TEDxToronto 2010
Neil Pasricha: The 3 A's of awesome
Filmed:
Readability: 3
3,207,333 views
Neil Pasricha's blog 1000 Awesome Things savors life's simple pleasures, from free refills to clean sheets. In this heartfelt talk, he reveals the 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that's truly awesome.
Neil Pasricha - Director, The Institute for Global Happiness
Neil Pasricha is the New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Equation and serves as the Director of the Institute for Global Happiness after a decade running leadership development inside Walmart. He is one the world's leading authorities on happiness and positivity. Full bio
Neil Pasricha is the New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Equation and serves as the Director of the Institute for Global Happiness after a decade running leadership development inside Walmart. He is one the world's leading authorities on happiness and positivity. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
So the Awesome story:
0
0
2000
00:17
It begins about 40 years ago,
1
2000
2000
00:19
when my mom and my dad came to Canada.
2
4000
3000
00:22
My mom left Nairobi, Kenya.
3
7000
2000
00:24
My dad left a small village outside of Amritsar, India.
4
9000
3000
00:27
And they got here in the late 1960s.
5
12000
3000
00:30
They settled in a shady suburb about an hour east of Toronto,
6
15000
3000
00:33
and they settled into a new life.
7
18000
2000
00:35
They saw their first dentist,
8
20000
2000
00:37
they ate their first hamburger,
9
22000
2000
00:39
and they had their first kids.
10
24000
2000
00:41
My sister and I
11
26000
2000
00:43
grew up here,
12
28000
2000
00:45
and we had quiet, happy childhoods.
13
30000
3000
00:48
We had close family,
14
33000
2000
00:50
good friends, a quiet street.
15
35000
2000
00:52
We grew up taking for granted
16
37000
2000
00:54
a lot of the things that my parents couldn't take for granted
17
39000
2000
00:56
when they grew up --
18
41000
2000
00:58
things like power always on
19
43000
2000
01:00
in our houses,
20
45000
2000
01:02
things like schools across the street
21
47000
2000
01:04
and hospitals down the road
22
49000
2000
01:06
and popsicles in the backyard.
23
51000
2000
01:08
We grew up, and we grew older.
24
53000
2000
01:10
I went to high school.
25
55000
2000
01:12
I graduated.
26
57000
2000
01:14
I moved out of the house, I got a job,
27
59000
2000
01:16
I found a girl, I settled down --
28
61000
3000
01:19
and I realize it sounds like a bad sitcom or a Cat Stevens' song --
29
64000
3000
01:22
(Laughter)
30
67000
2000
01:24
but life was pretty good.
31
69000
2000
01:26
Life was pretty good.
32
71000
2000
01:28
2006 was a great year.
33
73000
3000
01:31
Under clear blue skies in July in the wine region of Ontario,
34
76000
3000
01:34
I got married,
35
79000
2000
01:36
surrounded by 150 family and friends.
36
81000
3000
01:40
2007 was a great year.
37
85000
3000
01:43
I graduated from school,
38
88000
2000
01:45
and I went on a road trip with two of my closest friends.
39
90000
3000
01:48
Here's a picture of me and my friend, Chris,
40
93000
3000
01:51
on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
41
96000
2000
01:53
We actually saw seals out of our car window,
42
98000
2000
01:55
and we pulled over to take a quick picture of them
43
100000
2000
01:57
and then blocked them with our giant heads.
44
102000
3000
02:00
(Laughter)
45
105000
2000
02:02
So you can't actually see them,
46
107000
2000
02:04
but it was breathtaking,
47
109000
2000
02:06
believe me.
48
111000
2000
02:08
(Laughter)
49
113000
2000
02:10
2008 and 2009 were a little tougher.
50
115000
3000
02:13
I know that they were tougher for a lot of people,
51
118000
2000
02:15
not just me.
52
120000
2000
02:17
First of all, the news was so heavy.
