What an afternoon of listening to Ted X talks taught me

Working remotely is great. You have freedom as to where, when and how you work, however, there are times when silence can stunt the creativity process and you soon get sick of listening to the same music or radio announcers. So, on this rainy Wednesday afternoon, I decided to turn on the Ted channel on YouTube and began listening to endless TEDx talks for the rest of the afternoon. This is what I learned & why I think listening to podcasts/ TEDX talks in the work place is a great way of stretching the minds of your colleagues and team members.

#notsponsored #justinspired #TEDxAkl

What an afternoon of listening to TEDx talks taught me…

I love the buzz of a busy office. In fact, when I was looking for my  next role, one of my main ‘wants’ was to be office based at least 1 day a week. I enjoy the human interaction, buzz and brain storming that happens in an open planned office and I love to find new ideas within the flow of the conversation.

This morning I listened to my iTunes, then I mixed it up with some Radio 2, George FM and so on. By noon I was feeling less than enthused and was craving conversation and inspiration. So, I decided to think like a millennial. I jumped on Youtube and found the Tedtalks channel. At first I listened to talks about goal setting, motivation and business, however at 11-17 minutes per session, choosing new videos was using up too much time. So I decided to let it roll in the background and wait for inspiration to strike.

Stay present in the workplace with new ideas

Here is what I learned after an afternoon of TEDx

  • When looking at a huge goal, break it up into mini goals to help achieve your goal. Mini decisions will help you achieve the ultimate outcome and it won’t feel like a hike.

This was apt for my afternoon. Instead of facing the project as a whole, I broke it down into subheadings and worked on smaller snippets. This also allowed for more ticks on my to do list. WIN.

  • Put down the phone and pick up a book.

This is something I have heard time and time again. And the more I hear it the more I think I should really recharge the Kindle or visit a library? Again, it is a reminder to stop browsing through and be more in the present

  • Unrelenting positivity is infectious

Yes. Mum always told us to ‘smile until you believe it’ and it is true. If you are listening to positive words and are around positive people, you will in turn feel positive. Positivity breeds positivity and then success and happiness should follow.

  • Humans are awesome and humans fail. Failure is not a negative if you own your failure.

I liked this. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect in this 100% on, Instagram-able world. It is nice to know that as long as we learn from our failure, it’s OK to fail.

  • Set goals that inspire purpose.

I have always been a goal setter and this actually made me think, have I written any goals this month? Again, this works for work and life. We need goals to drive ourselves forward and we need these goals to inspire us to fulfill them.

  • If your mouth is open, you’re not listening

This little gem interrupted a deep thought process and made me giggle as I think it is two fold. It works within a group context but also works on a self level.

  • No one ever listened their way out of a job

Apt for recruitment.

Taking ourselves off autopilot

Have you ever found yourself humming along to a song that you didn’t know you knew? Turns out, we absorb a lot of background noise when we are doing things that are really easy or quite hard and music is a happy escape for a wandering mind.

Too often ‘autopilot’ is an excuse for going through the working day with our eyes closed, always doing what is expected, but not necessarily doing much more. In business, as in life, we want people to be present, both physically and mentally.

TEDx talks, or similar media, help bring people back into the present, allow encourages people to listen to another person’s perspective and also can help improve IQ and EQ. All making this a powerful (and free) tool in business.

What does it all mean?

Although the afternoon proved full of little anecdotes and quotes to inspire, impress and excite, it highlighted the importance of ‘mixing things up’ and moving away from the norm to take yourself off autopilot. By the end of my afternoon I was left feeling energised and motivated, a total turn around from the mood of three hours prior.

Listening to the same radio station everyday is the easy option, it takes no real thought process what so ever. Yet, everyone I have talked to since writing this blog has gone and listened to a TEDx Talk. Some have decided to add it to their day as background noise, a companion for their drive home from work or as a serious tool for team motivation.

Others will go back to their music. But at least for a day they did something different and took themselves off autopilot.

Experience is a master teacher, even when it’s not our own.

So in conclusion, I would urge you to spend an afternoon on the TEDx channel. What I learned in a whole sense, was that there is a lot to be said for listening to someone’s story or aspect and understanding what they learned and why it was important to them. 

And the final thing I learned…be brief. Ironic, yet apt, when writing a blog.

 

Feeling really inspired?

An afternoon listening to TEDx talks NZ

There is a TedXAuckland site and FB and even an event on October 13th. Find out more about the event here

A day of inspiration and connection.

Off-Piste:Adjective, adverb.

  1. So as to deviate from what is conventional, usual, or expected
  2. An unsupervised, ungroomed, and unmarke