having an impact
TRANSCRIPT
In the book
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A magical book
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the first of its kind
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was made
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was made
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to educate a duke’s daughter.
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But through a series of events
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was lost
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and found
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by Nell(a peasant girl)
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This book
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explains the world in stories
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and when Nell’s life becomes too bad
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it urges her to leave on her own
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And as Nell grows up...
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...the book...
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keeps teaching her...
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about the human body, ...
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... turing machines ...
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and other wondrous things.
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And so she became pretty badass.
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And even changed the course of history.
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What made Nell special?
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Was it the book?
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Many rich girls got the same book.
It turns out
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But they didn’t change the world
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But they didn’t change the world
(not even a little bit)
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So was Nell a genius to begin with?
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So was Nell a genius to begin with?
Maybe. But statistically, she likely wouldn’t have had an impact without the book.
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
The difference between Nell and the entitled rich girls
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
The difference between Nell and the entitled rich girls
Saturday, July 14, 12
Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
The difference between Nell and the entitled rich girls
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Bad News
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You’re entitled and everyone tells you
you are smartSaturday, July 14, 12
You have more resources
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and a better network
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than most people who’ve had an impact in the past
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Tell someone they are smart &they perform worse.
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Praise and Approval are addictive
(like candy)
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You already know
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Grades Impactdon’t measure
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And Approval...
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...even from those that you respect
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Approval Impactdoesn’t measure
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In fact
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counterintuitively
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being persistent
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is often easier
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when faced with adversity
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and solitude.
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In fact, many successful writers
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chose not to talk about their work in progress
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Praise for unfinished
work =candy
Because
Which makes them less likely to do a good job
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But
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ImpactPersistence doesn’t measureeither
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You still need opportunity
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Nell had an impact, because she could and needed to.
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Many ? ?
Many don’t have an impact because they can’t
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Many ? ?
You ? ? ?
What about you?
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You
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Being here
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Have the Network
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And Resources
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To Have An Impact
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Many ? ?
You ? ? ?
What about you?
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Many ? ?
You ? ?
You have the opportunity
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Many ? ?
You ? ?
Your choice
{Saturday, July 14, 12
Your biggest risk
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is measuring candy
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instead of impact
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Turns you into...
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A dancing monkey
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The problem with being a dancing monkey is...
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Even when the audience claps, you’re still a dancing monkey.
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Opportunity Need for Approval Need for Impact
Nell
Rich Kids
Many ? ?
You ? ? {I realize that
knowing...Saturday, July 14, 12
...that you have opportunity
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creates a lot of pressure
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and expectations
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=
Measuring yourself by other people’s expectations is
measuring candySaturday, July 14, 12
Your only chance:
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Measure Impact
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What do I mean with that?
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Let me try to explainwith a story
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This is my Go board
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I’ve taught a lot of people to play Go
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And as I saw a lot of people learn Go...
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I started to notice patterns
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Some learned faster...
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than others.
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And after a while...
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A pattern emerged
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Those who learned faster...
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Focused more on playing...many many games
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And less on thinking...
(what are you thinking about?you just started learning! play more games!)
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They didn’t care about being original and were willing to
imitate better players(imitation is a very effective way to learn!)
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And they played many more games, because losing was ok
for them
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That’s a huge deal!
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OTOH I’ve played with people
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who no doubt were smart
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That thought about their FIRST MOVE in their FIRST
GAME for TWO MINUTES
That’s like a lot of the people I talk to, who want to figure out what to do with
their life, without doing anything. Iteration is key!
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Their hands were wet
and shaking
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That’s what happens when expectations...
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trick you into measuring candy
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True: Without opportunity no success
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And part of the reason you have opportunity is because people THINK you are smart
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Sure, play their game.
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Have them call you names like “prodigy” “genius” or “visionary”
if it helps you succeed.
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Use socially constructed reality as a tool
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But don’t start believing it yourself
even for a second
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The moment you stop learning or doing things because they
don’t LOOK smart...
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You’re just a dancing monkey
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In fact, I can tell you for sure:
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Somewhere out there...
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is Nell
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And she wasn’t invited here
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And no one thinks she’s smart
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And she doesn’t care if she LOOKS
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like a rhinoceros to you
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...or that you’re best pals with Peter Thiel
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She’ll work her ass off
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And she WILL have an impact
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Will you?
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How you know?do
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How you know?can
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Measure your impact
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.
Look at progress
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.
Not as a Dot
.
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.
But
. . . .
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.
As A Line
. . . .
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Never trust other people’s opinions
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Stop assuming that anyone else knows what they are
doing!
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That’s why measuring the candy doesn’t work!
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Learn about your own biases and
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study rationality in forms like
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Probability Theory
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Game TheorySaturday, July 14, 12
And why people cooperate at all
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Then realize that alldecisions that matter are
undecidableSaturday, July 14, 12
And train your intuition for solving such unsolvable
problems
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Maybe With Go
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Or Texas Hold’em
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And then
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Pick an ambitious goal
(you can always change it later)
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When your goal is to colonize mars...
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Or building the nervous system to awaken the slumbering giant and turn
humanity into the first superintelligence.
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Learning to build rocket engines
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studying graph theory
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Or building a company
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seem merely like minor distractions required to
accomplish a larger plan.
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That plan is for you - not for sharing with others.
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If you told others, and they didn’t think you are crazy, it’s
probably not ambitious enough!
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What it is important for, is that you move towards something, and don’t
just frantically jump between all interesting fields.
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Having and impact might even require years of studying or working
on someone else's project to learn.
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But that’s just what I think
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You can take an entirely different approach too
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I don’t know what I’m doing myself.
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We all look towards others to reassure us that what we’re
doing is right.
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But since everyone else does the same, there are no real
answers.
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I’m not trying to put you down or build you up - I just want to share my belief that I think impact matters more than
impressions.
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Unlike most of you I probably would have never made it into the 20-under-20 or even here
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When I was fourteen, my parents talked me out of going to a technical
school because they didn’t think I had what it takes
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I didn’t win any awards, nor scholarships. I dropped out of school
before it was cool. And I haven’t had a huge impact yet.
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I have had days where people thought I’m brilliant, and days where people thought I’m an idiot. And it’s all the
same. That’s just the candy.
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What matters to me is: Just like Nell, I work my ass off every day, I try to measure my progress, I try not to worry what people think about me too much, and one day I WILL have an impact.
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In Summary
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Measure yourself against your own standards
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Ignore Candy
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And you’ll have an impact!
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