[Music]
I turned 48 last week yeah it’s getting
a little surreal actually as the numbers
get higher and higher so as I get older
I found that around my birthday I like
to take on some kind of a challenge that
makes me feel like hey yeah I’m still
alive so yeah so so this year it was it
was thanks to another friend of mine who
actually achieved this already
it’s the hundred push-up challenge has
anybody heard of the hundred push-up
challenge yeah actually a lot of people
mostly guys yeah so so the way this
works is you have to do 100 continuous
push-ups without stopping right okay
great
if you I don’t know if you’ve tried this
before but I can tell you it’s extremely
difficult it’s not easy so so I was
feeling a little bit overwhelmed a
little bit anxious about just getting
started you know because you can imagine
that this is not going to be easy get
getting to the finish line so what’s the
first thing I did like what most of us
do I went to the Internet and I you know
got my mouse out and I click on a link
right I downloaded a schedule they
showed me how day by day I can
eventually get to that point where some
in theory I can do the 100 pushups and
what happened was all of a sudden after
I had this a little bit of information I
was like hey you know this is doable I
think I can I think I can achieve this
right so so the the the metaphor or the
example here is basically what what
happened that changed my perception and
it was basically let’s break it down
really small it was the the click of a
mouse which is a very small gesture
compared to you know my personal
physical challenge that I had set up for
myself so so that’s that’s my that’s my
basic basic point here for this talk is
that a small first step could be the key
to our success it’s very easy for us to
get discouraged when we’re faced with a
large challenge or even just a some task
that we’re excited about doing but it’s
still so big it’s easy for us to get
discouraged before we even begin that’s
particularly
true in my field which is environmental
science and I’ve had ups and downs
throughout my career where between the
news and the professional briefings that
I get I just you know you just want to
throw your hands up and say that’s it
we’re we’re up the creek guys but but
that can’t be the end of the story right
so if we hang in there basically some
kind of a small step can help carry us
through to the end small steps are also
good with dealing with our the the
frailties of the human condition you
know our imperfections and I don’t know
about you but I suffer from some
perfectionism and it’s been there for a
really long time it’s kind of like my
friend but perfectionism urges us to try
to control the entire process of
whatever whatever task we’re taking on
maybe the people around us that’s really
bad and then of course the final outcome
you know we wanted to end up just the
way we had imagined it when we began
that is a surefire way to undo your your
success and also extremely frustrating
for both you and the people around you
so that’s that’s not advisable and and
taking a small step or at least
beginning in that way helps keep you
keeps a perfectionist like myself in
check it helps us help us helps us keep
those imperfections kind of you know
it’s hard to make them go away
completely but at least we can put them
back in the corner and say behave it’s
time to play with other people the other
thing that the other frailty that that
starting small helps us with is just the
fact that we underestimate the size of
problems we see something or say oh I’m
gonna do that and just ambitiously jump
right into it and before we know it you
know we’re we’re worn out we can’t we
have no more energy
we’re dismayed and what happened I mean
you can imagine New Year’s resolutions
right I think we all know that New
Year’s resolutions pretty much by about
January 7th are kind of down the toilet
and that’s it right so so that’s so so
taking small steps helps us deal with
with the way we’re going to interact
with ourselves and the people around us
in approaching these problems I have
I’ve long had
for nature I have a compassion for
nature and I get a lot of inspiration
from that big picture of my niece so
what my niece is helping helping show is
that nature can accomplish amazing
things with small beginnings and in this
case I want to talk about hormones so
hormones a lot of people don’t realize
that they’re that the release not just
in parts-per-million concentrations in
your blood to control your physiology
and your entire body but in parts per
billion parts per billion concentrations
so almost at the at the level of
undetectable by equipment so it’s that
it’s a test of our machinery actually to
measure in parts per billion and and
just with that type of a concentration
it like I said controls our physiology
but can take a child from an embryo to
an infant and obviously into like us
into full-grown adults so so that’s one
example the next example I’d like to
talk about is redwood forests has
anybody had the chance to visit in
California yeah ah inspiring right yeah
so so basically just a speck just a
touch of pollen can fertilize a seed
that then grows in the ground becomes a
sapling and eventually grows up into a
100 meter or higher tree that stands at
eight to ten meters wide at the base
these are the biggest trees in the world
about 25 years ago I was lucky enough to
travel and stand in a forest of these
trees and it you feel like you’re
standing in a fairy tale and you mean
you’re you feel extremely small and with
these huge trees so that’s another
example does anybody know what this is
plankton
exactly so plankton there’s two kinds
but they’re both microscopic and they
form this one is ZOA plankton and they
