TED Talks - my top 5
- lorisolan
- Feb 3, 2018
- 4 min read
Whilst travelling, there is an abundance of opportunity to browse the internet and watch what you like while spending hours at a time on buses, trains and planes getting you from one destination to the next. I went through endless series' on Netflix (read about my top 5 series here), read lots of books (check out my top 10 reads here) and was introduced to TED talks. I had always seen TED videos pop up on my home screen on YouTube and wondered what they were however never took the time to find out. That is, until an uber lengthy bus journey from Satun to Bangkok in Thailand. This is when I discovered how incredible they were and got HOOKED!
TED started out in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Education and Design were bonded and since then there have been TED talks performed all over the globe, covering many subjects from business to global issues. TED is a nonprofit organisation engaging people with short, inspiring talks with the aim to spreading ideas worldwide.
There is something so gripping about these talks, each speaker is genuinely committed and passionate about their topic and have such relevant findings and studies to back themselves up.
Below are my top 5 talks that I found engaging, interesting and inspiring:
1. Simon Sinek - "How Great Leaders Inspire Action"
This talk shows how Simon Sinek has discovered patterns of thinking and communicating across a multitude of various leaders from Steve Jobs at Apple to Martin Luther King Jr. He uses what he calls the Golden Circle which he describes as "a naturally occurring pattern, grounded in the biology of human decision making, that explains why we are inspired by some people, leaders, messages and organizations over others". This particular talk sheds light on a lot of characteristics that we as people should possess, in order to succeed in many job roles involving management and inspiration of others.
2. Amy Cuddy - Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are
Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist and in this TED talk she speaks about 'power posing' and the ability for any one person to change how they feel about themselves and others perception of them by altering their pose for two minutes. Body language plays a huge part in every day life and Amy explains the importance of posture and how adopting a sure pose for 120 seconds can give the feeling of power to people as it increases testosterone and reduces stress levels.
3. Julian Treasure - How to Speak so That People Want to Listen
The title of this TED talk instantly gripped me as it is something I related to. There have been many occasions where I have been speaking in a crowd at a social event or in a meeting at work and have been cut short by someone speaking over me. Whether on purpose or by mistake, this is not a nice feeling for anyone. Julian Treasures talk is not so much about gaining confidence with speaking and ways to capture an audience as I originally thought from the name. It is however more about the conversational no no's and the positive characteristics one should exert along with different tones to use in your voice that will draw people to what you are saying and keep their attention. It is short and sweet at 10 minutes long.
4. Shawn Achor - The Happy Secret to Better Work
I LOVE this TED talk, not just because of the powerful meaning behind it but because I laughed out loud throughout the 12 minutes. When Shawn Achor first started talking, I found him to be quite frantic and excitable but this made me more attentive and the talk more interesting. He speaks about training your brain to focus on the positive not the negative.
He that describes that we have the formula wrong for success wrong and how we equate our happiness to our success rate. He goes on to explain that if you are happy in your present it can have huge benefits on your success i.e if you are happier you will do better in work, your studies, be 31% more productive. Happiness creates positivity which drives results and in turn achieves success. Happiness = Success
5. Kelly McGonigal - How to Make Stress Your Friend
We all experience stress in one way or another, in our personal lives or in work. It can feel crippling and puts a huge strain on your body and mind. Kelly McGonigal explains how stress should start being looked at as a positive thing rather than something that is as bad for you. She questions how stress can make you healthier and gives examples on how stress when viewed in the right way can be helpful.
She speaks about a study performed in Harvard. It was a social stress test and participants were advised to think about their stress responses as helpful - when your heart starts to pump in a stressful situation, take that as your heart readying you for action, if you are breathing faster - this is providing more oxygen to your brain. The study showed that heart rates were lower and blood vessels were more relaxed all opposite to what the body would usually associate and experience under stress. I found this fascinating and will endeavour to undertake this thought process for future stressful situations I encounter.
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