Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW

Throughout his three-decade career here at the University of Waterloo, Larry Smith has inspired legions of students to take up the mantle of economics with his passionate and homespun tales of economic wizardry. A renowned story-teller, teacher and youth leadership champion, Larry has also coached and mentored countless numbers of students on start-up business management and career development strategies.

Having taught introductory microeconomics, macroeconomics and entrepreneurship classes, he recently celebrated assigning his 29,000th grade earlier this year.

Recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award, Larry has also coached several of his former students to help them position and develop their businesses, the most famous of which is Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the revolutionary BlackBerry wireless mobile smartphone. Larry also sits on the advisory panels of start-ups to provide his guidance on financing and negotiation with investors and venture capitalists.

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In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[aDotFromTheFuture]

You can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
-Jim Carrey

[art_eries]

Watched this 10 years ago when I was at a crossroads in my life. I had been waiting tables for 7 years after graduating high school and felt completely lost.

I always wanted to pursue art, but told myself it was impossible because I was too poor to afford school and probably wasn’t smart, or talented enough. This video was what started my journey.

I have since graduated from one of the top animation schools in the world, am a published illustrator, worked on various animated projects including a film that won an Oscar, and now teach at multiple universities to inspire young people to do the same.

Wild to think it all started here. This video always stuck with me and I can’t thank you enough! (:

[crck]

I love the ending holy fuck. just ends in unless. just gave me tingles
he doesn't tell us what to do...
because he knows we already know what to do

[washingtonredskin]

I am currently driving a school bus. Pay is shit, but the fact is, best job I have ever had. The shift is over before it begins, 4 hours, goes by fast, leaves me plenty of time to continue my education at a self pace. Getting paid to cruise around the city, while being admired by youth is fulfilling. Can't say I love it, but it beats most of the higher paying full time jobs I have held that only left me with a large bank account but in a dead end. At least this job gives me the free time and opportunity to upgrade my skills. Time is more valuable than money.

[bvlrenq]

This guy's a master storyteller, probably the best and quirkiest of all the ted speakers

[macluca]

I've watched thousands of TED Talks and this one is still my favorite. 

[itsinthenumbers]

To finish off. Unless. Unless you get up and do something about it and follow your passion to the full. Let nothing stop you. If you fail at your passion it's because you were afraid to try again. Keep trying. Get up when you fall. You will never have a great career, unless you are willing to sacrifice a bit of sleep, a bit of safety and security that you currently have. Fuck what society tells you and follow your passion.

[bob.from.accounting]

This almost had me crying. I'm sitting her at work (at an okay job) listening to him thinking "damn....". I've been mulling over the thought of going to med. This TED talk, along with so many other conversations with peers, have made me make up my mind to go.

[Ratacon]

This guy should be the next Batman villain. I can picture him now. Trapping Batman, then sitting him tied up in a chair. And walking back and forth telling Batman, how he will never have a great career. And Batman crying saying, "Stop it...Enough!"

I think it's also important to note that passion can die.
Take me for example: I followed my dream. I did what I really wanted to do: I studied language and literature and I was really good at it. They offered me a job in research at college which was what I always dreamt of since my senior years in high school.
But then...
But then...
I realised the price you pay for "following your dream/your passion". And I'm not only talking about stress, insecurity concerning the renewal of your contract (at least that's how it works in research in the country I'm from), but also on a much deeper level.
Having to produce "results". Seeing oneself forced to "lower the standards of research", because of dead lines etc.
Having to agree with positions of superiors even though your research contradicts them and your conscience is not clear while doing so.
Notising after a while of working in your field, that research, especially in the humanities is not based on "truth" and "true findings", based on plausibility etc., but rather just a vast collection of simple opinions, ideas and your personal conclusion that you yourself and your whole field are actually not really "productive", but rather simply talking, discussing numerous topics.

I really did what I always wanted to do, what I was passionate about. But in the end after all the disappointments concerning the field I was in, the "laws" which structured it and much more, I actually lost my passion. I lost my respect for the field, and subsequently for myself as I was working in that field, as I chose something nobody could really benifit from, something that was just passion and dream and in the end not even that.

