The edge of panic: how to learn by taking risks | Victor Saad | TEDxUnisinos

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

What risk would you take to learn, grow, or change something in your world? In 2012, Victor embarked upon an unconventional journey to design his master's through twelve experiences in twelve months, an endeavor he and his friends entitled "The Leap Year Project." His discoveries led him to begin exploring new forms of higher education through a new initiative called "Experience Institute." But, more importantly, it helped him grapple with the roles that comfort, learning, and panic play throughout our lives.

I think everyone has these three zones:

their comfort zone, their learning zone,
and their panic zone.

And I think our most defining moments
and our greatest lessons

come when we take risks
to move from comfort into learning

and maybe, to the edge of panic.

Now, I'm on this stage
because I did not go to grad school.

Instead, about five years ago,

after working with middle school,
and high school students,

when I was curious about the intersection
of for-profit and for-purpose businesses,

I was almost going to go to a traditional
grad school to get a master's in business,

but the costs were too high,
and the style didn't fit me.

So, I decided I would try to design
my own education

by doing twelve projects
in twelve months around the world.

I would source these projects
by talking to companies in design,

business and social change,

and I would try to find
one project I could complete

over the course of the month.

I would fund my year
by creating a newsletter

that my friends and family could
subscribe to, at ten dollars a month,

and I would share my learnings
with them each month.

Now, as I was travelling
to fulfill this idea,

I had met all kinds of amazing people

who started talking to me
about the ideas they had

to learn in a different kind of way,
or to create change,

to take leaps of their own.

So, I created an invitation
for those people to send stories

about the leaps and risks
they were taking to learn, grow,

and create change in their communities.

And I promised that if, at the end
of the year, I had enough stories,

we would take those stories
and make a book.

And at the end of the year,
sure enough, we created a book

called The Leap Year Project,
of those stories,

and this kind of became my dissertation.

I also needed a place to graduate,
some way to end my year.

And there was a TED Conference
happening in Chicago.

So I put a cap and gown on,
and that was my graduation.

And in 2013, after this was all over,
we launched a school,

a place where people could come
and design their education

through experiences
in their field of study.

We called it the Experience Institute.

I even got to meet Oprah. (Laughter)

Now, this is pretty traditional:

me trying to explain some sort
of audacious idea

to someone who is much more
successful and powerful

and really probably doesn't
actually care about what I'm saying.

This is a good picture of that year.

(Laughter)

Now, that was one of the most
transformative years of my life.

I learned about my industry,
the things I cared about,

and about myself.

And Experience Institute
has been my life's work,

inviting people of all ages
to design their education

through experience and mentorship.

But I think those photos,
they are all beautiful,

and they show energy and excitement.

I think they only tell
one part of the story.

Photos like this
help give another picture,

when I was in Orange County,

trying to find a place to stay,
not sure where I would stay,

and finding a couch in a garage
of a friend of a friend,

and having to sleep there for a while.

And what you don't see
is the number of ants on that couch;

(Laughter)

or the motorcycle that would
start every morning at 6:30,

and that would be my alarm;

or downsizing most of my things,
getting rid of them, selling them,

so I could afford the year,
and so I could stay light

and carry nothing more than
just a couple of bags as I traveled;

getting to the end of the year

and realizing that writing a book,
prepping for a TED talk,

and trying to start a school
is really overwhelming.

Now, ever since Leap Year,

I've been exploring the risk it takes
to move from comfort into learning,

and the transformative impact it has
on an individual's life and career.

What I never expected to find
was the role that panic plays in learning.

It's the space where you come
face to face with your fears.

and not just your fear's
bloated versions of those fears,

things that don't even really exist.

It's a part of learning that's necessary,
but it's rarely discussed.

Now, for a second,
let's go back to those zones.

There's an influential psychologist
named Lev Vygotsky.

He talks about the zone
of proximal development.

The comfort zone isn't necessarily
about your resources, what you have.

It's about your abilities,
about not being challenged.

You know what you know,

and you're right in the middle
of what you know

and, doing just that, there isn't
really a sense of challenge.

In the learning zone,
there is a challenge,

but you don't have everything
you need to meet that challenge.

