Go ahead, make mistakes.

Kathryn Schulz gave a TED talk was all about my worst fear- being wrong. She talks about how by age 9 we are taught that if we make mistakes we are not smart, we are lazy and we are not worthy. We then strive for a life of perfection. I know I see this in my own life because I constantly feel the need to have straight A’s and if I have a bad soccer practice I am really hard on myself about it. I feel this pressure that the only way to succeed is to be perfect. But what Schulz is saying is that it is human nature to be wrong. No one knows everything about the world; no one knows their purpose or meaning. People need to step back and say “I’m okay with not knowing”. This really relates to my own idea of the children mattering. Children, before schools starts picking out the losers and the winners, have an innate curiosity to learn and grow. They do not know that being wrong is bad; they simply make mistakes and grow from it. I think society needs to teach this to kids in school to keep trying and learning rather than making them feel dumb for getting stuff wrong. If kids can be taught to accept being wrong and then retain this throughout their whole lives they will gain a new, open mind towards people and life. Adults are usually very stuck in their ways and hate being wrong. They tend to think that their opinion is always right…but it’s an opinion. People need to be more accepting to this and listen to others. I think that if people act more like children do, curious about new information, the world could be a lot more peaceful. Sometimes people are wrong. We screw up, we fumble our words, we trip in the grocery store, and we act like we know a lot when we don’t. People are forever going to do this, but I think that we are okay with this aspect. What we are not okay with is getting called out for it. Think about someone fearless you know, someone who can always laugh at themselves when they are wrong and who doesn’t seem to care when they are. These are the kinds of people we need. And to me, children have this. They have this gift of fearless curiosity that just enables them to be able to do anything their minds can imagine. This goes to relate to Pink. He says the future is going to be more creative and innovative –this is going to require mistakes. Some of the best ideas come from mistakes and experimenting, but without the ability to accept being wrong- these mistakes won’t happen. Being wrong is scary, and not knowing how things are going to turn out is even scarier. But if people can embrace that being wrong is alright, then they can succeed. People need to learn that perfection should not be there goal. This sounds really difficult to achieve, but I think that is only because these ideas are stomped out of us when we are kids. School teaches us that we must be smart and get good grades and not make mistakes. However, schools should be teaching kids that messing up is acceptable and help kids use their mistakes to grow. What matters to the success of the future is messing up; it will help create this creative and inspired society the Pink describes. And it starts with the children and encouraging them to explore and be wrong and learn.

Kathryn Schulz talk here

Cognitive Surplus can Change the World

Clay Shirky was a very strong speaker. His main idea was cognitive surplus. This idea is that everyone uses what they know and combines it for everyone to have access to. This idea is a wonderful idea because it relates to the future that Dan Pink describes. Dan Pink thinks the future is going to more creative and out of the box. This idea combined with cognitive surplus shows one thing. Information is everywhere. Anyone can fairly easily find out information about almost anything. I like this because it has endless possibilities. Everyone in the world can give any ideas, information and opinions that they have. There is an abundance of information in availability. The problem is no longer finding information; the problem is doing something with that information. What matters to me from this talk is not that everyone has access to information and has the ability to share information. What matters to me is that this information can be used to change the world. If people do not use this surplus of collective information to better something else in the world, then it is a waste. I think people should find where there is a large malaria breakout somewhere in Africa, find out how to help out and then act upon it. I think people should find where there has been a large natural disaster somewhere in the world, find out what that area needs, and act upon it. Clay Shirky is right; everyone should contribute and use the intrinsic motivation in them to share with the world. However, I think he did not go deep enough. People need to act upon this information. Part of the generous community he talks about is giving the information, but what good is the information if no one uses it to better the world? I think the other half that Shirky does not mention is taking this information, finding out what it means to you and then doing something with it. It does not have to even be something world changing. Maybe you find out a local recreation center needs extra volunteers to help out with kids’ summer camps. You then research good art projects for the age group you will be helping out. The summer camp then becomes a great experience for you and the kids you volunteered to watch for half a day for a week. By sharing and receiving information, the world can easily be more knowledgeable. Being more knowledgeable is good for the world, but imagine what could happen if nearly everyone was reaching out in little or big ways to better the world with the information they can now receive. It would be a worldwide step toward peace and happiness for everyone. This is what matters, creating happiness in yourself and others.

Clay Shirky was a powerful speaker with an interesting idea. He told stories, sly jokes and used pictures to his advantage. He gave a great idea, however I think there was a deeper message to be had from his talk. I hope in my talk to go really deep with the audience and really hit home with them. What matters is the future, the children and the betterment of the world by using all the information everyone in the world has to offer. It’s a thing called generosity that is lost through the ages as we grow up and focus on personal success. What if personal success and world betterment were the same thing for everyone?

Dan Pink and Motivation

Dan Pink is all about motivation. And his TED talk expressed that clearly and powerfully. Pink used his confidence and evidence to strongly share “What science knows is not what business does.”

The big idea is “carrots and sticks.” In other words, he talks extensively on rewards and punishments in business. According to research, rewards narrow the mind and focus it on step-by-step procedures. Therefore, rewards work well for the kind of jobs that have very specific, orderly ways of working. Pretty much left-brain oriented jobs benefit from this form of extrinsic motivation. Unfortunately, as Pink states in his book A Whole New Mind, the world is evolving towards more right-brain oriented jobs; studies have shown that reward systems actually hinder peoples’ personal motivation of simply wanting to accomplish a task. As the world is evolving towards a more creative, less orderly way of thinking- motivation techniques also need to change. Businesses need to become more casual and independently directed in order to succeed and harness this natural, intrinsic motivation inside humans. This was all very obvious to the world, and the success of future businesses. However, what does it mean for kids my age, high school students?

