Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW
-
0:00 - 0:02Thank you.
-
0:04 - 0:08I want to discuss with you this afternoon
-
0:08 - 0:10why you're going to fail
to have a great career. -
0:10 - 0:12(Laughter)
-
0:12 - 0:14I'm an economist.
-
0:14 - 0:16I do dismal.
-
0:16 - 0:20End of the day, it's ready
for dismal remarks. -
0:21 - 0:24I only want to talk to those of you
who want a great career. -
0:25 - 0:29I know some of you have already decided
you want a good career. -
0:29 - 0:30You're going to fail, too.
-
0:30 - 0:31(Laughter)
-
0:31 - 0:34Because -- goodness,
you're all cheery about failing. -
0:34 - 0:35(Laughter)
-
0:35 - 0:37Canadian group, undoubtedly.
-
0:37 - 0:40(Laughter)
-
0:40 - 0:42Those trying to have good careers
are going to fail, -
0:43 - 0:45because, really, good jobs
are now disappearing. -
0:46 - 0:49There are great jobs and great careers,
-
0:49 - 0:52and then there are the high-workload,
-
0:52 - 0:56high-stress, bloodsucking,
soul-destroying kinds of jobs, -
0:56 - 0:58and practically nothing in-between.
-
0:58 - 1:01So people looking for good jobs
are going to fail. -
1:01 - 1:04I want to talk about those
looking for great jobs, great careers, -
1:04 - 1:07and why you're going to fail.
-
1:08 - 1:13First reason is that no matter
how many times people tell you, -
1:14 - 1:17"If you want a great career,
you have to pursue your passion, -
1:17 - 1:20you have to pursue your dreams,
you have to pursue -
1:20 - 1:23the greatest fascination in your life,"
-
1:23 - 1:26you hear it again and again,
and then you decide not to do it. -
1:26 - 1:30It doesn't matter
how many times you download -
1:30 - 1:34Steven J.'s Stanford commencement address,
-
1:34 - 1:37you still look at it
and decide not to do it. -
1:37 - 1:39I'm not quite sure
why you decide not to do it. -
1:39 - 1:41You're too lazy to do it. It's too hard.
-
1:42 - 1:44You're afraid if you look
for your passion and don't find it, -
1:44 - 1:47you'll feel like you're an idiot,
so then you make excuses -
1:47 - 1:50about why you're not going
to look for your passion. -
1:50 - 1:52They are excuses, ladies and gentlemen.
-
1:52 - 1:54We're going to go through
a whole long list -- -
1:54 - 1:58your creativity in thinking of excuses
not to do what you really need to do -
1:58 - 2:01if you want to have a great career.
-
2:01 - 2:06So, for example,
one of your great excuses is: -
2:06 - 2:08(Sigh)
-
2:08 - 2:11"Well, great careers are
really and truly, for most people, -
2:11 - 2:13just a matter of luck.
-
2:14 - 2:17So I'm going to stand around,
I'm going to try to be lucky, -
2:17 - 2:19and if I'm lucky,
I'll have a great career. -
2:19 - 2:20If not, I'll have a good career."
-
2:21 - 2:24But a good career is an impossibility,
so that's not going to work. -
2:24 - 2:26Then, your other excuse is,
-
2:26 - 2:30"Yes, there are special people
who pursue their passions, -
2:30 - 2:32but they are geniuses.
-
2:32 - 2:33They are Steven J.
-
2:33 - 2:35I'm not a genius.
-
2:35 - 2:38When I was five, I thought I was a genius,
-
2:38 - 2:42but my professors have beaten that idea
out of my head long since." -
2:42 - 2:43(Laughter)
-
2:43 - 2:47"And now I know
I am completely competent." -
2:47 - 2:50Now, you see, if this was 1950,
-
2:50 - 2:53being completely competent --
-
2:53 - 2:55that would have given you a great career.
-
2:55 - 2:56But guess what?
-
2:56 - 3:00This is almost 2012,
and saying to the world, -
3:00 - 3:03"I am totally, completely competent,"
-
3:04 - 3:08is damning yourself
with the faintest of praise. -
3:08 - 3:10And then, of course, another excuse:
-
3:10 - 3:14"Well, I would do this,
I would do this, but, but -- -
3:14 - 3:17well, after all, I'm not weird.
-
3:18 - 3:20Everybody knows that people
who pursue their passions -
3:20 - 3:22are somewhat obsessive.
-
3:22 - 3:23A little strange.
-
3:23 - 3:25Hmm? Hmm? OK?
-
3:25 - 3:28You know, a fine line
between madness and genius. -
3:28 - 3:32"I'm not weird. I've read
Steven J.'s biography. -
3:32 - 3:36Oh my goodness --
I'm not that person. I am nice. -
3:36 - 3:38I am normal.
