The best of TED Talks

After two long weeks of partying, relaxing and doing everything except things that are related to your study, the first lecture week of 2017 is almost over. Your professors probably overloaded you with new information already and you can not wait for the summer break… To get your brain cells back to work, we thought it would be a good idea to give our top 6 ted talks. These talks are inspiring ideas that are worth spreading. Maybe they give you a positive feeling (they gave us), maybe you get inspired to live your life differently after watching these talks, or maybe they give you a nice subject to talk about on your valentine date. But one thing is for sure: these talks will enrich you!

1. Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator

Procrastinating… kind of relatable, right? Tim Urban discusses the struggle of being a master procrastinator. So, why do you wait till the very last day to write that paper? He explains in his unique and funny way how the brain of a procrastinator works. There will be monkeys, monsters and a lot of panic involved. Even though we can all laugh about it, what if procrastinating becomes a serious life problem stopping you from chasing your dreams? Do non-procrastinators even exist? After watching this Ted Talk, you will start wondering what YOU are procrastinating on.

Floor (20), 2nd year IBA

2. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

The first time I saw this Ted talk, I was 15 years old, sitting in my Economics class at High School. It might sound cheesy, but from that moment on I knew I wanted to know more about the ‘why’ in people, and even more important, in businesses. It inspired me to choose for Economics, and later on, Neuromarketing. If you would like to be the head of a multinational company, like Apple, you should always ask yourself WHY you’re doing what you’re doing and sell that to your costumers. And if you will ever need a Neuromarketing expert, do not hesitate to contact me 😉

Romay (19), 2nd year EBE

3. Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work

This TedTalk is very inspiring and it changed my way of thinking about the concepts of happiness and success. I am a perfectionist, so every time I make success I change my mind about what success should look like and set my bar higher. After all, I will never be satisfied with what I do or feel happy about the things I reach.

According to Shawn Achor this is the wrong way of thinking. People will not become happy by having success. He explains, that when you are happy, you will reach success. This backward way of thinking will ensure your brain to work more successful. To become successful, people should reverse the formula for happiness and success.

Pauline (20), 2nd year BA

4. Scott Dinsmore: How to find work you love

‘Everything was impossible until somebody did it.’ I think a lot of us can relate to this quote from Scott Dinsmore from his Ted Talk ‘How to find work you love’. Things are more feasible when you see people around you doing it. By finding out what kind of work you would like to do, and surrounding yourself with people who inspire you, you can actually do the work you would like to do. That is what Dinsmore teaches me in his Ted Talk. Because many of us have to find a grown up job in a couple of years, this Ted Talk might be helpful!

Femke (19), 2nd year BA

5. David Biello + Chee Pearlman + Alex Moura: The ideas we’ll be talking about in 2017

The new year brings a lot of fireworks, joy and enthusiasm about what the new year has to offer. This is why the TED talk “The new idea’s we’ll be talking about in 2017” is the TED talk I chose to share with you.

Number one: Drugs that can be used to help people that have psychological disorders and could potentially help people suffering from a depression.

Number two: Machine and materials that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere like plants do. The climate change is a well known subject and scientists are looking for solutions.

Number three: De-extinction techniques should help species struggling to survive. How you may ask? Scientist wants to bring back species that don’t exist anymore and use these techniques to help the other species.

Number four: We all know them, but they aren’t that popular. The smartwatch! This year the smartwatch will become mainstream.

Sophia (20), 2nd year BA

6. Ken Robinson: Schools kill creativity

This Ted talk is the most watched ted talk on Youtube. Why? Well, I think because it is very honest. The VU always teaches us to be critical about the things that we learn, this time the education system is being criticized. Ken Robinson spreads the idea of the lack of creativity in the education system. The employer of today has high demands, one of those demands is creativity. Without creativity, there are no smart solutions, inventions, ideas etc. The importance of creativity in the society is huge and it is a shame no education system in the world involves creativity.

Amber (20), 2nd year BA