5 practical ways to take control of your life | Jim VandeHei

You can't control the world — but you can control you. That's the mantra that took Axios CEO Jim VandeHei, a once "unremarkably unremarkable 20-year-old," all the way to launching companies and interviewing presidents. He breaks down a career's worth of observations into five deceptively simple things you can control, and explores why mastering them can change the trajectory of your life.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When fashion model Geena Rocero first saw a photo of herself in a bikini, "I thought ... you have arrived!" As she reveals, that's because she was born with the gender assignment "boy." In this moving talk, Rocero tells the story of becoming who she always knew she was.This talk originally aired in 2014.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stress is contagious — but so is calm. Psychologist Jenny Taitz explains why one stressful moment tends to snowball into the next, and shares small, immediate resets you can practice anywhere to break the spiral before it starts.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When an organization lays people off , those who remain are often left scrambling to find their footing – and hold other people up – in an environment that no longer feels stable. In the wake of ongoing tech layoffs and the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the public sector, Anne and Frances are back with a new Unsolicited Advice segment to set the record straight about what layoffs mean for an organization — and the responsibility leaders have to own what went wrong.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Finance doesn't have to feel like a foreign language. Wall Street trader-turned-financial educator Vivian Tu helps millions of people make sense of money, breaking down complex concepts into everyday terms you can understand. She shares how she broke free from the stress of living paycheck to paycheck — and explores how we can shift power structures to give everyone a real shot at building wealth.(Following the talk, Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, interviews Tu on why financial literacy isn’t just about building generational wealth but rather is a way to pass on generational knowledge to your loved ones.)Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Design consultant Virginia Santy set out to create an office space built specifically for women, flipping the script on the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways that workplaces and cities still fail them. The results were striking: greater productivity, deeper collaboration and an environment where women felt genuinely valued, leading her to ask a simple question: What would the world look like if we designed with women in mind?Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When monarch butterflies migrate, they produce one of the most iconic wildlife spectacles in the world — and provide us with an important indicator of ecological health, says photographer Jaime Rojo. Telling a story about our relationship to the natural world, he shares his experience photographing these mesmerizing insects deep in their remote mountain habitats in Mexico, diving into the latest research into the mysteries of their multi-thousand-mile journey and sharing how each of us can join the growing movement to protect them.This episode originally aired on October 2024.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this TED Talk gone wrong, comedian Mike Albo receives an unexpected call from his bank. The result: a hilariously uncomfortable tour of his purchase history, and a reminder that in the digital age, our data knows us a little too well.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a world where design trends are quietly converging — same color palettes, same typography, same illustration styles — how do you make work that actually looks different? Designer and TED Fellow Lope Gutierrez-Ruiz distills his answer into three sharp, counterintuitive ideas, ticking through his studio's own funky creations to show how you can make things that stand out.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Covering global war stories can be hard and thankless — but it's critical work if the rest of us are to understand what's really going on in the world. For nearly two decades, journalist Jane Ferguson has reported on hostilities across Africa and the Middle East, and she's witnessed firsthand the changing face of her profession. Via stories of her own experiences at the heart of complex conflicts, she shares fascinating details of how she and other female colleagues have changed the way that news is captured, shared — and understood.This episode originally aired in November 2023.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.