53
122000
2000
02:19
It's still heavy now, and it was heavy before that,
54
124000
3000
02:22
but when you flipped open a newspaper, when you turned on the TV,
55
127000
3000
02:25
it was about ice caps melting,
56
130000
2000
02:27
wars going on around the world,
57
132000
2000
02:29
earthquakes, hurricanes
58
134000
3000
02:32
and an economy that was wobbling on the brink of collapse,
59
137000
3000
02:35
and then eventually did collapse,
60
140000
3000
02:38
and so many of us losing our homes,
61
143000
2000
02:40
or our jobs,
62
145000
2000
02:42
or our retirements,
63
147000
2000
02:44
or our livelihoods.
64
149000
2000
02:46
2008, 2009 were heavy years for me for another reason, too.
65
151000
3000
02:49
I was going through a lot of personal problems at the time.
66
154000
3000
02:53
My marriage wasn't going well,
67
158000
3000
02:56
and we just were growing further and further apart.
68
161000
4000
03:00
One day my wife came home from work
69
165000
2000
03:02
and summoned the courage, through a lot of tears,
70
167000
3000
03:05
to have a very honest conversation.
71
170000
3000
03:08
And she said, "I don't love you anymore,"
72
173000
3000
03:11
and it was one of the most painful things I'd ever heard
73
176000
4000
03:15
and certainly the most heartbreaking thing I'd ever heard,
74
180000
3000
03:18
until only a month later,
75
183000
2000
03:20
when I heard something even more heartbreaking.
76
185000
3000
03:23
My friend Chris, who I just showed you a picture of,
77
188000
2000
03:25
had been battling mental illness for some time.
78
190000
2000
03:27
And for those of you
79
192000
2000
03:29
whose lives have been touched by mental illness,
80
194000
2000
03:31
you know how challenging it can be.
81
196000
3000
03:34
I spoke to him on the phone at 10:30 p.m.
82
199000
2000
03:36
on a Sunday night.
83
201000
2000
03:38
We talked about the TV show we watched that evening.
84
203000
3000
03:41
And Monday morning, I found out that he disappeared.
85
206000
3000
03:44
Very sadly, he took his own life.
86
209000
3000
03:48
And it was a really heavy time.
87
213000
3000
03:51
And as these dark clouds were circling me,
88
216000
2000
03:53
and I was finding it really, really difficult
89
218000
3000
03:56
to think of anything good,
90
221000
2000
03:58
I said to myself that I really needed a way
91
223000
3000
04:01
to focus on the positive somehow.
92
226000
3000
04:04
So I came home from work one night,
93
229000
2000
04:06
and I logged onto the computer,
94
231000
2000
04:08
and I started up a tiny website
95
233000
2000
04:10
called 1000awesomethings.com.
96
235000
3000
04:14
I was trying to remind myself
97
239000
2000
04:16
of the simple, universal, little pleasures that we all love,
98
241000
2000
04:18
but we just don't talk about enough --
99
243000
2000
04:20
things like waiters and waitresses
100
245000
2000
04:22
who bring you free refills without asking,
101
247000
2000
04:24
being the first table to get called up
102
249000
2000
04:26
to the dinner buffet at a wedding,
103
251000
2000
04:28
wearing warm underwear from just out of the dryer,
104
253000
2000
04:30
or when cashiers open up a new check-out lane at the grocery store
105
255000
2000
04:32
and you get to be first in line --
106
257000
2000
04:34
even if you were last at the other line, swoop right in there.
107
259000
3000
04:37
(Laughter)
108
262000
3000
04:40
And slowly over time,
109
265000
2000
04:42
I started putting myself in a better mood.
110
267000
3000
04:45
I mean, 50,000 blogs
111
270000
3000
04:48
are started a day,
112
273000
3000
04:51
and so my blog was just one of those 50,000.
113
276000
3000
04:54
And nobody read it except for my mom.
114
279000
3000
04:57
Although I should say that my traffic did skyrocket
115
282000
2000
04:59
and go up by 100 percent
116
284000
2000
05:01
when she forwarded it to my dad.
