0:00:10.134,0:00:11.454
By a show of hands.

0:00:11.454,0:00:15.019
How many of you believe you[br]could replicate this image of Brad Pitt

0:00:15.019,0:00:17.535
with just a pencil and piece of paper?

0:00:17.964,0:00:20.464
Well, I'm going to show you[br]how to do this.

0:00:21.151,0:00:22.281
And in so doing,

0:00:22.281,0:00:24.591
I'm going to give you the skill necessary

0:00:24.591,0:00:27.207
to become a world-class artist.

0:00:27.207,0:00:30.067
And it shouldn't take[br]more than about 15 seconds.

0:00:30.459,0:00:31.839
But before I do that,

0:00:31.839,0:00:34.620
how many of you believe[br]you could replicate this image

0:00:34.620,0:00:36.180
of a solid gray square?

0:00:36.180,0:00:37.242
(Laughter)

0:00:37.242,0:00:38.512
Every one of us.

0:00:38.512,0:00:40.250
And if you can make one gray square,

0:00:40.250,0:00:43.270
you can make two, three, nine ...

0:00:43.270,0:00:44.623
Truth of the matter is,

0:00:44.623,0:00:46.543
if you could made just one gray square,

0:00:46.543,0:00:48.597
it'd be very difficult to argue

0:00:48.597,0:00:52.139
that you couldn't make[br]every gray square necessary

0:00:52.139,0:00:54.499
to replicate the image in its entirety.

0:00:55.245,0:00:56.545
And there you have it.

0:00:56.545,0:01:00.458
I've just given you the skills necessary[br]to become a world-class artist.

0:01:00.458,0:01:01.638
(Laughter)

0:01:01.638,0:01:03.128
I know what you're thinking.

0:01:03.128,0:01:04.344
"That's not real art,

0:01:04.344,0:01:07.019
certainly wouldn't make me[br]a world-class artist."

0:01:07.552,0:01:09.962
So let me introduce you to Chuck Close.

0:01:09.962,0:01:14.272
He's one of the highest-earning artists[br]in the entire world, for decades,

0:01:14.272,0:01:17.367
he creates his art[br]using this exact technique.

0:01:18.167,0:01:20.187
You see, what stands between us

0:01:20.187,0:01:23.097
and achieving even[br]our most ambitious dreams

0:01:23.097,0:01:27.097
has far less to do with possessing[br]some magical skill or talent,

0:01:27.592,0:01:30.472
and far more to do with[br]how we approach problems

0:01:30.472,0:01:32.472
and make decisions to solve them.

0:01:33.193,0:01:35.953
And because of the continuous[br]and compounding nature

0:01:35.953,0:01:38.092
of all those millions of decisions

0:01:38.092,0:01:40.332
that we face on a regular basis,

0:01:40.332,0:01:42.752
even a marginal improvement in our process

0:01:43.364,0:01:45.774
can have a huge impact on our end results.

0:01:45.774,0:01:47.324
And I'll prove this to you

0:01:47.324,0:01:49.939
by taking a look at[br]the career of Novak Djokovic.

0:01:50.336,0:01:51.586
Back in 2004,

0:01:51.586,0:01:54.126
when he first became[br]a professional tennis player,

0:01:54.126,0:01:56.473
he was ranked 680th in the world.

0:01:56.794,0:01:58.984
It wasn't until the end of his third year

0:01:58.984,0:02:02.914
that he jumped up[br]to be ranked third in the world.

0:02:02.914,0:02:06.663
He went from making 250,000 a year[br]to 5 million a year,

0:02:07.144,0:02:08.314
in prize money alone,

0:02:08.314,0:02:11.594
and of course, he did this[br]by winning more matches.

0:02:11.594,0:02:15.634
In 2011, he became the number one[br]ranked men's tennis player in the world,

0:02:15.634,0:02:19.804
started earning an average[br]of 14 million a year in prize money alone

0:02:19.804,0:02:23.114
and winning a dominating[br]90% of his matches.

0:02:23.114,0:02:25.394
Now, here's what's really interesting

0:02:25.394,0:02:28.444
about all of these very[br]impressive statistics.

0:02:28.444,0:02:31.134
Novak doesn't control any of them.

0:02:31.134,0:02:34.464
What he does control[br]are all the tiny little decisions

0:02:34.464,0:02:37.101
that he needs to make[br]correctly along the way

0:02:37.101,0:02:40.011
in order to move the probability

0:02:40.011,0:02:43.251
in favor of him achieving[br]these types of results.

