Lessons I Learned from the Most Inspirational TED Talks of All Time

Sigrid Chu
Sep 9, 2018 · 5 min read
Image by Hermes Rivera

I’ll admit it.

I’ve spent many waking hours watching TED talks, one after the other, in search of knowledge and inspiration.

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, is a nonprofit organization that started in 1984. TED’s mission is to spreads ideas through powerful talks.

TED now has a repository of hundreds of talks.

I would like to share with your some lessons I learned from the most inspirational TED talks of all time:

#1 How Great Leaders Inspire Action by Simon Sinek

I’ve mentioned Simon Sinek’s talk in my post Do Work That Has Meaning or Find Meaning in Your Work. His talk inspired me to find my WHY with the following questions:

What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?

Knowing our WHY allows us to communicate from the inside out what our visions are.

#2 How to Start a Movement by Derek Sivers

Derek Siver’s talk is the shortest talk in this list being just about 3 minutes. But his talk is awe-inspiring.

I learned from Siver’s that:

If you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. And when you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first one to stand up and join in.

#3 The Tribes We Lead by Seth Godin

Entrepreneur and author Seth Godin shared in his talk the importance of tribes and how we can build them.

It is true what he said that what we do in this world is that we try to make a change. We improve things and make whatever is wrong, right.

But to make a change, we need a tribe. A tribe is a group of people who believe in the same thing that we believe in and wants the change that we are fighting for.

To make a change with a tribe, you don’t need large numbers of people. You just need a few who believes in what you stand for. Your tribe will grow, and together with your tribe, you will be able to make the change.

#4 There’s More to Life Than Being Happy by Emily Esfahani Smith

Emily Esfahani Smith spent 5 years researching and interviewing hundreds of people to determine what’s the meaning of life.

Instead of happiness, Esfahani Smith found that there are 4 pillars of a meaningful life:

  • Belonging
  • Purpose
  • Transcendence
  • Storytelling

#5 What Make a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness by Robert Waldinger

Dr. Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist who is part of a group of researchers who has undertaken the longest study on happiness. They followed the lives of 754 men, from privileged and underprivileged backgrounds, for 75 years.

I learned from Dr. Waldinger that there’s only one key to a happy and healthy life — good relationships.

It’s not exactly the number of friends we have that’s important, but rather the quality of our relationships.

What matters most is that we have people around us, our friends, family, or those in our community, who we have good, close and strong relationships with.

#6 What Really Matters at the End of Life by BJ Miller

Dr. BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who talked about what’s really important when somebody is at the end of their life.

From his talk, I learned that at the end of our lives, what’s most important is:

Comfort; feeling unburdened and unburdening to those they love; existential peace; and a sense of wonderment and spirituality.

I also learned from Dr. Miller the value of our senses. According to Dr. Miller:

As long as we have our senses — even just one — we have at least the possibility of accessing what makes us feel human, connected.

#7 The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers by Adam Grant

Psychologist Adam Grant showed us why we should not fear the things that we usually fear the most: procrastinating and failure. Embracing all of these can help you become an original.

I learned that procrastinating can allow you to come up with more creative ideas. Being first doesn’t really give you an advantage. What’s more important is that you have to be better and different than the first.

Grant also highlighted the importance of not fearing failure. We have to allow ourselves to try new ideas and make mistakes because making mistakes is inevitable before we can achieve success.

Rather than fearing failure, we have to fear inaction. Be afraid of the possibility that we will regret not taking a chance and not giving things a try.

#8 The Price of Shame by Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky, to this day, still has her critics and detractors. She has spent the past 20 years paying for the mistake that she admittedly made.

Lewinsky is a strong woman.

Her talk highlighted the culture of humiliation that is rampant in the internet, schools, media and even in our homes.

I learned that the only way we can stop the culture of humiliation is through compassion and empathy. Compassion and empathy have the power to save somebody else’s life.

Even in small numbers, change can happen if we are consistent over time.

#9 Do School Kill Creativity? by Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson’s talk is informative and inspirational. I would be remiss if I do not mention that this is also one hilarious talk.

Sir Robinson has the most wonderful stories that show us how important it is to pay attention to how we are educating our children.

I learned that we should teach our children to embrace taking chances and that they should not fear to be wrong. This is how children can explore their creativity and be originals. As adults, this is something that we can do ourselves.

#10 The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown

This talk really touched my heart in more ways than I expected. I learned from Brené Brown that we need to embrace our vulnerability because, without it, there is no joy and love.

I learned that our children just need to be loved and to feel that they belong. That is all they need.

I learned that we need to believe and accept that we are enough. According to Brown:

When we work from a place, I believe, that says, “I’m enough,” then we stop screaming and start listening, we’re kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we’re kinder and gentler to ourselves.

What’s your favorite TED talk?


Originally published at lifenotestofile.com on September 9, 2018.

If you enjoyed this article, I invite you to join my mailing list at Life Notes to File and follow me on Twitter.

Sigrid Chu

Written by

Ph.D. by day. Storyteller by night. Explores life lessons that inspire meaningful living. www.lifenotestofile.com

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