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Week 6: 9 life lessons by Tim Minchin

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There is a lot of people that feel lost, have no idea what they should be doing with their life or just happend not to know on what should they focus. The question "Am i doing alright? Am doing everything fast enough? I the way I have chosen is the right one?". The video is just a speech from a musician/comedian but i guess it's really worth listening to.


First 12 minutes are enough, there is no need to watch full video



Questions :

  1. What do you think of Tim’s speech?

  2. Do you have any rules you follow all the time?

  3. If you were to change something in in the speech of Tim, what would it be? 

Comments

Gabriela Szczesna said…
I wasn't familiar neither with Tim Minchin's music nor his comedy, so I had to do a little research to understand the context of his speech more. Personally, I've found the message of it to be a little bit unclear. In my opinion, the numerous jokes that were made on every occasion, have made it hard to focus on the subject of self-improvement. Moreover, I've found these rules to be too generic for immediate application into real-life situations. What I mean by that, is saying 'just don't worry' without further argumentation doesn't stop you from worrying and it's not really comforting. I felt that the whole speech revolved around this view. However, this is only my opinion and perception of the speech, it might be reassuring to others that not all hope is lost if you haven't found your true meaning, as it presents many down to earth examples.

I haven't made up any set of rules to follow when it comes to life lessons. Though one thing that comes to minds, and is somewhat a cliche, it would be staying true to what you believe in and following your passions, but at the same time keeping in mind not to hurt anyone by your views.

One thing that I would change in his speech, would be giving some actual tips on how to execute those life lessons. Another would be changing his intonation, his presentation was carried out in a bit of monotonous tone. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I haven't binge-watched The Crown all weekend.
5 December 2020 at 22:53
s16427 said…
As inspiring and just right mix of humor and reason as that speech was, I think it was way too long. I believe those kind of speeches works best when they are rather short. Nevertheless, it was really good, personally, I'm sucker for those kind of monologues. I also agree with him on most of his points. The goal of life is life itself! And as weird as his statement about we-all-die-romanticism was, I kind of see it.

I think everyone has some unbreakabel rules, like core beliefs or code. I believe that as soon as they are stablished, they should be respected with no exceptions. Let's take diet for an example. If rule is "No chocolate", then "just one bite" is all it takes to go down that hole and wake up 6 months later and 40 pounds heavier. And that's pretty mild example. Some more life-changing are: cheating, stealing etc. As I'm not really a fan of sharing my personal secrets, I can provide a glimpse. One of my basic rules is to always give 100%. In work, at home, generally in life. I've been exercising that for couple of years now and it really works!

If I could change something... For starters: length. 15 minutes is far too long, to keep listeners truly occupied, during half-funny half-serious speach like that. I caught myself dozing of around 8th minute. One other thing I'd change, is use of absurd statements leading to some reasonable finish. It was interesting at first, but after three shock-to-reasnable-finish gimicks, it got just plain annoying.
6 December 2020 at 12:29
Filip Kwiatkowski said…
Tim's speech left me both fulfilled and empty. Fulfilled because this is one of the best speeches I have heard in my life. The essence, the way of speaking, the art of voice modulation... This way of speeking remined me of Charlie Chaplin's "The Emperor" speech. Both Tim's and Chaplin's speeches are unique and yet similar to each other and I can't really explain why (or my subconciousness doesn't want me to express it). I also just can't summarise it, because whatever I would say, I believe, would be an understatement. So instead of briefly presenting my opinions on the speech itself, I will thank you. Thank you for sharing this. Thank you for making me come across this speech.

In regard to rules, I think having rules that we "follow all the time" is somewhat against one of the bullet points made by Tim (with which I agree). Some people think they have life figured by their twenties and then they are dealing with midlife crisis. Rules are fine but treating them like an absolute law is like assuming that your current self can be your guide for the rest of your life and that implised the absolute lack of any further self development. And this is, I believe, either a complete failture, or just a lie.

Maybe in some time I could think about something that could be changed in Tim's speech but right now I feel too amazed to even try it. If you are asking whether there is something I don't agree with (either slightly or completely) then no, there is no such thing. If you are asking whether there is something I could've said better myself - I also don't think I would have been able to phrase myself better than he did to say things he has said.
6 December 2020 at 22:36
Bui Ky Anh said…
1. What do you think of Tim’s speech?
I have never heard of Tim Minchin. Therefore I expected another proactive, motivational speech. It might be one of them anyway but the way he did it was extraordinary. I really enjoyed it. He was talking about important things in our life using comedian language and puting a lot of metaphores. You can see that he is "real" in his opinions.

2. Do you have any rules you follow all the time?
I have alot of rules and I try to follow them. I am not really a person who likes to act spontaneously, I prefer to have everything planned and go with the rules. But I understand also the fact that sometimes it is better to leave our comfort zone because throught that we actually develop ourselves.

3. If you were to change something in in the speech of Tim, what would it be?
It is hard to find something to criticize here because I agree with the speaker. Maybe the only one thing I miss a bit is the fact that he did not share his very own experience with the listeners.
6 December 2020 at 22:55
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