0:02:43.251,0:02:46.684
And we can quantify and track[br]his progress in this area

0:02:46.684,0:02:49.914
by taking a look at the percentage[br]of points that he wins.

0:02:49.914,0:02:51.124
Because in tennis

0:02:51.124,0:02:54.728
the typical point involves[br]one to maybe three decisions,

0:02:55.116,0:02:58.557
I like to refer to this[br]as his decision success rate.

0:02:58.557,0:03:03.656
So, back when he was winning[br]about 49% of the matches he was playing,

0:03:03.656,0:03:06.996
he was winning about 49%[br]of the points he played.

0:03:06.996,0:03:09.347
Then to jump up,[br]become number three in the world,

0:03:09.347,0:03:11.779
and actually earn[br]five million dollars a year

0:03:11.779,0:03:13.379
for swinging a racquet,

0:03:13.379,0:03:15.801
he had to improve[br]his decision success rate

0:03:15.801,0:03:17.565
to just 52 percent.

0:03:18.502,0:03:20.416
Then to become not just number one

0:03:20.416,0:03:23.759
but maybe one of the greatest players[br]to ever play the game,

0:03:23.759,0:03:26.099
he had to improve[br]his decision success rate

0:03:26.099,0:03:28.186
to just 55 percent.

0:03:28.186,0:03:30.254
And I keep using this word "just."

0:03:30.254,0:03:32.353
I don't want to imply this is easy to do,

0:03:32.353,0:03:33.505
clearly, it's not.

0:03:33.505,0:03:36.745
But the type of marginal improvements[br]that I'm talking about

0:03:36.745,0:03:40.805
are easily achievable[br]by every single one of us in this room.

0:03:40.805,0:03:42.790
And I'll show you what I mean.

0:03:43.674,0:03:47.577
From kindergarten, all the way[br]through to my high school graduation -

0:03:47.577,0:03:49.977
yes, that's high school[br]graduation for me -

0:03:49.977,0:03:51.118
(Laughter)

0:03:51.118,0:03:54.441
every one of my report cards[br]basically said the same thing:

0:03:54.441,0:03:56.558
Steven is a very bright young boy,

0:03:56.558,0:03:59.490
if only he would just[br]settle down and focus.

0:04:00.252,0:04:03.212
What they didn't realize was I wanted that

0:04:03.212,0:04:05.631
even more than they wanted it for me,

0:04:05.631,0:04:06.812
I just couldn't.

0:04:07.371,0:04:11.251
And so, from kindergarten[br]straight through the 2nd year of college,

0:04:11.251,0:04:15.321
I was a really consistent C, C- student.

0:04:15.321,0:04:17.011
But then going into my junior year,

0:04:17.011,0:04:18.342
I'd had enough.

0:04:18.342,0:04:19.961
I thought I want to make a change.

0:04:19.961,0:04:21.984
I'm going to make a marginal adjustment,

0:04:21.984,0:04:24.923
and I'm going to stop being a spectator[br]of my decision-making

0:04:24.923,0:04:27.828
and start becoming an active participant.

0:04:27.828,0:04:29.548
And so, that year,

0:04:29.548,0:04:31.682
instead of pretending, again,

0:04:31.682,0:04:34.784
that I would suddenly be able[br]to settle down and focus on things

0:04:34.784,0:04:37.353
for more than five[br]or ten minutes at a time,

0:04:37.353,0:04:39.883
I decided to assume I wouldn't.

0:04:40.464,0:04:44.503
And so, if I wanted to achieve[br]the type of outcome that I desire -

0:04:44.503,0:04:46.048
doing well in school -

0:04:46.048,0:04:48.974
I was going to actually[br]have to change my approach.

0:04:48.974,0:04:51.204
And so I made a marginal adjustment.

0:04:51.204,0:04:54.993
If I would get an assignment,[br]let's say, read five chapters in a book,

0:04:54.993,0:04:56.904
I wouldn't think of it as five chapters,

0:04:56.904,0:04:58.903
I wouldn't even think of it[br]as one chapter.

0:04:58.903,0:05:02.754
I would break it down into these tasks[br]that I could achieve,

0:05:02.754,0:05:06.683
that would require me to focus[br]for just five or ten minutes at a time.

0:05:06.683,0:05:08.652
So, maybe three or four paragraphs.

