Why you will fail to have a great career
-
0:02 - 0:06I want to discuss with you this afternoon
-
0:06 - 0:09why you're going to fail
to have a great career. -
0:09 - 0:10(Laughter)
-
0:10 - 0:12I'm an economist.
-
0:13 - 0:14I do dismal.
-
0:15 - 0:18End of the day, it's ready
for dismal remarks. -
0:19 - 0:23I only want to talk to those of you
who want a great career. -
0:23 - 0:27I know some of you have already decided
you want a good career. -
0:27 - 0:28You're going to fail, too.
-
0:28 - 0:29(Laughter)
-
0:29 - 0:32Because -- goodness,
you're all cheery about failing. -
0:32 - 0:33(Laughter)
-
0:33 - 0:35Canadian group, undoubtedly.
-
0:35 - 0:38(Laughter)
-
0:38 - 0:41Those trying to have good careers
are going to fail, -
0:41 - 0:44because, really, good jobs
are now disappearing. -
0:44 - 0:48There are great jobs and great careers,
-
0:48 - 0:50and then there are the high-workload,
-
0:50 - 0:55high-stress, bloodsucking,
soul-destroying kinds of jobs, -
0:55 - 0:57and practically nothing in-between.
-
0:57 - 0:59So people looking for good jobs
are going to fail. -
0:59 - 1:02I want to talk about those
looking for great jobs, great careers, -
1:02 - 1:05and why you're going to fail.
-
1:06 - 1:12First reason is that no matter
how many times people tell you, -
1:12 - 1:15"If you want a great career,
you have to pursue your passion, -
1:15 - 1:18you have to pursue your dreams,
you have to pursue -
1:18 - 1:21the greatest fascination in your life,"
-
1:21 - 1:25you hear it again and again,
and then you decide not to do it. -
1:25 - 1:28It doesn't matter
how many times you download -
1:28 - 1:32Steven J.'s Stanford commencement address,
-
1:32 - 1:35you still look at it
and decide not to do it. -
1:35 - 1:38I'm not quite sure
why you decide not to do it. -
1:38 - 1:40You're too lazy to do it. It's too hard.
-
1:40 - 1:43You're afraid if you look
for your passion and don't find it, -
1:43 - 1:46you'll feel like you're an idiot,
so then you make excuses -
1:46 - 1:48about why you're not going
to look for your passion. -
1:48 - 1:50They are excuses, ladies and gentlemen.
-
1:50 - 1:52We're going to go through
a whole long list -- -
1:52 - 1:57your creativity in thinking of excuses
not to do what you really need to do -
1:57 - 1:59if you want to have a great career.
-
1:59 - 2:05So, for example,
one of your great excuses is: -
2:05 - 2:06(Sigh)
-
2:06 - 2:10"Well, great careers are
really and truly, for most people, -
2:10 - 2:12just a matter of luck.
-
2:12 - 2:15So I'm going to stand around,
I'm going to try to be lucky, -
2:15 - 2:17and if I'm lucky,
I'll have a great career. -
2:17 - 2:19If not, I'll have a good career."
-
2:19 - 2:23But a good career is an impossibility,
so that's not going to work. -
2:23 - 2:24Then, your other excuse is,
-
2:24 - 2:29"Yes, there are special people
who pursue their passions, -
2:29 - 2:30but they are geniuses.
-
2:30 - 2:32They are Steven J.
-
2:32 - 2:33I'm not a genius.
-
2:33 - 2:36When I was five, I thought I was a genius,
-
2:36 - 2:40but my professors have beaten that idea
out of my head long since." -
2:40 - 2:41(Laughter)
-
2:41 - 2:46"And now I know
I am completely competent." -
2:46 - 2:49Now, you see, if this was 1950,
-
2:49 - 2:52being completely competent --
-
2:52 - 2:54that would have given you a great career.
-
2:54 - 2:55But guess what?
-
2:55 - 2:59This is almost 2012,
and saying to the world, -
2:59 - 3:02"I am totally, completely competent,"
-
3:02 - 3:06is damning yourself
with the faintest of praise. -
3:06 - 3:08And then, of course, another excuse:
-
3:08 - 3:12"Well, I would do this,
I would do this, but, but -- -
3:12 - 3:16well, after all, I'm not weird.
-
3:16 - 3:19Everybody knows that people
who pursue their passions -
3:19 - 3:20are somewhat obsessive.
-
3:20 - 3:22A little strange.
-
3:22 - 3:23Hmm? Hmm? Okay?
-
3:23 - 3:26You know, a fine line
between madness and genius. -
3:27 - 3:31"I'm not weird. I've read
Steven J.'s biography. -
3:31 - 3:35Oh my goodness --
I'm not that person. I am nice. -
3:35 - 3:36I am normal.
