Some weeks ago I had the brilliant idea of watching one of those videos that enlighten your life. Yes, a TED Talk. It was Friday night and I did not have many things to do. So watching a video on Youtube was the most exciting thing I was going to do in the whole day. The title was How craving attention makes you less creative by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I must recognize I was more interested in the speaker than in the talk itself. I have been following his career since I was a kid and I was wondering what he had to say on a TED Talk. After finishing I felt I wanted to watch more content on the platform.

I guess the algorithm did a good job this time. It suggested me Singapore’s Forgotten Trees from Morgan Yeo the co-founder of Roger & Sons an ethical craft fine furniture company. His video was viewed by less people than Joseph’s, but he had the opportunity to explain what he was doing and why. From both speeches I learned maybe we all have something to share with others. Some questions arose too: What makes TED Talk speakers special? Would I be able to distinguish a good speaker from a bad one? Are there bad speakers? Do all the talks have something in common?

The next day I kept asking myself about the two videos I watched. For this reason, I decided to challenge myself during 21 days watching two TED Talks every night before going to bed and writing my thoughts the morning after.

First, I established a search criteria. It took me two hours to find the best content and distribute them on my calendar. I found a playlist with the 10 most viewed TED Talks so I wanted to watch one of them each day, but there was a problem: I noticed most of them were men. I wanted to keep my selection balanced so I set 50% men and 50% women and I added something else. I wanted to combine videos with millions of viewers with others that had only thousands and see if there was a reason why. Fortunately, I was able to create a varied playlist of speakers and stories.

I only had to keep this new habit in order to listen what others had to offer to the world. Many of them were about being happy. It is curious how a simple concept can derive to a wide range of methods, experiences and theories. And I think that is what I learned the most from those 3 weeks. Being happy is a universal thought that is difficult to accomplish because we always want more and more. We are always setting the bar higher and higher (that bar called success).

Probably you are wondering if I was able to answer my questions after those weeks. My answer is yes and no, but I will go step by step:

• What makes TED Talk speakers special? In some cases they have discovered or developed something incredible, but others are just like you and me. Normal people that found sufficiency in the most elementary things like forgiveness and minimalism for helping others for example.

• Will I be able to distinguish a good speaker from a bad one? I think so! I was able to detect who was nervous, if it was their first speech in front of many people, if they were feeling comfortable during the experience…

• Are there bad speakers? There are no bad speakers. Just bad body language or rushing words (probably because of lack of experience). Nothing that rehearsals can improve.

• Do all the talks have something in common? As I said before, happiness is the key. It may be explained in very different ways, but what we pursue as human beings is that feeling of perpetual accomplishment. It was amazing how some speakers were capable to deliver love and compassion.

What’s next after this? In one month I will be giving a talk for a mentoring program and I want to build a good speech for that day. That’s why I want to continue learning from TED Talks. I selected two books to read about the topic. One is Ted Talks (Official Guide for public speaking) from Chris Anderson and the other, How to Deliver a TED Talk. Secrets of the World’s Most Inspiring Presentations from Jeremey Donovan. Both authors are TED organizers so for sure they must have something to share. Another thing I will do is recording myself (voice and video) whilst practicing and see how I can play more with my voice and my body language.

Do you think I am missing something in order to improve my public speaking skills? I would be glad to know what worked for you and what not and see if I can add them to my routine. My journey continues and so my improvements!