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10 Most Inspirational TED Talks For Personal Growth

Need a pep talk to get through tough times in life? These are the absolute best TED Talks for personal growth you need to listen to now.

By George NekilanPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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There are definitely times in our lives where we just want to roll up in a fetal position in the corner of our bed and stay like that for a few days. Admit it, adulting is hard and there are so many ways we can fuck up and ruin it for ourselves. But everyone makes mistakes, and while we learn from them, this helps us become a better us. Especially when it comes to personal growth, we come across so many challenges, tough decisions, and negative people that are looking to put you down in any way. And unfortunately, that's part of what life is—people attempting to bring you down.

However, no matter how many difficult situations and cruel people we come across in our lives, none of those should severely impact us. Since we're in control of our lives and decisions, we should never allow others to steer us. In order to live positively, gain the motivation to chase our dreams, become confident in any interaction, focusing on yourself, and everything else that will constantly keep a smile on your face, we need a pep talk from inspirational individuals who've gone through what you're currently going through. For a little more encouragement to make positive changes in your life, listen to any of these amazing TED Talks for personal growth!

There are certainly moments in your life where you hesitate to speak up and defend yourself in anything. From an argument to a misunderstanding, we tend to withdraw from speaking, because we either don't want to make the situation worse or we don't want to make ourselves look bad. So many people keep their mouths shut because they believe it's the right thing to do, but during certain situations, it's actually the wrong thing to do.

Adam Galinsky is here to tell you that you should stop holding yourself back from using your voice in "How To Speak Up for Yourself." In arguments or giving your opinion, everyone has a voice and everyone should be able to express their thoughts about anything. Not only are you passing on a different perspective, but this truly impacts your personal growth.

So many of us have been bullied sometime in our lives. Either when we were children in middle school to even our college days. There are always people out there who are determined to bring you down and point out literally anything about you and create it your flaw. From your appearance to your ethnicity, hobbies, and anything else, people want to see you fail. People want to see that you're worthless in life and that you have no purpose. But this is definitely something that should never... ever let you down. No matter how harsh their words are, words are words, and these are the type of people that you shouldn't allow into your life.

And Shane Koyczan in his video "To This Day... For the Bullied and Beautiful" shows us that he conquered all of the bullies that he dealt with in his life. Through his spoken-word poem about bullying, he's captured the attention of millions of individuals who can relate to his story. That's why he's among the most inspirational TED Talks for personal growth ever.

When we see that we aren't improving ourselves at all, we immediately assume that there's no hope, and we give up on the spot. So many people stop trying completely because they wholeheartedly believe that they will never be able to enhance their skills at something. Even when they were so close at becoming better at something, they drop everything and give up, because they aren't viewing themselves improving.

This is definitely a mistake many people are doing and Carol Dweck is here to tell you that you can start believing that you can improve in anything. All it takes is confidence and believing in oneself to make a change in their work. There's a fine line between not being smart enough to solve something and not solving it yet. In any similar case, it's usually not solving the problem yet.

Everyone comes across a failure in life. Every. Single. Person. If you're telling me that you've never once failed in your life, not only are you lying, but that's seriously impossible. Everyone fails at something sometime in their life—that's how life is. And when we do fail in something, we learn from our mistakes and apply it to our lives in order to avoid it.

But you have to remember, it's okay to lose in something. It's okay to fail one test, to not get the position, and it's more than okay to fail in accomplishing your dreams. Failure doesn't mean that it's the end of the world. You have so many other shots to give, and that's what Sarah Lewis is explaining to us in "Embrace The Near Win." She tells us that your near wins are what actually pushes us to go farther in life. And this is without a doubt one of the most inspirational TED Talks for personal growth to watch.

Do you ever study so hard, literally pulling all-nighters for tests, and receive the grade that you weren't expecting at all? What about practicing a sport so much and once you're out on the field, you're thinking that you're not practicing enough? Don't think that you're not trying your best and improving. When they say practice makes perfect, it's true. So if you feel like you're not seeing any improvements, you should still feel like you're moving forward in what you really care about.

The best person to thoroughly explain this is Eduardo Briceño in "How To Get Better At The Things You Care About," which is seen to be one of the greatest TED Talks for personal growth to watch. He'll show you that even though you're working hard and still not seeing any improvements in your work, don't think that you're not getting any better. Eduardo shares some really useful techniques and strategies in learning how to always feel like you're moving forward.

We deal with a ton of emotions throughout the days. From the positive ones like joy, excitement, thrill, love to the more darker ones like stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and others. While some of us do deal with the more negative emotions, they can really impact our mental and physical health. It can even take a toll on our relationships and connections with other people. But did you ever think of improving your emotional intelligence?

Practicing your emotions is basically like understanding what you're feeling, the reason behind it, and how you can handle them in the best possible way that won't impact your well-being. "Why We All Need To Practice Emotional First Aid" by Guy Winch is among the brilliant TED Talks for personal growth you seriously have to check out. Guy perfectly explains how to practice your emotions and prevent the negative ones from controlling your mental and physical being.

A lot of us have gone through really, really tough times in our lives. And people usually say that whatever you've gone through makes you the person you are today. And that's true! Even when the worst moments in our life were the fuckin' worst, they're still part of our personal history that we will forever carry on our backs. But even though those difficult times were really rough back then, they can positively impact you to this day.

Among the best TED Talks for personal growth is Andrew Solomon's "How The Worst Moments In Our Lives Make Us Who We Are." While the title says it all, Andrew ultimately explains how our worst past experiences make us the great person we are today. By overcoming those experiences, we look past them and become a more positive and optimistic individual.

When we were young, we were asked what we want to be when we grow up. While children usually list a bunch of professions that are all unrelated to another, some of us grow up to fall in love with just one profession. However, not everyone can settle for just one job. While some people enjoy cooking, they also love everything about the medical field.

And Emilie Wapnick tells us that it's okay to not settle on just one calling. We can enjoy diverse types of careers like painting to being in the law field. Plus, there are people who jump from one job to another and they couldn't be any more happy doing so.

I'm sure many of us wanted to try something out of our comfort zone for some time now. Either you're afraid people will judge you, it won't be what you expected, or anything else that will negatively impact you. But none of those are true. Trying something new is a great way to completely get out of your comfort zone and experience what else life has to offer. If you want to try out a new sport, play an instrument, or be involved in a community, no one should hold you back from doing so. And you should certainly not hold yourself back either.

From the best TED Talks for personal growth, Matt Cutts tells us that trying out something new for just 30 days is the best way to tell if you enjoy something. When that 30 days is over and you find out that you're not crazy about it, drop it! This won't impact your life, but you can now say that you tried something new that was totally different from your usual.

Finally from the all-time greatest TED Talks for personal growth is Tony Robbins' "Why We Do What We Do." Just what are the invisible forces that are motivating us to do what we do? Do any of us know the actual reasons that we're reaching for certain dreams and accomplishing specific goals? Perhaps Tony can help you understand your motivation more.

Our motivation to chase our dreams should be for us and only us. We shouldn't live our lives to please others. If you're going to law school because your parents want you to go, then you're doing it for them and not for yourself. That form of motivation has nothing to do with what you want, but what your parents want. Everything that you're doing in your life should reflect your passion and ambitions!

self help
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About the Creator

George Nekilan

Has a vegetable garden in his backyard, 5th son out of 8 and is a sucker for chick flicks.

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