So, I don't like to boast, but I am very good at finding things to be annoyed about. It is a real specialty of mine. I can hear 100 compliments and a single insult, and what do I remember? The insult. And according to the research, I'm not alone.
Dakle, ne volim da se hvalim, ali strašno sam dobar u pronalaženju razloga za nerviranje. To je moja istinska specijalnost. Mogu da čujem 100 komplimenata i samo jednu uvredu, i šta ću da upamtim? Uvredu. A prema istraživanjima, nisam usamljen.
Unfortunately, the human brain is wired to focus on the negative. Now, this might have been helpful when we were cave people, trying to avoid predators, but now it's a terrible way to go through life. It is a real major component of anxiety and depression.
Nažalost, ljudski mozak je podešen da se usredsređuje na loše stvari. Ovo je možda bilo od pomoći kada smo bili pećinski ljudi, koji pokušavaju da izbegnu grabljivice, ali sada se radi o groznom načinu da se ide kroz život. To je istinski sastavni deo anksioznosti i depresije.
So how can we fight the brain's negative bias? According to a lot of research, one of the best weapons is gratitude. So knowing this, I started a new tradition in our house a couple of years ago. Before a meal with my wife and kids, I would say a prayer of thanksgiving. Prayer is not quite the right word. I'm agnostic, so instead of thanking God, I would thank some of the people who helped make my food a reality. I'd say, "I'd like to thank the farmer who grew these tomatoes, and the trucker who drove these tomatoes to the store, and the cashier who rang these tomatoes up."
Pa kako možemo da se suprotstavimo sklonosti mozga ka pesimizmu? Prema mnogim istraživanjima, jedno od najboljih oružja je zahvalnost. Saznavši to, započeo sam novu tradiciju u svojoj kući pre nekoliko godina. Pre obroka bih sa suprugom i decom izgovorio molitvu zahvalnosti. Molitva baš i nije prava reč. Ja sam agnostik, pa sam se umesto zahvaljivanja bogu, zahvaljivao nekim ljudima koji su pomogli u tome da moja hrana postoji. Rekao bih: „Želim da se zahvalim seljaku koji je uzgojio ovaj krompir i kamiondžiji koji je prevezao ovaj krompir do prodavnice i kasirki koja je naplatila ovaj krompir.“
And I thought it was going pretty well, this tradition. Then one day, my 10-year-old son said, "You know, Dad, those people aren't in our apartment. They can't hear you. If you really cared, you would go and thank them in person." And I thought, "Hmm. That's an interesting idea."
I smatrao sam da ova tradicija ide sasvim dobro. Onda mi je jednog dana moj 10-godišnji sin rekao: „Znaš, tata, ti ljudi nisu u našem stanu. Ne mogu da te čuju. Da ti je zaista stalo, otišao bi i zahvalio bi im se lično.“ Pomislio sam: „Hm, to je zanimljiva ideja.“
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Now I'm a writer, and for my books I like to go on adventures. Go on quests. So I decided I'm going to take my son up on his challenge. It seemed simple enough. And to make it even simpler, I decided to focus on just one item. An item I can't live without: my morning cup of coffee. Well, it turned out to be not so simple at all.
E sad, pisac sam i zbog svojih knjiga volim da idem u avanture. Idem u pohode. Pa sam odlučio da ću da prihvatim sinovljev izazov. Činio se dosta prostim. A da bih ga dodatno uprostio, odlučio sam da se usredsredim na samo jednu namirnicu. Namirnicu bez koje ne mogu da živim: moju jutarnju šoljicu kafe. Pa, ispostavilo se da uopše nije prosto.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
This quest took me months. It took me around the world. Because I discovered that my coffee would not be possible without hundreds of people I take for granted. So I would thank the trucker who drove the coffee beans to the coffee shop. But he couldn't have done his job without the road. So I would thank the people who paved the road.
