Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Sue Kronenfeld
There is no risk in changing one's life.
None.
There is no risk in taking risks.
None.
Why?
Because risk doesn't exist.
Thank you.
(Laughter) (Applause)
Oh, that's good. Oh, that's really funny.
I wanted to see what was the shortest TED talk in the world.
It was a Vine, actually.
No, but I have serious things to say.
Usually I finish, I sum up the others,
but I have intelligent things to say this year.
I would like to speak on risk.
I am going to tell you a true story, and it is really a true story.
When I was 18, she was 18, too. Her name was Carole.
We were very much in love, we were a young couple.
And we went for a walk in the woods, one weekend, in winter.
We talked about our lives a little,
she asked me what I wanted to do later on, and I told her
that my dream would be to be on a stage, reading my own lines.
I knew at 18 that was what I wanted to do.
She looked at me like this, she was panicked:
"But do you know the risk that you will be taking?"
She wanted me to think about it carefully because the situation was complicated,
and this profession had close to no vacancies.
And she used an expression which destroyed me, she said:
"How many unemployed actors for one Desproges?"
(Laughter)
Damn...
(Laughter) (Applause)
Yeah, well yeah...
She wanted me to reconsider that somewhat crazy plan.
She tried everything.
I was in love, so I listened to her with my heart,
which is sometimes stronger than the head, and I gave up that plan.
There you go. I did not take that risk.
It's crazy, isn't it?
So I studied Arts, History, Marketing. I've been working for the State.
I did commercials, Internet, some audio-visual media productions,
for 20 years, right until last year...
But I'll tell you about that at the end.
So because of that risk, I didn't take the path I wanted to take.
That's really incredible.
I never stopped thinking about this. Why? What risk was she talking about?
What is this risk?
Even today, if I wanted to change my life, my path, my job, where would be the risk?
What is the problem in my head? What is the problem in our heads?
Where's the problem?
The problem, because I've pondered over this question a lot, is our imagination.
It's what differentiates us from the animals.
That is to say, we humans, we map things out, we anticipate,
we are the kings of the cause and effect, we know what is going to happen.
We are the Nostradamuses of our lives.
Why?
Because we have "the vision."
(Laughter)
"The vision" is an ability to sketch out scenarios for our own lives,
where we say, if I do this,
that will happen, then that, and that--that is certain.
and then it will end up, like that, certainly.
"The vision." (Laughter)
Occasionally, "the vision" is positive, and sometimes, very positive.
I'm going to quit my job, create my company,
I'm going to hire 120 people, I'm going to go international.
April 2019, I will make 6,342,000 euros in sales.
At that point, I'll be content, and I'll be able to buy a house
in Marnes-la-Coquette, a fashionable suburb.
(Laughter) (Applause)
There is the other side, the negative version of the "vision,"
I'm going to quit my job, launch my company.
It's a given I won't have any clients right away, so I'll lose all my cash.
My wife will leave me, my children,
I'll feel ashamed, my buddies won't give a damn about me.
Anyway, I'll screw it up, I'm good for nothing. (Laughter)
So there are two scenarios.
But then the worst thing
is that whether it is the positive or the negative scenario in the vision,
we don't care at all about what is going on in the world.
Attack in Bagdad, 55 dead. The Stock Market is down 20%.
China invades Korea. In Denmark, a nut kills 72 students.
Ebola causes 100,000 deaths. François Hollande is coming-out.
(Laughter) A rumor...
Prince Albert nominates the Pope for the Ice Bucket Challenge.
(Laughter) (Applause)
But we don't care, we have "the vision,"
we know, we control, we know where we're going.
Of course not!
Has any of your visions ever come true in your life,
exactly as you predicted?
Never.
Even if it were a New Year's resolution, it only lasted for two weeks. (Laughter)
So a vision for life, happiness, future, risk... of course not,
We 're always wrong! It's crazy. Do you get me or not? (Laughter)
We are always wrong.
Our risk evaluation system is invalid. We must stop relying on it. That's it.
Confused men and women in their 40s,
have slogged away for 15, 20, 25 years; we are on a track like this.
We don't know where we're going, but there we are.
We're a little fed-up, we'd like to change our lives, but...
It's crazy, the number of arguments that nails us to the ground:
money, the crisis, the children,
the parents who are beginning to get sick, so we're not going to move, no.
Given your mother's condition, we're not going to the U.S., that's...
Excuse me.
