How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals | Stephen Duneier | TEDxTucson

Summary

The speaker humorously illustrates that anyone can become a 'world-class artist' by drawing a gray square, emphasizing the power of incremental improvements. He uses examples like Chuck Close's art and Novak Djokovic's tennis career to show how small, consistent decisions can lead to significant achievements. The speaker shares his personal journey of transforming from a C-student to a successful professional and achieving ambitious goals through marginal adjustments to his routine. His story, from learning German to yarnbombing and setting a Guinness world record, inspires the audience to pursue their dreams by making small, manageable changes to their daily habits.

Takeaways

• 🎨 The concept of 'becoming a world-class artist' is introduced humorously by comparing the replication of a gray square to the replication of a complex image, suggesting that the skills needed are simpler than we might think.
• 🤔 The speaker emphasizes that success is not about innate talent but rather our approach to problem-solving and decision-making, which can be improved incrementally.
• 📈 The idea of 'continuous and compounding' decisions is highlighted, showing that even small improvements in our decision-making process can lead to significant outcomes over time.
• 🎾 The career of Novak Djokovic is used as an example to illustrate how marginal improvements in decision-making can lead to substantial achievements in one's field.
• 📚 The speaker shares his personal academic struggles and how making a 'marginal adjustment' to his study habits transformed him from a C- student to an A-student.
• 🚀 The importance of breaking down big goals into smaller, manageable tasks is underscored, as it allows for incremental progress and increased chances of success.
• 🏆 The speaker's professional success, from being a trader to founding hedge funds, is attributed to the same approach of breaking down complex tasks and making marginal improvements.
• 🚶 The concept of applying this approach to personal life is introduced, with the speaker sharing his experience of learning German by making a marginal adjustment to his daily routine.
• 🏞 The idea of setting and achieving big goals through small, daily decisions is exemplified by the speaker's physical fitness journey and hiking adventures.
• 📘 The power of reading one word at a time is used as a metaphor for how small decisions can accumulate into achieving large goals, such as reading 50 books.
• 🧶 The speaker's journey into yarnbombing and setting a Guinness World Record demonstrates how marginal adjustments and persistence can lead to remarkable achievements, even in unexpected areas.

Q & A

What is the main message of the speaker in the script?

The main message is that achieving ambitious goals is less about possessing innate talent and more about the approach to problem-solving and the small, incremental improvements made consistently over time.

How does the speaker use the example of drawing a gray square to illustrate a point about art and skill?

The speaker uses the gray square example to show that if one can draw a single gray square, they can replicate any number of gray squares necessary to create a complex image, suggesting that mastering a basic skill can lead to achieving larger artistic goals.

Who is Chuck Close and what is his relevance to the speaker's argument?

Chuck Close is a highly successful artist known for creating art using a technique similar to the gray square concept. His example is used to argue that even without traditional 'talent,' one can achieve mastery and success through methodical approaches.

What is the significance of Novak Djokovic's career progression in the script?

Novak Djokovic's career progression is used to illustrate how small improvements in decision-making (increasing his decision success rate from 49% to 55%) can lead to significant achievements in one's field.

How did the speaker's approach to education change in his junior year of college, and what was the outcome?

The speaker stopped being a passive observer of his decision-making and became an active participant. He broke down tasks into smaller, manageable chunks that required only 5-10 minutes of focus at a time. This approach led to him becoming a straight-A student and achieving academic honors.

What career path did the speaker follow after implementing his approach to breaking down complex tasks?

The speaker became an exotic derivatives trader for Credit Suisse, then global head of currency option trading for Bank of America, global head of emerging markets for AIG International, and later the founder and CIO of two award-winning hedge funds.

How did the speaker apply his approach to learning a new language?

The speaker used the Pimsleur German language program, breaking down the learning into manageable chunks by listening to CDs during his commute. He removed music from his iPod to ensure he would listen to the language tapes, and after 10 months, he was able to speak German fluently.

What was the speaker's goal in 2007, and how did he achieve it?

The speaker's goal in 2007 was to lose 25 pounds and get into shape. He set a resolution to hike all 33 trails in the front country of Santa Barbara Mountains, making small, incremental decisions to hike regularly, which led to his weight loss and improved fitness.

How did the speaker's approach to reading books differ from a typical reading goal?

Instead of setting a goal to read a certain number of books, the speaker focused on making the decision to read one word at a time. This incremental approach led him to read 50 books in a year.

