0:00:14.098,0:00:18.642
Every single one of you[br]will have an impact on society.

0:00:19.562,0:00:22.132
The reason I've agreed [br]to speak to you today

0:00:22.132,0:00:24.431
is because I want to inspire you

0:00:24.431,0:00:28.984
to make that impact as positive[br]and as meaningful as possible.

0:00:29.979,0:00:34.535
This might sound pretty abstract[br]or far away in the future for you,

0:00:35.895,0:00:40.678
but I hope that the story of how[br]I've had an impact at such a young age

0:00:40.678,0:00:43.941
will show you that [br]it's not rocket science,

0:00:43.941,0:00:47.713
you have no excuses, [br]and you can start now.

0:00:50.131,0:00:53.623
So, what kind of impact have I had?

0:00:55.061,0:00:59.422
I finished my PhD in Psychiatry [br]at Oxford University at 23,

0:00:59.975,0:01:04.107
and by that point, I've already had[br]an impact on the pool of knowledge

0:01:04.107,0:01:06.465
in the field of neuroscience.

0:01:06.465,0:01:11.296
I've also contributed to several [br]mental health programs,

0:01:11.296,0:01:14.396
and things related to substance abuse

0:01:14.396,0:01:16.988
while I was working [br]at the World Health Organization.

0:01:18.583,0:01:23.215
I've also worked for several of [br]the world's largest public health programs

0:01:23.227,0:01:26.101
which have impacted [br]hundreds of millions of people,

0:01:26.101,0:01:27.561
and I've also volunteered

0:01:27.561,0:01:30.956
to help disadvantaged children[br]and disadvantaged families.

0:01:32.038,0:01:35.975
More interesting than what [br]I've actually done is how I have done it.

0:01:35.975,0:01:40.263
And I will concentrate, [br]in particular, on high school time,

0:01:40.263,0:01:42.771
to make it as tangible [br]as possible for you.

0:01:44.302,0:01:48.079
So the first thing you need is direction.

0:01:49.852,0:01:51.745
Just choose a direction.

0:01:52.437,0:01:56.531
It can be a goal, it can be a dream

0:01:57.049,0:01:58.851
or it can be a vague idea.

0:02:00.730,0:02:04.144
My godmother told me I could become[br]an international researcher,

0:02:04.144,0:02:07.303
and I thought it was a good one, [br]so I took it as one of my ideas.

0:02:08.622,0:02:12.897
The second goal I had [br]was getting to win a Nobel Prize.

0:02:14.221,0:02:15.777
If you put your aim high enough,

0:02:15.777,0:02:18.563
you're going to come up with [br]some cool things on the way.

0:02:18.563,0:02:20.131
It wasn't a real goal,

0:02:20.131,0:02:24.249
it was just something to get me started [br]and move towards a good direction.

0:02:25.867,0:02:29.160
And the third thing I had [br]as a goal when I was your age

0:02:30.986,0:02:35.036
was actually going to a top university.

0:02:35.867,0:02:39.545
And this might sound obvious to you, [br]but when I think about it in hindsight,

0:02:39.545,0:02:42.252
my motivation for it [br]wasn't entirely selfless,

0:02:42.252,0:02:46.645
I wanted to show the people who bullied me[br]at school that I can make it somewhere.

0:02:46.645,0:02:51.294
And so, what I've just told you, [br]is that you can choose any direction,

0:02:51.295,0:02:55.159
it doesn't have to be your own, [br]it doesn't have to be your real goal,

0:02:55.159,0:02:57.755
and it doesn't have to be [br]out of selfless motivation.

0:02:58.364,0:03:01.883
The perfect example of it [br]not having to be a selfless motivation

0:03:01.883,0:03:05.774
is Marc Burnett, the producer[br]of the MTV Music Awards.

0:03:06.241,0:03:08.420
He once gave a talk and said

0:03:08.420,0:03:13.094
that he wanted to become [br]a producer because chicks like it.

0:03:15.135,0:03:18.325
And it doesn't matter, that's [br]absolutely fine as a motivation,

0:03:18.325,0:03:20.543
he's had a great impact on our world.