Ovaj pohod je potrajao mesecima. Odveo me je na put oko sveta. Jer sam otkrio da moja kafa ne bi bila moguća bez stotina ljudi koje uzimam zdravo za gotovo. Pa bih zahvalio kamiondžiji koji je dovezao zrna kafe u kafedžinicu. Ali on ne bi obavio taj posao da nema puta. Pa bih zahvalio ljudima koji su asfaltirali put.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And then I would thank the people who made the asphalt for the pavement. And I came to realize that my coffee, like so much else in the world, requires the combined work of a shocking number of people from all walks of life. Architects, biologists, designers, miners, goat herds, you name it.
A onda bih zahvalio ljudima koji su napravili asfalt za pločnik. A uvideo sam da moja kafa, poput većine ostalog u svetu, zahteva kombinovani rad zapanjujuće velikog broja ljudi iz raznih oblasti života. Arhitekata, biologa, dizajnera, rudara, kozara, koga sve ne.
I decided to call my project "Thanks a Thousand." Because I ended up thanking over a thousand people. And it was overwhelming, but it was also wonderful. Because it allowed me to focus on the hundreds of things that go right every day, as opposed to the three or four that go wrong. And it reminded me of the astounding interconnectedness or our world. I learned dozens of lessons during this project, but let me just focus on five today.
Odlučio sam da naslovim projekat: „Hiljadu hvala“. Jer sam na kraju zahvalio više od hiljadu ljudi. I to je bilo iscrpljujuće, ali je bilo i čarobno. Jer mi je mogućilo da se usredsredim na stotine stvari koje se odvijaju kako treba svakodnevno, nasuprot tri ili četiri stvari koje krenu po zlu. A to me je podsetilo na zapanjujuću isprepletanost našeg sveta. Naučio sam desetine lekcija tokom ovog projekta, ali danas ću da se usredsredim samo na pet njih.
The first is: look up. I started my trail of gratitude by thanking the barista at my local coffee shop, Joe Coffee in New York. Her name is Chung, and Chung is one of the most upbeat people you will ever meet. Big smiler, enthusiastic hugger. But even for Chung, being a barista is hard. And that's because you are encountering people in a very dangerous state.
Prva je: podignite pogled. Započeo sam stazu zahvalnosti zahvaljujući se kafedžinki u mojoj lokalnoj kafedžinici, "Džo kofi" u Njujorku. Zove se Čang i Čang je jedna od najveselijih ljudi koje sam upoznao. Široki osmeh, uvek spremna za zagrljaj. Međutim, čak je i Čang teško da bude kafedžinka. A to je zato što se susrećete sa ljudima u najopasnijem stanju.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
You know what it is -- precaffeination.
Znate koje je to stanje - pretkafeinsko.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So, Chung has had people yell at her until she cried, including a nine-year-old girl, who didn't like the whipped cream design that Chung did on her hot chocolate. So I thanked Chung, and she thanked me for thanking her. I cut it off there. I didn't want to go into an infinite thanking loop.
Na Čang su ljudi vikali sve dok bi zaplakala, uključujući devetogodišnjakinju kojoj se nije svidela šara od šlaga koju je Čang napravila na njenoj toploj čokoladi. Pa sam se zahvalio Čang, a ona se zahvalila meni što joj zahvaljujem. Presekao sam sve tu. Ne želeći da upadnem u beskrajnu petlju zahvaljivanja.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
But Chung said that the hardest part is when people don't even treat her like a human being. They treat her like a vending machine. So, they'll hand her their credit card without even looking up from their phone. And while she's saying this, I'm realizing I've done that. I've been that a-hole. And at that moment, I pledged: when dealing with people, I'm going to take those two seconds and look at them, make eye contact. Because it reminds you, you're dealing with a human being who has family and aspirations and embarrassing high school memories. And that little moment of connection is so important to both people's humanity and happiness.
Međutim, Čang je rekla da je najteži deo taj kada se ljudi ni ne ophode prema njoj kao da je ljudsko biće. Tretiraju je kao aparat za napitke. Dakle, predaju joj kreditnu karticu, a da ni ne podignu pogled sa svog telefona. I dok je ovo izgovarala, shvatio sam da sam i ja to radio. Bio sam taj šupak. I u tom sam se trenutku zavetovao: kada radim s ljudima, izdvojiću te dve sekunde i pogledati u njih, ostvariću kontakt očima. Jer vas to podseća da ste u dodiru sa ljudskim bićima koja imaju porodicu i težnje kao i sramotna sećanja iz srednje škole. A taj kratki trenutak povezanosti je toliko važan i za ljudsku čovečnost i za sreću.
