Watch as writer Andrew Solomon gives a powerful call to action to forge meaning from our biggest struggles. What struggles have you faced? How can you learn from them?

Career

Learn how to overcome adversity.

Learn how to be persuasive and argue your case. Join your schools debate team and gain valuable communication and critical thinking skills that will help you in your career!

Join the debate team!

Face one of the most common fears -- public speaking. Watch TED curator Chris Anderson share secrets to great public speaking. Now go out and put these into practice!

Skills

Overcome your fear of public speaking. 

Actors

Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, motion picture productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction. Interpret serious or comic role by speech, gesture, and body movement to entertain or inform audience. May dance and sing.

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Second Interest High-Point

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

First Interest High-Point

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Actors, Producers, and Directors

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations

Entertainers and Performers, Sports and Related Workers

Study and rehearse roles from scripts to interpret, learn and memorize lines, stunts, and cues as directed.

Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.

Learn about characters in scripts and their relationships to each other to develop role interpretations.

Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.

Perform humorous and serious interpretations of emotions, actions, and situations, using body movements, facial expressions, and gestures.

Attend auditions and casting calls to audition for roles.

Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.

Work with other crew members responsible for lighting, costumes, make-up, and props.

Sing or dance during dramatic or comedic performances.

Read from scripts or books to narrate action or to inform or entertain audiences, utilizing few or no stage props.

Promote productions using means such as interviews about plays or movies.

Write original or adapted material for dramas, comedies, puppet shows, narration, or other performances.

Prepare and perform action stunts for motion picture, television, or stage productions.

Tell jokes, perform comic dances, songs and skits, impersonate mannerisms and voices of others, contort face, and use other devices to amuse audiences.

Introduce performances and performers to stimulate excitement and coordinate smooth transition of acts during events.

Manipulate strings, wires, rods, or fingers to animate puppets or dummies in synchronization with talking, singing, or recorded programs.

Dress in comical clown costumes and makeup, and perform comedy routines to entertain audiences.

Perform original and stock tricks of illusion to entertain and mystify audiences, occasionally including audience members as participants.

Construct puppets and ventriloquist dummies, and sew accessory clothing, using hand tools and machines.

Digital still cameras

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Personal computers

Photography tripods

Tablet computers

Wireless microphones

Apple Final Cut Pro

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Facebook

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LinkedIn

Microsoft Office

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Twitter

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YouTube

I think that reality hit us a lot earlier. When I was a kid I was young but the Watts riots happened. I remember just watching our neighborhood on fire.

Actor and Humanitarian

Being the first in your family to attend college is daunting, but rewarding.
 
Follow the journeys of four young people-all first in their families to go to college-as they road-trip across the country to interview inspiring individuals who were also first in their families to pursue higher education.
 
After gaining wisdom and guidance from trail-blazing leaders-including Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, Grammy Award-winner John Legend, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz-the Roadtrippers are emboldened to embrace the opportunities ahead and ask "why shouldn't I succeed?"

