10th Talk: Garik Sadovy - LSD Changed My Life - Students Taking Responsibility for Their Education

There was another pre-recorded talk by Benjamin Zander on passion and music that was great followed by a performance by Panoramic Dance Project.

The tenth and final TEDxNCSU talk is Garik Sadovy on LSD Changed My Life - Students Taking Responsibility for Their Education.

LSD actually stands for lifestyle design. Garik begins with a discussion of his great depression of 2009 because his goals as an engineering student were being questioned and he lost his grandfather. I also just noticed that he's wearing very odd sandals with thin soles and several very thin leather straps. It almost looks like there are no soles to them.

He met Jeff Huber (Talk #5) during a time when he was reading relationship help books. They began discussing their lives and where they are going and what they are doing with their lives. Garik suggested that they teach a class on their discussions. They assigned the 4 Hour Work Week to read in their Lifestyle Design class. They had a model for creating purpose and meaning in life that gave them confidence in teaching.

They assigned large case studies instead of exams, and had people study their own passions. They went through a conventional life and then developed alternatives at each life stage to inspire students. They wrote personal eulogies and values assessments.

After self-definition they then began to set personal goals to become the person they wanted to be. They had numerous large class discussions that served to inspire and bond the group. They ended up doing very well on their class evaluations.

Finally, what does lifestyle design mean? What do we do with it? Do we have the proper priorities? What if there was a student led department of purpose or the meaning of life?

The whole thing is pretty fluffy without a lot of concrete guidance or food for thought.