Why you will fail to have a great career
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0:01 - 0:06I want to discuss with you this afternoon
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0:06 - 0:10why you're going to fail to have a great career. (Laughter)
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0:10 - 0:14I'm an economist. I do dismal.
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0:14 - 0:19End of the day, it's ready for dismal remarks.
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0:19 - 0:23I only want to talk to those of you who want a great career.
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0:23 - 0:24I know some of you have already decided
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0:24 - 0:27you want a good career.
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0:27 - 0:29You're going to fail, too — (Laughter) —
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0:29 - 0:32because — Goodness, you're all cheery about failing. (Laughter)
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0:32 - 0:38Canadian group, undoubtedly. (Laughter)
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0:38 - 0:40Those trying to have good careers are going to fail,
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0:40 - 0:44because, really, good jobs are now disappearing.
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0:44 - 0:47There are great jobs and great careers,
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0:47 - 0:51and then there are the high-workload, high-stress,
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0:51 - 0:54bloodsucking, soul-destroying kinds of jobs,
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0:54 - 0:56and practically nothing in between.
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0:56 - 0:58So the people looking for good jobs are going to fail.
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0:58 - 1:01I'm going to talk about those looking for great jobs, great
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1:01 - 1:05careers, and why you're going to, why you're going to fail.
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1:05 - 1:11First reason is that no matter how many times people tell you,
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1:11 - 1:15"If you want a great career, you have to pursue your passion,
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1:15 - 1:18you have to pursue your dreams, you have to pursue,
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1:18 - 1:21the greatest fascination in your life,"
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1:21 - 1:23you hear it again and again and then you decide
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1:23 - 1:27not to do it. It doesn't matter how many times you download
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1:27 - 1:32Steven J.'s Stanford commencement address,
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1:32 - 1:35you still look at it and decide not to do it.
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1:35 - 1:37I'm not quite sure why you decide not to do it.
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1:37 - 1:39You're too lazy to do it. It's too hard.
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1:39 - 1:42You're afraid if you look for your passion and don't find it,
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1:42 - 1:45you'll feel like you're an idiot, so then you make excuses
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1:45 - 1:48about why you're not going to look for your passion.
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1:48 - 1:49And they are excuses, ladies and gentlemen.
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1:49 - 1:52We're going to go through a whole long list, your creativity,
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1:52 - 1:55and thinking of excuses not to do what you really
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1:55 - 1:58need to do if you want to have a great career.
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1:58 - 2:04So, for example, one of your great excuses is,
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2:04 - 2:09"Well, great careers are really and truly, for most people,
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2:09 - 2:13just a matter of luck, so I'm going to stand around,
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2:13 - 2:15I'm going to try to be lucky, and if I'm lucky,
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2:15 - 2:18I'll have a great career. If not, I'll have a good career."
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2:18 - 2:22But a good career is an impossibility, so that's not going to work.
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2:22 - 2:26Then, your other excuse is, "Yes, there are special people
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2:26 - 2:30who pursue their passions, but they are geniuses.
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2:30 - 2:33They are Steven J. I'm not a genius.
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2:33 - 2:36When I was five, I thought I was a genius,
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2:36 - 2:38but my professors have beaten that idea
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2:38 - 2:41out of my head long since." (Laughter) Mm?
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2:41 - 2:45"And now I know I am completely competent."
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2:45 - 2:48Now, you see, if this was 1950,
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2:48 - 2:51being completely competent,
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2:51 - 2:53that would have given you a great career.
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2:53 - 2:57But guess what? This is almost 2012, and saying
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2:57 - 3:01to the world, "I am totally, completely competent,"
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3:01 - 3:05is damning yourself with the faintest of praise.
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3:05 - 3:08And then, of course, another excuse:
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3:08 - 3:11"Well, I would do this, I would do this, but, but,
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3:11 - 3:15well, after all, I'm not weird.
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3:15 - 3:18Everybody knows that people who pursue their passions
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3:18 - 3:23are somewhat obsessive. A little strange? Mm? Mm? Okay?
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3:23 - 3:26You know, a fine line between madness and genius.
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3:26 - 3:30I'm not weird. I've read Steven J.'s biography.