Why Not Us

(William) I come from a large family and my mother had to drop out of school at an early age and started a family and there were seven of us and she was a maid and I remember for years watching her get down on her hands and knees, uh, and she'd work all day long and then she'd come home. And in our home my mother was such a stickler for a clean house. So we would have to get down on our knees and we had hardwood floors, and we would line up behind her with rags on our elbows and our knees and a little floor wax and we would do the wax-on wax-off approach. And we would do the, 'Get a good education, before you get old cause a good education is better than gold.' 'Gold and silver will wash away but that good education will never decay.' I think that reality hit us a lot earlier. Um, when I was a kid, I was young but the Watts riots happened. And I remember just watching our neighborhood on fire and then we would turn on the news at night and we would see our neighborhood and commentators talking about it and it's almost like, not your whole childhood is gone, but a big piece of it. And it's called the innocence. And once the innocence is gone it's like, welcome to the real world, you know what I mean. But on those days, I still was expected to get A's. Going on to college and getting college degrees and advanced degrees, I never stopped and thought about my circumstance being any excuse for why I wasn't supposed to do those things. There was no excuse that was worthy of listening to if by that excuse somebody was saying, "That is why I was unable to do something." 'Cause I never just accepted the notion that I was unable to do anything. And so when I run into young people like you, and I know you and I born with silver spoons in your mouths and yet, here you are and here we are in this journey, all of us deciding, not on my watch. The four of you could have easily, and so could I have sat down and said, "I have a boat load of excuses and I'm gonna use these to justify welfare." The line is long with people of all ages who continue to do that. And you think from your vantage point, from our vantage point, 'How is that possible?' That's when you realize you are uncommon. And that is really something you are going to have to grapple with. Because you gotta know this, there are 19 year olds who have folded their hand. And didn't have half the challenges, they just folded their hand. And yet here you are uncommon with your circumstances. Hold on to your truth as if it is your power, 'cause it is. My strength comes in part from the fact that I come from very little. I'm empowered by that, I don't run away from that. I'm strong because of it and so when I tell my story, I don't edit it. We lived right there on 107, in the projects before that. Federal housing project. Yes, and it's not with a sense of pride or shame. That's my truth. If you tell your truth and live your truth you will always be empowered by it. Own it, own it. (Jonathan) For me my greatest weakness is I always feel like I have to do stuff for everyone else and then me. Like, I have this, the weight of everyone that has been my supporters, my backbone, my motivators and if I fail, they fail. But if I succeed, then we all succeed. So to me it's like, there's them, they're priorities and then there's me. So, like, what can we do, like is there any type of advice you can give to us, you know, to just get out of that mindset and have you ever had that type of pressure in your life? All the time. I mean, it tells me something about you when you even set up a scale that didn't start with you. You're motivated by something beyond yourself. When we're motivated just by ourselves we tend to seek selfish goals. 'I'm motivated to make money.' 'How come?' 'So that I can live in a big house.' 'How come?' 'So that I can tell people I'm rolling like that.' Everything's I, I, I. But when I'm propelled by those other things 'I'm working hard.' 'How come?' 'To help my family live a better life.' 'How come?' 'Cause I want them to know the things that I've had the opportunity to enjoy.' I think that the problem comes when you feel that in doing that, you can't fail. Well, ultimately you can't fail but there are little failures in between that you not only can have, you will have. There's no way of getting around those.  All of this is an experiment, and you simply like scientists do, you get better at saying, 'Well now I know what doesn't work,' You feel like for your family's sake you gotta hit it now,  that's an unrealistic pressure because it doesn't allow you to live a real full life on your own in preperation for helping your family. You may not be clear in your purpose now don't let it be determined by anybody else's clock and somewhere in your journeys discover who you really are  not who your mother or father said you were not who your community said you were, not who this country tried to say you were as a woman, or as poor, or as latino, or as African-American, no. Who you discover you really are, and this can only come about as a result of process, this journey.  (Jasmine) As we're going on our trip what is one piece of advice that you think that we could keep with us? (William) When you were growing up, when I was growing up, there was a world that you belong to that you had very little control over. You lived in a house, you didn't select your brothers and sisters, you didn't even select your parents. You didn't select what school you were going to, you didn't even select in most cases what you were gonna wear. You have to now construct your world. It must now look like, not what your father's world looked like. As you create your world, realize you can create whatever world you want. Which is why you have no excuse later on in life. Your mommy and daddy are not doing this anymore, this is you. Create your world and then live in it. Really take full advantage of it. Benefit from it, don't just live in it. 

