"Homework for Life" is a strategy that I originally began using to generate more story topics for the stage, but as I began to use the strategy daily, it changed my life. It made everything about my life so much more vivid and slowed my life down remarkably. It's a strategy I teach to my storytelling classes often, and I've had people tell me that it has replaced therapy and meditation for them. It truly changes lives. Powerful.

Matthew Dicks is the internationally bestselling author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Something Missing and Unexpectedly, Milo, and others. He has published work in Reader’s Digest, Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor and DoubleTake Comics.

When not hunched over a computer screen, he fills his days as an elementary school teacher, a storyteller, a wedding DJ, a minister, and a Lord of Sealand. He has been teaching for 17 years and is a former West Hartford Teacher of the Year.

Matthew is a 19-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 3-time GrandSLAM champion.

Matthew teaches storytelling and public speaking throughout the world including at Yale, University of Connecticut Law School, Purdue University, Kripalu, and Graded School in Brazil.

Matthew grew up in the small town of Blackstone, MA, where he made a name for himself by dying twice before the age of 18 and becoming the first student in his high school to be suspended for inciting riot upon himself.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx