0:00:04.000,0:00:07.000
What's in the box?

0:00:07.000,0:00:09.000
Whatever it is must be pretty important,

0:00:09.000,0:00:12.000
because I've traveled with it, moved it,

0:00:12.000,0:00:15.000
from apartment to apartment to apartment.

0:00:15.000,0:00:17.000
(Laughter)

0:00:17.000,0:00:20.000
(Applause)

0:00:20.000,0:00:23.000
Sound familiar?

0:00:23.000,0:00:25.000
Did you know that we Americans

0:00:25.000,0:00:27.000
have about three times the amount of space

0:00:27.000,0:00:29.000
we did 50 years ago?

0:00:29.000,0:00:32.000
Three times.

0:00:32.000,0:00:35.000
So you'd think, with all this extra space,

0:00:35.000,0:00:38.000
we'd have plenty of room for all our stuff.

0:00:38.000,0:00:40.000
Nope.

0:00:40.000,0:00:42.000
There's a new industry in town,

0:00:42.000,0:00:45.000
a 22 billion-dollar, 2.2 billion sq. ft. industry:

0:00:45.000,0:00:47.000
that of personal storage.

0:00:47.000,0:00:49.000
So we've got triple the space,

0:00:49.000,0:00:52.000
but we've become such good shoppers

0:00:52.000,0:00:55.000
that we need even more space.

0:00:55.000,0:00:57.000
So where does this lead?

0:00:57.000,0:00:59.000
Lots of credit card debt,

0:00:59.000,0:01:02.000
huge environmental footprints,

0:01:02.000,0:01:04.000
and perhaps not coincidentally,

0:01:04.000,0:01:07.000
our happiness levels flat-lined over the same 50 years.

0:01:07.000,0:01:10.000
Well I'm here to suggest there's a better way,

0:01:10.000,0:01:13.000
that less might actually equal more.

0:01:13.000,0:01:15.000
I bet most of us have experienced at some point

0:01:15.000,0:01:18.000
the joys of less:

0:01:18.000,0:01:21.000
college -- in your dorm,

0:01:21.000,0:01:24.000
traveling -- in a hotel room,

0:01:24.000,0:01:26.000
camping -- rig up basically nothing,

0:01:26.000,0:01:28.000
maybe a boat.

0:01:28.000,0:01:31.000
Whatever it was for you, I bet that, among other things,

0:01:31.000,0:01:33.000
this gave you a little more freedom,

0:01:33.000,0:01:36.000
a little more time.

0:01:36.000,0:01:38.000
So I'm going to suggest

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that less stuff and less space

0:01:40.000,0:01:42.000
are going to equal a smaller footprint.

0:01:42.000,0:01:44.000
It's actually a great way to save you some money.

0:01:44.000,0:01:47.000
And it's going to give you a little more ease in your life.

0:01:47.000,0:01:50.000
So I started a project called Life Edited at lifeedited.org

0:01:50.000,0:01:52.000
to further this conversation

0:01:52.000,0:01:55.000
and to find some great solutions in this area.

0:01:55.000,0:01:59.000
First up: crowd-sourcing my 420 sq. ft. apartment in Manhattan

0:01:59.000,0:02:02.000
with partners Mutopo and Jovoto.com.

0:02:02.000,0:02:04.000
I wanted it all --

0:02:04.000,0:02:07.000
home office, sit down dinner for 10,

0:02:07.000,0:02:09.000
room for guests,

0:02:09.000,0:02:11.000
and all my kite surfing gear.

0:02:11.000,0:02:14.000
With over 300 entries from around the world,

0:02:14.000,0:02:17.000
I got it, my own little jewel box.

0:02:17.000,0:02:19.000
By buying a space that was 420 sq. ft.

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instead of 600,

0:02:22.000,0:02:25.000
immediately I'm saving 200 grand.

0:02:25.000,0:02:28.000
Smaller space is going to make for smaller utilities --

0:02:28.000,0:02:31.000
save some more money there,

0:02:31.000,0:02:33.000
but also a smaller footprint.

0:02:33.000,0:02:35.000
And because it's really designed

0:02:35.000,0:02:37.000
around an edited set of possessions -- my favorite stuff --

0:02:37.000,0:02:39.000
and really designed for me,

0:02:39.000,0:02:41.000
I'm really excited to be there.

0:02:41.000,0:02:43.000
So how can you live little?

0:02:43.000,0:02:45.000
Three main approaches.

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First of all, you have to edit ruthlessly.

0:02:48.000,0:02:51.000
We've got to clear the arteries of our lives.