0:05:08.652,0:05:09.523
That's it.

0:05:09.523,0:05:12.973
I would do that and when I was done[br]with those five or ten minutes,

0:05:12.973,0:05:13.985
I would get up.

0:05:13.985,0:05:16.108
I'd go shoot some hoops,[br]do a little drawing,

0:05:16.108,0:05:18.272
maybe play video games for a few minutes,

0:05:18.272,0:05:19.852
and then I come back.

0:05:19.852,0:05:21.722
Not necessarily to the same assignment,

0:05:21.722,0:05:24.415
not even necessarily to the same subject,

0:05:24.415,0:05:28.584
but just to another task that required[br]just five to ten minutes of my attention.

0:05:28.904,0:05:30.484
From that point forward,

0:05:30.484,0:05:32.232
all the way through to graduation,

0:05:32.232,0:05:35.048
I was a straight-A student, Dean's List,

0:05:35.048,0:05:37.889
President's Honor Roll, every semester.

0:05:37.889,0:05:41.590
I then went on to one of the top[br]graduate programs in the world

0:05:41.590,0:05:43.530
for finance and economics.

0:05:43.530,0:05:45.850
Same approach, same results.

0:05:46.550,0:05:48.298
So then, I graduate.

0:05:48.298,0:05:50.465
I start my career and I'm thinking,

0:05:50.465,0:05:52.300
this worked really well for me.

0:05:52.300,0:05:54.720
You know, you take these big concepts,

0:05:54.720,0:05:57.330
these complex ideas,[br]these big assignments,

0:05:57.330,0:06:00.635
you break them down[br]too much more manageable tasks,

0:06:00.635,0:06:01.815
and then along the way,

0:06:01.815,0:06:04.044
you make a marginal[br]improvement to the process

0:06:04.044,0:06:06.538
that ups the odds[br]of success in your favor.

0:06:06.538,0:06:09.023
I'm going to try and do this in my career.

0:06:09.023,0:06:10.126
So I did.

0:06:10.126,0:06:13.695
I started out as an exotic[br]derivatives trader for credit Swiss.

0:06:13.695,0:06:16.625
It then led me to be global head[br]of currency option trading

0:06:16.625,0:06:17.985
for Bank of America,

0:06:17.985,0:06:21.156
global head of emerging markets[br]for AIG international.

0:06:21.156,0:06:23.657
It helped me deliver top-tier returns

0:06:23.657,0:06:27.124
as a global macro hedge fund[br]manager for 12 years

0:06:27.124,0:06:31.485
and to become founder and CIO[br]of two award-winning hedge funds.

0:06:31.966,0:06:33.904
So it gets to 2001,

0:06:33.904,0:06:37.146
and I'm thinking, this whole idea,

0:06:37.146,0:06:39.001
it worked really well in school,

0:06:39.001,0:06:41.681
it's been serving me well[br]as a professional,

0:06:42.168,0:06:44.715
why aren't I applying this[br]in my personal life,

0:06:44.715,0:06:47.915
like to all those big ambitious goals[br]I have for myself?

0:06:48.811,0:06:50.481
So one day, I'm walking to work,

0:06:50.481,0:06:52.699
and at the time my commute

0:06:52.699,0:06:56.238
was a walk from one end[br]of Hyde Park to the other, in London.

0:06:56.238,0:06:59.958
It took me about 45 minutes each way,

0:06:59.958,0:07:03.039
an hour and a half a day,[br]seven and a half hours a week,

0:07:03.039,0:07:06.109
30 hours a month, 360 hours a year,

0:07:06.109,0:07:10.040
when I was awake, aware,[br]basically wasting time,

0:07:10.616,0:07:12.736
listening to music on my iPod.

0:07:13.126,0:07:16.688
So on my way home from work that day[br]I stopped at the store.

0:07:16.688,0:07:21.034
I picked up the first 33 CDs[br]in the Pimsleur German language program,

0:07:21.034,0:07:23.425
ripped them and put them onto my iPod.

0:07:23.425,0:07:25.295
But I didn't stop there.

0:07:25.295,0:07:28.705
Because the truth of the matter is,[br]I'm an undisciplined person.

0:07:28.705,0:07:31.158
And I knew that at some point,

0:07:31.158,0:07:34.948
I'd switch away from the language[br]and go back to the music.

0:07:34.948,0:07:38.316
So I removed that temptation[br]by removing all of the music.

