Why you will fail to have a great career | Larry Smith | TEDxUW

Summary

In this humorous and thought-provoking speech, the economist speaker challenges the audience's approach to career success. They argue that the common belief in 'pursuing your passion' is often ignored due to fear or laziness. The speaker debunks various excuses people make for not following their dreams, such as relying on luck or being 'too normal' for greatness. They emphasize the importance of distinguishing between mere interest and true passion, and the need to overcome the fear of failure to achieve a truly great career, rather than settling for mediocrity.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker humorously suggests that most people will fail to have a great career because they are not pursuing their passions.
• 🎓 Despite popular advice to 'follow your passion,' many choose not to, making excuses and settling for 'good' instead of 'great'.
• 🤔 The speaker questions why individuals are reluctant to pursue their dreams, suggesting it might be due to laziness, fear, or the belief that finding passion is too difficult.
• 🤑 The belief that great careers are a matter of luck is debunked, emphasizing that success requires action, not just hope.
• 🧠 The speaker points out that being 'competent' is no longer enough in a world where excellence is the standard for a great career.
• 🤷‍♂️ The fear of being 'weird' or obsessive is identified as a barrier to pursuing one's passion, which the speaker argues is necessary for a great career.
• 💪 The myth that hard work alone will lead to a great career is challenged, with the speaker asserting that purposeful work is more important than just working hard.
• 💔 The speaker warns that not pursuing one's passion can lead to a life of regret, symbolized by a hypothetical tombstone that commemorates a life of missed potential.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The speaker criticizes the excuse of prioritizing family and relationships over career success, suggesting that this is a cop-out for not facing one's fears.
• 🚫 The speaker concludes by emphasizing that fear is the primary reason people fail to achieve greatness in their careers, urging the audience to confront their fears.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the speech?

The main theme of the speech is the reasons why people fail to have a great career, focusing on the common excuses and misconceptions that prevent individuals from pursuing their passions and achieving their full potential.

Why does the speaker believe that people who aim for 'good' careers will also fail?

The speaker believes that people aiming for 'good' careers will fail because good jobs are disappearing, and there is a lack of middle ground between great careers and high-stress, soul-destroying jobs.

What is the first excuse the speaker mentions that people use to avoid pursuing their passion?

The first excuse mentioned is the belief that great careers are a matter of luck, and that one should simply wait for luck to bring them a great career.

How does the speaker refute the idea that being 'completely competent' is enough to guarantee a great career in the modern era?

The speaker refutes this idea by stating that in the past, being competent might have been enough, but in the current time (almost 2012), simply being competent is the faintest of praise and not enough to stand out and achieve a great career.

What does the speaker suggest is the difference between having an 'interest' and having a 'passion'?

The speaker suggests that an interest is a mild form of engagement with an activity, whereas passion is a deep, all-consuming love for something that drives one to create the highest expression of their talent.

Why does the speaker criticize the strategy of working hard as a means to achieve a great career?

The speaker criticizes this strategy because working hard alone does not guarantee a great career; it only ensures that one will have the opportunity to work hard, but not necessarily achieve the success and fulfillment they desire.

What is the humorous example the speaker gives to illustrate the difference between merging interests and having a deep, passionate love?

The speaker uses the humorous example of a friend who proposed to his girlfriend by suggesting they merge their interests, listing all the other women he considered, which ultimately led to her leaving and him realizing he narrowly escaped marrying an irrational person.

What is the speaker's view on the idea that one must sacrifice personal relationships to achieve a great career?

The speaker challenges this idea, suggesting that it is a false dichotomy and that one can be a great friend, spouse, or parent while also pursuing a great career. The speaker implies that using personal relationships as an excuse is a way to avoid the fear of pursuing one's passion.

What is the 'unless' the speaker refers to as a potential turning point for those who might fail to have a great career?

The 'unless' refers to the possibility that individuals might overcome their fears, excuses, and misconceptions to actually pursue their passions and take action towards achieving a great career.

How does the speaker use the concept of 'destiny' to encourage the audience to find their passion?

