WEBVTT

00:00:06.737 --> 00:00:10.672
The slideshow is haunted,
so I'm going to just put this here -

00:00:10.672 --> 00:00:12.100
(Laughter)

00:00:12.100 --> 00:00:13.154
and just go with this.

00:00:13.154 --> 00:00:15.080
Hello, thank you so much!

00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:16.923
So, my name is Colin Wright.

00:00:16.923 --> 00:00:23.528
I am very, very fortunate
to live a very unusual lifestyle.

00:00:23.528 --> 00:00:26.498
I move to a new country
every four months

00:00:26.498 --> 00:00:28.934
and do my best to live like a local,

00:00:28.934 --> 00:00:31.912
and that country is decided on
by my blog readers,

00:00:31.912 --> 00:00:33.742
they vote on what country I move to.

00:00:33.742 --> 00:00:34.909
(Laughter)

00:00:34.909 --> 00:00:37.260
And while there, I write books -

00:00:37.263 --> 00:00:39.310
I write books for a living,
I'm an author -

00:00:39.310 --> 00:00:43.378
and I write books about travel,
and about business, and philosophy,

00:00:43.378 --> 00:00:45.739
relationships, science-fiction novels -

00:00:45.739 --> 00:00:49.364
kind of whatever is interesting
to me at the moment.

00:00:49.364 --> 00:00:53.698
And I feel very, very fortunate
to be able to pursue these interests,

00:00:53.698 --> 00:00:56.908
these many interests of mine
that I geek out about all the time,

00:00:56.908 --> 00:01:00.778
and to be able to do this for a living,
to share with other people for a living.

00:01:00.795 --> 00:01:04.356
And the reason that I'm able to do this
is not happenstance,

00:01:04.356 --> 00:01:08.647
it was a very intentionally
cultivated lifestyle.

00:01:08.647 --> 00:01:11.807
I'd like to talk to you
about that idea of intentionality,

00:01:11.807 --> 00:01:14.717
but first, I want to talk
to you about a shirt.

00:01:16.302 --> 00:01:18.351
And it's a shirt that we all have,

00:01:18.351 --> 00:01:20.995
probably, I'm guessing
most of us have this shirt.

00:01:21.225 --> 00:01:25.028
It's the shirt that,
when you wake up in the morning,

00:01:25.028 --> 00:01:28.839
and you go into your dresser, you know,
and you open up the shirt drawer,

00:01:28.839 --> 00:01:33.132
you take it out and you
look at it, maybe try it on,

00:01:33.645 --> 00:01:36.502
it doesn't quite go
with everything else that you're wearing,

00:01:36.502 --> 00:01:40.959
it's shaped a little weird,
maybe it's a little boxy, a little short,

00:01:41.449 --> 00:01:46.359
like the sleeve is a blousy, weird shape,
it doesn't quite fit you,

00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:48.556
it's not a good fit for you

00:01:48.556 --> 00:01:50.654
and what you're trying
to get out of a shirt.

00:01:50.654 --> 00:01:53.463
So you fold it back up,
and you put it back in the drawer,

00:01:53.949 --> 00:01:55.901
maybe put some other shirts on top of it,

00:01:55.901 --> 00:01:58.141
so you don't have
to deal it again for a while.

00:01:58.141 --> 00:01:59.305
(Laughter)

00:01:59.305 --> 00:02:01.345
It sucks, because it's
a really nice shirt,

00:02:01.345 --> 00:02:04.565
you spent a little bit of money on it,
but it doesn't quite fit you,

00:02:04.565 --> 00:02:09.226
and so maybe someday, maybe someday
you will wear this shirt, but not today.

00:02:09.784 --> 00:02:11.307
(Laughter)

00:02:11.307 --> 00:02:12.723
And about seven years ago,

00:02:12.723 --> 00:02:15.117
I found myself going
through that shirt routine

00:02:15.117 --> 00:02:17.544
where I go in, take out
the shirt and look at it.

00:02:18.174 --> 00:02:22.508
But on that day, I didn't follow through
with the rest of the routine.

