Isaac Lidsky: What reality are you creating for yourself?
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
by quickly wagging their tails
little Dorothy responded,
by wagging their heads."
as true as any other.
by wagging their heads.
of fish swimming backwards.
and faulty leaps of logic.
and they are wrong.
what we can and cannot do.
frantically wagging their heads
five facts about myself.
with an honors degree in mathematics.
a construction company in Orlando.
to a rare genetic eye disease.
to two US Supreme Court justices.
only care about the television show.
"Saved by the Bell: The New Class."
nerdy character on the show,
major acting challenge
with number four, my blindness?
about so-called disabilities.
others' incorrect assumptions
about my blindness, however.
to live my life eyes wide open.
those backwards-swimming fish
my retinas progressively deteriorated.
of mirrors and illusions.
to spot in a store
a urinal I was touching, not a sink,
the photograph in my hand,
the image depicted.
and disappeared in my reality.
transitory images,
in my crumbling kaleidoscope,
personal, virtual reality
constructed by our brain.
of amateur neuroscience.
about 30 percent of your brain.
eight percent for touch
can send your visual cortex
pieces of information.
only an additional billion.
of your brain by volume
of your brain's processing resources.
of sight is so compelling.
sight is an illusion.
understanding of the world,
opinions, emotions, mental attention.
are linked in your brain to your sight.
and usually occur subconsciously.
can literally change what you see.
in a video, for example,
told to think about cheetahs or turtles.
if you've just exercised,
at a fundamental contradiction.
mental construction of your own making,
of the world around you.
and you believe it.
shattered the illusion.
in many other ways.
anything is better than the uncertain.
for what you know,
in place of the ambiguous,
a great term for it: awfulizing.
and think critically,
deep inside your mind,
for critical thought
opportunity to take action,
its prophecies fulfill themselves.
with my blinding disease,
for my independence.
an unremarkable life,
but I believed it.
in little Dorothy's mind.
the reality of my fear,
eyes wide open?
about luck and about success.
and understand the difference.
comes complete responsibility.
into terrain uncharted and undefined.
whom we call the Tripskys,
to the family,
and write your own fictions?
creating for yourself?
in your relationships,
do you great harm.
and unrealized potential,
worse than being blind
was a profound blessing,
leave the stage, just a question.
of doers, of innovators.
down in Florida,
do you have, and how do you overcome them?
the biggest challenge became a blessing.
in my leadership team meetings,
expressions or gestures.
a lot more verbal feedback.
to tell me what they think.
for me personally and for my company,
at a far deeper level,
that what they think truly matters.
IL: Thank you, Bruno.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Isaac Lidsky - Author, entrepreneurIsaac Lidsky has a very eclectic resume.
Why you should listen
Lidsky runs a big construction services company based in Florida, has co-founded an Internet startup and a nonprofit and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He graduated in math and computer science from Harvard and then added a law degree magna cum laude from the same university, clerked for US Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and argued a dozen cases in federal court on behalf of the US Justice Department, not losing any. Earlier, he was a child television star in both commercials and series.
Lidsky's rich biography disguises a secret, which can be summarized in the title of his forthcoming book Eyes Wide Open: Overcoming Obstacles and Recognizing Opportunities In A World That Can’t See Clearly.
Isaac Lidsky | Speaker | TED.com