TED Talks on Minimalism
Disclosure: Minimalist Products is not affiliated with or endorsed by TED.
Since 1984, TED (abbreviation for Technology, Entertainment and Design) has provided an exhausting amount of insighful talks, or as they say, “Ideas Worth Spreading”. Yes, this also includes talks concerning minimalism. From experiences of living with 100 things to digital minimalism, you can find our curated selection of TED and TEDx (local and independent TED event) talks below. If you´re more into documentaries than these shortish talks, check our article Documentaries on Minimalism.
Adventures with Minimalism and Happiness – Marty Stano
In his TEDx talk Marty Stano, an artist, writer and filmmaker, discusses self-discovery through minimalism, from childhood to adulthood. Initially running away from home with only a red plastic briefcase containing underwear, the author now embraces minimalism as a lifestyle, traveling with just a backpack.
Stano has experimented with minimalism in various aspects of life, including material possessions, health, diet, and non-material things like thoughts and communication. Through tehese experiments, Stano has found increased happiness, productivity, and fulfillment.
Stano also share anecdotes of applying minimalism, such as living with fewer possessions in college, adopting a plant-based diet, and navigating communication barriers in Chile. He emphasizes the importance of asking what truly brings happiness, experimenting with minimalism, and appreciating the things that matter most. Stano concludes with a message of wishing health and happiness to readers, encouraging them to practice minimalism to discover their own paths to happiness.
A Rich Life with Less Stuff – The Minimalists
Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn, also known as The Minimalists, share their personal journey from a pursuit of material success to discovering the value of minimalism and community. Ryan begins by describing his former life, where he climbed the corporate ladder, earned a six-figure income, and surrounded himself with possessions in pursuit of happiness. Despite his outward success, he found himself deeply unhappy, stressed, and in debt. Ryan’s turning point comes when he observes his friend Josh, who, despite experiencing significant life challenges, finds happiness through minimalism.
Ryan decides to embrace minimalism and undergoes a radical decluttering process. With Josh’s help, he packs all his belongings and unpacks only what he needs over three weeks, discovering that the majority of his possessions remain untouched. This realization prompts Ryan to donate or sell most of his belongings, leading to a newfound sense of richness and fulfillment.
Inspired by their transformation, Ryan and Josh launch theminimalists.com to share their story and promote minimalism as a path to a meaningful life. Their blog gains traction, resonating with thousands of readers who seek a more intentional and fulfilling existence. They emphasize the importance of contribution and community, encouraging others to reflect on their priorities and consider decluttering their lives to focus on what truly matters: health, relationships, personal growth, and making a positive impact on the world. Through their journey, Ryan and Josh highlight the transformative power of minimalism in finding true happiness and fulfillment.
From Clutter to Clarity - Kerry Thomas
Kerry Thomas has Bachelor´s and Master´s degrees special education. A career change turned her into a professional organizer and a founder of Conquer the Chaos. In his TEDx talk Thomas addresses the pervasive feeling of overwhelm that many people experience in their lives. She begins by recounting the story of a successful client who, despite outward positivity, feels overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. Thomas highlights how overwhelm has become a societal norm, manifesting in various forms of clutter: physical, digital, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
She defines clutter as anything that impedes living a fulfilling life or accomplishing one’s goals, emphasizing that clutter often stems from postponed decisions. Thomas shares personal experiences of overcoming clutter, particularly after undergoing heart surgery and facing mental and emotional challenges. She acknowledges the importance of taking action to address clutter and make decisions that promote peace and well-being.
Thomas encourages listeners to confront their fears, guilt, and postponed decisions, emphasizing the power of making choices to initiate change. She underscores the importance of taking action, no matter how small, to combat overwhelm and move towards peace and fulfillment in life.
Get rid of the Unnecessary to get Down to Basics – Colin Wright
Colin Wright, a writer and traveler, shares his unconventional lifestyle of moving to a new country every four months based on votes from his blog readers. He writes books on various topics and feels fortunate to pursue his interests for a living. Reflecting on the concept of intentionality, Colin discusses the idea of intentionally shaping one’s life. He uses the metaphor of a shirt that doesn’t fit well to illustrate how he realized the excesses in his life were holding him back from living authentically.
