TEDxCL Reflection

 

 

This TED Talk is about the importance of taking breaks and prioritizing your health and self care when working. Furthermore, it details the dangers and causes of improper self care and overworking, as well as criticizing the popular glorification of "hustle culture."

 

Reflection

 

What I Knew (And didn’t know about my topic when I started out)

 

    When I first started this project, I had known overworking was a big problem, and it was something that I was interested in. I didn't know any specifics, like how overworking can correlate with alcoholism, and I didn't know why it was so normal for people to talk about being overworked all the time.  

 

Why I Selected This Topic

 

    I chose this as a topic because it was something I could connect with, and something that seemed important, something that people might need to hear. My mom says that I'm careless or stress-free, and while that isn't actually all that true for me, I thought I could help people to learn how to reach that lifestyle. Also, I've seen what can happen to people when they get really stressed out, and in many different ways, so I think it's important that people stop and make the choice to feel good. That's something I had believed before I did this project, so I thought I'd educate myself as to why it's important and how important it really is.

What I Learned--Research

     Researching was probably the easiest part of this project, I found a plethora of articles and websites all saying things that supported my thesis. I mostly used articles in my presentation because they had the most clearly presented info for me to learn from, but I also used some information from professional studies. Specifically, I liked the article "The Toxicity of Hustle Culture and How to Avoid It."  This article kind of changed my perspective on my presentation. It didn't make me have a huge epiphany and change my views, but it did shift my focus. At first, my focus was going to be on the concept of workaholism and how it can hurt people, and I would really highlight the fact that workaholism is an addiction like the name suggests. I also wanted to talk about how much different age groups work, and if any one generation was truly "lazier" than the others. However, after reading the article, and learning more about hustle culture, I shifted into talking about that, I found it so interesting and it really captivated me. A driving force for my speech was when the article said "While hard work is an important work ethic that everyone should follow, the unrealistic and unsustainable expectation that people should give up their health, family and life for work to run after the mirage of “success”, fame and money is what is wrong and toxic about the idea of hustle culture..." (The Toxicity of Hustle Culture and How to Avoid It, LinkedIn). That got me into talking a lot about capitalism and the American Dream, which is another thing that I want to learn more about, but I was able to stop myself from going on a huge tangent. My research taught me a lot about the different consequences of overworking, especially in terms of health, anxiety, depression, the connection to addiction, all those things I never knew about beforehand. One thing that I saw in a few places was the story about Arianna Huffington, I think that was a really great find, and it really helped my point. It's a good story, about  the dangers of overworking, so it was really nice to find it. To be quite honest, I didn't use my time as wisely as I should've. In class, I usually spent our given time doing other homework, and I was caught kind of off guard from procrastination, but I think it still went well.

What I Learned—Presentation

    Making my presentation was the hardest thing. I stayed up so long working on it once (kind of ironic). I mentioned before how my focus shifted, at that point, I had already had the makings of an outline, and I basically started over, it probably wasn't the best idea, but it worked out, so I'm okay with it. Once I started making my new outline, I felt very lost and confused trying to organize my ideas into bullet sentences. To remedy that, I decided I'd start to write the speech first to see to what topics my mind goes naturally. I think that worked well, and I was able to extract both a good speech and a good enough outline from what I wrote. I was very proud of this speech. That changed when I practiced presenting it the first time, I ended with five minutes, which is considerably shorter than the target, eight. I was upset, I knew it was because I talked fast, so I tried adding a lot more information into my speech, and allowing myself to go on more tangents. After that, I had a good seven minutes, I still thought I was reading fast, but I figured I'd be able to slow it down when I presented. Boy was I wrong! I read faster in the moment and I skipped some stuff. I definitely should've practiced more, I know I talk fast and get nervous, but my presentation date was very very close at that point so I didn't give myself the time. I loved making a visual aid though, it was fun imagining what could be on the screen as I said each sentence. Of course, I had to simplify it from the ideas I had in my head, but it was fun to make anyway. Reviewing my video, I am glad I didn't play with my hair (that's something I usually struggle with when public speaking), and I think I am understandable and clear enough that I am proud of the result.

What the Audience Learned

    The goal of my speech was to explain how and why people in today's society get to the point where they feel they must overwork themselves, and to criticize the fact that it's something we glorify. I wanted to leave the audience with the fresh perspective that self-care and taking breaks are good things, more important, and shouldn't be viewed as lazy. I think I did a good job relaying that information, giving examples of how to take breaks, and trying to break free from the idea that we have to work to terrifying degrees our entire lives, I guess I don't know for sure how successful I was, but I'd like to think it was successful enough.

Advice for Future Students

    In reference to public speaking specifically, I'd tell next year's students not to overthink it. It's really easy to psych yourself out especially right before you do it. Also it's okay to be nervous. As a member of the school's Forensics team, It's something I do pretty often and I still get nervous, so it's not like it's something that will go away, but it's important not to let it take over. More specifically about writing their Ted talks I'd tell next year's students to take this assignment seriously, especially over break, because it sneaks up on you. Spend a lot of time writing your speech and do proper research to learn how to make a good visual aid, and give a good speech, it's harder than it looks.