Tim Ferriss-2-Smash fear, learn
TED演讲：Tim Ferriss: Smash fear, learn anything
test 尝试做新鲜事，你会紧张害怕吗？Tim给我们的方法是来问问自己"What's the worst that could happen?"It is all you need to learn to do anything.
延伸：8 TED Talks to Help You Overcome Your Fear of Failure 来源：Entrepreneur
延伸的翻译版：这8个TED演讲告诉你如何克服对失败的恐惧
演讲原文：简单分析
开头，讲自己故事经历
从两岁时，精力充沛，自信的小孩；
到七岁的一件事，对游泳产生了恐惧；
最后到去年八月克服恐惧，在海里游上一公里。
这个巨大转变能吸引人们注意，引起共鸣，毕竟从自信-恐惧，很多人都有过；自信-恐惧-克服，值得我们学习，去听下去了。
而且很棒的是绿巨人这个比喻，一个隐喻主线，贯穿全演讲。看演讲也发现这也成了一个笑点，也是一个更形象具体的描述，更能被人记住。
讲完故事，吸引大家注意之后，开始讲游泳技巧了。
结论先行 希望演讲结束时，在场的各位都能感觉像绿巨人。具体来说我希望你能觉得你有能力成为一个优秀的长距离游泳健将， 一个世界级的语言学者， 和一个探戈冠军。简单说就是Smash fear, learn anything。
分点：三点最好。
大三点 1-游泳 2-语言 3-交谊舞 ps：其实我还想知道他怎么成为散打冠军的%>_<%
游泳：首要原则-不要被错误的概念和未经测试的假设所拖累。
下面就是先说错误学习方式，再说正确学习。
全新法则总结：
1-：忘掉错误的踢腿。正确：让你的下身拖在你上身之后，这里用了一个比喻，就像高速公路上跟在大车后面的小车一样，如果要用比喻就要能解释清楚，这里很新鲜很形象。-就是不游在水面上
2-当游自由式时，你并不是想大多数人想象的 浮在水面上，面朝下地游--而是从右流线型到 左流线型地交替 尽可能久地保持那个身体姿势
3-呼吸，游自由式时，随着身体转动 看着你入水的手 这能让你游上很远
语言：引入也是从恐惧开始叙述，学语言过程中闹了很多笑话，加入幽默元素。
教材？方法？
例子：常用汉字表。
结论：材料优于方法。
具体： 往往你做什么， 而不是你怎么做，是关键所在。
这是有效能（做正确的事情）和 有效率（做好事情，不管它们是否重要）之间的区别。
还可以将这个原则应用在语法上
implicit versus explicit
调侃自己——我的身体构造很不适合做许多事情：可能倒是很适合扛大石头，不适合跳交谊舞
讲学习过程，闹笑话经历
1-我打算参加竞赛，好让自己有一个截止日期
引用帕金森定理 待办事项的复杂程度会因你为其安排的时间而变。
西里尔·诺斯古德·帕金森说：在工作能够完成的时限内，工作量会一直增加，直到所有可用时间都被填充为止
2-然后一个月后，参加了世界冠军赛， 一路冲入了半决赛。随后在两星期后， 创下了一项世界纪录。
怎样练习？ 和游泳一样，他用视频加文字解说原理和方法。
结尾结论：
恐惧是你的朋友。有时候它告诉你不该做什么。但更多时候，它恰恰告诉你该做什么。
口号：
用理性思维，将你的能力运用在克服陈年的恐惧上。 借助它们实现伟大的梦想。
0:11 这是公元1979年的提姆·费里斯，两岁。 从这个强力深蹲看得出，我是一个很自信的小孩 这是有原因的。 我当时一个很迷人的惯例 就是等到夜深人静时， 当我父母在熬完了一天的辛苦工作之后 在做填字游戏、看电视的时候。 我会冲进客厅，跳上沙发， 撕开靠垫，把它们摔到地上， 用尽全力地尖叫，然后跑出去 因为我是绿巨人。 （笑声） 你能明显地看出相似之处来。 这个惯例持续了一段时间。