Seven years before presenting this TEDx talk, Colin made a conscious decision to reassess his life and get rid of excess possessions that didn’t add value. This process of intentional living led him to minimalism, focusing on what’s important and eliminating the excess. He extends the concept of intentionality to relationships and work, emphasizing the importance of purposefully choosing how to spend time and resources.
Living intentionally may seem unconventional and face resistance from others, but Colin encourages embracing one’s unique path toward fulfillment. He advises being mindful of one’s goals and values, even if they diverge from societal norms. Ultimately, Colin urges individuals to live purposefully and authentically, regardless of external expectations.
Getting Rid of 1000 Things – Liz Wright
Liz Wright discusses the journey towards intentional living by decluttering her life. Inspired by “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin, Wright embarked on a project to get rid of 1 000 things from her home. Despite not being a hoarder, Wright realized she held onto items due to a mix of post-war values and consumerist tendencies. To facilitate the process, she set rules and challenges, such as donating unused items and involving Wright´s spouse in the decluttering process.
In his talk Wright shares strategies like the hangar challenge and box challenge to help others declutter effectively. She highlights the emotional aspect of letting go of belongings and emphasizes the benefits of a lighter, brighter living space. Through the process, Wright discovered the joy of giving and the realization that possessions often don’t hold their value over time.
Ultimately, Wright encourages the audience to declutter their lives, stressing that storage solutions aren’t the answer and that letting go of belongings can lead to more time, energy, and openness. She challenges listeners to go home and declutter, suggesting that even if something is missed, it can often be replaced.
Less Stuff, More Happiness – Graham Hill
Less Stuff. More Time. Change the World. – Ty Schmidt
Ty Schmidt, a co-founder of cycling nonprofit Norte! shares his journey of simplifying his life and prioritizing what truly matters. Twelve years ago, Schmidt made the decision to work half as much to focus on family, health, community, and happiness. Despite initial doubts and challenges, including financial concerns, he embraced a simpler lifestyle by cutting back on consumerism, selling unnecessary possessions, and spending more time with their family.
By valuing time over material possessions, Schmidt found more opportunities, passion, freedom, and happiness. He encourages listeners to reflect on their values, invest in their health, families, and communities, and use their time to make a positive impact in the world. Schmidt emphasizes the importance of protecting time against mindless consumption and urges everyone to work towards a more purposeful and meaningful life.
Minimalism - For a More Full Life – Grant Blakeman
Grant Blakeman, a developer and designer, describes a typical day filled with constant decision-making and distractions due to the abundance of choices available in modern life. He highlights the challenge of decision fatigue and the tendency to avoid making choices when faced with too many options. Blakeman introduces the concept of minimalism as a way to streamline and curate one’s life, emphasizing the importance of actively removing distractions and finding negative space to focus better. They encourage listeners to consider what their negative space is in their daily routine, suggesting that it is essential for processing and finding balance in life.
Sell Your Crap. Pay Your Debt. Do What You Love. – Adam Baker
Adam Baker, the founder of Man vs Debt, begins his TEDx talk by posing a simple yet profound question: What does freedom mean to you? He shares his own journey of questioning and redefining freedom, recounting a pivotal moment when Baker realized he was living by societal scripts rather than his own desires. This realization led him to declutter his life, pay off debt, and pursue the dream of backpacking in Australia with his family.
Baker challenges the audience to examine their own lives and identify what freedom means to them, emphasizing the importance of removing excess and debt to achieve true happiness and fulfillment. Ultimately, Baker advocates for prioritizing experiences over material possessions and urge individuals to embrace their freedom to create a life aligned with their values and passions.
The Art of Letting Go – The Minimalists
In another talk The Minimalists share again their transformative journey from pursuing the American Dream to embracing minimalism. Josh recounts how the loss of his mother prompted him to reassess his life, realizing that material possessions did not bring fulfillment. He grapples with his attachment to his mother’s belongings, ultimately choosing to let go and simplify his life. Embracing minimalism, Josh learns to prioritize meaningful experiences over material accumulation.
Ryan echoes this sentiment, highlighting the societal consequences of unchecked consumption and debt. Together, they advocate for a minimalist lifestyle focused on values and meaningful connections, emphasizing the importance of loving people and using things, because the opposite never works.
