Why we struggle to make the Right Choice on Netflix and in Life.

well

i’m not exactly nervous it’s just that

my legs they are shivering a bit

okay sorry that was a very bad joke i’m

so sorry about that

but before we get started let me ask one

simple question

what if i tell you that 90 of everything

in the world

is nonsense okay let me rephrase that

what if i tell you that there is a law

which says that 90 percent of everything

in the world

is nonsense and i’m not joking by the

way i am serious

okay let’s let’s put this all to the

side let me ask

a simple and yet another question how

many of us

love the iron man the iron man

captain america hulk thor the avengers

as a faction

now these are the characters which pop

up into our minds every single time we

talk about

science fiction correct but let me tell

you one thing back in the 1950s and the

1960s

science fiction was not as popular as

cool and as famous as it is today

and back in those days there was this

one fine gentleman

his name was mr ted sturgeon and he was

a prolific science

fiction writer but the problem is that

he was facing a lot of heat

and a lot of criticism from the book

critics in that period

and these critics used to tell him that

hey mr sturgeon

ninety percent of everything in science

fiction is

nonsense now to all of them mr sturgeon

used to reply

yes you’re right but you know what 90

percent of

everything that is published otherwise

even that

is nonsense and this

very statement of mr ted sturgeon

went down in history to be known as

the sturgeon’s law ninety percent of

everything in the world

is nonsense and this very statement

became the talk

of the town in no time at all

now the sturgeon’s law might sound a

little funny

at the first glance but only at the

first glance

there is this another gentleman mr

daniel dennett who is an american

philosopher

a well-known one and he has studied the

students law in and out completely

and he has to say that the sturgeon’s

law applies not just to books and to

films

but it applies even broadly ninety

percent of everything around us

is nonsense okay i’m not kidding let’s

let’s take account

physics chemistry biology sociology

english maths all the other subjects of

study

the emails that we send the meetings

that we attend

whatever we discuss inside those

meetings the music that we listen

ninety percent of all of it is something

we don’t really require in the realist

of sense

and this is not a joke by the way i am

very serious about it

and okay i am a speaker who gives a lot

many examples

so here is another one take any average

grocery store around your house any any

grocery store

you know in an average grocery store

there are 34

different types of yogurt 24 different

types of cleaning products

and 30 000 total number of products

and that is just a local grocery store

the point which i am trying to make is

that people

today are bombarded with so many options

so many options and choices so many of

them right

career opportunities placement

opportunities hotels

restaurants films books music

holiday destinations leisure activities

and

an infinite number of lifestyles there

has never

been more choice than today and most of

it

right in the palm of your hand at your

disposal

by means of your cellular cell phone

device

right well that’s the truth but okay

as compared to all of this in the

present let’s go back

in time a bit that is somewhere around

the 1950s and the 1960s the time of our

protagonist mr sturgeon here

i’m guessing that back in those days

there were only

three types of yogurt only two types of

cheese

only three television channels and only

one telephone

that big black box with those dial tones

remember and even this telephone was a

rare luxury not many people had them

and one telephone was shared by

countless people by the way but

the point is that despite having so many

less options as compared to today’s day

and age

so less options people still were a lot

happier

a lot more peaceful and definitely a lot

less anxious

and a lot less dissatisfied as compared

to today’s day and age

does this sound amazing or ironical to

you in any way

i mean i don’t know it’s real right it

really makes sense

what do you have to say okay please

don’t get me wrong over here

i’m not saying that having options and

choices is a bad thing

it’s not a bad thing obviously having

options and choices

makes our lives a lot simpler most of

the time right

but just like everything else in life

there is a limit to it

and if that limit is exceeded having too

many options and choices

actually disrupts the quality of life

and this very phenomenon

is known as the paradox of choice now

the paradox of choice

is actually an experimentally proven

phenomenon

for example we we just spoke about

grocery stores right a few minutes ago

this time an experiment was conducted by

a supermarket

now what does this supermarket do they

erected a stall

with 24 different flavors of jelly

that’s correct 24 different flavors of

jelly the customers can come in any time

they want

they can taste any flavor and they can

buy it at a discount and leave the store

simple as that now that was on day one

on day two the supermarket conducted a

similar experiment

but this time with only six flavors of

jelly

and the result on day two was very much

surprising

and very much shocking on day two with

the lesser number of flavors

the supermarket was able to sell 10

times more jelly

as compared to day one that’s right with

six flavors

they sold 10 times more jelly as

compared to 24 flavors

what exactly happened here let’s find

out

now the customers were not able to make

a choice with 24 flavors

they were too overwhelmed to make a

choice and since they were so confused

they just could not decide what to

choose so they ended up

giving up their will to choose all

together and that is exactly what

happened

and this happens not just with jelly but

with everything else around in life

the more choices we have the more

overwhelmed we tend to become

and we end up giving up our willingness

to choose

altogether the paradox of choice

definitely works in mysterious ways