-
3:38 - 3:41I'm a nice, normal person,
and nice, normal people -- -
3:43 - 3:44don't have passion."
-
3:44 - 3:45(Laughter)
-
3:45 - 3:48"Ah, but I still want a great career.
-
3:48 - 3:50I'm not prepared to pursue my passion,
-
3:50 - 3:51so I know what I'm going to do,
-
3:51 - 3:53because I have a solution.
-
3:53 - 3:55I have a strategy.
-
3:55 - 3:57It's the one Mommy
and Daddy told me about. -
3:57 - 4:00Mommy and Daddy told me
that if I worked hard, -
4:00 - 4:02I'd have a good career.
-
4:02 - 4:05So, if you work hard
and have a good career, -
4:05 - 4:07if you work really, really, really hard,
-
4:07 - 4:09you'll have a great career.
-
4:09 - 4:11Doesn't that, like,
mathematically make sense?" -
4:11 - 4:13Hmm. Not.
-
4:13 - 4:15But you've managed
to talk yourself into that. -
4:15 - 4:17You know what? Here's a little secret:
-
4:17 - 4:20You want to work? You want to work
really, really, really hard? -
4:20 - 4:22You know what? You'll succeed.
-
4:22 - 4:24The world will give you the opportunity
-
4:24 - 4:27to work really, really,
really, really hard. -
4:27 - 4:30But, are you so sure
-
4:30 - 4:33that that's going to give you
a great career, -
4:33 - 4:36when all the evidence is to the contrary?
-
4:36 - 4:42So let's deal with those of you
who are trying to find your passion. -
4:42 - 4:44You actually understand
that you really had better do it, -
4:44 - 4:46never mind the excuses.
-
4:46 - 4:48You're trying to find your passion --
-
4:48 - 4:49(Sigh)
-
4:49 - 4:51and you're so happy.
-
4:51 - 4:54You found something you're interested in.
-
4:54 - 4:56"I have an interest! I have an interest!"
-
4:56 - 4:57You tell me.
-
4:57 - 5:00You say, "I have an interest!"
I say, "That's wonderful! -
5:00 - 5:02And what are you trying to tell me?"
-
5:02 - 5:04"Well, I have an interest."
-
5:04 - 5:05I say, "Do you have passion?"
-
5:05 - 5:07"I have an interest," you say.
-
5:08 - 5:09"Your interest is compared to what?"
-
5:09 - 5:11"Well, I'm interested in this."
-
5:12 - 5:16"And what about the rest
of humanity's activities?" -
5:16 - 5:17"I'm not interested in them."
-
5:17 - 5:20"You've looked at them all, have you?"
-
5:20 - 5:22"No. Not exactly."
-
5:22 - 5:24Passion is your greatest love.
-
5:25 - 5:27Passion is the thing
-
5:27 - 5:32that will help you create
the highest expression of your talent. -
5:32 - 5:35Passion, interest --
it's not the same thing. -
5:35 - 5:37Are you really going to go
to your sweetie and say, -
5:37 - 5:40"Marry me! You're interesting."
-
5:40 - 5:43(Laughter)
-
5:43 - 5:45Won't happen.
-
5:45 - 5:47Won't happen, and you will die alone.
-
5:47 - 5:49(Laughter)
-
5:49 - 5:50What you want,
-
5:50 - 5:53what you want, what you want,
-
5:53 - 5:54is passion.
-
5:54 - 5:56It is beyond interest.
-
5:56 - 6:00You need 20 interests,
and then one of them, -
6:00 - 6:01one of them might grab you,
-
6:01 - 6:04one of them might engage you
more than anything else, -
6:04 - 6:07and then you may have found
your greatest love, -
6:07 - 6:11in comparison to all the other things
that interest you, -
6:11 - 6:13and that's what passion is.
-
6:13 - 6:16I have a friend, proposed to his sweetie.
-
6:16 - 6:18He was an economically rational person.
-
6:19 - 6:22He said to his sweetie, "Let us marry.
-
6:23 - 6:25Let us merge our interests."
-
6:25 - 6:27(Laughter)
-
6:27 - 6:28Yes, he did.
-
6:29 - 6:33"I love you truly," he said.
"I love you deeply. -
6:33 - 6:37I love you more than any other woman
I've ever encountered. -
6:37 - 6:41I love you more than Mary,
Jane, Susie, Penelope, -
6:41 - 6:44Ingrid, Gertrude, Gretel --
-
6:44 - 6:46I was on a German exchange program then.