formed the the basis of the bottom of
the trophic level in the oceanic
ecosystem they’re basically the bottom
of the food chain and so so these
plankton does put in particularly the
ZOA plankton they’re able to support ten
ten million species up to ten million
species in the oceans
including the blue whale which is one
hundred and one hundred and eighty tons
thirty meters long and the largest
animal on the planet so here we have the
the smallest creature supporting the
largest creature the other thing that
the plant version of plankton do which
is phytoplankton is that especially in
the springtime when they’re reproducing
and forming massive 100-200 kilometer
wide clouds of plankton in the ocean
visible from from the space station
traveling overhead is they produce 50 to
85 percent of the oxygen that we breathe
on the planet and so here we have
something really tiny that basically is
the last example in nature that I want
to reference is geology which is
basically the master of small steps it
has a heads not definitely not in a
hurry so it has time to to take the
smallest of steps to to achieve the
greatest of things and so anybody want
to guess what mountain this is Everest
of course
so Mount Everest is obviously the
tallest mountain in the world and what
you might not know is that at the very
top at the peak the the mineralogy the
rocks at the top are actually ocean
rocks there were once at the bottom of
the ocean on the seabed millions of
years ago and over those millions of
years through plate tectonics that was
pushed up to the point where it’s at an
elevation that basically we fly planes
at you know commercial aircraft how does
it do that well at 4 millimeters per
year it’s achieved that kind of
accomplishment
so nature nature speaks loud Nature
gives us a good message nature tells us
it’s possible so for me I want to talk a
little bit about a personal story beyond
push-ups that that that has to do with a
with more of my engagement with the
broader community and the kind of impact
of I’ve been involved in there and it
all started with me basically spending a
day picking
trash alongside a road so I had seen in
Facebook and Facebook a post of a new
group in Hanoi two years ago founded by
James Kendall who was sitting right here
in the third row that that was
organizing cleanups in just
neighborhoods to try and gain attention
to bring attention to some spots they
were particularly not not clean and a
none site full and try to try to
beautify them and I said hey well my
first reaction was why didn’t I think of
that
you know I’ve taught environmental
science on this environmental guy and
I’ve seen these trash piles I Drive to
work and I’ve seen them in neighborhoods
unfortunately and even on trips in into
the countryside I’ve seen them in the
rice paddies that’s that’s so that’s
heartbreaking for me to see but I didn’t
think of it so I said to myself well of
course I’m gonna join this I have to I
have to join this is a good thing so I
went to my first cleanup and I joined it
was about 20 volunteers we were on the
north side of the city and it was a hot
day and we spent the morning in the
afternoon getting to know each other
getting to know the neighbors and
basically rolling up our sleeves getting
dirty jumping into it and beautifying
one corner of Hanoi you’d be amazed at
the the people driving by going well
some of the people are just staring like
what are these people doing it was half
foreigners half Vietnamese and what are
these people but other people especially
in a community we’re just thank you so
much this is a wonderful thing that
you’re doing this is wonderful if you
had told me that day that two years
later I’d be the general director of
this organization I would have said
mm-hmm you know I don’t think so I don’t
have time for that
but I got I stayed involved and I stayed
engaged and there’s a few things that
that kept me hooked one was the passion
of people you know when you study
environmental science like I did 25 30
years ago you kind of feel like it’s you
against the world because people you
know we all go on and with our daily
lives but those those poor people that
have to study environmental science they
have all these
problems in their mind and they’re
seeing them all around the world all the
time it’s depressing but here I was
surrounded by people that didn’t perhaps
they didn’t have you know my level of
education or experience but everybody’s
passionate everybody wants to see change
and it actually gave me a new life and
gave me a new hope so it’s I said yeah
you know I have to stay with this I have
to help this along and also with my
little bit of teaching management I said
you know we can have more impact we can
reach more people if we just apply a few
organizational kind of best practices
benchmark practices if we do that I know
this can go much further so I stayed
with it and basically today we’re we’re
kind of at a milestone we’ve one of the
other helpers actually co-writers of
business plan we just finished a 40 page
business plan that’s helping to launch
us into the end of 2018
with three non 3 nonprofit focuses or
projects so we’re going to do with land
air and water
and we’re gonna have for businesses
social businesses that support all the
work that we’re doing so we’re on the
precipice already kind of jump into a
whole new level of the work we’re doing
at keep an eye clean and I’m very
excited about where we’re going so and
it all started with a very small step if
I can have your permission I’d like to
play like a one-minute video of one of
so my message to you today my invitation
is if you want to change something in
the world be kind to yourself think of
that small first step that you could possibly take and then take it
I turned 48 last week yeah it’s getting
