How to Challenge Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone | Tony Hsieh | TEDxYouth@UrsulineAcademy

so Gong Bo Sankhya magical go away Munna Hoku tall madam Tina go away whooshing ducky horn go DJ I'm just kidding this talk is actually gonna be in English but what I did just say it's a phrase in Taiwanese and my parents taught me which means that nothing of value comes fast or easy drips of water can one day break a stone it's a message I learned since I was a kid but it wasn't until more than 20 years later with one morning one phone call and one message that changed the course of my life what I fully experienced the power and the essence of that teaching I wasn't expecting a call like that and neither was I prepare for the challenge that came next that morning I picked up the phone as my sister on the other side of the line across the world Tony mom just attempted to suicide she overdose on her medication and it's in the hospital right now don't know if she's gonna make it no amount of challenges in my entire life could have prepared me for that moment at the time I had a stable career stable income stable relationship everything was great I thought I was living in American dream I was so comfortable I didn't feel the need to challenge myself but I invite you to realize that the moment we stopped challenging ourselves it's the moment when we stop growing and we stop growing it's when we start dying what if that's for drove my mom to want to take her own life this call eventually drove me to a deep depression I couldn't understand why such a strong and powerful woman like my mom would want to end her own life is he she has always been my biggest supporter she's always been different means through every single challenges since I was a kid for example when I was 3 years old I want to learn how to play the guitar because I saw this guy just rocking it out on TV my parents knew that it was gonna be a big challenge for me but I also saw that sparkle in my eyes and my tiny little hands pointing out the TV so they're supporting my passion and exploration it was one of the first big challenges that took on my hands are so small I could barely even hold the guitar not only did it hurt the play my fingers have bleed at times I wanted to give up my parents reminded me that nothing of value comes fast or easy trips of water can one day break a stone so instead of giving up I took on a challenge to continue practicing then the next challenge came in elementary school in Taiwan we had to take these tests that supposedly determine who ordered gifted and smart students the result I wasn't I didn't make it into class you see at the time I thought that meant that I was not smart enough or I would never be good enough my parents of course knew that wasn't a case they encouraged me to take on a challenge of proving them wrong see what I didn't realize it was that although I mean I've been book smart I was creative smart and music smart so instead of believing that I was never gonna be good enough I took on a challenge of believing myself and participating in extracurricular challenges as much as I could embracing the kind of smart that was and eventually made a name for myself I phoned the band in elementary school perform around my school and not being good enough wasn't a challenge for me anymore these same massive critical challenges eventually even let me to winning first place in an international classical guitar competition and had the honour to perform at a National Taiwan Music Hall at a young age nothing of value comes fast or easy drips of water can one day break a stone my parents are proud of my accomplishments but at the time I also remember and realize that it was only because I took on the very first challenge what I have the opportunity to do these things at the age of 15 I knew eventually I was gonna pursue a creative career so I was ready for the next big challenge so I flew across the Pacific Ocean 10,000 miles away leaving my family behind and came to the United States no parents no friends no English remember beginning of my talk when I was talking in townies well maybe you felt how I felt when I was in high school right walking around just confused and pretending they knew what was going on and talking English very nice you see I see the light of it now but at the time there was a much bigger challenge that I did not foresee I was bullied for being a father stop the boat I was often threatened to stay where I belong or even cornered a few times because of the color of my skin it was a big challenge for me to overcome at the age of 15 I often cried night over night I didn't my parents there with me and my mom to hug me no more my dad made me laugh just a message nothing of value comes fast or easy drips of water can one day break a stone kept me going so instead of taking a step back and stay where I belong I took a step forward and take on the challenge of immersing myself with a diverse group of people and continuing participate in extra-curricular challenges as much as I could eventually for my identity found a community of people and even meeting my best friend these same extracurricular challenges that took on like participating musicals and being in the clubs like business professional America eventually led me into my dream school the University of Southern California even a generous scholarship nothing a value comes fast or easy drips of water can one day break a stone in college there are a number of challenges that I took on without really thinking about what the outcomes or the payoffs would be see that's the thing about challenges right we often feel like there needs to be some sort of immediate payoff or return of investment right away otherwise there's no point right that's no excuse to not take challenges on because even the smallest challenges could have the biggest impact in our lives