Translator: Yentl Delanhesi Reviewer: Maricene Crus
Hello!
What I am about to tell you is nothing epic,
not a big project or idea,
not anything that will break a paradigm in 15 minutes,
which is the time I'll spend talking to you.
My talk is much more about a process,
a discovery.
Something that, at the same time that has been the object of my research,
also has been something I've been feeling
and truly experiencing in my daily basis.
Everything starts when I, a specialist,
but also a representative of the Generation Y,
-- which will manage and take care of the planet
in a very near future --
realized two things:
first, that I am, that I can,
and I that I have to be normal.
And, second:
to think about a retirement plan means to plan about the past,
mine and the world's.
By the time I realized that in theory and practice,
I noticed, as you also may have,
that this contradicts three of the main characteristics
the specialists assign to the Gen-Y.
Number one: that we think we are special.
Number two: that we only work and do things that are pleasant to us
or that we like.
And, third: that we are consumerists
and the things we possess already represent who we are.
And the specialists are correct about it.
Even more when they say that those three attributes
are the cause for the constant frustration the Gen-Y feels.
What I have been discovering, learning,
is that exactly when we subvert
each one of those codes,
when we hack each one of those characteristics,
that is the moment when we find the real potential of things, projects,
environments and, maybe, of ourselves.
So, I invite everyone to be a hacker,
being a Gen-Y or not,
to subvert the first code, that is to "feel special".
When we come off the pedestal,
we automatically make amends with the world and with ourselves.
First, because the expectations
that the world and we have of ourselves disappear.
That allows us, then, to fail,
to ask for help, to experiment,
to say, "I don’t know"...
The most beautiful thing to me about stepping off the pedestal,
about making this move,
is that we stop demanding and expecting recognition from the world.
We don't expect attention, comfort and readiness from others.
We stop thinking that our well-being is someone else's job.
With that, comes responsibility.
By the time I see myself as common being,
with that comes a sense of community.
It means that I belong to a group,
in which I am free,
but I'm also very dependent on the others,
and they are also totally dependent on me.
The second code to be hacked,
is about only working on things we like, appreciate and enjoy.
First of all, that does not exist,
mainly because, nowadays, it is hard to get in tune with our inner voice.
There is so much noise, superficialities,
and expectations surrounding us.
It's hard to decode what we really want.
I had an experience in my life,
when I had been planning for a few years,
already having a thriving career,
but I couldn’t help feeling frustrated.
Neither myself, nor anyone, could find explanation for that.
In order to understand that, I made a brave move
and I ejected myself from that system.
As soon as I did it, though I felt relieved,
I was quickly taken over by an emptiness feeling.
It was as though I had found a magic lamp, rubbed it,
and the genie asked me, "What do you really want now?
You are free!"
I didn't know that answer.
I wish I had the certainty to say,
"Now I can be a singer, which has always been my dream!"
"No, I've always wanted to be a biologist and this is the time."
"I'll learn Mandarin and travel the world because that's what I can do."
But no... still no answers.
My biggest learning was:
we don't solve frustration by denying the system,
or the things we don’t like.
It's not departing from one extreme and going to another,
or leaving a label and finding another that will compensate for the previous one.
The move is to, generously and bravely,
accept and penetrate the system,
into what is common, ordinary, normal…
By doing that, we learn how it works.
We get the knowledge to properly break it into pieces and subvert it.
Once based on our good intentions,
those pieces from the system that we subvert,
we are able to rebuild our own microsystem.
We can change our routine, our way of interacting with other people.
Since we're part of a big net, in a big engine,
whenever we deconstruct our little world
and genuinely start rebuilding it,
the pieces around us also start organising themselves organically.
A potential chain reaction.
When we go to the third code,
to be hackers and deconstruct it,
we talk about the consumerism.
I don’t think it is a bad thing.
It's only unhealthy when the consuming process
works as a shield against the world,
as visual shields, like things I buy and possess
that tell the world the way I want to be perceived.
But also emotional shields,
when exchanging "moneys" for "things" works as a shortcut
to cover my emotional and vulnerability issues,
that are so essential for anyone’s personal growth.
[Some years ago], I also had a great experience
when I moved from a big city to a small town abroad
and I thought about my routine, because in that phase of readaptation
we try to cling to things that are basic for our well-being.
But soon I realized that many of the things
I used to spend money with were only to compensate old patterns
I'd never questioned, but thought were basic.
How much did I have to pay for an expensive gym
to compensate ten hours of sitting down in front of a computer, in the office,
with the AC on?
Or how much did I have to spend with doctors and medicines
to treat my gastritis when I was the one not eating well and all stressed out?
