I really liked Ashley Whillans’s 3 rules for better work-life balance. She was very engaging in her body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. She also kept a consistent speed in her delivery that was fast enough to still feel like you are moving forward but not so fast that the audience wouldn’t be able to comprehend what she was saying. Another notable thing about this TED talk is that Ashley isn’t delivering in front of a live audience, but rather a camera to make a recorded video. As we all experienced in the making of our own recorded videos for the civic artifact speeches, this is an incredibly difficult thing to do because there is no audience to feed off of your energy and vise versa. Yet Ashley does a great job engaging with her audience, even though she had no interaction with them.
Stepping away from the delivery of this TED talk, I also really liked the topic. The amount of people experienced burnout especially following the lockdown stage of the pandemic has significantly increased. Due to this ride in deflation, this is a super relevant topic, meaning that more people will want to listen and take action on what Ashley said in this speech. I (and most, if not all other students at this university) have personally been experiencing my own struggles with work/school-life balance, but this video reassured me that I am not alone and informed me that there are ways to make that balance easier to achieve.
After watching this video, I have been inspired to write my TED talk delivery on a similar topic, maybe how the dynamic of a work-life balance has shifted in recent years as companies are demanding more from their employers. I could also work a shift in the dynamic of a family life into this, possibly expanding on how the definition of success has changed as well. Success used to be defined as “a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a happy marriage”, but now, success is more individual, finding happiness in a career and personal lifestyle rather than the typical “american dream” of what success is. All of these offer a really unique perspective on why we as a generations and a society are experiencing burnout at such a large magnitude.
I liked how you picked one without an audience. You made a good point you that it reflects what we are doing in class. It is not easy to do. I also think the topic is important and relevant to today. Burning out is a serious concern and most people don’t identify the signs of one. I liked how you said the TED Talk reassured you that you are not alone. A lot of the feeling is thinking you are the only one that is struggling and that you are surrounded by geniuses who get their work done. That is just not the case. Everyone is struggling their own type of way, and I think, by how you described the TED Talk, Ashley Whillans spoke about that.
Your TED Talk idea is interesting. It looks at the bigger picture of society. It also supports the idea that everyone struggles and tries to find themselves out in life. I’m sure you’ll find a good amount of research on this idea.
Speaking to a camera in our assignment was hard. I find the topic interesting as I am sometimes struggling to get my work done, and I think that everybody else is just crushing their way in college.
I really like your idea about work/school-life balance, and I could tie a little of what you want to talk about to my LER class. There, I have learned that work has changed and that now we are the most productive ever, but also paid less for the performance we have. And, that the idea of loving what you do, leaves us little room to complain against job injustice because we are doing what we love, so how can we complain?