117
286000
2000
05:03
(Laughter)
118
288000
2000
05:05
And then I got excited
119
290000
2000
05:07
when it started getting tens of hits,
120
292000
2000
05:09
and then I started getting excited when it started getting dozens
121
294000
3000
05:12
and then hundreds and then thousands
122
297000
3000
05:15
and then millions.
123
300000
2000
05:17
It started getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
124
302000
2000
05:19
And then I got a phone call,
125
304000
2000
05:21
and the voice at the other end of the line said,
126
306000
2000
05:23
"You've just won the Best Blog In the World award."
127
308000
4000
05:27
I was like, that sounds totally fake.
128
312000
2000
05:29
(Laughter)
129
314000
3000
05:32
(Applause)
130
317000
5000
05:37
Which African country do you want me to wire all my money to?
131
322000
3000
05:40
(Laughter)
132
325000
3000
05:43
But it turns out, I jumped on a plane,
133
328000
2000
05:45
and I ended up walking a red carpet
134
330000
2000
05:47
between Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Fallon and Martha Stewart.
135
332000
3000
05:50
And I went onstage to accept a Webby award for Best Blog.
136
335000
3000
05:53
And the surprise
137
338000
2000
05:55
and just the amazement of that
138
340000
2000
05:57
was only overshadowed by my return to Toronto,
139
342000
3000
06:00
when, in my inbox,
140
345000
2000
06:02
10 literary agents were waiting for me
141
347000
2000
06:04
to talk about putting this into a book.
142
349000
3000
06:07
Flash-forward to the next year
143
352000
2000
06:09
and "The Book of Awesome" has now been
144
354000
2000
06:11
number one on the bestseller list for 20 straight weeks.
145
356000
2000
06:13
(Applause)
146
358000
8000
06:21
But look, I said I wanted to do three things with you today.
147
366000
2000
06:23
I said I wanted to tell you the Awesome story,
148
368000
2000
06:25
I wanted to share with you the three As of Awesome,
149
370000
2000
06:27
and I wanted to leave you with a closing thought.
150
372000
2000
06:29
So let's talk about those three As.
151
374000
2000
06:31
Over the last few years,
152
376000
2000
06:33
I haven't had that much time to really think.
153
378000
2000
06:35
But lately I have had the opportunity to take a step back
154
380000
3000
06:38
and ask myself: "What is it over the last few years
155
383000
3000
06:41
that helped me grow my website,
156
386000
2000
06:43
but also grow myself?"
157
388000
2000
06:45
And I've summarized those things, for me personally,
158
390000
2000
06:47
as three As.
159
392000
2000
06:49
They are Attitude, Awareness
160
394000
3000
06:52
and Authenticity.
161
397000
2000
06:54
I'd love to just talk about each one briefly.
162
399000
3000
06:58
So Attitude:
163
403000
2000
07:00
Look, we're all going to get lumps,
164
405000
2000
07:02
and we're all going to get bumps.
165
407000
2000
07:04
None of us can predict the future, but we do know one thing about it
166
409000
3000
07:07
and that's that it ain't gonna go according to plan.
167
412000
3000
07:10
We will all have high highs
168
415000
2000
07:12
and big days and proud moments
169
417000
2000
07:14
of smiles on graduation stages,
170
419000
2000
07:16
father-daughter dances at weddings
171
421000
2000
07:18
and healthy babies screeching in the delivery room,
172
423000
3000
07:21
but between those high highs,
173
426000
2000
07:23
we may also have some lumps and some bumps too.
174
428000
3000
07:26
It's sad, and it's not pleasant to talk about,
175
431000
3000
07:29
but your husband might leave you,
176
434000
3000
07:32
your girlfriend could cheat,
177
437000
2000
07:34
your headaches might be more serious than you thought,
178
439000
3000
07:37
or your dog could get hit by a car on the street.
179
442000
4000
07:41
It's not a happy thought,
180
446000
2000
07:43
but your kids could get mixed up in gangs
181
448000
3000
07:46
or bad scenes.
