Just imagine if we didn't have grades in school and they taught us to learn from our mistakes instead

His nephews might have trust issues but let’s be honest, everyone wants this guy as their uncle.

I remember watching a documentary about video games. Video game designers mentioned that in later Mario titles they replaced the "Game Over" screen with a "Continue" screen. This was to encourage players to keep playing. Novice video game players would take "Game Over" too literally and stop playing all together. Video game psychology should be implemented more in education.

"That’s not a bug, that’s a feature." So so good! I really appreciated the coder/tester perspective.

Parents: "Real life isn't a game." Me @ 35: "Then why do I have to do so many side quests on my way to completing each work project?"

"That's not a bug, that's a feature" video game industry approved

It took me years after leaving high school with a perfect GPA to realize that I didn't actually hate learning. I just hated THEIR version of learning. Now I realize it can be so different from how they do it, and now I love it and am learning lots of things I've always wanted to but never had the confidence to, and I feel myself learning so fast. I can finally ignore the sting of failure that was once driven into me.

Respect to Marc for dedicating his life for 16% of us who needed a little reassurance that it is okay to fail and learn from your mistakes.

Mark is actually describing what makes the Finnish Education System so succesful: during the first years of basic comprehensive school (age seven to age sixteen), kids are basically not graded. No high stakes tests, mostly verbal assesments and so on. So the atmosphere is relaxed and that leads to children learning more and better. Remove the stress and learning gets to be a happy activity. Genius analogy BTW, well done Mark.

Teachers: Life is not a game! Mark Rober: Life is absolutely a game

"I didn't fail, I just found the right answer to a different question"

I always knew how awesome Mark Rober was but seeing him as a kid being appreciative and grateful just goes to show you that he really was raised right. The world benefits so much from people like him.

Who else expected him to randomly say "and in my ongoing quest to be the favorite uncle"

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait.....so you're telling me that not everyone lost 5 of their unimportant points?? I feel so betrayed..

I have struggled in the modern education system my whole life. The way I learn best is just like Mark explained, and as someone with learning “disabilities”, I’ve always struggled to keep up with any educational system due to the emotional and mental stress involved. It’s all about the grade: did you fail or succeed? You made a mistake, your grade gets docked. You won’t get anywhere unless you have high grades etc That always stressed me out. And in school there isn’t really any going back to “try again” unless you’re Rick and have all the time one the world (even then often you cannot). Learning should be fun, memorable, and focused on the actual learning process and not always perfection along the way. Mistakes should be an opportunity to learn and grow rather than an accumulating sense of failure for when you actually struggle. There are also so many different learning styles, yet overall the education system is caters really only to one or a select few. This leads to people like me struggling, breaking down due to stress physically and mentally, and eventually quitting due to trauma and the inability to keep up. Self-esteem goes out the window, and as you watch other succeed where you couldn’t (because you were not allowed to due to your differences), you eventually begin to believe the lies that you could never be as smart as persons xyz. I hope someday we actually apply real science and real learning theory (as well as a dose of compassion and empathy) to our education system, both primary, secondary, and beyond. And while I don’t have all the answers, I do heartily believe we are doing a disservice to students of all ages everywhere when we don’t cultivate an environment of learning, but rather an environment that expects us to get everything correct the first time. The latter is obviously unrealistic, and also doesn’t leave a lasting impression in your long term learning memory: mistakes and failed attempts are one of the best ways to learn - you will know the whys, the hows, and the why nots so much better than you would if you just only got things “right” all the time. Scientifically speaking, this also leads to stagnation: if we assume what we know or did is right and there are no other options possible, we won’t grow or think outside the box. Wonderful Ted Talk. This is why I recommend KZfaqrs like Mark Rober, Smarter Every Day, and dog trainers like Susan Garret to people. It’s important to make learning fun and accessible, while also encouraging people to take on big challenges without fearing failure.

I actually really like how he mentioned that this isn't just a "stay positive!" mentality, but more of an outlook on the challenge itself.

So basically what you're saying is, if we reward people for their success, instead of condemning them for their failures, we'd be more successful.