-
6:46 - 6:49I love you more than --"
-
6:49 - 6:51All right.
-
6:51 - 6:52She left the room
-
6:52 - 6:57halfway through his enumeration
of his love for her. -
6:57 - 7:02After he got over his surprise
at being, you know, turned down, -
7:02 - 7:05he concluded he'd had a narrow escape
-
7:05 - 7:09from marrying an irrational person.
-
7:09 - 7:13Although, he did make a note to himself
that the next time he proposed, -
7:13 - 7:14it was perhaps not necessary
-
7:14 - 7:19to enumerate all of the women
he had auditioned for the part. -
7:19 - 7:21(Laughter)
-
7:22 - 7:23But the point stands.
-
7:23 - 7:27You must look for alternatives
so that you find your destiny, -
7:27 - 7:29or are you afraid of the word "destiny"?
-
7:29 - 7:32Does the word "destiny" scare you?
-
7:32 - 7:34That's what we're talking about.
-
7:34 - 7:37And if you don't find
the highest expression of your talent, -
7:37 - 7:40if you settle for "interesting,"
what the hell ever that means, -
7:40 - 7:43do you know what will happen
at the end of your long life? -
7:43 - 7:46Your friends and family will be
gathered in the cemetery, -
7:46 - 7:50and there beside your gravesite
will be a tombstone, -
7:50 - 7:51and inscribed on that tombstone
-
7:51 - 7:55it will say, "Here lies
a distinguished engineer, -
7:55 - 7:57who invented Velcro."
-
8:00 - 8:04But what that tombstone should have said,
-
8:04 - 8:07in an alternative lifetime,
-
8:07 - 8:11what it should have said if it was
your highest expression of talent, -
8:11 - 8:16was, "Here lies the last
Nobel Laureate in Physics, -
8:16 - 8:19who formulated
the Grand Unified Field Theory -
8:19 - 8:23and demonstrated
the practicality of warp drive." -
8:23 - 8:25(Laughter)
-
8:25 - 8:27Velcro, indeed!
-
8:27 - 8:29(Laughter)
-
8:30 - 8:32One was a great career.
-
8:33 - 8:37One was a missed opportunity.
-
8:37 - 8:40But then, there are some of you who,
-
8:40 - 8:43in spite of all these
excuses, you will find, -
8:43 - 8:45you will find your passion.
-
8:47 - 8:49And you'll still fail.
-
8:50 - 8:53You're going to fail, because --
-
8:54 - 8:56because you're not going to do it,
-
8:56 - 9:00because you will have
invented a new excuse, -
9:00 - 9:04any excuse to fail to take action,
-
9:04 - 9:08and this excuse, I've heard so many times:
-
9:08 - 9:15"Yes, I would pursue a great career,
-
9:15 - 9:22but, I value human relationships --
-
9:22 - 9:23(Laughter)
-
9:23 - 9:24more than accomplishment.
-
9:25 - 9:27I want to be a great friend.
-
9:27 - 9:30I want to be a great spouse.
-
9:30 - 9:31I want to be a great parent,
-
9:32 - 9:34and I will not sacrifice them
-
9:34 - 9:37on the altar of great accomplishment."
-
9:38 - 9:39(Laughter)
-
9:39 - 9:41What do you want me to say?
-
9:41 - 9:44Now, do you really want
me to say now, tell you, -
9:44 - 9:46"Really, I swear I don't kick children."
-
9:46 - 9:48(Laughter)
-
9:49 - 9:52Look at the worldview
you've given yourself. -
9:52 - 9:54You're a hero no matter what.
-
9:55 - 9:58And I, by suggesting ever so delicately
-
9:58 - 10:01that you might want a great career,
must hate children. -
10:01 - 10:03I don't hate children. I don't kick them.
-
10:03 - 10:06Yes, there was a little kid
wandering through this building -
10:06 - 10:08when I came here, and no,
I didn't kick him. -
10:08 - 10:10(Laughter)
-
10:10 - 10:13Course, I had to tell him
the building was for adults only, -
10:13 - 10:15and to get out.
-
10:15 - 10:17He mumbled something about his mother,
-
10:17 - 10:20and I told him she'd probably
find him outside anyway. -
10:20 - 10:23Last time I saw him,
he was on the stairs crying. -
10:23 - 10:24(Laughter)
-
10:24 - 10:25What a wimp.
-
10:25 - 10:26(Laughter)
-
10:26 - 10:29But what do you mean?
That's what you expect me to say. -
10:29 - 10:31Do you really think it's appropriate
-
10:31 - 10:37that you should actually take
children and use them as a shield? -
10:37 - 10:40You know what will happen someday,
-
10:40 - 10:43you ideal parent, you?
