I was on the island of Ling chow
in Hong Kong and it was my first night
at a brand-new Airbnb so I didn’t even
know where the lights which was finally
fumbled around hit the light switch on
and and in the bathroom
a couple of cockroaches goes scattering
across the floor now there there are two
things you should know number one Hong
Kong is made for tiny Cantonese people
number two I’m not Cantonese then
judging by your laughter correct I might
not be tiny as well the reason why this
is important is because as I sat down in
the tiny Cantonese toilet my elbow hits
the pipe that goes up to the water tank
and I knocked off about a half dozen
other huge cockroaches and they landed
on my shoulders and in my hair I know I
[Applause]
and the only thing worse than having a
cockroach land in your hair is having a
cockroach land in your hair when your
pants are around your ankles it’s that’s
really a special kind of vulnerability
so as these cockroaches are let’s let’s
call it disrespecting my personal space
I’m actually happy and I’m happy because
I’m really uncomfortable right at that
moment and I’d realize by then that I’m
really happy when when things aren’t
perfect I’m happy being uncomfortable
because when everything in life is going
great those are kind of the moments I
don’t really remember too well you know
when things are when things are going
perfect going along perfectly fine
there’s really nothing to kind of engage
you nothing no problems to solve you
know you kind of don’t feel alive I
think that when when everything is going
perfect we kind of go through life sleep
living sorry I think when we go through
we kind of go through life sleep living
copyright 2016 all rights reserved
I haven’t always been broken it actually
started when my job shifted from from
honk from Shanghai to Hong Kong and I
started commuting back and forth each
week and I decided that it was in when I
was in Hong Kong I would just stay at
Airbnb Eze and I would try and stay in a
different Airbnb in a totally different
neighborhood each time and it would do
this for a year I would call the project
year B&B the project did not go as
planned it actually lasted about three
years and I stayed in a hundred and
thirty six different Airbnb s just in
Hong Kong and while doing so I got
incredible really really good at being
uncomfortable which you should know it’s
not it’s not a marketable skill
apparently but but while I I gained this
expertise of being uncomfortable I
realized that there’s probably three
kind of phases of discomfort that you go
through the first one is accidental
discomfort and that’s when you just you
know you happen to find yourself in a
really uncomfortable place you didn’t
see it coming like stay number four
which was in Wan Chai stay number four
looked pretty pretty nice in pictures
but when you got there maybe it was a
little bit different than that it was so
small that if you stood in the middle
and put your arms out you could touch
the opposing walls there were bugs
running along the floorboards
there was one working light and when you
laid your head down at night on the wall
right next to you were bloodstains and
and I you know I just want to point it
this wasn’t my blood like if it was if
it was my blood that’d be kind of cool
you know leave your mark and all this
was this was stranger blood and stranger
blood is disgusting and and I and I
could have I could have totally avoided
that by just reading the reviews if I
would have read the reviews I would have
seen them my host Wendy
sometimes guests will leave comments
there you know little bits a little bits
critical and instead of apologizing or
giving some loose lip service to saying
we’re trying to improve things she would
attack them you know if someone said oh
you know I like the location the place
is a little bit messy she would say you
were a villain you’re a wolf Yura was
the wolf at heart but innocent in
appearance it just it was
and the whole thing could have been
avoided if I just read the reviews so
I’ve out from then on right back at stay
number four that before I ever booked I
would never ever read the reviews
because I had slipped into Phase two of
being uncomfortable and that is a
acceptable discomfort this is the stage
you get to when you kind of get okay
when you get comfortable with being
uncomfortable when you realize that
being uncomfortable is actually not the
worst thing in the world in fact when
you’re uncomfortable it’s usually
because you’re you’ve opened yourself up
to new experiences that’s like when you
learn things right for example I learned
that if you ever book a place that
doesn’t have a bed you can just use the
I know no not exactly the best night of
sleep but but but an interesting one you
I learned that if you feed a buffalo it
will remember and later on it will try
and join you for dinner and and that you
can protect yourself from the Buffalo
with bar stools because apparently
Buffalo’s I don’t see anyone writing
this down because they’re important tips
everyone I learned about being a Native
American and that fighting off sub-zero
