Don't Just Learn To Code, Learn To Create | Justin Richards | TEDxYouth@ColumbiaSC

what are you going to do with your life and don't tell me that answer that you tell everyone I want you actually think about it what are you going to do with your life because I want to tell you how I found my dream job you see ever since I was a kid I knew exactly what I wanted to do I wanted to write I wanted to be a writer and help people by writing so worked really hard in junior high school high school college and it all paid off because I got accepted into the top graduate school of my choice and everything was going to plan and half way through grad school I quit I dropped out just stopped going to school and I started my dream job but enough about me let's talk about you you can do what you love because you live in a world of magic of sheer and utter magic all around you so much so that if your great-great grandma's here today she would be freaking out because you can fly in the air fly you know how long it takes to get from here to China 16 hours you know how long that used to take years now you get a snack a nap in a movie and you're in China that's crazy that's magic forget flying today on the way home you could be stuck in traffic and be talking face-to-face with someone in Australia that magical device that you carry with you enables your voice to echo around the world that's crazy that's magic you know everything instantly there used to be a time this is gonna be hard to believe but there used to be a time where if you didn't know something you just didn't know it you couldn't be like ba-bum Siri I don't know how to get home or ba-bum ah scary how many Ounces are in a pound you just didn't know it but now you do you know everything instantly that's magic and that magic of course is technology you can use technology to do what you love if you are a genius I'm just joking you can use technology to do what you love if you learn to create because you can create anything you want with technology you could create your own apps your own website your own fashion collection your own movies your own job your own company your own charity you can create that with technology because technology is magic that you can use to do what you love if you learn to create the first thing you need to do is to decide what do you want to create decisions can be hard choosing where to go to school can be scary but I'm not asking you what do you want to do with the rest of your life I'm just asking you what do you want to create like what would be fun to make in the next three months the next 90 days what do you want to create and here's the good news when you make that decision you cannot make a wrong decision the only wrong decision to that answer is the one you don't make the only wrong decision is indecision someone once said the biggest risk is not taking any risk at all that was mark he was 17 when he created Facebook after you've decided what you want to create you need to learn how to create it now here's the thing about learning it's one of the most exciting things you can possibly do don't believe me try this try it close your eyes you guys - close your eyes I want you to think about what close your eyes what's one thing you would love to know how to do like man if I just knew how to or if I could only know how to okay got that all right hold on eyes up sorry sorry that's what you want to know how to do no way I actually know someone who knows how to do that yeah let's let's talk afterwards in fact I'll just tell you now their name is Google and they know how to do that you live in a world of magic you can find out anything instantly you can figure out how to learn what you can figure out who to learn from where to learn it in fact your voice can echo all the way around the world so you could literally ask anyone in any country anything you could find an expert and say why do you like doing what you do why do you love doing what you do you can ask them those questions and what's most important is you do not stop asking questions because there's a thousand reasons that you cannot learn something like it's too hard I don't have enough time my mom's not helping me there are all these excuses but you have to keep pushing you have to keep asking questions someone once said it's not that I am so smart but I stay with questions longer that was Albert he was five when he asked his dad how does a compass work later he created the theory of relativity decide what you want to create learn how to create it and then you just need to do it you need to create it you need to execute it and here's how you start you start by designing what do you want to make how should it make you feel how should it make your customers feel how should it make your audience feel how should it make your users feel you design that experience and then you build it you create it you make it and you get this first draft and when you're done with this first draft you are not done because your first draft is not your final draft you need to edit it you need to polish it you need to revise it you need to remake it because when you revise something you discover what's magic about it you discover that one note that makes the song that one joke that makes the set you can find magic in anything but you have to work for it after you have executed on your creation you need to share it to many of your creations are dying on computer desktops garage shelves because you don't want to share it but you need to share what you've made because when you do here's what will happen case scenario everyone loves it and they freaked out they're like wait you made that how did you make that that's amazing it's incredible and you succeed the other best case scenario is that you fail epically flat on your face and they're like wow that's really good you're still in school right you will learn things through failing that success will never teach you you need to share your creations share your work with the world someone once said real artists real artists share their work that was Steve he was 20 he created Apple you need to learn how to create you need to execute on that creation I need to do this over and over and over again it's a cycle it's something that you do as you move forward because every time you succeed every time you fail that's a step forward and you're better for it this is how I found my dream job because when I was a kid I saw Toy Story and that was insane you guys don't know this but there didn't used to be 3d movies there was just 2d movies Toy Story came we got a whole new D and it blew and it blew my mind how could you possibly make a 3d movie that's crazy that's magic so I decided I am gonna make an animation I didn't know how to make an animation so I had to learn I read a book I watched I read some forums watched some videos and I made an animation and it was awful I should a few people but then I decided I want to make a website I didn't know how to make a website so I found a book that was this big and I read through it and I found a website called YouTube and I watched videos and I learned how to make a website and I made a website it was slightly better than the animation then later I decided to take a job teaching kids how to make websites I had no idea how to teach kids so I had to learn I had to watch other teachers I had to try it out for myself how to plan lessons but I did it I executed I taught kids and then I decided what if we creeks could create a company that could teach kids all throughout this city how to create with technology I had no idea how to start a company so I had to learn I had to talk to people who had companies I had to watch YouTube videos I had to find business plans and I had to start a company but I did it I made a company I executed and then we as a company decided what if we teach kids all around the world how to create with technology that would be pretty awesome so we decided to make online classes we had no idea how to make online classes we barely had a camera but we learned how to do it we watched videos we read we talked to people and we made online classes and those online classes now we have students in 100 countries all over the world those students are younger than you but they know how to code in Java they know how to animate movies they know how to create their own fashion collections and those students for them it's magic here's the thing about magic magic is not about doing what is impossible magic is about doing what is perceived to be impossible and what people don't realize is that for hundreds of years generations of creators have been shattering the perception of human limitation that is why you can fly in the air that's why your voice can echo around the world that's why you can know anything instantly it's not magic people had to do that people had to create that people had to make it they had to fail they had to succeed some of them died but they made it and they look at you today and say this is your world these are your tools what do you want to create it's not always going to be easy it's not always going to be fun because people aren't going to believe in you people are going to doubt you people are going to make fun of you people are going to compete with you people are going to sometimes beat you and you're gonna get knocked down and you're gonna get knocked down and you're going to get knocked down but you're not gonna stay down because that thing that you are creating is good and it's worth it and is it that what you want to live a life that's worth it and when you're done you can give it back to the world and make it a better place and look at the next generation of creators and say this is your world these are your tools what do you want to create learn to create because those who create are those who create the future thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 883,555

Rating: 4.9029751 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, United States, Technology, Coding, Ideas, Learning, Personal growth

Id: 6rxWc-TNIJI

Length: 12min 30sec (750 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 09 2015