0:02:51.000,0:02:54.000
And that shirt that I hadn't worn in years?

0:02:54.000,0:02:56.000
It's time for me to let it go.

0:02:56.000,0:02:59.000
We've got to cut the extraneous out of our lives,

0:02:59.000,0:03:02.000
and we've got to learn to stem the inflow.

0:03:02.000,0:03:04.000
We need to think before we buy.

0:03:04.000,0:03:06.000
Ask ourselves,

0:03:06.000,0:03:09.000
"Is that really going to make me happier? Truly?"

0:03:09.000,0:03:11.000
By all means,

0:03:11.000,0:03:13.000
we should buy and own some great stuff.

0:03:13.000,0:03:16.000
But we want stuff that we're going to love for years,

0:03:16.000,0:03:18.000
not just stuff.

0:03:18.000,0:03:20.000
Secondly, our new mantra:

0:03:20.000,0:03:22.000
small is sexy.

0:03:22.000,0:03:24.000
We want space efficiency.

0:03:24.000,0:03:26.000
We want things that are designed

0:03:26.000,0:03:28.000
for how they're used the vast majority of the time,

0:03:28.000,0:03:30.000
not that rare event.

0:03:30.000,0:03:32.000
Why have a six burner stove

0:03:32.000,0:03:34.000
when you rarely use three?

0:03:34.000,0:03:36.000
So we want things that nest,

0:03:36.000,0:03:39.000
we want things that stack, and we want it digitized.

0:03:39.000,0:03:41.000
You can take paperwork,

0:03:41.000,0:03:43.000
books, movies,

0:03:43.000,0:03:46.000
and you can make it disappear -- it's magic.

0:03:46.000,0:03:50.000
Finally, we want multifunctional spaces and housewares --

0:03:50.000,0:03:52.000
a sink combined with a toilet,

0:03:52.000,0:03:54.000
a dining table becomes a bed --

0:03:54.000,0:03:56.000
same space,

0:03:56.000,0:03:58.000
a little side table

0:03:58.000,0:04:00.000
stretches out to seat 10.

0:04:00.000,0:04:03.000
In the winning Life Edited scheme in a render here,

0:04:03.000,0:04:05.000
we combine a moving wall with transformer furniture

0:04:05.000,0:04:07.000
to get a lot out of the space.

0:04:07.000,0:04:09.000
Look at the coffee table --

0:04:09.000,0:04:11.000
it grows in height and width

0:04:11.000,0:04:13.000
to seat 10.

0:04:13.000,0:04:15.000
My office folds away,

0:04:15.000,0:04:17.000
easily hidden.

0:04:17.000,0:04:20.000
My bed just pops out of the wall with two fingers.

0:04:20.000,0:04:23.000
Guests? Move the moving wall,

0:04:23.000,0:04:25.000
have some fold-down guest beds.

0:04:25.000,0:04:28.000
And of course, my own movie theater.

0:04:28.000,0:04:30.000
So I'm not saying that we all need to live

0:04:30.000,0:04:32.000
in 420 sq. ft.

0:04:32.000,0:04:35.000
But consider the benefits of an edited life.

0:04:35.000,0:04:37.000
Go from 3,000 to 2,000,

0:04:37.000,0:04:40.000
from 1,500 to 1,000.

0:04:40.000,0:04:42.000
Most of us, maybe all of us,

0:04:42.000,0:04:44.000
are here pretty happily for a bunch of days

0:04:44.000,0:04:46.000
with a couple of bags,

0:04:46.000,0:04:48.000
maybe a small space, a hotel room.

0:04:48.000,0:04:51.000
So when you go home and you walk through your front door,

0:04:51.000,0:04:53.000
take a second and ask yourselves,

0:04:53.000,0:04:55.000
"Could I do with a little life editing?

0:04:55.000,0:04:57.000
Would that give me a little more freedom?

0:04:57.000,0:05:00.000
Maybe a little more time?"

0:05:01.000,0:05:04.000
What's in the box?

0:05:04.000,0:05:07.000
It doesn't really matter.

0:05:07.000,0:05:10.000
I know I don't need it.

0:05:10.000,0:05:12.000
What's in yours?

0:05:12.000,0:05:14.000
Maybe, just maybe,

0:05:14.000,0:05:16.000
less might equal more.

0:05:16.000,0:05:18.000
So let's make room

0:05:18.000,0:05:20.000
for the good stuff.

0:05:20.000,0:05:22.000
Thank you.

0:05:22.000,0:05:28.000
(Applause)