Uncommon Sense: Moving from a Problem-Focused to Solution-Focused Mindset | Mel Gill | TEDxVarna (2)
You see, if you want to have possibility thinking,
your EQ has got to be a little bit higher.
If you are a possibility thinker,
your sense of humor will automatically develop over a period of time.
Why? Because you see possibilities.
You see, the problem is school has damaged you.
You come to school, you come to university,
they make you all believe one thing, one way.
And yet the people who have given you new technologies,
the people who have given you new inventions
were never in school to do that.
You see, they developed that on their own
because they didn't know it was impossible.
They didn't know that something could not be done.
The person who was told so many times, "You cannot climb Mount Everest.
It's impossible to climb Mount Everest.
No one can breathe on Everest. No one can survive."
One man decided - he didn't go to school.
His name was Edmund Hillary.
He's from New Zealand where they don't go to school very much.
(Laughter)
I'm going to hear from my New Zealand friends for that.
They just learn how to raise sheep.
Oh, that's even worse.
(Laughter)
He decided to climb Everest and broke the mold.
And after that, in that same year,
eight more people started to climb Everest.
Now, a 164 bodies are on Everest,
and we cannot bring them down.
So, I don't know if he did a good thing or a bad thing.
But somewhere along the way,
someone has to show you that it's possible,
then you start to do it.
How about you be the one?
Someone told a fellow a long time ago,
"You cannot break the four-minute mile."
And yet, Roger Bannister decided to ignore everyone,
and he ran one mile in under four minutes.
After that, three more people broke the record -
because one man showed them that it was possible.
You see, I believe that you in Varna have a lot of creativity.
There's something in the energy of the place.
It's not about the economy. It's not about the buildings.
It's not about everything. It's about the people.
I love the energy of the people here
because the creative people are in this room.
Look at TEDx.
Whose idea was this here?
Everywhere else, people are hesitant to start this,
but one young man -
Boyan, where are you? -
decided that this was possible.
(Applause)
And so he sets the stage for other people to say,
"Yes, it's possible. I will start to organize my own stuff.
And soon, there'll be nobody coming for Boyan's talk."
(Laughter)
I'm just kidding. But you know what I mean.
The possibility that sets up inside of you
is the thing that says, "There will be nothing that stands in my way."
How do you develop that? Very simple.
You start to pay attention to where you are.
Where are you now?
And this, you can use for achieving any goals
and anything that you want, as well.
Is this my clock? Just out of curiosity.
Wow!
(Man in audience:) It's not a problem. It's a situation.
Okay. Great. Fantastic.
I just saw I have a little bit of time -
like somebody left me the last piece of pie here.
So, if you just take inventory of where you are right now,
understand where you are, what resources you have,
how much money you have, what education level you have,
what connections you have,
and then think about where it is you want to go.
What is it you want to be?
And don't think five years.
Think two years - just two years, something that's within vision.
And then notice what it will take for you
to get from here to there.
What is the path between here and there?
And if you don't know the path, find someone who has taken that path.
Find someone who has already done it.
And if you cannot meet them directly, find it out in books.
You've got the Internet.
You've got all of these resources.
And this is the step that no one takes -
the fourth step - and that is to take the first step.
No one takes action.
They think about it. They draw it up in plans.
It's a great plan. They put it out in their notebooks.
"It's a great plan. Look, I came up with this five years ago, dadadadada."
Someone told me three days ago,
"I really wanted to start TEDx in Varna about three years ago,
but (gasp), and somebody else did it."
How many times have you walked by and say, "Hey, I invented this several years ago.
I thought about it and now, somebody made it an invention."
How many people have had that thought?
One man walked into the offices of Facebook.
How many people are familiar with Facebook?
The largest mental hospital in the world.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
And the geniuses that came up with Facebook sat there
and said that if anybody writes any rubbish,
the only response you can give is "like."
So, when somebody responds to you, they like the nonsense that you post.
And so, all of a sudden,
all the mental hospitals in the world start to put all the stuff they've done:
take pictures of their food, take pictures of their dog,
take pictures of their dog eating their food - all of that.
Do you remember a time 15 years ago when you and I had cameras
and we took pictures of our food?
We went to the store, developed them, and then sent it by mail to our friends?
(Laughter)
No?
(Applause)
Possibility thinking means
never accepting failure as your final destination.
Failure is a means to success.
One young man walked into Facebook, asked for a job in 2006.
They turned him down.
They said, "Sorry, we don't have a place for you.
You're not qualified."
That man did not get depressed.
Maybe a couple of days,
he drank some Rakia with some Bulgarian friends.
But after that,
he decided to sit with a group of people and created an app.
And the app was to text people for free.
He thought it'll be wonderful.
Soon, he had a couple of million people.
Soon, he had several hundred million people,
and then Facebook made him an offer and said,
"I will buy your app from you, young man, for 16 billion dollars."
The man who did not get a job
did not become depressed and go into spirals.
He thought, "What can I do next? Here is an opportunity."
So, every time you meet with success,
it's because you are followed by a lot of failure.
And if you have not failed, you will not become successful.
Let me tell you,
I am one of the biggest failures in the world.
To experience massive success, you've got to have massive failure.
There's no ands, ifs, and buts.
You must try, and if you don't try, you will not get ahead.
Possibility thinking is refusing to accept limits.
Possibility thinking is recognizing
that you are fully capable of making any change you want in your life.
And people, I come here to give you one piece of good news.
And I'm a predictor of your future.
Would you like to know what your future is?
Again, that's a question. I'm sorry, I should have told you that.
You are all going to die.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
None of you are going to get out of this life alive.
You are going to die.
No matter how much you stretch it, you're going to die eventually.
So, before you die,
why don't you make it a spectacular life?
Why don't you do those things that other people are afraid of doing?
Why don't you try and try and try and never, ever stop?
I have a friend in south Arizona.
This man is an American Indian.
One more story and then I'll step down.
(Laughter)
This man is an American Indian.
He's the most successful rainmaker on the planet.
He has made rain come down by doing a rain dance.
(Mimics rainmaker chant)
(Laughter)
He does a rain dance.
And do you know why he's 100% successful?
That's a question.
(Laughter)
Because he keeps dancing until it rains.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Thank you.