-
10:44 - 10:47The kid will come to you someday and say,
-
10:47 - 10:49"I know what I want to be.
-
10:49 - 10:51I know what I'm going to do with my life."
-
10:51 - 10:52You are so happy.
-
10:52 - 10:55It's the conversation
a parent wants to hear, -
10:55 - 10:56because your kid's good in math,
-
10:57 - 10:59and you know you're going to like
what comes next. -
10:59 - 11:01Says your kid,
-
11:01 - 11:04"I have decided I want to be a magician.
-
11:04 - 11:07I want to perform
magic tricks on the stage." -
11:09 - 11:10(Laughter)
-
11:10 - 11:12And what do you say?
-
11:13 - 11:15You say, you say,
-
11:15 - 11:19"That's risky, kid.
-
11:19 - 11:21Might fail, kid. Don't make
a lot of money at that, kid. -
11:21 - 11:24I don't know, kid, you should
think about that again, kid. -
11:24 - 11:26You're so good at math, why don't you --"
-
11:26 - 11:28The kid interrupts you and says,
-
11:28 - 11:31"But it is my dream.
It is my dream to do this." -
11:32 - 11:34And what are you going to say?
-
11:34 - 11:36You know what you're going to say?
-
11:36 - 11:38"Look kid. I had a dream once, too, but --
-
11:40 - 11:41But --"
-
11:41 - 11:44So how are you going to finish
the sentence with your "but"? -
11:44 - 11:50"But. I had a dream too, once,
kid, but I was afraid to pursue it." -
11:50 - 11:53Or are you going to tell him this:
-
11:53 - 11:55"I had a dream once, kid.
-
11:57 - 11:58But then, you were born."
-
11:58 - 12:01(Laughter)
-
12:01 - 12:03(Applause)
-
12:03 - 12:08Do you really want to use your family,
-
12:08 - 12:13do you really ever want to look
at your spouse and your kid, -
12:13 - 12:15and see your jailers?
-
12:16 - 12:20There was something
you could have said to your kid, -
12:20 - 12:23when he or she said, "I have a dream."
-
12:24 - 12:26You could have said --
-
12:26 - 12:30looked the kid in the face and said,
-
12:30 - 12:31"Go for it, kid!
-
12:33 - 12:34Just like I did."
-
12:36 - 12:39But you won't be able to say that,
-
12:39 - 12:40because you didn't.
-
12:40 - 12:42So you can't.
-
12:42 - 12:44(Laughter)
-
12:47 - 12:50And so the sins of the parents
-
12:50 - 12:52are visited on the poor children.
-
12:54 - 12:59Why will you seek refuge
in human relationships -
12:59 - 13:05as your excuse not to find
and pursue your passion? -
13:06 - 13:07You know why.
-
13:08 - 13:10In your heart of hearts, you know why,
-
13:11 - 13:13and I'm being deadly serious.
-
13:13 - 13:15You know why you would get
all warm and fuzzy -
13:15 - 13:18and wrap yourself
up in human relationships. -
13:19 - 13:21It is because you are --
-
13:23 - 13:24you know what you are.
-
13:24 - 13:27You're afraid to pursue your passion.
-
13:28 - 13:30You're afraid to look ridiculous.
-
13:30 - 13:31You're afraid to try.
-
13:31 - 13:33You're afraid you may fail.
-
13:37 - 13:43Great friend, great spouse,
great parent, great career. -
13:44 - 13:47Is that not a package?
Is that not who you are? -
13:48 - 13:50How can you be one without the other?
-
13:51 - 13:53But you're afraid.
-
13:54 - 13:59And that's why you're not
going to have a great career. -
14:01 - 14:03Unless --
-
14:03 - 14:09"unless," that most evocative
of all English words -- -
14:09 - 14:10"unless."
-
14:11 - 14:15But the "unless" word is also attached
-
14:15 - 14:20to that other, most terrifying phrase,
-
14:20 - 14:22"If only I had ..."
-
14:23 - 14:26"If only I had ..."
-
14:26 - 14:31If you ever have that thought
ricocheting in your brain, -
14:31 - 14:33it will hurt a lot.
-
14:35 - 14:37So, those are the many reasons
-
14:37 - 14:39why you are going to fail
-
14:39 - 14:41to have a great career.
-
14:43 - 14:44Unless --
-
14:48 - 14:49Unless.
-
14:52 - 14:53Thank you.
-
14:53 - 14:59(Applause)
- Title:
- Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED conferences.
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. - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 15:00
TED Translators admin commented on English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
TED Translators admin approved English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
Ivana Korom accepted English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW |
TED Translators admin
The English transcript was updated on 1/25/2017.