0:03:21.245,0:03:24.028
The other thing is, also [br]when you choose that direction,

0:03:24.028,0:03:26.067
your starting point doesn't matter.

0:03:26.067,0:03:29.777
A dear friend of mine found himself [br]in jail in the Ukrainian countryside

0:03:29.777,0:03:32.551
and he still decided at that point

0:03:32.551,0:03:34.832
he's going to take [br]a more positive direction.

0:03:34.832,0:03:36.953
And he made it into[br]Harvard Business School,

0:03:36.953,0:03:39.816
and he's been doing similar work [br]like me around the world.

0:03:43.109,0:03:48.820
The second need is [br]say yes to opportunities.

0:03:50.091,0:03:54.687
I always say yes to any opportunity [br]along that direction I've chosen,

0:03:54.687,0:03:56.744
without overthinking it.

0:03:56.744,0:04:00.671
So one of the goals I told you about[br]was going to a top university.

0:04:01.441,0:04:02.498
So what did I do?

0:04:02.498,0:04:05.587
Without overthinking it, I've found[br]a list of top universities,

0:04:05.587,0:04:08.962
chose Cambridge and MIT on the list,[br]printed out the application papers

0:04:08.962,0:04:11.134
filled them out, [br]ticked every possible box,

0:04:11.134,0:04:14.332
including all the scholarships [br]that I had no clue about,

0:04:14.332,0:04:17.960
turned up at the interviews[br]and, for example, at Cambridge

0:04:17.960,0:04:21.215
I just went to the bar [br]and watched "Life of Brian"

0:04:21.215,0:04:23.350
and then I went to my exams[br]the next morning.

0:04:23.350,0:04:26.035
The others had actually [br]been studying the night before.

0:04:26.035,0:04:29.441
But I did get in, [br]I even got that scholarship.

0:04:29.441,0:04:31.327
So you didn't have to overthink it

0:04:31.327,0:04:35.308
or prepare in a very serious manner[br]for that direction or having said yes.

0:04:35.308,0:04:40.681
Same with MIT, the night before [br]the SATs, the university examinations,

0:04:41.741,0:04:45.745
I actually sat with my friend Cathrine[br]and we were thinking:

0:04:47.418,0:04:50.081
"Yeah, so we've filled in [br]those applications,

0:04:50.081,0:04:53.891
but we haven't actually signed up[br]for the entrance exams,"

0:04:53.891,0:04:56.573
so we've realised:[br]"OK, tomorrow's the entrance exam,

0:04:56.573,0:04:59.045
we'll have to go [br]and we'll sign up on the day."

0:04:59.045,0:05:02.699
That's what we did, and we realised [br]also it's maths and English exam,

0:05:02.699,0:05:05.062
neither of us was [br]a native English speaker,

0:05:05.062,0:05:07.902
so we went and got [br]the dictionary out that night,

0:05:07.902,0:05:10.122
- it was maybe 11 o'clock at night -

0:05:10.122,0:05:13.892
and she opened the first page [br]and the first word: quinquagenarian.

0:05:15.292,0:05:17.028
Anybody know what that is?

0:05:17.028,0:05:19.278
We were like, "Oh, dear Lord..."

0:05:19.278,0:05:22.549
It's somebody who's between [br]the age of 50 and 59, inclusive.

0:05:23.274,0:05:26.518
We decided, "Fine, that's enough.[br]We're just going to go the cinema."

0:05:26.518,0:05:28.821
But, I did get into MIT.

0:05:31.373,0:05:34.049
I'm not very proud of how [br]I got into these universities,

0:05:34.049,0:05:36.537
I actually got into[br]12 top universities in the end,

0:05:36.537,0:05:38.522
and I did it without overthinking it.

0:05:38.522,0:05:40.027
What would it be to say:

0:05:40.027,0:05:42.712
"No, I won't print out [br]those applications forms

0:05:42.712,0:05:45.059
and fill them out,"[br]and I'm very happy I did

0:05:45.059,0:05:48.128
because I didn't come up with the excuse:

0:05:48.128,0:05:51.329
"Oh, I'm not good enough[br]for any of that;" my teachers did, though.