a little surreal actually as the numbers
get higher and higher so as I get older
I found that around my birthday I like
to take on some kind of a challenge that
makes me feel like hey yeah I’m still
alive so yeah so so this year it was it
was thanks to another friend of mine who
actually achieved this already
it’s the hundred push-up challenge has
anybody heard of the hundred push-up
challenge yeah actually a lot of people
mostly guys yeah so so the way this
works is you have to do 100 continuous
push-ups without stopping right okay
great
if you I don’t know if you’ve tried this
before but I can tell you it’s extremely
difficult it’s not easy so so I was
feeling a little bit overwhelmed a
little bit anxious about just getting
started you know because you can imagine
that this is not going to be easy get
getting to the finish line so what’s the
first thing I did like what most of us
do I went to the Internet and I you know
got my mouse out and I click on a link
right I downloaded a schedule they
showed me how day by day I can
eventually get to that point where some
in theory I can do the 100 pushups and
what happened was all of a sudden after
I had this a little bit of information I
was like hey you know this is doable I
think I can I think I can achieve this
right so so the the the metaphor or the
example here is basically what what
happened that changed my perception and
it was basically let’s break it down
really small it was the the click of a
mouse which is a very small gesture
compared to you know my personal
physical challenge that I had set up for
myself so so that’s that’s my that’s my
basic basic point here for this talk is
that a small first step could be the key
to our success it’s very easy for us to
get discouraged when we’re faced with a
large challenge or even just a some task
that we’re excited about doing but it’s
still so big it’s easy for us to get
discouraged before we even begin that’s
particularly
true in my field which is environmental
science and I’ve had ups and downs
throughout my career where between the
news and the professional briefings that
I get I just you know you just want to
throw your hands up and say that’s it
we’re we’re up the creek guys but but
that can’t be the end of the story right
so if we hang in there basically some
kind of a small step can help carry us
through to the end small steps are also
good with dealing with our the the
frailties of the human condition you
know our imperfections and I don’t know
about you but I suffer from some
perfectionism and it’s been there for a
really long time it’s kind of like my
friend but perfectionism urges us to try
to control the entire process of
whatever whatever task we’re taking on
maybe the people around us that’s really
bad and then of course the final outcome
you know we wanted to end up just the
way we had imagined it when we began
that is a surefire way to undo your your
success and also extremely frustrating
for both you and the people around you
so that’s that’s not advisable and and
taking a small step or at least
beginning in that way helps keep you
keeps a perfectionist like myself in
check it helps us help us helps us keep
those imperfections kind of you know
it’s hard to make them go away
completely but at least we can put them
back in the corner and say behave it’s
time to play with other people the other
thing that the other frailty that that
starting small helps us with is just the
fact that we underestimate the size of
problems we see something or say oh I’m
gonna do that and just ambitiously jump
right into it and before we know it you
know we’re we’re worn out we can’t we
have no more energy
we’re dismayed and what happened I mean
you can imagine New Year’s resolutions
right I think we all know that New
Year’s resolutions pretty much by about
January 7th are kind of down the toilet
and that’s it right so so that’s so so
taking small steps helps us deal with
with the way we’re going to interact
with ourselves and the people around us
in approaching these problems I have
I’ve long had
for nature I have a compassion for
nature and I get a lot of inspiration
from that big picture of my niece so
what my niece is helping helping show is
that nature can accomplish amazing
things with small beginnings and in this
case I want to talk about hormones so
hormones a lot of people don’t realize
that they’re that the release not just
in parts-per-million concentrations in
your blood to control your physiology
and your entire body but in parts per
billion parts per billion concentrations
so almost at the at the level of
undetectable by equipment so it’s that
it’s a test of our machinery actually to
measure in parts per billion and and
just with that type of a concentration
it like I said controls our physiology
but can take a child from an embryo to
an infant and obviously into like us
into full-grown adults so so that’s one
example the next example I’d like to
talk about is redwood forests has
anybody had the chance to visit in
California yeah ah inspiring right yeah
so so basically just a speck just a
touch of pollen can fertilize a seed
that then grows in the ground becomes a
sapling and eventually grows up into a
100 meter or higher tree that stands at
eight to ten meters wide at the base
these are the biggest trees in the world
about 25 years ago I was lucky enough to
travel and stand in a forest of these
trees and it you feel like you’re
standing in a fairy tale and you mean
you’re you feel extremely small and with
these huge trees so that’s another
example does anybody know what this is
plankton
exactly so plankton there’s two kinds
but they’re both microscopic and they
form this one is ZOA plankton and they
formed the the basis of the bottom of