-
3:36 - 3:40I'm a nice, normal person,
and nice, normal people -- -
3:41 - 3:43don't have passion."
-
3:43 - 3:44(Laughter)
-
3:44 - 3:46"Ah, but I still want a great career.
-
3:46 - 3:48I'm not prepared to pursue my passion,
-
3:48 - 3:50so I know what I'm going to do,
-
3:50 - 3:52because I have a solution.
-
3:52 - 3:53I have a strategy.
-
3:53 - 3:55It's the one Mommy
and Daddy told me about. -
3:55 - 3:59Mommy and Daddy told me
that if I worked hard, -
3:59 - 4:00I'd have a good career.
-
4:01 - 4:04So, if you work hard
and have a good career, -
4:04 - 4:06if you work really, really, really hard,
-
4:06 - 4:07you'll have a great career.
-
4:07 - 4:09Doesn't that, like,
mathematically make sense?" -
4:09 - 4:11Hmm. Not.
-
4:11 - 4:13But you've managed
to talk yourself into that. -
4:13 - 4:16You know what? Here's a little secret:
-
4:16 - 4:19You want to work? You want to work
really, really, really hard? -
4:19 - 4:20You know what? You'll succeed.
-
4:20 - 4:22The world will give you the opportunity
-
4:22 - 4:26to work really, really,
really, really hard. -
4:26 - 4:29But, are you so sure
-
4:29 - 4:32that that's going to give you
a great career, -
4:32 - 4:34when all the evidence is to the contrary?
-
4:34 - 4:40So let's deal with those of you
who are trying to find your passion. -
4:40 - 4:43You actually understand
that you really had better do it, -
4:43 - 4:44never mind the excuses.
-
4:44 - 4:46You're trying to find your passion --
-
4:47 - 4:48(Sigh)
-
4:48 - 4:49and you're so happy.
-
4:50 - 4:52You found something you're interested in.
-
4:52 - 4:54"I have an interest! I have an interest!"
-
4:54 - 4:55You tell me.
-
4:55 - 4:58You say, "I have an interest!"
I say, "That's wonderful! -
4:58 - 5:01And what are you trying to tell me?"
-
5:01 - 5:02"Well, I have an interest."
-
5:02 - 5:04I say, "Do you have passion?"
-
5:04 - 5:05"I have an interest," you say.
-
5:06 - 5:08"Your interest is compared to what?"
-
5:08 - 5:10"Well, I'm interested in this."
-
5:11 - 5:14"And what about the rest
of humanity's activities?" -
5:14 - 5:16"I'm not interested in them."
-
5:16 - 5:18"You've looked at them all, have you?"
-
5:18 - 5:20"No. Not exactly."
-
5:21 - 5:23Passion is your greatest love.
-
5:23 - 5:26Passion is the thing
-
5:26 - 5:31that will help you create
the highest expression of your talent. -
5:31 - 5:33Passion, interest --
it's not the same thing. -
5:33 - 5:36Are you really going to go
to your sweetie and say, -
5:36 - 5:39"Marry me! You're interesting."
-
5:39 - 5:42(Laughter)
-
5:42 - 5:44Won't happen.
-
5:44 - 5:46Won't happen, and you will die alone.
-
5:46 - 5:47(Laughter)
-
5:47 - 5:49What you want,
-
5:49 - 5:51what you want, what you want,
-
5:51 - 5:52is passion.
-
5:53 - 5:54It is beyond interest.
-
5:54 - 5:58You need 20 interests,
and then one of them, -
5:58 - 6:00one of them might grab you,
-
6:00 - 6:02one of them might engage you
more than anything else, -
6:02 - 6:05and then you may have found
your greatest love, -
6:05 - 6:09in comparison to all the other things
that interest you, -
6:09 - 6:11and that's what passion is.
-
6:11 - 6:14I have a friend, proposed to his sweetie.
-
6:14 - 6:17He was an economically rational person.
-
6:17 - 6:20He said to his sweetie, "Let us marry.
-
6:21 - 6:24Let us merge our interests."
-
6:24 - 6:25(Laughter)
-
6:26 - 6:27Yes, he did.
-
6:27 - 6:31"I love you truly," he said.
"I love you deeply. -
6:31 - 6:35I love you more than any other woman
I've ever encountered. -
6:35 - 6:40I love you more than Mary,
Jane, Susie, Penelope, -
6:40 - 6:42Ingrid, Gertrude, Gretel --
-
6:42 - 6:44I was on a German exchange program then.
-
6:44 - 6:47I love you more than --"
-
6:47 - 6:49All right.
