How a terrorist attack changed my mindset on life

[Music]

everything begins from your mindset

you see the way you look at life

completely reflects what you’re going to

achieve in it

if you wake up every morning and give

life your all if you put yourself

out there and jump to opportunities then

eventually things will start to fall in

place

now of course it’s easy to say this and

it’s not always possible as

everybody has days when they can’t

implement this mindset

but if you try to implement as much as

possible on a day-to-day basis then you

will start to see huge changes

everybody has the ability to change

their mindset

even if you don’t think that you do

society plays a really big role in

moulding our mindset well we’ve taught

many good things we also taught our

limitations

these include where to sit where to talk

what to do

sometimes these restrictions can be

helpful as they help us establish

boundaries such as loyalty

respect and kindness however if you

accept the boundaries that be placed on

your mindset

that’s when you will struggle to grow

and flourish

growing up i was just an average school

kid i worked hard

i was always interested in the world

around me and of course i had my goals

and passions

i always wanted to own my own business

work in music fashion photography there

was no

ends i was a creative through and

through

however as we get older we are not

always taught to act on our passions

you see i always wanted to achieve these

things but society tells you to see them

as dreams

something was out of reach and

intangible

it took me one life-changing experience

for my mindset to change

for me to realize i had limited time on

this planet that i needed to act on

these passions

this shifted mindset happened about four

years ago

i’m 16 years old on holiday with my

three best friends

we’ve saved up all year and it’s an

experience we’re so excited about

we’re staying in the town just around

the corner from nice

and on the third night we decide to walk

to the promenade

the 14th of july 2016 bastille day we go

to watch the bastille night fireworks

the seagulls are swooping overhead as

darkness fell

and the gentle sound of the waves fills

the gaps between the much

louder banks of the fireworks the

firework display finishes but we are

only at the beginning of our night

so we start to wander down towards the

music on the promenade

in what seems like a really split second

the flow of people ambling the other way

soon becomes a flood people are running

screaming running the complete opposite

direction and nobody knows

what is happening and so we run too

the french police are marked by their

hats their guns they rush towards the

new noise that now sounds like gunfire

i’ve seen far the fathers protecting

their children

shielding them and we keep on running we

don’t stop running

we run up a hill and hide in a

stranger’s house

the owner doesn’t speak english but he’s

extremely kind

we wanted to turn the light lights off

in the house so we could hide we

couldn’t find the light switches

so we just unscrewed all of the light

bulbs

we stayed there for about six hours with

other people like us

who had also found shelter in the

strangers home

after a few hours it became clear to us

as to what happened

this was a terrorist attack

a man had driven down the promenade

which was packed shoulder-to-shoulder

with people

swerving to hit as many of them as he

possibly could

86 people died on the promenade that day

and we

were some of the lucky ones

before we left this incredibly kind

stranger’s house he got out his phone

and showed us some pictures and videos

that were soon to circulate around

social media moments after the attack

it was a video of lifeless bodies

sprawled along

the promenade seeing that at age 16 is

something that i can never

unsee when i got home that night

i couldn’t sleep i cried all night

trying to process what happened

because you feel the severe sense of

guilt for surviving and you see at 16

you think you know it all until

something like this completely shakes

your entire world to its core

at the time you feel helpless you think

why did it happen to me why do i deserve

to be alive and not them you feel

completely out of control

after i got back home to london i had

this realization

this realization that i wouldn’t let

this define me that would come back

stronger and i would live every day to

the fullest because you don’t know

what’s around that corner

since then the way i see think and act

has never been the same

during that exact moment of the attack

you become emotionally blind

it’s fight or flight all you can think

is

finding safety but as soon as you relax

that moment after the attack all those

emotions you should have been thinking

catch up with you

and that’s the split second when my

mindset changed

that’s the moment when you realize how

precious life is

and that you need to act on those dreams

and those passions that are always in

the back of your head you need to act

now

my mindset completely changed it brought

a new sense of urgency into my life

i went from this teenager with dreams

these teenagers with dreams that seemed

so far away from reality

that were out of reach to this teenager

that now will do whatever he can

to achieve those goals i would not let

anybody or anything stop me getting in

the way of achieving what i wanted

i didn’t think i can’t do that or that’s

something i’d like to do

it went to i can do that and i’m going

to give it a go

something like this makes you realize

how precious life is

and that you actually don’t have long to

make an impact on this planet

i let this mindset manifest itself in

three key ways

number one i realize that life is too

short that it’s too precious to not be

productive and not put yourself out

there