The speaker uses the concept of 'destiny' to inspire the audience to look beyond mere interests and find their true passion, which is the highest expression of their talent and could lead them to their destined path of greatness.

What is the final message the speaker leaves the audience with regarding the pursuit of a great career?

The final message is that the audience should not let fear, excuses, or the desire to maintain the status quo prevent them from pursuing their passion and achieving a great career, as this could lead to regret and missed opportunities.

Outlines

00:00

😀 The Illusion of Great Careers and the Pursuit of Passion

The speaker, an economist, humorously addresses the audience about the reasons why they might fail to achieve great careers. The speaker critiques the common advice to 'pursue your passion' and notes that people often make excuses not to follow their dreams. The speaker points out that the job market is polarized between great careers and high-stress, unsatisfying jobs, with little in between. The audience is challenged to reflect on their true desires and the reasons behind their reluctance to pursue their passions, suggesting that fear and laziness often hold them back.

05:00

🤔 The Difference Between Interest and Passion

The speaker delves deeper into the concept of passion, distinguishing it from mere interest. Passion is described as the driving force that leads to the highest expression of one's talent. The speaker uses humor and personal anecdotes to illustrate the point that settling for 'interesting' careers instead of pursuing true passion can lead to a life of unfulfilled potential. The speaker also addresses the fear of pursuing passion and the common excuse of valuing personal relationships over career success, suggesting that this is a cop-out for not daring to take risks.

10:01

😅 The Paradox of Sacrificing Dreams for Family

In the final paragraph, the speaker satirically challenges the audience's tendency to use family responsibilities as an excuse for not pursuing their dreams. The speaker paints a scenario where a parent, who has not followed their own dreams, discourages their child from pursuing an unconventional career path. The speaker argues that true success includes being a great friend, spouse, parent, and professional, and that one does not have to sacrifice the other. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the fear that underlies the audience's reluctance to pursue their passions and the potential regret of not having done so.

Keywords

💡Passion

Passion in the context of the video refers to a strong and barely controllable emotion or enthusiasm for something. It is depicted as the driving force behind a great career. The speaker emphasizes that mere interest is not enough; one must have a profound passion to excel. For instance, the speaker differentiates between having an 'interest' and having a 'passion,' suggesting that passion is what elevates one's talent to its highest potential.

💡Career

A career is defined as a profession undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress. The video's theme revolves around the pursuit of a 'great career' versus settling for a 'good' or 'average' one. The speaker argues that the pursuit of a great career is often hindered by fear and self-imposed limitations, rather than a lack of opportunities.

💡Excuses

Excuses in this video script are the justifications or reasons people give for not pursuing their dreams or passions. The speaker outlines various excuses individuals make, such as relying on luck, believing that only geniuses can have great careers, or considering themselves 'normal' and not 'weird' enough to pursue their passions. These excuses serve as barriers to achieving one's full potential.

💡Competence

Competence in the video is used to describe the state of being sufficiently qualified or able to do something. The speaker points out that being 'completely competent' was once enough to ensure a great career, but in the modern context, it is not sufficient. It has become a 'faint praise' that does not guarantee success in a highly competitive job market.

💡Destiny

Destiny in the script is portrayed as a predetermined course of events or a fixed natural order of the future. The speaker challenges the audience to consider whether they are afraid of the concept of destiny and to pursue their highest talent, suggesting that not doing so may lead to a life of regret and unfulfilled potential.

💡Talent

Talent in the video is described as a natural aptitude or skill in a particular area. The speaker argues that finding and pursuing one's passion is essential for expressing one's talent to its fullest. The script uses the contrast between the invention of Velcro and the theoretical discovery of the Grand Unified Field Theory to illustrate the difference between a career based on interest versus one based on true talent and passion.

💡Fear

Fear in this context is the emotion of being afraid or worried about something that may happen. The speaker identifies fear as a primary reason why people fail to pursue their passions. They are afraid of looking ridiculous, afraid to try, and afraid of failing, which ultimately prevents them from achieving a great career.