What was the speaker's most ambitious goal in terms of yarnbombing, and how did he achieve it?

The speaker's most ambitious goal was to create the world's largest crocheted granny square, which would be recognized by Guinness World Records. He worked on it for over two years, making incremental progress and eventually creating a 10-meter by 10-meter granny square.

What is the speaker's ultimate hope for the audience after listening to his talk?

The speaker hopes to inspire the audience to take their own ambitious dreams and start pursuing them by making marginal adjustments to their routines, just as he has done in various aspects of his life.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 The Art of Mastery Through Incremental Improvement

The speaker begins by humorously challenging the audience to replicate an image of Brad Pitt with just a pencil and paper, suggesting that the skill to do so can be taught in 15 seconds. He then shifts to the concept that anyone can draw a solid gray square, and by extension, any number of squares necessary to replicate a complex image. The speaker uses this analogy to introduce the idea that achieving ambitious dreams is less about possessing innate talent and more about problem-solving and decision-making. He cites Chuck Close, a renowned artist who uses a grid technique to create his works, as an example. The speaker emphasizes the power of continuous, small improvements in our decision-making processes and their compounding effects on our outcomes, using the career trajectory of tennis player Novak Djokovic as a case study. Djokovic's incremental improvements in his decision-making success rate led to significant achievements in his career.

05:03

🚀 Achieving Goals Through Small, Consistent Adjustments

The speaker shares his personal academic journey, transitioning from a consistent C student to achieving top grades through a marginal adjustment in his approach to studying. By breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable chunks and interspersing them with short breaks, he was able to improve his focus and performance. This method was so effective that it continued to yield success throughout his education and into his professional life. He applied the same principle in his career, starting as a trader and eventually becoming the founder and CIO of two award-winning hedge funds. The speaker's message is that by making small, incremental adjustments to our routines and processes, we can achieve significant results, regardless of our starting point.

10:04

🏞️ Pursuing Big Goals with Incremental Steps

The speaker recounts his personal quest to achieve a series of ambitious goals, starting with learning German by listening to language CDs during his commute. He removed the temptation of music and replaced it with language lessons, which led to him becoming fluent in German after ten months. Inspired by this success, he went on to earn an auto racing license, learn to fly a helicopter, go rock-climbing, skydiving, and perform aerobatic flights. He also set a goal to hike all 33 trails in the Santa Barbara Mountains, losing weight in the process and completing a challenging half marathon. The speaker emphasizes that these achievements were not about the end goals themselves but about the small, daily decisions that led to them.

15:07

📚 Reading, Yarnbombing, and Setting World Records

In 2009, the speaker set an ambitious goal to read 50 books, which he achieved by making the simple decision to read one word at a time. In 2012, he set 24 new year's resolutions, including 12 giving and 12 learning resolutions. Among his learning resolutions, he learned to knit and was inspired to create a yarnbombing project, which led him to become 'The Yarnbomber' with thousands of followers. He continued to take on larger projects, eventually wrapping the Children's Hospital in Tucson. The speaker also pursued the creation of the world's largest crocheted granny square, which earned him a Guinness World Record. Throughout his talk, he emphasizes that his achievements were not due to special talent but rather the result of breaking down big projects into simple tasks and making marginal improvements along the way.

Keywords

💡Replicate

Replicate refers to the act of making an exact copy or reproduction of something. In the context of the video, it is used to describe the challenge of drawing an image of Brad Pitt with just a pencil and paper, and later, the concept is extended to the idea that if one can replicate a simple gray square, they can replicate any image by creating enough of these basic shapes. This relates to the video's theme of breaking down complex tasks into simpler, manageable parts.

💡World-class artist

A world-class artist is someone who is considered to be among the best in their field on a global scale. The term is used in the video to inspire the audience by suggesting that with the right approach and skills, anyone can achieve a high level of mastery. The video speaker humorously claims that the ability to replicate a gray square could theoretically lead to becoming a world-class artist by extension.

💡Marginal improvement

Marginal improvement refers to a small, incremental advancement or enhancement. The video emphasizes that even minor improvements in one's approach or process can lead to significant results over time due to the compounding effect of many decisions. Examples from the script include Novak Djokovic's slight increase in his decision success rate in tennis and the speaker's own academic and professional achievements.

