ted talk | thu, texas

It’s 5:30 AM, and this…could be a terrible blog post.

I’m really not a person to wake up in the middle of the night. Nor am I the person who wakes up every hour, on the hour. Nor am I the person who decides that 5 AM is as good time as any to wake up for a full day of work…and write a personal blog post.

But that’s what you do sometimes. When you know your brain is rattling, and if you don’t get thoughts out, that it might actually be bad for your health. This doesn’t happen often, it’s not a stroke of genius, by any means — but you can’t ignore it. At least, I feel like I can’t.

So I’ll put myself on a time constraint because after this, I actually have to get ready for work.

Work.

It’s been my life lately (sort of). Transitioning back to full time work hasn’t been difficult in the sense that I feel like I’m drowning…it’s just been difficult. When you’ve become used to a certain lifestyle (or developed a habit), other things fall to the wayside. For me, it’s been my creative hobbies…such as your writing. It’s been difficult in the sense that I don’t feel compelled, or even inspired to write anything. Because the majority of my work is writing, I feel burnt out by the time I get home (and that’s on a good day). I feel the same way about social media. You guys know that I have my reservations, but I love social media. It’s also been part of my professional work for…forever. Lately, it’s also fallen to the wayside. I’ll get on here and there, but it’s no longer this priority? (I’ve even turned off Notifications because I feel so indifferent about it.) And while that may sound like a good thing to you… it’s been ingrained in me for so long. When I feel like it’s leaving my person/habits, I FEEL LIKE IT’S NOT ME. I’m asking myself, “WHO AM I?” Does that make sense? It sounds so silly… I promise this has a[n] ~~good~~ ending.

So, then we watched this video (below) at my work’s weekly team meeting. Andrew Stanton, for those of you who do not know, worked on films such as John Carter, Finding Nemo…Wall-E…Toy Story — ever heard of those?

I took notes that reside on my desk now:

“Make me care. Life is NOT static. Stories are inevitable, not predictable. WONDER. Send jokes to Andy.”

— the last bit was a reminder for myself.

Sometimes, I forget about TED talks. Most times, it’s because I’m watching dumb YouTube content like “You Suck At Cooking,” which isn’t actually dumb…it’s actually very creative. ANYHOW, this video struck me like a chord.

b/c it’s Andrew Stanton. Anyone from Pixar, really. You know it’s going to be good
“Make me care” is what anyone aspires to do when they’re telling a story, right? It sounds so obvious…but not until someone else points it out is when you feel like they’ve told you some sort of secret
Life is not static. Are you kidding me, I literally have that written in my About Me section
WONDER. Everyone seeks that (conscious or not). I remember feeling that way when I first watched UP. Or when my brother tells me what he did at work. Or when my roommate tells the shit out of a work story. Or when my best friend tells me…anything.
The moments that he remembers, bringing him to where he stands today
Woof, he knows how to tell a good story. Amirite *sob*

All’s to say is that TED talk was what I needed (for now). A cup of refreshment. Something to lift my spirit, a break in the monotony, a note that says, “Keep going. Make me care.” We all strive for greatness, and as long as it finds you working — it will come.

I think, don’t quote me on that.

A101 (def): Tips on life taught by yours truly in hopes that maybe you can relate, share your story with me, and take something away from this. Not that I think I have some sort of God-given right to do so… I’m just hoping someone can relate and feel less alone in whatever situation they may be in. It really is a dream of mine to teach a class called “A101.” Ask Hannah.

I say “fake it ’til you make it” all of the time, but now I know that I’m wrong.

What? I’m wrong about something? That’s a first.

Just kidding, I’m only human. Humans can be wrong (even me). I do say “fake it ’til you make it” a lot though and here’s why: mostly because I like to kid around, but I did feel this strong belief toward it. Now I’m not advocating being a fake by any means but I think that sometimes we are our own person to our fullest potential…behind closed doors… or in the comfort of our home… or just around our friends. We only reveal our best selves in front of people we feel comfortable around and to everyone else we fake being a person of lesser potential…I do it sometimes. I do it a lot when I feel intimidated- like in an interview or talking to a professor, even when I meet new people.

When I evaluate myself after an interview, I sometimes think, “Man, I didn’t get to say _____ because I was feeling so nervous and now they won’t know I’m amazing and I deserve this job.” I am sure that I am not alone feeling this. It’s that post-first-impression-dissonance-type feeling. You wish you could take that moment back, rewind, and do it again. There’s a french word that I read in Seth Godin’s Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? that describes the feeling you get when you come up with something clever but only after the fact. (I obviously haven’t learn my lesson to write things down.)

Then I watched this: http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html

Here’s the thing: I love nonverbals and this video is all about that. I love reading them, I love learning about them, I basically geeked out the whole time I was watching this. If you have 20 minutes of free time and if you’re reading my blog, you do, watch it! Nonverbals matter. When Amy Cuddy mentioned “Fake it ’til you make it,” that only furthered my geeking out. But I also had a realization and came to agree with her when she said, “you shouldn’t fake it ’til you make it…you fake it ’til you become it.”

Now what I think she meant by this is what I was talking about above. We are incredible human beings but for some reason cower in these “low power positions” when we should really be posing like Wonder Woman, defeating job interviews and social situations with our best selves (you kind of have to watch the video to know what this means…). Study shows people who did these “high power poses” were willing to take more risks, had more testosterone, and less cortisol (stress hormone). Fake it ’til you become your best self, because when we do that, we are present, we are authentic, etc. Next time I go into a job interview, I will be doing the Wonder Woman pose in the bathroom so don’t be taken aback if you see me!

Found this on my jog on Saturday | What’s stopping you?

Seriously, watch the video, it’s fascinating.

—thu, texas

Archive

Tag Archives: ted talk

Do you care? Yes, always.

A101: Don’t “fake it ’til you make it”, “fake it ’til you become it”