Tag: TED

Quote of the Day


“Inspiration and growth only come from adversity and from challenge — from stepping away from what’s comfortable and familiar and stepping out into the unknown.” — Ben Saunders, Why bother leaving the house?

Size Doesn’t Matter

I learned a lot from this talk.

It’s not the importance of the choice that makes it difficult, it’s the lack of a clear-cut decision:
“What makes a choice hard is the way the alternatives relate. In any easy choice, one alternative is better than the other. In a hard choice, one alternative is better in some ways, the other alternative is better in other ways, and neither is better than the other overall.
…
Hard choices are hard not because of us or our ignorance; they’re hard because there is no best option.”
This explains why a shopping trip can be so tiring.

The best part of the talk was understanding the value of the choices made:
“When we choose between options that are on a par, we can do something really rather remarkable. We can put our very selves behind an option. Here’s where I stand. Here’s who I am. I am for banking. I am for chocolate donuts. This response in hard choices is a rational response, but it’s not dictated by reasons given to us. Rather, it’s supported by reasons created by us. When we create reasons for ourselves to become this kind of person rather than that, we wholeheartedly become the people that we are. You might say that we become the authors of our own lives.

So when we face hard choices, we shouldn’t beat our head against a wall trying to figure out which alternative is better. There is no best alternative.”
This makes choosing easier and something to look forward to — an opportunity to  make a statement about who I am.

Quote of the Day

“The fact that we are different doesn’t mean that one of us is wrong — it just means that there’s a different kind of right.” — Faith Jegede

The fact that we are different doesn't mean that one of us is wrong — it just means that there's a different kind of right.

“The fact that we are different doesn’t mean that one of us is wrong — it just means that there’s a different kind of right.” — Faith Jegede, What I’ve learned from my autistic brothers

Entitled and Deserving

I expected behavioural changes in the rigged monopoly game. This is in-line with the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Roles affect behaviour. The plus for me was the circular relationship I saw between entitlement and the need to justify achievements.

Paul Piff shows that people with money feel they deserve it.  When we have success, we need to justify it; Our mind finds an answer. The answer tells us we deserve our success: “I earned it, I want to hang on to it and I am better than the less successful.”

Related:
Stanford prison experiment (wikipedia.org)
Paul Piff: Does money make you mean? (ted.com)

Quote of the Day

“I’ve been shot down so many times I get altitude sickness just from standing up for myself.” — Shane Koyczan

I've been shot down so many times I get altitude sickness just from standing up for myself.

“I’ve been shot down so many times I get altitude sickness just from standing up for myself.” — Shane Koyczan, To This Day … for the bullied and beautiful