182
451000
2000
07:48
Your mom could get cancer,
183
453000
2000
07:50
your dad could get mean.
184
455000
2000
07:52
And there are times in life
185
457000
2000
07:54
when you will be tossed in the well, too,
186
459000
2000
07:56
with twists in your stomach and with holes in your heart,
187
461000
2000
07:58
and when that bad news washes over you,
188
463000
2000
08:00
and when that pain sponges and soaks in,
189
465000
3000
08:03
I just really hope you feel
190
468000
2000
08:05
like you've always got two choices.
191
470000
2000
08:07
One, you can swirl and twirl
192
472000
2000
08:09
and gloom and doom forever,
193
474000
2000
08:11
or two, you can grieve
194
476000
2000
08:13
and then face the future
195
478000
2000
08:15
with newly sober eyes.
196
480000
2000
08:17
Having a great attitude is about choosing option number two,
197
482000
3000
08:20
and choosing, no matter how difficult it is,
198
485000
2000
08:22
no matter what pain hits you,
199
487000
2000
08:24
choosing to move forward and move on
200
489000
2000
08:26
and take baby steps into the future.
201
491000
2000
08:31
The second "A" is Awareness.
202
496000
3000
08:35
I love hanging out with three year-olds.
203
500000
3000
08:38
I love the way that they see the world,
204
503000
2000
08:40
because they're seeing the world for the first time.
205
505000
2000
08:42
I love the way that they can stare at a bug crossing the sidewalk.
206
507000
3000
08:45
I love the way that they'll stare slack-jawed
207
510000
2000
08:47
at their first baseball game
208
512000
2000
08:49
with wide eyes and a mitt on their hand,
209
514000
2000
08:51
soaking in the crack of the bat and the crunch of the peanuts
210
516000
2000
08:53
and the smell of the hotdogs.
211
518000
2000
08:55
I love the way that they'll spend hours picking dandelions in the backyard
212
520000
3000
08:58
and putting them into a nice centerpiece
213
523000
2000
09:00
for Thanksgiving dinner.
214
525000
2000
09:02
I love the way that they see the world,
215
527000
2000
09:04
because they're seeing the world
216
529000
2000
09:06
for the first time.
217
531000
2000
09:09
Having a sense of awareness
218
534000
2000
09:11
is just about embracing your inner three year-old.
219
536000
3000
09:14
Because you all used to be three years old.
220
539000
2000
09:16
That three-year-old boy is still part of you.
221
541000
2000
09:18
That three-year-old girl is still part of you.
222
543000
2000
09:20
They're in there.
223
545000
2000
09:22
And being aware is just about remembering
224
547000
3000
09:25
that you saw everything you've seen
225
550000
2000
09:27
for the first time once, too.
226
552000
2000
09:29
So there was a time when it was your first time ever
227
554000
3000
09:32
hitting a string of green lights on the way home from work.
228
557000
2000
09:34
There was the first time you walked by the open door of a bakery
229
559000
3000
09:37
and smelt the bakery air,
230
562000
2000
09:39
or the first time you pulled a 20-dollar bill out of your old jacket pocket
231
564000
3000
09:42
and said, "Found money."
232
567000
3000
09:46
The last "A" is Authenticity.
233
571000
3000
09:49
And for this one, I want to tell you a quick story.
234
574000
3000
09:53
Let's go all the way back to 1932
235
578000
2000
09:55
when, on a peanut farm in Georgia,
236
580000
3000
09:58
a little baby boy named Roosevelt Grier was born.
237
583000
3000
10:02
Roosevelt Grier, or Rosey Grier, as people used to call him,
238
587000
3000
10:05
grew up and grew into
239
590000
2000
10:07
a 300-pound, six-foot-five linebacker in the NFL.
240
592000
4000
10:11
He's number 76 in the picture.
241
596000
3000
10:14
Here he is pictured with the "fearsome foursome."
