TED Talks Daily - How a "Hi Level" mindset helps you realize your potential | Cordae

Episode Date: May 25, 2024

What does it take to build a legacy? Hip-hop artist Cordae tells how he went from mixtape-dropping high school kid to Grammy-nominated music star whose "Hi Level" mindset helps him achieve his dreams.

TED Audio Collective. You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Today, one of the most popular TED Talks of 2022. That's when hip-hop artist Cordae took the stage to share a way of thinking that's led him to beat the odds, overcome obstacles to reach his goals, and perform at a high level.

His lessons for how we can apply this mindset are coming up after the break. Support for this show comes from Airbnb. If you know me, you know I love staying in Airbnbs when I travel. They make my family feel most at home when we're away from home. As we settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs, I pictured my own home sitting empty. Wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb? It feels like the practical thing to do, and with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting for ourselves and for future guests.

Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host. AI keeping you up at night? Wondering what it means for your business? Don't miss the latest season of Disruptors, the podcast that takes a closer look at the innovations reshaping our economy. Join RBC's John Stackhouse and Sonia Sinek from Creative Destruction Lab as they ask bold questions like, why is Canada lagging in AI adoption and how to catch up? Don't get left

behind. Listen to Disruptors, the innovation era, and stay ahead of the game in this fast-changing world. Follow Disruptors on Apple Podcasts, and stay ahead of the game in this fast-changing world. Follow Disruptors on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Can indigenous ways of knowing help kids cope with online bullying? At the University of British Columbia, we believe that they can. Dr. Johanna Sam and her team are researching how both indigenous and non-indigenous youth cope with cyber aggression, working to bridge the diversity gap in child psychology research. At UBC, our researchers are answering today's most pressing questions. To learn how we're moving the world forward, visit ubc.ca forward happens here.

I want to tell you about a podcast I love called Search Engine, hosted by PJ Vogt. Each week, he and his team answer these perfect questions, the kind of questions that, when you ask them at a dinner party, completely derail conversation. Questions about business, tech, and society, like, is everyone pretending to understand inflation? Why don't we have flying cars yet? And what does it feel like to believe in God? If you find this world bewildering, but also sometimes enjoy being bewildered by it, check out Search Engine with PJ Vogt, available now wherever you get your podcasts. And now, our TED Talk of the day.

So, for those of you who may not know who I am, which is probably the vast majority of you all, my name is Cordae. I'm 24 years old. I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was raised majority in Suitland, Maryland, which made me who I am today. I'm a hip-hop artist, more specifically a Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist. More specifically, a Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist. A quote-unquote, critically acclaimed, world-renowned, B-list celebrity. But to be honest, more like B-minus. But again, y'all can just call me Cordae and assume that I'm almost kind of a big deal because

I am here doing a TED talk now I know what you're thinking uh what does a 24 year old rapper possibly have to say during a TED talk like who cares what Ja Rule thinks you know but um I'm here to talk about my mantra and my way of life that has gotten me this far and can hopefully take me a lot further on my journey as I'm just getting started, and that's the high-level mindset. Now, before I get into the details about the high-level mindset, I want to tell you about the original creator of the high-level mindset. And that's my mom. And she doesn't even know it. My mom had me when she was 16 years old. She was a single mom with all the odds stacked against her. And yet, from an unbiased perspective, I like to say she did a pretty decent job.

We lived in some pretty terrible neighborhoods, man. I switched elementary schools about five different times. I remember one time her car had got stolen twice in one week. She overcame circumstance, obstacles, her environment, and negativity. As I watched, our living situations would continue to get better and better as the years went by. Now, that's high level. Now, the high level mindset wasn't something that she directly taught me or purposefully instilled in me, but something I learned simply by observation. The high level mindset is a philosophy. It's a wavelength to apply to your everyday thoughts of regimen. The high-level mindset will be of great service to you,

especially when things aren't going as planned. How we handle these lifetimes, these trying times, or life testers, is what decides a person's destiny, which brings me to step one of the high-level mindset. And that's always remain positive, no matter what people or life may throw at you. Now, I'm going to give you a little bit of background about myself. Funny enough, I was actually voted most likely to be famous in both middle school and in high

school. My goal was to graduate high school and to immediately blow up, but that didn't happen. So I went to college, and as soon as I went to college, boy, did life hit me hard. Within the first couple weeks of school, one of my best friends that I called my brother had gotten sentenced to 24 years in prison. I had gotten detained for driving with a suspended license, amongst other things, like having a pound of weed in the car before it was legal. And my grandmother had passed. Not to mention, I was already a terrible student with horrific grades and a broke teenager. But on top of all of these things, what was really the breaking point