I'm going to share a trick with you because I have acquired that maturity
where one can give existential advice to people on Sundays,
like that, in the theaters now, it's... (Laughter)
So I'll show you a trick that works for me. Do with it what you wish.
When I come to an important moment in life,
when I have to make a serious decision, if it seems risky, I think of this.
I tell myself, if I have fall, at least it should be a cheerful one.
(Laughter)
Because... yeah, I have not reached the level of Alain Damasio
who spoke just before me, on that kind of coolness of finiteness, I...
(Laughter)
So I think of that, and that helps me.
(Laughter)
I think of Denis, my friend Denis.
Every time I tell him about my plans, he goes: "Pff... that's risky, now."
(Laughter) (Applause)
I think of Nathalie, she's my ex, another one.
She said that I was a dreamer.
Oh, my goodness! (Laughter)
I think of Laurent, a very good friend who has done well in finance,
house in Marnes-la-Coquette
(Laughter)
He liked fast cars. Maybe a little too fast, Laurent.
And then there's me, oh yes.
Then there is me, and you too. We are all there.
I am dying.
That is what is left of our anxieties. (Birds chirrup)
Nothing remains, in fact; all those headaches that we had.
All those morbid thoughts that we had:
"Should I do it? Should I go for it? Should I keep going? go for it now?
(Birds chirrup)
Well, the risk! But what risk? What risk? Seriously.
OK, all right, leave me. (Bird chirrup stops)
(Laughter)
So we have to stop using that word "risk," it's negative.
What I like about anglophones is they do not say "take a risk,"
but "take a chance," "Take a chance," give it a try.
Give it a try, do what you have to do what you love, to be happy.
Yeah, that's good. I like the anglophones.
I'm going to say something that is not very TEDx.
When we do what we have to and love to do,
we begin to align ourselves, to be coherent,
then we begin to earn our living a little,
and we can begin to aim for that house in...Marnes-la-Coquette! I'm going!
I'm going to give you a second piece of advice,
because tonight, I am not only mature, but also generous: second trick.
You say: "OK, I'm getting there, I have to get there, but how do I do it?
Do I make a clean break? Do I quit everything?"
No, I don't think so. I think you have to take a small step.
And I took that small step last year.
It was October 5, 2013, so it was exactly a year to the day.
I sent an e-mail to Michèle Laroque, the comedian.
I'd met her during a TV program, for just half an hour; we were really not close.
Half an hour, that's not enough.
And I brazenly sent her an e-mail. Well, I took that small step.
Really, in essence the message was: "I saw in your bio that you've never directed
anyone on the stage, and I think that's a pity."
(Laughter)
I am willing to be your guinea pig. Please have a coffee with me."
I still felt my way carefully.
She agreed to it. OK, so one week later, we went for coffee.
I told her about my life, that stroll, and all that.
And I left her the text the only stage show I'd written.
And she said: "I'll read it and get back to you."
"I'll get back to you," that's it.
So I waited a few days, much too long for my taste.
I was anxious. Maybe my small step got me nowhere.
And a week later, I got a text.
["I'll make it short: I love it. No, really. Really. We'll talk soon.]
That's good, isn't it?
(Applause)
I won't tell you how I behave in front of my wife and children, I was all like,
"Ah, ah, ah, look at this text! Ah ah ah, Michèle Laroque!"
My children: "Who?"
(Laughter)
So I tried to find an intelligent and concise response,
Gahh!
(Laughter) (Applause)
No, but that's it... really, afterwards, when we take a step, like that,
one small step then another one.
And after we say it, then we do it.
And then, she is taking a risk, too. She's never directed anyone on the stage.
I had never acted on stage. Already, both of these...
I won't tell you about my anxiety when I went to rehearse at her place.
Two or three times a week, for many weeks.
It was like passing my baccalaureate exam. I had a tummy-ache.
And in April this year, I went onstage for the first time at Point Virgule,
Point Virgule Theater, Paris, ladies and gentlemen! It was full.
(Applause)
Yeah, yeah.
(Applause)
As we say, vulgarly, I was shitting myself at that moment,
but when the first laughs came like that... awesome.
And when in that venue, blinded like now,
I heard my wife's laughter, I've already heard tonight again,
I can tell you what an incredible sensation that is to feel you are alive!
And I think again about that stroll when I was 18,
and I think: OK I've spent 26 years turning risk into chance.
OK, it's a long time, but I'm good.
(Laughter)
So I post the same question to you today:
What are you going to do tomorrow morning to take your chance?
I'll let you think about it.
Thank you.
(Applause)