I think we should stop asking people in their 20s what they 'want to do' and start asking them what they don't want to do. Instead of asking students to 'declare their major' we should ask students to 'list what they will do anything to avoid.' It just makes a lot more sense.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes focusing on what individuals want to avoid rather than what they aspire to do.
Amy Poehler suggests a shift in how we guide young people in their educational and career choices. Instead of pressuring them to declare a specific path or ambition in their 20s, it may be more beneficial to understand what they find unappealing. This approach can provide clearer insight into their values and preferences, ultimately helping them find a more suitable direction in life.
In practice
In a classroom discussion about career choices, a teacher could reference this quote to shift the focus from ambition to personal values.
Be easy on yourself. Have fun. Only hang around people that are positive and make you feel good. Anybody who doesn't make you feel good, kick them to the curb. And the earlier you start in your life the better. The minute anybody makes you feel weird and non-included or not supported, you know, either beat it or tell them to beat it.
Anybody who doesn't make you feel good, kick them to the curb. And the earlier you start in your life, the better.
Open-faced sandwiches take risks and live big and smile with all their teeth. These are the people I want to be around.
You become more attractive when you love yourself. You ATTRACT the right things when you have a sense of who you are.
We don't want to be afraid to make a choice because we're afraid to make a mistake because most decisions aren't final. Feelings change all the time. You can always change your mind and taking risks and making choices is what makes life so exciting because we never know what's going to happen. Every day something new comes our way.
It’s very hard to have ideas. It’s very hard to put yourself out there, it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do that are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators. They are the magic people of the world.
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.
We read Robert Browning's poetry. Here we needed no guidance from the professor: the poems themselves were enough.
All books are doors; and some of them are wardrobes.
I felt like there was something I needed to do - speaking to kids and sharing my story with them and helping them understand racism has no place in the minds and hearts of children.
The education of women is the best way to save the environment.
I believe that in the pursuit of education, individual desire is more influential than institution, and personal faith more forceful than faculty.
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