My journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee
AJ Jacobs / Author
How frustration can make us more creative

TED Talk: Are you facing a messy problem? Chances are it's making you more creative

New from TED Books: Thanks a Thousand by A.J. Jacobs

The idea was deceptively simple: Thank everyone who made his cup of coffee — but the resulting journey would take A.J. Jacobs across the globe

Newest Talks

  1. My journey to thank all the people responsible for my morning coffee
  2. What to trust in a "post-truth" world
  3. The case for a decentralized internet
  4. The global goals we've made progress on -- and the ones we haven't
  5. How kids can help design cities
  6. How I accidentally changed the way movies get made

Trending

  1. Trial, error and the God complex
  2. How frustration can make us more creative
  3. The world's largest family reunion ... we're all invited!
  4. Why Google Glass?
  5. New York -- before the City
  6. How Benjamin Button got his face

Recommended today

  1. Why some people are more altruistic than others
  2. The Web as random acts of kindness
  3. Why wildfires have gotten worse -- and what we can do about it
  4. 3 lessons of revolutionary love in a time of rage
  5. The boiling river of the Amazon
  6. Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades

Explore playlists

TED-Ed lessons: feed your curiosity

  1. The myth of Sisyphus
  2. History vs. Henry VIII
  3. How folding paper can get you to the moon
  4. Can you solve the secret werewolf riddle?
  5. How big is infinity?
  6. How far would you have to go to escape gravity?

Open source, open world

  1. How Arduino is open-sourcing imagination
  2. The year open data went worldwide
  3. Discover the next mobile economy
  4. The mind behind Linux
  5. Massive-scale online collaboration
  6. The art of asking

Heard on TED Radio Hour

  1. Walk the earth ... my 17-year vow of silence
  2. The power of introverts
  3. Why I live in mortal dread of public speaking
  4. Cloudy with a chance of joy
  5. The art of stillness
  6. The nightmare videos of children's YouTube -- and what's wrong with the internet today

surprising ideas on sports from TEDx

  1. Why girls and boys should play sports together
  2. Why helmets don't prevent concussions -- and what might
  3. What we can learn from college athletes
  4. Can I have your brain? The quest for truth on concussions and CTE
  5. Redefining manhood—one locker room talk at a time
  6. Special Olympics let me be myself -- a champion

What should I do with my life?

  1. Why you will fail to have a great career
  2. How great leaders inspire action
  3. Why some of us don't have one true calling
  4. How to find work you love
  5. Before I die I want to ...
  6. Should you live for your résumé ... or your eulogy?

take a tech break

  1. We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads
  2. A funny look at the unintended consequences of technology
  3. How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day
  4. Your social media "likes" expose more than you think
  5. The era of blind faith in big data must end
  6. What moral decisions should driverless cars make?

bipartisan ideas

  1. A Republican mayor's plan to replace partisanship with policy
  2. The Housing First approach to homelessness
  3. A clean energy proposal -- race to the top!
  4. A climate solution where all sides can win
  5. American bipartisan politics can be saved -- here's how
  6. How our friendship survives our opposing politics

About TED

TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 110 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.