The Magic of not Giving a F*** – Sarah Knight
Sarah Knight, the bestselling author introduces the concept of “The life-changing magic of not giving a fuck,” a method aimed at freeing individuals from the burden of unnecessary obligations and distractions.
Drawing parallels to the popular trend of decluttering physical possessions, she proposes a similar approach for mental clarity and happiness. By identifying what truly matters and ceasing to invest time, energy, and money in unfulfilling activities, individuals can prioritize what brings them joy.
Knight shares her personal journey of quitting her corporate job to pursue a more fulfilling lifestyle, emphasizing the importance of mental decluttering. She introduces the “not sorry method,” which involves identifying and eliminating unnecessary commitments with honesty and politeness.
Encouraging listeners to create a “fuck budget” and allocate their resources wisely, she illustrates how this approach can lead to greater happiness and fulfillment. Ultimately, the speaker advocates for embracing honesty and setting boundaries to live a more intentional and satisfying life.
The Ten Item Wardrobe – Jennifer L. Scott
Jennifer L. Scott, a bestselling author and founder of The Daily Connosseur introduces the concept of the “10-item wardrobe,” which she learned about while living in Paris with a French family. She recounts her experience observing how the French approach clothing and style, emphasizing quality over quantity and the importance of discernment in building a wardrobe. The 10-item wardrobe consists of core items worn daily, supplemented by extras for variety and special occasions.
Scott advocates for decluttering closets and adopting a capsule wardrobe mindset to simplify dressing and hone personal style. Benefits include ease of decision-making, a clearer sense of personal style, and a commitment to presenting oneself well at all times. She shares anecdotes from her own life to illustrate the transformative power of embracing a curated wardrobe. Finally, Scott offers resources for those interested in learning more about the concept.
The 100 Things Challenge – Dave Bruno
Dave Bruno, the author of “The 100 Thing Challenge” emphasizes the concept of simplicity as an actionable idea that addresses the challenges of modern life, particularly excessive consumerism and its consequences. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples, he argues that pursuing simplicity is not only virtuous but also practical in achieving personal fulfillment and addressing societal issues like debt and environmental sustainability.
The speaker shares his own journey towards simplicity, including a personal challenge to live with only 100 possessions for a year, and highlights the freedom and power that come from embracing simplicity. Bruno challenges the audience to consider dedicating one year to the pursuit of simplicity, believing that collective action towards simplicity can lead to positive change on both individual and societal levels.
Quit Social Media – Cal Newport
Cal Newport, a computer scientist and author, is one of the most influential advocates for digital minimalism. He has written multiple books on focus and digital minimalism, such as Deep Work and A World Without Email.
In this Ted Talk he discusses about social media: although he never has had a social media account, he still have friends and knows what’s going on in the world. Newport also suggests he’s much better with out SoMe. In the talk he conveys other to go without social media as well. Newport counterpoints the three most common objections when talking against quitting social media:
First objection: Social media is one of the most fundamental technologies of the 21st century to reach people, and not using it would be like riding to work with horse.
Newpoint argues social media is more of an entertainment than utility. Companies offer shiny treats for the minutes of your attention and bites of personal data that they then can be package and sold. SoMe platforms are also designed to be as addictive as possible like the slot machines in casinos.
Second objection: SoMe is vital to one´s success in the 21st century economy.
Newport emphasizes that market values what is rare and valuable. Social media is easy-to-replicate activity that doesn’t provide a lot of social value. People will find you when you do deep work instead and provide actually valuable information. Newport further argues that he is more successful in professional life because not using social media.
Third objection: SoMe is harmless, people have fun on it, and they don’t really use it that much.
The author points out that social media can introduce multiple and well-documented harms. These include problems such as addiction, reduced ability to focus and increased rate of depression. Newport continues by stating that there´s fundamental mismatch between how our brain work and how we are exposed to stimuli introduced by SoMe all day long.
Newport finishes his talk by painting a picture of life without social media. He says the first few weeks the quitter can feel difficulties and anxiety but that will eventally subsidies and is replaced with increased levels of productivity and peacefulness.