number two i started to care about the

small things in life and use them as

stepping stones to get where i wanted to

go

and number three i surrounded myself

with friends who had the same desired

mindset

with people who like me thought the

exact same way

and if you start to implement these

three things on a daily basis

you will start to see huge changes

but for me it really did start those

little things

the things i didn’t do before maybe

things as small as making your bed every

morning admiral william h mcraven

said something that really resonated

with me if you make your bed every

morning

you have accomplished the first task of

the day it will give you a small sense

of pride

to go and do another task another and

another

all these actions no matter how small

they are reflect the trajectory as which

you were going once i started to

manifest this mindset on a daily basis a

funny thing started to happen to me

though i was only a few months older

people treated me differently and one

opportunity led to another

emails i may have sent months ago now

got replies through this newfound

tenacity and drive that was reflected in

my emails

it ended up with me working with some of

my favorite creatives and the dominoes

really started to fall in place

i was the exact same person but there

was just a change in my mindset

and everybody else treated me

differently because of it

of course there was a lot of luck along

the way but the rejections and ignored

emails didn’t seem to bother me anymore

i began to work on my photography

videography and creative directing

within a few months i had taken pictures

of people like the 45th

vice president of the united states al

gore award-winning actor colin firth and

tv presenter holly willoughby

and more recently i’ve been working for

a fashion magazine

and i’ve been lucky enough to work

alongside the legendary music video

director

dapps the director hendricks house

design world i even got to assist some

of my favorite photographers

such as zek snaps and phillip rahim

it took me one life-changing experience

to realize this

it took me one life-changing experience

to realize this and then go and get to

those opportunities

however there are numerous people that

had the same realization as me

without having to go through what i went

through

everybody can have this enlightenment in

their lives and how do i know this

because there’s so many of us now

all you need to do is take a look at

people like ben pasternak

ben is a 20 year old entrepreneur from

australia

he created the app monkey which allows

people to meet other like-minded

individuals

or nogalev rappaport an 18-year-old

leading the charge in the uk

as a climate activist and akshay rupalia

was the uk’s youngest millionaire at the

age of 18 actually launched its own

online estate agency

from his own home these are some

examples

from generation zed who are really

leading the charge on applying this

mindset however it’s not

limited to generation z anybody can

apply this mindset and let it manifest

the reason i’m talking to you today is

because of my experience of changing my

mindset and i want that to have an

impact on you

i have manifested this mindset since

2016

and my life has been completely

different to what it could have been

i’ve had some absolutely amazing

opportunities and they’ve all come from

me saying

i’m going to give it a go and i’m going

to see where these opportunities take me

it’s that first step the biggest mistake

you can make is being afraid to make one

and one thing is for certain that in two

three or maybe even four years from now

if you don’t act on those passions and

dreams you are going to regret it

it’s always easier to say you’re going

to do something and actually doing it

but if you don’t you will only regret it

you must make things work

now i don’t mean to go and drop

everything you’re currently doing and

focus on your passions

you can’t keep making excuses to

yourself as to why you can’t do

and act on those dreams don’t ever

forget that there is a world outside of

where you currently are

and it’s full of amazing people and

amazing opportunities

everything i’m talking about is backed

by carol dweck’s mind state theory

dwexes theory is based on two mindsets a

fixed mindset

and a growth mindset someone with a

fixed mindset

might avoid challenges might give up

really easily

but if somebody with a growth mindset

will take on challenges

they’ll embrace challenges they’ll

persevere and they’ll learn from them

carol suggests that there’s evidence

that a growth mindset allows people to

learn from experiences

and push their boundaries so they can

improve

and go beyond somebody that might have a

fixed mindset

it’s thought that only two percent of

the population pursue their dreams with

eagerness and enthusiasm

only two percent choose to be happy by

being fulfilled

the other 98 of course they want the

same thing

but the fear of losing is far greater

than the possibility of coming out on

the other side a winner

as you can see the world will treat you

according to your mindset

now alongside that we need the

determination to work extremely hard

and of course a little bit of luck goes

a really long way

but the mindset is where it all begins

don’t let anybody else’s judgment stop

you achieving

what you want to achieve challenge

yourself every morning to apply what

i’ve been talking about today

start with the small things and let them

manifest into something far greater

see where it will take you see what

opportunities arise

from implementing this mindset on a

daily basis

we all need to take the opportunities

that come our way as you never know

where those opportunities might take us

we need to follow our passions otherwise

we will regret it don’t be afraid to

fail

be afraid not to try