I have always been a sucker for live performances. Concerts. Plays. Keynote speeches. Art launches. Backyard karaoke. There’s something so genuine and energetic about being a witness to someone not having a safety net. Putting their cultivated and cherished talents into the wild in a hail mary moment. The sink or swim of it all.
There are few places to find a little hit of that energy online these days. Everything can be edited, filter, deleted, re-recorded, spitballed with little to zero fact checks. Save for one of my very favorites.
Ted Talks.
I have found myself lately putting my favorite Ted’s on in the background while working. As a multi-passionate person, I’m fascinated to see people pick one topic and go all in. I love the flow of them. There’s something so homey (?) about them. The are never “hot takes” or digs at other people. They are there to inform, uplift, inspire.
The Ted Lasso of self help, if you will.
So for today’s 5 things I wanted to share a few of my my oldies-but-goodies and a couple of new favorites:
I am a Carol Dweck STAN, yall. The way she explains growth mindset has lived happily rent free in my brain for the past few years, giving me a nudge past WTF am I doing, into I simply don’t know what I am doing yet many a time.
Dan Gilbert had one of the first talks published online back in 2006. Before online videos where the ultimate internet currency. Along with the talk itself, which is excellent, I love reading about how he didn’t really it would be such a thing and the after effects. If you are in a funk, and/ or nostalgic for video quality of our youths, this one’s for you.
This one by Benedictine monk, David Steindl-Rast, on gratitude is another an easy and much needed energy reset. Gratitude has been lumped in with modern day wellness key words to the likeness of meditation and self care. But it really is such a transformative practice that isn’t limited to affluent glossy women on instagram. Learning how to dip into gratitude when overwhelmed, annoyed, angered (all 3?!) has been one of the best things I have done for my mental health.
This one is newer to me, but I love the energy in which he speaks about the future of AI and the laymen’s terms he uses. Also important to note that it was given two years ago and really still holds true today.
Full disclosure I just watched this for the first time after spending 45 minutes trying to find a talk on the future of work/ detaching time to productivity which I failed at but I do not have the mental willpower to pass up a title like “Could an Orca give a Ted Talk?” And I am so glad. There is so much change happening in technology. It’s scary, it’s exciting, it’s a bit unsettling. But also there are genius people studying the most fascinating uses that bring you right back to childhood day dreaming and this is one. 10/10 no notes.
Any other Ted talk nerds lovers out there?? Drop me your faves!
Anne Lamott: 12 truths I learned from life and writing. I revisit it every year. It’s a gem!!!