0:48 七岁的时候，我参加了夏令营。 我父母觉得这对他们的内心平静非常必要。 每天中午， 参加夏令营的孩子都会去到湖边 湖边有浮动船坞。 你能从船坞尽头跳进湖的深处。 我是早产儿。我一直个子很小。 从出生起，我的左肺就闭合了。 因此我身体的浮力一向不好。 我开始时很害怕下水， 不过偶尔也会尝试。 有一天， 孩子们玩起了跳救生圈游戏。 他们跳进水上的救生圈，潜到水里。我觉得这很有趣。 于是我穿过救生圈潜进水里， 这时夏令营里的一个坏孩子抓住了我的脚踝。 我想出水换气， 但后背被救生圈底部顶住了。 我慌得不行，以为自己要完蛋了。 一个夏令营指导员凑巧经过，拉开了我们。 从那时起，我对游泳产生了恐惧。 我一直没能克服它。 身为旱鸭子一直是 最令我不堪和尴尬的事情之一。 那让我意识到，我并不是绿巨人。
1:53 但这个故事有了一个好结局。 31岁时，就是我现在的年龄 去年八月，我用了两周时间重新审视游泳， 并对关于游泳的所有 “显而易见” 的方面提出了质疑。 从只能像一头落水狗一样 游一泳道，大概18米， 每分钟心跳 200 下， 我量过， 到从长岛的蒙淘克 我长大的地方附近， 跃入海里，游上一公里公开水域， 出水时感觉比入水时还好。 我出水时 穿着欧式的泳衣， 自我感觉像极了绿巨人。
2:33 我希望当这个演讲结束时， 在场的各位都能感觉像绿巨人。 具体来说，我希望你能觉得 你有能力成为一个优秀的长距离游泳健将， 一个世界级的语言学者， 和一个探戈冠军。 我还想分享我的艺术。 如果说我擅长一门艺术，那就是解构那些 能把我吓个半死的东西。 好，言归正传。
2:58 游泳，首要原则。 首要原则非常重要。 我发现生命中本能获得的杰出成就 往往被错误的概念和未经测试的假设所拖累。 学游泳的转机，是当 一个朋友对我说：“我能一年不服用任何兴奋剂…” 这是一个每天六杯浓咖啡的家伙 “…只要你能完成一公里公开水域游泳赛。” 倒计时开始了。 我开始寻访三项全能运动员们 因为我发现经验丰富的游泳运动员们往往不懂教游泳。 我试过用踢水板 我双脚像剃刀一般破开水面。 但却丝毫不前进。我看着双脚，感觉很沮丧。 划手板什么的我统统试过。 还上过奥运会冠军的课，都没有帮助。 现在成了我的好友的克里斯·沙查， 当时刚刚在54度的气温下完成了铁人三项， 说：“我知道你该怎么办。” 他将泰瑞.罗克林的作品 介绍了给我。 泰瑞是“完全沉浸游泳”的发明人。 这使我踏上了探索生物力学的旅程。
3:57 下面是游泳的全新法则， 送给你们中害怕游泳或者不善于游泳的人。 第一条是：忘掉踢腿。非常不合常理。 其实推进力并非问题的关键所在。 用力踢腿并不能解决问题。 因为一般游泳的人只将他们所用的能量 中的3%转化为前进的动力。 关键在于液体动力。 因此，你应当注意的是 让你的下身拖在你上身之后， 就像高速公路上跟在大车后面的小车一样。 你通过保持身体水平做到这一点。 你能做到这一点的唯一方法 就是不游在水面上。 人体比水密度大。身体至少95%部分 会自然地沉在水面下。
4:38 结果就是，第三点， 当游自由式时，你并不是想大多数人想象的 浮在水面上，面朝下地游 而是从右流线型到 左流线型地交替 尽可能久地保持那个身体姿势。 我们来看一些例子。这是泰瑞。 你看他向头部以下 伸展出他的右臂。 因此他全身其实都在水下。 手臂向头部以下伸出。 头部和脊柱保持直线， 令你能够利用水压抬起你的双腿。 这点非常重要，尤其是对于身体脂肪含量少的人来说。 这是一个击水的例子。 你并不踢水，而是轻微地拨水。 这是左前伸。 你看他的左腿 轻微地拨水，这样做的唯一目的 是为了旋转他的臀部，好让他转向另一侧。 然后，注意他右手的切入点 他并不是伸手向前破水 而是将前臂以45度 切入水中， 带动身体流线型前进， 这点很重要。 上图不正确，不过几乎所有游泳教练都会这么教你。 老实说，这不能怪他们。 我一会儿会谈内隐和外显的区别。 下图是能让大多数泳者 也能做我所做到的， 那就是从每18米21次击水， 进步到11次击水， 只用两次练习，不用教练，不用录影。 现在我爱极了游泳。我等不及再去游泳。 我一会儿会亲自开一堂游泳课，如果有人想参加。
6:14 最后，呼吸，一个我们大多数人在游泳时会遇到的问题。 游自由式时，最简单的补救方法 就是随着身体转动 看着你入水的手 这能让你游上很远。 到此为止。你要知道的真的只有这些。
