Nothing could have prepared me for what happened for the past half a year, having drop my work and attend to my family. It did give me a much needed break from my busy work and life in the US to be with my family and ponder about my present and future. For the past 3 years I have been running at full speed and didn't spend a moment to slow down to recalibrate, until now, and this year's TED gave me my first validation of my renew self.
This is my third year at TED, after first attending as a TED fellow in 2009 and attending TEDActive in 2010. 3 TEDs later, I have finally managed to pace myself properly so I wasn't burnt out by the second day. Instead of staying at the hotel, I opted stayed with a couple other fellows Eric Berlow, Nassim Assefi and Seth Raphel a couple miles away at a little apartment. Having no car nor bike with ruined knees from my marathon, I was at the mercy of Nassim, who was wonderful enough to give me a lift back everyday - that helped me go home and sleep early.
It also took me 3 TEDs to realize how much more the connections and conversations at TED meant for me. I freed myself from the obligation of attending every talk, and to spend quality time, having quality conversations with the extraordinary individuals there, of which included TED Fellows, artists, designers, business consultants, entrepreneurs, event organizers, poker players and change makers. At the end of the day, it almost doesn't matter what they do because all of them were remarkable human beings. One of the most memorable moment from this year's conference was when Rafe Furst took the stage to talk about life lessons he learnt from playing poker. What he said connected with me deeply, summing up my thoughts about life. Rafe boiled it down to 3 simple points: 1. There is a difference between a good decision and a good outcome. 2. It is one long game. 3. There is a difference between a winner and a winning person. I have been so focused on running the short race, I was burnt out and lost focus on the bigger picture and what was more important to me, Rafe reminded me of my place in the larger plan.
I left TED this time with 3 things: 1. Realizing that it is alright not to be an expert in anything; 2. My passion is in bringing people together and making connections of a strategic level, and 3. Education is something that I will be getting involved in a lot in 2011.
My TED experience ended with a road trip with Eric Berlow to LA, spending quality time sharing our passions on mapping connections, building communities, design and education. Only at TED, you'll get a chance to meet someone so similar but yet approaches from a totally different perspective. I am looking forward to the collaborations that are going to come out of the people I met.
I believe that it is of no coincidence that I got to where I got to, the hardship that I had to endure given me the time to reflect upon my life and recalibrate, the timing for this year's TED was impeccable and the people I had the privilege to meet made it the best TED ever. Thank you for everyone whom I met and hang out with.