💡Human Relationships

Human relationships refer to the connections between people, including friendships, family, and romantic partnerships. The speaker criticizes the use of these relationships as an excuse to avoid pursuing one's passion. They argue that prioritizing relationships over personal ambition can lead to regret and a lack of fulfillment in one's career.

💡Regret

Regret in the video is the feeling of sadness or disappointment over something that has happened or been done, especially a loss or missed opportunity. The speaker suggests that not pursuing one's passion will lead to a life filled with regret, as individuals will always wonder 'what if' they had taken the risk to follow their dreams.

💡Action

Action in this script refers to the process of doing something rather than just talking about or thinking about it. The speaker emphasizes that despite recognizing the need to pursue their passion, many people still fail to take action due to various excuses. The call to action is a recurring theme, urging the audience to move beyond contemplation and into the realm of doing.

💡Risk

Risk in the video is the possibility of something bad or undesirable happening. The speaker acknowledges that pursuing a great career often involves taking risks, such as leaving a stable job or investing time and resources into an uncertain venture. The script challenges the audience to weigh the potential rewards of taking risks against the security of playing it safe.

Highlights

The speaker humorously addresses the audience about their potential failure to achieve a great career.

Economist's dismal view on the disappearance of good jobs and the polarization between great and terrible jobs.

The importance of pursuing one's passion for a great career is emphasized, yet many choose not to.

The speaker critiques the common excuse that finding one's passion is a matter of luck.

The myth that only geniuses can pursue their passions is debunked.

The historical context of competence being enough for a great career is contrasted with modern standards.

The speaker mocks the idea that being 'normal' precludes one from having a passion.

The fallacy that hard work alone guarantees a great career is challenged.

The distinction between having an 'interest' and true 'passion' is clarified.

A humorous anecdote about proposing marriage based on 'interest' rather than love.

The speaker encourages looking for one's destiny and not settling for less.

The hypothetical tombstone inscriptions illustrate the difference between a great career and a missed opportunity.

The speaker points out the irony of using family as an excuse to avoid pursuing one's dreams.

A comical scenario where a parent discourages their child's dream, reflecting their own unfulfilled aspirations.

The final call to action, urging the audience to overcome their fears and pursue their passion.

The use of the word 'unless' introduces the possibility of changing the outcome of one's career.

The speaker concludes with a powerful message about the potential regret of not pursuing one's passion.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Camille Martínez Reviewer: Lalla Khadija Tigha

Thank you.

I want to discuss with you this afternoon

why you're going to fail to have a great career.

(Laughter)

I'm an economist.

I do dismal.

End of the day, it's ready for dismal remarks.

I only want to talk to those of you who want a great career.

I know some of you have already decided you want a good career.

You're going to fail, too.

(Laughter)

Because -- goodness, you're all cheery about failing.

(Laughter)

Canadian group, undoubtedly.

(Laughter)

Those trying to have good careers are going to fail,

because, really, good jobs are now disappearing.

There are great jobs and great careers,

and then there are the high-workload,

high-stress, bloodsucking, soul-destroying kinds of jobs,

and practically nothing in-between.

So people looking for good jobs are going to fail.

I want to talk about those looking for great jobs, great careers,

and why you're going to fail.

First reason is that no matter how many times people tell you,

"If you want a great career, you have to pursue your passion,

you have to pursue your dreams, you have to pursue

the greatest fascination in your life,"

you hear it again and again, and then you decide not to do it.

It doesn't matter how many times you download

Steven J.'s Stanford commencement address,

you still look at it and decide not to do it.

I'm not quite sure why you decide not to do it.

You're too lazy to do it. It's too hard.

You're afraid if you look for your passion and don't find it,

you'll feel like you're an idiot, so then you make excuses

about why you're not going to look for your passion.

They are excuses, ladies and gentlemen.

We're going to go through a whole long list --

your creativity in thinking of excuses not to do what you really need to do

if you want to have a great career.

So, for example, one of your great excuses is:

(Sigh)

"Well, great careers are really and truly, for most people,

just a matter of luck.

So I'm going to stand around, I'm going to try to be lucky,

and if I'm lucky, I'll have a great career.

