Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes | Richard St. John

This is really a two-hour presentation I give to high school students, cut down to three minutes.

And it all started one day on a plane on my way to TED, seven years ago.

And in the seat next to me was a high school student, a teenager, and she came from a really poor family.

And she wanted to make something of her life, and she asked me a simple little question, she said, 'What leads to success?'

And I felt really badly because I couldn't give her a good answer.

So I get off the plane and I come to TED, and I think, 'Jeez, I'm in the middle of a room of successful people, so why don't I ask them what helped them succeed and pass it on to kids?'

So here we are, seven years, 500 interviews later, and I'm going to tell you what really leads to success and makes TEDsters tick.

And the first thing is passion.

The interesting thing is if you do it for love, the money comes anyway.

Did he say fun, Rupert?

Yes.

TEDsters do have fun working and they work hard, I figured they're not workaholics, they're work-a-frolics.

Now, it's not always easy to push yourself, and that's why they invented mothers.

Frank Gehry said to me, 'My mother pushed me.'

Now a lot of kids tell me they want to be millionaires, and the first thing I say to them is, 'Okay, well you can't serve yourself, you got to serve others something of value.'

So the big, the answer to this question is simple: pay 4,000 bucks and come to TED.

Or failing that, do the eight things, and trust me, these are the big eight things that lead to success.

Thank you, TEDsters, for all your interviews.