Translator: Zsuzsa Viola Reviewer: Tanya Cushman
"Where is it? Where is it?
Everybody, look around.
Search this whole castle upside down.
Keep looking and don't stop until you find it."
That evening, the Queen had lost her precious necklace.
In terror, all the soldiers, the servants, the maid were running in every corner,
and they really searched the whole castle upside down
to look for the precious necklace.
Nothing was found.
In the end, the Queen was so furious, everybody was so hopeless,
and just before they were about to give up,
the little princess appeared,
and she was surprised.
So she asked, "What happened, Mummy?"
And the Queen was so exhausted, she said,
"Somebody stole my necklace.
It can't be found."
Tilting her head a little, the little girl asked,
"Mummy, isn't it right there under your cheek?"
And to her greatest shock and embarrassment,
the Queen looked down at her neck
and realized that the necklace was there right from the beginning.
This was a very old story that has been told for thousands of years,
suggesting to us
that maybe the answer for our greatest search in life
probably has already been there right from the beginning.
But then you got to be calm, not panicked,
and instead of reaching out
probably reaching back in to rediscover it.
Well, and if that was a story many years ago,
fling it back to our greatest search today of this young generation.
What is our search for our generation, the young people today?
Maybe not a stable job and income like our parents.
Maybe not the big opportunities working in a huge company
like our elder brothers or sisters.
This generation today, we are searching for something deeper:
of connections.
We are searching for passions.
And this gracious search was inspired more than 10 years ago
by a very famous man
after one very famous speech at Stanford University.
Steve Jobs.
And in his great speech,
Steve Jobs emphasized one big lesson for all the young people.
He said, quote,
"You've got to find what you love.
And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life,
and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
If you haven't found it yet, keep looking!
Don't settle!"
So it started the huge movement
of our generation going out and searching for those big things:
our passions, a sense of mission.
Our generation today, I think we desire something more.
We want to make an impact,
a social impact, a political impact, even an environmental impact.
We want to believe that somehow we can make a difference.
So it's a beautiful thing.
And this speech was a very inspirational, inspiring, speech, indeed.
However, there's one big problem with this speech.
Maybe due to time constraints,
Steve Jobs only managed to urge the young people
to go out, to keep looking for that passion,
for that meaningful work.
He never shared with us how to do it.
(Laughing)
Oops, now here comes the problems.
We know that we've got to find it; it's so important, it's so precious.
We've got to find our passion in life,
but we don't know how we're going to find it,
where we can find it.
What does it look like?
Our teacher never teach about that in school,
and our parents don't even care.
And we were so pissed.
We were so furious.
And come on, this generation today, we are not a simple generation.
We are what we call the Buffalo youth generation.
(Laughing)
And this generation has a very interesting saying.
They say, "One is get bloody, don't ask about my daddy."
Did you know what I mean?
So this generation goes all the way out.
They really turn everything upside down and search for that beautiful passion.
I'm seeing students drop out from their study in school,
saying, "Not my passion."
I'm seeing young adults quitting their day job,
saying, "Not my passion."
I see a lot of new and young graduates don't even bother looking for jobs,
saying, "Not until I find my passion."
And they go all the way out.
They try anything, they do everything to look for it.
And when it's not around -
they don't see it in their house, in their school, in their office,
in their communities -
what will they do?
They put on their backpack and travel.
We really go all the way.
They climb the highest mountain; they track the deepest forest.
They're doing yoga, learning meditation courses,
talking to the gurus.
And seriously, I have nothing against all those experiences.
I think it's beautiful.
As long as your parents and yourself can afford it, and you love it, go for it.
It's beautiful.
However, it may not be the answer.
Of course, it will definitely give you a broadened perspective about the world,
but blowing away your responsibility
and going out and watching people living happily with their passion
might not teach you how to find your passion.
So this generation becomes disappointed.
You couldn't find it.
Right?
And again, well, that big search -
How do I search for my passion? -
becomes the greatest puzzle of our generation.
And I think it's a beautiful thing
that in the past 10 years
I have the opportunities to observe, to listen, to work
with more than 100,000 young people.
And through that process, eventually,
I think finally we may find the answer
to this greatest search.
And that is the idea I want to share right now with you -
the answer for this big question,
How do I search for my passion?
May I share it now?
(Audience) Yes.
(Applause)
All right.
(Applause)
So the answer for this big question,
How do I find my passion? is:
(Machine whirring sound)
Stop searching.
You won't find it.
(Laughing)
I know it's a little bit disappointing.
But it's a fact.
Why?
Imagine
when we human beings were first born,
none of us was born with a passion.
Come on.
Isn't it true?
It's impossible to expect a child, first born,
to be passionate about anything.
How could we expect him or her to be passionate about playing guitar,
about blockchain, about yoga, about public speaking
when they don't even know what it is?
(Applause)
When we were young
I think the only thing that we, probably, were passionate about
is our mom's tits.
(Laughter)
That's all.
So if in the beginning you don't have your passion in here,
how do you expect that you can find it out there?
So if we're going out,
the chance is that you end up copying the passions of others.
That's all.
So here comes the answer.
What if I tell you now
that the answer has been right there with you
right from the beginning?
What if I tell you
that the answer to this big question has been given to every child
when they were born?
It's a very powerful instinct of any child.
Without any education, without any learning,
they have that ability to do something very powerful.