I know for a fact that there are many people who are at the same point as I am. Even if you succeed, even if you get the job you always dreamt of in the field you were always passionate about... you can still "fail". You can loose your passion due to so many aspects of your "job". For example a teacher: passionate about teaching but confronted with students who are not interested. Don't you think he will loose his passion in the long run? Or even if the students are participating and so on. What about bad working conditions, educational politics which make your job unnecessary hard etc.

If you follow your dream - even if you succeed - chances are you're going to not have a great career after all. And the thing is:
If you see your job as one part of the equation of life. If you just want it to be okay, to be somewhat secure etc., you'll probably succeed in achieving that and will be contempt. And there will be so much more which make life worth living, so many other factors in your life which add to the contempt in your job; add up to happiness. But if you "only" follow your passion, if you place all your bets on one card, if you're willing to sacrifice a lot for that passion, chances are, even if you succeed, even if you reach the goal you always dreamt of, it won't be the great thing you and your idealistic mind made it out to be and you will struggle with your "fate".

Sucessfull actors and actresses, sucessful painters, musicians. Don't they all have a really high rate of suicide and mental ilness amongst them? Even those who weren't famous during their lifetime (Nietzsche (philosopher), Van Gogh etc.)... They had great careers, they followed their passions and succeeded. But still lots of them were unhappy...

And isn't that what it's all about? Being happy? The misleading conception a great career would make you happy?
Maybe it's time to rethink that concept. Maybe the "great career" is not the "sure ingredient for happiness" people always made and still make it out to be.

Jst a thought. :-)

 PS: Sorry for my English.

[MidnightSonnet]

Wow, this man is amazing. This world desperately needs more brutally honest people like him, who will tell it like it is while offering hope at the same time. He pinpoints exactly what holds us back from becoming more than what we currently are. I'm done settling for an "okay job that pays the bills". Yes, we, unfortunately, need to pay for expenses and other things that require monetary compensation. However, if we suppress our individual purpose for this life we're currently living, we'll continue to feel stifled and unfulfilled. Yes, you can do "great" jobs all your life and still be fine, as long as you incorporate your true passion. You'd be surprised how your passion can, in fact, create a nice salary in the long-run. You just need to do the research and learn the ins and outs of your trade.

Also, you MUST value yourself. As Larry mentioned, we're socially programmed to not be selfish and to only give ourselves "enough" credit to where it isn't excessive. Because of this conditioning, I'm still struggling to forget all that and be okay with loving myself. It's extremely hard, but only because my brain has been hardwired from a young age to accept limitations and to be "grateful" for the bare minimum. It's only recently that I truly discovered how limitless my potential really is, which ignited my passion even further. However, in order to move forward, I need to appreciate and love myself, flaws and all. Accepting failure has always been something I've never been able to accomplish and I know I'll need professional help with it. Gaining confidence after a life of believing I'm a burden on the world is gonna be a long road, but worth it in the end.

Just know that your passion will benefit other people. It's in our nature to help each other, so we feel the most fulfillment when we've done something good for another. Love is greatest when it's shared. I hope that, when I finally find love and peace within myself, I can offer that love to as many people as possible in an even greater abundance. In fact, I share that with you all now. :) You're ALL loved, even if you don't believe it. You deserve happiness, fulfillment, laughter, joy, and above all, love.

[goodlifedecoder]

He makes a lot of great points. Just a few additional thoughts:

1) A meaningful life certainly relies on the pursuit of one's passion. BUT this doesn't have to be in the form of a career (e.g. a person could be incredibly passionate about raising children as such and therefore also not be bitter about their children's dreams later on because they DID pursue their own passion by having children). In other words, finding and pursuing one's passion is vital, but the concept of what constitutes "meaning" is more general. It might not always be in the form of what we commonly regard as a "career", although it may well deserve that name in terms of the effort and skill that people put into it.
I say this not because one shouldn't pursue the kind of great corporate or artistic career that many might think of when watching this video, but simply to argue that the points of Mr. Smith should not be viewed in a restrictive sense.

