17 TED Talks To Create Bigger Thinking

In a world which is constantly trying to drag us down, we are the only ones who can choose to live in positivity. Don't wait till the perfect moment to start creating a positive change in your life: that time is NOW. I've always loved diving into podcasts, audio books, & motivational talks. Even in my early teens, you could find me reading a TJ Hoisington book or a Kerry Shook podcast. Looking back, those simple moments of plugging into that environment, taught me to challenge my thinking, engaged my brain in how to dream bigger, and inspired me to pursue my goals no matter how "uncommon" they are. 
 TED talks make it easy for anyone to learn how to make positive changes in their life, which lead to becoming a happier, healthier, successful, more productive self. 

Here are 17 TED talks to be inspired, challenged and motivated to change your life this year:
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1) How Waking Up Everyday  at 4:30 a.m. Can Change Your Life | Filipe Castro Matos
You want to know how to wake up early? A motivating story by Filipe Castro Matos, will help you not only to train yourself to get up early, but also to cope with working problems more effectively. #21EarlyDays

2) Why 30 Is Not The New 20 | Meg Jay
Clinical psychologist Meg Jay has a bold message for twentysomethings: Contrary to popular belief, your 20s are not a throwaway decade. In this provocative talk, Jay says that just because marriage, work and kids are happening later in life, doesn’t mean you can’t start planning now. She gives 3 pieces of advice for how twentysomethings can re-claim adulthood in the defining decade of their lives.

 3) My Year of Saying yes To Everything | Shonda Rhimes
Shonda Rhimes, the titan behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, is responsible for some 70 hours of television per season, and she loves to work. "When I am hard at work, when I am deep in it, there is no other feeling," she says. She has a name for this feeling: The hum. The hum is a drug, the hum is music, the hum is God's whisper in her ear. But what happens when it stops? Is she anything besides the hum? In this moving talk, join Rhimes on a journey through her "year of yes" and find out how she got her hum back. 

 

 4) Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.

5) The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding | John Wooden
With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father's wisdom.

6) Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders | Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg looks at why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions -- and offers 3 powerful pieces of advice to women aiming for the C-suite. 

 7) How To Succeed? Get More Sleep | Arianna Huffington
In this short talk, Arianna Huffington shares a small idea that can awaken much bigger ones: the power of a good night's sleep. Instead of bragging about our sleep deficits, she urges us to shut our eyes and see the big picture: We can sleep our way to increased productivity and happiness -- and smarter decision-making.

8) Women Entrepreneurs, Example Not Exception | Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
Women aren’t micro--so why do they only get micro-loans? Reporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that women running all types of firms-- from home businesses to major factories-- are the overlooked key to economic development.

9) How To Gain Control of Your Free Time | Laura Vanderkam
There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studies how busy people spend their lives, and she's discovered that many of us drastically overestimate our commitments each week, while underestimating the time we have to ourselves. She offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us, so we can "build the lives we want in the time we've got."

10) Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are | Amy Cuddy
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how "power posing" — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don't feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.

11) How To Find Work You Love | Scott Dinsmore
Scott Dinsmore quit a job that made him miserable, and spent the next four years wondering how to find work that was joyful and meaningful. He shares what he learned in this deceptively simple talk about finding out what matters to you — and then getting started doing it.

12) Success, Failure and The Drive To Keep Creating | Elizabeth Gilbert
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

13) All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes | Andy Puddicombe
When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that: Refreshing your mind for 10 minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment.

14) How Great Leaders Inspire Actions | Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership — starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brother.

15) Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection | Reshma Saujani

We're raising our girls to be perfect, and we're raising our boys to be brave, says Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code. Saujani has taken up the charge to socialize young girls to take risks and learn to program — two skills they need to move society forward. To truly innovate, we cannot leave behind half of our population, she says. "I need each of you to tell every young woman you know to be comfortable with imperfection."

16) A Life of Purpose | Rick Warren
Pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," reflects on his own crisis of purpose in the wake of his book's wild success. He explains his belief that God's intention is for each of us to use our talents and influence to do good. 

17) The Optimism Bias | Tali Sharot 
Are we born to be optimistic, rather than realistic? Tali Sharot shares new research that suggests our brains are wired to look on the bright side -- and how that can be both dangerous and beneficial.  

What are your opinions on TED talks? Do you have a favorite one?