💡Decision success rate

Decision success rate is a term coined in the video to describe the percentage of correct decisions made in a given context, such as playing tennis. It is used to illustrate how even a small increase in the rate of correct decisions can lead to substantial improvements in performance, as seen in Novak Djokovic's career progression from winning 49% of points to 55%, which contributed to his rise in the tennis rankings.

💡Active participant

Being an active participant means taking a proactive role in one's actions and decisions rather than being a passive observer. In the video, the speaker shares his personal transformation from a passive student to an active participant in his own learning process, which led to a significant improvement in his academic performance. This concept is central to the video's message about taking control of one's goals and making incremental progress towards them.

💡Exotic derivatives trader

An exotic derivatives trader is a professional who deals in complex financial instruments known as exotic derivatives, which are customized contracts and often involve higher risk and reward. The speaker mentions this role in his career to demonstrate how the approach of breaking down complex tasks and making marginal improvements can be applied across different areas of life, including professional success in finance.

💡Yarnbombing

Yarnbombing is a form of street art where public structures or objects are covered with colorful displays of yarn or other knit materials. The video speaker discovers this art form and becomes passionate about it, using it as an example of how a marginal adjustment to one's routine can lead to learning new skills and achieving ambitious creative projects.

💡Granny square

A granny square is a traditional unit of crochet that consists of a square or rectangle made up of a series of concentric squares or rectangles. In the video, the speaker's interest in making larger granny squares leads him to attempt to create the world's largest granny square, which he eventually achieves, setting a Guinness World Record and illustrating the power of incremental progress.

💡New Year's resolutions

New Year's resolutions are goals or commitments that individuals make at the beginning of a new year, often with the intention of self-improvement. The speaker sets multiple New Year's resolutions as a way to challenge himself and pursue his ambitions, such as learning new skills or performing charitable acts, which ties into the video's overarching theme of setting and achieving big goals through small, consistent changes.

💡Incremental progress

Incremental progress refers to the idea of making small, consistent steps towards a larger goal or objective. The video's narrative is built around this concept, showing how the speaker has achieved various accomplishments by focusing on one small task at a time, such as learning a new language, completing a half marathon, or creating large-scale art installations.

Highlights

The speaker demonstrates how anyone can become a world-class artist by drawing a simple gray square, showing that even small skills can be built upon to achieve greatness.

Chuck Close, one of the highest-earning artists, has created his art using the same technique of building up from simple shapes and decisions.

Success is less about innate talent and more about approaching problems and making decisions to solve them effectively.

Novak Djokovic's career progression shows how small improvements in decision-making can lead to significant achievements in sports.

Even marginal improvements in our processes can have a huge impact on our end results due to the compounding nature of decisions.

The speaker shares his personal academic transformation from a consistent C student to a straight-A student by making a marginal adjustment to his study habits.

Breaking down large tasks into smaller, manageable tasks and focusing on the process can lead to significant achievements.

The speaker applied the same marginal improvement approach in his career, leading to success as a trader and hedge fund manager.

By removing distractions and focusing on incremental progress, the speaker was able to learn German fluently in just 10 months.

Setting and achieving small, incremental goals can lead to the realization of larger, more ambitious goals.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of making active decisions and not being a passive observer of one's own life.

Through marginal adjustments to his routine, the speaker was able to achieve a wide range of ambitious personal goals, from physical fitness to learning new skills.

The speaker's journey of yarn bombing and creating large-scale art installations demonstrates the power of incremental progress and community support.

Setting and achieving a Guinness World Record for the largest crocheted granny square shows that even the most ambitious goals are attainable through marginal improvements.

The speaker's story serves as an inspiration to pursue one's ambitious dreams by making small, incremental adjustments to daily routines and habits.

Despite not having any special talent or skill, the speaker's approach to breaking down big projects and making marginal improvements has led to remarkable achievements.

Transcripts

Translator: Oriel Yu Reviewer: Queenie Lee

By a show of hands.

How many of you believe you could replicate this image of Brad Pitt

with just a pencil and piece of paper?

Well, I'm going to show you how to do this.

And in so doing,

I'm going to give you the skill necessary

to become a world-class artist.

And it shouldn't take more than about 15 seconds.

But before I do that,

how many of you believe you could replicate this image

of a solid gray square?

(Laughter)

Every one of us.

And if you can make one gray square,

you can make two, three, nine ...

Truth of the matter is,

if you could made just one gray square,

it'd be very difficult to argue

that you couldn't make every gray square necessary

to replicate the image in its entirety.