2) If you have found your passion, pursue it relentlessly, but don't expect that you will be able to make a) money right away b) a lot of money c) money at all. Pursuing your passion may come at the price of having to work odd jobs until you can monetize your passion or it may involve pursuing your passion (e.g. painting) privately as a hobby if the market currently doesn't value your work a lot. Still, the most depressing thing you can do is to remove your passion from your life completely, just because it doesn't make money or doesn't make money yet. Passions are at the center of a fulfilling life and so they HAVE to be pursued if we want to live a life that we won't regret in the end. But rather than to think that our passions will either a) lead to an amazingly successful career right away or b) lead to nothing, we should focus on how we can incorporate our passion into our life under all circumstances. That way, our lives will always contain that which is most meaningful to us and we still give ourselves the chance for it to grow into something bigger.

3) A "great" career might include high status and wealth, but in the end, it is fulfillment that matters the most. The rest is a bonus. Hence, if a person realizes that they are most passionate about being a kindergarten teacher or gardener or nurse, they might not make the most money or have the highest social status, but they will be able to claim that they followed their passion and that they would not have wanted to choose a different career just because somebody told them that their's wasn't "great". (Of course, if you settle for a job that you don't really want and you simply try to rationalize that "this is really an honorable career, you know!", then you might want to reconsider if there isn't another thing that you would rather like to do, but haven't dared to pursue yet. Also, given the importance of certain jobs, we should certainly reconsider the wages of those who are actually willing to do those important jobs.)

4) In the same sense, a "passion" doesn't have to be an incredibly extroverted affair. A person's greatest passion may be to work as a forest warden, taking care of the local environment etc. Again, if that is fulfilling for this particular person and if that person, in their heart of hearts, would not want to be anywhere else, that would be a "great" career based on the pursuit of personal passion, even if it doesn't look like a spectacular, high-energy thing from the outside.

5) It is very true that fear is probably the greates obstacle in the pursuit of our passions: Fear of disapproval, fear of social isolation, fear of poverty, fear of uncertainty, fear of injury. But, while this is true, we should not think of this issue as a personal failure. Mr. Smith's comment should not be understood as an accusation of weakness, even though that's how many people might hear it (and how some people may actually say it).
Instead, we should recognize the obstacle of fear as a neutral fact, because once we have recognized it as an obstacle, we can now work on how to overcome it. We should not think of fear as a thing that successful people just don't have and the rest is unlucky. We should realize that emotional health and the ability to not stand in our own way is a matter of personal fitness & development and that personal development is just another part of striving for a great career (e.g. we would never "accuse" a person, like: "You know why you will never finish a marathon?!?! BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT IN SHAPE!!!". Well...duh! Instead, we would regard it as an obvious fact that anyone who wants to run a marathon has to improve their fitness to a sufficient degree first.) 
So, instead of treating your current emotional/cognitive configuration as an unchangeable fact, treat it as something that can be developed in such ways as to enable you to pursue what you're passionate about.

[lambusaab]

That last part about picking up relationships as human shields to justify our failures hit my head like a hammer

[ladyjane]

Love this one so much. Watched it at the beginning of my art career, taking a total risk. Now it's my full time job, my gallery exhibitions sell out, and I can't even keep up with the demand for my work. Total dream job. It was so scary when I began, I had to white knuckle my way through it. Totally worth the risk.

[mgmailggmail]

''I had a dream too, but you were born'' LOVE THIS GUY

[crck]

I've heard Wim Hof say this: "I do not fear death, I fear not living fully"

[ABHIKAREVIEW]

This Still hits me hard & gives me courage

[anthonela]

I was afraid to persue my dreams, of course. Larry Smith, with this speech, helped to accept my son's dream to became a coach (sports). I was so sad about his dream then I rememberd this speech, I listened one more time and I told the kid to go for it. Thank you, Larry.

[ShivamMaurya]

This man can even motivate a cat to be the lion.

[toyosimo]

The time is now folks.
Live your life, without any excuses. Say NO to making excuses in regard to making your own life better.
Keep pressing forward.

For the young, this video is a wake up call, for the old(er), it's also never too late...
UNLESS...