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Home » Bert Jacobs: Do What You Like, Like What You Do at TEDxBeaconStreet (Transcript)

Bert Jacobs: Do What You Like, Like What You Do at TEDxBeaconStreet (Transcript)

Bert Jacobs

Here is the full transcript of Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life Is Good, on Do What You Like, Like What You Do at TEDxBeaconStreet Conference.

Listen to the MP3 Audio: Do What You Like, Like What You Do by Bert Jacobs at TEDxBeaconStreet

TRANSCRIPT: 

I’m honored to be here. I find these TED talks fascinating and inspiring. Some of these people, the speakers, are so smart that they just hurt my brain. I’m not going to hurt anybody’s brain. That’s my first promise.

Every day we have a choice when we wake up: We can focus on what’s wrong with our lives, or we can focus on what’s right with our lives.

In the next 10 minutes, I’m going to illustrate how focusing on what’s right with our lives, rather than what’s wrong with our lives, is the best way to fix what’s wrong with our lives. Moreover, focusing on what’s right with the world is the best way to fix what’s wrong with the world.

This is my nephew, Oliver. Oliver is 3 years old, and I went for a lunch date with him the other day. And so, I picked up Oliver. We live in downtown Boston. It was nice weather, so we went to a picnic table. That’s a picture of Oliver enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And so, that’s the end of my speech. Thank you.

So, Oliver – while I was getting the lunch out – jumped off the table and there was an elderly woman at a bench near us, very elderly woman. And before I could stop him, I thought maybe she was homeless, because her bag was a little bit dirty, and before I could stop him, Oliver introduced himself.

And the woman said, “How old are you?”

And Oliver said, “Guess.”

And she said, “I think you’re four.”

And he said, “I’m three and a half.