“I am a magnificent failure,” Ashton Kutcher announced on the TEDYouth stage in New Orleans on Saturday. “I screw up so much it hurts.”
The star of television show “Two and a Half Men” said this not to be self-deprecating or to beat up on himself, but to drive home the point that failure is a part of life — and one that can prompt profound “aha” moments.
“You see, you have to take a risk to be a magnificent failure. The most successful people I know in the world are magnificent failures,” he said.
Kutcher was originally slated to give a much lighter talk — on the things he learned working as a dishwasher, a butcher and a deli employee on his way to becoming an actor and producer.
But he says that, as he sat down to write his talk, it didn’t feel completely honest. Continue reading.
TED is a nonprofit devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading’, which it does through conferences, speeches and videos. TEDYouth took place on 16 November with the theme, The Spark.
Source: TED Blog
Image: TED/Ryan Lash
Additional readingNews category: Features.