00:02:23.010 --> 00:02:27.402
On that day, I crushed it in my hand,
said, "Not today, shirt!"

00:02:27.402 --> 00:02:28.607
(Laughter)

00:02:28.607 --> 00:02:30.298
And I threw it on the floor.

00:02:31.671 --> 00:02:32.807
What had changed?

00:02:34.157 --> 00:02:37.334
Well, I realized, on that day,
seven years ago,

00:02:37.334 --> 00:02:41.242
that I was ostensibly successful,

00:02:41.242 --> 00:02:43.110
I was doing really well professionally,

00:02:43.110 --> 00:02:45.854
I was running a branding studio
out of Los Angeles,

00:02:45.854 --> 00:02:49.274
and I was a young person
making a great deal of money

00:02:49.274 --> 00:02:51.612
and experiencing professional success.

00:02:51.612 --> 00:02:53.061
And like a lot of young people

00:02:53.061 --> 00:02:56.149
who make a great deal of money
for the first time in their lives,

00:02:56.149 --> 00:02:57.909
I bought a lot of stuff.

00:02:58.458 --> 00:03:03.157
And I filled my townhouse with stuff,
and I filled my drawers with stuff,

00:03:04.147 --> 00:03:06.727
so I had all this excess clothing.

00:03:06.727 --> 00:03:08.397
And holding up that shirt

00:03:08.397 --> 00:03:11.941
really made apparent something
that I was thinking for a while.

00:03:11.941 --> 00:03:14.614
Because I was thinking
of re-calibrating my life,

00:03:14.614 --> 00:03:15.902
to try to move away

00:03:15.902 --> 00:03:20.867
from the "work hard all the time to make
as much money as possible" lifestyle

00:03:20.867 --> 00:03:24.800
that I was enjoying in some ways,
but was not truly fulfilling,

00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.511
it wasn't allowing me
to do the things I wanted to do.

00:03:28.076 --> 00:03:30.479
I was thinking, maybe
I can figure out a lifestyle,

00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:31.758
a way that I could travel,

00:03:31.758 --> 00:03:33.837
a way that I could
go out and see the world,

00:03:33.837 --> 00:03:35.713
all these places I was hearing about.

00:03:35.713 --> 00:03:39.516
But I don't know if you know anything
about the American education system,

00:03:39.518 --> 00:03:41.516
we don't learn much about other countries.

00:03:41.516 --> 00:03:42.368
(Laughter)

00:03:42.368 --> 00:03:45.458
I was really hoping to get out,
see some of these other countries,

00:03:45.458 --> 00:03:48.881
and see the real people there
rather than what you hear on "Fox News."

00:03:48.881 --> 00:03:52.178
(Laughter)

00:03:52.178 --> 00:03:55.986
And so, I was looking at all this stuff,
and suddenly, these things that I saw

00:03:55.986 --> 00:03:58.721
as a representation
of how well I had done,

00:03:58.721 --> 00:04:00.958
seems like anchors.

00:04:01.649 --> 00:04:04.056
They were a bunch of anchors,
holding me back,

00:04:04.056 --> 00:04:06.575
because I had to do something with them,

00:04:06.575 --> 00:04:09.338
and they made sense in this space
while I was living there,

00:04:09.338 --> 00:04:10.590
but if I wanted to travel,

00:04:10.590 --> 00:04:13.017
I would have to do something
with all of this stuff.

00:04:13.017 --> 00:04:16.244
And so I was thinking, well maybe
I'll get a smaller apartment,

00:04:16.244 --> 00:04:17.582
just for the stuff.

00:04:17.903 --> 00:04:20.741
You know, my shirts and things
can have their own place,

00:04:21.051 --> 00:04:23.253
and I'll just pay for that
while I'm traveling,

00:04:23.253 --> 00:04:25.678
so there will be this weird
common stuff apartment,

00:04:25.678 --> 00:04:27.177
somewhere in the United States,

00:04:27.177 --> 00:04:28.159
as I travel.

00:04:28.159 --> 00:04:32.213
Or maybe just a storage space,
somewhere that I can keep my stuff.