242
599000
3000
10:17
These were four guys on the L.A. Rams in the 1960s
243
602000
2000
10:19
you did not want to go up against.
244
604000
2000
10:21
They were tough football players doing what they love,
245
606000
3000
10:24
which was crushing skulls
246
609000
2000
10:26
and separating shoulders on the football field.
247
611000
2000
10:28
But Rosey Grier also had
248
613000
2000
10:30
another passion.
249
615000
2000
10:32
In his deeply authentic self,
250
617000
3000
10:35
he also loved needlepoint. (Laughter)
251
620000
3000
10:39
He loved knitting.
252
624000
2000
10:41
He said that it calmed him down, it relaxed him,
253
626000
2000
10:43
it took away his fear of flying and helped him meet chicks.
254
628000
3000
10:46
That's what he said.
255
631000
2000
10:49
I mean, he loved it so much that, after he retired from the NFL,
256
634000
2000
10:51
he started joining clubs.
257
636000
2000
10:53
And he even put out a book
258
638000
2000
10:55
called "Rosey Grier's Needlepoint for Men."
259
640000
2000
10:57
(Laughter)
260
642000
2000
10:59
(Applause)
261
644000
3000
11:02
It's a great cover.
262
647000
2000
11:04
If you notice, he's actually needlepointing his own face.
263
649000
3000
11:07
(Laughter)
264
652000
2000
11:09
And so what I love about this story
265
654000
3000
11:12
is that Rosey Grier
266
657000
2000
11:14
is just such an authentic person,
267
659000
2000
11:16
and that's what authenticity is all about.
268
661000
2000
11:18
It's just about being you and being cool with that.
269
663000
3000
11:21
And I think when you're authentic,
270
666000
2000
11:23
you end up following your heart,
271
668000
2000
11:25
and you put yourself in places
272
670000
2000
11:27
and situations and in conversations
273
672000
2000
11:29
that you love and that you enjoy.
274
674000
2000
11:31
You meet people that you like talking to.
275
676000
2000
11:33
You go places you've dreamt about.
276
678000
2000
11:35
And you end you end up following your heart
277
680000
2000
11:37
and feeling very fulfilled.
278
682000
3000
11:40
So those are the three A's.
279
685000
3000
11:43
For the closing thought, I want to take you all the way back
280
688000
2000
11:45
to my parents coming to Canada.
281
690000
3000
11:48
I don't know what it would feel like
282
693000
2000
11:50
coming to a new country when you're in your mid-20s.
283
695000
3000
11:53
I don't know, because I never did it,
284
698000
2000
11:55
but I would imagine that it would take a great attitude.
285
700000
3000
11:58
I would imagine that you'd have to be pretty aware of your surroundings
286
703000
3000
12:01
and appreciating the small wonders
287
706000
2000
12:03
that you're starting to see in your new world.
288
708000
3000
12:06
And I think you'd have to be really authentic,
289
711000
2000
12:08
you'd have to be really true to yourself
290
713000
2000
12:10
in order to get through what you're being exposed to.
291
715000
3000
12:14
I'd like to pause my TEDTalk
292
719000
2000
12:16
for about 10 seconds right now,
293
721000
2000
12:18
because you don't get many opportunities in life to do something like this,
294
723000
2000
12:20
and my parents are sitting in the front row.
295
725000
2000
12:22
So I wanted to ask them to, if they don't mind, stand up.
296
727000
2000
12:24
And I just wanted to say thank you to you guys.
297
729000
2000
12:26
(Applause)
298
731000
19000
12:45
When I was growing up, my dad used to love telling the story
299
750000
3000
12:48
of his first day in Canada.
300
753000
2000
12:50
And it's a great story, because what happened was
301
755000
3000
12:53
he got off the plane at the Toronto airport,
302
758000
3000
12:56
and he was welcomed by a non-profit group,
303
761000
2000
12:58
which I'm sure someone in this room runs.