0:05:51.329,0:05:53.972
They told me:[br]"You're never going to get into MIT."

0:05:53.972,0:05:57.847
But I was like: "Well, what am I going [br]to lose from filling out this application?

0:05:57.847,0:06:01.575
How are you going to know [br]if you're good enough, if you don't try?

0:06:01.575,0:06:03.929
And it's often something [br]you've done way before,

0:06:03.929,0:06:06.059
that's going to help you [br]in that situation.

0:06:06.059,0:06:08.189
So maybe I didn't study for my SATs,

0:06:08.189,0:06:10.741
maybe I didn't study for [br]my Cambridge entrance exam,

0:06:10.741,0:06:14.723
but I had earlier listened at school,[br]I have done my homework,

0:06:14.723,0:06:17.471
and I even had extracurricular activities.

0:06:17.471,0:06:20.119
At school they offered Latin or maths.

0:06:20.119,0:06:22.568
My parents said Latin is a dead language,

0:06:22.568,0:06:25.870
so I was: "OK, I'll just go [br]to the math club then."

0:06:25.870,0:06:30.745
And I went every singe week [br]to the math club as the only student.

0:06:31.520,0:06:34.656
Nobody else went. It wasn't [br]a particularly cool thing to do.

0:06:34.656,0:06:37.767
But that probably helped me[br]later on in life.

0:06:39.502,0:06:43.645
So, third thing you need [br]is figuring out your character,

0:06:45.486,0:06:47.396
and what are your character's strengths.

0:06:47.396,0:06:49.344
So you should do a test and find out,

0:06:50.252,0:06:51.802
and use those wisely.

0:06:52.463,0:06:56.233
One of my character strengths is bravery.

0:06:56.233,0:06:58.803
So as I told you, if you have a direction,

0:06:58.803,0:07:03.153
you say yes to any opportunity [br]that is along that way.

0:07:03.793,0:07:07.634
I also say yes to that direction [br]and any opportunity along that way

0:07:07.634,0:07:08.947
because I'm brave.

0:07:08.947,0:07:11.434
So, for example, politics [br]is not one of those things

0:07:11.434,0:07:12.919
I've been planning to do,

0:07:12.919,0:07:14.574
but when I was 15 years old

0:07:14.574,0:07:18.315
I saw a newspaper article [br]about an EU politics event,

0:07:19.025,0:07:20.316
and I signed up.

0:07:21.486,0:07:25.348
And I turned up and little did I know[br]the event was for only about 50 people,

0:07:25.348,0:07:29.039
and all of them were [br]top politicians in Frankfurt.

0:07:29.039,0:07:30.306
So I was in the lift,

0:07:30.306,0:07:33.941
chit-chatting to the mayor [br]of Frankfurt, Petra Roth, at the time.

0:07:35.191,0:07:36.938
And it all went fine,

0:07:36.938,0:07:39.685
and when they asked me [br]who was I representing, I said,

0:07:39.685,0:07:44.013
International Institute in Oberursel,[br]read the Frankfurt International School.

0:07:44.939,0:07:46.449
But it all went fine.

0:07:46.449,0:07:50.005
If I had wanted to become a politician, [br]maybe that was the one opportunity

0:07:50.005,0:07:52.138
that would have changed[br]my direction in life.

0:07:53.790,0:07:55.868
So, on top of direction,

0:07:56.621,0:08:01.345
chance and character, [br]you also need investment.

0:08:03.245,0:08:06.027
What comes to mind [br]when I say investment?

0:08:06.577,0:08:08.395
Maybe angel investors?

0:08:08.395,0:08:10.018
Maybe the stock market?

0:08:11.797,0:08:15.442
You certainly don't think of somebody[br]sitting in a dusty library

0:08:15.442,0:08:17.857
reading books in the middle of the night.

0:08:18.759,0:08:21.995
I have read books, [br]but I really don't like it.

0:08:21.995,0:08:24.170
And it's not what got me [br]through high school,

0:08:24.170,0:08:26.085
it's not what got me through university,

0:08:26.085,0:08:28.521
it's not what got me [br]through my job interviews,

0:08:28.521,0:08:31.899
and it's certainly not what [br]has got me through life so far.