0:07:38.956,0:07:41.086
That left me with just one option:

0:07:41.086,0:07:43.137
listen to the language tapes.

0:07:43.137,0:07:46.193
So ten months later,[br]I'd listened to all 99 CDs

0:07:46.193,0:07:47.866
in the German language program,

0:07:47.866,0:07:50.097
listened to each one three times each.

0:07:50.097,0:07:53.866
And I went to Berlin for a 16-day[br]intensive German course.

0:07:54.586,0:07:57.868
When I was done, I invited my wife[br]and kids to meet me.

0:07:57.868,0:07:59.136
We walked around the city.

0:07:59.136,0:08:02.816
I spoke German to the Germans,[br]they spoke German back to me.

0:08:02.816,0:08:04.799
My kids were amazed.

0:08:04.799,0:08:06.069
(Laughter)

0:08:06.069,0:08:08.988
I mean they couldn't close their jaws.

0:08:08.988,0:08:11.099
But you and I, we know,

0:08:11.099,0:08:14.700
there is actually nothing amazing[br]about what I've just done.

0:08:14.700,0:08:17.910
I made this marginal adjustment[br]to my daily routine.

0:08:17.910,0:08:21.276
This marginal adjustment to my process.

0:08:21.276,0:08:24.251
(German) Und jetzt, ich spreche[br]ein bisschen Deutsch.

0:08:24.741,0:08:26.821
And now I could speak some German.

0:08:27.801,0:08:30.591
And so in that moment, I'm thinking,

0:08:30.591,0:08:34.112
it's not supposed to be this easy[br]for a guy like me - an old guy -

0:08:34.112,0:08:35.400
to learn a new language.

0:08:35.400,0:08:37.512
You're supposed to do that[br]when you're a kid.

0:08:37.512,0:08:39.023
And yet here I had done it.

0:08:39.023,0:08:40.943
This marginal adjustment.

0:08:40.943,0:08:44.061
So what other big ambitious goals[br]I've been holding onto,

0:08:44.061,0:08:46.599
putting off until retirement,

0:08:46.599,0:08:48.742
that I could potentially achieve

0:08:48.742,0:08:51.593
if I just made a marginal[br]adjustment to my routine?

0:08:51.593,0:08:53.279
So I started doing them.

0:08:53.279,0:08:55.547
I earned my auto racing license.

0:08:56.417,0:08:59.012
I learned how to fly a helicopter,

0:08:59.012,0:09:01.691
did rock-climbing, skydiving.

0:09:01.691,0:09:04.188
I learned how to fly planes aerobatically.

0:09:04.188,0:09:07.523
Well, if you're like me, back in 2007,

0:09:07.523,0:09:09.492
you might have the same goal I had.

0:09:09.492,0:09:11.777
I was just moving back from London.

0:09:11.777,0:09:15.023
I was about 25 pounds overweight[br]and out of shape,

0:09:15.023,0:09:16.801
and I wanted to rectify that.

0:09:17.211,0:09:18.892
So I could go to the typical route,

0:09:18.892,0:09:22.225
you know, I could write a check[br]to a gym I'd never go to.

0:09:22.225,0:09:25.294
Or I could swear to myself[br]that I will never again

0:09:25.294,0:09:27.092
eat those foods that I love

0:09:27.092,0:09:29.282
but are doing all the damage.

0:09:29.282,0:09:34.149
And I knew that going that route[br]rarely results in the outcome you desire.

0:09:34.149,0:09:36.635
So I decided to become[br]an active participant.

0:09:36.635,0:09:40.611
I thought about the habits and passions[br]that I've developed in my life,

0:09:40.611,0:09:43.414
and I thought, can I make just[br]a marginal adjustment to them

0:09:43.414,0:09:46.579
so that they work in my favor[br]as opposed to against me?

0:09:46.579,0:09:47.581
And so I did.

0:09:47.581,0:09:48.604
I've got a habit

0:09:48.604,0:09:52.077
where I've been walking an hour[br]and a half a day for the last seven years,

0:09:52.077,0:09:55.234
and I've got this passion[br]for being in the outdoors.

0:09:55.934,0:09:57.347
And so that year,

0:09:57.347,0:10:00.966
I didn't actually set the new year's[br]resolution to lose 25 pounds.

0:10:00.966,0:10:03.507
I set a resolution to hike all 33 trails

0:10:03.507,0:10:06.435
in the front country[br]of Santa Barbara Mountains.

