breakdown because I know I would never
make it into the NBA it wasn’t the fact
that I am literally look like Chicken
Little
it was the fact that suddenly I it was
the fact that no I’m not going to grow
and I kind of accepted that as time went
on and truth be told I should have
accepted it earlier when I was nine
years old and like going to hoop club
for the first time I should have
realized I’m not gonna make it into the
NBA am i but I had a dream and I wanted
to play basketball so I tried my hardest
and turns out I can’t play basketball
very well
but you know what that’s fine because I
think that I made my dad proud by just
trying to be him and and so I’ve given
you three steps to improve your child’s
life the best thing you can do is
improve yours and I’m saying 90% of you
will forget the specifics of my talk as
soon as you leave the room like let’s be
real most of you will probably remember
the jokes I’ve told and maybe one of my
three steps not the fact that I’ve come
up here and spoken to you for nearly ten
minutes about the office and so while we
go in between speakers I’d like you to
reflect on your pessimism and how you’re
going to improve that I’d like to review
to reflect on are you just blindly and
taking what I say or are you going to
think about it remember we’re only alive
for forty million minutes and I hope
this 15 has really helped you thank you
[Applause]
you [Music]
hi thanks for coming to my TED talk I
never thought I’d get a chance to say
that because not many people give tit
talks for a start not many people have
the chance to do this I’d like to thank
all of you for giving me this
opportunity and so today I’m going to be
judging judging I’m going to be going
through the reasons we’re pessimistic
the consequences of us being pessimistic
and how you can stop being pessimistic
and how you can prevent your future from
looking like mine which is going to
likely end up me being watching the
office for the tenth time eating Buddha
Mix alone in my bed I really make myself
look appealing on here don’t I okay so
the first main cause I’d like to give
you this is going to sound like the most
cliche cause possible but September 11
2001 what we saw was a wave of media
pessimism sensationalism was widespread
scapegoating became the new norm people
thought what could be worse and why
won’t things get better because things
have already gone in the figurative
toilet and due to the New Zealand
landscapes growing Americanization this
way the pessimism actually hit us as
well what we saw was a widespread wave
of news outlets constantly reporting on
the worst and I’d like I’d challenge you
to look at news reports from let’s say
in 1990 and look at one from 2004 and
you’ll see completely different tones in
the way that they speak and although
9/11 did have a massive impact it wasn’t
the major trigger cause and that title
of that crate that title of that major
trigger cause goes to the Great
Recession of 2008 while 9/11 caused
media pessimism the recession caused
global and personal pessimism eight
point eight million jobs were lost in
the USA an employment in New Zealand
doubled from 4% to 8.5% and what this
did was this instilled media pessimism
people would just
completely unhappy with their lives and
groups of people had deeply ingrained
cynicism which kind of just lingered
with us to this day and we didn’t see it
at the time but what we saw was a
complete cultural shift from the
optimism that we saw to the pessimism of
today and as someone who was born in the
millennia
I’ve been entirely used to living my
entire life
with this pessimism almost ingrained
into me for some of you older audience
members you can remember a time when
people weren’t as pessimistic as they
were but these times are rapidly
shifting what we see is like what we see
is the Democratic Party of America which
is supposedly the Progressive Party over
half of these people think life was
better 50 years ago than it is today and
that’s a shocking step because 50 years
ago a lot of woman didn’t have the right
to get an abortion woman didn’t have the
right to go out and get the same jobs
minted with the same pay
black people were still in separate
communities and had to access different
facilities and for a socially
progressive group to say life was better
in those times than it is today really
highlights a pessimism which has become
normalized and you might be asking oh
what’s wrong with cynicism because it’s
basically just realism if you expect the
worst you’re going to be positively
surprised I used to think the same way
what I used to think was oh yeah because
if I just expect I’m gonna get a not
achieved if I get an achieved then you
know what at least I passed and I’m sure
that’s a lot for practically every NCAA
student where if you expect yourself to
get a not achieved and you get an
excellence you’ve succeeded if you get a
not achieved what you’ve done is at
least I’ve met my expectations because
there’s literally nothing worse this
pessimism may seem normal and it might
seem okay to have this but two
consequences which we seem to just look
over and these problems get worse and
these two main consequences are
disenfranchisement and the normalization
of these depressive circumstances when
you’re children in the audience when
you’re children or if you’re ready
have children when your children’s
children when the next generation is
born they’ll be surrounded by pessimism
as we normalize it in our society what
we’ll be seeing is pessimism cynicism
negativity are all regular outlooks to
have on life where it would be
essentially raising our children to
believe that being negative is normal
and this has massive consequences in
ourselves because if we raise our
children this way we’re gonna see a
rising amount of disinterest in
participating in society what’s the
point of voting if it’ll just negatively
affects me what’s the point of
participating in helping others when it
doesn’t give me a benefit all of this is
happening why won’t it benefit me in the
short run why should I do this
what’s the point in this life why do I
choose to live life this might seem like
a straw man with a lot of hypotheticals
involved but this type of external dread
thinking is a lot more common than you’d
think and I’ve had like as many external
crisis’s as I have fingers like I can’t
imagine like my life without thinking