6:33 语言。教材对方法。 我和许多人一样认为 我没有学语言的天分。 我初中和高一时，西班牙语学得痛苦极了。 我最后记得的就只有一句 "Donde esta el bano"（厕所在哪里？） 而且我连回答都听不懂。凄凉得很。 然后，我高二时转了校。 我可以选一门别的语言课。我的大多数朋友都选了日语。 我想：我为什么不也折腾我自己一下呢？于是我选了日语。 半年后，我有一个去日本的机会。 我的老师们鼓励我说：“别担心。 你每天都会上日语课，帮你适应。 这会是一次难忘的经历。” 事实上这也是我的第一次海外生活。 我的父母也鼓励我去。于是我上路了。
7:18 我来到了东京。难忘啊。 我不敢相信我来到了世界的另一端。 我和我的寄宿家庭会面了。我觉得 总体来说，一切进展得很顺利 第一个晚上，我开学前的一天， 我很有礼貌地对寄宿妈妈说： “请在早上八点叫醒我。” 也就是（日语） 但是我没有说（日语）。我说成了（日语）。很接近。 但是我说的是：“请在早上八点强奸我。” （笑声） 你找不到比她更一头雾水的日本女人了。 （笑声）
7:51 我走进学校。 一位老师走过来，递给我一张纸。 我一个字也不认识 ── 那都是象形文字 那是汉字， 日语中使用的中国文字。 我问他这上面说的是什么。 他说：“啊，没问题， 嗯…世界历史…嗯…微积分 传统日语…” 依此类推。 一波波地向我涌来。 事实上翻译中出了错。 日语课不是教日语的课 而且为一般日本高中生开设的日常课程。 也就是学校里另外4999名日本学生，除了我这个美国人。 我的反应大概就像这样。 （笑声）
8:36 这恐慌使我开始寻找完美的学语言方法。 我试遍了所有方法。我跑到纪伊国屋书店、 试遍了每一本书，每一套CD。 什么都没有用，直到我发现了这个。 这是《常用汉字表》。这张表上 有1945个最常用的汉字 是由教育部在1981年修订的。 日本的许多出版社限定只使用这些字 以方便人们认读。 这成了我的圣杯，我的罗塞塔石碑。
9:08 当我专注学习这份材料后， 我进步飞速。 6个月之后，也就是一共11个月之后， 我已经能够看懂《朝日新闻》了 从日语1级进步到日语4级。 我回到美国后，从16岁就开始从事翻译工作， 并不断地使用这种 “材料优于方法”的方式 学习了近12种语言。 从一个学不好语言的人， 到同时说、读、写五六种语言。 这告诉我们： 往往你做什么， 而不是你怎么做，是关键所在。 这是有效能（做正确的事情）和 有效率（做好事情，不管它们是否重要）之间的区别。
9:55 你能够将这个原则应用在语法上。 我在实验之后得出这六个句子。 让一个本地人将这些句子翻译成过去，现在，和将来式， 就能使你解析他们的语法 找到主语、宾语、动词、 间接和直接宾语的位置、语法性别，等等。 从那里起，如果你愿意，你就能学习多种语言 灵活转换而不相互影响。 如果有人感兴趣，我们可以深入谈。 现在，我爱极了语言。
10:21 然后，交谊舞，內隐对外显 这很重要。 你看到我，或许会说：“这家伙交谊舞肯定跳得不错。” 但你错了 因为我的身体构造很不适合做许多事情 可能倒是很适合扛大石头。 我之前很壮实，有很多肌肉。 导致我走起路来像这样。 看上去很像我们的近亲大猩猩，或者说像绿巨人。 实在是不适合跳交谊舞。
10:49 2005年，我去到阿根廷。 决定去旁听一堂探戈舞课，根本没打算实际跳 付了10比索入场费， 进去一看，10位女士2位男士，本当是个不错的比例。 结果教练说：“你也来跳。” 马上，一身冷汗。 （笑声） 挺身而出还是逃之夭夭？我在大学时试过交谊舞 结果脚跟踩到了女孩脚上。她尖叫起来。 我很在意她对我的看法， 急得一脸通红， 之后再也不踏入交谊舞池。 教练走上来。她的教学方式是这样的： “好，来吧，抓住我。” 迷人的助理教练。 她对我打断她的进阶练习很是不满。 于是我尽力而为，但我连手放哪儿都不知道。 她退开，两手一甩， 插到腰间，转过身对一房间的人喊道： “这家伙一身的横肉， 还像个该死的法国人一样抓我，” （笑声） 这激励了我。 （笑声） 全场大笑，我尴尬极了。 她走回来，说：“来吧，别浪费时间。” 作为一个八岁起练摔跤的人， 我一不小心又把她压倒了。 她抬起头说： “这回好多了。” 于是我买了一个月的课程。 （笑声）
