So can you talk to me about how you approach things like that?

Yeah, I appreciate that observation.

I think my experiences with being playful have also relieved the weight of pressure in a lot of ways.

I think that's one of the beauties of play.

It's like, if you take things too seriously- I feel like that's when you get into moments where you're almost in your own way because the pressure that you put on yourself is becoming an additional obstacle to what you're already trying to master.

So I feel like dunk contests are the perfect analogy for this because in dunk contests, you do have more than one attempt to complete the dunk, but...

Most of the time, if you're not on that day, if you're not capable of doing that dunk, you could try it nine times.

let's say, three tips for how you can explore your creativity, explore your play, find some of these venues of self-expression that you have found so much meaning and success in? What are three ways that the people listening can try and kind of put this into place in their own life?

Hm.

And so I think that has taught me that, like, play and keeping a certain level of, of, like, openness has allowed me to not put a ton of pressure on myself.

I, I am definitely hard on myself, but I am not as hard as I used to be on myself because I, I know that I am somebody that does not do well under any added pressure, you know, internally.

Like I, I certainly still do feel pressure, but not as much as I used to because I know that as long as I remain, you know, open and playful, I can kinda pivot in, in different ways.

When, like, things go wrong, e- especially for myself, in my past I have let the pressure and the, uh, reminder, like the self-reminder that, oh no, things are going wrong, like that has become like a distraction for me.

And one of the ways that I am able to, um, detach from that is just by being playful.

So like I feel like playful improvisation is easily the biggest lesson that I've learned from being a Globetrotter, um, more so in the, like, physical sense.

Or don't see the real effort and skill that you've developed until you have to win them over or something like that?

Explore the new Peloton Cross-Training Tread Plus at onepeloton.com. And now our TED Talk of the day.

I am a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, a legendary exhibition basketball team that is credited for integrating the NBA, popularizing new moves like the alley-oop, and creating so many others.

These are the new moves that have advanced the game, but they've also given joy to the people that come and watch us perform.

And that right there is precisely how we have lasted for 100 years while also earning a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Getting to this point in my career certainly was not a straight line.

I've always struggled with high-level sports coaching.

There's a certain culture that has excessive cursing, yelling, and also a hyper-seriousness that can really stunt your growth.

[laughs]

[laughs]

She told my grandmother that I was on the verge of failing her class, and my grandmother was devastated.

My grandmother drove us straight back to her house, and she told me to wait here in the car while she went upstairs to grab a few things.

I sat in that car in a total panic.

I lived to impress this woman.

My grandmother came back downstairs, and we drove straight to a local restaurant called Garlic and Pepper.

This was a Thai restaurant that had the best chicken tenders and fries that you would ever have in your entire life.

now.[applause]