Alright, second lesson was: smell the roses. And the dirt. And the fertilizer. After Chung, I thanked this man. This is Ed Kaufmann. And Ed is the one who chooses which coffee they serve at my local coffee shop. He goes around the world, to South America, to Africa, finding the best coffee beans. So I thanked Ed. And in return, Ed showed me how to taste coffee like a pro. And it is quite a ritual. You take your spoon and you dip it in the coffee and then you take a big, loud slurp. Almost cartoonishly loud. This is because you want to spray the coffee all over your mouth. You have taste buds in the side of your cheeks, in the roof of your mouth, you've got to get them all. So Ed would do this and he would -- his face would light up and he would say, "This coffee tastes of Honeycrisp apple and notes of soil and maple syrup." And I would take a sip and I'd say, "I'm picking up coffee.
U redu, druga lekcija je: pomirišite ruže. I zemlju. I đubrivo. Posle Čang, zahvalio sam se ovom čoveku. Ovo je Ed Kofman. A Ed je taj koji bira koju će kafu da služe u mojoj lokalnoj kafedžinici. On putuje širom sveta, do Južne Amerike, do Afrike, tragajući za najboljim zrnima kafe. Pa sam zahvalio Edu. A zauzvrat, Ed mi je pokazao kako da degustiram kafu kao profesionalac. A to je pravi ritual. Uzmete kašiku i umočite je u kafu, a potom napravite veliki, glasan srk. Gotovo karikaturalno glasno. Radite to da biste raspršili kafu svuda po vašim ustima. Imate receptore ukusa u unutrašnjosti obraza, na nepcu, morate sve da ih aktivirate. Dakle, Ed bi ovo uradio i on bi - lice bi mu se ozarilo i rekao bi: „Ova kafa ima ukus jabuka hanikrisp, notu zemljišta i javorovog sirupa.“ A ja bih uzeo gutljaj i rekao: „Prepoznajem kafu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
It tastes to me like coffee."
Meni ima ukus kafe.“
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
But inspired by Ed, I decided to really let the coffee sit on my tongue for five seconds -- we're all busy, but I could spare five seconds, and really think about the texture and the acidity and the sweetness. And I started to do it with other foods. And this idea of savoring is so important to gratitude. Psychologists talk about how gratitude is about taking a moment and holding on to it as long as possible. And slowing down time. So that life doesn't go by in one big blur, as it often does.
No, inspirisan Edom, odlučio sam da mi kafa zaista zastane na jeziku na pet sekundi - svi smo mi zauzeti, ali mogu da odvojim pet sekundi i da zaista razmislim o teksturi, kiselosti i slatkoći. Počeo sam tako da postupam i sa ostalom hranom. A ova ideja naslađivanja je tako važna za zahvalnost. Psiholozi govore o tome kako se kod zahvalnosti radi o uzimanju jednog trenutka i držanju za njega koliko god je to moguće. Kao i o usporavanju vremena. Kako život ne bi prošao u jednoj velikoj izmaglici, kao što to obično biva.
Number three is: find the hidden masterpieces all around you. Now, one of my favorite conversations during this year was with the guy who invented my coffee cup lid. And until this point, I had given approximately zero thought to coffee cup lids. But I loved talking to this inventor, Doug Fleming, because he was so passionate. And the blood and sweat and tears he put into this lid, and that I had never even considered. He says a bad lid can ruin your coffee. That it can block the aroma, which is so important to the experience. So he -- he's very innovative. He's like the Elon Musk of coffee lids.