12:08 接下来就是 我打算参加竞赛，好让自己有一个截止日期。 帕金森定理 待办事项的复杂程度会因你为其安排的时间而变。 于是我报名参加了一个竞赛，把截止日期定得很短。 我先请了一名女教练， 教我女方跟舞， 因为我想弄明白跟舞所需要培养的 感觉和技能，这样之后我就不用重学一遍。 然后，我和她一起， 收集整理了许多探戈冠军 能力和特点。 他们都在布宜诺斯艾利斯教课，于是我采访了他们。 我对比了两张单子， 发现其中有外显的： 他们推荐的技能，一些练习的方法。 然后还有内隐的共同点， 但似乎没有人练习。 抛开阿根廷舞蹈教练的保护主义不谈， 我觉得这很有趣。于是我决定专注于其中三个共性。 大步子。很多 milongueros 探戈舞者 步子很小 我觉得长步好看多了。 也就是这样 就是在很小的空间里也能用。 第二点，不同的轴转， 第三点，节奏的变化。 要是我打算和练习了二三十年的老手同场竞技， 这似乎是我能探索、完善的三个方面。
13:32 那张相片是四个月后， 布宜诺斯艾利斯冠军赛半决赛。 然后一个月后，参加了世界冠军赛， 一路冲入了半决赛。随后在两星期后， 创下了一项世界纪录。 我想让你看一下我是怎样练习的。 我快进一下。 这是我和艾莉西亚选的男方领舞教练。 他叫加布里·米赛。 他那一代人中最杰出的舞者之一， 以他的长步、节奏变换、和轴转 而闻名。 艾莉西亚也颇有名气。 所以我想你们也会同意：他们看上去很融洽。 我尤其喜欢这段影片 这实际上是他们第一次共舞。 因为他的领舞很强。 他并不用胸领舞，那样你要前倾。 我没办法锻炼我的脚趾， 以达到那样的强度。 因此他用另一种领舞， 专注于肩带和手臂。 因此他能抱起女方，比如说。 那仅仅是其中的一个优点。 然后，我们将其分解。 这是一个单轴转的例子。 这是一个后步轴转。 轴转有许多不同类型。 我拍了上百小时的录像。 全部归类，就像乔治·卡林 归类他的喜剧一样。 用我的宿敌 —— 西班牙语 学习探戈。
15:05 恐惧是你的朋友。恐惧是一个指标。 有时候它告诉你不该做什么。 但更多时候，它恰恰告诉你该做什么 我生命中获得的最好成就， 最美好的时光，都源于问一个简单的问题： “最坏的可能是什么？” 尤其是对于你从小时候就有的恐惧。 用理性思维，将你的能力 运用在克服陈年的恐惧上。 借助它们实现伟大的梦想。
15:31 我思考现在我害怕什么，答案很简单。 当我想象我的人生 如果我没有机会接受教育， 会是如何地不同。 这令我深思。 我在过去的两年中 尝试解构美国公共教育系统， 以将其修复或取代。 至今，我已经用五万名学生做了试验， 建立了六所学校， 我的读者们，现在。 如果你们对此感兴趣， 我希望能和你们交流。 我一无所知。我是个初学者。 但我会问许多问题，也欢迎你们的建议。 谢谢。 （鼓掌）
演讲原文
0:11 This is Tim Ferriss circa 1979 A.D. Age two. You can tell by the power squat, I was a very confident boy -- and not without reason. I had a very charming routine at the time, which was to wait until late in the evening when my parents were decompressing from a hard day's work, doing their crossword puzzles, watching television. I would run into the living room, jump up on the couch, rip the cushions off, throw them on the floor, scream at the top of my lungs and run out because I was the Incredible Hulk. (Laughter) Obviously, you see the resemblance. And this routine went on for some time.
