In this truly thought-provoking TED talk, Alain de Botton explores the philosophy of success and how it’s perceived in our society.  Most importantly he talks about the significance of knowing what we want and what journey we should take in life. Something that I am personally experiencing, and you might be as well, is the battle in deciphering in exactly what direction our passions lead us. I enjoy being part of a team, solving problems, thinking creatively, public speaking, and helping business succeed through their marketing efforts. However, another part of me is drawn to helping individuals solve their financial dilemmas and grow their net worth. A career in finance or marketing – which path should I choose? And are these really my passions or were they shaped by what is considered reputable by society’s standards?

On the same thought, many people today are battling the same career anxiety or are just stuck in jobs they hate. Are you one of them? You might have not pursued your own idea of success and instead followed the masses because a certain career is more accepted by our society. We have to ask ourselves the proper questions and do what feels right because at the end of the day there isn’t certainty to the distant future in regards to our choices in life.

Enjoy the talk and the notes after the talk.

Main point:

“We should not give up on our ideas of success but should make sure that these ideas are our own; we should focus on our ideas and make sure that we own them.”

Make sure that we are truly the owners of our own ambitions because it is bad enough not getting what you want but it is even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and finding out in the end of the journey that it isn’t in fact what you wanted all along.

Let’s make sure that the ideas of success are truly our own.”

Presentation Notes

• Snobbery is a global phenomenon
• Snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are. (Mother is an opposite of a snob)
• Hope for our careers as we have a belief that we can achieve anything in our lifetime.
• When you can’t relate to someone then you don’t envy them.
• Meritocracy (Meritocratic Society) - one in which where you got talent energy and skill, you will get to the top. Nothing should hold you back.
• Your position in life is seen as merited and deserved. Failure is frowned upon.
• Who is responsible in our lives, not gods but we are = leads to increased rates of suicide.
• Meritocratic society is a dream.
• It is not the post that should count.
• “It is a sin to judge any man by his post” – The City of God by Saint Augustine
• In modern English: It is a sin to come to a view to whom you should talk to by judging by their business card.

Don’t judge as you don’t really know what the true value of that person is.

• Alternative: Tragic Art- Art form devoted to tracing on how people fail.  
• Modern society and why it causes all of this anxiety. We live in a society where we don’t worship anything else then ourselves.
• We are naturally drawn to nature. That is why we enjoy glaciers, mountains and being in contact with something not human
• Talk about success and failure; we think we know what it means.
• Theory of success- You can’t be successful at everything, every vision of success has to have something that they are losing out on.

Main Point Once Again:

“We should not give up on our ideas of success but should make sure that these ideas are our own; we should focus on our ideas and make sure that we own them.”

“Make sure that we are truly the owners of our own ambitions because it is bad enough not getting what you want but it is even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and finding out in the end of the journey that it isn’t in fact what you wanted all along.” (Repetition is the mother of all knowledge)

Let’s make sure that the ideas of success are truly our own.

Thank you for reading! If you have not already, why not subscribe to my RSS feed, or you can get the latest updates from me in your Email inbox for free.

Thanks for visiting and keep in touch ~ Alex.