Why your life needs novelty, no matter your age - Kenneth Chabert (re-release)

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Hey everyone, for the next week and a half, we are going to share a handful of talks, conversations, and podcast episodes from the TED archive that inspire us. As we're thinking about the end of 2025 as well as the resolutions and practices we hope to bring into our lives in '26, I hope they inspire you too. We're starting with a talk from 2023 about how to truly savor life. For storyteller and Nonprofit founder Kenneth Shbert, it's all about pursuing first experiences. In his talk, he shares his steps for creating truly meaningful moments in life, where novel experiences break up mundane routine in small but significant ways, no matter how old you are.

欢迎收听TED每日播客，我们每天为你带来新观点，激发你的好奇心。我是主持人伊莉丝·胡。大家好，在接下来的一周半时间里，我们将分享一系列来自TED档案的演讲、对话和播客节目，这些内容激励着我们。在我们思考2025年结束以及我们希望带入2026年的决心与习惯之际，希望它们也能激励你。我们以2023年一场关于如何真正品味生活的演讲开始。对于故事讲述者和非营利组织创始人肯尼思·舒伯特来说，这一切都关乎追求初次体验。在他的演讲中，他分享了在生活中创造真正有意义的时刻的步骤，新奇体验能以微小却重要的方式打破平凡的日常，无论你年龄多大。

In 2018 I had what I call a powerful first experience. At 31 years old, I made my first snow angel. Now, that may not sound powerful to some of you, but for me it was. And so how do you get from New York City to Montana, where you have to have a horse? I don't make the rules, but not having a horse is why so many people don't make it out there. I'm kidding. I was actually invited to attend and speak at a conference in Big Sky.

2018年，我有了一次我称之为"强大的初次体验"的经历。31岁时，我做了人生第一个雪天使。这可能对你们有些人来说听起来并不强大，但对我来说是的。那么，你怎么从纽约市去到蒙大拿州呢，那里据说必须得有匹马？规则不是我定的，但没有马正是许多人去不了那里的原因。开个玩笑。实际上我是受邀去大天空镇参加一个会议并发表演讲。

I'm a kid from the Bronx, so I knew nothing about Big Sky. I knew nothing about Montana. In fact, I had only recognized images similar to it as the screen saver that comes on whenever my MacBook goes idle. I landed in Bozeman and the first thing I did was thank God, because I don't like flying, even though I have to do it often.

我是布朗克斯区长大的孩子，所以我对大天空镇一无所知。我对蒙大拿州一无所知。事实上，我以前只在MacBook进入待机状态时出现的屏保上见过类似的画面。我降落在博兹曼，第一件事就是感谢上帝，因为我不喜欢飞行，尽管我经常不得不坐飞机。

I walked out of the airport and I saw no skyscrapers, no lines for cabs, no people yelling and arguing. And there were no funny smells that I was familiar with. You know, all the things that make NYC amazing. So fast forward. I'm in the passenger seat of the car and I'm looking out the window and I'm just taking in the views. Mountains covered in snow, trees everywhere. And at one point we passed by these homes that had to be worth millions of dollars because they had the most beautiful view of the environment.

我走出机场，没有看到摩天大楼，没有等出租车的队伍，没有大喊大叫和争吵的人。也没有我熟悉的那些奇怪气味。你知道的，所有让纽约市很棒的要素。快进一下。我坐在汽车的副驾驶座上，望着窗外，欣赏着风景。白雪覆盖的群山，到处都是树木。有一次我们经过一些房子，那些房子肯定值几百万美元，因为它们拥有最美的环境景观。

Later the next day as I'm getting off stage from speaking, a woman comes up to me and she asked, "Would you like to go on a hike?" Now I'm from New York City, so a hike is a few city blocks. New York City is at sea level so we're talking about real oxygen. So no, this was a hike at 8000 feet elevation. One quickly realizes Montana's oxygen just isn't real. Midway through a hike, I can't remember what I said, but the woman grabs a fist full of snow, puts it in her mouth as she starts to chew, and my initial thought was that was disgusting.

第二天晚些时候，我刚演讲完下台，一位女士走过来问我："你想去徒步吗？" 我来自纽约市，所以对我来说徒步就是走几个街区。纽约市在海平面高度，所以我们呼吸的是真正的氧气。但这次不是，这是在海拔8000英尺的徒步。你很快意识到蒙大拿的氧气不像是真的。徒步到一半，我不记得我说了什么，但那位女士抓了一把雪放进嘴里嚼了起来，我最初的想法是这太恶心了。

I would never touch anything that touches a New York City street. But then I realized this was snow from Montana and this was symbolic of the relationships Montanans have with their environment. So towards the end of the hike, this woman lays down in a bed of snow and she moves her body in a way that registers to me: she's making a snow angel.