0:10:06.435,0:10:08.965
And I'd never been on a hike[br]before in my life.

0:10:08.965,0:10:10.503
(Laughter)

0:10:10.503,0:10:13.793
But the truth of the matter is,[br]it's not about the 33 trails.

0:10:14.543,0:10:16.605
You have to break this big ambitious goal

0:10:16.605,0:10:19.138
down into these more[br]manageable decisions -

0:10:19.138,0:10:22.948
the types of decisions that need[br]to be made correctly along the way

0:10:22.948,0:10:27.136
in order to improve the odds of achieving[br]the type of outcome you desire.

0:10:27.556,0:10:29.708
It's not about even one trail.

0:10:29.708,0:10:31.787
It's about those tiny little decisions,

0:10:31.787,0:10:34.076
you know, like when you[br]are sitting at your desk,

0:10:34.076,0:10:36.708
putting in just a little extra time[br]at the end of a day.

0:10:36.708,0:10:38.297
Or you're lying on your couch,

0:10:38.297,0:10:40.888
clicking through the channels[br]on your remote control,

0:10:40.888,0:10:42.844
or scrolling through your Facebook feed,

0:10:42.844,0:10:46.207
and in that moment,[br]make the decision to put it down.

0:10:46.207,0:10:48.127
You go put on your hiking clothes,

0:10:48.127,0:10:51.127
you go walk outside your front door,[br]and you shut it behind you.

0:10:51.127,0:10:54.458
You walk to your car, get in,[br]drive to the trailhead.

0:10:54.458,0:10:56.468
You get out of the car at the trailhead,

0:10:56.468,0:11:00.377
and you take one step,[br]you take two steps, three steps.

0:11:00.377,0:11:03.447
Every one of those steps[br]that I have just described

0:11:03.447,0:11:07.397
is a tiny little decision that needs[br]to be made correctly along the way

0:11:07.397,0:11:09.818
in order to achieve the ultimate outcome.

0:11:10.508,0:11:13.648
Now, when I say I want to hike[br]33 trails in the front country,

0:11:13.648,0:11:16.506
people think about the decisions[br]at the top of the mountain.

0:11:16.506,0:11:18.236
That's not what it's about.

0:11:18.236,0:11:20.318
Because if you don't make[br]the right decision

0:11:20.318,0:11:21.679
when you're on the couch,

0:11:21.679,0:11:24.819
there is no decision that occurs[br]at the top of the mountain.

0:11:24.819,0:11:26.088
So by the end of the year,

0:11:26.088,0:11:28.457
I'd hiked all 33 trails[br]in the front country;

0:11:28.457,0:11:30.467
I did them a couple of times each.

0:11:30.467,0:11:32.329
I even did a few in the backcountry.

0:11:32.339,0:11:35.099
I lost the 25 pounds,[br]and I capped the year off

0:11:35.099,0:11:37.668
by doing the hardest[br]half marathon in the world -

0:11:37.668,0:11:39.528
the Pier to Peak.

0:11:39.528,0:11:42.528
In 2009, I got really ambitious,

0:11:43.554,0:11:46.488
ambitious for a guy who still,[br]to this day, cannot settle down

0:11:46.488,0:11:49.560
and focus on anything for more[br]than ten or ten minutes at a time,

0:11:49.560,0:11:51.718
and that was to read 50 books.

0:11:52.288,0:11:54.929
But again, it's not[br]about reading 50 books.

0:11:54.929,0:11:57.123
It's not even about reading one book.

0:11:57.123,0:12:01.250
It's not about reading a chapter,[br]a paragraph, a sentence.

0:12:01.750,0:12:03.429
It's about that decision

0:12:03.429,0:12:06.401
when you're sitting at your desk[br]at the end of the day,

0:12:06.401,0:12:08.339
or when you're lying on the couch,

0:12:08.339,0:12:10.308
or flicking through your Facebook feed,

0:12:10.308,0:12:12.638
and you put down the phone.

0:12:12.638,0:12:15.400
You pick up a book and you read one word.

0:12:16.509,0:12:20.569
If you read one word,[br]you'll read two words, three words;

0:12:20.569,0:12:24.873
you'll read a sentence, a paragraph,[br]a page, a chapter, a book;

0:12:24.873,0:12:28.989
you'll read ten books, 30 books, 50 books.

0:12:29.579,0:12:32.331
In 2012, I got really ambitious.