temperatures and droughts and being shot
at by by European settlers is is must
have been far easier than trying to
sleep in a teepee I learned that on the
island of Cheung Chau they have the bun
festival they have they build this huge
Tower and they cover it with steamed
buns and people race up the tower and
try and grab as many steamed buns as the
head and and which is strange but what’s
even stranger is before that they
actually take live children and place
them on stakes and parade them around
around that the island which like a
couple years ago it would have found was
appalling
now I’m the father of a teenager and I
think get on a stick should have thought
of it
but here’s the thing about being
comfortable with being uncomfortable
it’s it you kind of build up a bit of a
resistance right it kind of takes more
and more to really kind of feel
satellite pizza I think in that way and
and so eventually you get to stage stage
three which is enthusiastic discomfort
it’s when you’re kind of looking forward
to it when you don’t feel right unless
you’re really kind of pushing boundaries
and it takes more and more of a
discomforting situation to really kind
of feel that rush after 59 different
places in just the first year in Hong
Kong I thought God you know I can’t
possibly be be uncomfortable anymore and
then I got this take to stay number
sixty this is this is si ranch looks
nice right
beautiful beautiful white villas you can
see it from like a mile off the coast
glistening glistening beaches
the only way to get there is actually by
a ferris tiny Cantonese ferry but a
ferry nonetheless and Sea Ranch was
actually created in the 1970s as an
executive retreat and it had everything
an executive would want the the shag
carpeting the leopard skin prints you
see people making deals always very
important in Hong Kong the you can also
stay at an air B&B in NC Ranch but just
so you know before you go all the people
that you see in this picture are now
dead I know that for a fact because now
Sea Ranch is abandoned
it looks like a post-apocalyptic
nightmare as one cut as one publication
calls it the weeds have taken over all
the signage even the clubhouse is now
being reclaimed by the land once again
and as I’m sailing there on on this on
this ferry and I am the only person on
the ferry besides the the crew and it’s
starting to get dark you see that
picture in the bottom right that’s how
sea Ranch looks as I approached no
lights no nothing and part of me was
just like scared and nervous and the
other part of me couldn’t have been
happier if there were cockroaches on my
head it was it was really awesome a an
uncomfortable project like this should
be supported by uncomfortable media
appearances
and mine have included being on the BBC
and blinking far too often it I talked
to the South China Morning Post and
happened to refer to myself as a big fat
American which of course became their
you know there’s there’s a lot of
different ways that you can make
yourself uncomfortable for me I always
think the most powerful one is simply to
go somewhere new and I and I believe
that because they think the better you
know a place the less you notice about
it you know I think as we go through
life we start to build up this tunnel
vision and we start to only see the
things we’re looking for the things we
like etc and and if you go somewhere new
you kind of break that you restore that
peripheral vision and you know you kind
of feel alive again you know I can’t I
can’t tell you how to live your lives
but I can totally try so if you ever get
a chance if you ever get a chance to
stay with a with an Airbnb host who
looks like she wants to stab you with a
spork okay if you if you find a place
where the directions to the apartment
looks like a treasure map from from a
kick from a ax from the Captain Crunch
box book it if you see if you see a
chandelier in a closet if you see that
your entire apartment is just a hole in
the wall you should totally book it if
you are gonna maybe hit your head a lot
look it if maybe there’s a chance that
you’ll be attacked by wild monkeys book
it if if if your bedroom is going to
double as the putt has the dining room
of a pop-up restaurant
book it if the artwork on the wall
consists of post-it notes and naked
women sitting on braised ducks
stop judging and start booking seriously
if you if you get a chance to stay on a
60-foot yacht alright well that’s an
easy one you should look at but when you
go
don’t take your daughter because she she
will ruin every picture that your that
you try and take again kid kid on a
stick should have thought of it well
look the theme of tonight is wildest
dreams and it’s my belief that that if
you’re you get comfortable being
uncomfortable no dream is too wild to
achieve and so make yourself
uncomfortable every single day because
once you do once you get through it an
uncomfortable situation you’re never
quite the same and you know when isn’t
that what makes life fun that’s that’s
not a rhetorical question I’m waiting
for an answer
that’s all I have for you thank you very much
