4 Of The Best TED Talks For Students (And Everyone)
I am a knowledge dragon. The Smaug of knowledge. I love hoarding information, and interesting but useless facts. I have playlists and bookshelves full of things I want to watch, listen to, or read. There’s even a priority shelf which currently has 13 books that I have started, and am working my way through very slowly because I can’t pick just one.
I have one fatal flaw, though.
My memory is terrible. I half remember facts, completely forget stories once I’ve moved onto the next, and don’t remember important information if I don’t write it down.
Cue TED talks. I have seen so many of them, bought the books from some of the speakers (I’ve even read a few of them!), and saved countless to playlists because I haven’t had time to watch them yet.
Despite my goldfish brain, there are a few TED talks that I watched, loved, and remembered. And I never tire of watching again. These 4 below are some of the most watched TED talks for a reason. They are also super useful when you think they are talking to you as a young singer, artist, and learner.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and remember them more than I do!
The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown
Brené Brown is the fairy-godmother of personal development you wish you had. She is a researcher, storyteller, and from Texas who’s spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy.
Why it’s useful for singers. Brené talks about:
- Connection. As performers, we need an audience, audition panel, jury, someone to engage with.
- Vulnerability as the birthplace for joy, creativity, belonging and love.
- Letting yourself be seen. Being authentic rather than a perfect version of who you want to be.
Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | Tim Urban
In the most watch TED video ever, Tim Urban, a popular writer and blogger, talks about procrastination is funny and insightful and explains in his unique way about why he thinks some of us always leave things to the last minute, despite knowing better.
I don’t want to spoil the fun for you, so no explainers here.
How great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek
If you take this talk at face value, it is only for leaders and those in business. If you really listen to the message then it can apply to multiple parts of your life, from the way you introduce yourself as an artist, the way you sell and promote your projects, and even down to your reason for being here (on the platform I mean, not existentially).
Simon Sinek is an unshakable optimist, author and inspirational speaker. His book “Start with why” has been a game-changer for me, and really influenced my teaching and attitude to life.
The power of believing that you can improve | Carol Dweck
Your abilities are capable of so much growth. Carol urges that any time you feel you have failed at a particular subject or test, you could instead give yourself the grade of “not yet”. She encourages us to really think more about the journey and process you are going through, to focus on the behaviours that allow you to achieve your goals, rather than the goals themselves.
Carol Dweck is an American psychologist. She is a professor of Psychology at Stanford University, and is known for her work on motivation and mindset.
There are so many more TED talks and other interesting topics to cover. What was your favourite? Let me know if you want to see some more!
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