A few weeks ago, if you’d seen me, you might have heard me blabbering on about TED or TEDx.

“TED?” You might have said. (If you wouldn’t have said that, skip down to the videos)

I would have told you that TED is all about ‘ideas worth sharing’.

And, since we want to learn stuff, I decided I HAD to let all of you know about TED.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design (but don’t let that put you off if you’re not into any of those).

It started out as a conference to get people from those three different areas together, to help them share their ideas (because innovation happens at the intersections). TED is all about the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and the world. Nowadays there are loads of different parts to TED.

But it’s the online TED talks and the TEDx events that we’re interested in.

- TED talks are recorded and put online for anyone to watch for free.

- TEDx events are like mini TED conferences but they’re organised by communities and organisations independently of what I like to think of as Big TED. (I helped out a bit with the TEDx event at the University of Nottingham.)

The online TED talks and the TEDx events are where you’re going to get your inspiration and knowledge from.

And, believe me, if you find a talk that resonates with you, you will be blown away and/or scrambling to find a pen or your computer or whatever is going to help you change your world.

You can find TEDx events near you by searching here, you can search for talks here, you can go through playlists of talks here, you can search for them on Youtube, orrrrrrrrr you could start by watching the five talks I’ve picked out for you. Because I did that. Yeah.

So, here we are, five TED talks to inspire and prod the minds of us young uns:

 

Living beyond Limits by Amy Purdy

This talk is in the list mainly because it is massively inspirational; I challenge you to watch this video when you’re down, and not feel determined by the end of it. But Amy also makes several good points, including one which I’m using all the time at the moment. If you get knocked down, you’re finding things hard, or you don’t know how you’re going to carry on, you have two options: you can give up and guarantee that things will get worse, or you can push off of your struggles to reach the good stuff on the next level. Let me know what you think of this talk.

 

How To Find and Do Work You Love by Scott Dinsmore

Scott Dinsmore is all about helping people create careers that they’re passionate about. (You might have noticed that I’ve mentioned him a few times now – that’s because I think what he’s doing is really important.) With him, there’s no doing work experience simply to make your CV look good. You can’t help but feel inspired when you listen to him speak or read what he writes. If you’re at all unsure about your career, make sure you follow the advice he gives in his talk.

 

Sujay Tyle: Make Your Own Road

This is a talk by a young guy who has always been proactive and gone after what he wants. I think, if you listen to his story, you’ll see how much of a difference asking, persistence, risk, and making your own road can make.  They make difference between distinctly average and phenomenal. Watch and learn.

 

Leaning to Fail by Tara Suri & Niha Jain

Failure is a big topic in lifestyle design. Typically, it’s not seen as a massively bad thing like it is in everyday life. In this talk, Tara and Niha discuss how we talk about failure, and about what failure can do. I really think we need to change our attitudes towards failure, so give this a watch, and read Failure Sucks. Do It Anyway.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

This talk by Sir Ken Robinson might as well be a comedy performance, and it also makes a damn good point. If you enjoy dance, art, music, or anything else that doesn’t place you at the top of the educational hierarchy, make sure you give this one a watch.

 

There are a few themes in there.

Although I didn’t mean for these talks to fit any themes, all of these speakers are, in some way, questioning common thought and convention. They’re all telling us to go a different way. Don’t accept and follow; think and challenge.

And that’s what we’re doing by living on purpose.

Go ahead and search for some TED talks yourself.

There’s stuff on technology, health, education, psychology…everything. And, because they’re so short, TED talks are great for those awkward times which are too short to do much but long enough to feel like a waste. Try watching a video each day when you have breakfast, when you’re on the bus, when you’re in a waiting room, or while you’re getting dressed. That little bit of extra knowledge and inspiration each day could make a big difference.

Enjoy.

 

(And thanks to Egg for first introducing me to TED!)