Life at the Intersection of Excellence, 目的, 和激情
Adapted from my TED Talk “Excellence, 目的, 和激情,(本月晚些时候可以在网上找到)，以及我上周对学生们的欢迎致辞.
在我同学开始演讲的那一刻，我就知道我要被羞辱了.
我三十出头，在一个为有抱负的新学校领导开设的班级里. 作业是:“准备并出示你所在学校学生成绩的证明。,作为一所著名表演和视觉艺术高中的资深教师和年轻行政人员, I was excited to advocate for the arts and an arts education. (我承认，我也急于展示几十张非常酷的年轻人做史诗般的工作的照片.)
急切的, 我这辈子就这么一次, to actually do some homework, 我为我的演讲做了准备，就像在大学里练习钢琴一样. 当演讲日到来的时候，我受到了鼓舞，我准备好了，我很自信. That all changed the instant the first presenter began.
Remember the feeling 你 got in school when 你 were handing in a test, 当一切都来不及改变的时候你意识到自己做错了? 这就是我的感受.
在回答“出示你在学校的学生成绩证明”的提示时,” my classmates were showing things like this:
直到那时我才明白，“学生成绩”这个词通常是“考试成绩”的委婉说法,那天的主持人都明白，他们的工作是展示他们学校的学生在各种国家规定的标准化考试中的表现.
我惊慌失措. Even though our students tended to do 真的 well on standardized tests, 我从来没有想过要用这些数据来证明他们“取得”了什么.
我几乎没有听到大发彩票平台百分位数和标准的讨论，而我拼命地想要弄清楚该怎么做. 我认真考虑过装病，假装我的笔记本电脑坏了，甚至干脆离开.
But it was too late: it was my turn. I decided to just embrace it: ours has never been a typical school, and our students have never done “typical” work. In order to demonstrate “student achievement” in my school, I showed this:
This is a frame from a film made by Alex, who was (at the time) an 11th-grader in our Media 艺术 department. The film is called “A Starry Night,” and tells the story of a little boy whose mother has recently died. He lives in a bleak apartment with his father, and the two of them are trying — at times, desperately — to figure out how to be a family without Mom.
The little boy is obsessed with the idea of space travel. He spends his days dressed in a space suit playing with his spaceship toys; before bed time he stares out the windows, fixated on the stars in the night sky.
He longs to escape: literally, 来自地球, and symbolically from the crushing weight of the loss he feels.
The film is brilliantly effective. It’s simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful, bittersweet and joyful. 首映式上，观众有哭有笑，每个人都被亚历克斯惊人的同理心所感动.
By any measure 那 matters, the film was a success.
作为一名艺术老师，我认为这部电影在技术和美学上都是顶级作品, 它超出了一个人可能在标题中表达的任何要求. The school administrator in me marveled at how, in the making of the film, Alex demonstrated all of the so-called “21st Century Skills” — leadership, 协作, and creativity — 那 你ng people will need to be able to get jobs. 但最重要的是, 我内心的人性认识到亚历克斯的工作最真实的一面:不懈追求卓越的结果, in the context of finding purpose and feeling passion.
卓越、目标和激情:这些可能是学生成就的更好证据?
到那时为止, I had forgotten all about the dread I felt earlier, the shame in not having any spreadsheets, the fear of failing the assignment. I was caught up in the moment, still touched by Alex’s work. 这是, until one of my classmates — a principal at another school — said, “I just don’t see how any of this is relevant. None of this is the real world. It’s like 你’re all living in a fairy tale.”
直到今天，我都在想:什么时候卓越、目标和激情变成了“童话”??
For decades at The Chicago Academy for the 艺术, 我一次又一次亲眼目睹了当年轻人学会做他们认为重要的事情时会发生什么, do things 那 they deeply enjoy doing, and do things 那 they are inspired to do 真的 well.