我绝不会碰任何接触过纽约市街道的东西。但随后我意识到这是蒙大拿的雪，这象征着蒙大拿人与他们环境的关系。徒步接*尾声时，这位女士躺在一片雪地里，她用一种我认得的方式移动身体：她在做一个雪天使。

So after about thirty seconds, I decide to mimic. And so I lay in this fresh bed of snow in Montana. I move my arms and my legs, and then it dawns on me: I'm making a snow angel for the first time. And of course I've seen other people do it and I've seen it on television before, but it was the first time I did it.

大约三十秒后，我决定模仿。于是我躺在了蒙大拿这片新鲜的雪地上。我移动我的胳膊和腿，然后我突然意识到：这是我第一次做雪天使。当然我以前见过别人做，也在电视上看过，但这是我第一次自己做。

You see, I've coined the term "powerful first experiences" or PFE's as doing something you never thought you would do for the first time in a place that you never thought you would be in for the first time. The main reason why I was in Montana in the first place was to give a talk about powerful first experiences. So it's only right that I would then have powerful first experiences in Montana.

你看，我创造了"强大的初次体验"这个术语，指的是在一个你从未想过第一次会去的地方，做一件你从未想过第一次会做的事。我去蒙大拿的首要原因本就是做一场关于强大初次体验的演讲。所以，我随后在蒙大拿拥有强大的初次体验，这再合适不过了。

Powerful first experiences are life-altering moments and experiences that change the way that we see ourselves and change the way we see the world. And they can be as expansive as skydiving out of a plane in France or as small as visiting a lake to meditate for the first time. What matters is your imagination, your courage and your curiosity.

强大的初次体验是改变人生的时刻和经历，它们改变我们看待自己的方式，也改变我们看待世界的方式。它们可以宏大如在法国从飞机上跳伞，也可以微小如第一次去湖边冥想。重要的是你的想象力、你的勇气和你的好奇心。

In the book "Power Moments" by Chip and Dan Heath, the authors reference what psychologists call the "reminiscence bump", a phenomenon where older individuals are asked to think about their experiences, and they tend to disproportionately talk about the experiences that happen roughly between the ages of fifteen to thirty.

在奇普·希思和丹·希思合著的《关键时刻》一书中，作者引用了心理学家所谓的"回忆高峰"，这种现象是指当老年人被要求回想自己的经历时，他们往往不成比例地谈论大约发生在15岁到30岁之间的经历。

Some researchers say this is a time in our lives where we experience the most novelty, and there's a few theories why. One, when you enter and pass through your thirties, life can seem like it speeds up because we develop the habits of doing the same things over and over. Another reason is that there are just some experiences in our lives that are set to happen within that time frame. So think about it, by fifteen you might be in high school.

一些研究人员说，这是我们生活中体验最多新奇事物的时期，有几个理论可以解释原因。第一，当你进入并度过三十岁后，生活会显得加速了，因为我们养成了重复做同样事情的习惯。另一个原因是，我们生活中的一些经历注定要在那个时间段发生。想想看，十五岁时你可能在读高中。

By eighteen, you may be in college. After college, you get a job, you may buy the big home. You may get married, you may have a kid. And then you might experience loss or grief and then you enter your thirties and that's it. No more powerful first experiences and life repeats itself over and over. Something about that seems so unfulfilling now.

十八岁，你可能上大学。大学毕业后，你找到工作，可能会买大房子。你可能会结婚，可能会有孩子。然后你可能会经历失去或悲伤，接着你就进入了三十岁，就这样了。不再有强大的初次体验，生活一遍又一遍地重复。现在想想，这似乎太不充实了。

Imagine if you're a kid from a community like the Bronx. While the Bronx offers amazing experiences, by the time you turn fourteen or fifteen, you can feel like you've experienced all the powerful first experiences in that environment. And so I became obsessed with figuring out how to give more powerful first experiences to others.

想象一下，如果你是一个来自像布朗克斯区这样社区的孩子。虽然布朗克斯提供了很棒的体验，但当你十四、五岁时，你可能会觉得你已经体验过了那个环境里所有强大的初次体验。因此，我开始痴迷于研究如何为他人提供更多强大的初次体验。

My organization, Gentleman's Retreat, focuses on young men of color from the inner city who end up going to top colleges and universities, such as Brown University. These young men are gifted and they're special. They just felt they experienced everything the community had to offer. We call these young men "G's" for gentlemen.

我的组织"绅士静修营"，关注来自内城区的有色人种年轻男性，他们最终进入了像布朗大学这样的顶尖学府。这些年轻人很有天赋，也很特别。他们只是觉得自己已经体验了社区所能提供的一切。我们称这些年轻人为"G"，代表绅士。

And while working with these gentlemen and giving them powerful first experiences, I realized it was shaping their identities in a positive way. But it was also increasing their cultural and their social capital. An individual has cultural capital because of the environment that they come from.