0:12:32.331,0:12:34.710
I set 24 new year's resolutions.

0:12:35.630,0:12:38.876
12 of them were[br]what I call giving resolutions,

0:12:38.876,0:12:42.331
where I did 12 charitable things[br]that didn't involve writing a check.

0:12:43.051,0:12:44.919
But it's not without its failures.

0:12:44.919,0:12:46.204
I tried to donate blood,

0:12:46.204,0:12:49.199
and they rejected me[br]because I'd lived in the UK.

0:12:49.199,0:12:52.852
I tried to donate my sperm;[br]they rejected me because I was too old.

0:12:52.852,0:12:54.290
I tried to donate my hair,

0:12:54.290,0:12:56.890
and it turns out nobody wants grey hair.

0:12:56.890,0:12:58.520
(Laughter)

0:12:58.520,0:13:02.040
So, here I was trying to do something[br]to make myself feel good,

0:13:02.040,0:13:04.301
and it was having the opposite effect.

0:13:04.301,0:13:08.334
So anyway, I've also had[br]these 12 learning resolutions,

0:13:08.334,0:13:10.451
to learn 12 new skills.

0:13:10.451,0:13:14.811
And when I was done with unicycling,[br]parkour, slacklining,

0:13:14.811,0:13:17.182
jumping stilts and drumming,

0:13:17.182,0:13:19.592
my wife suggested[br]that I learned how to knit.

0:13:19.592,0:13:21.422
(Laughter)

0:13:21.422,0:13:24.909
And I'll be honest, I wasn't all[br]that passionate about knitting.

0:13:25.532,0:13:29.041
But one day, I'm sitting[br]under this 40-foot tall eucalyptus tree

0:13:29.041,0:13:32.062
that's 2.6 miles up the cold[br]spring trail in Santa Barbara,

0:13:32.062,0:13:36.649
and I'm thinking, that tree would look[br]really cool if it were covered in yarn.

0:13:36.649,0:13:37.839
(Laughter)

0:13:37.839,0:13:39.722
And so I went home and Googled this,

0:13:39.722,0:13:42.992
and it turns out it is a thing people do,[br]it's called yarnbombing:

0:13:42.992,0:13:45.253
you wrap these public[br]structures with yarn.

0:13:45.803,0:13:48.913
And, the second annual[br]international yarn bombing day

0:13:48.913,0:13:50.923
was just 82 days away.

0:13:50.923,0:13:52.104
(Laughter)

0:13:52.104,0:13:55.672
So for the next 82 days,[br]no matter where I was -

0:13:55.672,0:13:56.782
(Laughter)

0:13:56.782,0:13:59.623
if I was in a board meeting,[br]on the trading floor,

0:13:59.623,0:14:02.262
in an airplane or in the hospital,

0:14:02.262,0:14:03.382
I was knitting.

0:14:03.382,0:14:05.173
One stitch at a time.

0:14:05.173,0:14:06.454
And 82 days later,

0:14:06.454,0:14:09.054
I had done my first ever yarnbomb.

0:14:09.524,0:14:12.822
(Applause)

0:14:17.224,0:14:20.241
And the response to it blew me away.

0:14:20.241,0:14:22.051
So I kept going ...

0:14:22.051,0:14:23.195
(Laughter)

0:14:23.195,0:14:25.625
with bigger, more ambitious projects

0:14:25.625,0:14:28.332
that required more engineering skills.

0:14:28.932,0:14:32.562
And in 2014, I set the goal[br]to wrap six massive boulders

0:14:32.562,0:14:35.774
in Los Padres National Forest[br]at the top of the mountains.

0:14:35.774,0:14:38.312
But if I was going to pull this off,[br]I'd need help.

0:14:38.312,0:14:42.377
So at this point, I had a few[br]thousand followers on social media

0:14:42.377,0:14:44.367
as "The Yarnbomber."

0:14:44.367,0:14:46.314
(Laughter)

0:14:46.314,0:14:50.243
And I started getting packages -[br]lots of packages -

0:14:50.243,0:14:54.904
388 contributors[br]from 36 countries in all 50 states.

0:14:55.444,0:14:58.365
In the end, I didn't wrap[br]one massive boulder,

0:14:58.925,0:15:00.460
I wrapped 18.