Broj tri je: pronađite skrivena remek-dela svuda oko vas. Jedan od omiljenih razgovora ove godine vodio sam sa čovekom koji je izumeo poklopac na mojoj čaši za kafu. I do tog momenta, poklopcima za kafu nisam posvetio niti jednu misao. Međutim, svidelo mi se da razgovaram sa izumiteljem Dagom Flemingom jer je bio toliko strastven. I sva krv, znoj i suze koje je potrošio na ovaj poklopac, kome nikad nisam posvetio pažnju. Kaže kako loš poklopac može da vam pokvari kafu. Da može da blokira aromu, koja je toliko važna za doživljaj. Dakle, on je veoma inventivan. On je poput Ilona Maska za poklopce za kafu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So he designed this lid that's got an upside-down hexagon so you can get your nose right in there and get maximum aroma. And so I was delighted talking to him, and it made me realize there are hundreds of masterpieces all around us that we totally take for granted. Like the on-off switch on my desk lamp has a little indentation for my thumb that perfectly fits my thumb. And when something is done well, the process behind it is largely invisible. But paying attention to it can tap into that sense of wonder and enrich our lives.
Pa je dizajnirao ovaj poklopac koji sadrži izvrnuti heksagon da biste mogli da smestite nos tačno tu i izvučete maksimum iz arome. Dakle, očarao me je razgovor s njim, i naveo me je da shvatim da svuda oko nas ima na stotine remek-dela koja uzimamo zdravo za gotovo. Kao što prekidač na mojoj stonoj lampi ima maleno ulegnuće za moj palac koje savršeno paše mom palcu. A kada je nešto odrađeno kako treba, procedura iza toga je uglavnom nevidljiva. Međutim, obraćanje pažnje na to može da pokrene osećaj divljenja i da nam obogati živote.
Number four is: fake it till you feel it. By the end of the project, I was just in a thanking frenzy. So I was -- I would get up and spend a couple hours, I'd write emails, send notes, make phone calls, visit people to thank them for their role in my coffee. And some of them, quite honestly -- not that into it. They would be like, "What is this? Is this a pyramid scheme, what do you want, what are you selling?" But most people were surprisingly moved. I remember, I called the woman who does the pest control for the warehouse where my coffee is served -- I'm sorry -- where my coffee is stored. And I said, "This may sound strange, but I want to thank you for keeping the bugs out of my coffee." And she said, "Well, that does sound strange, but you just made my day." And it was like an anti-crank phone call. And it didn't just affect her, it affected me. Because I would wake up every morning in my default mood, which is grumpiness, but I would force myself to write a thank-you note and then another and then another. And what I found was that if you act as if you're grateful, you eventually become grateful for real. The power of our actions to change our mind is astounding. So, often we think that thought changes behavior, but behavior very often changes our thought.
Broj četiri je: foliraj se dok ne osetiš. Do kraja projekta bio sam prosto u transu od zahvaljivanja. Ustao bih i proveo nekoliko sati pišući imejlove, šaljući poruke, obavljajući telefonske razgovore, posećujući ljude u znak zahvalnosti na njihovom udelu u mojoj kafi. A neki od njih, biću krajnje iskren - nisu bili zainteresovani. Bili su u fazonu: „Šta je ovo? Da li je to piramidalna shema, šta želiš, šta prodaješ?“ Međutim, mnogi ljudi su bili iznenađujuće dirnuti. Sećam se, nazvao sam ženu koja se bavi suzbijanjem štetočina u magacinu gde se služi moja kafa - izvinjavam se - gde se skladišti moja kafa. A rekao sam: „Ovo će možda da zvuči čudno, ali želim da vam zahvalim što držite bube podalje od moje kafe.“ A ona je rekla: „Pa da, to zvuči čudno, ali upravo si mi ulepšao dan.“ To je bio anti-zezatorski telefonski poziv. I nije samo uticao na nju, uticao je i na mene. Jer bih se probudio svako jutro u osnovnom raspoloženju, a to je mrzovolja, ali bih se naterao da napišem zahvalnicu, a potom još jednu, pa još jednu. A otkrio sam da, ako se ponašate kao da ste zahvalni, vremenom stvarno postanete zahvalni. Moć našeg delanja da promeni naš um je zapanjujuća. Dakle, često smatramo da misao menja ponašanje, ali ponašanje veoma često menja naše razmišljanje.