If not, I'll have a good career."

But a good career is an impossibility, so that's not going to work.

Then, your other excuse is,

"Yes, there are special people who pursue their passions,

but they are geniuses.

They are Steven J.

I'm not a genius.

When I was five, I thought I was a genius,

but my professors have beaten that idea out of my head long since."

(Laughter)

"And now I know I am completely competent."

Now, you see, if this was 1950,

being completely competent --

that would have given you a great career.

But guess what?

This is almost 2012, and saying to the world,

"I am totally, completely competent,"

is damning yourself with the faintest of praise.

And then, of course, another excuse:

"Well, I would do this, I would do this, but, but --

well, after all, I'm not weird.

Everybody knows that people who pursue their passions

are somewhat obsessive.

A little strange.

Hmm? Hmm? OK?

You know, a fine line between madness and genius.

"I'm not weird. I've read Steven J.'s biography.

Oh my goodness -- I'm not that person. I am nice.

I am normal.

I'm a nice, normal person, and nice, normal people --

don't have passion."

(Laughter)

"Ah, but I still want a great career.

I'm not prepared to pursue my passion,

so I know what I'm going to do,

because I have a solution.

I have a strategy.

It's the one Mommy and Daddy told me about.

Mommy and Daddy told me that if I worked hard,

I'd have a good career.

So, if you work hard and have a good career,

if you work really, really, really hard,

you'll have a great career.

Doesn't that, like, mathematically make sense?"

Hmm. Not.

But you've managed to talk yourself into that.

You know what? Here's a little secret:

You want to work? You want to work really, really, really hard?

You know what? You'll succeed.

The world will give you the opportunity

to work really, really, really, really hard.

But, are you so sure

that that's going to give you a great career,

when all the evidence is to the contrary?

So let's deal with those of you who are trying to find your passion.

You actually understand that you really had better do it,

never mind the excuses.

You're trying to find your passion --

(Sigh)

and you're so happy.

You found something you're interested in.

"I have an interest! I have an interest!"

You tell me.

You say, "I have an interest!" I say, "That's wonderful!

And what are you trying to tell me?"

"Well, I have an interest."

I say, "Do you have passion?"

"I have an interest," you say.

"Your interest is compared to what?"

"Well, I'm interested in this."

"And what about the rest of humanity's activities?"

"I'm not interested in them."

"You've looked at them all, have you?"

"No. Not exactly."

Passion is your greatest love.

Passion is the thing

that will help you create the highest expression of your talent.

Passion, interest -- it's not the same thing.

Are you really going to go to your sweetie and say,

"Marry me! You're interesting."

(Laughter)

Won't happen.

Won't happen, and you will die alone.

(Laughter)

What you want,

what you want, what you want,

is passion.

It is beyond interest.

You need 20 interests, and then one of them,

one of them might grab you,

one of them might engage you more than anything else,

and then you may have found your greatest love,

in comparison to all the other things that interest you,

and that's what passion is.

I have a friend, proposed to his sweetie.

He was an economically rational person.

He said to his sweetie, "Let us marry.

Let us merge our interests."

(Laughter)

Yes, he did.

"I love you truly," he said. "I love you deeply.

I love you more than any other woman I've ever encountered.

I love you more than Mary, Jane, Susie, Penelope,

Ingrid, Gertrude, Gretel --

I was on a German exchange program then.

I love you more than --"

All right.

She left the room

halfway through his enumeration of his love for her.

After he got over his surprise at being, you know, turned down,

he concluded he'd had a narrow escape

from marrying an irrational person.

Although, he did make a note to himself that the next time he proposed,

it was perhaps not necessary

to enumerate all of the women he had auditioned for the part.

(Laughter)

But the point stands.

You must look for alternatives so that you find your destiny,

or are you afraid of the word "destiny"?

Does the word "destiny" scare you?

That's what we're talking about.

And if you don't find the highest expression of your talent,

if you settle for "interesting," what the hell ever that means,

do you know what will happen at the end of your long life?