0:08:33.181,0:08:37.775
What my investments [br]have been is that one, I listened.

0:08:37.775,0:08:40.492
At university I only ever [br]missed two lectures,

0:08:41.073,0:08:43.135
and those were also [br]for a very good reason.

0:08:43.135,0:08:45.412
So I always went and listened.

0:08:45.412,0:08:50.233
Number two, I drew. [br]All my lectures notes are pretty pictures.

0:08:50.233,0:08:53.463
And my revision notes are very, [br]very pretty and memorable pictures,

0:08:53.463,0:08:56.870
I can even remember now [br]and helped me get through my life.

0:08:57.882,0:09:02.243
Number three, I slept. [br]Mostly 8.5 hours, every night.

0:09:04.034,0:09:06.274
And number four, I said yes.

0:09:07.370,0:09:10.465
And that is an investment, [br]you have no idea how hard it is

0:09:10.465,0:09:13.742
to say yes to every party [br]and every dinner party, and every concert,

0:09:13.742,0:09:16.559
and every meeting there is,[br]if you can possibly make it.

0:09:17.295,0:09:21.063
But, if you say yes to all of those, [br]you might say yes to ten events

0:09:21.063,0:09:23.576
and one of those is the one [br]where you will realise:

0:09:23.576,0:09:25.715
"Yes, this is actually [br]where I want to go,"

0:09:25.715,0:09:28.024
and you can shift [br]your direction in that case.

0:09:29.631,0:09:31.954
Last and least.

0:09:33.184,0:09:35.817
Least, you need talent.

0:09:38.706,0:09:41.619
The one thing [br]I'm really not talented at is sport.

0:09:42.469,0:09:45.802
I remember sitting underneath [br]a tree when I was about six years old

0:09:45.802,0:09:47.906
and feeling really embarrassed[br]about myself.

0:09:47.906,0:09:52.902
I was a chubby girl [br]and I was so bad at sport, but I thought:

0:09:53.681,0:09:58.076
"If I ever become a sportsman, [br]I'm going to give a speech and tell people

0:09:58.076,0:10:01.134
that even if you're a chubby kid[br]at six, you can make it.

0:10:01.877,0:10:04.479
I'm not a sportsman, [br]sorry to disappoint you.

0:10:04.479,0:10:08.085
But, I did decide that I want the top mark

0:10:11.105,0:10:13.431
at my upper secondary school diploma,

0:10:13.431,0:10:15.527
is what I think [br]you call it here in Finland.

0:10:16.215,0:10:19.377
And I did get that mark, it was [br]the toughest mark to get though.

0:10:19.377,0:10:22.349
I had to swim a heck of a lot[br]to get to that top mark.

0:10:22.349,0:10:25.618
It was much more difficult [br]than any of my other grades that I got.

0:10:26.689,0:10:29.593
I've also got [br]the Varsity Cross Country Running prize.

0:10:30.628,0:10:33.402
And I even got a silver medal

0:10:33.402,0:10:36.176
in the national running championships[br]this year.

0:10:36.176,0:10:38.952
So even though I don't have talent,[br]you can get pretty far.

0:10:41.023,0:10:43.234
I always liked to be honest, though.

0:10:43.234,0:10:46.775
And, there is about 1% of things[br]that even I can't do.

0:10:47.841,0:10:50.984
And there's going to be [br]1% of things that even you can't do.

0:10:50.984,0:10:54.177
And you have to accept that,[br]and that's where you need the talent,

0:10:54.177,0:10:57.509
and appreciation of your talent[br]for that one last percent.

0:10:59.658,0:11:03.284
Don't be daunted by the fact that [br]I've told you to choose the direction now,

0:11:03.284,0:11:07.077
it doesn't have to be[br]your ultimate direction

0:11:07.077,0:11:09.359
because you can't choose that now.

0:11:09.359,0:11:12.079
The last ingredient [br]that you need for deciding

0:11:12.079,0:11:14.517
where you are going to go[br]when having that impact,

0:11:14.517,0:11:16.685
are your own values and they change.

