TED Talks: ‘The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers’

BYTED
UPDATED: April 10, 2020
PUBLISHED: July 6, 2016
Adam Grant

In this TED Talk, best-selling author and Wharton professor Adam Grant shares the habits of what he calls “originals”—people who dream up and execute new ideas.

On the creativity scale, Grant shows how original thinkers lie somewhere between the pre-crastinators and procrastinators—and how that results in creative ideas. Original thinkers fail the most because they try the most. And they learn to embrace any outcome, good or bad.

“On the surface, a lot of original people look confident, but behind the scenes, they feel the same fear and doubt that the rest of us do,” Grant says. “They just manage it differently.”

Related: Are You an Original?

TED

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics—from science to business to global issues—in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world. See more at TED.com.

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