Are You The Author of Your Life

[Music]

i was 22

and it seemed like i was right on the

path

to success i checked

all the right boxes i got good grades

all throughout high school i graduated

with honors from harvard university

i secured a corporate job with a

competitive salary at the center

of boston yet

it was my very first day of work

that had me asking myself

is this how i would define

success i joined the 6 pm

employee crowd exiting the office walked

to my train

got off 25 minutes later and walked to

my apartment building

i ran up the stairs to my bedroom

shut the door leaned on the wall

and slowly slid down to the floor

where i finally burst into tears

is this what the rest of my life is

going to look like

who signed me up for this at the sound

of that last question

all the life decisions that i didn’t

take ownership of

flashed before my eyes

when i realized that alpine skiing was

not my sport

yet i continued doing it competitively

for years

when deep down i knew i didn’t want to

study economics

yet i applied for it anyway

and finally when i knew that a

traditional nine to five wasn’t

my cup of tea i drank it regardless

so is it really a surprise that

i find myself on my bedroom floor

covered in tears

i spent years mindlessly going through

the motions

and it finally caught up to me

but for what felt like the first time i

refused

to quiet my intuition not

again not this time

i knew it was time to pick up the pen

and start writing my own story

when i later recalled my experience to a

close friend of mine

she tried to assure me that it was

normal

to cry after the first day of work

it happens to lots of people she said

and i know she had good intentions when

she said it but

all i could think about was

why is this normalized

why are we so quick to settle

for a life that doesn’t excite or

fulfill us

a life that deep down doesn’t

feel right i felt conflicted

because i knew that many would consider

me incredibly lucky

to have landed a fancy corporate job in

the united states of america

that provided a generous compensation

and a

satisfactory work-life balance

i recognized that it was a privilege

to even consider leaving this path

but was that a good enough reason

to stay i asked myself

how i would feel if i were to wake up

20 years from that day on the same

trajectory that i was on

while i did see myself being successful

by every external measure

i also saw myself

unfulfilled filled with regret

and wishing i would have listened to my

gut

earlier that’s how i knew

that settling would be a huge disservice

to myself

my intuition spoke loudly to me that day

and i vowed to never quiet it

in favor of comfort and social

conforming

now unlocking that awareness was

instrumental

in preventing the effortless complacency

that

usually comes with a comfortable job

but awareness on its own was not

sufficient

to break me out of the patterns of

behavior

that i was conditioned to follow my

whole life

my entire life path was setting me up

for a corporate career

was a life outside of the nine to five

even possible for me

i had a broad vision of

working remotely from around the world

on my passions

while helping others improve their lives

but at the time i didn’t even know which

of those passions to focus on

or what kind of help i would or could

be providing naturally

i thought that coming up with a strategy

must be the answer i spent a couple of

weeks

researching different ways i could make

money online and given my marketing

experience

i decided i was going to start a social

media agency

i took an online course teaching me the

skill i signed up a free client

to get a testimonial i did everything i

was supposed to do

however after a couple of months on the

journey

i found out that my us visa didn’t allow

for self-employment

at that first sign of an obstacle

i gave up i didn’t even try to challenge

it

it was like having the pen and the

outline

but no ink to write with i

realized that strategy

was not the answer either at least not

on its own

there was one key ingredient missing

that was truly

holding me back and that was

belief belief that a life of freedom was

possible for me stick with me i know it

sounds cliche

we’ve all heard the saying believe you

can and you’re halfway there

but like most cliches there is some

truth behind it

if you’re still skeptical let me give

you a practical example

to demonstrate this have any of you

ever misplaced your headphones

yep well when that happened

you probably started off by looking for

them in

your bag on your desk maybe in different

pockets

and so on but if you are unsuccessful

after a few minutes of looking it’s very

likely that you gave up in frustration

now consider this scenario let’s say

that your friend tells you that they saw

you

put your headphones in your bag

this time when you look in your bag

wouldn’t you search every little

compartment

empty it pat it down do anything you can

until you locate the headphones that you

