Why doing new things is so hard

[Applause]

hello everyone

my name is alex wolfe and today i want

to talk to you about how you can do

things

no one around you is doing before i

continue with this talk

i want to acknowledge how large and

maybe strange a topic this is

what does it mean what even is there

that you don’t already have access to

and why should you try to pursue it the

answer is

there are an infinite number of things

to discover and no one has ever changed

the world without looking for them

that’s not to say that there aren’t

tremendously successful people

that just became good at something that

was naturally present in their lives

because of course those people exist i’m

simply saying

that every founder of every large

company every person to ever do

something innovative

one day decided that what is around them

wasn’t working and they changed it

today i’m here to tell you how you can

become one of those people

before that i’ll briefly tell you a

little bit about myself i was born in

town called sudbury in ontario

which is about five and a half hours

west of ottawa depending on how fast you

drive

i don’t have much else to tell you about

sudbury other than that it’s a pretty

small town

and like most small towns oftentimes

there’s not a lot going on there

i lived in sudbury for 16 years and for

most of that time

i was a really happy person i went to a

very safe and comfortable

elementary school where there was a

number of things that made my life easy

basically i didn’t worry about anything

like most people

i had things i wanted to accomplish but

i thought i could get there by just

staying on the path i was on this is

what i like to call

having your life tracked it’s where your

life is so simple

and relatively worry-free that you never

feel the need to ask questions or look

for new things

this is a really dangerous situation for

people that are capable and willing to

venture outside of what’s normal

for this reason i encourage everyone

listening today to take a few minutes

every day

and think about what you’re doing why

you’re doing it and if i’m describing

you right now

when i finally started high school i

kind of realized how big the world is

and how small a part of it i was i

decided that

the path i was on in life the best path

i had available to me

simply wasn’t working i didn’t want to

spend the remainder of my life in

suffrage

or even the next few years so i had to

figure out a way to break out of that

this idea has ultimately led me to ashby

this year and through this process

i’ve been able to develop a way of

thinking it’s helped me to do things

that no one around me is doing

i’ve condensed my process into a few

steps for you today

step one always be actively looking for

new things talk to different people

make more connections do everything you

can

and then look even further this is the

only way to discover make discoveries

and break out of your respective bubble

you need to realize that something

exists before you can make an effort to

become a part of it

and if you keep this up for long enough

one day you’ll discover something that

you really want to pursue

that you’re really passionate about and

suddenly it won’t matter what everyone

else is doing

for me the thing that led me to my big

breakthrough was joining my previous

school’s robotics club

it was seen as a really nerdy thing to

do at that school and it was frowned

upon

by a lot of the people i was associated

with it seems like such a simple thing

to do

but it was one of the most difficult

things i’d done because it was so

different from what my friends were

doing

and what i was doing up until that point

it was there though that i discovered

some of my greatest passions

and it ultimately changed my entire life

i didn’t listen to the people around me

and as a result i opened a whole new

world for myself

step two learn what it means to be

driven and learn how to learn

now that you’ve discovered something you

need to have the strength and the will

to pursue it

the more outside of what’s normal it is

the harder it will be and the less help

you will get from the people around you

in this case i wanted to learn computer

programming but i didn’t know

anyone who could help me and my school

had no way of helping me

it was a goal i had that was slightly

outside of what was normal in my life

and common for people in my situation

but i did have a tangible goal

i bought books i watched videos i took

courses i did everything in my power to

learn

and i was able to regress far further

than i had initially set out to

this small example shows that there’s

always a way to achieve a goal

even if it seems outside of what’s

possible for you always be thinking in

terms of

what can i do to make this happen and

make manageable progress every day don’t

compare yourself

to people living very different lives

from yours because there will

always be people in situations more

conducive to success

you have to keep this in perspective as

you move forward

step 3 always be thinking and

questioning and connect with new people

in your area of interest

once you’ve found something you want to

pursue and you’ve made some progress

you need to source up people you can

learn from if there’s no one around you

that does what you do

look elsewhere look anywhere in the

world expand your network of people

and gradually build your knowledge base

so that you’re always ready for that

next opportunity

that next piece of information that’s

going to change the way you think about

things

and open doors for example

this summer i was browsing through

linkedin when i saw a summer science

program that was going to run virtually

because of the coronavirus

the applications were due the next day

so i rushed to my computer and i worked

all day

on my essays and i submitted my

application

a bit later i was accepted and i agreed

to participate in the program

through this program i learned things

about data science artificial

intelligence

machine learning things so far outside

of what was happening

in my high school or anywhere around me

it was an exposure point

that allowed me to take what i was doing

in a totally different direction

and it opened doors that i hadn’t known

previously existed

so this is the mindset you need to be in

to do new things

it’s this funneling process of first

exploring finding

and then pursuing a goal that no one

around you shares

you need to be in a position to make

this goal possible

it will be difficult but with time you

can make any path available to yourself

a lot of experiences i’ve had and the

reason i’m a boarding student this year

a result of me overcoming my fear and

joining this club at my school

all it takes is one leap of faith one

step outside your comfort zone

to put yourself on the path to bigger

and better things

you don’t always need the people around

you to understand you you just need to

know

that stepping into uncharted waters is

hard but that with time

you can make anything available to

yourself thank you

you