but that was just point number one and i

am just getting started point number two

the more choices we have the more unsure

we are about what to choose and we might

even choose something

but we might be disappointed and very

much

unpleased and dissatisfied with what we

have chosen

for example what if i chose that career

path

i would have been very happy in life

what if i chose this degree to pursue

and not the one i pursued eventually

i would have been so happy in life these

feelings are very much

very much very much obnoxious they don’t

sound pleasant at all have you ever felt

something like this

because i have sometimes and it doesn’t

really feel good

that’s point number two and point number

three and this is a revelation for you

if i have to choose from two brands of

milk

and if my neighbor has to choose from 20

brands of milk

then that does not mean that my neighbor

has more freedom than me

it only means that my neighbor has more

variety than me and there is a very big

difference

between variety and freedom variety

means having something or having more of

something that i already have

or having more of something that i don’t

really need

okay let me repeat that variety means

having

more of something that i already have or

having more of something that i don’t

really need let that sink in and

variety does not really give us freedom

no it doesn’t

it does not make us free variety only

imprisons us

it imprisons us with anxiety the anxiety

of missing out on something the anxiety

of not

making the right choice in life out of

the

options available or let me rephrase

that it actually imprisons us with the

anxiety of not making the best

choice out of all the available options

so it is rightly said by somebody

you can have all the variety in the

world but still

you will not be free

now this is exactly where our key

protagonist mr ted sturgeon and his law

come to the rescue now the sturgeon’s

law is by far an excellent mental tool

which allows us to let go to pass over

and to avoid again to let go

to pass over and to avoid most of the

things

situations and people in our lives

without

actually feeling guilty okay i like

doing that just one more time

the sturgeon’s law actually allows us to

let go to pass over and to avoid

most of the things situations and people

in our lives without actually feeling

guilty and it’s rightly said

again that the world is filled with

empty words

but you don’t really have to listen

okay i think i’ve said it countless

times that ninety percent of everything

in the world is nonsense okay

i admit that but whenever i make that

statement i’m also silently making

another statement

that 10 of everything is still relevant

and the task is not to identify the 90

and to cut it out from life

no the task is actually to identify and

to keep

and to embrace the 10 of everything in

life that genuinely matters

and once we do that when we identify and

keep the 10

of what matters the 90 irrelevant and

nonsense things in life will

automatically

eliminate themselves on their own

that’s the reality and it’s very simple

by the way but

but but do you know that the sturgeon’s

law besides applying in the external

world

it also applies to our inner selves i

mean i can say

that ninety percent of my emotions are

something i don’t really understand

ninety percent of my thoughts are

something i can never implement

and ninety percent of my desires are

just

too childish and the sturgeon’s law

actually helps me to identify and to

understand

which are those 10 percent genuine

feelings of mind which i should consider

seriously and which are those 90 percent

irrelevant feelings

thoughts emotions and desires which i

should just let go

with a smile now let’s address the

elephant

in the room how exactly do we identify

the ten percent of what genuinely

matters in life which will talk about

that

yes i am talking about that now it’s a

simple to-do list

which anybody in life can implement and

i mean anybody

just four simple points number one don’t

try to eliminate

the nonsense out of the world you will

never succeed

the world is going to stay irrational

for a lot longer than all of us are

going to live

so the task is to identify those few

things in life which genuinely matter to

you

to embrace them and to cast everything

else away

and leave everything else aside point

number two

don’t take and accept anything and

everything

just because the world and everybody

else around you is offering it

don’t do anything and everything just

because you feel like doing it

and everybody else is doing it and most

importantly

don’t buy any and every gadget or any

and everything that is available in the

market

just because it is available in the

market back it up with some thinking

that’s point number two point number

three try to

understand the difference between ideas

and good ideas

between people and good people between

thoughts

and good thoughts between emotions and

good emotions

between feelings and good feelings and

between investments

and good investments that’s correct try

to identify the difference between

what’s ordinary

and what’s good and recognize and

understand

nonsense for what it is nonsense

and point number four and here is a

harsh reality for you

the perfect decision is a myth a perfect

decision does not exist

so instead of breaking your head over

making the perfect decision in life

just try to make a decision in life

which is just good enough

you know in this world filled with

endless varieties and so many options

and choices and

areas of life good enough is

the new perfect that’s the to-do list

for you

and it is magnificently and quite deftly

put down by mr mark manson in his very

recent book

true freedom does not lie in knowing

exactly what you want to do in life

or what you want to pursue in life true

freedom

actually lies in knowing exactly what

you want to give up in life

that is true freedom ladies and

gentlemen thank you so much

have a nice day god bless you take care

and

i extend my deepest gratitude to the hr

college and tedx hr college for this

wonderful

and enriching opportunity thank you so

much god bless you all