Ok! Let’s begin with a confession. I am addicted to YouTube. I spend a couple of hours on YouTube every day, mostly watching auditions of singing or talent-based reality shows, or I watch mom bloggers (or vloggers, in YT slang). It’s my way of decompressing. Now, most days, I go through the videos guilt-free, but often I talk myself out of it. While YouTube indeed is a great source of entertainment, I find it lacking in content that is educational. Enter TED Talk.
Now, for those of you who have never seen a TED video, here’s the deal: TED is an annual conference where influencers from various fields share their experiences, learnings, and visions. Given the popularity of the original conference, nowadays, several local bodies and institutions are hosting their own scaled-down version. This helps open the doors to more influencers, achievers, and visionaries and makes the content more local. While I have never attended one of these conferences in person, I consume their content by the kilo!
So today, I wanted to share five TED Talks that I absolutely adore. The theme of these talks vary widely but the common thread is “inspirational” and “perspective-changing.” I hope you will enjoy these talks as much as I do.
Now listen, before I begin, let me warn you this is a long post. Not long because of the length of the post but because the five videos I am listing for you will take you approximately 1 hour to watch. I recommend you set aside some time. But worry not! Remember I mentioned Pocket in one of my earlier post on organization apps? You can save this post to Pocket and watch it later at a time and place of your choice. Alternatively, you can pin the images to your Pinterest boards and revisit whenever you want. Do give it a try!
Okay, let’s begin!
5 TED Talks Worth Their Weight in Gold
Disclaimer: All synopses are from the TED website.
TED Talk #1: Louie Schwartzberg
Duration: 9:39 minutes
Synopsis
Nature’s beauty can be fleeting — but not through Louie Schwartzberg’s lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day.
Direct Link
TED Talk #2: Isabel Allende
How To Live Passionately, No Matter Your Age
Duration: 8:16 minutes
Synopsis
Author Isabel Allende is 71. Yes, she has a few wrinkles—but she has incredible perspective too. In this candid talk, meant for viewers of all ages, she talks about her fears as she gets older and shares how she plans to keep on living passionately.
Direct Link
TED Talk #3: Elizabeth Gilbert
Success, Failure, and the Drive to Keep Creating
Duration: 7:14 minutes
Synopsis
Elizabeth Gilbert was once an “unpublished diner waitress,” devastated by rejection letters. And yet, in the wake of the success of ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ she found herself identifying strongly with her former self. With beautiful insight, Gilbert reflects on why success can be as disorienting as failure and offers a simple — though hard — way to carry on, regardless of outcomes.
Direct Link
TED Talk #4: Nancy Etcoff
Happiness and Why We Want It
Duration: 14:14 minutes
Synopsis
Cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff looks at happiness — the ways we try to achieve and increase it, the way it’s untethered to our real circumstances, and its surprising effect on our bodies.
Direct Link
TED Talk #5: Gary Greenberg
The Beautiful Nano Details of Our World
Duration: 11:58 minutes
Synopsis
When photographed under a 3D microscope, grains of sand appear like colorful pieces of candy and the stamens in a flower become like fantastical spires at an amusement park. Gary Greenberg reveals the thrilling details of the micro world.
Direct Link
Did you manage to get through the list?
No? Well, here’s what you can do!
Save the pin to your Pinterest board.
So tell me, friends, do you watch TED Talks? What are some of your favorite Talks?
Feeling reflective? What better time than to be grateful for your life’s journey so far?
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54 Responses
Love listening to ted talk for a boost to thought and emotion! Saved this post to go through them one at a time. Thanks for this.
Happy to meet a fellow TED lover 🙂
I watched a lot of Ted Talks when I was doing my honours dissertation, and they really are wonderful! The people who speak are smart, empowering and inspiring yet still down to earth – the kind of people we need to be filling modern media!
I agree. Great for stimulating the fatigued gray cells.
These are some Great ted talks. I must agree with you. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked 🙂
Loved that these talks are all from strong, amazing women 🙂 I will definitely be listening to them while I work today.
xx Carly | http://www.thecarlycollective.com
I have pinned this post; I can’t wait to find some time to listen to these and become inspired
Thank you, Nicki. Hope you will enjoy these and explore the TED website for even more awesome content.
TED Talks are so powerful! You put together an awesome selection of speakers! Very diverse and educational! I became addicted to these a few month back!
I agree. It’s a window to the outside world we may never experience.
Totally bookmarking!
Awesome!
I am always looking for new TED Talks to watch, so this post was super helpful. I haven’t seen any of these and I love the diverse range you posted about. Going to check out Elizabeth Gilberts first!
My only exposure to Gilbert was her book, Eat, Pray, Love. While I didn’t find her writing spectacular, I loved the underlying message. This talk revealed a new facet of hers.
I think the hubs would love pretty much all of these. He’s a big fan of TED Talks. The one here that I’d be most interested in watching is probably “How to Live Passionately, No Matter Your Age” — thanks for sharing your top picks!
Enjoy the talk 🙂
I am addicted to TED talks too! I am surprised I haven’t seen these yet, but I definitely need to watch them 🙂
They have such a huge database! What are some of your favorite talks?
very nice set of talks. I listen to the first one. thanks
Hope you enjoyed the talk, Lois.
I have a TED talk obsession and cannot wait to listen to these.
Awesome! Would love to hear about your favorite talks.
Seems like good TED talks. Will bookmark this page, and watch them sometime later.
That’s great! I hope you will enjoy these talks as much as I did.
I love TED Talks and these are great suggestions. will check some of them very soon 🙂 Thanks
You’re welcome 🙂 Hope you will be enjoy these.
I’m also addicted to YouTube! But I don’t want nearly as enough educational/motivational content as I’d like to, and I LOVE TED talks, so I’m so glad you’ve written this round-up that I can use as a guide!
xo Jaime
Angloyankophile
I had never heard of Ted Talks before your post, this is soo interesting! I have absolutely pinned the image and will make sure to watch them all!! thanks!
So glad you liked the post. I hope you will enjoy TED talks as much as I do.
I seriously think TED Talks may be my favorite way to spend my time. Great list 😉
Yay! Me too!
Love Ted talks for many motives & amongst these I would select TED Talk #2: Isabel Allende for sure!
She is who I’d like to be when I am 70 🙂
simply amazing, its really very motivational. thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome!
TED talks are great. I really enjoying listen to their talks, always some interesting perspective on life. 🙂
I couldn’t agree more 🙂
Only one word, motivational..
Glad you liked.
I have never heard of TED talk.
Do give them a try! I promise it’s worth the time 🙂
Why only 5? We need more! 😀
I love the 3rd one and the practical side of Elizabeth’s story. She was always saying to herself not to give up. ❤️
Their main website (www.ted.com) has scores of videos to choose from 🙂
I have never heard of TED talk, But i like their idea. Great.
Hope you will find the talks useful.
First time heard their names but as long as they will give us good reasons to talk and share their passion, we can listen and watch them.
You can check out their main website for even more interesting talks. Thanks for dropping by.
I have never heard of TED talk, but I do like the idea of them. I will check some of these out soon. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome! Do give these a watch. Learning + entertainment in one package 🙂
I love Gary Greenberg and his TED talk in particular… So so beautiful. I have marked the others for future viewing. I really appreciate these suggestions because otherwise I’m never sure what to watch 💚
You’re welcome =) Glad you liked.
I definitely haven’t gotten into these yet but have heard so much hype. will add to my list!
That’s great! I hope you will find them engaging and useful.