Professional Learning for Busy Educators

A smorgasbord of inspired TED Talks to help you get through your funk, and answer some deeper questions along the way.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” This is the mantra of leadership expert Simon Sinek in one of the most popular TED Talks of all time (Watch: Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action). In his talk from TEDxPugetSound, Sinek looks at Apple, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Wright brothers — and examines why they were so successful at getting people to follow them. Who were the thinkers that inspired Sinek on his own path to leadership? Below, find five books (and two documentaries) that made a difference in his life.

Like anything, learning how to overcome your fear of failure is a skill. It takes practice. You need to learn how to embrace it, because once you do you can build real success on the back of it.

As Shapiro says, you don’t need confidence, only a little courage and competence.

Here are a few inspiring TED Talks to help you find some.

TED is one of the world's premier cultural events, providing not just a chance for the thousand or so attendees to hear from some of the smartest people around, but also opening up this knowledge to millions of learners around the world through the event's wildly popular online videos.

But those aren't the only ways the much-buzzed-about conference promises to expand intellects and spur fresh thinking. The event's world-class speakers also regularly recommend books for further reading from the stage, and this year's event, held recently in Vancouver, British Columbia, was no exception.

The big brains on show suggested an incredible number of titles, all of which were helpfully rounded up by ParrotRead (hat tip to Kottke). Here's a small fraction of the truly gargantuan list to get you started. Load up those shelves or e-readers with everything from history to poetry to sports memoirs and you're all set for summer.

These talks are here to set the record straight and illuminate the unexpected ways formulas and fractions influence everything, from love and war to origami and coral reefs.

Amishi Jha studies how we pay attention: the process by which our brain decides what's important out of the constant stream of information it receives. Both external distractions (like stress) and internal ones (like mind-wandering) diminish our attention's power, Jha says -- but some simple techniques can boost it. "Pay attention to your attention," Jha says.

Want to spend your summer vacation getting inspired, smarter, healthier--or just want to be swept away by an amazing story of adventure or love? Do you want fun and crowd-pleasing recipes for summer entertaining, art books that make ideal gifts, or stories you can read to your child that will both educate and entertain?

The folks at TED have got you covered. TED just released its recommendations for 101 books for you to read this summer. The list, based on recommendations by dozens of the most compelling TED speakers, covers a spectrum of categories, from can't-put-them-down novels to health and nutrition, to books that will help you be more successful and productive at work.

As the folks at TED say, "No matter your mood, preference or occasion, we've got you covered." You can find their full list of recommendations here. Meantime, here are a few of their most appealing picks:

Big ideas can come in small packages.
Take TED talks, the beloved lectures on technology, entertainment, and design. Some of the most insightful talks don't take up more than 10 minutes of the viewer's time.

They're perfect for when you want to expand your horizons and still get to that thing you've been meaning to do.

Here are some talks to turn to if you want to get smarter in a hurry.

You're having one of those days when nothing seems to be going right.

It seems like the world is out to get you, and now you find that you've fallen into a major emotional funk.

What can you do? Resign yourself to getting crabbier and more despondent by the second -- and thus turn your bad day into a bad week?

No way. Instead, watch one (or all!) of these inspiring, feel-good TED Talks — and prepare for your bad day to turn right around.