0:11:17.895,0:11:21.645
These were the values [br]that I had about ten years ago.

0:11:23.586,0:11:28.389
It was adventure, it was excellence,[br]and it was achievement.

0:11:30.890,0:11:33.151
I got the adventure that I wanted.

0:11:33.151,0:11:36.896
In DR Congo I just escaped [br]the ebola outbreak

0:11:36.896,0:11:39.912
by going through the border[br]five minutes just before it closed,

0:11:39.912,0:11:44.128
I got onto a speedboat, wearing [br]my Bond-girl, see-through outfit,

0:11:44.128,0:11:48.442
- I've lost my luggage and I was[br]wearing a local trend outfit,

0:11:49.208,0:11:50.997
which was see-through -

0:11:50.997,0:11:53.166
only to get to the other side,

0:11:53.166,0:11:54.825
get to Nigeria, and realise,

0:11:54.825,0:11:57.724
there was a bomb threat[br]and an arm attack ahead of me.

0:11:58.544,0:12:03.975
It was thrilling, I must admit, [br]but I was there mainly to save the world.

0:12:06.801,0:12:09.402
I'm still saving the world,

0:12:10.492,0:12:13.273
now I'm doing it [br]through a gene risk project

0:12:13.273,0:12:16.907
which starts next year and aims [br]to use genetic information

0:12:16.907,0:12:20.782
to improve our health [br]and wealthfare here in Finland.

0:12:22.926,0:12:26.988
But I'm also trying to save myself, [br]and do good things to myself.

0:12:29.647,0:12:33.087
This started all about a year ago,[br]when I was at the training programme,

0:12:33.087,0:12:36.158
and I was given a stack of cards,[br]very similar to these ones.

0:12:36.700,0:12:39.861
And I had to choose my top three values,

0:12:41.051,0:12:43.597
and the ones I chose were these:

0:12:44.459,0:12:47.998
happiness, kindness, and health.

0:12:50.388,0:12:52.243
I compared them to the guy next to me,

0:12:52.243,0:12:55.997
and he had power, and money,[br]and all those kinds of things,

0:12:55.997,0:12:58.021
and I had happiness, kindness, and health.

0:12:58.021,0:12:59.956
And I compared them to what I was doing,[br]

0:12:59.956,0:13:02.586
and realised, I'm going [br]to change my life now.

0:13:02.586,0:13:04.048
And that's what I did.

0:13:05.690,0:13:08.412
Because I believe [br]that society doesn't work

0:13:08.412,0:13:12.115
unless each and everyone [br]of us are feeling happy,

0:13:12.115,0:13:15.088
healthy, and we're kind to each other.

0:13:16.198,0:13:19.891
Ten years from now, [br]my values might look like this.

0:13:20.609,0:13:23.544
And hopefully, by then I'll learn [br]to balance even better

0:13:23.544,0:13:29.694
my impact on society, my impact on me, [br]and my impact on my friends and family.

0:13:32.446,0:13:36.782
Oy, you! I know [br]you haven't been listening so far,

0:13:36.782,0:13:39.969
but it really is worth it now, [br]last minute to go.

0:13:39.969,0:13:42.872
I've got a top secret recipe for you.

0:13:42.872,0:13:45.790
It's my recipe [br]of how you can have an impact.

0:13:46.446,0:13:49.366
Number one, keep moving.

0:13:49.366,0:13:52.922
Number two, leverage [br]your character strengths.

0:13:52.922,0:13:57.369
Number three, say yes to opportunities.

0:13:58.163,0:14:01.265
Number four, invest wisely.

0:14:01.726,0:14:06.457
And number five, do not let [br]lack of talent be an excuse

0:14:07.017,0:14:11.339
unless it's that 1% of things [br]that you literally just cannot do.

0:14:14.217,0:14:19.474
Now I've given you my top secret recipe, [br]you have no more excuses,

0:14:19.474,0:14:22.856
you know it's not rocket [br]science, so start now!

0:14:24.983,0:14:26.571
(Applause)