Joachim de Posada TED Talk Response

            The idea that we need to practice more self discipline is the main takeaway from this video. De Posada mentioned that only 1/3 of the 4 year olds surveyed in America and Columbia pulled through and didn't eat their marshmallow. The 2/3 that gave in were found to be less successful later on in life when they were college aged. The idea that de Posada is passionate about is that the more we push self discipline and practice it ourselves the more successful we will become. Another idea to takeaway is that Japan is pushing self discipline full force. As de Posada said, "We are eating more marshmallows than we are producing" (paraphrased). If we don't start to practice self discipline and enforce it our the generations to come, we will owe Asia even more. The speaker's effective speaking techniques would be the way he tells stories. De Posada gave two examples of the point he was trying to make through story. He also used motion instead of just standing still. This ties into de Posadas presentation style. He was very animated in his speaking. De Posada also showed a video to portray his topic. This allowed the audience to see how the children reacted to the marshmallow test. As mentioned earlier, the idea that we should be more self disciplined matters most from this video. People today could be so much more successful if they were very self disciplined. Instead of eating the marshmallow or taking the easy way out, folks need to look a challenge straight in the eyes and overcome it. This video connects to me personally in a few ways. For instance, I have fairly good self discipline but I am definitely not lacking practice. I can start disciplining myself more and I believe that would truly help me be even more successful in terms of grades and outside activities alike. I could also use self discipline in my dance classes. Instead of not working as hard because I'm tired or something, I can really push myself to give 120% and improve ten-fold. This video also connects to me because I work with kids a large amount of time each week. When I'm babysitting or helping in a dance class I can always tell which kids have more self discipline than others. If more parents helped their children practice self discipline I think they would see an improvement in their child's behavior as well as their performance later on. This video connects to education because it shows the idea that people with good work habits and self discipline are more successful in classes. De Posada brought up that majority of the children who ate the marshmallow had dropped out of school already or had poor grades and were heading down that path. If children practice self discipline they will probably perform a lot better in school and earn higher grades. This could help them get into college and get a job later on in life. Finally this video connects to the world because it shows how we need to watch out for Japan who is strongly pushing kids to have self discipline. If one country has very diligent and successful people, and another does not it is very easy to tell which country will have more power. This video can raise awareness that we need to instill good values and self discipline in our children for a more successful future.