在与这些绅士们合作并给予他们强大初次体验的过程中，我意识到这正在以积极的方式塑造他们的身份认同。但这也在增加他们的文化资本和社会资本。一个人拥有文化资本是因为他们所处的成长环境。

The knowledge, skills and beliefs of that environment can be seen as capital or an asset. And having the combination allows an individual to have economic advantages and other advantages. And when you collect powerful first experiences, you're collecting cultural capital from different environments.

那个环境的知识、技能和信仰可以被视为资本或资产。拥有这些组合能让个人获得经济优势和其他优势。当你积累强大的初次体验时，你就是在从不同的环境中收集文化资本。

Social capital is a set of shared values and resources that allows individuals to come together to achieve a common goal. It can also be thought of as the ability to access resources, favors and information from your network. Countless connections are fostered when the gentlemen develop intimate relationships in places such as Paris, London and even Montana.

社会资本是一套共享的价值观和资源，它使个人能够团结起来实现共同目标。它也可以被看作是从你的人脉网络中获取资源、帮助和信息的能力。当这些绅士们在巴黎、伦敦甚至蒙大拿等地建立亲密关系时，无数的联系得以培养。

As they spend time with locals, entrepreneurs and even venture capitalists, they develop a more expansive network and idea of the world. And increasing cultural and social capital doesn't just benefit the gentlemen, it also benefits the communities that they bless with their presence.

当他们与当地人、企业家甚至风险投资家共度时光时，他们发展出了更广泛的人际网络和对世界的认知。增加文化和社交资本不仅有益于这些绅士们，也有益于他们有幸造访的社区。

And a powerful first experience changes the way you see yourself and the way you see the world. Going to Big Sky changed the way that I saw the world, the way that I saw myself and what I wanted to do in the world. Instead of waiting for my cycle of experiences to repeat themselves, doing the same things over and over, I decided to go out into the world and collect powerful first experiences.

一次强大的初次体验会改变你看待自己以及看待世界的方式。去大天空镇的经历改变了我看世界的方式、看待自己的方式，以及我想在世界上做什么。我没有等待我的经验循环重复，一遍遍做同样的事情，而是决定走出去，去收集强大的初次体验。

And a powerful first experience can be anything. It's all about intention. The most important part of a powerful first experience or a PFE is intention. Anyone can have them. You don't have to have capital or have started an organization. You don't even have to be a G, you just have to be thoughtful about two things.

强大的初次体验可以是任何事。关键在于意图。强大的初次体验最重要的部分是意图。任何人都可以拥有它们。你不需要有资本或创办一个组织。你甚至不必是一个"绅士"，你只需要认真考虑两件事。

One, do something you haven't done but have always wanted to do. And what's important here, no matter what you choose to do—skydiving out of a plane, learning a new language, switching your wardrobe—whatever you decide to do has to have a certain level of risk in it for you. It's about courage. The courage to get on a plane and go to a state where most people don't look like me in order to experience something as simple as making a snow angel.

第一，做一件你从未做过但一直想做的事。这里重要的是，无论你选择做什么——从飞机上跳伞、学习一门新语言、改变你的着装风格——无论你决定做什么，对你而言都必须包含一定程度的冒险。这关乎勇气。鼓起勇气登上飞机，前往一个大多数人长得不像我的州，只为体验做雪天使这样简单的事情。

Second thing, switch up your environment, change the stimuli and please try to be bold. So you may be a singer, but maybe you sing on a crowded train in New York City or in the beautiful streets of Venice, Italy.

第二件事，改变你的环境，改变刺激物，并且请尝试勇敢一些。你可能是一名歌手，但也许你可以在纽约市拥挤的地铁上唱歌，或者在意大利威尼斯美丽的街道上唱歌。

Imagine what the world would be like if we decided to share and exchange more powerful first experiences. Would we feel more loved? Would we feel more connected? Would we feel more brave? Most importantly, would we feel more human? Each and every one of us has so much to experience if we allow ourselves the gift of another powerful first experience.

想象一下，如果我们决定分享和交换更多强大的初次体验，世界会是什么样子。我们会感到更多爱吗？我们会感到联系更紧密吗？我们会感到更勇敢吗？最重要的是，我们会感到更有人性吗？如果我们允许自己接受另一次强大初次体验这份礼物，我们每个人还有太多可以去体验。

I only ask if you decide to go to Montana for the first time. Please don't forget your horse. Thank you.

我只请求，如果你决定第一次去蒙大拿。请别忘了你的马。谢谢。

That was Kenneth Schubert at the TED Ed Educator Summit in January 2023. This talk was originally posted in April 2023.

以上是肯尼思·舒伯特在2023年1月TED-Ed教育工作者峰会上的演讲。该演讲最初发布于2023年4月。