00:04:32.758 --> 00:04:34.397
But looking at that shirt -

00:04:34.397 --> 00:04:39.132
this valuable shirt, it was nice, it was
a really somewhat expensive shirt -

00:04:39.813 --> 00:04:42.281
and in that moment, I felt like Pharaoh,

00:04:42.871 --> 00:04:46.133
I felt like I was burying myself
with my riches.

00:04:46.749 --> 00:04:50.186
I had all of this valuable stuff,
sitting there in my home,

00:04:50.186 --> 00:04:52.333
that I wasn't doing anything with.

00:04:52.909 --> 00:04:54.481
I wasn't using the shirt.

00:04:54.881 --> 00:04:56.972
I wasn't using
most of the stuff that I had,

00:04:56.972 --> 00:05:01.440
it was sitting there,
collecting dust, as I hoarded it

00:05:01.440 --> 00:05:03.631
so that nobody else could have it.

00:05:05.122 --> 00:05:07.120
And it only hit me just then.

00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.453
And so I crumpled the shirt,
thew it on the floor,

00:05:09.453 --> 00:05:12.194
shouted at it for some reason,
I'm not sure why -

00:05:12.194 --> 00:05:13.576
(Laughter)

00:05:13.576 --> 00:05:15.685
I was more upset with myself
than the shirt.

00:05:16.266 --> 00:05:18.468
And then I went through
the rest of my drawer.

00:05:18.664 --> 00:05:24.034
And I held up each object and said,
"Is this valuable to me?"

00:05:24.034 --> 00:05:25.442
Not "Is it just valuable?",

00:05:25.442 --> 00:05:27.765
because almost everything
is valuable to someone,

00:05:27.765 --> 00:05:29.717
"Is it valuable to me?"

00:05:29.717 --> 00:05:32.178
And in the case of my clothing,
it was really easy.

00:05:32.178 --> 00:05:35.493
I could say, "Have I worn this
in the last month?"

00:05:36.081 --> 00:05:37.865
And if not, it went on the floor.

00:05:37.865 --> 00:05:41.349
I went through the entire drawer,
pulled out all the shirts I hadn't worn,

00:05:41.349 --> 00:05:43.516
went through the next drawer,
all of my pants,

00:05:43.516 --> 00:05:46.610
went through the closets,
all of my jackets and my shoes,

00:05:46.610 --> 00:05:49.347
went through the office,
all of the computers -

00:05:49.347 --> 00:05:51.688
I had a bunch of spare computers,
for some reason.

00:05:51.688 --> 00:05:52.710
(Laughter)

00:05:52.710 --> 00:05:55.186
All the extra tools, and notebooks,
and art supplies,

00:05:55.186 --> 00:05:59.173
all of these things I went through to see
what I was actually getting value from.

00:06:00.555 --> 00:06:02.343
Very little of it.

00:06:02.963 --> 00:06:06.378
Like 95 percent of everything I owned
was there on the floor.

00:06:06.382 --> 00:06:07.823
And the pile was so big,

00:06:07.823 --> 00:06:11.682
I had to take an entire room
in my flat to store it all.

00:06:11.682 --> 00:06:15.566
I had a room full of stuff I wasn't using
that I was hoarding like Pharaoh.

00:06:17.926 --> 00:06:19.489
There is a word for this -

00:06:19.489 --> 00:06:22.309
not for hoarding, not for that,
there's many words for that,

00:06:22.309 --> 00:06:23.423
none of them good -

00:06:23.423 --> 00:06:25.443
but there's a word for what I was doing,

00:06:25.443 --> 00:06:27.559
iteratively going through my life

00:06:27.559 --> 00:06:30.350
and questioning the things
I took for granted.

00:06:31.583 --> 00:06:33.498
It's called intentionality.

00:06:33.498 --> 00:06:35.731
And intentionality, it's not a scary word,

00:06:35.731 --> 00:06:38.245
it's something that we build up,
I think, very often,

00:06:38.245 --> 00:06:40.591
but all it means is
doing things on purpose.

00:06:41.736 --> 00:06:43.892
And that does require
that you have a purpose,

00:06:43.892 --> 00:06:46.381
that you have some kind of goal,
off on the horizon.