It’s like the saying goes, “in school you learn a lesson to take a test, and in life you get tested to learn a lesson”

This is the squirrel guy, right? He’s awesome.

Absolutely beautiful Ted talk. I just wish that school’s would apply this logic. My biggest issue with school is that its mentality is all wrong. Every single aspect of it has issues but this is the biggest problem, whenever you get a below average grade you end up mourning your failure and end up compensating for the failure for the rest of the year. If school positively incentivizes your grade instead of punishing you for getting hit by a metaphorical green shell, than our education may end up being so much better than that of our eastern neighbors.

"That's not a bug, that's a feature" As a software developer, I use this argument a lot.

You missed the perfect opportunity to say “focus on the peach and not the pit”

Something REALLY great about gamification is that it's also VERY useful for individuals with memory disorders that affect short term memory. And the thing is, ADHD is one such disorder in that it not only impairs short term memory, but it also affects all levels of executive functioning. Gamification actually helps to handle the symptoms that occur from this, but only if said gamification also has an actual level of accountability involved. By creating that level of accountability, you're essentially creating an alternate reward circuit and this allows you to train yourself to engage in tasks by breaking them down into smaller bits that are dealt with one by one, and in short chunks of time followed by tiny little breaks to recenter yourself. It essentially takes the problems with focusing and impulse control that most with ADHD experience and use them to get things done.

I live by and try to teach my children “it’s not a true failure until you say you can’t do it”. It took me twenty five years to crochet a project that turned out as intended. I never failed at crochet I simply got frustrated and set it aside for awhile. I NEVER said I can’t. I simply said I hadn’t mastered it YET!

The entire school system: aight imma pretend I didn't hear that

I recently retired after teaching middle school science for 22 years. I had a poster in my room which said, “Imagine how much science we could all learn if we did not have grades.” Thanks Mark for getting this idea out there.

13:52 "That's not a bug, that's a feature" got me laughing 😂, and I must agree with the whole talk, well done Mark 👍

I think this is why I'm learning Spanish really quickly. I treated every word as if it was like a gateway to the entire culture. And because of that it inspired me to learn and study much more. Mark, you're a legend.

"If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." Quoted by Ignacio Estrada.

the way he used a game as a reference somehow got me interested more than i usually would on these ted talks and I don't even play mario

Dang, this was such a good talk. When the person is in constant stress, the fight or flight mode, there is no room for creativity and curiosity, which is the driving force of evolution.

with adhd, i now realize i’ve had this thought process for most things for as much of my life as i can remember. it’s rather intrinsic for me, but many people have tried to almost teach me out of it and tell me that it’s “the wrong way” and “that’s not how the real world works”.

Mark: "Treat life like it's a video game" People who play GTA:

Who else thinks that Mark Rober would be the best science teacher.

" your life is not a bug it's a feature " - mark rober 2018

This is genuinely one of the best videos I've ever watched. What an incredible concept, it just clicked. Thank you.

School: Make a mistake, you die. Reality: Make more mistakes than your competition, and you succeed

This is one of my favorite TED talk. Don't dwell too much on your mistake but learn from it till you reach your goal.

This has to be my Favorite Ted Talk… The concept & mindset if adopted into ones life can literally be life changing Thank You for sharing & Love those products!!! God Bless 🙏🏻

The main problem is the amount of time... When we were Young, we had all the time in the world. But now failure costs time and in some cases money. And that's what demotivates us.

Mark: learn from your failures but don’t mourn them or get disappointed Education systems worldwide: let us introduce ourselves

When in school and a teacher hands out tests say no thank you, I'm here to learn. Imagine how much more we could learn if we spent time focused on learning new things rather than proving to others what we don't know.

I know it would never happen, but I would love to be in one of his videos or even just meet him in person! His message is so powerful and I love his videos. This TED Talk was so inspirational to me and now I am sitting here writing a college paper on it! Thank you Mark!