And finally, the last lesson I want to tell you about is: practice six degrees of gratitude. And every place, every stop on this gratitude trail would give birth to 100 other people that I could thank. So I went down to Colombia to thank the farmers who grow my coffee beans. And it was in a small mountain town, and I was driven there along these curvy, cliffside roads. And every time we went around a hairpin turn the driver would do the sign of the cross. And I was like, "Thank you for that.
I naposletku, poslednja lekcija o kojoj želim da vam govorim je sledeća: vežbajte šest stepeni zahvalnosti. A svako mesto, svaka stanica na ovoj stazi zahvalnosti bi iznedrili stotinu drugih ljudi kojima bih mogao da zahvalim. Otišao sam u Kolumbiju da bih zahvalio farmerima koji uzgajaju moju kafu. A to se dešava u malom planinskom gradu i tamo sam se vozio krivudavim putevima na ivicama stena. A svaki put kad bismo skrenuli iza oštre krivine, vozač bi se prekrstio. A ja bih bio u fazonu: „Hvala ti na tome.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
But can you do that while keeping your hands on the wheel? Because I am terrified." But we made it. And I met the farmers, the Guarnizo brothers. It's a small farm, they make great coffee, they're paid above fair-trade prices for it. And they showed me how the coffee is grown. The bean is actually inside this fruit called the coffee cherry. And I thanked them. And they said, "Well, we couldn't do our job without 100 other people." The machine that depulps the fruit is made in Brazil, and the pickup truck they drive around the farm, that is made from parts from all over the world. In fact, the US exports steel to Colombia. So I went to Indiana, and I thanked the steel makers. And it just drove home that it doesn't take a village to make a cup of coffee. It takes the world to make a cup of coffee.
Ali možeš li to da radiš dok držiš ruke na volanu? Jer sam prestravljen.“ Međutim, stigli smo. I upoznao sam farmere, braću Gvarniso. Radi se o maloj farmi, prave odličnu kafu, plaćeni su iznad fer tržišne cene kafe. A oni su mi pokazali kako se uzgaja kafa. Zrno se zapravo nalazi unutar voćke koja se naziva kafena bobica. I ja sam im zahvalio. A oni su rekli: „Pa ne bismo mogli da obavljamo svoj posao da nije stotinu drugih ljudi.“ Mašina koja razdvaja zrno od bobice se proizvodi u Brazilu, a kombi koji voze po farmi je sačinjen od delova iz čitavog sveta. Zapravo, SAD izvoze čelik u Kolumbiju. Pa sam otišao u Indijanu i zahvalio se izrađivačima čelika. A to je samo istaklo činjenicu da nije potrebno selo da se proizvede šoljica kafe. Potreban je celi svet da se proizvede šoljica kafe.
And this global economy, this globalization, it does have downsides. But I believe the long-term upsides are far greater, that progress is real. We have made improvements in the last 50 years, poverty worldwide has gone down. And that we should resist the temptation to retreat into our silos. And we should resist this upsurge in isolationism and jingoism.
A ova globalna ekonomija, ova globalizacija, ima svoje loše strane. Međutim, verujem da su dugoročno dobre strane daleko veće, da je napredak stvaran. Postigli smo napredak u poslednjih 50 godina, siromaštvo širom sveta je umanjeno. I trebalo bi da se odupremo iskušenju da se povlačimo u naše tabore. I trebalo bi da se odupremo nagonu za izolacionizmom i ekstremnim nacionalizmom.
Which brings me to my final point. Which is my hope that we use gratitude as a spark to action. Some people worry that gratitude has a downside. That we'll be so grateful, that we'll be complacent. We'll be so, "Oh, everything's wonderful, I'm so grateful." Well, it turns out, the opposite is true. The research shows that the more grateful you are, the more likely you are to help others. When you're in a bad state, you're often more focused on your own needs. But gratitude makes you want to pay it forward. And I experienced this personally. I mean, I'm not Mother Teresa, I'm still a selfish bastard a huge amount of the time. But I'm better than I was before this project. And that's because it made me aware of the exploitation on the supply chain. It reminded me that what I take for granted is not available to millions of people around the world.
