What is enough? | Mike Dickson | TEDxExeter

Mike Dickson talks about the benefits of helping others. He believes that we need to live more simply so that others may simply live. Mike reminds us that we need to set out to create a world, not acquire it, to build a world of you and me, not you or me.

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

Hi.

(Superman theme song)

I'm here to talk to you
for 15 fun-packed minutes

about what is enough
to live a happy and fruitful life,

and I'm going to tell you all
how you can become Superman.

And I'm going to weave
this seamlessly into a story

and hope to get through
the whole thing in one piece.

This is Charles Handy.

In no particular order,

he's one of the world's leading
management gurus,

he's an unbelievably nice man,

he's very wise,
he's written lots of books.

And on one January 1st,
one New Year's Day,

about five years ago,

he came to see me in my house
with his wife, Elizabeth.

And welcoming one of the world's
leading management gurus

into your home on New Year's Day

can put an entirely new light
on New Year's Eve celebrations.

(Laughter)

I was home and tucked up by 12.

Charles was one of the people
who created portfolio existence:

the very thought that we might have
to do several different jobs

in the course of our lives.

And he was also writing a book
about philanthropy,

and I was writing a book about giving -
how to give effectively.

And we got on really well.

But it was one of the things
that we talked about

that left an ever-lasting impression
on my brain and my mind

and indeed my life,

and that is, What is enough?

And Charles and his wife, Elizabeth,

had decided that they were going to lead
the life that they wanted to lead.

So, every year, they sit down,
and they work out

how much money they need to fund
their simple lifestyle for the year.

Charles adds 20 percent
because he worries.

(Laughter)

And then they divide
their year into three.

One-third of the year, Charles works.

He gives management advice,
makes speeches, and he charges for it.

One-third of his life, he writes books,

and he's written several
best-selling management books.

And one-third of his life,
he helps people for nothing.

He does pro bono work.

And as he explained to me,

he did this because he wanted to find

the other parts of his life
and his character that he could develop.

In his own wonderful words,
he wanted to maximize his life,

not his income.

And, of course, not all of us can live
like Charles has rearranged his life,

but we can all decide
what enough is for us.

We can all sit down and decide how much
we need to live a happy and fruitful life.

And you'd be interested
to know that - What is enough? -

there is no definition of what is enough.

There is no right answer.

So, for example, a family living
in a village in rural Kenya

would need completely different needs

from a family living
in a city like Exeter or London.

But nevertheless,

having a conversation with yourself
about what is enough

can have a profound
and transforming effect on your life.

To begin with,

you won't have to spend
enormous quantities of money,

buying things that you don't really need.

You can take some time out.

You won't have to work so hard.

You probably won't have to work
such long hours.

You can do what Charles did.

You can set out to maximize
your own lives, not your income.

You can perhaps volunteer
to help a charity.

Let's just take three ideas
for what is enough.

The average lifetime
of a driver is 60 years.

If you buy a new car every two years,

you'll be the proud owner
of 30 brand-new cars.

If you change your car every six years,
you'd be the proud owner of just 10 cars.

And we all know that a six-year-old car
goes happily from A to B.

But we'll see, it's 20 less cars.

It's less resources needed
from our much battered planet.

Take the subject to presents.

Okay, this is engagement time.

Hands up those who every year get presents
that they don't really want.

(Laughter)

Unbelievable, isn't it?

It's almost the entire audience.

And I'm afraid it follows, sadly,

that you give presents to people
every year that they don't want either.

(Laughter)

Present-buying done well
is a wonderful, wonderful thing to do.

Done badly, it's just simply
a colossal waste of money.

I think eBay, about two Christmases ago,

had something like one million presents
up on eBay on Christmas Day -

(Laughter)

many of them by 10 o'clock
in the morning -

it defies description.

Move on to the slightly
more serious subject of food.

There are one billion people
in the world hungry

who don't know today -

who don't know how they're going
to make it through to the end of the week

or, indeed, the end of the month.

And at the same time,
there are one billion people in the world,

according to the World
Health Organization,

who are obese or overweight

and probably on diets

or running around in gyms like hamsters.

And in the wonderful Make Poverty History
video several years ago,

they quite rightly pointed out

that somebody dies with hunger
and starvation every three seconds.

(Snaps fingers three times)

And at the same time
as all this is going on,

in North America and Europe,

we throw away three times the food

that would be needed
to feed the bottom billion.

In the UK alone,

we throw away one-third
of all the food we buy.

You couldn't really make it up.

There's enough food
to go around the world.

It just simply doesn't go around.

So, I think that we need
to live more simply

so that others may simply live.

We need to set out to create
a world, not acquire it,

to build a world of you and me,

not you or me.

Back to Superman.

Superman's role in life
was to right wrongs

and fight for social justice.

"And what on earth does this got
to do with me?" you ask.

Well, the bottom line is

that every single person
in this theater today,

this week can be Superman
to one of the bottom billion in the world.

You can provide an education
for a girl in a village in Bihar

who otherwise would not finish school

but would go to work in the fields

and even worse, be trafficked
into child prostitution.

You can provide medical help and food
for a family living in a village in Kenya.

You can provide a microloan,
50 to 100 pounds,

to help lift a group
of women start a business

and help lift them
and their families out of poverty.

A group of you could
get together at lunchtime,

and you could decide that you're going
to raise enough money

to buy a well for a village in Ethiopia

that would provide fresh water
for about 500 people, 500 villagers.

If you do the maths,

1,500 pounds, 500 villagers -

that's giving fresh water
to one person or a child in a village

for the price of a latte.

It's quite extraordinary.

Over the last two or three years,
I've been very fortunate;

I've been able to start
a couple of charities,

and I've met thousands, literally
thousands of simply remarkable people

doing wonderful things to change the world

in many different ways
from the simplest, simplest things

to people of great courage
who're doing remarkable work,

some of whom, actually,

you're going to meet,
and you've heard from today.

And I think I've discovered
the purpose of life.

And that's good, isn't it?

Always.

(Laughter)

It's a very rich TED Talk.

(Laughter)

And the purpose of life
is to help other people,

to help your family, to help your friends,

to help people who you
would normally ignore,

and to help people
you don't even know at all.

And Martin Luther King agrees.

He got there before me.

"Life's persistent
and most urging question is,

What are you doing
for the lives of others?"

So, your mission in the next couple
of weeks, your homework

is to go home and work out
what enough is for you,

to stop buying stuff you really
don't want or need or will use,

to get a grip,

(Laughter)

and to turn yourselves into
Superman or Superwoman

and go out and help
one of the poorest people in the world,

to help others.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)