0:15:02.213,0:15:05.353
(Applause)

0:15:06.753,0:15:08.303
So I kept going

0:15:08.303,0:15:10.483
with bigger, more ambitious projects

0:15:10.483,0:15:12.874
that would require me[br]to work with new materials,

0:15:12.874,0:15:16.094
like fiberglass, and wood, and metals,

0:15:16.094,0:15:21.015
which culminates in a project[br]that is currently at TMC, here in Tucson,

0:15:21.015,0:15:23.336
where I wrapped the Children's Hospital.

0:15:23.336,0:15:26.306
(Applause)

0:15:26.316,0:15:28.395
Along the way, I stopped knitting.

0:15:28.395,0:15:29.855
I never really liked it.

0:15:29.855,0:15:31.074
(Laughter)

0:15:31.074,0:15:32.114
But ...

0:15:32.994,0:15:34.544
I like crocheting.

0:15:34.544,0:15:37.534
(Laughter)

0:15:38.034,0:15:41.076
So, I started making these[br]seven-inch granny squares -

0:15:41.076,0:15:43.105
because that's[br]the standard granny square -

0:15:43.105,0:15:46.435
and I thought along the way:[br]why am I stopping at seven inches?

0:15:46.435,0:15:48.176
I need big stuff.

0:15:48.176,0:15:51.225
So, I started making[br]bigger granny squares.

0:15:51.225,0:15:53.434
So one day, I come home[br]from a business trip,

0:15:53.434,0:15:55.565
and I've got this really large granny,

0:15:55.565,0:15:58.155
and I went to the website of Guinness.

0:15:58.155,0:16:01.478
I was curious what's the world's[br]largest granny square.

0:16:01.478,0:16:04.075
And it turns out[br]there's no category for it.

0:16:04.075,0:16:05.555
(Laughter)

0:16:05.555,0:16:06.682
So I applied,

0:16:07.162,0:16:09.256
and they rejected me.

0:16:09.736,0:16:11.418
So I appealed,

0:16:11.418,0:16:12.676
and they rejected me.

0:16:13.556,0:16:15.873
I appealed again, and they said fine,

0:16:15.873,0:16:19.536
if you make it ten meters by ten meters,[br]we'll create a new category,

0:16:19.536,0:16:22.326
and you will be a Guinness[br]world record holder.

0:16:22.326,0:16:24.666
So, for the next two years,

0:16:24.666,0:16:28.162
seven months, 17 days,

0:16:28.162,0:16:30.014
one stitch at a time,

0:16:30.014,0:16:32.533
I finally reached more[br]than half a million stitches,

0:16:32.533,0:16:35.305
incorporated more than 30 miles of yarn,

0:16:35.305,0:16:38.057
and I am now the official[br]Guinness world record holder

0:16:38.057,0:16:40.149
for the largest crocheted granny square.

0:16:40.149,0:16:43.549
(Applause) (Cheering)

0:16:47.889,0:16:52.095
Along the way, I've garnered an awful lot[br]of attention for my escapades.

0:16:52.095,0:16:54.588
I've been featured in Newsweek magazine,

0:16:54.588,0:16:57.408
Eric news, which is[br]kind of the Bible for artists.

0:16:57.408,0:17:00.846
But what I want you to realize[br]when you hear these things:

0:17:01.456,0:17:03.878
I'm still that C- student.

0:17:04.858,0:17:07.518
I'm still that kid who can't settle down

0:17:07.518,0:17:10.777
or focus for more than five[br]or ten minutes at a time.

0:17:10.777,0:17:16.028
And I remain a guy who possesses[br]no special gift of talent or skill.

0:17:16.718,0:17:19.518
All I do is take really big,[br]ambitious projects

0:17:19.518,0:17:21.118
that people seem to marvel at,

0:17:21.118,0:17:23.146
break them down to their simplest form

0:17:23.146,0:17:25.759
and then just make[br]marginal improvements along the way

0:17:25.759,0:17:28.184
to improve my odds of achieving them.

0:17:28.184,0:17:30.418
And so the whole reason[br]I'm giving this talk is

0:17:30.418,0:17:33.369
I'm hoping to inspire several of you

0:17:33.369,0:17:36.789
to pull some of those ambitious dreams[br]that you have for yourself

0:17:36.789,0:17:38.138
off the bookshelf

0:17:38.138,0:17:42.558
and start pursuing them by making[br]that marginal adjustment to your routine.

0:17:42.558,0:17:43.708
Thank you.

0:17:43.708,0:17:46.748
(Applause)