TED Talk Tuesday #103— An astronaut’s story of curiosity, perspective and change

Watching TED Talks is a popular pastime at CN&CO. The team visit TED.com regularly to clear our heads, have a laugh or get inspired with the next crazy idea. TED Talks open our minds, spark new ways of thinking and can lead to some very interesting conversations. Each week we pick a favourite and publish it on a Tuesday, because we like how “TED Talk Tuesday” sounds. This week’s talk was posted by our free-lance thinker and data nerd Josh Nuttall. Here’s why he chose it (and it’s not for the reason that you might think it is, given the header image):

As some of you may know I enjoy the word and meaning of serendipity.

In simple terms, I define “serendipity” in the following way—things happen for a reason, you can’t control everything and make the most of where you find yourself.

A formal dictionary definition defines serendipity as “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way”.

Looking for and finding this TED talk was serendipitous. It was Monday morning and I had just opened my Gmail inbox to respond to a few emails. Finding a TED talk was on my list for the day as I knew I had to write this quick blog for TED Talk Tuesday.

Being subscribed to the TED Talks Daily newsletter, I often get the email notification but don’t generally read or watch every TED talk that is shared. A habit which I need to get better at and wondered that if TED Talks were delivered via podcasts if I would listen to more of them, that’s a story for another day.

The past 12 months have incorporated a lot of change for me. I have enjoyed embracing it, learning from those around me and being able to look at where I am going from different perspectives.

In this TED talk, Leland Melvin shares his story of the challenges he accepted and the opportunities he seized. There are lessons in it for us all, Leland didn’t know what it meant to be an astronaut and when he first encountered them he didn’t think that he would fit into the conventional mould.

“Perspective is something that we all have and we all get, it’s just a case of how far we open up our blinders”

Enjoy!