My journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee | AJ Jacobs

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2019

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Author AJ Jacobs embarked on a quest with a deceptively simple idea at its heart: to personally thank every person who helped make his morning cup of coffee. More than one thousand "thank yous" later, Jacobs reflects on the globe-trotting journey that ensued -- and shares the life-altering wisdom he picked up along the way. "I discovered that my coffee would not be possible without hundreds of people I take for granted," Jacobs says.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to a special archive presentation of TED Talks Daily.
0:05.8	This TED Talk features author AJ Jacobs, recorded live at TED Salon, Brightline Initiative, 2018.
0:15.5	So I don't like to boast, but I am very good at finding things to be annoyed about.
0:24.3	It is a real specialty of mine.
0:26.7	I can hear 100 compliments and a single insult.
0:30.6	And what do I remember?
0:32.1	The insult.
0:33.4	And according to the research, I'm not alone.
0:36.3	Unfortunately, the human brain is wired to focus on the negative.
0:41.7	Now, this might have been helpful when we were cave people trying to avoid predators,
0:46.9	but now it's a terrible way to go through life.
0:49.3	It is a real major component of anxiety and depression.
0:56.3	So how can we fight the brain's negative bias?
1:00.3	According to a lot of research, one of the best weapons is gratitude.
1:06.3	So knowing this, I started a new tradition in our house a couple of years ago.
1:11.3	Before a meal with my wife and kids, I would say a prayer of Thanksgiving.
1:17.8	Prayer is not quite the right word.
1:19.8	I'm agnostic.
1:21.8	So instead of thanking God, I would thank some of the people who helped make my food a reality.
1:28.8	I'd say, I'd like to thank the farmer who grew these tomatoes, and the trucker who drove
1:34.5	these tomatoes to the store, and the cashier who rang these tomatoes up.
1:38.9	And I thought it was going pretty well, this tradition.
	...

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