Your friends and family will be gathered in the cemetery,

and there beside your gravesite will be a tombstone,

and inscribed on that tombstone

it will say, "Here lies a distinguished engineer,

who invented Velcro."

But what that tombstone should have said,

in an alternative lifetime,

what it should have said if it was your highest expression of talent,

was, "Here lies the last Nobel Laureate in Physics,

who formulated the Grand Unified Field Theory

and demonstrated the practicality of warp drive."

(Laughter)

Velcro, indeed!

(Laughter)

One was a great career.

One was a missed opportunity.

But then, there are some of you who,

in spite of all these excuses, you will find,

you will find your passion.

And you'll still fail.

You're going to fail, because --

because you're not going to do it,

because you will have invented a new excuse,

any excuse to fail to take action,

and this excuse, I've heard so many times:

"Yes, I would pursue a great career,

but, I value human relationships --

(Laughter)

more than accomplishment.

I want to be a great friend.

I want to be a great spouse.

I want to be a great parent,

and I will not sacrifice them

on the altar of great accomplishment."

(Laughter)

What do you want me to say?

Now, do you really want me to say now, tell you,

"Really, I swear I don't kick children."

(Laughter)

Look at the worldview you've given yourself.

You're a hero no matter what.

And I, by suggesting ever so delicately

that you might want a great career, must hate children.

I don't hate children. I don't kick them.

Yes, there was a little kid wandering through this building

when I came here, and no, I didn't kick him.

(Laughter)

Course, I had to tell him the building was for adults only,

and to get out.

He mumbled something about his mother,

and I told him she'd probably find him outside anyway.

Last time I saw him, he was on the stairs crying.

(Laughter)

What a wimp.

(Laughter)

But what do you mean? That's what you expect me to say.

Do you really think it's appropriate

that you should actually take children and use them as a shield?

You know what will happen someday,

you ideal parent, you?

The kid will come to you someday and say,

"I know what I want to be.

I know what I'm going to do with my life."

You are so happy.

It's the conversation a parent wants to hear,

because your kid's good in math,

and you know you're going to like what comes next.

Says your kid,

"I have decided I want to be a magician.

I want to perform magic tricks on the stage."

(Laughter)

And what do you say?

You say, you say,

"That's risky, kid.

Might fail, kid. Don't make a lot of money at that, kid.

I don't know, kid, you should think about that again, kid.

You're so good at math, why don't you --"

The kid interrupts you and says,

"But it is my dream. It is my dream to do this."

And what are you going to say?

You know what you're going to say?

"Look kid. I had a dream once, too, but --

But --"

So how are you going to finish the sentence with your "but"?

"But. I had a dream too, once, kid, but I was afraid to pursue it."

Or are you going to tell him this:

"I had a dream once, kid.

But then, you were born."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Do you really want to use your family,

do you really ever want to look at your spouse and your kid,

and see your jailers?

There was something you could have said to your kid,

when he or she said, "I have a dream."

You could have said --

looked the kid in the face and said,

"Go for it, kid!

Just like I did."

But you won't be able to say that,

because you didn't.

So you can't.

(Laughter)

And so the sins of the parents

are visited on the poor children.

Why will you seek refuge in human relationships

as your excuse not to find and pursue your passion?

You know why.

In your heart of hearts, you know why,

and I'm being deadly serious.

You know why you would get all warm and fuzzy

and wrap yourself up in human relationships.

It is because you are --

you know what you are.

You're afraid to pursue your passion.

You're afraid to look ridiculous.

You're afraid to try.

You're afraid you may fail.

Great friend, great spouse, great parent, great career.

Is that not a package? Is that not who you are?

How can you be one without the other?

But you're afraid.

And that's why you're not going to have a great career.

Unless --

"unless," that most evocative of all English words --

"unless."

But the "unless" word is also attached

to that other, most terrifying phrase,

"If only I had ..."

"If only I had ..."

If you ever have that thought ricocheting in your brain,

it will hurt a lot.

So, those are the many reasons

why you are going to fail

to have a great career.

Unless --

Unless.

Thank you.

(Applause)