in Hong Kong and it was my first night
at a brand-new Airbnb so I didn’t even
know where the lights which was finally
fumbled around hit the light switch on
and and in the bathroom
a couple of cockroaches goes scattering
across the floor now there there are two
things you should know number one Hong
Kong is made for tiny Cantonese people
number two I’m not Cantonese then
judging by your laughter correct I might
not be tiny as well the reason why this
is important is because as I sat down in
the tiny Cantonese toilet my elbow hits
the pipe that goes up to the water tank
and I knocked off about a half dozen
other huge cockroaches and they landed
on my shoulders and in my hair I know I
[Applause]
and the only thing worse than having a
cockroach land in your hair is having a
cockroach land in your hair when your
pants are around your ankles it’s that’s
really a special kind of vulnerability
so as these cockroaches are let’s let’s
call it disrespecting my personal space
I’m actually happy and I’m happy because
I’m really uncomfortable right at that
moment and I’d realize by then that I’m
really happy when when things aren’t
perfect I’m happy being uncomfortable
because when everything in life is going
great those are kind of the moments I
don’t really remember too well you know
when things are when things are going
perfect going along perfectly fine
there’s really nothing to kind of engage
you nothing no problems to solve you
know you kind of don’t feel alive I
think that when when everything is going
perfect we kind of go through life sleep
living sorry I think when we go through
we kind of go through life sleep living
copyright 2016 all rights reserved
I haven’t always been broken it actually
started when my job shifted from from
honk from Shanghai to Hong Kong and I
started commuting back and forth each
week and I decided that it was in when I
was in Hong Kong I would just stay at
Airbnb Eze and I would try and stay in a
different Airbnb in a totally different
neighborhood each time and it would do
this for a year I would call the project
year B&B the project did not go as
planned it actually lasted about three
years and I stayed in a hundred and
thirty six different Airbnb s just in
Hong Kong and while doing so I got
incredible really really good at being
uncomfortable which you should know it’s
not it’s not a marketable skill
apparently but but while I I gained this
expertise of being uncomfortable I
realized that there’s probably three
kind of phases of discomfort that you go
through the first one is accidental
discomfort and that’s when you just you
know you happen to find yourself in a
really uncomfortable place you didn’t
see it coming like stay number four
which was in Wan Chai stay number four
looked pretty pretty nice in pictures
but when you got there maybe it was a
little bit different than that it was so
small that if you stood in the middle
and put your arms out you could touch
the opposing walls there were bugs
running along the floorboards
there was one working light and when you
laid your head down at night on the wall
right next to you were bloodstains and
and I you know I just want to point it
this wasn’t my blood like if it was if
it was my blood that’d be kind of cool
you know leave your mark and all this
was this was stranger blood and stranger
blood is disgusting and and I and I
could have I could have totally avoided
that by just reading the reviews if I
would have read the reviews I would have
seen them my host Wendy
sometimes guests will leave comments
there you know little bits a little bits
critical and instead of apologizing or
giving some loose lip service to saying
we’re trying to improve things she would
attack them you know if someone said oh
you know I like the location the place
is a little bit messy she would say you
were a villain you’re a wolf Yura was
the wolf at heart but innocent in
appearance it just it was
and the whole thing could have been
avoided if I just read the reviews so
I’ve out from then on right back at stay
number four that before I ever booked I
would never ever read the reviews
because I had slipped into Phase two of
being uncomfortable and that is a
acceptable discomfort this is the stage
you get to when you kind of get okay
when you get comfortable with being
uncomfortable when you realize that
being uncomfortable is actually not the
worst thing in the world in fact when
you’re uncomfortable it’s usually
because you’re you’ve opened yourself up
to new experiences that’s like when you
learn things right for example I learned
that if you ever book a place that
doesn’t have a bed you can just use the
I know no not exactly the best night of
sleep but but but an interesting one you
I learned that if you feed a buffalo it
will remember and later on it will try
and join you for dinner and and that you
can protect yourself from the Buffalo
with bar stools because apparently
Buffalo’s I don’t see anyone writing
this down because they’re important tips
everyone I learned about being a Native
American and that fighting off sub-zero
temperatures and droughts and being shot
