High school stories
Welcome back, incredible BookDuck fans. Do you often find yourself lost and confused about your future? Guess what? It is completely fine to have this feeling because as you grow up, life and the opportunities on the way will help you understand your true passions.
Let's look at the example of Casey Neistat, a successful YouTuber and filmmaker who gave a very personal TED talk at Parker School.
In his TED talk, he goes over his experiences of becoming a young parent, moving to New York, finding a normal job, and, last but not least, taking a step back and doing what he believed was best for him.
Neistat began his speech by talking about his teenage years and how he was lost and didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. But, all of us sudden, he got an opportunity to change this. He found out his girlfriend is pregnant. Realizing he would be a parent at the ripe age of 16, he saw it as a tremendous opportunity to have a purposeful life. Right after his child was born, he
was really poor and got a job in a restaurant. He was a dishwasher, and even though the job itself was pretty disgusting to him, he still told himself that everything was great and he was the greatest dishwasher that ever lived. At that time, it was a huge opportunity for him, and he considers it that way even until this day. However, he managed to become a cook before leaving that place.
The next opportunity he talked about was moving to New York City when he was 20 years old. He called New York City a really rough and terrible place especially when you are just starting out. He had no money and became a bike messenger around the streets of New York City until, one day; he got an opportunity to work for a famous artist. He got offered a job, and it was a big opportunity for him; he started getting paid 8 dollars per hour for manual labor he did. Then some time passed, and the artist started looking for a manager because the old one quit. Seeing how stressed out the artist was, Neistat decided to offer help interviewing the candidates. After seeing some potential candidates, the artists offered Neistat the manager's position. As you guys can imagine, Neistat accepted it because it was another great opportunity for him to move forward. He had an amazing time while working with the artist, and he enjoyed it very much.
After that, everything seemed to be going great because he was offered an opportunity to direct a TV commercial for low-carb candy bars. But, the candy commercial would consume time from his original job, which was not something the boss liked. After thinking about it the entire night, he told the boss that he would quit because he really wanted to do the candy commercial. The funny thing was that the money he would get after the commercial would only be enough to live for a few weeks. Therefore, it was definitely an irresponsible decision to make, but looking back, Neistat believed that it was the best decision because he was getting closer to where he wanted to be. So, without considering other nuances of his decision, he grabbed the opportunity and ran with it.
Next, he collaborated with his good friend Tom Scott in creating small movies. They wrote and directed them together. One of their successful projects was an HBO show. After having a few successful projects completed, Neistat began to realize that he was deeply involved in all of it, but he didn't feel right. So he decided to take a big pivot and walk away from TV and movies. He only wanted to make youtube videos. Even his agent told him that he shouldn't be doing what he is, but he felt he was right. He said at the time; he took his best guess. He mentions how he never operates recklessly. He always does his best to operate without fear. He makes sure his decisions are smart ones, and then he feels obligated to embrace the opportunities he gets. At that moment, he felt obliged to quit his job and walk away from HBO. After taking a break from work, he traveled to places like Uganda and saw firsthand what a lack of resources and opportunities felt like. This made him realize that he should still be thankful even if he had some setbacks.
He began to understand that life is incredible and we have obligations to embrace all the opportunities that are around us. So, he started doing just that. He started using all his knowledge and tools that were available to him to create other opportunities for himself and help others as well.
Now, he is working on a campaign under the concept of live your dreams which will be to motivate, inspire and give people a catalyst to do something they have never done.
To sum up, Neistat encourages younger generations to always strive for success and hang on to every opportunity they get. Based on his personal experiences, we can see that his journey was full of obstacles and failures, but he still went forward and found what he was passionate about. So, he wants you to look at his example and always be motivated. Remember, always do what you think is best for you, hang on to the opportunities given to you, and don't let the side talk get in your way.