0:48 When I was seven I went to summer camp. My parents found it necessary for peace of mind. And at noon each day the campers would go to a pond, where they had floating docks. You could jump off the end into the deep end. I was born premature. I was always very small. My left lung had collapsed when I was born. And I've always had buoyancy problems. So water was something that scared me to begin with. But I would go in on occasion. And on one particular day, the campers were jumping through inner tubes, They were diving through inner tubes. And I thought this would be great fun. So I dove through the inner tube, and the bully of the camp grabbed my ankles. And I tried to come up for air, and my lower back hit the bottom of the inner tube. And I went wild eyed and thought I was going to die. A camp counselor fortunately came over and separated us. From that point onward I was terrified of swimming. That is something that I did not get over. My inability to swim has been one of my greatest humiliations and embarrassments. That is when I realized that I was not the Incredible Hulk.
1:53 But there is a happy ending to this story. At age 31 -- that's my age now -- in August I took two weeks to re-examine swimming, and question all the of the obvious aspects of swimming. And went from swimming one lap -- so 20 yards -- like a drowning monkey, at about 200 beats per minute heart rate -- I measured it -- to going to Montauk on Long Island, close to where I grew up, and jumping into the ocean and swimming one kilometer in open water, getting out and feeling better than when I went in. And I came out, in my Speedos, European style, feeling like the Incredible Hulk.
2:33 And that's what I want everyone in here to feel like, the Incredible Hulk, at the end of this presentation. More specifically, I want you to feel like you're capable of becoming an excellent long-distance swimmer, a world-class language learner, and a tango champion. And I would like to share my art. If I have an art, it's deconstructing things that really scare the living hell out of me. So, moving onward.
2:58 Swimming, first principles. First principles, this is very important. I find that the best results in life are often held back by false constructs and untested assumptions. And the turnaround in swimming came when a friend of mine said, "I will go a year without any stimulants" -- this is a six-double-espresso-per-day type of guy -- "if you can complete a one kilometer open water race." So the clock started ticking. I started seeking out triathletes because I found that lifelong swimmers often couldn't teach what they did. I tried kickboards. My feet would slice through the water like razors, I wouldn't even move. I would leave demoralized, staring at my feet. Hand paddles, everything. Even did lessons with Olympians -- nothing helped. And then Chris Sacca, who is now a dear friend mine, had completed an Iron Man with 103 degree temperature, said, "I have the answer to your prayers." And he introduced me to the work of a man named Terry Laughlin who is the founder of Total Immersion Swimming. That set me on the road to examining biomechanics.
3:57 So here are the new rules of swimming, if any of you are afraid of swimming, or not good at it. The first is, forget about kicking. Very counterintuitive. So it turns out that propulsion isn't really the problem. Kicking harder doesn't solve the problem because the average swimmer only transfers about three percent of their energy expenditure into forward motion. The problem is hydrodynamics. So what you want to focus on instead is allowing your lower body to draft behind your upper body, much like a small car behind a big car on the highway. And you do that by maintaining a horizontal body position. The only way you can do that is to not swim on top of the water. The body is denser than water. 95 percent of it would be, at least, submerged naturally.