at by by European settlers is is must
have been far easier than trying to
sleep in a teepee I learned that on the
island of Cheung Chau they have the bun
festival they have they build this huge
Tower and they cover it with steamed
buns and people race up the tower and
try and grab as many steamed buns as the
head and and which is strange but what’s
even stranger is before that they
actually take live children and place
them on stakes and parade them around
around that the island which like a
couple years ago it would have found was
appalling
now I’m the father of a teenager and I
think get on a stick should have thought
of it
but here’s the thing about being
comfortable with being uncomfortable
it’s it you kind of build up a bit of a
resistance right it kind of takes more
and more to really kind of feel
satellite pizza I think in that way and
and so eventually you get to stage stage
three which is enthusiastic discomfort
it’s when you’re kind of looking forward
to it when you don’t feel right unless
you’re really kind of pushing boundaries
and it takes more and more of a
discomforting situation to really kind
of feel that rush after 59 different
places in just the first year in Hong
Kong I thought God you know I can’t
possibly be be uncomfortable anymore and
then I got this take to stay number
sixty this is this is si ranch looks
nice right
beautiful beautiful white villas you can
see it from like a mile off the coast
glistening glistening beaches
the only way to get there is actually by
a ferris tiny Cantonese ferry but a
ferry nonetheless and Sea Ranch was
actually created in the 1970s as an
executive retreat and it had everything
an executive would want the the shag
carpeting the leopard skin prints you
see people making deals always very
important in Hong Kong the you can also
stay at an air B&B in NC Ranch but just
so you know before you go all the people
that you see in this picture are now
dead I know that for a fact because now
Sea Ranch is abandoned
it looks like a post-apocalyptic
nightmare as one cut as one publication
calls it the weeds have taken over all
the signage even the clubhouse is now
being reclaimed by the land once again
and as I’m sailing there on on this on
this ferry and I am the only person on
the ferry besides the the crew and it’s
starting to get dark you see that
picture in the bottom right that’s how
sea Ranch looks as I approached no
lights no nothing and part of me was
just like scared and nervous and the
other part of me couldn’t have been
happier if there were cockroaches on my
head it was it was really awesome a an
uncomfortable project like this should
be supported by uncomfortable media
appearances
and mine have included being on the BBC
and blinking far too often it I talked
to the South China Morning Post and
happened to refer to myself as a big fat
American which of course became their
you know there’s there’s a lot of
different ways that you can make
yourself uncomfortable for me I always
think the most powerful one is simply to
go somewhere new and I and I believe
that because they think the better you
know a place the less you notice about
it you know I think as we go through
life we start to build up this tunnel
vision and we start to only see the
things we’re looking for the things we
like etc and and if you go somewhere new
you kind of break that you restore that
peripheral vision and you know you kind
of feel alive again you know I can’t I
can’t tell you how to live your lives
but I can totally try so if you ever get
a chance if you ever get a chance to
stay with a with an Airbnb host who
looks like she wants to stab you with a
spork okay if you if you find a place
where the directions to the apartment
looks like a treasure map from from a
kick from a ax from the Captain Crunch
box book it if you see if you see a
chandelier in a closet if you see that
your entire apartment is just a hole in
the wall you should totally book it if
you are gonna maybe hit your head a lot
look it if maybe there’s a chance that
you’ll be attacked by wild monkeys book
it if if if your bedroom is going to
double as the putt has the dining room
of a pop-up restaurant
book it if the artwork on the wall
consists of post-it notes and naked
women sitting on braised ducks
stop judging and start booking seriously
if you if you get a chance to stay on a
60-foot yacht alright well that’s an
easy one you should look at but when you
go
don’t take your daughter because she she
will ruin every picture that your that
you try and take again kid kid on a
stick should have thought of it well
look the theme of tonight is wildest
dreams and it’s my belief that that if
you’re you get comfortable being
uncomfortable no dream is too wild to
achieve and so make yourself
uncomfortable every single day because
once you do once you get through it an
uncomfortable situation you’re never
quite the same and you know when isn’t
that what makes life fun that’s that’s
not a rhetorical question I’m waiting
for an answer
that’s all I have for you thank you very much
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