for me was that I had released a mixtape that I worked on the entire summer, and it had only gotten 200 downloads. Now, my previous two mixtapes got 2,000 downloads, so I was not happy with the regression, to say the least. Again, this almost pushed me to the brink of quitting and insanity. But the high-level mindset made me think, man, these misfortunes are just going to make my triumph story a lot cooler. I use this as fuel to the fire, motivation, if you will, it made me think, you know, life is just a book. Not every chapter is going to be perfect, but it's about how it ends, which brings me to the second step of the high-level mindset. Always be intentional with your desires. Know exactly what you want. In 2018, I created a vision board. At the beginning of 2018, excuse me, I created a vision board. And I'm proud to say that with the high-level mindset,

within one year, I almost accomplished everything on here. Y'all can clap for that. So I encourage you to just write down your goals. Starting off your day with reading your goals and dreams aloud gives you a boost of positive energy. This energy can be transmuted into something we call faith. Faith in your ability, faith in yourself, faith in the higher power will take you to places you couldn't even imagine. Know exactly what you want. How can you be high level if you don't know what high level is to you? And in order to do all these things, it brings me to the third step of the high level mindset. Discipline. Growing up, discipline was always taught in

such a lame way that I always tried my best to avoid it. But where motivation is low, that's where discipline kicks in. Anybody who's done something noteworthy with their lives all have one thing in common, and that's discipline. Mastering the art of discipline will literally change your life. I witnessed this close hand by studying a friend up close. This friend of mine noticed that every time he stopped doing drugs and alcohol, something good would happen. He felt as though this was a divine calling from heaven above to halt all his vices. Now, can anyone tell me the three main vices of a 19-year-old college student? It's sex, alcohol, and drugs, if y'all didn't know that already. And after the first six months of him

stopping his vices, I seen his whole life change completely. Again, he thought this was a sign that maybe God doesn't want me to do drugs, drink alcohol, or have sex. But no, that's not the case. He was just simply learning discipline without knowing. All right, I have a confession to make. Because I didn't want to make this entire TED Talk about myself, I lied and said that this is a friend. It was actually me. Now, a cheat code to ensure that you're staying disciplined to whatever you're striving for is to prime your environment for success. Your habits are based on your habitat, and the main product of your habitat are the people in your life, which brings me to a very

important step of the high-level mindset. The fourth step, to be exact, remove all negative people out of your life immediately. Anybody that's semi-doubtful or naysaying, get them out. If you're talking about your dreams and goals and they give small, sarcastic remarks, boot them. Just an all-around negative Nancy, kick them out of there, man. Don't let someone else's negativity cancel out your light, for it can temporarily get in the way of you achieving what's owed to you. You are a product of those who you hang around. Let's make sure we're hanging around other positive, high-level individuals. Now, thank you.

Now, I like to consider myself a master at this high-level stuff. I mean, I am here for a reason, right? But that doesn't mean things always go my way. Even now, I just recently released my sophomore album from a bird's-eye view that I spent two full years creating. My debut album, The Lost Boy, was met with massive critical acclaim and success, and I had a lot of pressure on myself to outdo myself. And in my eyes and in the eyes of many, I did. I had huge expectations for this album, but when it finally released and it wasn't received as well as I hoped, I completely broke down. I did my fasting. I stayed positive. I wrote down my dreams and goals. I was disciplined. I was doing this every day to make

sure that this big moment that it was leading up to that would change the entire world would go through perfectly. But that didn't happen. I did not meet the expectations that I had set for myself, that the world had set for me. And this is the first time as a major artist that I have received mixed reviews of my art. And again, it broke me down, man. I became unmotivated. I started overindulging in things that I'm not proud of. I was almost thinking about canceling my upcoming tour. I was in a very dark place, but then I heard this Yiddish proverb that A$AP Rocky actually told me about at a most important time, and I'm sure he didn't even know it. It's, we plan and God laughs. And that made me think the high-level mindset is not a recipe for perfection,

but a commitment to honoring your potential and what you have to offer the world. Don't let your small failures make you lose sight of your bigger picture. I'll leave you all with this. We only have one life to live, 110 years maximum, if you're a health guru and you have great health insurance. How are you going to maximize your time on this earth? Do you want your name to be remembered long after you're gone? The high-level mindset is about doing everything that you put your hands on at the highest level that you're capable of doing.

Think of your life as a book. Again, each chapter isn't going to be perfect, but how do you want your story to end? In anguish, a bunch of what ifs, or leaving a legacy? I choose legacy, the high level way. Thank you. Support for this show comes from Airbnb. If you know me, you know I love staying in Airbnbs when I travel. They make my family feel most at home when we're away from home.

As we settled down at our Airbnb during a recent vacation to Palm Springs, I pictured my own home sitting empty. Wouldn't it be smart and better put to use welcoming a family like mine by hosting it on Airbnb? It feels like the practical thing to do, and with the extra income, I could save up for renovations to make the space even more inviting for ourselves and for future guests. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.ca slash host.

That was Core Day at TED 2022. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner,

Daniela Balarezo, and Will Hennessey. I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening. Looking for a fun challenge to share with your friends and family? Today, TED now has games designed to keep your mind sharp while having fun.

Visit ted.com slash games to explore the joy and wonder of TED Games.