the trophic level in the oceanic
ecosystem they’re basically the bottom
of the food chain and so so these
plankton does put in particularly the
ZOA plankton they’re able to support ten
ten million species up to ten million
species in the oceans
including the blue whale which is one
hundred and one hundred and eighty tons
thirty meters long and the largest
animal on the planet so here we have the
the smallest creature supporting the
largest creature the other thing that
the plant version of plankton do which
is phytoplankton is that especially in
the springtime when they’re reproducing
and forming massive 100-200 kilometer
wide clouds of plankton in the ocean
visible from from the space station
traveling overhead is they produce 50 to
85 percent of the oxygen that we breathe
on the planet and so here we have
something really tiny that basically is
the last example in nature that I want
to reference is geology which is
basically the master of small steps it
has a heads not definitely not in a
hurry so it has time to to take the
smallest of steps to to achieve the
greatest of things and so anybody want
to guess what mountain this is Everest
of course
so Mount Everest is obviously the
tallest mountain in the world and what
you might not know is that at the very
top at the peak the the mineralogy the
rocks at the top are actually ocean
rocks there were once at the bottom of
the ocean on the seabed millions of
years ago and over those millions of
years through plate tectonics that was
pushed up to the point where it’s at an
elevation that basically we fly planes
at you know commercial aircraft how does
it do that well at 4 millimeters per
year it’s achieved that kind of
accomplishment
so nature nature speaks loud Nature
gives us a good message nature tells us
it’s possible so for me I want to talk a
little bit about a personal story beyond
push-ups that that that has to do with a
with more of my engagement with the
broader community and the kind of impact
of I’ve been involved in there and it
all started with me basically spending a
day picking
trash alongside a road so I had seen in
Facebook and Facebook a post of a new
group in Hanoi two years ago founded by
James Kendall who was sitting right here
in the third row that that was
organizing cleanups in just
neighborhoods to try and gain attention
to bring attention to some spots they
were particularly not not clean and a
none site full and try to try to
beautify them and I said hey well my
first reaction was why didn’t I think of
that
you know I’ve taught environmental
science on this environmental guy and
I’ve seen these trash piles I Drive to
work and I’ve seen them in neighborhoods
unfortunately and even on trips in into
the countryside I’ve seen them in the
rice paddies that’s that’s so that’s
heartbreaking for me to see but I didn’t
think of it so I said to myself well of
course I’m gonna join this I have to I
have to join this is a good thing so I
went to my first cleanup and I joined it
was about 20 volunteers we were on the
north side of the city and it was a hot
day and we spent the morning in the
afternoon getting to know each other
getting to know the neighbors and
basically rolling up our sleeves getting
dirty jumping into it and beautifying
one corner of Hanoi you’d be amazed at
the the people driving by going well
some of the people are just staring like
what are these people doing it was half
foreigners half Vietnamese and what are
these people but other people especially
in a community we’re just thank you so
much this is a wonderful thing that
you’re doing this is wonderful if you
had told me that day that two years
later I’d be the general director of
this organization I would have said
mm-hmm you know I don’t think so I don’t
have time for that
but I got I stayed involved and I stayed
engaged and there’s a few things that
that kept me hooked one was the passion
of people you know when you study
environmental science like I did 25 30
years ago you kind of feel like it’s you
against the world because people you
know we all go on and with our daily
lives but those those poor people that
have to study environmental science they
have all these
problems in their mind and they’re
seeing them all around the world all the
time it’s depressing but here I was
surrounded by people that didn’t perhaps
they didn’t have you know my level of
education or experience but everybody’s
passionate everybody wants to see change
and it actually gave me a new life and
gave me a new hope so it’s I said yeah
you know I have to stay with this I have
to help this along and also with my
little bit of teaching management I said
you know we can have more impact we can
reach more people if we just apply a few
organizational kind of best practices
benchmark practices if we do that I know
this can go much further so I stayed
with it and basically today we’re we’re
kind of at a milestone we’ve one of the
other helpers actually co-writers of
business plan we just finished a 40 page
business plan that’s helping to launch
us into the end of 2018
with three non 3 nonprofit focuses or
projects so we’re going to do with land
air and water
and we’re gonna have for businesses
social businesses that support all the
work that we’re doing so we’re on the
precipice already kind of jump into a
whole new level of the work we’re doing
at keep an eye clean and I’m very
excited about where we’re going so and
it all started with a very small step if
I can have your permission I’d like to
play like a one-minute video of one of
so my message to you today my invitation
is if you want to change something in
the world be kind to yourself think of
that small first step that you could possibly take and then take it
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