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3:30 - 3:34Oh my goodness. I am not that person. I am nice.
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3:34 - 3:37I am normal. I'm a nice, normal person,
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3:37 - 3:39and nice, normal people
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3:39 - 3:43don't have passion.
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3:43 - 3:46Ah. But I still want a great career.
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3:46 - 3:48I'm not prepared to pursue my passion, so I know
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3:48 - 3:51what I'm going to do, because I have, I have a solution,
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3:51 - 3:53I have a strategy.
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3:53 - 3:55It's the one Mommy and Daddy told me about.
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3:55 - 3:58Mommy and Daddy told me that if I worked hard,
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3:58 - 4:02I'd have a good career. So, if you work hard
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4:02 - 4:05and have a good career, if you work really, really, really hard,
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4:05 - 4:07you'll have a great career. Doesn't that, like,
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4:07 - 4:09mathematically make sense?"
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4:09 - 4:10Hmm. Not. (Laughter)
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4:10 - 4:13But you've managed to talk yourself into that.
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4:13 - 4:15You know what? Here's a little secret.
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4:15 - 4:18You want to work? You want to work really, really, really hard?
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4:18 - 4:20You know what? You'll succeed. The world will give you
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4:20 - 4:25the opportunity to work really, really, really, really hard,
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4:25 - 4:30but are you so sure that that's going to give you
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4:30 - 4:34a great career when all the evidence is to the contrary?
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4:34 - 4:38So let's assume, let's deal with those of you
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4:38 - 4:40who are trying to find your passion.
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4:40 - 4:42You actually understand that you really had better do it,
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4:42 - 4:46never mind the excuses. You're trying to find your passion,
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4:47 - 4:49and you're so happy.
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4:49 - 4:52You found something you're interested in.
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4:52 - 4:55I have an interest! I have an interest! You tell me.
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4:55 - 4:57You say, "I have an interest!" I say, "That's wonderful!
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4:57 - 5:00And what, what are you trying to tell me? That you — "
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5:00 - 5:02"Well, I have an interest."
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5:02 - 5:03I say, "Do you have passion?"
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5:03 - 5:06"I have an interest," you say.
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5:06 - 5:07Your interest is compared to what?
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5:07 - 5:10"Well, I'm interested in this."
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5:10 - 5:13And what about the rest of humanity's activities?
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5:13 - 5:15"I'm not interested in them."
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5:15 - 5:17You've looked at them all, have you?
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5:17 - 5:20"No. Not exactly."
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5:20 - 5:23Passion is your greatest love.
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5:23 - 5:28Passion is the thing that will help you create
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5:28 - 5:30the highest expression of your talent.
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5:30 - 5:33Passion, interest -- it's not the same thing.
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5:33 - 5:35Are you really going to go to your sweetie and say,
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5:35 - 5:42"Marry me! You're interesting." (Laughter)
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5:42 - 5:47Won't happen. Won't happen, and you will die alone. (Laughter)
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5:47 - 5:50What you want, what you want, what you want,
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5:50 - 5:54is passion. It is beyond interest.
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5:54 - 5:57You need 20 interests, and then one of them,
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5:57 - 6:00one of them might grab you, one of them might engage you
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6:00 - 6:03more than anything else, and then you may have found
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6:03 - 6:07your greatest love in comparison to all the other things
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6:07 - 6:10that interest you, and that's what passion is.
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6:10 - 6:14I have a friend, proposed to his sweetie.
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6:14 - 6:16He was an economically rational person.
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6:16 - 6:20He said to his sweetie, "Let us marry.
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6:20 - 6:23Let us merge our interests."
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6:23 - 6:25(Laughter)
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6:25 - 6:27Yes he did.
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6:27 - 6:31"I love you truly," he said. "I love you deeply. I love you
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6:31 - 6:35more than any other woman I've ever encountered.
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6:35 - 6:39I love you more than Mary, Jane, Susie, Penelope,
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6:39 - 6:41Ingrid, Gertrude, Gretel --
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6:41 - 6:44I was on a German exchange program then." (Laughter)
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6:44 - 6:47"I love you more than — "
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6:47 - 6:53All right! She left the room halfway through his enumeration
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6:53 - 6:55of his love for her.