they could even take you to adventures and journeys you can never imagine for example freshman year I wanted to be in the world-famous Trojan marching band but the only problem was the spot left available up front was for trumpet player I didn't play the trumpet the audition was in less than two weeks but he said I could be on my dream parents teaching reminded me to take on the challenge of teaching myself how to play a brand-new instrument of course being the musical genius that was I took on the trumpet and I was just absolutely amazing at it right nope I was so bad I could barely make a sound for days but I continued practice hours and hours and hours and hours nothing a valley comes faster easy and trips of water can one day break a stone eventually I was just good enough to make it into a band what's even more amazing was because I took on that challenge I had the opportunity to lift my dream of being on the Oscar stage performing with Hugh Jackman and Beyonce drips of water can one day break a stone even a smaller challenge could lead to a big impact now since I was a kid my parents always encouraged me to embrace the kind of smart I am with just creative smart in music smart so during the college years there was another challenge that took on in addition to the challenges that I was embracing my best friend and I were making these silly videos and there was a fairly new website called YouTube and we're uploading them online we were spending hours after hours after hours just trying to perfect these videos right and to be honest most of my peers at the time thought I was just completely wasting my time there was at one of the best film schools and music schools in the world but I'm making these amateur low-skill low-class low income videos but instead of listening to what people thought of me I took on the challenge of believing in myself so I continued perfecting the form continue to challenge myself to perfect this platform that was new and eventually that's when a magic happens soon after graduating from college instead of climbing a traditional Hollywood ladder I got a full-time job managing some of the top youtubers at a time nothing of value comes fast or easy trips of water can one day break a stone yet another challenge that led me to unexpected adventures that would never imagine so all of these challenges and successes eventually led me to a stable career stable income stable relationship and even a cute dog I was so comfortable I was just drifting through life I wanted everything to stay exactly that where the way they were and that's when that call came the news about my mom shattered my world I started to doubt myself and question everything none of the accomplishments I had before mattered to me anymore soon after things turned to fall apart I went to a deep depression I was ashamed and even embarrassed to feel depressed I didn't want people to know that nothing was okay even worse I vivid visions how I would have just been in my own life and nothing wouldn't matter I was suffocating I try so hard to hold on to something but I felt like it was nothing for me to hold on to one early winter morning I woke up because I could barely sleep and took all the energy that I had and step out of my bed and walk through the shower standing inside a shower and just staring at the blank wall not only oil come next what comes next I heard drips of water in my bathtub my parents teaching came to my mind and this urge to challenge myself again rushed through my body and told myself I had to take another challenge now so instead of reaching for the same old same old of hot water I took on a small challenge I reaching for the cold water and I step into a ice-cold shower it felt like death but the funny thing is I felt more alive than I had in a long time you see it's not the cold shower itself that made me feel alive it's the idea that was challenging some myself again that made me feel alive I eventually started to build this muscle of being comfortable with the discomfort this cold shower marked a brand new chapter of my life back to thriving soon after I started adding up more challenges for myself from small ones the big ones from something as simple as waking up half an hour earlier every single morning drink a glass of water spend five minutes of gratitude calling my family more to bigger challenges like recording my exercise at every single day or - some of you might not be too big of a challenge reading more books and running more but because I took on those challenge eventually I read 46 books that year and even run and 10k run see I had no idea I was capable of all these things but only because I took on these challenges what I even experienced the fullest potential that I have nothing of value comes fast or easy trips of water can one day break a stone from this moment marks a brand new challenge I'm starting for myself and I invite you to take on challenges every single day or even create challenges for yourself because even the smallest challenges could have the biggest impact dare to imagine like that three-year-old kid from this moment the new challenge I'm starting every single day for 30 days I'm going out there and compliment a random person we all know the power of compliments I'm gonna record on Instagram and I would love for you to join me hashtag shriller challenges is spell thriller with it s it's pronounced shrila so to keep each other accountable I'm gonna ask you are you ready for a challenge and I need you to shout out as loud as you can challenge accepted are you ready for the challenge thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 78,020

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Education, Change, Depression, Failure, Goal-setting, Motivation, Personal growth, Progress, Purpose, Self-help, Success

Id: x3nInt3Ab7Y

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2019