304
763000
2000
13:00
(Laughter)
305
765000
2000
13:02
And this non-profit group had a big welcoming lunch
306
767000
3000
13:05
for all the new immigrants to Canada.
307
770000
3000
13:08
And my dad says he got off the plane and he went to this lunch
308
773000
3000
13:11
and there was this huge spread.
309
776000
2000
13:13
There was bread, there was those little, mini dill pickles,
310
778000
3000
13:16
there was olives, those little white onions.
311
781000
2000
13:18
There was rolled up turkey cold cuts,
312
783000
2000
13:20
rolled up ham cold cuts, rolled up roast beef cold cuts
313
785000
2000
13:22
and little cubes of cheese.
314
787000
2000
13:24
There was tuna salad sandwiches and egg salad sandwiches
315
789000
3000
13:27
and salmon salad sandwiches.
316
792000
2000
13:29
There was lasagna, there was casseroles,
317
794000
2000
13:31
there was brownies, there was butter tarts,
318
796000
3000
13:34
and there was pies, lots and lots of pies.
319
799000
3000
13:37
And when my dad tells the story, he says,
320
802000
2000
13:39
"The craziest thing was, I'd never seen any of that before, except bread.
321
804000
4000
13:43
(Laughter)
322
808000
2000
13:45
I didn't know what was meat, what was vegetarian.
323
810000
2000
13:47
I was eating olives with pie.
324
812000
2000
13:49
(Laughter)
325
814000
3000
13:52
I just couldn't believe how many things you can get here."
326
817000
3000
13:55
(Laughter)
327
820000
2000
13:57
When I was five years old,
328
822000
2000
13:59
my dad used to take me grocery shopping,
329
824000
2000
14:01
and he would stare in wonder
330
826000
2000
14:03
at the little stickers that are on the fruits and vegetables.
331
828000
3000
14:06
He would say, "Look, can you believe they have a mango here from Mexico?
332
831000
3000
14:09
They've got an apple here from South Africa.
333
834000
3000
14:12
Can you believe they've got a date from Morocco?"
334
837000
3000
14:15
He's like, "Do you know where Morocco even is?"
335
840000
3000
14:18
And I'd say, "I'm five. I don't even know where I am.
336
843000
3000
14:21
Is this A&P?"
337
846000
3000
14:24
And he'd say, "I don't know where Morocco is either, but let's find out."
338
849000
3000
14:27
And so we'd buy the date, and we'd go home.
339
852000
2000
14:29
And we'd actually take an atlas off the shelf,
340
854000
2000
14:31
and we'd flip through until we found this mysterious country.
341
856000
3000
14:34
And when we did, my dad would say,
342
859000
2000
14:36
"Can you believe someone climbed a tree over there,
343
861000
2000
14:38
picked this thing off it, put it in a truck,
344
863000
2000
14:40
drove it all the way to the docks
345
865000
3000
14:43
and then sailed it all the way
346
868000
2000
14:45
across the Atlantic Ocean
347
870000
2000
14:47
and then put it in another truck
348
872000
2000
14:49
and drove that all the way to a tiny grocery store just outside our house,
349
874000
3000
14:52
so they could sell it to us for 25 cents?"
350
877000
3000
14:55
And I'd say, "I don't believe that."
351
880000
2000
14:57
And he's like, "I don't believe it either.
352
882000
2000
14:59
Things are amazing. There's just so many things to be happy about."
353
884000
3000
15:02
When I stop to think about it, he's absolutely right.
354
887000
2000
15:04
There are so many things to be happy about.
355
889000
2000
15:06
We are the only species
356
891000
3000
15:09
on the only life-giving rock
357
894000
3000
15:12
in the entire universe that we've ever seen,
358
897000
3000
15:15
capable of experiencing
359
900000
2000
15:17
so many of these things.
360
902000
2000
15:19
I mean, we're the only ones with architecture and agriculture.
361
904000
3000
15:22
We're the only ones with jewelry and democracy.
362
907000
3000
15:25
We've got airplanes, highway lanes,
363
910000
3000
15:28
interior design and horoscope signs.