They become people like Alex, whose powerfully empathetic storytelling about the dynamics of family, 隔离, 而失去——在日常生活和全球大发彩票平台登录的背景下——在高中毕业后很久还在继续打动着观众.
亚历克斯Girav的 塔克西姆广场
They become people like Amari, who has learned to not only defy gravity physically, but to defy the gravitational pull of “average.18岁时，他已经成立了一个非营利组织，将舞蹈的快乐带给那些受苦的人. He is currently in his first year at Juilliard.
They become people like Maria, whose mission to “educate, 治愈, and inspire” has driven her to open music schools in two states. She recently was awarded a major “Educator of the Year” award.
And they become people like Justin, who is not only one of the most sought-after songwriters in the world today, but also an advocate and activist promoting inclusion, 平等, and diversity in the music industry and beyond.
这四位艺术家——以及过去二十年来与他们同行的数百位艺术家——教会了我，我们会找到最好的自己, and we live our best lives, in the pursuit of excellence, at the intersection of purpose and passion.
我们最好的生活是当我们醒来时，对我们面前的一天充满渴望, because it’s more interesting than sleep; when we spend our time in a state of “flow” doing things 那 have personal and public meaning; when we collapse exhausted at the end of the day, 不想逃避, 而是因为知道我们努力把困难的事情做得很好而感到满足.
Everyone should know what this feels like.
然而, many of us struggle to live our best lives, 因为我们相信我们头脑中的声音(或者房间里的声音)告诉我们我们的极限. The voice 那 says, “你 不会写 书.” Or, “你 can’t run a 马拉松.” Or, “你 can’t start a 业务.” The voice 那 says, “你 不能快乐. 你 can’t make a difference. 你 can’t change the world.”
Many of us struggle to live our best lives, 因为我们在寻找错误的东西:我们被欺骗了，以为“成功”意味着“更多”:更多的钱, 更高的地位, 还有更多的东西. We’re conditioned to be “practical,而对很多人来说，“务实”意味着避开那些真正给我们生活带来快乐的事情.
我们中的许多人都在努力过上最好的生活，因为我们生活在对不适的恐惧中. We avoid the difficult conversation, the painful self-reflection, or the scary risk 那 might lead to failure. 而不是, we embrace instant gratification 我们无休止地 scroll, 我们无休止地购物, 我们无休止地... 解决.
但还是有办法的.
在帮助不同年龄的人学习如何实现梦想的漫长职业生涯中, 我开始相信，要过上最好的生活，有三个关键因素:
拒绝平庸. 要明白，一旦你开始真正挑战你的极限，大多数你认为是你的极限的东西都是幻觉，它们会消失. 问题是，面对我们的“极限”是困难的、不舒服的，而且常常是可怕的. Embrace the discomfort necessary for doing hard things 真的 well. Don’t 解决: there’s magic on the other side.
Allow 你rself to dream big and set ridiculous goals. 当我们带着好奇心对待每一天时，目标和激情就会出现, 开放, 和反射. 让你的旅程成为你的头等大事，每天问自己:我该做什么 真的 想要? 为什么 我想要吗?? 我说的是实话吗?
It may help to imagine 那 the older version of 你 already exists, and 那 they can write 你 a letter. 你迫切希望今天就开始做某事? Spend as much time as 你 can doing 那.
3. Never allow 你r happiness to be contingent “achieving” anything. The novelty of accomplishment wears off shockingly fast, and when “new” becomes “normal,” we’re emotionally right back where we started.
而不是, fall in love with the 旅程，并与 过程. Do 你 想要 to write a novel? Learn to love showing up at the page every single day. Do 你 想要 to run 马拉松s? 学会寻找快乐 的某个地方 in every early-morning or late-night training mile. Do 你 想要 to start a nonprofit? 你能连续多少天抽出一三个小时来调整你的计划，使之有所作为?
今天，我向你们提出挑战:拒绝平庸，拒绝极限，胸怀大志，热爱这段旅程. May we all find excellence, purpose, and passion.