Choices

Courage

Education

Experience

Self-Reflection

Struggle

Values

Interview

I come from a large family, and my mother had to drop out of school at an early age and started a family. And there were seven of us. I think that reality hit us a lot earlier. When I was a kid, I was young, but the The Watts Riots happened. And I remember just watching our neighborhood on fire. And then we would turn on the news at night. And we would see our neighborhood and commentators talking about it. And it's almost like not your whole childhood is gone, but a big piece of it and it's called the innocence. And once the innocence is gone it's like welcome to the real world. You know what I mean. Going on to college and getting college degrees and advanced degrees, I never stopped and thought about my circumstance being any excuse for why I wasn't supposed to do those things. You may not be clear in your purpose now. Don't let it be determined by anybody else's clock. And somewhere in your journeys, discover who you really are. Not who your mother, your father said you were. Not who your community said you were. Not who this country tried to say that you were, as a woman, or as poor, or as Latino, or African-American, no. Who you discover you really are. And this can only come about as a result of process, this journey. 

Exploration

William Allen Young Highlight

You may not be clear in your purpose now. Don't let it be determined by anybody else's clock. And somewhere in your journeys, discover who you really are. Not who your mother, your father say that you were. Not who your community said you were. Not who your country tried to say you were, as a woman, or as poor, as Latino or African-American. No. Who you discover you really are. And this can only come about as a result of processes, journey 

Character

Discover Who You Really Are

When I run into young people like you. And I know you were not born with silver spoons in your mouths, and yet, here you are. And here we are in this journey, all of us deciding, not on my watch. The four of you could have easily, and so could I have, sat down and said I have a boatload of excuses, and I'm gonna use these to justify welfare. The line is long with people of all ages who continue to do that. And you'd think from your vantage point, from our vantage point, how is that possible? That's when you realize you are uncommon. And that is really something you're gonna have to grapple with. Because you gotta know this. There are 19 year olds who have folded their hand, and didn't have half the challenges, they just folded their hand. And yet, here you are, uncommon with your circumstances. Hold onto your truth as if it is your power, cuz it is. My strength, it comes in part from the fact that I come from very little. I'm empowered by that. I don't run away from that. I'm strong because of it and so when I tell my story I don't edit it. We lived right there on 107th, in the projects before that, federal housing project. Yes. And it's not with a sense of pride or shame, that's my truth. If you tell your truth and live your truth you, will always be empowered by own it, own it. 

Confidence

You Are Uncommon

I think that reality hit us a lot earlier. When I was a kid, I was young but the Watts riots happened, and I remember just watching our neighborhood on fire. And then we would turn on the news at night, and we would see our neighborhood and commentators talking about it. And it's almost like not your whole childhood is gone, but a big piece of it, and it's called the innocence. And once the innocence is gone, it's like, welcome to the real world. You know what I mean? But on those days, I still was expected to get As. Going on to college and getting college degrees and advanced degrees, I never stopped and thought about my circumstance being any excuse for why I wasn't supposed to do those things. There was no excuse that was worthy of listening to, if by that excuse somebody was saying that is why I was unable to do something. Cuz I've never just accepted the notion that I was unable to do anything. 

Conflict

Losing Innocence

The most important thing is really creating the world that you're gonna live in, and avoiding the tendency to want to slip back into those other worlds that you left a long time ago. As a lot of young people say, I ain't going out like that. They're saying, no, that's a world I didn't control. This is what my world looks like. This home looks in so many ways like the home that I grew up in in terms of the love and the nurturing. But during the rough patches, this is not the home I lived in. That was when my family was going through the period prior to my mother and father's divorce. I remember just going in the bedroom and going into the closet and putting my hands in my ears and just saying, stop. What I realized is okay, start writing. This is what you don't want in your world. Remember this moment because even if you don't know exactly what your world is gonna look like, you know what you don't want it to look like. And if nothing else, start from there to start. And then you say got it, I arrived at it. It has elements of this, this and that, but know this, know that, know. Anybody who comes to this house, my sons will tell you, people who know me will tell you. They know what you don't bring to my home. You don't do that, because when I created that world, I was serious. You don't drink here. There was drinking in my life in the past and I didn't like it then. You don't drink in my house, I created this world. You don't smoke here, no drugs here, you don't bring negativity here, you bring love here, we embrace here. Everybody is welcome here, so long as you don't bring those elements that we don't have here. My sons reinforced that, my wife reinforces that. That's what you have to do. You really have to be adamant about saying, no, not in my world. I control this one. And if you accept that, then everything else that happens in that world, you have to own because you're the police of that world. And then I think you'll be fine, I think you'll be fine. 