about things are going to go wrong and I
can’t do anything to solve them and
that’s a main consequence of pessimistic
pessimism by raising our children in a
shroud of negativity we are reinforcing
that negative self-centered thinking we
reinforce the idea if there’s no visible
benefit there’s no reason to do it we
reinforce youth disenfranchisement of
society which leads to much more
negative consequences like rising rates
and depression and a fallen productivity
and what we’re going to be seeing is a
generally less interested Society and
one that almost refuses to act by
societal norms which we’ve seen the past
I’d like to take you to let’s say the
1920s 1920s there was a complete boom
going on a society like if you were like
the elite which in our case is basically
the middle class and up your life was
amazing you could go out on your yacht
and you could just live life and even if
you didn’t have that the growing like
perspective that you could have this
really integrated it’s almost a belief
that you can be anything and what we saw
was the perception of the American Dream
and in New Zealand circumstances
the New Zealand dream what we saw was
people really believing that they could
push up and become the upper echelon of
society as we’ve grown up and as we’ve
lit media negativity and our own social
and personal pessimism take over our
life what we see is a lack of what we
would call pushing up breaking the
ceiling we see a lack of productivity
and we see a lack of people actually
being interested so I’d like to ask what
can we do luckily for you I have the
answers and that’s why I’m giving a TED
talk now
I’ve chosen to give you the approach of
giving you tangible advice because you
can implement this in your life right
now yes every single one of you I’m not
this is an advice exclusive for people
who are born past 2000 you could be born
in 1920 and this advice would reign true
and I’m not gonna advocate for like
government action because Justin iron is
not in the audience as far as I’m aware
and she’s not saying you know what Ryan
you can do this I’m going to add a law
I’m advocating for things that all of
you can do right now and yes I sound
Jordan Peterson or any other self-help
professional but that’s kind of what you
need to do to get through to people you
and like I’ve chosen to go for three
step guide because 3 is a nice whole
number I could give you 50 steps on like
just benefiting your life and going
through life as you could but that would
be boring and no one wants to listen to
me talking about you know you could do
this this this this this no I’m going to
give you three pieces of tangible advice
you could actually add into your life
right now and the first one is don’t
treat assumptions as facts the reason
for this is negativity actually thrives
in assumptions and assumptions go one of
four ways and I’m gonna use the excuse
of my exams
as like this example so if I assume I’m
going to get a not achieved and I get a
not achieved I’m kind of just like I got
a not achieved that was expected because
I told myself I’m gonna get a not
achieved that’s a bad assumption if I
say oh yup I’m going to get a not
achieved and I get excellence I’m still
gonna be thinking you know what I could
have done bitter and even though I got
the highest possible grade I still
thought of myself
as not being able to achieve to their
aspiration that’s a negative
circumstance and let’s say I think they
say I kill that exam and I get it
saloons and I think I’m gonna get
excellence that’s the only good thing
when you think something good will
happen in it doesn’t you feel a wave of
disappointment that’s matched by
literally nothing the worst feeling in
the world is not living up to your own
expectations believe me I do this
constantly and the solution is just
don’t assume things and I know brains
make assumptions no matter what it’s a
survival strategy
if you sing a shadow and you’re like oh
yup that’s a tiger is going to eat me
that’s your caveman ancestors telling
you yeah things are there are shadows
and things that sound weird are normally
going to kill you but we live in 2018
Tigers don’t lurk the streets of Cuba
Street waiting for people I hope and
we’ve kind of evolved past a need to
assume that someone’s going to be a mass
murderer and take everything I think
hopefully I hope we all live in a
society where we can say you know what
yeah I’m not yet murdered in my bedroom
alone at night and in the same vein we
should live in a world where it’s okay
to like say I don’t know what’s going to
happen but this is going to happen maybe
and that’s a good thing and you’ve got
to take every situation as it comes and
roll with the punches because what this
does is build resilience and resilience
is essentially the kryptonite of
pessimism because what negativity is is
it just feeds off your own insecurities
by refusing to take assumptions aspect
you’re taking unnecessary any negativity
off yourself and you’re like one step
ahead to improving your life the second
piece of advice is that I’ll give you is
don’t take everything to heart and the
things other people do in the things
that happen around you aren’t always
because of you every action has a
reaction but your actions may not cause
what you think are reactions because
what other people do is essentially a
projection of their own reality that
effect tripped me up so hard when I read
that for the first time I was like whoa
other people don’t just live as my side
characters in my story people have their
own lives how dare they
but you know that’s what happens and
other people yes actually have their own
lives other people have their own
destinies everyone is the main character
in their own unwritten story people
aren’t just waiting there to be a little
side character in your story to give you
a piece of advice and by following this
piece of advice that I’ve given you
don’t let other by following this piece
of advice that I’ve given you
essentially what you’re doing is giving
yourself a shield from negativity
because negativity spreads from person
to person like a disease and not taking
everything to heart is like a vaccine
for this by not taking everything to
heart what you’re essentially doing is
making sure that other people’s words
aren’t affecting you and your like own
actions are the ones that you control
because you control your own destiny and
