TEDx: 12 Lessons About Life Before 30 (Part 1, Why)
It’s the time of the year again when one actually sits down and look back at what’s been achieved or missed, to really consolidates them into the new-year resolution.
This year I overdid it a little bit, mainly because of a few things:
- I am turning 30 next year, it’s important for me to reflect on my values at this junction of life.
- 2018 was an amazing yet challenging year filled with breakthroughs & failures, I want to make sure these learnings are properly recorded.
- I have the honour to speak at a TEDx event in Taiwan, perfect stage was set to share what I have learned so far on my startup journey, and life in general.
Before jumping into what was shared, just wanted to run you through my thought process when preparing for the speech.
I did my first TEDx talk in 2015, titled Education is NOT the Key to Success, I was terrible at public speaking back then (maybe still am, but definitely improved), I literally froze for 30 seconds on stage (aaaaand it’s live broadcasted) because I memorised every single word of the script, my rehearsals were perfect, but apparently things always go bad when it’s actually happening.
The shame and self-disappointment drove me to invest my energy heavily into public speaking throughout the years, and I realise one key pre-requisite of it;
You have to internalise topics you are sharing, so backing your points with real-life examples would be the best way to ensure you don’t need to memorise anything, they would just flow naturally as if you are telling your friends stories that have happened to you last week.
The theme of the TEDx event was “Self-reflection”, so I decided to use “Lesson-learnt” as my topic, and bring the audience back to the day I learn about these important lessons, and how they became values of my life.
I chose to share my lessons and values not because I think they are absolutely right or they must apply to everyone, I chose to share them simply because:
- I made a lot of mistakes, and if I can do it again at my 20s, I would definitely ask people who have been through that stage what they have learnt from it, and try to avoid myself from making the same mistakes.
- These lessons-learnt got me through a lot of challenges, and I believe they will still come in handy for limitless hardships ahead, sharing might help some people.
- What I have been through and the values that come of it might just be one perspective, but it is always good to know more than less.
The 12 lessons will be about Goals, the Pursue of it, dealing with Success, and the Unfavourable, about facing Yourself, and Life.
So here comes the 12 Lessons About Life Before 30 — Go to Part 2.
