I am a big fan of TED, mostly of the talks you can watch as videos. The general theme of TED is design. But there is always something to be taken away as overall life advice.
Like my favourite talk from Stefan Sagmeister, an Austrian graphic designer. It’s so well delivered that it never fails to entertain. It makes me smile everytime I watch it. What really stands out to me are the last 2 minutes. Stefan shows a list of things he learnt in life so far (starting at 13:23 in his video). After watching the video for the first time I went back to that list and paused it. That is a great list, full of wisdom. I stared at it for so long that I finally decided to just write down the things that made most sense to me. Here they are:
- Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
- Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
- Being not truthful works against me.
- Helping other people helps me.
- Everything I do always comes back to me.
- Over time I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
- Money does not make me happy.
- Travelling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
- Assuming is stifling.
- Trying to look good limits my life.
- Worrying solves nothing.
I like to think that Stefan learnt these things in life so I don’t have to. I try to look at this list often and then apply these things to my own life as much as I can. Some are easier to remember than others but that’s life, isn’t it?
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I think I’ve just had a little moment of zen reading this. A deep breath in and out. Worrying is the hobby I could most do without at the moment. Working on it.
Maybe you’ll be interested in his book, if you havnt seen it already…
http://www.amazon.fr/Things-Have-Learned-Life-Far/dp/0810995298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310798322&sr=8-1
I thing I needed to read this things right now. Thanks. :)
Kate – I usually give myself a limited amount of time to freak out and worry about something and then I have to get over it and move on. If you can manage that it makes you more efficient AND it impresses people! It’s a win-win situation, really. :)
emcee – yes! I had seen it but forgotten all about it, so thank you.
Carla – no problem. I really need to see it over and over again myself.
So, the question is: have you been planning your year off every seven years?
Not that I have or anything…