Create Your World

The problem comes when you feel that in doing that you can't fail. Well, ultimately you can't fail, but there are little failures in-between that you not only can have, you will have. There's no way getting around those. Those little failures to me are the beauty of life saying that all of this is an experiment. And you simply, like scientists do, you get better at saying, well, now I know what doesn't work, and you get closer. Albert Einstein, before he stumbled onto the theory of relativity, talking about 300 times, just failing. There's a scientist, brilliant scientist. I failed, I failed, and smiling during this press conference, and they were saying, Professor Einstein, does that not bother you? He said, oh, no, no, no, no. That's part of the process of discovery, I need to rule out barium and calcium and maligninum. I need to rule those out as possibilities so I can arrive at it's oxygen. 

Failure

Embrace The Little Failures In Life

I come from a large family, and my mother had to drop out of school at an early age and started a family. And there were seven of us, and she was a maid. And I remember, for years, watching her get down on her hands and knees. And she'd work all day long, and then she'd come home. And in our home my mother was such a stickler for a clean house. So we would have to get down on our knees, and we had hard wood floors, and we would line up behind her with rags on our elbows and our knees and a little floor wax and we would do the wax on, wax off approach. And we'd do the, get a good education before you get old, cuz a good education is better than gold. Gold and silver will wash away, but that good education will never decay. 

Family

Education Song

I come from a large family, and my mother had to drop out of school at an early age, and started a family. And there were seven of us. And she was a maid. And I remembered for years watching her get down on her hands and knees. And she'd work all day long, and then she'd come home and in our home, our mother was such a stickler for a clean house. I mean, truly, she loved cleanliness. So, we would have to get down on our knees and we had hardwood floors. And we were on the floor behind my mother, with rags on our elbows and our knees and a little floor wax, and we were cleaning and waxing our floors. And when we did it, she really used to teach us the value of education. And I remember this poem that my sons can recite to you. That's me paying it forward. And it's the one that her grandmother gave to her. And she told her, never forget the value of education and the poem that she gave her said, get a good education before you get old because a good education is better than gold. Gold and silver will wash away, but a good education will never decay. And so we found a way to put rhythm to that in cleaning the floors. And we would do the wax on, wax off approach. And we'd do the get a good education before you get old cuz a good education is better than gold. Gold and silver will wash away but a good education will never decay. Get a good education before you get, good education, better than gold. Gold and silver gonna wash away, but a good education will never decay. And the beauty of that was that we found a way to find the value of hard work and education at the same time. 

Goals

Hard Work

Good Education

When we discover ourselves, one of the most important things you gotta know about yourself is how you're wired. You gotta know if you're somebody who tends to beat yourself up when you fail. You gotta know if you're a person who sees anything that doesn't go your way as a failure, and how you see failure. Because if we don't know how we're wired, we don't know the most important thing moving forward, the tool that we wield. You really gotta understand how your operate, and then begin to act on the world based on your strengths, and keep working on those things that you need to work out. But when you're presenting your strength, you're always gonna up the likelihood of your success. But you've gotta know what that strength is, and we all have little personality traits that betray us. You've gotta know what those things are. If, in your leadership capacity, you don't delegate authority well. That's one of the things I discovered about myself a long time ago. I'm truly my mother and father's son. So, I realized the way I'm wired, I don't use excuses, I don't beg for anything, and it if needs to be done, I'll jump in and do it myself if I have to. You gotta know those things about yourself because for the rest of your life, you'll then be able to know who you work with most effectively, how you work most effectively, and what ways you use to tend to get results. So if you know that, if you create your world, if you truly benefit from your world and surround yourself by the people who truly will lift you up, you're really on your way. If you stop and think about it, and just imagine what that world looks like, that's a very powerful way to live your life. Anything else will fall into that. Obviously, keep your eyes open for the rest of your life, always listening, and just lifelong learning. 

