You’ve done it! You’ve emerged out of the exam season alive, and now it’s time to either drown your sorrows or celebrate the relief. After a stressful few weeks, most of us will be super keen to get back to the normal routine, however it’s easy to lose direction and slip into complacency after exams. Our sense of perspective can also be largely obscured by the uni bubble of constant deadlines and busyness.
A sense of purpose needs to be reignited at this point to get back into the swing of things. Thankfully, we have the wise owl, TED, at our fingertips to bring us back down to earth. TED is a nonprofit collection of inspiring talks, devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’that inspire change, intelligence and creativity, enabling us to plunge beneath the surface to the everyday minutiae of life.
We have picked out five of our faves to help you on your way to a happy and fulfilled semester:
1) Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong
Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong. But what if we’re wrong about that? “Wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility. She identifies our capacity to mess up is fundamental to human progress and to fully open ourselves to the vastness, complexity and richness of our universe.
2) Adam Leipzig: How to know your life purpose in 5 minutes
Are you floundering in an unspecified direction, in terms of careers and post-uni plans? This talk teaches us to be more outward facing and to think more deeply about who we want to serve, what we need, and what we aim to change throughout our careers.
3) Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?
One of the most popular and profound TED talks of all time. Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
4) Cameron Russell: Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model.
Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she’s tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don’t judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old.
5) Jon Jandai: Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard?
Jon Jandai explores the problems of constantly seeking this sense of ‘otherness’, wealth and a perceived success. He stresses that it is the minimalistic pleasures that make life rich in purpose.
Get inspired!
Edited by Naomi Upton
Sources:
http://www.ueaa.org/ywlp/2014/07/ted-talk-recommendations-ywlp-blog-staff/