Teachers offer A’s for hard work, parents let their kids go out when they do chores, and coaches give starting positions for the best players. This reward system focuses kids in the short term and encourages them to work hard in order to quickly get what they want. This may be good at first, they may get the A, the party or the starting spot; but in the end students lose their internal passion for those things. A child who loves math may hate it after working themselves too hard just for the grade. A caring kid might stop doing things around the house just to help out because they know they will gain nothing from it. And the worst thing, to me at least, would be a kid losing their passion for a sport or hobby because they stopped playing for themselves and only played to get that starting spot. Kids succeed when there is less pressure and when they do things just because they are curious. Educators, parents and coaches should use this to their advantage. Yes, kids want good grades and to be good at sports, but when they are only doing it to get the simple reward- they are less motivated. Kids will succeed if they are trying for themselves and themselves only. Passion is being killed by the reward system in kids’ lives, and everyone needs to realize this. Let the kids grow and succeed how they want; the force is not necessary because it will only hinder them.

Daniel Pink made these points all very clear. His presentation was strong and loud. He used his powerful voice to pound in the message- he made the viewers listen. Once he captured the attention of everyone, he relayed his points with organization and repetition. The highlighted phrase above was repeated several times throughout the speech, making it more memorable. All these techniques were very helpful in making his TED talk stand out, and standing out is the main focus of a TED talk. In my own I hope to be able to capture the essence of confidence as he did.

The Children Can

After watching the TED talk by Kiran Bir Sethi, I realized two things. One is that her school in India is everything I want to support in my future. The second is that visuals greatly enhance the emotional impact of a TED talk.

Kiran Bir Sethi’s talk was inspiring and motivational. It was about her school called Riverside that encourages children in India to change the world around them. She tries to smudge the border between school and real life. She encourages kids to be first aware of the problem, then enable them to change it, and finally empower them to go out and make that change. Kids are full of innocence and care greater than any force; this can be used to change the world. Adults see other adults that are poor and illiterate and feel sadness for them; kids see the adults and want to help them if they can. Her main message is “I can”. I think this is very important. Kids around the world often see the war, poverty and other problems around their community and do not feel as if they can help. They think the adults have to do it and the adults have to change the world. Sethi focuses on motivation within children. If the children can be empowered to make a change, they can spread to their families and other adults. She repeats the word contagious multiple times in her talk. Kids have a joy and love in them that easily spreads to other people. Imagine if kids were using this to make the world a better place. Ahmedabad, the city where the Riverside school is, has become extremely child friendly. If cities around the world could slowly take on this idea and encourage its children to change the world, the next generation of people might be entirely different. I think this is what really matters- the children. Adults are hard to change; they tend to stick to their ways. But if the children, I believe, are taught to challenge the world around them and make it a more peaceful place then the future can change. The world is a massive, horrifying place at times. However, if the world lets the children infect it with their beautiful smiles and simple ideas; I think the entire world could change.

Kiran Bir Sethi uses very successful techniques in her presentation. She used slides with words, pictures and videos to help relay a message. The words highlighted above are en example of some of the words put onto the screen. By having them behind her as she spoke, it emphasized those words and helped the viewer to connect back to the meaning of the talk by just remembering a few key words. Once in a while she would play a video of children doing something like experiencing child labor, then going out into the world to fight against child labor. Hearing about children making a change was powerful, but seeing them actually take a stand and reach out really touches the heart. These videos not only showed how wonderful child empowerment can be, it backed up her speech with visual proof. She also used pictures with things such as statistics that also visually enhanced the viewer’s belief; by seeing the children’s math and reading scores were better than other, regular schools it proved that it was true. Sethi uses visual techniques to enhance her talk and prove her point. Humans are visual beings, and they respond to seeing things happen as well as hearing them. By using these two senses Sethi fully gets across her point in an inspiring way. This TED talk was beautifully created with a beautiful message and I will refer back to this when I create my own.

See Kiran’s TED talk here

Response to Sir Ken Robinson TED Talk

In his TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson talks about schools killing creativity. What matters in this is not to squander these unique ideas. I found it very interesting how he explained the hierarchy of educational values. Math and English are at the top everywhere in the world. I wonder how this came to be. Why are these most important? As Sir Ken Robinson mentions, why can’t dance be taught every day? There are very successful people who have careers in music, dance, art and other subjects that schools suppress. I think this means that people need to notice what they love and what they are good at. When kids are young, they will try anything; so schools should let them. Individual success and reformation in society relies on this. People should simply do what they love. And in order to get there they need to be wrong. I like how Sir Ken Robinson talks about kids being alright with being wrong. Schools should use this to teach kids everything they can about themselves. They should let them explore, learn and grow while they are young and fearless; simply because adults are afraid. Adults are afraid to look foolish, they are afraid to be wrong, and they think that once they have “grown up” they need to have everything figured out. This is what gets pounded into children. Finish High school, then go to college, then get a degree, and then start a career. This is the traditional track. So how can society ensure success for the next generation? By changing schooling so it supports creativity and individual interests before they grow up and are afraid.

Sir Ken Robinson has a very compelling way of speaking. He talks in a comfortable way the draws in the audience. He is extremely eloquent and relays his points with confidence. I most enjoy how he incorporates humor which takes the seriousness of the subject and makes it easy to listen and support his ideas. Sir Ken Robinson was a very inspiring and friendly speaker which came from his storytelling. These are all very useful techniques in giving such a meaningful speech.

This TED talk gave a great message which should be noted in the minds of educators everywhere. Creativity will make the next generation successful, and it starts with the youngest children. This talk inspires me to want to change the world. Hopefully, that is what I can do with my own presentation.