-
6:49 - 6:50She left the room
-
6:50 - 6:55halfway through his enumeration
of his love for her. -
6:56 - 7:00After he got over his surprise
at being, you know, turned down, -
7:00 - 7:04he concluded he'd had a narrow escape
-
7:04 - 7:07from marrying an irrational person.
-
7:08 - 7:11Although, he did make a note to himself
that the next time he proposed, -
7:11 - 7:13it was perhaps not necessary
-
7:13 - 7:18to enumerate all of the women
he had auditioned for the part. -
7:18 - 7:20(Laughter)
-
7:20 - 7:21But the point stands.
-
7:21 - 7:25You must look for alternatives
so that you find your destiny, -
7:25 - 7:28or are you afraid of the word "destiny"?
-
7:28 - 7:31Does the word "destiny" scare you?
-
7:31 - 7:32That's what we're talking about.
-
7:32 - 7:35And if you don't find
the highest expression of your talent, -
7:35 - 7:38if you settle for "interesting,"
what the hell ever that means, -
7:38 - 7:41do you know what will happen
at the end of your long life? -
7:41 - 7:45Your friends and family will be
gathered in the cemetery, -
7:45 - 7:48and there beside your gravesite
will be a tombstone, -
7:48 - 7:50and inscribed on that tombstone
-
7:50 - 7:54it will say, "Here lies
a distinguished engineer, -
7:54 - 7:56who invented Velcro."
-
7:59 - 8:02But what that tombstone should have said,
-
8:02 - 8:05in an alternative lifetime,
-
8:05 - 8:10what it should have said if it was
your highest expression of talent, -
8:10 - 8:14was, "Here lies the last
Nobel Laureate in Physics, -
8:14 - 8:18who formulated
the Grand Unified Field Theory -
8:18 - 8:21and demonstrated
the practicality of warp drive." -
8:22 - 8:24(Laughter)
-
8:24 - 8:26Velcro, indeed!
-
8:26 - 8:27(Laughter)
-
8:29 - 8:31One was a great career.
-
8:32 - 8:35One was a missed opportunity.
-
8:36 - 8:38But then, there are some of you who,
-
8:38 - 8:41in spite of all these
excuses, you will find, -
8:41 - 8:43you will find your passion.
-
8:45 - 8:47And you'll still fail.
-
8:48 - 8:51You're going to fail, because --
-
8:52 - 8:55because you're not going to do it,
-
8:55 - 8:59because you will have
invented a new excuse, -
8:59 - 9:02any excuse to fail to take action,
-
9:02 - 9:07and this excuse, I've heard so many times:
-
9:07 - 9:13"Yes, I would pursue a great career,
-
9:13 - 9:20but, I value human relationships --
-
9:20 - 9:21(Laughter)
-
9:21 - 9:23more than accomplishment.
-
9:23 - 9:26I want to be a great friend.
-
9:26 - 9:28I want to be a great spouse.
-
9:28 - 9:30I want to be a great parent,
-
9:30 - 9:32and I will not sacrifice them
-
9:32 - 9:35on the altar of great accomplishment."
-
9:37 - 9:38(Laughter)
-
9:38 - 9:39What do you want me to say?
-
9:39 - 9:42Now, do you really want
me to say now, tell you, -
9:42 - 9:45"Really, I swear I don't kick children."
-
9:45 - 9:47(Laughter)
-
9:47 - 9:50Look at the worldview
you've given yourself. -
9:50 - 9:52You're a hero no matter what.
-
9:53 - 9:56And I, by suggesting ever so delicately
-
9:56 - 9:59that you might want a great career,
must hate children. -
9:59 - 10:01I don't hate children. I don't kick them.
-
10:01 - 10:04Yes, there was a little kid
wandering through this building -
10:04 - 10:07when I came here, and no,
I didn't kick him. -
10:07 - 10:08(Laughter)
-
10:08 - 10:11Course, I had to tell him
the building was for adults only, -
10:11 - 10:13and to get out.
-
10:13 - 10:15He mumbled something about his mother,
-
10:15 - 10:19and I told him she'd probably
find him outside anyway. -
10:19 - 10:21Last time I saw him,
he was on the stairs crying. -
10:21 - 10:22(Laughter)
-
10:22 - 10:24What a wimp.
-
10:24 - 10:25(Laughter)
-
10:25 - 10:27But what do you mean?
That's what you expect me to say. -
10:27 - 10:29Do you really think it's appropriate
-
10:29 - 10:36that you should actually take
children and use them as a shield? -
10:36 - 10:38You know what will happen someday,
-
10:38 - 10:41you ideal parent, you?
-
10:42 - 10:45The kid will come to you someday and say,
-
10:45 - 10:48"I know what I want to be.
