An inspiring, uplifting speech by comedy genius Jim Carrey

Hey!

A student told me pretty recently about this video with the comedy actor Jim Carrey giving some talk about the topic we discussed last week: success, motivation and failure.

While already quite familiar with Carrey- of course-, being a semi-fan of his (I know MANY people who hate his guts, his movies and all the stupid faces that he pulls, but he usually cracks me up!), I was completely unaware of this speech. I suggest you take your time and sit through it and make sure you understand every single word he says (it won't be complicated at all!), for every single second of the 6 minute video is worth it. I recommend watching this almost first thing in the morning, with your morning coffee, so you can get early that shot of positivity and may it accompany you throughout the day.

Enjoy!

What's been your biggest accomplishment so far?

We've been discussing lately the topic of accomplishment/achievement/attainment (add synonym here ;-), factors that may foster or impede it, and the importance of creating the right mindset.

With one of the C1 groups we actually had a super interesting conversation about my students' greatest accomplishments and the guys and girls came up with all kinds of poignant stories about personal growth, achievements in the face of difficulty, professional feats, successful family upbringing, realization and acceptance of family conflicts, etc... Really, really neat stories, I have to say.

I also spoke about my greatest achievement so far: well, an obvious pick would have been having earned my position for life in the job that I love in the last competitive exams (for secondary education, music and arts and language schools), held in 2015. I'm pretty sure that that is a turning point in any teacher's life and you bet I felt elated and- of course- relieved, as any one would. On those days circa July 2015 I spent 99% of the time on cloud nine and money happily spent on celebrating and buying the guys meals and drinks easily reached the four digits. Yeah, that may have been a highlight in the life of yours truly, but...

I wouldn't say that particular deed has been my greatest accomplishment. By doing so, I would have to admit that it would inevitably dwarf any other, later things achieved and I don't even feel that way. Believe me, getting your lifetime job is nothing compared to the complete realization that I will never stop learning new things and, with the right mindset, enjoying that journey. Having this full-on optimistic outlook on life makes me wanna jump every single day out of my bed and embrace new challenges and enjoy the ride in any goal- personal, professional, fitness and health-, leaving little room for despair and downheartedness. We will not last forever, unfortunately, so it is futile to cry over spilled milk and especially, over trivial things that do not matter that much at the end of the day. So, voila, that's been my greatest feat so far!

What about you? What has been YOUR biggest accomplishment?

Please, feel free to comment on the- duh- comments section

Enjoy!

What does your appearance say about you?- How I found out I was a hipster

In today's world, especially in semi-developed societies where the most basic needs are satisfied, people's "content" and "package" can't be completely dissociated: we all have our own values, attitudes towards life, love, family or work, political positioning, cultural/intellectual interests, things we consider to be priorities and other that we deem irrelevant and all of them might lead to different choices regarding, say, the newspaper we decide to read, the restaurants and bars we frequent, the clothes we decide to wear, our haircut and facial hair style, consumption habits (cell phones and electronic items....), etc. 

They say "function precedes form", and it may pretty well apply to this case as well. Even when someone brags about not following the trend like the hapless sheep, they are making a fashion statement, as it is important to them not to look like the rest, and therefore, they like looking in a certain way.

Read this interesting article on one of today's most easily recognizable urban trends.

How I found out I was a hipster

After having done so, you can discuss about the following issues:

- Do you think your appearance/ interests say something about you?

- Are you concerned at all about looking in a certain way/ having a particular kind of interests/ political and intellectual stance?

- Do you believe in first impressions? Have you ever been misled by one? Have some of your first impressions about certain people proven right?