Transcriber: Paulina Konstancja Reviewer: Denise RQ
I probably should have been more prepared,
I'm trying to figure out where I want to go.
Past 18 months, on April 1st, April Fool's of last year,
I left behind business that was my identity.
I had been there since I was 15, I had seen all the advertisements,
I'd seen everything the world throws at us
that says: "If you don't get that house and that money you won't be happy.
If you don't get that raise, you won't be happy."
I had everything.
I thought that when I had that, that I'd be immensely happy.
And I wasn't.
I was sitting on the edge of my bed,
with more money than 99% of the people on the face of this planet,
with everything I thought that if I got, that I'd be happy,
in tears, asking my wife what the hell happened.
April 1st of last year is when everything changed.
I need to tell you something on the side note
because I need to let you know who I am as a person
so it's going to make sense what I did is beyond insane for me.
I lived at home till I was 28, in a little 1,000-square-foot home,
with my parents, because I liked security.
I'm a mama's boy. I'm a pansy. I like to know what's going on.
I don't like change.
I don't like anything that I have done in the past 18 months.
Painting a good picture? Good.
(Laughter)
One of the things I'd left for
was the fulfillment we all are searching for.
One of the other things I left for
was my immense curiosity as to why the hell we do what we do.
Why am I on stage? Why does it matter if people Pay It Forward?
Why does it matter with everything that is going on? Why does it matter?
And the reason I actually do speak,
because I get really nervous and I really don't like to speak that much
is I'm hoping that I will get answers from people from the crowd,
from listening to these other TED talk speakers.
One of the only things that was universal
from the people we met all across the world in the past 18 months,
oh, and by the way, I don't like to fly,
so this world traveling thing is really driving me crazy.
One of the universal things that all came down
to rich, poor, fat, young, skinny, black, white, red, all the people,
the only thing that was universal we all want this world to be better.
We all want things to be better than they are now. That's it.
That's the only thing that came out
of hundreds if not thousands of meetings, Skype calls, face-to-face, whatever.
Everyone wants things to be better
for the next generation, for their kids, for themselves, for their family.
One of the things, I believe, we absolutely do not need
is another self-help book.
I believe that industry, I'm sorry, I just have to get it out,
has done more harm than good; OK, that's another subject.
What we do need, in my personal opinion,
is a movement that allows all 7 billion people to be a part of it.
What we do need is a movement
that doesn't have a religious affiliation, a political or a country affiliation,
that does not have a color of skin affiliation.
We need a movement that is absolutely, positively neutral,
has no side-effects, has no ulterior motives,
has something that no matter who you are on the face of this planet,
you can be a part of.
Whether you have money, whether you don't,
we need something that everyone can wake up tomorrow,
look to the person next to them and make their day better.
What we need is a simple way
for the tens of millions of people on the face of this planet
that want to make this world better but don't know what to do.
We need something for them to get started very easily, very simple.
We need something that can allow them no excuses
as to why they can't wake up and do something.
We need a movement that removes every excuse
that you would ever thought possible
as to why you didn't pull over and help that person on the side of the road,
why you didn't hold that door open,
because that person was 5 feet behind you instead of right behind you.
We need to remove all human excuse.
What we need is a movement that doesn't beg you for money.
We need a movement that is simple.
One that creates very intimate moments between two people.
That, when that happens, you remember every intricate detail
of that happening, of that day, of that time of your life.
If I were to ask anyone in this room when you got that car, that raise,
when you bought that house, when you got that new dog,
that physical possession thing
that you believed was going to make you happy,
you probably won't be able to tell me within a week, a month, a year,
when you had that.
But if I asked you, back when you were a teenager,
you were having a tough day, the world was against you.
And you just had a day you just didn't feel cool or good,
and you had someone come up, make your day better, make you smile,
gave you just a tiny bit of that glimmer of hope
that you needed to get to the next day,
you would be able to tell me every intricate detail of that day,
the weather, what you were wearing, the smells, everything,
good, bad hair day, every little detail you can tell me.
The stories people tell us from across the globe are those simple stories.
They never talk about physical possessions.
They never talk about money.
They always talk about a day when someone made their day better. That's it.
What we need, I believe, is a movement
that doesn't have a guru that you need to follow.
A guru that puts on events and thousands of people come
and spend thousands of dollars and they worship them.
We don't need another book.
We don't need another guru, another expert.
We don't need another person who claims they know the answers,
because we don't know.
We have people who can claim that they know. They claim.
A lot of people have those answers, but they don't.
I don't have any of those answers.
I continue to hear people saying they want to change the world.
I don't want to change the world.
I just want to make it just a tiny bit better.
Imagine, tomorrow, if a billion people woke up
just a tiny bit nicer than they were the day before.
I'm not asking a terrible person to be all of a sudden an angel.
I'm just asking for a tiny bit.
