Kyle Hart believes that you can make whatever goals you imagine come true—even if you happen to be a flying mustache.

The author of “The Mustache that Cured World Hunger” and “The Beard that Boosted Self Confidence” is speaking at the TEDxOregonStateU event on campus Thursday, Feb. 11. 

This Thursday’s TEDx talk will be Hart’s first time back on campus since graduating in 2010 and he looks forwards to sharing his knowledge with the current student body of OSU.

“We all create our own realities and I think that when you open your mind up to learning a different perspective on life, you’re really opening up your chances to have a better life.

Six years ago, when Hart was a student at OSU, he exercised his passion for social media by writing for the Forum section of The Daily Barometer.

Whether it was writing about why he believes Tupac is still alive or that the Monday after a Super Bowl should be a holiday, he says that the Barometer always gave him ‘creative freedom.’

“They were very welcoming with my wacky, creative ideas which I think was really cool,” Hart said.

Hart currently resides in Portland and uses his degree in psychology at his job as an Intel XDNA Lab Technician. Even with that on his plate, he still continues his talk show “Quit Playing Games” that started at KBVR-FM. The show is now a podcast featured on SoundCloud where he invites people to answer the sticky questions that revolve around love.

“A friend of mine told me that he thinks that I think there’s a cosmic reality in love—like that the answers to the universe’s problems exist in love. I agree with that somewhat but I think it’s really tabooed, which is why I wanted to talk about it… I mean, we’ve had more people come on anonymously than under real names and it just gave people a chance to talk about things that are kind of uncomfortable,” Hart said.

Hart has since used this experience as a stepping stone to writing for other publications.  This includes writing for LifeHack and EliteDaily. Here, he gets to express his ideas about adult imagination and staying inspired.

The topic of his speech will be centered around the theme “The Essence of Adult Imagination.” After witnessing how people tend to lose imagination as they grow older, he wanted to empower people to keep their inner creativity strong and present.  

“The idea stemmed from that frustration that people think that they don’t have an imagination. There’s something that gets lost as we age in our brains and that basically tells us that we don’t have an imagination,” Hart said.

To avoid this, Hart recommends staying creative and limiting distractions. His own way of doing this includes painting, drawing and writing with friends, although he accepts that he is not always going to get it perfect the first time.

“I think a lot of people have this misconception about creating something that has to be the ‘final draft’ on the first try and that’s not true.”

Even with the many creative outlets and extra endeavours that he manages, Hart says that he’s ready for this TEDx talk and the opportunities that will grow from it.

“I’m really into motivational speaking. That’s actually where I would like this to lead to. I’ve always been into ways for people to put forward different ideas and to make people look at their world in a different way,” Hart said.

Hart, along with the five other speakers at TEDxOregonStateU, will provide attendees with anecdotes, advice and tips for their own lives.

“Life is crazy, life’s a roller coaster. I could have never predicted that I would be asked to do this. I can’t predict what’s going to happen next. I’m just trying to do the best that I can every day and just enjoy the ride,” Hart said.

The talk will be on Feb. 11 from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. in the Austin Auditorium, at the LaSells Stewart Center. Tickets and registration are required.

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