-
10:48 - 10:50I know what I'm going to do with my life."
-
10:50 - 10:51You are so happy.
-
10:51 - 10:53It's the conversation
a parent wants to hear, -
10:53 - 10:55because your kid's good in math,
-
10:55 - 10:58and you know you're going to like
what comes next. -
10:58 - 10:59Says your kid,
-
10:59 - 11:03"I have decided I want to be a magician.
-
11:03 - 11:06I want to perform
magic tricks on the stage." -
11:07 - 11:09(Laughter)
-
11:09 - 11:10And what do you say?
-
11:11 - 11:14You say, you say,
-
11:14 - 11:17"That's risky, kid.
-
11:17 - 11:20Might fail, kid. Don't make
a lot of money at that, kid. -
11:20 - 11:23I don't know, kid, you should
think about that again, kid. -
11:23 - 11:25You're so good at math, why don't you --"
-
11:25 - 11:26The kid interrupts you and says,
-
11:26 - 11:30"But it is my dream.
It is my dream to do this." -
11:30 - 11:32And what are you going to say?
-
11:32 - 11:34You know what you're going to say?
-
11:34 - 11:37"Look kid. I had a dream once, too, but --
-
11:39 - 11:40But --"
-
11:40 - 11:43So how are you going to finish
the sentence with your "but"? -
11:43 - 11:48"But. I had a dream too, once,
kid, but I was afraid to pursue it." -
11:49 - 11:51Or are you going to tell him this:
-
11:51 - 11:53"I had a dream once, kid.
-
11:55 - 11:57But then, you were born."
-
11:57 - 11:59(Laughter)
-
11:59 - 12:02(Applause)
-
12:02 - 12:07Do you really want to use your family,
-
12:07 - 12:11do you really ever want to look
at your spouse and your kid, -
12:11 - 12:13and see your jailers?
-
12:15 - 12:18There was something
you could have said to your kid, -
12:18 - 12:21when he or she said, "I have a dream."
-
12:22 - 12:24You could have said --
-
12:24 - 12:28looked the kid in the face and said,
-
12:28 - 12:30"Go for it, kid!
-
12:31 - 12:33Just like I did."
-
12:35 - 12:37But you won't be able to say that,
-
12:37 - 12:39because you didn't.
-
12:39 - 12:40So you can't.
-
12:40 - 12:42(Laughter)
-
12:45 - 12:48And so the sins of the parents
-
12:48 - 12:50are visited on the poor children.
-
12:52 - 12:58Why will you seek refuge
in human relationships -
12:58 - 13:04as your excuse not to find
and pursue your passion? -
13:05 - 13:06You know why.
-
13:06 - 13:09In your heart of hearts, you know why,
-
13:09 - 13:11and I'm being deadly serious.
-
13:11 - 13:14You know why you would get
all warm and fuzzy -
13:14 - 13:17and wrap yourself
up in human relationships. -
13:18 - 13:20It is because you are --
-
13:21 - 13:22you know what you are.
-
13:23 - 13:26You're afraid to pursue your passion.
-
13:26 - 13:28You're afraid to look ridiculous.
-
13:28 - 13:30You're afraid to try.
-
13:30 - 13:32You're afraid you may fail.
-
13:35 - 13:41Great friend, great spouse,
great parent, great career. -
13:42 - 13:45Is that not a package?
Is that not who you are? -
13:46 - 13:48How can you be one without the other?
-
13:49 - 13:51But you're afraid.
-
13:52 - 13:57And that's why you're not
going to have a great career. -
13:59 - 14:02Unless --
-
14:02 - 14:07"unless," that most evocative
of all English words -- -
14:07 - 14:08"unless."
-
14:09 - 14:14But the "unless" word is also attached
-
14:14 - 14:19to that other, most terrifying phrase,
-
14:19 - 14:21"If only I had ..."
-
14:21 - 14:24"If only I had ..."
-
14:24 - 14:29If you ever have that thought
ricocheting in your brain, -
14:29 - 14:32it will hurt a lot.
-
14:33 - 14:36So, those are the many reasons
-
14:36 - 14:38why you are going to fail
-
14:38 - 14:39to have a great career.
-
14:41 - 14:43Unless --
-
14:47 - 14:48Unless.
-
14:50 - 14:51Thank you.
-
14:51 - 14:54(Applause)
- Title:
- Why you will fail to have a great career
- Speaker:
- Larry Smith
- Description:
-
In this funny and blunt talk, Larry Smith pulls no punches when he calls out the absurd excuses people invent when they fail to pursue their passions.
(Filmed at TEDxUW.) - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:15
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 6/2/2015.