00:06:46.669 --> 00:06:48.579
Once you have that, once you understand

00:06:48.579 --> 00:06:51.862
what you want to achieve,
where you want to go,

00:06:51.862 --> 00:06:53.604
acting intentionality just means

00:06:53.604 --> 00:06:56.480
looking at all the different aspects
of your life and saying,

00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:58.251
"Does this help me get there?"

00:07:00.818 --> 00:07:02.653
So, getting rid of those things

00:07:02.653 --> 00:07:05.845
was a step that helped me
get to where I wanted to be.

00:07:05.845 --> 00:07:09.357
And intentionality is something
that applies to all aspects of your life.

00:07:09.883 --> 00:07:14.352
When we apply it to the things,
the possessions in our lives,

00:07:14.352 --> 00:07:16.646
we tend to call this
minimalism, very often -

00:07:16.646 --> 00:07:20.064
that's kind of the common moniker
for it these days, which is great -

00:07:20.064 --> 00:07:21.932
and all minimalism is,

00:07:21.932 --> 00:07:24.649
is focusing on the core,
what's important -

00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:26.700
whatever that happens to mean to you -

00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:29.135
and getting rid of the excess,

00:07:29.135 --> 00:07:31.377
getting rid of all the stuff
that doesn't matter

00:07:31.377 --> 00:07:35.832
so that you free up more time,
energy, and resources

00:07:35.832 --> 00:07:38.248
to spend on the things that do matter.

00:07:38.248 --> 00:07:43.295
So it's a reallocation of your efforts,
and attention, and your money, basically.

00:07:43.295 --> 00:07:45.737
So if I spend less
on the things that don't matter,

00:07:45.737 --> 00:07:48.082
I have more to spend
on the things that do matter.

00:07:48.082 --> 00:07:49.739
It's an incredibly simple thing,

00:07:49.739 --> 00:07:51.879
and yet it's something
that we tend to forget

00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:55.833
because there's a lot of messages
telling us that to be someone,

00:07:55.833 --> 00:07:58.822
we have to own this thing,
we have to own this brand,

00:07:58.822 --> 00:08:02.965
we have to stand with this group
and be represented by this tribe.

00:08:03.616 --> 00:08:05.119
And it's obviously not true,

00:08:05.119 --> 00:08:06.843
we're never more ourselves

00:08:06.843 --> 00:08:09.354
than when we're buying
and surrounding ourselves

00:08:09.354 --> 00:08:12.318
with exactly the things that serve us,

00:08:12.318 --> 00:08:14.907
that give us value
and nothing more than that.

00:08:15.387 --> 00:08:16.845
But that's not very lucrative

00:08:16.845 --> 00:08:20.094
for these companies that have things
that they want to sell a lot of.

00:08:20.094 --> 00:08:24.142
So you have to pay a lot of attention
and really focus on intentionality

00:08:24.142 --> 00:08:27.101
in order to remember this
as you're making purchases.

00:08:28.285 --> 00:08:31.698
Now, the same thing
applies to relationships.

00:08:32.209 --> 00:08:35.263
And this is something that a lot of us
don't think of, like ever,

00:08:35.263 --> 00:08:37.243
because it's not polite, frankly.

00:08:37.243 --> 00:08:38.546
(Laughter)

00:08:38.546 --> 00:08:40.751
Because, just as
intentionality with your stuff

00:08:40.751 --> 00:08:42.764
means going through
your things and saying,

00:08:42.764 --> 00:08:46.494
"Which of these is valuable,
and which of them is dead-weight?",

00:08:48.094 --> 00:08:51.189
going through your relationships
and doing the same

00:08:51.189 --> 00:08:52.810
means looking at them and saying,

00:08:52.810 --> 00:08:56.763
"Which of these is the most vitally
important relationships in my life?

00:08:57.303 --> 00:08:59.466
Which of these is just good?"