'unexplained trust issues'

the schooling system: i see nothing

AMAZING TALK. I'll share my experience related to this. I personally don't like memorizing, I can't memorize well, and I really hate activities that needs memorizing. In order for me to learn, I need to understand why or how and so. Now for starters I'm a really lazy person that does things like few hours away from deadlines but at the same time I didn't want to fail school. So I was willing to sacrifice my whole 11th grade, ready to fail and repeat for me to know what's the most effective study method for me just enough that I could get a passing grade. And yes I did succeed in finding the effective study method for me, and had really good grades, rank 2 in our class. On 12th grade, covid was in our country, and classes were taught online and long story short, yep online classes are not for me. I was not taking my 12th grade seriously compared to the previous years just enough to pass and have received the lowest grade that I had in my life which was 79 on a major subject. (100 is the highest and 75 is the min. passing). I still passed but I didn't graduate as an honor student and since I had a line of 7, it was hard for me to have a scholarship. After 12th grade, I didn't continue to college since I knew online classes aren't really for me. After a school year, face to face classes is back, I now enrolled to a local public college and had a full-time job (8 hours). Its hard because I had classes everyday even Saturday and Sundays and had 4 hours sleep or less, and I sometimes end up oversleeping. During exams I only study (with that effective study method of mine) for an hour or less and sometimes I just study when I arrive in the classroom (sometimes the instructor is late, thank God) with the mindset of not being pressured and scared to fail and repeat the subject. I end up having good scores and some exams I was the top scorer. First semester is done and for now my grades are 1.00 as the highest and 1.50 as the lowest, and tbh there's still 4 subjects that hasn't given grades maybe I'll get a 2.00+ who knows. (1.00 as the highest grade, 5.00 as the lowest, 3.00 is the passing I think except for major subs idk). Listening to this talk I now understand why I fail in my language learning and when I tried to learn the guitar. I was both in a hurry to learn them, both scared and dissapointed of failure. Thinking back, when I was learning Japanese and I couldn't write あ I gave up. And yep it was the most stupidest thing since that's the first letter/symbol and I gave up after an hour or so not being able to write it. And in guitar, my sister was always mocking me of how I play so I was desperate to learn fast which I also gave up after some time. I even saw some people learn by making the lessons as a song (personally) or some really made a game or video game out of it (on the internet). This is really an amazing talk, gave me some insights, and made me realize things, thank you so much!

Wow Mark this is one of the best TT I watched. Brining in psychological safety in via gamification brilliant.

This has to be the most entertaining and the most profound TEDx talk ever!

Title: How to trick your brain? *BUT MY BRAIN IS ALSO WATCHING THIS*

I love the concept of reframing the problems/obstacles, changing the perspective can give our stressed out mind a fresh start to new ideas on how to solve them.

This is the best talk i have heard so far in many years. Thank you for sharing!

"The Master has had more failures, than the Novice even tried"

I felt very happy to see 4.5M people trying to learn how to learn more.

this is so encouraging. i'm really in a depressive and anxiety state. now i found a way to overcome it but it seems that i will get beaten again by it. it is so encouraging to see that it is okay to be seen as a failure and try again

Best 15 minutes I've ever spent on KZfaq. I'm going to come back here, no matter how long it takes, after I win a Nobel prize in physics.

In school, the majority study for the test, not to learn.

This talk is way better than those quotes just saying 'failure is the ladder to success'.

I come to this video every now and then. One of my favorite Ted talks ever, and as a gamer + nerdy person it has actually helped me change my mindset toward conceived failure.

By Far this is the best of TEDx. Well put together Mark Rober educational and motivational. Great speech!!!!!

I needed this so much. As a born perfectionist, I’d procrastinate so badly and feel like a complete failure when I’m confronted with almost any task that doesn’t provide immediate reward/feedback. Reframing the challenges and developing that into a mindset would have helped immensely. Big thanks to Mark, I’m gonna be a life-long supporter of you.

Mark: Completely meaningless fake internet points Redditors: Allow us to introduce ourselves

This makes so much sense to me because i'm an artist and i find that if i sit there concerned about my work and it's quality and if people think it will be good or if i think it will be good, my work suffers and i can't even do it. But if i just give myself chances to fail, chances to make bad drawings, chances to learn from where i went wrong, my work improves dramatically.