that’s like the one thing I want you to
come away with chances are you’re not
going to remember me after this talk I’m
going to be very real with you because
I’ve watched TED talks and school and I
can’t remember most of them like let’s
be real but if there’s one thing I hope
you remember I hope the fact that I’m
stuttering over literally every word I
hope it’s the fact that you know that
first speaker after the break he told me
don’t take everything to heart I hope
that’s what you remember me by the third
and final step is it’s in lesson and
this is the furthest my white self has
been to a different culture so this
third step it’s a lesson and it’s copied
in quam minimum curricular posture oh
and this basically translates to Yolo
and I could have just said Yolo but then
you’d look at me like I’m a Yi right
which I hope you’re not already doing
and so it essentially translates exactly
actually to live in the moment as the
future is untrustable and what I said
basically sounds like a poster you could
get it count down for like two bucks but
you know it’s true and it’s the one step
which really turned my life around me
and so many other high schoolers
especially fall into a trap of
uncertainty because believe me I’ve
spent a like hours alone in my room
planning my entire life out and when I
get or not achieved and I’d realize I’m
not going to go to Harvard and become a
brain surgeon
I just collapse so many other people
have the exact same problem as me you
plan your entire life out step by step
by step and when one of those steps
Falls your entire life falls apart and
you’re like well looks like I’m not
becoming an author
mcDonald’s it is and by focusing on your
future you ignore your prison and I know
this sounds like another poster you
could get it came out but you know live
in the moment don’t fixate yourself on
an uncertain fate because what you’re
doing is ignoring the moments that
actually matter I’m going to sound a lot
like a guidance counselor here live in
the moment put your phone down for 10
minutes a day reflect journal listeners
like read books
think about life find friends spend time
with people you love we’re alive for 40
million minutes approximately and it
takes five of those minutes for your
entire life to change and my life has
changed maybe 60 times I’ve used to want
to be an astronaut joke’s on me I’m
colorblind I can’t be an astronaut I
wanted to be I wanted to be a brain
surgeon joke’s on me I only got achieved
into US last year I’m not being a brain
surgeon my life in Korea has changed
basically every three weeks as I think
about what I actually want to do with my
life and I’m sure all of you other
people in the room have had the same
problem as me you changed careers I’ve
on average like three times in your life
you can’t focus on a shore which you’ve
planned out for yourself because the
future is untrustable if you spend your
whole life thinking something will
happen and it doesn’t you’ll be like me
sitting alone in your room watching the
office again we’re alive for 40 million
minutes and it takes five of those to
change your life and your life would end
probably sixty to a hundred times per
year as different events happen and if
you look at the 30 million minutes in
your future you’re ignoring the 20
minutes that have actually happened
around you if you keep looking in your
future what you’re going to be seeing is
a lack of being able to comprehend your
past and you’ll go
what you’re going to be seeing is not
being able to actually look at yourself
and say this is what I want to do
fixating your future on a single fact
will basically mean you don’t get that
at the start of my talk I told you my
topic was how to raise an optimistic
child in a pessimistic world and you’re
all probably confused because I don’t
think I’ve used the world child apart
from like 20 seconds’ n and the truth is
again I am NOT a parenting expert I
don’t understand children I don’t want
children children frustrate me children
they don’t know how to use a bathroom
they have the mental capacity of literal
four-year-olds because that’s what they
are four-year-olds but I know one thing
about children because I’ve been a child
for most of my life and that’s your kid
will seek to emulate you and that’s why
I’ve given you three steps because you
can’t force your these steps on your
child you’re not going to be sitting
your kid down and saying you know what I
went to a TED talk today and now your
life is going to revolve around doing a
Rubik’s Cube for five hours a day until
you’re the best at that that’s what I’m
gonna make my money off no what I want
you to do is actually emulate what I’ve
given you into your own life because
your kid will emulate you my dad’s in
the audience and I emulate him heavily
do things because my parents do them I
wanted to play basketball look at me
look at me when I realized that I was
not going to grow past six foot I had a
breakdown because I know I would never
make it into the NBA it wasn’t the fact
that I am literally look like Chicken
Little
it was the fact that suddenly I it was
the fact that no I’m not going to grow
and I kind of accepted that as time went
on and truth be told I should have
accepted it earlier when I was nine
years old and like going to hoop club
for the first time I should have
realized I’m not gonna make it into the
NBA am i but I had a dream and I wanted
to play basketball so I tried my hardest
and turns out I can’t play basketball
very well
but you know what that’s fine because I
think that I made my dad proud by just
trying to be him and and so I’ve given
you three steps to improve your child’s
life the best thing you can do is
improve yours and I’m saying 90% of you
will forget the specifics of my talk as
soon as you leave the room like let’s be
real most of you will probably remember
the jokes I’ve told and maybe one of my
three steps not the fact that I’ve come
up here and spoken to you for nearly ten
minutes about the office and so while we
go in between speakers I’d like you to
reflect on your pessimism and how you’re
going to improve that I’d like to review
to reflect on are you just blindly and
taking what I say or are you going to
think about it remember we’re only alive
for forty million minutes and I hope
this 15 has really helped you thank you
[Applause]
you [Music]
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