00:08:59.865 --> 00:09:03.034
You know, friendships
and relationships of convenience,

00:09:03.034 --> 00:09:04.735
the person you sit next to at work,

00:09:04.735 --> 00:09:06.504
that you happen to go to school with,

00:09:06.504 --> 00:09:08.233
who happens to live next door -

00:09:08.233 --> 00:09:09.905
valuable relationships,

00:09:09.905 --> 00:09:12.732
maybe not the things
that should have all of your time,

00:09:12.732 --> 00:09:15.873
they're great in context,
but these are not your best friends,

00:09:15.873 --> 00:09:18.938
these are not your significant others,
these are not your family.

00:09:19.937 --> 00:09:23.220
And then there is
those relationships that drain us,

00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:26.047
that are actually
net-negatives on our lives,

00:09:26.047 --> 00:09:28.139
and we tend to invest a lot in these

00:09:28.139 --> 00:09:31.722
because it's not polite
to step out of a friendship,

00:09:32.442 --> 00:09:35.661
to step away from a family member,
to give them less of your time

00:09:35.661 --> 00:09:38.064
if they are actively harmful
to you and your life,

00:09:38.064 --> 00:09:39.664
if they are a toxic relationship.

00:09:40.094 --> 00:09:43.010
Being intentional
with your relationships, though,

00:09:43.010 --> 00:09:45.845
it means really being
truthful with yourself and saying,

00:09:45.845 --> 00:09:50.897
"Is this a person who deserves more
of my time, and intention, and energy?"

00:09:52.055 --> 00:09:53.017
Do they?

00:09:53.422 --> 00:09:55.052
And if not, if the answer is no,

00:09:55.052 --> 00:09:58.418
free up that time, take it and give it
to the people who truly do,

00:09:58.418 --> 00:10:02.455
the people who really add to your life,
who really make you feel better,

00:10:02.455 --> 00:10:04.403
who help you get to where you want to be.

00:10:05.181 --> 00:10:09.078
That's the root of intentionality,
it's doing it on purpose,

00:10:09.078 --> 00:10:12.295
forming relationships
and maintaining relationships on purpose,

00:10:12.295 --> 00:10:16.282
and making sure those really, really
truly valuable people in your life

00:10:16.282 --> 00:10:18.627
get the attention from you
that they deserve.

00:10:20.008 --> 00:10:21.597
Now, the same applies to work.

00:10:21.597 --> 00:10:23.993
This is also a very
unpopular thing to say.

00:10:25.280 --> 00:10:28.353
Because we judge our work
and our success within work

00:10:28.353 --> 00:10:32.506
based on usually just one metric:
how much money are you making?

00:10:33.328 --> 00:10:37.921
That's what shows if you're successful,
the family's proud of you,

00:10:37.921 --> 00:10:40.636
but really, at the end of the day,
that's just one metric.

00:10:40.636 --> 00:10:41.808
Money is great!

00:10:41.808 --> 00:10:43.557
I mean, I'm not anti-money.

00:10:43.557 --> 00:10:47.034
You need it, you need to have a roof
over your head, food on your table,

00:10:47.034 --> 00:10:51.641
to provide a basic level of security
for yourself and the people around you,

00:10:52.012 --> 00:10:57.549
but if you're acting intentionaly,
if you're doing work on purpose,

00:10:57.549 --> 00:10:59.955
that means that you're looking at
that bigger goal,

00:10:59.955 --> 00:11:02.227
that place that you want to be,

00:11:02.227 --> 00:11:05.567
and questionning every choice
that you make within your profession,

00:11:06.232 --> 00:11:09.341
saying, "Does this help me get
to that place where I want to be?

00:11:09.341 --> 00:11:12.783
That place where I am more myself
than I have ever been before,

00:11:12.783 --> 00:11:15.880
where I'm incredibly happy,
where I'm fulfilled on a deeper level,

00:11:15.880 --> 00:11:18.302
and I feel like I'm doing work
that is valuable,

00:11:18.302 --> 00:11:22.692
not just to me in the paychecks' sense,
but to somebody beyond me,

00:11:22.692 --> 00:11:24.783
I feel like I'm contributing in some way."

