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