you may know this feeling you wake up to
multiple unread notifications on your
mobile phone you calendars are packed
with meetings sometimes double or triple
booked you feel engaged you feel busy in
fact if you're productive by the end of
it or something still feels missing you
try to figure out what it is but before
you do the next day starts all over
again
that was how I felt two years ago I felt
stressed I feel anxious I felt a bit
trapped the world around me was moving
very quickly and I didn't know what to
do I started wondering to myself how do
I keep up with all this how do we find
fulfilment in a world that's literally
changing as fast as we can think or
maybe even faster I started looking for
answers I spoke to many people I spoke
to my friends I spoke to my families I
even read many self-help books but I
couldn't find anything satisfactory in
fact the more self-help books I read the
more stressed and anxious I became it
was like I was feeding my mind with junk
food and I was becoming mentally obese I
was about to give up until one day I
found this the daodejing the book of the
way and its virtues this is an ancient
Chinese philosophy classic that was
written more than 2600 years ago and it
was by far the thinnest and the smallest
book on the bookshelf he only had 81
pages and each page had a short poem I
remember I flicked through one
particular poem here it is it's
beautiful isn't it
let me read it out to you the supreme
goodness is like water it benefits all
things with our contention indwelling it
stays grounded in being it flows to
deaths in expression it is honest in
confrontation it stays
gentle in governance it does not control
any action Airlines two-timing it is
content with this nature and therefore
cannot be faulted Wow I remember when I
first read this passage I felt the
biggest chills down my spine I still
feel that today reading it to you guys
my anxiety and stress just suddenly
disappeared ever since that day I've
been trying to apply the concepts in
this passage to my day-to-day life and
today I'd like to share with you three
lessons I learned so far from this
philosophy of water three lessons that I
believe have helped me find greater
fulfillment in almost everything that I
do the first lesson is about humility if
we think about water flowing in a river
it is always staying low it helps other
plants grow and keeps all the animals
alive it doesn't actually join the
attention to itself
now there's there any any reward or
recognition it is humble but without
waters humble contribution life as we
know it may not exist
what is humility taught me a few
important things it taught me that
instead of acting like I know what I'm
doing I have all the answers it's
perfectly okay to say I don't know I
want to learn more and I need your help
it also taught me that instead of
promoting my glory and success it is so
much more satisfying to promote the
success in glory of others it taught me
that instead of doing things that I can
get ahead it is so much more fulfilling
and meaningful to help other people
overcome their challenges so they can
succeed
with a humble mindset I was able to form
a lot richer connections with the people
around me I became not genuinely
interested in the stories and
experiences that make them unique and
magical life became a lot more fun
because every day I'll discover new
quirks new ideas and new solutions a
problem I didn't know before all thanks
to the ideas and help from others all
streams eventually flow to the ocean
because it is lower than them
humility gives water its power but I
think it gives us the capacity to remain
grounded to be present to learn from and
be transformed by the stories of the
people around us the second lesson I
learned is about how many if we think
about water flowing towards rock it
would just flow around it it doesn't get
upset it does it get angry
it doesn't get agitated in fact doesn't
feel much at all when faced with an
obstacle somehow water finds a solution
without force without conflict when I
was thinking through this every game to
understand why I was feeling stressed
out in the first place instead of
working in harmony with my environment
I was working against it I was forcing
things to change because I was consumed
by the need to succeed or to prove
myself in the end nothing did and I got
more frustrated by simply shifting my
focus to trying to achieve more success
to which I've trying to achieve more
harmony I was immediately able to feel
calm and focused again a starting asking
question like will this action bring
Meeker in harmony and bring more harmony
to my environments this is aligned to my
nature I became more comfortable simply
being Who I am rather than who I'm
supposed to be or expected to be what
actually became easier because I stopped
focusing on things that I cannot control
and only on the things that I can I
stopped fighting with myself and I
learned to work with my environment to
solve its problems
nature does not hurry yet everything is
accomplished bestowed urgings way of
describing the power of harmony just as
water is able to find a solution with
our force or conflict I believe we can
find a greater sense of fulfillment in
our endeavors our shifting focus from
achieving more success to achieving more
harmony the third lesson I learned from
the philosophy of water
it's about openness water is open to
change depending on the temperature it
can be a liquid solid or gas depending
on the medium it's in it can be a teapot
a cup or flower vase in fact its waters
ability to adapt and change and remain
flexible that made it so enduring
through the ages despite all the changes
in the environment we also live in a
world today of constant change we can no
longer expect to work to a static job
description or follow a single career
path we too are expected to constantly
reinvent and refresh our skills to stay
relevant in our organization will host a
lot of hackathons where small groups of
individuals come together to solve a
business problem in a compressed time
frame and what's interesting to me is
that the team that usually wins are not
the one with the most experienced team
members but the ones with members who
are open to learn who are open to
unlearn and who are open to helping each
other
navigate through the changing
circumstances life is like a hackathon
in some way it's calling to each and
every one of us to step up to open up
and cause a ripple effect now we can
stake behind closed doors and continue
to be paralyzed by our self-limiting
beliefs such as I'll never be able to
talk about Chinese philosophy in front
of a huge audience or we can just open
up and enjoy the ride it can only be an
amazing experience so humility harmony
and openness those are the three lessons
I learned from the philosophy of water
so far they
nicely abbreviated to h h o or h2o and
they have become my guiding principles
in life so nowadays whenever I feel
stressed unfulfilled anxious or just not
sure what to do I simply ask the
question what would what to do this
simple and powerful question inspire by
a book written long before the days of
Bitcoin fintechs and digital technology
has changed my life for the better try
it and let me know how it works for you
I would love to hear from you thank you
[Applause]
[Music]