Ben Nemtin

Ben Nemtin is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, co-founder of The Buried Life movement and an inspirational keynote speaker. He has delivered over 500 keynotes to brands and Fortune 500 companies around the globe, and is also a mental health advocate. He is the author of What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? and a star of the MTV show The Buried Life.

He grew up in Canada, and in his own telling he was a happy kid. In his first year of university, with an academic scholarship and a place on the U-19 Canadian Rugby Team, he was hit with a crippling depression. Anxiety kept him from school and from practice, and he dropped out and spent a stretch unable to leave his parents' house. He came to see that he had been living the life he wanted other people to see, not the one he wanted for himself.

To reset, he chose to surround himself with people who inspired him. With three friends, Jonnie, Dave and Duncan, he wrote a list of 100 things to do before you die, and the friends agreed that for every item they completed, they would help a complete stranger with something on their own list. They named the mission The Buried Life, after a Matthew Arnold poem that captured how their dreams felt buried. They borrowed an RV, bought a second-hand camera and set out on a two-week road trip. Strangers offered help and sent in their own dreams, and the project went on to inspire millions to write their own lists.

Ben says 96 goals have been achieved over the years, and that this has left him believing anyone can do anything. His keynotes, built around themes such as making the impossible possible, purpose, change and moving from burnout to balance, aim to pass that belief on. He is also available as a meditation teacher on Insight Timer.