You may have pieces of it,

but you need other people
to help you piece those things together

and if, you get that help, you'll succeed.

and, if you don't get that help, you'll
zip right through to the panic zone.

And the panic zone is where you feel
alone, overwhelmed, afraid.

You've lost confidence here.

You can't learn here.
You don't function well.

This is the head-in-hands moment.

And the only way to move back from panic

is to have help to get
into the learning zone,

but normally, we just want to shut down
and go all the way back to comfort.

Now, learning is where our most
transformative moments happen:

when we meet somebody
who is incredibly helpful,

or when we overcome a challenge.

If I were to ask you when you
learned your most valuable lessons,

you would talk about a challenge,

you would talk about someone
who helped you through that.

But comfort isn't a bad thing.

In fact, the goal of learning
is to expand the comfort zone,

this is where we become more confident,
more comfortable as we move through life,

whatever it throws at us,
and not getting to the panic zone.

So, if that's the goal of learning,

if what we're trying to do
is figure out how we can be people

who are more confident
no matter what life throws at us,

how do we expand the comfort zone?

How do we push back the panic zone?

Now, the grand paradox
is that the only way to expand comfort

is by leaving it.

So that's what we have to figure out,

designing the leaps that move us
from comfort into learning,

and when those leaps
are necessary in our lives.

How do we make space for them in our
education systems and our workplaces?

So I have three hunches.
It starts with discovery.

Now, discovery is just a matter
of asking questions:

the question you have,
as you move through the day,

about how to make something better,

about how to increase
the thing that gives you hope,

one of those moments
that you want to improve something,

make something, or change something.

Those questions begin pushing you
to the edge of comfort,

in trying to figure out what things
you might want to do next.

Now, as those questions
and hopes surface,

the thing that happens next
is you begin exploring:

"What is it I could do? How do I learn?,"
and defining those projects.

Now, for some people,
school is the risk they take,

they move into that setting,

but for others, the question is,
"Should I try to build something?

Should I travel or do a research project?

Or should I just try to work
with an expert in the field?"

The more specific that project becomes,

the more parameters,
the time frames, the deliverables,

the more other people can
start seeing what you're doing

and you can invite them into it,
which leads to the second thing,

that you need to bring other people,

you need to invite other
people into learning.

It's not a solo project.

There is going to be times
when you don't know what to do,

and you're going to need
the help of others.

During Leap Year, I found myself
not only needing companies

to give me a chance to work with them,

to learn with them
and to create with them;

I needed my community
to guide me through times

when I got stuck,
or to support me emotionally.

This included everyone
from my own family, my mother,

to mentors and friends.

This photo, the story of this photo
isn't that I hit the panic zone.

The story of this photo
is that someone took the photo.

They were in the room with me, right?

They were the people who walked me
back from the panic zone

into the learning zone,

and helped me finish
at the end of that year.

Now, I think there is something
more to community

than just emotional support.

I think they become our audience,

they become the people who validate
and celebrate the things we learn,

which leads to the third hunch:
how do we share the projects we go into,

the things we're learning and doing?

For me, during Leap Year,

it was nothing more than a weekly
blog post, monthly newsletter

and, at the end of the year,
creating a book and a presentation,

but for you, you don't need
a big book or a stage.

What you need is
just regular checkpoints,

places where people can
see what you're working on,

can give you feedback
and can celebrate when you finish.

Discover. Invite. Share.

So, I didn't go to grad school,

but I designed one of the most
transformative chapters of my life.

My comfort zone expanded,

but, maybe more importantly,

I learned how to navigate
between comfort, into learning,

and to push on the edge of panic.

Now, 2016 is actually
another leap year,

and I think in Portuguese
they call this "ano bissexto,"

where there's an extra day,
and there is a title to the year.

And we're curious:

what would happen if people in 2016
decided to design a project of their own,

to move between comfort into learning,
to design a leap, however big or small?

And if we do,

whether you're in high school,
or college, or in a workplace,

whatever leap you take,
what would happen to learning?

What would happen to the education space

when we realize we can
create learning, we can design it,

just by taking a few leaps?

So, what leap will you take?

(Applause)