And there you have it.

I've just given you the skills necessary to become a world-class artist.

(Laughter)

I know what you're thinking.

"That's not real art,

certainly wouldn't make me a world-class artist."

So let me introduce you to Chuck Close.

He's one of the highest-earning artists in the entire world, for decades,

he creates his art using this exact technique.

You see, what stands between us

and achieving even our most ambitious dreams

has far less to do with possessing some magical skill or talent,

and far more to do with how we approach problems

and make decisions to solve them.

And because of the continuous and compounding nature

of all those millions of decisions

that we face on a regular basis,

even a marginal improvement in our process

can have a huge impact on our end results.

And I'll prove this to you

by taking a look at the career of Novak Djokovic.

Back in 2004,

when he first became a professional tennis player,

he was ranked 680th in the world.

It wasn't until the end of his third year

that he jumped up to be ranked third in the world.

He went from making 250,000 a year to 5 million a year,

in prize money alone,

and of course, he did this by winning more matches.

In 2011, he became the number one ranked men's tennis player in the world,

started earning an average of 14 million a year in prize money alone

and winning a dominating 90% of his matches.

Now, here's what's really interesting

about all of these very impressive statistics.

Novak doesn't control any of them.

What he does control are all the tiny little decisions

that he needs to make correctly along the way

in order to move the probability

in favor of him achieving these types of results.

And we can quantify and track his progress in this area

by taking a look at the percentage of points that he wins.

Because in tennis

the typical point involves one to maybe three decisions,

I like to refer to this as his decision success rate.

So, back when he was winning about 49% of the matches he was playing,

he was winning about 49% of the points he played.

Then to jump up, become number three in the world,

and actually earn five million dollars a year

for swinging a racquet,

he had to improve his decision success rate

to just 52 percent.

Then to become not just number one

but maybe one of the greatest players to ever play the game,

he had to improve his decision success rate

to just 55 percent.

And I keep using this word "just."

I don't want to imply this is easy to do,

clearly, it's not.

But the type of marginal improvements that I'm talking about

are easily achievable by every single one of us in this room.

And I'll show you what I mean.

From kindergarten, all the way through to my high school graduation -

yes, that's high school graduation for me -

(Laughter)

every one of my report cards basically said the same thing:

Steven is a very bright young boy,

if only he would just settle down and focus.

What they didn't realize was I wanted that

even more than they wanted it for me,

I just couldn't.

And so, from kindergarten straight through the 2nd year of college,

I was a really consistent C, C- student.

But then going into my junior year,

I'd had enough.

I thought I want to make a change.

I'm going to make a marginal adjustment,

and I'm going to stop being a spectator of my decision-making

and start becoming an active participant.

And so, that year,

instead of pretending, again,

that I would suddenly be able to settle down and focus on things

for more than five or ten minutes at a time,

I decided to assume I wouldn't.

And so, if I wanted to achieve the type of outcome that I desire -

doing well in school -

I was going to actually have to change my approach.

And so I made a marginal adjustment.

If I would get an assignment, let's say, read five chapters in a book,

I wouldn't think of it as five chapters,

I wouldn't even think of it as one chapter.

I would break it down into these tasks that I could achieve,

that would require me to focus for just five or ten minutes at a time.

So, maybe three or four paragraphs.

That's it.

I would do that and when I was done with those five or ten minutes,

I would get up.

I'd go shoot some hoops, do a little drawing,

maybe play video games for a few minutes,

and then I come back.

Not necessarily to the same assignment,

not even necessarily to the same subject,

but just to another task that required just five to ten minutes of my attention.

From that point forward,

all the way through to graduation,

I was a straight-A student, Dean's List,

President's Honor Roll, every semester.

I then went on to one of the top graduate programs in the world

for finance and economics.

Same approach, same results.

So then, I graduate.

I start my career and I'm thinking,

this worked really well for me.

You know, you take these big concepts,

these complex ideas, these big assignments,

you break them down too much more manageable tasks,

and then along the way,

you make a marginal improvement to the process

that ups the odds of success in your favor.

I'm going to try and do this in my career.

So I did.

I started out as an exotic derivatives trader for credit Swiss.

It then led me to be global head of currency option trading

for Bank of America,

global head of emerging markets for AIG international.

It helped me deliver top-tier returns

as a global macro hedge fund manager for 12 years

and to become founder and CIO of two award-winning hedge funds.

