The Sum of Small Decisions | Riyana Hatkar | TEDxThe Orchid School

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My talk uses an unusual teacher: slime mould, a brainless organism that, when researchers placed food sources on a map of Tokyo, grew a network almost identical to the city's railway system. I use this to explore how we actually make progress in life. We tend to misunderstand our own lives by treating them as completed stories, chasing five-year plans and grand purposes, when most of life is really lived at the next turn, not viewed from above. I trace this through three moments from my own life. A seventh-grade river cleanup where I felt crushed by the scale of pollution I couldn't fix, which created a thinking pattern of zooming out onto the entire problem instead of the step in front of me. A grade 10 competition where I was doing both a national science competition and preparing for board exams, and the fear of falling behind brought that same zoomed-out thinking rushing back, this time one I could recognise as it happened. And the moment I picked a stream of study, Science, Commerce, or Arts, where I finally attempted to work against that pattern by taking it one step at a time. The core message: planning works well for paths we can already see, but it cannot help with the paths we can't. Meaning doesn't come from understanding a turn in advance. It comes from entering it. Riyana Hatkar is a science student with a keen interest in biology and nature. She enjoys exploring the outdoors and learning about the natural world, from tiny organisms like slime moulds to rivers and ecosystems. Curious and observant, she loves discovering things that others often overlook. Riyana hopes to pursue a career in biology and continue exploring the wonders of nature. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx