The hopeless search for passion | Huu Tri Nguyen | TEDxTanDinh

After Steve Job's inspirational speech at Stanford University, the biggest search of our generation started. The search for passion. We know it is important and that we have to find it someday, but we know nothing else about it. Where is it? What does it look like? How are we supposed to find it? With a great sense of humor and experience, Mr. Huu Tri Nguyen gives us the answer to our biggest question, How do I search for my passion? We will then know what to do next.

Huu Tri Nguyen is the Founder of Awake Your Power Academy. With his passion and ambition to help Vietnamese students become more confident and skilled, he has spent over 10 years talking and training 100,000 young adults in Ho Chi Minh City. He is also the trainer of the "7 Habits Of Effective People" course at Awake Your Power Academy. Wherever he goes, he always brings positive energy and inspiring thoughts to others.

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

"Where is it? Where is it?

Everybody, look around.

Search this whole castle upside down.

Keep looking and don't stop
until you find it."

That evening, the Queen
had lost her precious necklace.

In terror, all the soldiers, the servants,
the maid were running in every corner,

and they really searched
the whole castle upside down

to look for the precious necklace.

Nothing was found.

In the end, the Queen was so furious,
everybody was so hopeless,

and just before
they were about to give up,

the little princess appeared,

and she was surprised.

So she asked,
"What happened, Mummy?"

And the Queen was so exhausted, she said,

"Somebody stole my necklace.

It can't be found."

Tilting her head a little,
the little girl asked,

"Mummy, isn't it right there
under your cheek?"

And to her greatest shock
and embarrassment,

the Queen looked down at her neck

and realized that the necklace
was there right from the beginning.

This was a very old story
that has been told for thousands of years,

suggesting to us

that maybe the answer
for our greatest search in life

probably has already been there
right from the beginning.

But then you got to be calm, not panicked,

and instead of reaching out

probably reaching back in
to rediscover it.

Well, and if that was a story
many years ago,

fling it back to our greatest search today
of this young generation.

What is our search for our generation,
the young people today?

Maybe not a stable job and income
like our parents.

Maybe not the big opportunities
working in a huge company

like our elder brothers or sisters.

This generation today,
we are searching for something deeper:

of connections.

We are searching for passions.

And this gracious search
was inspired more than 10 years ago

by a very famous man

after one very famous speech
at Stanford University.

Steve Jobs.

And in his great speech,

Steve Jobs emphasized one big lesson
for all the young people.

He said, quote,

"You've got to find what you love.

And that is as true for your work
as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill
a large part of your life,

and the only way to be truly satisfied
is to do what you believe is great work.

And the only way to do great work
is to love what you do.

If you haven't found it yet,
keep looking!

Don't settle!"

So it started the huge movement

of our generation going out
and searching for those big things:

our passions, a sense of mission.

Our generation today,
I think we desire something more.

We want to make an impact,

a social impact, a political impact,
even an environmental impact.

We want to believe that somehow
we can make a difference.

So it's a beautiful thing.

And this speech was a very inspirational,
inspiring, speech, indeed.

However, there's one big problem
with this speech.

Maybe due to time constraints,

Steve Jobs only managed
to urge the young people

to go out, to keep looking
for that passion,

for that meaningful work.

He never shared with us how to do it.

(Laughing)

Oops, now here comes the problems.

We know that we've got to find it;
it's so important, it's so precious.

We've got to find our passion in life,

but we don't know
how we're going to find it,

where we can find it.

What does it look like?

Our teacher never teach
about that in school,

and our parents don't even care.

And we were so pissed.

We were so furious.

And come on, this generation today,
we are not a simple generation.

We are what we call
the Buffalo youth generation.

(Laughing)

And this generation
has a very interesting saying.

They say, "One is get bloody,
don't ask about my daddy."

Did you know what I mean?

So this generation goes all the way out.

They really turn everything upside down
and search for that beautiful passion.

I'm seeing students drop out
from their study in school,

saying, "Not my passion."

