How to challenge your negative self-talk | Josh Green | TEDxSurrey

Josh Green shares a powerful and relatable journey of self-discovery through juggling. By recounting his audition experience as a novice juggler, Josh delves into the internal voices of self-doubt and the societal pressures that can hinder personal growth.

He emphasizes the importance of challenging these negative voices, practicing resilience, and embracing opportunities even when feeling unprepared. The talk inspires viewers to overcome fear, start small, seek support, and persist through failures.

Josh's engaging storytelling underscores the transformative impact of saying "yes" to challenges, leading to a more fulfilling and diverse life.

[Mr-Persis]

This man just made me think about the opportunities I turned down simply because I felt I was not ready or good enough. Maybe we seriously need to uproot all the negative voices that are deeply rooted in our minds.

[daver]

"1.Start safe, 2. practice, 3. say yes to opportunities, 4. Show up, 5. get support, 6. the voices in your head are not your own, 7. Drop the ball!"🙂🙏🌱. Amazing!

[samarpanbanerjee]

"Ask yourself, how many people are living your best life because you turned down an opportunity"

[icewolf]

As someone who has spent his whole life with negative self talk due to intense bullying from kids at school and my father and hearing their words reverberate in my head since I was 13; as a 50 year old man in 2025, I have learned so much from this one video. Thank you for the tools to help me conquer my lifelong crutch in life and I will try to use them to see what happens. So awesome!

[Asmrhadeel]

We should always be confident of what we have achieved even if it's so little thing at least we tried our best❤

[abdirahmankeisal]

my main take away from this speech is: never turn down the opportunities and don't listen the negative voices cause it's not yours. thank you Mr. Josh. i really mean it.

[thegodlyprincess_kenya]

Take aways:-

Those negative voices you hear aren’t your voices and you don’t have to listen to them

Practice pushing yourself beyond the negative voices and Take up space. Do the exact opposite

Love it❤

[ThrowBackZone]

In a world full of critics, it's refreshing to hear someone turn their failures into triumphs.

[ReiverBlue]

I used to understand this.

I went on expeditions into the Australian outback, taught outdoor pursuits, archery, personal fitness, got a degree. Then I had to survive 25 years of severe depression until I made the greatest discovery of my life. I was (and always had been) autistic. I now know that the combination of Autism and ADHD can be vastly improved in one of two to danger, raised heart rate, the flow of adrenaline or the complete lack of the same stimulation.


What I'm saying is: Always push your boundaries, believe that you can do it until proven otherwise (and then practice it until you can). Going beyond your comfort zone allows you to grow, gain confidence and trust in your own abilities and yourself.

I am autistic, have ADHD, EUPD and PDA (you can find them online if you're interested) so I experience some extreme anxiety (which is not from being shy or awkward as I can talk to an audience easily). This can be kept under control by doing something that scares or even terrifies you making you realise that you CAN do it and giving you an incredible sense of acheivement.

Now just need to put it into actualy practice!!! I'm having a go at petrol driven go-carts, bum 2 inches off the speeding tarmac and the competition with the others racers, should be enough to get me going :)

[_soupnazi]

This video caught my attention because this is something I am currently dealing with. I've been a background performer for a long time. I had some potential opportunities fall in my lap a couple of years ago, but none of them panned out. Since then I don't even want to try, that perhaps this is as good as it gets for me. It's hard when you grow up being criticized for merely existing by the people who are supposed to love you unconditionally. The irony is that those voices are so loud that they influence my behavior, which in turn make it a reality.

[catstickler]

I recently started learning game development.

Like I'm following a Skillshare class and making my first game with the free assets from the teacher.

Let's be honest: It's not the next Dark Souls 😹

It's literally just a square jumping platform to platform while avoiding triangle spikes and floating circles right now before we put in actual characters and tiles.

Despite this, I signed up for a pretty large game jam in 3 weeks. Again, no experience and I entered a competition to create a game in one week.

I'm okay not winning the competition (because I won't), but I'm content with winning the war against my own anxiety and do something fun outside my comfort zone (and current skillset).

This video is EXACTLY what I needed to watch because that voice has been pretty loud lately.

A game jam isn't applying to work at a game studio. It's a group of people playing and having fun. Low stakes, starting small, but still showing up.

Not sure how I'll figure out game development in 3 weeks, but maybe I don't have to and I can drop a few balls. 😀

[pbinsb]

Say this to your negative voice..."Thank you for sharing!"

[letsjaywalk]

You were absolutely amazing man. Your Ted Talk was a 100/10. The storytelling, the attention grab in the beginning, it being the relevent lesson to learn at the end. I laughed, I felt sad, related, was inspired and learned a valuble lesson. Man, that was awesome. Great job

[intertwinedinside]

Liking the talk is one thing, I also really like your talking pace. He sounds like a very peaceful and content person.

[ianbrown]

I spent a year learning how to ski so I could share experiences with my daughters, a year of saying “I can”, I hated every moment of learning, the fear, the anxiety, it was physically and mentally draining. 12 months of learning and I turn up at my first “proper” ski holiday and was overwhelmed by everything, my family being a ski family and the expectation of my wife and kids was too much, I gave in to my feelings and chose not to ski. It had such a negative fall out, I felt ashamed and embarrassed but most of all, I didn’t turn up for my daughter’s. I chose to waste all of that time, money and emotion because I chose my existential right to do what I felt was right for me, so in my case, I’m glad I gave in, I’m glad I didn’t push myself further beyond my limits, I’m glad I chose my path. Sometimes, in some circumstances, it’s okay to ignore those voices but sometimes you need to take them into consideration, who else knows you best.

[jjojo]

Oof, I lowkey cried . Lol felt like I needed that. There's so much going on in the world .

[vmandyhi]

What we need to hear, a refresher to tell ourselves to go for it once we feel weary or detached from the most positive reinforcements in our lives like parents and school friends.. great talk

[jackgeary]

Imposter syndrome is real. Only way to deal with it is to keep moving forward or quitting. Failure is just an opportunity to learn and try again. Nice vid.

[engineer]

Got motivated when you said "to doing my very first TEDX"

[HeyyArsh]

This whole positive talk was much needed, Thank you Josh 🙏