full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Joseph Gordon-Levitt: How craving attention makes you less creative

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now I'm not a plcsysoihogt or a neuroscientist. But I can tell you, for me, that is very true. It's not always easy, it's hard. To really pay attention like this takes practice, everybody does it their own way. But if there's one thing I can share that I think helps me focus and really pay attention, it's this: I try not to see other creative pelope as my competitors. I try to find collaborators. Like, if I'm atcnig in a sncee, if I start seeing the other actors as my competitors, and I'm like, "God, they're going to get more attention than I am, people are going to be talking about their performance more than mine" — I've lost my fucos. And I'm probably going to suck in that scene.

Open Cloze


Now I'm not a ____________ or a neuroscientist. But I can tell you, for me, that is very true. It's not always easy, it's hard. To really pay attention like this takes practice, everybody does it their own way. But if there's one thing I can share that I think helps me focus and really pay attention, it's this: I try not to see other creative ______ as my competitors. I try to find collaborators. Like, if I'm ______ in a _____, if I start seeing the other actors as my competitors, and I'm like, "God, they're going to get more attention than I am, people are going to be talking about their performance more than mine" — I've lost my _____. And I'm probably going to suck in that scene.

Solution


  1. psychologist
  2. people
  3. scene
  4. focus
  5. acting

Original Text


Now I'm not a psychologist or a neuroscientist. But I can tell you, for me, that is very true. It's not always easy, it's hard. To really pay attention like this takes practice, everybody does it their own way. But if there's one thing I can share that I think helps me focus and really pay attention, it's this: I try not to see other creative people as my competitors. I try to find collaborators. Like, if I'm acting in a scene, if I start seeing the other actors as my competitors, and I'm like, "God, they're going to get more attention than I am, people are going to be talking about their performance more than mine" — I've lost my focus. And I'm probably going to suck in that scene.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
powerful feeling 7
paying attention 5
social media 3
pay attention 3
creative process 2
million followers 2
feel terrible 2
find collaborators 2


Important Words


  1. acting
  2. actors
  3. attention
  4. collaborators
  5. competitors
  6. creative
  7. easy
  8. find
  9. focus
  10. hard
  11. helps
  12. lost
  13. neuroscientist
  14. pay
  15. people
  16. performance
  17. practice
  18. psychologist
  19. scene
  20. share
  21. start
  22. suck
  23. takes
  24. talking
  25. true