And in fact, it's the very emotion that is burning right inside you right now
with all the questions in your head.
What is that ability of a child?
What is that?
(Audience) Curiosity.
Beautiful. That's right.
Curiosity.
Every child was born inquisitive,
full of curious.
And that's their instinct.
We all were born with that burning desire
to expand our understanding, our interactions with the world around us.
That's our instinct.
And it's there right from the beginning.
That's number one: it's instinctive.
And secondly, it's all different from one to another.
Today, if you put three children into the same room,
you later find out
that one child would be interested and curious about the colors, this face,
the other child would be curious about the shapes,
you know, the technologies,
and the last one would be crossing their arms
and watching the other two,
because he's curious about the feeling and thinking of the other two.
(Laughing)
So how come we are curious about very different things?
Why is it different?
Because we are all different.
We are all born different and unique.
You know, in a desire of our brain, of our senses,
of our upbringing, of our heritage.
So I believe that your curiosity is linked instinctively
to your very unique and different part inside.
So that is the seed.
And when we have this seed -
when you're full of curiosity and questions,
what would you do?
Cross your leg and wait? No.
What would you do?
You ask.
That's right - we inquire.
You know, you ask around, you seek some more information,
you do some research.
You know, "Hey, is that girl studying in the same class, really?"
"He's come from my hometown, really?"
"That technology, is it available in Vietnam,
and we have the whole club studying, experimenting it, really?"
Wow!
And then eventually, that curiosity turns into ...
interest.
When you have more information, you'll be interested about the matter.
And the beauty of our self-interests
is that in the minute you have a self-interest inside,
you're full of energy.
You're full of that new positive emotion.
Remember the last time you were interested in a new piece of technology,
maybe your latest phone,
and you just bought it?
What would you do?
You spend the whole night playing around with it
and at 2:00 a.m. don't feel tired, right?
(Audience) Yes.
That's the energy.
That's the persistence and excitement that I'm talking about.
Because now you're going to need that for the next step.
When you're full of energy, excitement - right - what are you going to do next?
You take actions.
You throw yourself into practice,
and this is the process of nurturing this interest
into the next thing called passions.
Now, you start to love it,
practice until you fall in love with it.
And isn't it beautiful?
But this process is easier said than done.
Right?
Well, anybody who has ever practiced anything new would know this.
When you first start doing something,
do you feel joy, passion, love immediately?
No.
When you first start doing something, nobody is talented and good at anything.
Nobody is passionate about anything.
Well, in this room is there anybody who have ever tried playing the guitar?
All right.
Then you would understand what I mean.
When you're first playing the guitar, how would you feel?
Passionate, love, excitement?
No? Yes?
No.
You feel pain.
(Laughter)
Pure pain.
Right, when you've got to press your finger against the steel string,
it's so painful.
You want to cry.
And how about the music that you create?
Is it beautiful?
Is it touching, moving?
No. It's horrible.
And that's a fact.
All right.
At this very point, most people would give up
unless you're really interested in that subject,
unless you're really interested
in that instrument, in that technology, in that relationship.
Then you will persist.
Then you will have the energy, the persistence, the excitement
to balance up with the pain and disappointment.
By then you can overcome the entry barrier of any new thing.
And then eventually, it reaches a point where you start to enjoy playing it.
It reaches a point when you don't feel pain anymore
and you start to create something beautiful.
It reaches a point
where you can play your guitar for one hour straight
and enjoy every single bit of it.
Even when you play alone.
That is called passion.
Right.
And along comes with passions,
well, you have a byproduct of that process,
which is a new talent.
By then, through all the process of practicing, you develop a new talent.
And what's a talent?
A talent is something that you can do better than most people.
Not because you were born with it,
but because you are more curious, more interested;
you deposit more energies,
more practice, more determinations, emotion than anybody else,
and that's why you deserve that special talent.
Well, we come to the third stage.
And now, it's very natural.
When you have that talent,
now you can play the guitar and enjoy it, playing even on your own.
What would you naturally want to do?
(Audience) Share.
Share it, express it.
You want to sing it to your friends, you know.
And the minute you use your talent and your passions -
express it and touching people -
the minute you start singing your song, playing your guitar tune
and seeing the people, the audience that's smiling, moving into your melodies,
you realize that not only you can enjoy playing the guitar;
you can also make a difference to others.
That's when you realize your mission.
A mission may sound like a big word;
however, it's simply the unique difference
you can bring to others,
to your friends or your family, to your customers, to your communities.
And this is the whole process of nurturing your passions, your talents
and discover and connect with your mission.
Well, so to sum it up, I think it's that simple.
But today, instead of going out, I would encourage you to go back
and start this whole new journey
of listening to your curiosity and pursuing it.
You don't need to explain about your seed, about your curiosity.
You don't need to compare it with others to prove it is better.
And you don't need to justify it
with all the market demand, with all the technology - no.
You have faith in your curiosity
and pursue it.
So ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to close my speech with one simple quote
from Albert Einstein, saying,
"I have no special talents.
I am only passionately curious."
So today, I urge you guys to go back and restart your journey.
Not to reach out but to reach in,
to listen to your purest sense of curiosity and boldly pursue it.
So as you go back home today
and plan for your new, unique journey of your life,
I wish all of you two things:
stay curious and stay passionate.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)