364
913000
2000
15:30
We've got fashion magazines, house party scenes.
365
915000
3000
15:33
You can watch a horror movie with monsters.
366
918000
2000
15:35
You can go to a concert and hear guitars jamming.
367
920000
3000
15:38
We've got books, buffets and radio waves,
368
923000
2000
15:40
wedding brides and rollercoaster rides.
369
925000
2000
15:42
You can sleep in clean sheets.
370
927000
2000
15:44
You can go to the movies and get good seats.
371
929000
2000
15:46
You can smell bakery air, walk around with rain hair,
372
931000
3000
15:49
pop bubble wrap or take an illegal nap.
373
934000
3000
15:52
We've got all that,
374
937000
2000
15:54
but we've only got 100 years to enjoy it.
375
939000
3000
15:58
And that's the sad part.
376
943000
2000
16:02
The cashiers at your grocery store,
377
947000
3000
16:05
the foreman at your plant,
378
950000
3000
16:08
the guy tailgating you home on the highway,
379
953000
3000
16:11
the telemarketer calling you during dinner,
380
956000
3000
16:14
every teacher you've ever had,
381
959000
2000
16:16
everyone that's ever woken up beside you,
382
961000
3000
16:19
every politician in every country,
383
964000
2000
16:21
every actor in every movie,
384
966000
2000
16:23
every single person in your family, everyone you love,
385
968000
3000
16:26
everyone in this room and you
386
971000
3000
16:29
will be dead in a hundred years.
387
974000
3000
16:32
Life is so great that we only get such a short time
388
977000
3000
16:35
to experience and enjoy
389
980000
2000
16:37
all those tiny little moments that make it so sweet.
390
982000
2000
16:39
And that moment is right now,
391
984000
2000
16:41
and those moments are counting down,
392
986000
3000
16:44
and those moments are always, always, always fleeting.
393
989000
3000
16:49
You will never be as young as you are right now.
394
994000
4000
16:54
And that's why I believe that if you live your life
395
999000
3000
16:57
with a great attitude,
396
1002000
2000
16:59
choosing to move forward and move on
397
1004000
2000
17:01
whenever life deals you a blow,
398
1006000
2000
17:03
living with a sense of awareness of the world around you,
399
1008000
3000
17:06
embracing your inner three year-old
400
1011000
2000
17:08
and seeing the tiny joys that make life so sweet
401
1013000
3000
17:11
and being authentic to yourself,
402
1016000
2000
17:13
being you and being cool with that,
403
1018000
2000
17:15
letting your heart lead you and putting yourself in experiences that satisfy you,
404
1020000
3000
17:18
then I think you'll live a life
405
1023000
2000
17:20
that is rich and is satisfying,
406
1025000
2000
17:22
and I think you'll live a life that is truly awesome.
407
1027000
2000
17:24
Thank you.
408
1029000
2000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Neil Pasricha - Director, The Institute for Global HappinessNeil Pasricha is the New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Equation and serves as the Director of the Institute for Global Happiness after a decade running leadership development inside Walmart. He is one the world's leading authorities on happiness and positivity.
Why you should listen
In 2008, Neil Pasricha's world fell apart after a sudden divorce and death of a close friend. He channeled his energies into his blog 1000 Awesome Things, which counted down one small pleasure -- like snow days, bakery air or finding money in your coat pocket -- every single day for 1000 straight days. While writing his blog, Neil was working as Director of Leadership Development inside Walmart, the world's largest company. He continued working there when his books The Book of Awesome, The Book of (Even More) Awesome and Awesome is Everywhere were published and started climbing bestseller lists and shipping millions of copies.
Years later, he fell in love again and got married. On the airplane home from his honeymoon, his wife told him she was pregnant, and Neil began writing again. The result was a 300-page letter written to his unborn son sharing the nine secrets to finding true happiness. That letter has evolved into The Happiness Equation.
Neil Pasricha | Speaker | TED.com