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