Što me dovodi do moje poslednje tačke. A to je nada da ćemo da koristimo zahvalnost da pokrenemo delanje. Neki ljudi brinu da zahvalnost ima svoje loše strane. Da ćemo da budemo toliko zahvalni da ćemo da postanemo pomirljivi. Da ćemo biti skroz: „Oh, sve je divno, tako sam zahvalan." Pa, ispostavlja se da je suprotno tačno. Istraživanje pokazuje da što ste zahvalniji, to ste skloniji da pomažete drugima. Kada ste u lošem stanju, često ste usredsređeniji na lične potrebe. Međutim, zahvalnost vas podstiče da širite dobra dela. A to sam lično iskusio. Mislim, nisam Majka Tereza, i dalje sam sebični gad većinu vremena. Međutim, bolji sam nego što sam bio pre ovog projekta. A to je zato što sam postao svestan eksploatacije u lancu nabavke. Podsetilo me je da ono što olako shvatam nije dostupno milionima ljudi širom sveta.
Like water. Coffee is 98.8 percent water. So I figured I should go and thank the people at the New York reservoir, hundreds of them, who provide me water, and this miracle that I can turn a lever and get safe water. And that millions of people around the world don't have this luxury and have to walk hours to get safe water. It inspired me to see what I could do to help people get more access, and I did research and found a wonderful group called Dispensers for Safe Water. And I got involved. And I'm not expecting the Nobel Prize committee to knock down my door, but it's a baby step, it's a little something. And it's all because of gratitude. And it's why I encourage people, friends, family, to follow gratitude trails of their own. Because it's a life-transforming experience.
Poput vode. Kafa je 98,8 procenata voda. Shvatio sam da bi trebalo da se zahvalim ljudima u njujorškom vodovodu, stotinama njih, koji mi dostavljaju vodu, i ovom čudu da mogu da otvorim slavinu i dobijem bezbednu vodu. Kao i da milioni ljudi širom sveta nemaju taj luksuz i moraju da hodaju satima da bi nabavili bezbednu vodu. Inspirisalo me je da pronađem načine da pomognem ljudima da imaju bolji pristup i uradio sam istraživanje i pronašao sjajnu grupu pod nazivom Dispenzeri za bezbednu vodu. I priključio sam se. I ne očekujem da mi komitet za Nobelovu nagradu pokuca na vrata, ali to su mali koraci, to je bar nešto. A to je sve zbog zahvalnosti. I to je razlog zašto podstičem ljude, prijatelje, porodicu da prate sopstvene staze zahvalnosti. Jer radi se o iskustvu koje menja život.
And it doesn't have to be coffee. It could be anything. It could be a pair of socks, it could be a light bulb. And you don't have to go around the world, you can just do a little gesture, like make eye contact or send a note to the designer of a logo you love. It's more about a mindset. Being aware of the thousands of people involved in every little thing we do. Remembering that there's someone in a factory who made the fabric for the chairs you're sitting in right now. That someone went into a mine and got the copper for this microphone so that I could say my final thank you, which is to thank you. Thank you a thousand for listening to my story.
A ne mora da se radi o kafi. Može da bude bilo šta. Može da bude par čarapa, može da bude sijalica. I ne morate da idete širom sveta, možete da napravite male gestove, poput pogleda u oči ili slanja poruke dizajneru loga koji vam se sviđa. Više se radi o mentalnom sklopu. O svesti da je na hiljadu ljudi uključeno u svaku sitnicu koju radimo. O podsećanju da postoji neko u nekoj fabrici ko je napravio tkaninu za stolicu na kojoj upravo sedite. Da se neko spustio u rudnik i dopremio bakar za ovaj mikrofon kako bih mogao da iskažem svoju finalnu zahvalnost, a to je da zahvalim vama. Hiljadu hvala što ste saslušali moju priču.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
(Cheering)
(Ovacije)