I'm seeing young adults
quitting their day job,

saying, "Not my passion."

I see a lot of new and young graduates
don't even bother looking for jobs,

saying, "Not until I find my passion."

And they go all the way out.

They try anything,
they do everything to look for it.

And when it's not around -

they don't see it in their house,
in their school, in their office,

in their communities -

what will they do?

They put on their backpack and travel.

We really go all the way.

They climb the highest mountain;
they track the deepest forest.

They're doing yoga,
learning meditation courses,

talking to the gurus.

And seriously, I have nothing
against all those experiences.

I think it's beautiful.

As long as your parents and yourself
can afford it, and you love it, go for it.

It's beautiful.

However, it may not be the answer.

Of course, it will definitely give you
a broadened perspective about the world,

but blowing away your responsibility

and going out and watching people
living happily with their passion

might not teach you
how to find your passion.

So this generation becomes disappointed.

You couldn't find it.

Right?

And again, well, that big search -

How do I search for my passion? -

becomes the greatest puzzle
of our generation.

And I think it's a beautiful thing

that in the past 10 years

I have the opportunities
to observe, to listen, to work

with more than 100,000 young people.

And through that process, eventually,

I think finally we may find the answer

to this greatest search.

And that is the idea I want to share
right now with you -

the answer for this big question,

How do I search for my passion?

May I share it now?

(Audience) Yes.

(Applause)

All right.

(Applause)

So the answer for this big question,

How do I find my passion? is:

(Machine whirring sound)

Stop searching.

You won't find it.

(Laughing)

I know it's a little bit disappointing.

But it's a fact.

Why?

Imagine

when we human beings
were first born,

none of us was born with a passion.

Come on.

Isn't it true?

It's impossible to expect
a child, first born,

to be passionate about anything.

How could we expect him or her
to be passionate about playing guitar,

about blockchain, about yoga,
about public speaking

when they don't even know what it is?

(Applause)

When we were young

I think the only thing that we,
probably, were passionate about

is our mom's tits.

(Laughter)

That's all.

So if in the beginning
you don't have your passion in here,

how do you expect
that you can find it out there?

So if we're going out,

the chance is that you end up
copying the passions of others.

That's all.

So here comes the answer.

What if I tell you now

that the answer
has been right there with you

right from the beginning?

What if I tell you

that the answer to this big question
has been given to every child

when they were born?

It's a very powerful
instinct of any child.

Without any education,
without any learning,

they have that ability
to do something very powerful.

And in fact, it's the very emotion
that is burning right inside you right now

with all the questions in your head.

What is that ability of a child?

What is that?

(Audience) Curiosity.

Beautiful. That's right.

Curiosity.

Every child was born inquisitive,

full of curious.

And that's their instinct.

We all were born with that burning desire

to expand our understanding,
our interactions with the world around us.

That's our instinct.

And it's there right from the beginning.

That's number one: it's instinctive.

And secondly, it's all different
from one to another.

Today, if you put three children
into the same room,

you later find out

that one child would be interested
and curious about the colors, this face,

the other child would be curious
about the shapes,

you know, the technologies,

and the last one
would be crossing their arms

and watching the other two,

because he's curious about the feeling
and thinking of the other two.

(Laughing)

So how come we are curious
about very different things?

Why is it different?

Because we are all different.

We are all born different and unique.

You know, in a desire
of our brain, of our senses,

of our upbringing, of our heritage.

So I believe that your curiosity
is linked instinctively

to your very unique
and different part inside.

So that is the seed.

And when we have this seed -

when you're full
of curiosity and questions,

what would you do?

Cross your leg and wait? No.

What would you do?

You ask.

That's right - we inquire.

You know, you ask around,
you seek some more information,

you do some research.

You know, "Hey, is that girl
studying in the same class, really?"

"He's come from my hometown, really?"

"That technology,
is it available in Vietnam,

and we have the whole club
studying, experimenting it, really?"

Wow!

And then eventually,
that curiosity turns into ...

interest.

