Want to be the best? Create | Osman Binnatov | TEDxSadovoeRing

Every school kid faces a challenge of choosing a profession. And every schoolkid has a lot of different interests and passions. Osman Binnatov talks about how we could combine them all and find our path in life.

Osman is a student at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and a member of a TED-Ed Club.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Well, not many people know
that I'm 16 years old.

Many of you might have been 16 once.

(Laughter)

You know, this is the age when
you're haunted by all kinds of problems.

And one of those... Let's picture my day.

You see, I cannot wake up by myself.

It's a usual morning.

My father wakes me up and says, "Osman,
good morning! What will you be?"

That's fine, okay. I'm off to the kitchen.

My dad gives me an omelet and asks,
"Osman, what will you be?"

He sees me off to school and shouts,
"Study well. What will you be?"

You know, this question
has bothered me for a while already.

In fact, it's been like this
for several years.

My father seems to have achieved his goal.
I finally began to consider his question.

It happened some years ago.

Like every teenager I decided,
what do I need parents for?

Why ask them for advice?

Why would I need a family and adults?
I went to my friend instead.

I was in 9th grade back then.

So, I came up to Kolya.
Kolya was an 11th-grader.

I go, "Kolya, you're so smart, so mature.

Maybe you could help me?
I've got this problem."

He looked gravely down at me.

"Yes, Osman, I'm smart. I can help you.

You're going to need wits, hard work,
diligence, love, and alcohol."

What? Why?

I was of course expecting the alcohol,
but my father is here,

so I'd better drop this topic.

(Laughter)

I hope you understand.

(Applause)

Then I was left with a challenge
of how to solve this problem by myself.

And the obvious solution for me was
to try and predict the future.

I think five years from now,
economists are going to be the bomb.

I'll be rich; everyone
will want to be an economist.

Everybody will need economists.
Economists will rule the world.

But how could I really know?

The world is changing so fast
that I know nothing about tomorrow.

For instance, at the age of six,
I couldn't imagine

that people would be able
to play video games

and earn money from it.

And what do we have now?
eSports, YouTube are getting bigger

and people earn
a whole lot of money from it.

Even kids go to computer clubs thinking,
"Let's play and make some money."

That's how the world's changed.

Then I thought of a second,
tentative approach - however you see it.

So I think, I have just one year
left to study.

My dad will certainly come to me
by the end of my 11th grade

and say, "Osman, here is
a one-room flat for you to live in.

We'll provide you with pickles,
some canned food; you'll be just fine."

Excellent! So what? This is great.
I won't need to sweat.

But that's not who I am, I wouldn't want
to be a burden to my parents.

I think you wouldn't either.

So for me, this is not an option.

Then there is the third way:

to do what I like doing.

In fact, this was my motto
from the 1st to the 6th grade.

(Laughter)

Do you want to know how it worked?

I'm in 1st grade, thinking,
"Aha! Basketball, basketball.

I should take up basketball. I like it."

I threw the ball once, threw it again.
A year went by, I quit.

Look, Osman, you're as short
as you've always been.

Why do you need it for?
I don't like it at all.

Screw basketball.

I decided to try music.

I'll play something on the guitar.
Life of every party and all, as they say.

So I played for a year, then another year.
Well, almost for three - and I quit.

Why do I need it for?
I lost my motivation then.

Then I took up some other sport,
swimming, I believe.

And again, quit it after a year.

This is exactly the flaw
in that method, for me.

If I keep quitting everything I take up,

everything I like now,
then it won't serve me in the future.

Every one of you has probably faced it.

I don't know about you,
but I don't have one passion in life

to stick with for good.

Then I decided that I needed
to get to the core of the problem.

And how do you do that?
By going back to your childhood.

Let's look at this little cube -
I hope everyone can see it.

Let's call it "Osman."

It's so nice and beautiful,
and it was born in 2000.

What happens to it?

Let's see, how was it again?

He became one year old, then two, three.

And what happened? He saw a TV.

He's sitting on a carpet,
like this, watching TV.

Wow, that's it!

He is watching the movie
"Toy Story" and realizes,

"This is my hero,
Buzz Lightyear! That's it!

I want to be like Buzz Lightyear,
I'll become Buzz Lightyear."

And at that moment, the little cube
of his life, the "Osman-cube," turns.

Some ten minutes pass, he's watching
the cartoon "Well, Just You Wait!"

He looks at the Wolf, at the Hare.
"I'm going to protect hares."

The cube turns once again.

Then he watches another movie,
the cube turns again.

Another movie, and the cube turns again.

It goes on like that until first grade,
when he's six years old.

The Osman cube goes to school
and hears his friend Petya say,

"Osman, basketball is cool!

They get lots of money.

Basketball players do.
Go into basketball."

I think, "Well, fine" -
and I turn the cube.

Then in ten minutes, at another break,
it hears another friend.

"No, basketball is not at all cool,
they earn less than soccer players.

Go for soccer," and the cube
turned once again.

Then his parents signed him up
for music school, and the cube turned.

It turns and turns and turns...
until he is in 11th grade.

The cube is already messed up.
I don't even know how to solve it.

And you know what scares me?
I'm in 10th grade now,

and I imagine what will happen in a year.

I'm at my prom. Everybody's happy
and all, I am wearing a suit...

And the moment comes when I hear,
"Osman, go! Go and earn some money!"

(Laughter)

Well, you're laughing now, but...

(Applause)

But what prevents a CEO in some
technology company from saying,

"Well, programmer, go, go.
Your job is extinct.

Robots do it now. Go!"

It can happen. And in that,
we are the same.

Each of us is at a point, say point A,

and is afraid that at a certain point, B,

their profession
will no longer be relevant.

I'm only 16, I've got time to experiment.

(Laughter)

(Applause) (Cheers)

That's when I thought, "Osman,
you need to come up with a genius idea.

Something so cool that you
and everybody else would like it."

And that's when I got to thinking.

Suppose, in a year or two, or maybe four,

I'll get a degree in Economics.

Do you see this side in front of you?
That will be my education in Economics.

My summa cum laude,
or maybe just cum laude, I don't know.

And if, having graduated,
I will keep working for several years

as an economist, I'll be turning
this one side all the time.

I'll keep turning and turning it
until my retirement.

That's it. And what will I do next?

I'm forgetting about this other part
of my cube that once played basketball,

the guitar, went swimming and so forth.

And a relevant topic now...

I can give you a good example
of a relevant topic at this moment.

There were these two guys some years ago,
I don't remember exactly.

They worked in, say, economics.
Economics was one of their sides.

Their other side was into neurobiology,
they were interested in it.

And another, third side,
was interested in, say, psychology.

And those guys combined
the three sides of their cubes

and created a new science, neuroeconomics,

which is now developing quite fast.

New professions and new jobs appear.

People value neuroeconomists,
they are in demand, they are needed.

And by that I wanted to show you
that instead of looking for something,

choosing a profession,
you can create your own,

where you'll use every side of your cube

with maximum efficiency.

You will live up to your full potential.

And by creating your own profession,
you will no longer need to choose.

Thank you.

(Applause)