Or how much did I have to pay for clothes because I didn't want to repeat outfits?
But I was the one who used to go to the same places,
and meet always the same people!
Or how much time did I spend and saved money
to go on amazing vacations
when I was the one who used to spend 11 months
working and thinking about projects that were not exciting to me?
It's very interesting to do this exercise because it is not about cutting costs
or reducing the budget. That comes as a consequence.
In fact, that shows us that a mindful, simpler and more minimalistic life
can be richer, more abundant and efficient.
When we do that, we get our freedom back, we feel lighter and independent;
we can easily transit and flow through new projects, experiences, and places.
In this new model, the currency is different.
So, when I started realizing
that I could hack some programming codes about who I was,
and during those hard moments I was feeling fulfilled,
I started to perceived a new lifestyle.
These three codes, in a way,
I always checked whenever I had to make a decision
in my everyday life.
Those same values that helped me to adjust my focus [on the world],
making me sensitive to recognize, attract and create
the opportunities I wanted to embrace.
And these were the values that helped understand
the new metrics and indicators for: what makes someone successful?
What makes a process successful?
And also a new definition for "wealth": what does it mean to be "rich"?
When I realized that a new lifestyle was getting into shape in front of me,
it was also turning me into a more ethical, aesthetical,
processual and ecological human being, but not because it was trendy,
or based on an ideology, a ready-made label.
The reason is: that's the way the game works.
It's a requirement and a consequence.
The moment I start living by those values, I become more ethic,
because I am aware of the autonomy and dependence on all elements.
Even if the people surrounding me are not in the same game,
the moment I understand that I have to be transparent and responsible,
that I should think and not try to compensate,
I realize that things become much easier and more gratifying.
Trying to play smart in this system means wasting energy and time.
One minute I'll be confabulating about the best way to take advantage of others,
and the next, I'll be defensive and suspicious,
because someone will be taking advantage of me.
I become mindful about aesthetics and processes,
because more than valuing a single final product or an accomplishment,
we begin to appreciate the beauty of the process itself.
We add a fourth dimension to each word spoken and heard,
to each project [we do], each journey...
This fourth dimension is the time and not its speed,
but the time as a process, a story.
When we observe each thing and try to understand its meaning,
and how it got there,
we open a way to innovation, to creativity and collaboration.
We become more connected to nature.
Nowadays, we go straight to Google when we have a question,
but nature is the most advanced technology.
It has been 4.5 billion years of success and failure,
trial and error.
Nature is the most advanced technology, it's a library!
If we are talking about nature, transformation and evolution,
nature itself teaches us:
it is the environment that determines who will survive.
And though I'm still young, this is maybe the tip I want to give to you,
because that's what my story has been teaching me.
If we really want to make any kind of change,
or trace new paths,
we ought to put ourselves in environments
that will be constantly inspiring us and putting us up to the test.
As a Gen-Yer, it hurts to admit that those environments
must not be comfort zones.
To get out of those zones doesn't mean to make the decision and talk about it,
and it will vanish in a second and a new life appears in front of us.
It's a trade, actually, of a frustration feeling,
combined with predictability and comfort,
for a new combo of feelings of dedication, vulnerability,
responsibility, but lots of achievements.
In practice, changing jobs or cities won’t be enough to force that decision.
It needs to be felt, encouraged
every single day, maybe while you brush your teeth.
Moving from São Paulo to Miami,
or moving from Los Angeles to a small town in the rural area of Brazil,
in an Art Museum is just part of a big choice.
What's relevant is our decision about what sort of stimulus, people
and experiences we are willing to face in that specific moment [of our lives].
Then, to love that decision, because the moment we love our decisions,
we instantly get a package filled with pleasures and problems.
The moment we love that package of our eventual experiences,
we carry it as a backpack throughout our new paths,
and those things lose their good or bad connotations.
They start to be seen as opportunities so we can interact, learn, teach,
have new stories to tell, and make new friends.
By loving the pleasures and problems of our choices,
we allow ourselves to be constantly modified
as well as to modify the places
and the people we interact with along the way.
That's why planning my retirement doesn't make much sense to me.
Why investing the resources and energy I have now
in a package of problems and pleasures
that will I only experience in a few decades from now?
In fact, the concern is about not the retirement itself,
but about that gap between what I plan and envision now,
and the moment I will actually experience it.
It was after that hard realization, that I started designing and truly
living my retirement plan,
which means, letting go of some patterns to genuinely find my well-being.
I believe that by embracing that perspective
I, automatically, reverberate that to those next to me,
and demanding it from them.
This is will be a transformation for you, for others
and, as a result, we can achieve the common good.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)