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6:55 - 6:58After he got over his surprise at being, you know,
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6:58 - 7:03turned down, he concluded he'd had a narrow escape
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7:03 - 7:07from marrying an irrational person,
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7:07 - 7:09although he did make a note to himself that the next time
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7:09 - 7:13he proposed, it was perhaps not necessary to enumerate
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7:13 - 7:19all of the women he had auditioned for the part. (Laughter)
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7:19 - 7:23But the point stands. You must look for alternatives
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7:23 - 7:24so that you find your destiny,
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7:24 - 7:27or are you afraid of the word "destiny"?
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7:27 - 7:30Does the word "destiny" scare you?
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7:30 - 7:32That's what we're talking about, and if you don't find
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7:32 - 7:35the highest expression of your talent, if you settle
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7:35 - 7:38for "interesting," what the hell ever that means,
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7:38 - 7:41do you know what will happen at the end of your long life?
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7:41 - 7:44Your friends and family will be gathered in the cemetery,
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7:44 - 7:47and there, beside your gravesite will be a tombstone,
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7:47 - 7:50and inscribed on that tombstone, it will say,
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7:50 - 7:57"Here lies a distinguished engineer who invented Velcro."
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7:57 - 8:02But what that tombstone should have said,
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8:02 - 8:05in an alternative lifetime,
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8:05 - 8:08what it should have said if it was your highest expression of
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8:08 - 8:14talent, was, "Here lies the last Nobel Laureate in Physics,
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8:14 - 8:17who formulated the Grand Unified Field Theory
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8:17 - 8:21and demonstrated the practicality of warp drive."
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8:21 - 8:23(Laughter)
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8:23 - 8:27Velcro, indeed. (Laughter)
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8:27 - 8:31One was a great career.
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8:31 - 8:35One was a missed opportunity.
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8:35 - 8:37But then, there are some of you,
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8:37 - 8:41in spite of all these excuses, you will find,
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8:41 - 8:45you will find your passion,
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8:45 - 8:48and you'll still fail.
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8:48 - 8:51You're going to fail, because,
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8:51 - 8:54because you're not going to do it,
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8:54 - 8:58because you will have invented a new excuse,
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8:58 - 9:03any excuse to fail to take action, and this excuse
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9:03 - 9:06I've heard so many times.
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9:06 - 9:18"Yes, I would pursue a great career, but I value
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9:18 - 9:23human relationships more than accomplishment.
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9:23 - 9:28I want to be a great friend. I want to be a great spouse.
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9:28 - 9:31I want to be a great parent, and I will not sacrifice them
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9:31 - 9:35on the altar of great accomplishment."
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9:35 - 9:37(Laughter)
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9:37 - 9:39What do you want me to say?
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9:39 - 9:42Now, do you really want me to say now, tell you,
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9:42 - 9:45"Really, I swear I don't kick children." (Laughter)
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9:45 - 9:49Hmm? Look at the worldview you've given yourself.
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9:49 - 9:54You're a hero no matter what, and I, by suggesting,
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9:54 - 9:58ever so delicately, that you might want a great career,
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9:58 - 10:01must hate children. I don't hate children. I don't kick them.
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10:01 - 10:04Yes, there was a little kid wandering through this building
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10:04 - 10:08when I came here, and no, I didn't kick him. (Laughter)
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10:08 - 10:11Course, I had to tell him that the building was for adults only
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10:11 - 10:12and to get out.
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10:12 - 10:14He mumbled something about his mother,
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10:14 - 10:18and I told him she'd probably find him outside anyway.
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10:18 - 10:22Last time I saw him, he was on the stairs crying. (Laughter)
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10:22 - 10:24What a wimp. (Laughter)
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10:24 - 10:27But what do you mean? That's what you expect me to say.
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10:27 - 10:29You really think, you really think it's appropriate
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10:29 - 10:32that you should actually take
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10:32 - 10:35children and use them as a shield?
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10:35 - 10:37You know what will happen someday,
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10:37 - 10:41you, you ideal parent, you?
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10:41 - 10:45The kid will come to you someday and say,
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10:45 - 10:47"I know what I want to be.
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10:47 - 10:49I know what I'm going to do with my life."