4:38 So you end up, number three, not swimming, in the case of freestyle, on your stomach, as many people think, reaching on top of the water. But actually rotating from streamlined right to streamlined left, maintaining that fuselage position as long as possible. So let's look at some examples. This is Terry. And you can see that he's extending his right arm below his head and far in front. And so his entire body really is underwater. The arm is extended below the head. The head is held in line with the spine, so that you use strategic water pressure to raise your legs up -- very important, especially for people with lower body fat. Here is an example of the stroke. So you don't kick. But you do use a small flick. You can see this is the left extension. Then you see his left leg. Small flick, and the only purpose of that is to rotate his hips so he can get to the opposite side. And the entry point for his right hand -- notice this, he's not reaching in front and catching the water. Rather, he is entering the water at a 45-degree angle with his forearm, and then propelling himself by streamlining -- very important. Incorrect, above, which is what almost every swimming coach will teach you. Not their fault, honestly. And I'll get to implicit versus explicit in a moment. Below is what most swimmers will find enables them to do what I did, which is going from 21 strokes per 20-yard length to 11 strokes in two workouts with no coach, no video monitoring. And now I love swimming. I can't wait to go swimming. I'll be doing a swimming lesson later, for myself, if anyone wants to join me.
6:14 Last thing, breathing. A problem a lot of us have, certainly, when you're swimming. In freestyle, easiest way to remedy this is to turn with body roll, and just to look at your recovery hand as it enters the water. And that will get you very far. That's it. That's really all you need to know.
6:33 Languages. Material versus method. I, like many people, came to the conclusion that I was terrible at languages. I suffered through Spanish for junior high, first year of high school, and the sum total of my knowledge was pretty much, "Donde esta el bano?" And I wouldn't even catch the response. A sad state of affairs. Then I transferred to a different school sophomore year, and I had a choice of other languages. Most of my friends were taking Japanese. So I thought why not punish myself? I'll do Japanese. Six months later I had the chance to go to Japan. My teachers assured me, they said, "Don't worry. You'll have Japanese language classes every day to help you cope. It will be an amazing experience." My first overseas experience in fact. So my parents encouraged me to do it. I left.
7:18 I arrived in Tokyo. Amazing. I couldn't believe I was on the other side of the world. I met my host family. Things went quite well I think, all things considered. My first evening, before my first day of school, I said to my mother, very politely, "Please wake me up at eight a.m." So, (Japanese) But I didn't say (Japanese). I said, (Japanese). Pretty close. But I said, "Please rape me at eight a.m." (Laughter) You've never seen a more confused Japanese woman. (Laughter)
7:51 I walked in to school. And a teacher came up to me and handed me a piece of paper. I couldn't read any of it -- hieroglyphics, it could have been -- because it was Kanji, Chinese characters adapted into the Japanese language. Asked him what this said. And he goes, "Ahh, okay okay, eehto, World History, ehh, Calculus, Traditional Japanese." And so on. And so it came to me in waves. There had been something lost in translation. The Japanese classes were not Japanese instruction classes, per se. They were the normal high school curriculum for Japanese students -- the other 4,999 students in the school, who were Japanese, besides the American. And that's pretty much my response. (Laughter)
8:36 And that set me on this panic driven search for the perfect language method. I tried everything. I went to Kinokuniya. I tried every possible book, every possible CD. Nothing worked until I found this. This is the Joyo Kanji. This is a Tablet rather, or a poster of the 1,945 common-use characters as determined by the Ministry of Education in 1981. Many of the publications in Japan limit themselves to these characters, to facilitate literacy -- some are required to. And this became my Holy Grail, my Rosetta Stone.
9:08 As soon as I focused on this material, I took off. I ended up being able to read Asahi Shinbu, Asahi newspaper, about six months later -- so a total of 11 months later -- and went from Japanese I to Japanese VI. Ended up doing translation work at age 16 when I returned to the U.S., and have continued to apply this material over method approach to close to a dozen languages now. Someone who was terrible at languages, and at any given time, speak, read and write five or six. This brings us to the point, which is, it's oftentimes what you do, not how you do it, that is the determining factor. This is the difference between being effective -- doing the right things -- and being efficient -- doing things well whether or not they're important.
9:55 You can also do this with grammar. I came up with these six sentences after much experimentation. Having a native speaker allow you to deconstruct their grammar, by translating these sentences into past, present, future, will show you subject, object, verb, placement of indirect, direct objects, gender and so forth. From that point, you can then, if you want to, acquire multiple languages, alternate them so there is no interference. We can talk about that if anyone in interested. And now I love languages.
10:21 So ballroom dancing, implicit versus explicit -- very important. You might look at me and say, "That guy must be a ballroom dancer." But no, you'd be wrong because my body is very poorly designed for most things -- pretty well designed for lifting heavy rocks perhaps. I used to be much bigger, much more muscular. And so I ended up walking like this. I looked a lot like an orangutan, our close cousins, or the Incredible Hulk. Not very good for ballroom dancing.