When you have more information,
you'll be interested about the matter.

And the beauty of our self-interests

is that in the minute you have
a self-interest inside,

you're full of energy.

You're full of that new positive emotion.

Remember the last time you were interested
in a new piece of technology,

maybe your latest phone,

and you just bought it?

What would you do?

You spend the whole night
playing around with it

and at 2:00 a.m. don't feel tired, right?

(Audience) Yes.

That's the energy.

That's the persistence and excitement
that I'm talking about.

Because now you're going
to need that for the next step.

When you're full of energy, excitement -
right - what are you going to do next?

You take actions.

You throw yourself into practice,

and this is the process
of nurturing this interest

into the next thing called passions.

Now, you start to love it,

practice until you fall in love with it.

And isn't it beautiful?

But this process
is easier said than done.

Right?

Well, anybody who has ever practiced
anything new would know this.

When you first start doing something,

do you feel joy, passion,
love immediately?

No.

When you first start doing something,
nobody is talented and good at anything.

Nobody is passionate about anything.

Well, in this room is there anybody
who have ever tried playing the guitar?

All right.

Then you would understand what I mean.

When you're first playing the guitar,
how would you feel?

Passionate, love, excitement?

No? Yes?

No.

You feel pain.

(Laughter)

Pure pain.

Right, when you've got to press
your finger against the steel string,

it's so painful.

You want to cry.

And how about the music that you create?

Is it beautiful?

Is it touching, moving?

No. It's horrible.

And that's a fact.

All right.

At this very point,
most people would give up

unless you're really interested
in that subject,

unless you're really interested

in that instrument, in that technology,
in that relationship.

Then you will persist.

Then you will have the energy,
the persistence, the excitement

to balance up with the pain
and disappointment.

By then you can overcome
the entry barrier of any new thing.

And then eventually, it reaches a point
where you start to enjoy playing it.

It reaches a point
when you don't feel pain anymore

and you start to create
something beautiful.

It reaches a point

where you can play your guitar
for one hour straight

and enjoy every single bit of it.

Even when you play alone.

That is called passion.

Right.

And along comes with passions,

well, you have a byproduct
of that process,

which is a new talent.

By then, through all the process
of practicing, you develop a new talent.

And what's a talent?

A talent is something
that you can do better than most people.

Not because you were born with it,

but because you are more curious,
more interested;

you deposit more energies,

more practice, more determinations,
emotion than anybody else,

and that's why you deserve
that special talent.

Well, we come to the third stage.

And now, it's very natural.

When you have that talent,

now you can play the guitar
and enjoy it, playing even on your own.

What would you naturally want to do?

(Audience) Share.

Share it, express it.

You want to sing it
to your friends, you know.

And the minute you use
your talent and your passions -

express it and touching people -

the minute you start singing your song,
playing your guitar tune

and seeing the people, the audience
that's smiling, moving into your melodies,

you realize that not only
you can enjoy playing the guitar;

you can also make
a difference to others.

That's when you realize your mission.

A mission may sound like a big word;

however, it's simply the unique difference

you can bring to others,

to your friends or your family,
to your customers, to your communities.

And this is the whole process
of nurturing your passions, your talents

and discover and connect
with your mission.

Well, so to sum it up,
I think it's that simple.

But today, instead of going out,
I would encourage you to go back

and start this whole new journey

of listening to your curiosity
and pursuing it.

You don't need to explain
about your seed, about your curiosity.

You don't need to compare it with others
to prove it is better.

And you don't need to justify it

with all the market demand,
with all the technology - no.

You have faith in your curiosity

and pursue it.

So ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to close my speech
with one simple quote

from Albert Einstein, saying,

"I have no special talents.

I am only passionately curious."

So today, I urge you guys
to go back and restart your journey.

Not to reach out but to reach in,

to listen to your purest sense
of curiosity and boldly pursue it.

So as you go back home today

and plan for your new,
unique journey of your life,

I wish all of you two things:

stay curious and stay passionate.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)