Accountability: TED Talks - 5 more Life Hacks

Hello!

Today I've been watching TED talks on Netflix. I'm continuing the Life Hacks series with the sequel collection.

So, what have I been watching and learning about?

Nigel Marsh: Work life balance

This talk discussed what a perfect day would look like, making us ask ourselves what we would do, if we could do anything. It raises interesting questions, if not actually giving actionable advice. Why do we work? What can we do to ensure we actually get what we want, and if we identify what we want, how can we achieve it, is it really that difficult?

Margaret Heffernan: Dare to disagree

Being a yes-man gets you nowhere. Echo chambers are not a positive thing to encounter at work, disagree and challenge what you can, but not for the sake of it. Understand what you want, and how to convey your view.

Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices

Making choices can be incredibly hard, we need to use our normative powers and agency behind the choices we make. We don't want to be drifters, we need to seize control and review what we can do, and how we will achieve it.

We need to change the way we think about choices and approach them in a positive manner.

Julian Treasure: Speak so people will listen

We have 7 ways to ensure people don't listen to us when we actually want to be heard. We need to avoid these 7 things in daily life:

• Gossip
• judging
• negativity
• complaining, viral negativity
• excuses
• embroidery/exaggeration
• lying

Instead we should all use: HAIL

• Honesty
• Authenticity
• Integrity
• Love 

Be honest, forward, confident and speak with conviction. Speak with empathy and use your full vocal range to ensure you speak when how you need to, when you need to.

Emily Balcetis: Why some people find exercise harder than others


Balcetis' talk is incredibly interesting and tries to identify how people perceive the world and how perceived vision changes a person's choices.

Perception is powerful and the way that we view the world in our heads can actually shape it. This is discourse analysis taken further and viewed from a constructivist perspective. A positive attitude really does make all the difference.

Motivated people who commit to a manageable goal can make exercise easier, being positive and motivated really does make a massive change to us mentally which can lead to greater physical changes.

Thanks for reading!
AT

Accountability: TED Talks

Hello!

As part of this sprint I've been watching some TED talks. For those that don't know what TED talks are, they are short talks, often no longer than 20 minutes where an expert in a field discusses an idea in an accessible and engaging way. The talks can be powerful, funny and interesting, taking the individual on a journey.

 

For this sprint I decided to watch 5 TED life hacks.

Instead of exhaustively documenting the talks in a boring and unengaging way, I thought the best way to share would be embedding the talks and then pulling some interesting resources to accompany them.

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

http://www.businessinsider.com/5-things-people-regret-on-their-deathbed-2013-12#ixzz3cMY5EAgF

Happiness inspires productivity! Work should promote a cohesive and positive culture, and being happy in life will lead to a more successful and fulfilling career.



The 'memory palace' and memory journey is not particularly life changing or earth shattering, as many students employ this practice to learn. However, this talk is engaging and demonstrative of how a simple idea can be used to accomplish a difficult task. Narratives are powerful learning devices!



How to start a movement? Look a bit like a weirdo but have followers! As soon as there are early adopters, you aren't a weirdo anymore. I also enjoy how this talk denounces the importance of leaders at some point, community is key.



Choice can be crippling. Why not offer less choices, but make them better? Fantastic qualitative analysis of overwhelming quantitative choices. Focussing on engagement and celebrating differences as opposed to splitting hairs.
Cut!
Concretize!
Categorise!
Condition!


Hope you enjoy these!

Cheers!
AT