10:49 I found myself in Argentina in 2005, decided to watch a tango class -- had no intention of participating. Went in, paid my ten pesos, walked up -- 10 women two guys, usually a good ratio. The instructor says, "You are participating." Immediately: death sweat. (Laughter) Fight-or-flight fear sweat, because I tried ballroom dancing in college -- stepped on the girl's foot with my heel. She screamed. I was so concerned with her perception of what I was doing, that it exploded in my face, never to return to the ballroom dancing club. She comes up, and this was her approach, the teacher. "Okay, come on, grab me." Gorgeous assistant instructor. She was very pissed off that I had pulled her from her advanced practice. So I did my best. I didn't know where to put my hands. And she pulled back, threw down her arms, put them on her hips, turned around and yelled across the room, "This guy is built like a god-damned mountain of muscle, and he's grabbing me like a fucking Frenchman," (Laughter) which I found encouraging. (Laughter) Everyone burst into laughter. I was humiliated. She came back. She goes, "Come on. I don't have all day." As someone who wrestled since age eight, I proceeded to crush her, "Of Mice and Men" style. And she looked up and said, "Now that's better." So I bought a month's worth of classes. (Laughter)
12:08 And proceeded to look at -- I wanted to set competition so I'd have a deadline -- Parkinson's Law, the perceived complexity of a task will expand to fill the time you allot it. So I had a very short deadline for a competition. I got a female instructor first, to teach me the female role, the follow, because I wanted to understand the sensitivities and abilities that the follow needed to develop, so I wouldn't have a repeat of college. And then I took an inventory of the characteristics, along with her, of the of the capabilities and elements of different dancers who'd won championships. I interviewed these people because they all taught in Buenos Aires. I compared the two lists, and what you find is that there is explicitly, expertise they recommended, certain training methods. Then there were implicit commonalities that none of them seemed to be practicing. Now the protectionism of Argentine dance teachers aside, I found this very interesting. So I decided to focus on three of those commonalities. Long steps. So a lot of milongueros -- the tango dancers will use very short steps. I found that longer steps were much more elegant. So you can have -- and you can do it in a very small space in fact. Secondly, different types of pivots. Thirdly, variation in tempo. These seemed to be the three areas that I could exploit to compete if I wanted to comptete against people who'd been practicing for 20 to 30 years.
13:32 That photo is of the semi-finals of the Buenos Aires championships, four months later. Then one month later, went to the world championships, made it to the semi-final. And then set a world record, following that, two weeks later. I want you to see part of what I practiced. I'm going to jump forward here. This is the instructor that Alicia and I chose for the male lead. His name is Gabriel Misse. One of the most elegant dancers of his generation, known for his long steps, and his tempo changes and his pivots. Alicia, in her own right, very famous. So I think you'll agree, they look quite good together. Now what I like about this video is it's actually a video of the first time they ever danced together because of his lead. He had a strong lead. He didn't lead with his chest, which requires you lean forward. I couldn't develop the attributes in my toes, the strength in my feet, to do that. So he uses a lead that focuses on his shoulder girdle and his arm. So he can lift the woman to break her, for example. That's just one benefit of that. So then we broke it down. This would be an example of one pivot. This is a back step pivot. There are many different types. I have hundreds of hours of footage -- all categorized, much like George Carlin categorized his comedy. So using my arch-nemesis, Spanish, no less, to learn tango.
15:05 So fear is your friend. Fear is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn't do. More often than not it shows you exactly what you should do. And the best results that I've had in life, the most enjoyable times, have all been from asking a simple question: what's the worst that can happen? Especially with fears you gained when you were a child. Take the analytical frameworks, the capabilities you have, apply them to old fears. Apply them to very big dreams.
15:31 And when I think of what I fear now, it's very simple. When I imagine my life, what my life would have been like without the educational opportunities that I had, it makes me wonder. I've spent the last two years trying to deconstruct the American public school system, to either fix it or replace it. And have done experiments with about 50,000 students thus far -- built, I'd say, about a half dozen schools, my readers, at this point. And if any of you are interested in that, I would love to speak with you. I know nothing. I'm a beginner. But I ask a lot of questions, and I would love your advice. Thank you very much. (Applause)