I seriously thought I had seen all Marks videos…then this one pops up. I’m sending this as a Must Watch & Listen to my daughter who is about to go into the real world; to my friend who is continuously striving to better his business; to all those who want to hang up their spurs. Thanks Mark!

Mark: tells me that learning can be a game Me taking a test exam: why do I hear boss music

Eminem: "Life aint no nintendo game" Mark Rober: "Hold my dart"

I’ve been rlly struggling with depression in my sophomore yr of college, but this just inspired me to make a project for myself: instead of doing lecture notes hw w dread like normal, I’m going to try and make the BEST study space possible, I like room decorating and efficiency innovating and it actually makes me excited for 2 hours of lecture notes!!! This is magic!

Why I hate my country's school system: Me: Teacher, can I try to do this test again? I think I know what I did wrong Teacher: Shut up, go back to your seat and accept the grade I gave you.

when will ted himself finally show up to the talk?

I honestly wish I had teachers like mark rober, also I envy his nephews, imagine having an uncle who’s a mad scientist/engineer with over 8 million subs

I come back and watch this video once a year. Such a great life lesson.

You just made my day. Thank you very much for this amazing speech!!

Whoever invented school should have seen this TEDx Talk first.

“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ― Michael Jordan

Man, this one really, REALLY resonates with me. I loved this one. GREAT JOB!!

remember *THIS IS THE GUY WHO TAUGHT SQUIRRELS HOW TO PARKOUR*

The problem with school is that it doesn’t encourage you to try again or to keep doing it till you get it right. What school ends up being is you either get it right or you don’t and usually your left with a grade your not happy with and can’t go back to fix. Schools need to stop expecting “perfection” from students as they are the ones trying to learn and do better, not master the material in one go.

Fantastic! Im sharing this with our Engineering Undergrads.. So valuable and timely!

you are. a true genius and we all need learning like this in life and science love all you do. hadn't watched this yet been in my watch later for ages so thanks Mark Rober

"In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. Find the fun and snap, the job's a game." - Mary Poppins

His enthusiasm is infectious. I really enjoyed this TED.

The end of this talk made me cry. I needed this so much

Well said Mark Rober, this hit home in a positive way because personally I love a challenge or a task that might take me a couple of attempts to solve. It’s how our brains are wired to handle these particular situations in life.

Mark: "Noone will ever see these meaningless internet points!" Also Mark: *Shows them on presentation at TEDx*

Crippling fear of failure is pretty much the end of personal growth.

Great stuff. One of the best TED talks I've watched.

I adore this clip full of knowledge. Thank you for inspiring people to find the love in science.

Mark Rober, the mind of a scientist, the charisma of Ryan Reynolds.

"Please try again." -Mark Rober This is such a powerful statement with your context! Thank you, Mark!

Thank you mark. This was one of the best ted talks I have seen.

my chemistry professor taught like this. He made chemistry so fun/funny/interesting and i looked forward to his class every week. I always thought id fail the class cause i was never good at science classes, but because he made everything life relatable the concepts became so easy to understand. i still talk to him to this day and aspire to be like him.

Felt sad when no one laughed when he said, "I finally beat Bowser last night"

I have friends that look up to me for having a great attitude towards adversity, I never imagined that subconsciously video games shaped me into being like that.

Absolutely brilliant presentation. Such an important message that educational institutes still don't really get or don't want to get.

_watches video without reading the title_ “Huh this sounds like Mark Rober” _reads title_ “Ah”

life is like super mario.. we spend most of our time collecting gold coins, but if you eat mushrooms you go up a level

Such a legendary session! We need more speakers like him ;)

How is this not the GREATEST TED Talk of all time!! Bravo Mark!!

I just love how happy he is explaining science and how passionate he is in what he does.

wait this is the dude who pranked box thieves with glitter spray

I've seldom seen such videos where I had this many amounts of Lightbulb moments! 😅 Learned a completely new Way of looking at Life. Thank You Sir! 🙏