How to find your purpose (w/ Yara Shahidi) (video)
How to Be a Better Human
TED
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Optimism is not what exists in a vacuum on your best day, but how you're pulling through for yourself on your worst days,” says actress Yara Shahidi. Yara is known for her sitcoms Black-ish and its spinoff Grown-ish. She shares what she learned from creating a “Hard Yes” list, why she chose to attend Harvard after acting, and why she thinks anyone can find their highest order if they pay attention.
Featured guest
- Follow Yara Shahidi on Instagram and at yarashahidi.com/
- Listen to The Optimist Project podcast
Connect with the team
- Follow Chris on Instagram and at chrisduffycomedy.com
- Buy Chris’ book, Humor Me
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is How to Be a Better Human. I'm your host, Chris Duffy. This month on our podcast, we are |
| 0:07.5 | re-examining our relationship to work. We started with psychologist Guy Wynch's new book, |
| 0:12.6 | Mind Over Grind, and we talked about how to prevent burnout and make space for life outside of your job. |
| 0:17.6 | And then we had financial journalist Matt Levine explained the economy |
| 0:21.1 | and money stuff to us. But this week we are tackling to me the biggest question around work, |
| 0:26.5 | which is what do you want to do? Figuring out what you want to do is in many ways figuring out |
| 0:32.2 | who you want to be. What do you want to contribute to the world? What do you want to learn? Who do you |
| 0:36.4 | want to be surrounded by? What do you believe in? I am, quite frankly, overwhelmed just saying those questions out loud. I'm not even trying to answer them. But today's guest, Yara Shahidi, is remarkably clear-eyed about tackling life's biggest questions head on. You might know Yara from her award-winning work on the TV shows Blackish and Grownish, |
| 0:55.3 | but she's also a producer, the host of The Optimist Project podcast, and a Harvard graduate. |
| 1:01.4 | In other words, Yara has succeeded at the very highest levels across a variety of fields. |
| 1:06.5 | While I'm getting winded just thinking about my future, Yara is sprinting across the finish |
| 1:11.1 | line and then circling back to design an entirely new race course. |
| 1:14.9 | But Yara has incredibly practical, inspiring advice for everyone, even me. |
| 1:20.2 | So today we are talking to Yara about how to understand yourself, how to understand your |
| 1:24.3 | goals, and what you want to say yes to. |
| 1:27.0 | To get us started, here is a clip from Yara's TED Talk. |
| 1:30.1 | My grandpa and I would reimagine and act out the entire saga of the Odyssey with my Polly Pocket |
| 1:35.5 | dolls as one does at the age of four. |
| 1:38.6 | And around the age of five, I asked for every religious book. |
| 1:42.3 | I mean, every religious book. |
| 1:46.1 | Fast forwarding to 13, I read my first short story from the formidable James Baldwin, and my life was forever changed. Needless to say, |
| 1:52.6 | I was grateful to be surrounded by a community of people that honored my interests. But as I got older, |
... |
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