So it gets to 2001,

and I'm thinking, this whole idea,

it worked really well in school,

it's been serving me well as a professional,

why aren't I applying this in my personal life,

like to all those big ambitious goals I have for myself?

So one day, I'm walking to work,

and at the time my commute

was a walk from one end of Hyde Park to the other, in London.

It took me about 45 minutes each way,

an hour and a half a day, seven and a half hours a week,

30 hours a month, 360 hours a year,

when I was awake, aware, basically wasting time,

listening to music on my iPod.

So on my way home from work that day I stopped at the store.

I picked up the first 33 CDs in the Pimsleur German language program,

ripped them and put them onto my iPod.

But I didn't stop there.

Because the truth of the matter is, I'm an undisciplined person.

And I knew that at some point,

I'd switch away from the language and go back to the music.

So I removed that temptation by removing all of the music.

That left me with just one option:

listen to the language tapes.

So ten months later, I'd listened to all 99 CDs

in the German language program,

listened to each one three times each.

And I went to Berlin for a 16-day intensive German course.

When I was done, I invited my wife and kids to meet me.

We walked around the city.

I spoke German to the Germans, they spoke German back to me.

My kids were amazed.

(Laughter)

I mean they couldn't close their jaws.

But you and I, we know,

there is actually nothing amazing about what I've just done.

I made this marginal adjustment to my daily routine.

This marginal adjustment to my process.

(German) Und jetzt, ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.

And now I could speak some German.

And so in that moment, I'm thinking,

it's not supposed to be this easy for a guy like me - an old guy -

to learn a new language.

You're supposed to do that when you're a kid.

And yet here I had done it.

This marginal adjustment.

So what other big ambitious goals I've been holding onto,

putting off until retirement,

that I could potentially achieve

if I just made a marginal adjustment to my routine?

So I started doing them.

I earned my auto racing license.

I learned how to fly a helicopter,

did rock-climbing, skydiving.

I learned how to fly planes aerobatically.

Well, if you're like me, back in 2007,

you might have the same goal I had.

I was just moving back from London.

I was about 25 pounds overweight and out of shape,

and I wanted to rectify that.

So I could go to the typical route,

you know, I could write a check to a gym I'd never go to.

Or I could swear to myself that I will never again

eat those foods that I love

but are doing all the damage.

And I knew that going that route rarely results in the outcome you desire.

So I decided to become an active participant.

I thought about the habits and passions that I've developed in my life,

and I thought, can I make just a marginal adjustment to them

so that they work in my favor as opposed to against me?

And so I did.

I've got a habit

where I've been walking an hour and a half a day for the last seven years,

and I've got this passion for being in the outdoors.

And so that year,

I didn't actually set the new year's resolution to lose 25 pounds.

I set a resolution to hike all 33 trails

in the front country of Santa Barbara Mountains.

And I'd never been on a hike before in my life.

(Laughter)

But the truth of the matter is, it's not about the 33 trails.

You have to break this big ambitious goal

down into these more manageable decisions -

the types of decisions that need to be made correctly along the way

in order to improve the odds of achieving the type of outcome you desire.

It's not about even one trail.

It's about those tiny little decisions,

you know, like when you are sitting at your desk,

putting in just a little extra time at the end of a day.

Or you're lying on your couch,

clicking through the channels on your remote control,

or scrolling through your Facebook feed,

and in that moment, make the decision to put it down.

You go put on your hiking clothes,

you go walk outside your front door, and you shut it behind you.

You walk to your car, get in, drive to the trailhead.

You get out of the car at the trailhead,

and you take one step, you take two steps, three steps.

Every one of those steps that I have just described

is a tiny little decision that needs to be made correctly along the way

in order to achieve the ultimate outcome.

Now, when I say I want to hike 33 trails in the front country,

people think about the decisions at the top of the mountain.

That's not what it's about.

Because if you don't make the right decision

when you're on the couch,

there is no decision that occurs at the top of the mountain.

So by the end of the year,

I'd hiked all 33 trails in the front country;

I did them a couple of times each.

I even did a few in the backcountry.

I lost the 25 pounds, and I capped the year off

by doing the hardest half marathon in the world -

the Pier to Peak.

In 2009, I got really ambitious,

ambitious for a guy who still, to this day, cannot settle down

and focus on anything for more than ten or ten minutes at a time,

and that was to read 50 books.