Individualism

Know Yourself

Think about me as an actor. So I've done over 100 projects. If you consider being turned down, turned away as failure, cuz I got to get the part, I fail. How come I didn't get the part? I tried, but I didn't get the part. I easily have failed over 2000 times and that's just me going back in my memory. I probably failed a lot more than that. And yet, each time I tie back up my boots and I get back in the game. And sometimes I failed where I needed the money cuz I'd gotten out on my own. And I'm living in this little studio apartment saying, I gotta prove to my mother. I gotta prove to my family I can do this, as this young, starving actor. And then I couldn't, and I got evicted from my apartment. As actors we're rejected 100 times for every one time they say yes. And if you can't handle that you gotta get outta the kitchen. And that's why for us, we look at failure a whole different way. If I go and do a screen test for a role tomorrow, I don't even wait for the phone to ring anymore. I've just done it long enough to where, if it doesn't ring, I didn't get it. And then I get with my son or I do whatever and sometimes if I really wanted a role because it was significant for me, my son, my wife, they know I have a moment. I may be sitting in this chair and I just think oh man, what happened, what happened, even at this stage. And then I glance up there and I realize nothing happened except for what is supposed to happen in life. You get some and you don't get some. So for us actors, we take failure, and we turn it around, and we go to the next audition. You can't carry failure with you because if I do, I'm gonna hurt my chances in the next audition. I have to sever myself from it. That umbilical cord must be cut in order for me to even progress to the next one. And then cut and cut and cut. Until finally, you're the one. And luckily, for what I do, when I'm the one for that one project, I can do one project and take care of my family for years. So the hundred rejections to wait for that one, is worth it. And in your lives if you can parallel that to however you want, you're gonna be rejected and rejected and rejected, fail, fail, fail. And then your ship will come in, if you're patient enough to believe that the ship is coming and if you're ready when it comes. 

Money & Financial Security

Trying Isn't Failing

You always speak about the moment when you awoke in for us. So sort of that moment when you think about giving back and serving humanity. When was that moment for you and what was going on in your life around that time? And what was going through your mind and when did you decide that it's no longer about me but it's about helping others? >> Yeah, good question. Probably when I was at USC and getting ready to graduate and I began to look at my circumstances, and this is before I got my masters degree. At that point I was, I had already done a television series, several movies of the week, a miniseries, and had, I'm flying around first class everywhere. Front seat in these big 747s. Top of the line penthouse hotels. So I was introduced to a world that was totally unlike my childhood. I step off the plane. Three or four people greet me, grab my luggage. Do you want water? Do you want juice? Limousine, everywhere I go. I can't say no thank you, I'll rent a car. No, no, Mr. Young, this is your limo. I'm sitting in the back of a stretch limousine that can hold ten people, thinking what a waste. Not just what a waste in their money. But what a waste in me, just sitting back here, soaking this all up and not doing anything about it. And on one of those trips I remember, I think it was, I was doing a movie in Paris. I was there for four months. And I was looking at the River Seine and I had a flashback to my old community where some people had passed away. A young man named Thomas, because he was in gang life. And all of a sudden these images that totally challenged this beauty around me. The fresh squeezed orange juice, my driver, my dresser, my aide. And I just, I broke down and cried. It just was a crisis moment for me. And yet a revelation. And ever since that time, I just thought I'm not gonna get rid of these limos. They're gonna keep coming to pick me up. But from here on out, I will begin to pay everything forward that I get. Whatever I don't have now, as soon as I get it, I'll pay it forward. And not just in terms of physical things, tangible objects. If learn, I taught. If I got, I gave. And that moment just made me, I just felt guilty, I really did, especially coming from where I was. So instead of beating myself up too much I said, no I'm still alive, there's something I can do. And I realized that I don't even need to have this much to do something. And that's where, in 1987, I started the Young Foundation, when it just grew. I make nothing from it. I work all year long doing this, and I make not a penny doing it. And that to me is just the ultimate, just keep paying it forward. And I've never stopped since then. I don't feel guilty anymore. I actually feel blessed to be in a position to do that. And that to me is the way I turned that around. I said, no, wait a minute. If you didn't have the celebrity, if you couldn't fly and take your children and travel, if people didn't invite you be keynote speaker at national conventions and all that, you wouldn't even have an audience to do the things that you do. So I take the leverage I have and use that then and wield it to do those other things. But that was my moment. And clearly, it was a powerful moment. 