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10:49 - 10:51You are so happy. It's the conversation
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10:51 - 10:54a parent wants to hear, because your kid's good in math,
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10:54 - 10:57and you know you're going to like what comes next.
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10:57 - 10:59Says your kid, "I have decided
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10:59 - 11:02I want to be a magician.
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11:02 - 11:06I want to perform magic tricks on the stage."
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11:06 - 11:08(Laughter)
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11:08 - 11:11And what do you say?
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11:11 - 11:13You say, you say,
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11:13 - 11:17"Umm ... that's risky, kid.
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11:17 - 11:19Might fail, kid. Don't make a lot of money at that, kid.
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11:19 - 11:21You know, I don't know, kid,
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11:21 - 11:22you should think about that again, kid,
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11:22 - 11:24you're so good at math, why don't you — "
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11:24 - 11:25And the kid interrupts you, and says,
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11:25 - 11:30"But it is my dream. It is my dream to do this."
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11:30 - 11:32And what are you going to say?
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11:32 - 11:33You know what you're going to say?
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11:33 - 11:39"Look kid. I had a dream once, too, but -- but."
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11:39 - 11:42So how are you going to finish the sentence with your "but"?
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11:42 - 11:48"... But. I had a dream too, once, kid, but I was afraid to pursue it."
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11:48 - 11:50Or, are you going to tell him this?
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11:50 - 11:54"I had a dream once, kid.
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11:54 - 11:59But then you were born." (Laughter)
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11:59 - 12:01(Laughter) (Applause)
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12:01 - 12:06Do you, do you really want to use your family,
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12:06 - 12:09do you really ever want to look at your spouse
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12:09 - 12:14and your kid and see your jailers?
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12:14 - 12:18There was something you could have said to your kid
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12:18 - 12:22when he or she said, "I have a dream."
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12:22 - 12:27You could have said, looked the kid in the face, and said,
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12:27 - 12:30"Go for it, kid,
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12:30 - 12:34just like I did."
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12:34 - 12:37But you won't be able to say that
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12:37 - 12:44because you didn't. So you can't. (Laughter)
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12:44 - 12:47And so the sins of the parents
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12:47 - 12:52are visited on the poor children.
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12:52 - 12:57Why will you seek refuge in human relationships
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12:57 - 13:03as your excuse not to find and pursue your passion?
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13:03 - 13:05You know why.
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13:05 - 13:08In your heart of hearts, you know why,
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13:08 - 13:11and I'm being deadly serious.
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13:11 - 13:13You know why you would get all warm and fuzzy
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13:13 - 13:16and wrap yourself up in human relationships.
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13:16 - 13:20It is because you are —
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13:20 - 13:22You know what you are.
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13:22 - 13:26You're afraid to pursue your passion.
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13:26 - 13:28You're afraid to look ridiculous.
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13:28 - 13:34You're afraid to try. You're afraid you may fail.
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13:34 - 13:41Great friend, great spouse, great parent, great career.
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13:41 - 13:46Is that not a package? Is that not who you are?
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13:46 - 13:49How can you be one without the other?
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13:49 - 13:52But you're afraid.
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13:52 - 14:00And that's why you're not going to have a great career, unless --
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14:00 - 14:07unless, that most evocative of all English words --
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14:07 - 14:08unless.
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14:08 - 14:13But the unless word is also attached
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14:13 - 14:18to that other, most terrifying phrase,
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14:18 - 14:21"If only I had ... "
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14:21 - 14:24"If only I had ... "
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14:24 - 14:29If you ever have that thought ricocheting in your brain,
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14:29 - 14:33it will hurt a lot.
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14:33 - 14:35So, those are the many reasons
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14:35 - 14:37why you are going to fail
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14:37 - 14:40to have a great career,
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14:40 - 14:45unless ...
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14:45 - 14:49Unless.
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14:49 - 14:54Thank you. (Applause)
- Title:
- Why you will fail to have a great career
- Speaker:
- Larry Smith
- Description:
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In this funny and blunt talk, Larry Smith pulls no punches when he calls out the absurd excuses people invent when they fail to pursue their passions.
(Filmed at TEDxUW.) - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:15
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 6/2/2015.