If you want to achieve your goals don't focus on them

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2PP3p4_4R8&t=141s


This is Day 2 of the One TED Talk a Day initiative. Today's TED Talk is by Reggie Rivers. The topic of his TED Talk is "If you want to achieve your goals don't focus on them".

• Goals require you to have participation of other people hence they are outside of your control. 
• Behaviors are something that are completely in our control so we should focus on our behaviors to achieve our goals.
• See and plan what you can do today, tomorrow and this week. 

The speaker in this TED talk has a simple message to convey with a very humorous talk to keep the audience engaged and interested. 

He emphasizes that if you want to achieve your goals you should not focus on them. Focusing on the goals makes us focus on everything that is not in our control. The end result or the outcome is not in our control. 

Hence, he suggests that we should rather focus on our actions and our behaviors. Having a short term focus as suggested helps us stay on track without getting overwhelmed.

It's a simple yet effective advice. I would certainly try to inculcate this.

Personality Types and Our Brain

I am starting off the One TED Talk a day again. I would watch at least one TED Talk everyday and would try to summarize it in my words.

The very first TED Talks of this series is on Personality Types and Our Brain by Scott Schwefel.

The central idea of this TED Talk is that every person has a different personality and his or her behavior is largely driven by that. It is of tremendous use for us to know what Personality Type we own. 

Knowing this can guide us as to which areas of our professional life and leadership we would be most comfortable with and hence would excel in. Knowing the personality type of people we interact with on a day to day basis also helps us engage with them better; this can either be in personal or professional setting.

The following are some of the pointers from the TED talk (and some slides that are useful glancing through).

• How we see (perceive) ourselves matters. 
• People do not perceive you the way you perceive yourself. You may want to put more effort on defining yourself when you are introducing yourself.
• "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate." - Carl Jung
• "Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves" - Carl Jung