Think Kindness: Brian Williams at TEDxUniversityofNevada

Summary

This inspiring talk explores the pursuit of kindness and personal growth, rooted in a childhood passion for martial arts. The speaker reflects on the importance of overcoming adversity, embracing life's challenges, and striving for success through compassion. By highlighting the power of small, everyday acts of kindness, the speaker showcases a program aimed at spreading positivity across schools, leading to tangible impacts like decreased bullying and improved community connections. Ultimately, the speaker calls for people to embrace kindness as a means to change the world, sharing powerful stories of lives transformed through empathy and selflessness.

Takeaways

• 😀 Life is about the pursuit of amazing stories, which include success, failure, happiness, adversity, and new beginnings.
• 😀 Everyone's pursuit of their story is different, and sometimes we don't even know what we're truly pursuing, but that’s part of the adventure.
• 😀 Childhood imagination is powerful, and children believe in things with such conviction that they can make them feel real.
• 😀 Martial arts taught the speaker that the ultimate form of self-defense is kindness, not just physical defense.
• 😀 Life lessons in martial arts included being held to high standards, like needing permission from parents and teachers to test for ranks.
• 😀 After years of success in Los Angeles, the speaker experienced an emotional downtime, feeling lost despite outward achievements.
• 😀 The speaker found fulfillment in helping others, realizing that the emotional feeling of changing a person's life was more important than career success.
• 😀 A mentor encouraged the speaker to envision what it would be like to show the world one million acts of kindness, inspiring the speaker’s mission.
• 😀 The '15 Days of Kindness' program encourages children and schools to complete acts of kindness and document them, creating a ripple effect of positivity.
• 😀 Kindness cards were created to track acts of kindness, allowing people to see the ripple effect and inspire even more kindness across the world.

Q & A

What is the speaker's definition of life?

The speaker defines life as the pursuit of amazing stories, including experiences of success, adversity, happiness, failure, and new beginnings. The key point is that everyone's pursuit is different, and the process is often uncertain but enjoyable.

How did the speaker’s childhood imagination influence his life?

The speaker had a strong imagination as a child, believing he could turn his hands into swords. This deep conviction in his imagination shaped his approach to life and made him explore different aspects of self-belief and creativity, leading him to martial arts.

What did the speaker’s martial arts instructor emphasize?

The martial arts instructor taught the speaker life lessons beyond physical defense. The key lesson was that kindness is the ultimate form of self-defense. The instructor also held students to high standards, requiring them to meet academic, behavioral, and volunteering requirements.

How did the speaker's experiences in Los Angeles shape his perspective?

Despite achieving success in Los Angeles, including becoming a marketing director and opening a martial arts school, the speaker felt uncertain and unfulfilled. He was living a full life but lacked clarity on what he was truly pursuing, leading him to reevaluate his goals.

What role did kindness play in the speaker's life?

Kindness became a core theme for the speaker after a conversation with his martial arts instructor. He was inspired to create a program to show the world how small acts of kindness can make a huge impact, as a response to the overwhelming negativity in media and society.

What was the goal of the '15 Days of Kindness' program?

The program aimed to challenge elementary schools to document 5,000 random acts of kindness in just 15 days. Schools competed against each other, fostering a culture of kindness and community involvement. The program showed that even lofty goals can be achieved through collective effort.

What was the impact of '15 Days of Kindness' on bullying?

The program had a significant impact on reducing bullying. By focusing on kindness, students shifted their mindset, which contributed to more positive school cultures and decreased negative behaviors like bullying.

What was the speaker's response to a student's email about suicide?

The speaker received an email from a student contemplating suicide and responded with care and support. He encouraged the student to participate in a community kindness event, which eventually helped the student find new purpose in life by volunteering and helping others.

What is the concept behind kindness cards?

Kindness cards are a tool to track the ripple effect of random acts of kindness. After performing an act of kindness, individuals leave the card behind, allowing others to share their story online. This system tracks the journey of kindness and encourages others to continue spreading goodwill.

How did kindness cards amplify the impact of small acts of kindness?

By tracking the kindness associated with each card, the program created a visible map of kindness spreading worldwide. Schools, businesses, and individuals could see the ripple effect of their actions, encouraging more people to engage in acts of kindness and create lasting change.