I am officially a Ted Talk junkie. It is hard to believe that two years ago I had almost no idea this platform existed. I am sure I had heard of Ted Talks and it is possible I had even seen one online at some point, but I had no sense of what was behind it or how important it would become in satiating my thirst for knowledge, meaning, and understanding.
I believe the credit for formally introducing me to Ted Talks belongs to Keith Edwards, but I cannot be certain this is the case. I have an awful memory and falsely give credit to the wrong people all the time. The reason Dr. Edwards gets credit is because I am positive that he exposed me to the exceptional Ted Talk below by Sarah Kay. It was the talk that sparked my current love affair with meeting these remarkable people and learning their amazing online lessons in mostly 20 minute slices.
Unfortunately, for most of my life my thirst for knowledge has not been apparent in a meaningful way. While growing up, my engagement in learning was confined to school and was motivated by social norms and classroom expectations. The one place my curiosity to learn and drive for knowledge was fueled was around my love of sports. I have obtained, considered, discussed, and memorized more information and knowledge about sports than most people do within their college majors. There was a significant amount of time in the 1990's where I could name just about every starting position player and most bench players in the NBA, MLB, and NFL. Some of that knowledge was maintained over the course of many years and was complimented by approximate or exact statistical information about each player. To say I was a sports nerd would be an understatement. Super nerd is more like it.
As noted in earlier blog posts here and here, I have more recently found a passion for learning through the reading and listening to books. It is in the spirit of this exploration of knowledge and meaning that I have welcomed Ted Talks into my life. I would not say that every Ted Talk is amazing, because many are quite boring, but I have seen 20-25 that have grabbed my attention and interest unlike any else. They have challenged my thinking, caused me to reflect on who I am and what I believe, and taught me so much about the world around me that I did not understand.
A strange thing has happened on this new journey of falling in love with learning and eventually meeting Ted, I have started to disengage from sports. I still follow my local teams closely and as I pointed out here I still love watching amazing finishes to games, but my curiosity and thirst for knowledge is now being channeled in other directions.
If you have never seen the Ted Talk below by Sarah Kay, I strongly recommend it. It is especially powerful if you have daughters, are a daughter, or know someone with daughters (does this cover just about everyone?). It inspired me, made me think, touched my heart, and made me want to be a better father. Regular readers of this blog will find Ted Talks and the lessons I have learned from them posted here on a regular basis. At some point I will pull together and post a list of my favorites, but for now I will help you avoid the paralysis of choosing one from a list of many and simply offer you the remarkable one below that started it all for me. If you are desperate for more Ted Talks, you will find some amazing ones in some of my previous posts and more to come in future posts.
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