Here is an article written by Jeff Haden for BNET, The CBS Interactive Business Network. To check out an abundance of valuable resources and obtain a free subscription to one or more of the BNET newsletters, please click here.

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I have a friend who thinks delivering a TED Talk is the holy grail of professional validation. He would do almost anything to be invited to speak.

If you’re not familiar with TED Talks, each invitee gets a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas, be engaging and compelling, and do justice to TED mission by sharing “ideas worth spreading.”

“The problem is,” my friend says, “I don’t have anything worth saying.”

He’s wrong. He does.

So do you — even if the only audience for your ideas is you. Roughing out your own TED Talk can pay huge dividends to how you approach your profession, your business, or even your personal life.

First you need to craft your idea worth spreading. Here are the basics:

[Actually, I only provide the first two of four. To read the complete article, and I strongly urge you to do so, please click here.]

1.  Think simple. Remember, you only get 18 minutes. That’s a good thing because it forces you to focus on clarity and simplicity. For example, here are a few of the top 20 TED Talks (by views):

Schools kill creativity
The best stats you’ve ever seen
The paradox of choice
Nurturing your genius
How great leaders inspire action

Clean, simple, to the point, each with a clear theme and a definite point of view.

2. Think about something you believe in. Think of a central theme you operate by, a point of view that gets you through adversity, or an against-the-grain perspective that almost always pays off. Everyone has them, even me. For instance, I think the word “idea” should be a verb because ideas without action aren’t ideas — they’re regrets. I think the best way to deal with adversity is to TUSB, because the best solutions come from within, not without. I think cleverness can be developed, just like intelligence, and clever often beats smart. Relatively contrarian, somewhat thought-provoking… each could form the basis of a Talk.

Take a few minutes and list a few of your credos. If it helps, think about it this way: If you could only give your child one piece of advice, what would you say?

So step back and think about your TED Talk. How do you see the world? How do you see yourself? What makes you you?

That is your personal TED Talk. Put together your presentation and give it to yourself.

Are you working and living that way? If not, listen to yourself — and get back to living by your ideas worth spreading.

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Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about management as he worked his way up the printing business from forklift driver to manager of a 250-employee book plant. Everything else he knows, he has picked up from ghostwriting books for some of the smartest CEOs he knows in business. He has written more than 30 non-fiction books, including four Business and Investing titles that reached #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list. He’d tell you which ones, but then he’d have to kill you. Visit his website at www.blackbirdinc.com