Forget your nouns. Find your verbs | Cảnh Luân Nguyễn | TEDxLuong The Vinh Youth

As high school students, we are often asked, “What do you want to be?” At an age when the future can feel both exciting and overwhelming, we are expected to choose a single noun to define who we are: a doctor, a designer, a teacher, an entrepreneur. But what if we are asking the wrong question? Drawing from his own journey across education, content creation, writing, poetry, acting, and music, Nguyễn Cảnh Luân explores how seemingly unrelated interests can come together to form a meaningful direction. Rather than defining ourselves by the titles we hold, he invites us to look deeper at the verbs that keep appearing throughout our experiences - the things we love to explain, create, express, connect, or solve. Through this perspective, our different interests become less like scattered choices and more like notes in the same song. Forget your nouns. Find your verbs.
Nguyễn Cảnh Luân is an educator, content creator, author, and creative artist whose work spans language, education, knowledge sharing, and the arts. A graduate of RMIT University and Foreign Trade University, he began his career in education and founded Language for Life, where he teaches English, communication, and presentation skills.

He is the author of the IELTS Speaking Journey 6.0 and 8.0 book series, and has built a strong presence as a content creator through accessible content on language, science, everyday knowledge, and personal development. His signature phrase, “I do the research so you don’t have to,” reflects his passion for making knowledge engaging and accessible.

Beyond education and digital content, he explores poetry, music, acting, and public speaking. His bilingual poetry collection, “Someone Would Love Me for Me,” further reflects his distinctive approach to language as both a tool for learning and a form of creative expression. 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