Opportunity

Pay It Forward

You will be accelerated so fast when you finally know [LAUGH] beyond doubt what you are going to do. You know why? Because, at the point that you know a thing, all uncertainty and distractions starts to fall away. So when I knew I wanted to become a professional actor, no more parties, no more of that stuff. I was always in the theater, studying. They all said, you are so incredibly focused, and I said, because I know what I wanna do. I know it! I'm not confused! You can tell confusion. Confusion is still grappling with 20 different things. You can tell focus, and knowing it is after one thing. You may not be clear in your purpose now. Whenever that happens don't let it be determined by anybody elses' clock because other people may be sure about what they want to do before you. It may be a brother or sister. Somebody that made you feel like oh God, I should know where I'm supposed to be going and I feel guilty. I feel like I'm a bum because they know and I don't know. There are people who knew before me, who were my peers. And yet I never use them as my mark. Always focus on my track. What does it look like ahead for me at school? Not who's having fun, who's not. What does it look like for me? This is my life. And then at some point, all of that focus began to pay off. 

Focus

Pressure

Finding Your Passion

I've always been curious about this. Why isn't a Hollywood actor, a director, why is he going back to the community and working with young people even though it's difficult and challenging? I mean, what do you see there? >> Good question. I've always contended that this is really the most direct and powerful way to truly change the world. People ask, in particularly young actors and the parents of young actors, Mr Young, do you work with young actors anymore? And I say, not as much as I used to. And they say, why? So similar question, I say, because I just felt that it was more important for my footprint in life that I go and truly work with young leaders and develop that than to teach a young kid how to act. Not that that's insignificant, it's been my life. And I do understand that, but man I'm absolutely convinced that when you work with young people who are going to be the future leaders and shakers and movers, and you actually help them to ooh, get a piece that they didn't have. Here is a puzzle piece and they say, oh man, I got it. Down the road, exponentially, you just affected the world in ways I have no idea how I've affected the world working with young kids in South Africa, and Soweto and Kliptown. And giving them a piece of the puzzle, and them running to embrace me, Mr Young, Mr Young, yes, yes. And I'm thinking, oh man, an epiphany in South Africa, and then I leave. Do you know what that potentially could mean to Zimbabwe, to Uganda, and you can't think about that. But I do know that that is so powerful. I just think that if you really wanna change the world, you gotta be working with young people. I mean tag, you're it. So that is why I think at some point, it absolutely was clear to me that, who's my target audience? Young people, wherever I can find them. And I never presumed to teach everything, I can't, I don't have everything to teach. But I just wanna give a piece of a puzzle. For some young person to say, wow, this does not complete my puzzle, but man did I need that corner piece. I've been looking for that piece. And then I'll add that and boom and so on, the journey and the puzzle. And really just to get puzzle pieces, which is why I'm thinking that in your journey you may be getting so many more puzzle pieces that the young people having fun, just having fun, may not be getting. This trip, I mean I don't know the total route you took to get to this, but man, the fact that you're gonna put this in your experience while you're in college? >> [LAUGH] >> That's so awesome, yeah. 

William Allen Young

Actor and Humanitarian

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William Allen Young

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Why Not Us?