00:11:26.647 --> 00:11:28.481
And once you're able to question that,

00:11:28.481 --> 00:11:32.746
you've looked at the three core
components of a healthy lifestyle -

00:11:32.746 --> 00:11:34.777
and each and everyone of us

00:11:34.778 --> 00:11:37.812
has a different idea
of what the ideal lifestyle is,

00:11:37.812 --> 00:11:40.683
a different idea of the people
that we want in our lives,

00:11:40.683 --> 00:11:43.351
the things that we want to have
surrounding us,

00:11:43.351 --> 00:11:47.755
because if you buy the right things,
things actually can earn you happiness,

00:11:47.755 --> 00:11:50.451
money can buy happiness
if you buy the right things -

00:11:50.451 --> 00:11:54.458
the people in our lives
and the work that we do day-to-day.

00:11:54.778 --> 00:11:57.797
These are all things that,
when in aggregate,

00:11:57.797 --> 00:12:01.117
allow us to live a lifestyle
that when you look at it, it's you;

00:12:01.117 --> 00:12:03.613
this is something that represents me.

00:12:04.254 --> 00:12:07.329
The lifestyle that I live,
the incredibly bizarre lifestyle

00:12:07.329 --> 00:12:10.154
where I travel around
and write all kinds of books,

00:12:10.154 --> 00:12:12.666
my readers vote on where I go,
what's that about?

00:12:13.666 --> 00:12:16.797
It's strange, but it looks just like me!

00:12:16.797 --> 00:12:19.182
And the people who know me well
look at it and say,

00:12:19.182 --> 00:12:22.054
"Oh yeah, that's totally Colin!
That makes perfect sense."

00:12:22.594 --> 00:12:24.311
And ideally, each and everyone of us

00:12:24.311 --> 00:12:26.638
can look at our lives
and say the same thing.

00:12:27.319 --> 00:12:30.084
These people I surround myself with,
this stuff that I own,

00:12:30.084 --> 00:12:31.595
this work that I'm doing,

00:12:31.595 --> 00:12:34.812
this is an accurate
representation of who I am.

00:12:36.091 --> 00:12:37.680
That's the ideal.

00:12:38.558 --> 00:12:40.822
And each and everyone of us
should be proud

00:12:40.822 --> 00:12:45.322
to have our own individual path
toward that greater goal,

00:12:45.322 --> 00:12:46.854
toward that purpose.

00:12:49.375 --> 00:12:53.111
When you start
to live your life intentionaly,

00:12:53.111 --> 00:12:55.294
it can look a little weird to people.

00:12:55.838 --> 00:12:58.438
You're getting rid of your stuff, maybe.

00:12:59.107 --> 00:13:01.136
It looks very strange to some people.

00:13:01.136 --> 00:13:04.419
You may be buying more intentionaly,
buying fewer things,

00:13:04.419 --> 00:13:06.652
hanging out with fewer people -

00:13:07.361 --> 00:13:10.165
that can be a little bit awkward
to have that discussion -

00:13:10.367 --> 00:13:12.760
and maybe taking on work
that isn't just lucrative,

00:13:12.760 --> 00:13:14.160
it's not earning you as much,

00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:16.657
it doesn't have the same
prestigious job title.

00:13:17.246 --> 00:13:19.922
At the end of the day,
you may experience some push-back,

00:13:19.922 --> 00:13:22.307
people may try to dissuade you

00:13:22.307 --> 00:13:24.812
from moving in the direction
that you want to move in.

00:13:24.812 --> 00:13:26.260
And that's okay, you know.

00:13:26.260 --> 00:13:28.368
These are not people
who are horrible people,

00:13:28.368 --> 00:13:31.183
these are people that are actually
very well-meaning people,

00:13:31.183 --> 00:13:34.916
because if you look at the standard path
that we're offered,

00:13:34.916 --> 00:13:36.965
pretty much from birth up until we die,

00:13:36.965 --> 00:13:40.735
this is the path, this is where you start,
and then you do this, this, and this,

00:13:40.735 --> 00:13:43.987
and then victory, you end up
at that finish line, at some point.

00:13:44.131 --> 00:13:48.333
That path is like a great big highway,
it's an autobahn, okay?