But again, it's not about reading 50 books.

It's not even about reading one book.

It's not about reading a chapter, a paragraph, a sentence.

It's about that decision

when you're sitting at your desk at the end of the day,

or when you're lying on the couch,

or flicking through your Facebook feed,

and you put down the phone.

You pick up a book and you read one word.

If you read one word, you'll read two words, three words;

you'll read a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter, a book;

you'll read ten books, 30 books, 50 books.

In 2012, I got really ambitious.

I set 24 new year's resolutions.

12 of them were what I call giving resolutions,

where I did 12 charitable things that didn't involve writing a check.

But it's not without its failures.

I tried to donate blood,

and they rejected me because I'd lived in the UK.

I tried to donate my sperm; they rejected me because I was too old.

I tried to donate my hair,

and it turns out nobody wants grey hair.

(Laughter)

So, here I was trying to do something to make myself feel good,

and it was having the opposite effect.

So anyway, I've also had these 12 learning resolutions,

to learn 12 new skills.

And when I was done with unicycling, parkour, slacklining,

jumping stilts and drumming,

my wife suggested that I learned how to knit.

(Laughter)

And I'll be honest, I wasn't all that passionate about knitting.

But one day, I'm sitting under this 40-foot tall eucalyptus tree

that's 2.6 miles up the cold spring trail in Santa Barbara,

and I'm thinking, that tree would look really cool if it were covered in yarn.

(Laughter)

And so I went home and Googled this,

and it turns out it is a thing people do, it's called yarnbombing:

you wrap these public structures with yarn.

And, the second annual international yarn bombing day

was just 82 days away.

(Laughter)

So for the next 82 days, no matter where I was -

(Laughter)

if I was in a board meeting, on the trading floor,

in an airplane or in the hospital,

I was knitting.

One stitch at a time.

And 82 days later,

I had done my first ever yarnbomb.

(Applause)

And the response to it blew me away.

So I kept going ...

(Laughter)

with bigger, more ambitious projects

that required more engineering skills.

And in 2014, I set the goal to wrap six massive boulders

in Los Padres National Forest at the top of the mountains.

But if I was going to pull this off, I'd need help.

So at this point, I had a few thousand followers on social media

as "The Yarnbomber."

(Laughter)

And I started getting packages - lots of packages -

388 contributors from 36 countries in all 50 states.

In the end, I didn't wrap one massive boulder,

I wrapped 18.

(Applause)

So I kept going

with bigger, more ambitious projects

that would require me to work with new materials,

like fiberglass, and wood, and metals,

which culminates in a project that is currently at TMC, here in Tucson,

where I wrapped the Children's Hospital.

(Applause)

Along the way, I stopped knitting.

I never really liked it.

(Laughter)

But ...

I like crocheting.

(Laughter)

So, I started making these seven-inch granny squares -

because that's the standard granny square -

and I thought along the way: why am I stopping at seven inches?

I need big stuff.

So, I started making bigger granny squares.

So one day, I come home from a business trip,

and I've got this really large granny,

and I went to the website of Guinness.

I was curious what's the world's largest granny square.

And it turns out there's no category for it.

(Laughter)

So I applied,

and they rejected me.

So I appealed,

and they rejected me.

I appealed again, and they said fine,

if you make it ten meters by ten meters, we'll create a new category,

and you will be a Guinness world record holder.

So, for the next two years,

seven months, 17 days,

one stitch at a time,

I finally reached more than half a million stitches,

incorporated more than 30 miles of yarn,

and I am now the official Guinness world record holder

for the largest crocheted granny square.

(Applause) (Cheering)

Along the way, I've garnered an awful lot of attention for my escapades.

I've been featured in Newsweek magazine,

Eric news, which is kind of the Bible for artists.

But what I want you to realize when you hear these things:

I'm still that C- student.

I'm still that kid who can't settle down

or focus for more than five or ten minutes at a time.

And I remain a guy who possesses no special gift of talent or skill.

All I do is take really big, ambitious projects

that people seem to marvel at,

break them down to their simplest form

and then just make marginal improvements along the way

to improve my odds of achieving them.

And so the whole reason I'm giving this talk is

I'm hoping to inspire several of you

to pull some of those ambitious dreams that you have for yourself

off the bookshelf

and start pursuing them by making that marginal adjustment to your routine.

Thank you.

(Applause)