#136: T.G.I.TED - Exploring the Call to Learn, Teach, and Maintain Perpetual Curiosity

You reach a point in life, and you think to yourself, I’ve done everything I want to do in life. But have you? I just watched a TED talk that’s made me re-evaluate how I look at what’s mine to do. And I talk about it in today’s episode.

Clifford Stoll is an astronomer, physicist, and educator extraordinaire. In this episode, l venture into the depths of his dynamic TED Talk, "The Call to Learn."

Today, I share my three major takeaways that reshaped my perspective on teaching, learning, and the beauty of perpetual curiosity.

In this episode, I also mention a FREE four-video training series I created that will help you develop a sense of what's next for you.

As an empty nester parent, I know there’s a tendency to look back to what we’ve accomplished. We raised a kid or kids, and send them out into the world. But I’m not going to be a parent again. And I don’t want to sit around and wait to be grandparent. I want to go out and do something else. If you’re like me, you might be trying to decide what’s next for yourself. I’ve created this four-part video series where I talk about how to figure out what’s next for you. It’s free:

YOU CAN GRAB THAT FREE TRAINING SERIES HERE

Stoll's TED Talk is a captivating whirlwind, showcasing his unique approach to inspire young minds and demonstrating hands-on how learning science can be an exciting, fun-filled adventure.

Here's the link for Stoll's TED talk.

As I mentioned, you can watch MY TEDx talk here:

https://www.thorchallgren.com/tedx

Here's the other talk in this T.G.I.TED series:

#118: T.G.I.TED - The Hidden Power of Smiling
#123: T.G.I.TED - Visualization and Breathing Air From The Future
#128: T.G.I.TED - How to Reframe What "Failing" Means
#129: T.G.I.TED - Challenging the Myths: Age and Success

As always, thanks for listening!

You can find me here:

WEBSITE: https://www.thorchallgren.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/thorchallgren

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:29

you reach a point in life and maybe you think to yourself I've done everything that I wanna do in life, but have you? I just watched a TED Talk that's made me reevaluate how I look at what's mine to do, and I talk about it in today's episode. Welcome to. Every Day A New Thought. I'm Thor Traugren, and every weekday I share one new thought. It's TGI TED, a feature on the show where I talk about one TED Talk that inspires me. This is a series I run every Friday and I'll put the links for these other shows in the series in the show notes below. And great news, my own TEDxTalk is now live. It's called why you Should Embrace Chaos on Vacation. That will also be in the show notes below so you can check that out.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Today I'm talking about a TED Talk from February 2006 and it's called the Call to Learn by Clifford Stoll. Stoll is an astronomer and physicist and he's also a teacher. He is kind of an unconventional speaker, at least by TED Talk standards. He actually reminds me a little bit of the Doc Brown character from the Back to the Future series. He has this kind of wildly energetic mind where he darts from one thing to another. At this breakneck pace. He's certainly got like wild hair. His talk is super engaging. It's very funny and I highly recommend it. You'll find the link to that talk in the notes below.

Speaker 1: 2:09

There are three points that I wanna share that I got from Clifford Stoll's TED Talk. Actually, there are a whole lot of quotes, and especially the one that he gives at the end, but I don't wanna spoil the impact that has. So, again, go watch the talk. Here now are the three things that I wanna share that I personally got out of it. The first point I wanna share is that Stoll is a great teacher. He talks about how he's a university lecturer he teaches grad students but he said that he realized that the future is gonna be shaped by young people. So he actually went back to eighth grade and taught eighth grade science students. I loved this idea that he talks about inspiring young people and it makes me think that we all have, to some degree, an obligation, an opportunity to shape the future by working with young people. It's gonna be their future and they're gonna be the ones that solve problems and challenges for us. So he's actually going back and inspiring those people and in his talk he shows an actual experiment where he shows you right on stage with some like an oscilloscope and some equipment that he has. He shows you how to measure the speed of sound and it's actually really fascinating, I have to say, as someone who didn't really grow up and joined science. If I'd had a teacher like this, I think I would have liked science a whole lot more, because he shows you exactly how to do this and a bonus point he uses a slide rule, which is very fun to see someone use a slide rule and not like the calculator on their phone.

Speaker 1: 3:47

The second point I wanna share is one of the ways that he opens the first part of his talk and he's talking about himself, in a way by telling you all the things that he'd love to talk about today, but he doesn't. It's very impromptu, off the cuff and it's very funny. He races around the stage by telling you the things that he's essentially done in his career and that he could tell you about those things today, but he's not going to. So the whole time you're wondering what is he gonna talk about? It builds great anticipation for his eventual topic and my takeaway from this is what things in my life would I love to talk about? He actually says I'd love to tell you about this, I'd love to talk about this, this and this, and so that leaves you with this sense of someone who has a real passion for a wide variety of things in life. So I ask you, what topics do you have a passion for? I know I'm asking myself that. What would I love to share with others? I think it's a good question to ask ourselves.

Speaker 1: 4:59

The third point I wanna share is a quote from his talk, and he's talking about always wanting to do something new, something fresh. He says, as a scientist, that the first time you do something it's science. This is actually a quote from him. He says the first time you do something it's science, the second time it's engineering, the third time it's just being a technician. He goes on and says I am a scientist. Once I do something, I do something else. I love that quote. Once I do something, I do something else.

Speaker 1: 5:43

I know, as an empty nester parent, there is a tendency to look back to what we've accomplished. Maybe we raised a kid or kids and we sent them out into the world. So I look at that and go I've done that, but I'm not gonna be a parent again and I don't wanna just sit around and wait to be a grandparent. I wanna go out and do something else. If you're like me, you might be trying to decide what's next in your life. Well, I've created a four-part video series where I talk about how to figure out what's next for you. It's free, and I put the link in the show notes below.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Once I do something, I do something else. What's your? Something else? Okay, so that's my third thing. I promised you I wouldn't spoil the ending of his talk because it's just so good. Let's just say that the makers of clock tower bells put an inscription on the inside of the bells they create, and Stoll has a unique opportunity to learn one of these inscriptions, and it sort of brilliantly sums up his whole talk. I loved this TED Talk. I put the link below. Please go check it out. I think you'll be very entertained by it and also give you something to think about. That's the show for today. If you liked this episode, please hit like. If you're watching on YouTube, if you're listening to the podcast, please subscribe or follow the show on your favorite podcast app. Until next time. Thanks for listening.