Imagine what those billions of people, --everyone can participate in this--
imagine what that would do to your commute to work, to school,
the next time you are at the grocery store,
the next time someone cuts you off in traffic
maybe you won't flip them off and honk your horn.
What that would do, those little, tiny things?
I don't know what happens next. I don't have an answer for that.
I just was a person that had everything.
I was miserable. I didn't understand why.
I still do not understand why.
I'm searching for answers. I'm unbelievably curious.
I believe the simplicity of this movement
can inch us back in a better direction.
That's it.
Now, what I'm talking is the Pay It Forward movement.
What I'm talking about is a simple act of you doing something nice to someone
and instead of them returning the favour, they do it for someone in the future.
I watched the movie at the age of 20. It impacted me;it just changed everything.
The very fact that I can do something for someone
and I didn’t have to have that awkward moment
as how they are going to pay me back,
or give me my money but they didn't and we have to fight.
I loved that I could do something for someone and get on with my life
and they can go and do something for someone else,
and my little act can impact thousands, if not tens of thousands of people,
across the globe, that I will never, ever meet.
In the lobby --some of you already have this--
Do you have the bracelets on? Pay it Forward bracelet?
OK, some of you do, some of you don't. There's more in the lobby.
Four or five years ago we created this bracelet as a reminder.
Facebook, Twitter, cellphones.
We're just buried in text, we're buried in everything digital.
Personally, my personal opinion,
Facebook and Twitter, amazing for connecting and spreading the word
but it is ripping the soul out of humanity.
The very...
(Applause)
The very fact
that we're just letting people off the hook with that;
just because they retweeted something
--God, I just so pissed off here--
just because retweeted something or reshared a Facebook post
lets them sleep at night.
We need
--I'm not going to say the F word here, because my wife would kill me--
we need action.
We need physical action. We need face-to-face contact.
We need to be able to touch the person we've just helped.
We don't need instant gratification
because you sent a quote from Gandhi on your Facebook
and you got 60 quotes and you feel good about yourself.
That doesn't mean shit!
(Laughter) (Applause)
Back, OK, all right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I completely lost my train of thought.
(Laughter)
The bracelet was created as a reminder,
as you are driving to work,
as you hold open the door, as your hands do what you do best.
"It's my turn."
I'm not asking for money.
I'm not asking you to change your diet
or to leave your job like I did.
I'm not asking you for anything.
But on your day to day life process of whatever the hell you do,
when you grab that door, drive in your car, when you are doing whatever,
that this reminds you to do something nice for someone.
Smile. I don't care. Hold the door.
I'm not asking for anything that anyone in this room cannot do.
I want simple, little, tiny things.
Right now is that time of the year when everyone starts caring
about homelessness only on Thanksgiving and Christmas,
and because we fed them it's going to save them throughout the year.
I'm not talking about the time of the year when everyone else cares.
I'm talking about 365 days a year when no one is looking.
We need more. We need things to be better.
Everyone in this room is going to agree that you want the world to be better.
The world is going to get better
by the day-to-day things you do when no one is looking
with your friends, your family members and with the strangers.
Reminder. When you do something nice for someone, here's the difference.
You are physically going to take this bracelet off
and you are going to hand it to the person you've just helped.
That's the human connection.
That's that intimate moment between two strangers.
That's the thing we physically need,
to look someone in the eye and say, "This is why I did this."
"I'm not hitting on you. I'm not trying to sell you insurance.
I don't have an ulterior motive."
"I woke up today, I saw a human being who needed help,
I decided to be the other human who could help. It's your turn next."
There's no giver, there's no receiver.
It's a level paying field. No one is feeling like a charity case.
Because when you Pay It Forward, you do something for someone and say:
"Hey! It's your turn in the future," it's a leveled playing field.
Everyone feels okay taking it, everyone feels okay giving
because they get to do the same thing that you just did for them
for someone in the future.
That's the power of this movement.
That's the reason 1.7 million of these have made their way to a 123 countries
with no marketing, no advertising.
And that is the reason that I believe in our history books.
And it won't be in a history book
it will be an iPad 17 or some type of a holographic page,
that your kid's kids will talk about.
I think the movement will impact billions of people because of its simplicity.
I believe, this movement
has the ability to not change the world, but to simply make it better.
I didn't tell you anything you don't know. I didn't ask you for anything much.
All I'm asking right now is to put the bracelets.
Next couple of days, the next week, do something nice for someone.
You get to choose who, when, where, why you do it.
Do something nice for someone. Pass on the bracelet.
I want you to remember how it feels when you were a kid
when you did something just because you wanted to do it.
Secondly, when you do something for that person,
I want you to see and truly understand how disconnected this world has become
when you hold the door open and you get tears out of a grown adult.
I want you to see what is happening to this planet,
to the people and to the future of humanity.
Will you Pay It Forward for me? Audience: Yes.
I'm done. Thank you.
(Applause)