00:13:48.333 --> 00:13:51.381
It's well paved, it's well-lit,
there's a lot of signs everywhere

00:13:51.381 --> 00:13:53.986
telling you exactly
how to get there, to this goal.

00:13:54.328 --> 00:13:57.135
And if you start moving
toward a different goal,

00:13:57.135 --> 00:14:00.316
you've moved off that well-lit path,
maybe there's potholes,

00:14:00.316 --> 00:14:03.671
maybe it's not paved,
maybe it's like a little goat road,

00:14:03.671 --> 00:14:05.694
like, you're just swerving off to the side,

00:14:05.694 --> 00:14:09.839
very few people are taking this,
so they don't even bother to put up signs.

00:14:10.359 --> 00:14:14.222
Maybe your lifestyle choice is so obscure,
nobody's done it before,

00:14:14.222 --> 00:14:16.738
and so you're like carving your way
through the woods

00:14:16.738 --> 00:14:18.403
to try to get to some unknown path.

00:14:18.403 --> 00:14:21.112
And so the people in your life
will look at that and say,

00:14:21.112 --> 00:14:23.650
"What the actual hell are they doing?

00:14:23.650 --> 00:14:24.887
(Laughter)

00:14:24.887 --> 00:14:29.008
I'm concerned for them!
Where will they end up?

00:14:29.008 --> 00:14:31.206
There's so many risks
associated with this."

00:14:31.206 --> 00:14:32.703
And they're totally right!

00:14:32.703 --> 00:14:34.592
Because people who care about you,

00:14:34.592 --> 00:14:37.741
they want more than anything else
for you to be happy and secure.

00:14:38.851 --> 00:14:40.812
And when you start acting intentionaly,

00:14:40.812 --> 00:14:43.338
when you start questioning
everything in your life

00:14:44.148 --> 00:14:47.024
and living on purpose, your purpose,

00:14:47.429 --> 00:14:51.303
it can look very unsecure,
it can be less structurally stable,

00:14:51.303 --> 00:14:53.600
so it makes sense
that they would question that,

00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:55.789
and that they should question
what you're doing

00:14:55.789 --> 00:14:57.560
and give you that valuable feedback.

00:14:58.725 --> 00:15:01.619
But at the end of the day,
all you can do to convince them,

00:15:01.619 --> 00:15:04.431
to show them that this is something
that's important to you,

00:15:04.431 --> 00:15:06.641
that you're not going to take
ridiculous risks,

00:15:06.641 --> 00:15:09.576
you're just trying to be happy,
you're trying to be more you,

00:15:09.851 --> 00:15:12.029
is to show them the benefits,

00:15:12.497 --> 00:15:14.480
tell them what you're up to, certainly,

00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.647
but then show them
with the way that you live,

00:15:16.647 --> 00:15:19.555
that you are happy,
that you're making smart decisions,

00:15:19.555 --> 00:15:22.231
that this is something
that allows you to feel fulfilled

00:15:22.231 --> 00:15:24.735
in a way that that highway never could.

00:15:26.604 --> 00:15:29.452
And if they don't get it, that's okay.

00:15:30.255 --> 00:15:33.634
Everybody has a different path,
they have theirs and you have yours.

00:15:35.052 --> 00:15:38.504
And try to forgive,
don't hold it against them.

00:15:38.504 --> 00:15:42.054
Not everybody has the opportunity
to take that step back,

00:15:42.054 --> 00:15:44.716
and look at their life,
and then question everything.

00:15:44.716 --> 00:15:48.871
It's not a luxury
that all of us are afforded.

00:15:51.086 --> 00:15:56.170
But whichever direction you start heading,
whichever life choice you make,

00:15:56.170 --> 00:16:00.043
do your best to be happy,
do your best to be fulfilled,

00:16:00.043 --> 00:16:03.759
do your best to lay signs for other people
who might follow behind you

00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:05.451
so that they can do the same.

00:16:06.208 --> 00:16:11.434
And ultimately, however you live,
do your best to live on purpose.

00:16:11.434 --> 00:16:12.474
Thank you very much.

00:16:12.474 --> 00:16:15.937
(Applause)