know

are there even though you’re carrying

out the same action both times

looking for your headphones in your bag

when you act with

certainty that you will be successful

you are relentless in the pursuit

of your goals and you don’t let doubt

get in the way and convince you to give

up prematurely

your beliefs directly impact

your actions and your perseverance

at this realization i started

surrounding myself

mostly virtually with people who led

lives that i looked up to

so that i could bombard my subconscious

with images of what

is possible i started setting small

goals

and achieving that so that i could

develop that belief in myself

and lastly i started taking aligned

action

with my newly formed beliefs in order

to strengthen them when i

opened myself to the possibilities

there were very few things that seemed

impossible

so if you believe that you’re meant for

something

other than a predetermined path that you

didn’t necessarily choose for yourself

then don’t you owe it to yourself

to at least try to pursue it

we live at a time when people are making

a living from playing

video games others are getting paid

to travel the world and others are

meeting their soul mates

by swiping rape

so let me ask you this

why aren’t your dreams possible

how differently would you be showing up

if you had unwavering trust

that you would achieve your dream life

belief alone may not take you all the

way

but it can definitely add relentlessness

to your action and patience

to your journey after

two years of holding on to my vision

after working on my mindset and

developing a deep

belief after saving

every extra cent i earned because i knew

it would be my ticket to freedom

i did it i finally quit my job

now i know this doesn’t sound like the

classic fairy tale ending

i’m basically giving a speech about

quitting

but this was also a speech about taking

ownership of my life

of finally picking up the pen

and becoming the author of my own story

funnily enough a couple of days after

leaving my job

i got asked to give the very ted talk

you are currently listening to

i took that as a sign that when you

follow your intuition and trust

that things will work out everything

will start

falling into place even if you haven’t

mapped out the whole

story yet i’m not claiming to have

figured everything out at the grand age

of 25.

in fact i doubt i ever will

but i stopped waiting until i figured

everything out before taking action it

is

through action that i’ve been able to

start developing

clarity not the other way around

if i waited until i figured out the

ending of the story first

then i would probably still be waiting

and when i stopped waiting i started

causing ripples

after making the decision to let go of

my

secure job in search of more passionate

fulfilling work

my mom was inspired to leave

her job after 30 years

in order to follow her dream of becoming

an interior designer

when you are authentic and unapologetic

in the pursuit of your goals what you

said

in motion is way bigger than your own

dream it is always a good time to start

rewriting your story and while it may

never be too late

the earlier you do it the better

stop delegating your dreams to one day

and instead make today day one

and start with small messy action

i started with what i knew and took it

one

step at a time personal development has

been

one of my biggest passions in the past

few years and

it completely changed my life

i started sharing my message and

personal transformation

on social media which led

to people reaching out and asking for my

advice

which led to me getting on calls with

them

to provide more personalized help which

led to me launching my private coaching

program

on mindset and personal development

which sold out within a couple of days

each step revealed the next one

similar to a car driving at night

at any given moment the headlights

only reveal the next 60 meters

yet you can cover hundreds of kilometers

this way

and finally arrive at your destination

because you only really need to see

through

the next few meters at a time

by staying committed to your bigger

vision

and trusting in the unfolding of your

path

you can cover the distance from where

you are

to where you want to be one

step at a time through taking aligned

action

learning and adjusting i’ve been able to

move

forward and slowly start forming the

life that i knew was

out there for me now

i get to wake up excited every day to

serve my clients on their own

dream journey by helping them gain

clarity overcome limiting beliefs

adopt healthy habits and transform into

the best

version of themselves

i’m still working on fulfilling other

aspects of my vision

and i couldn’t give you my 10-year plan

to save my life

but i stay focused on writing

one page at a time and have

faith in the unfolding of my book

of life i will leave you with one

question are you the author

of your life and if not

how can you pick up the pen

thank you