How Doing Dumb Stuff Can Actually Be Useful: Alex Wadelton (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Alex Wadelton’s talk titled “How Doing Dumb Stuff Can Actually Be Useful” at TEDxMornington 2024 conference.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

The Power of Dumb: An Inspiring Journey

G’day, I’m Alex Wadelton and I’m going to prove to you why doing dumb stuff could be the smartest thing you ever do. Ten years ago, my son’s severe anaphylaxis was a constant medical ordeal. Me and Rob were in and out of hospital all the time and I felt life was so unfair, until a late night encounter at the hospital changed my perspective. I saw a young girl in a wheelchair with no hair and a 30-centimetre scar down the side of her head.

Clearly she had brain cancer. And my self-pity, well, it felt trivial. And in that moment, I had a thought. I had a dumb thought.

What if I did a kids’ cancer charity fundraiser where for every dollar people donated, I plucked one hair out of my head? I told you it was dumb. With this idea, one buck, one pluck, I raised over thousands and thousands of dollars, looked like a pretty scary horror movie character, and changed the course of my life forever. Because I realised that by helping others, I helped myself.

I understood that laughter is the best medicine and I knew that it was time to step away from my serious day job as a stressed-out advertising executive and step into the power of dumb. Since then, I’ve done lots and lots of dumb things. Dumb things that raised millions of dollars, helped hundreds of thousands of people and uncovered a way of life I never thought possible. And to prove to you why doing dumb stuff is so awesome and how anyone can do it, I’m going to tell you about three of my dumbest ideas.

Because when you do dumb stuff with calculated intentions, you laugh more, you learn more and you love life more.

Dumb Idea #1: Licking Cancer

Alright. First dumb idea. A few years ago, I was flicking through my kids’ Guinness Book of World Records and I saw some idiot doing this. Pretty good, right? This guy held the world record for longest duration touching tongue to nose. No kidding. His record was 14 minutes.

My first thought was, “14 minutes? I can smash that!” And my second thought was, “What sort of an idiot would break a world record like that?” So I forgot about it until a few months later.

When my wife Sheridan’s best friend Marcella was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. In that moment, I had a thought. I had a dumb thought. What if I became the sort of idiot that would break the Guinness World Record for longest duration touching tongue to nose, raise some money for Marcella and her treatment, but more importantly, make Marcella feel loved by making her laugh?

So I decided to lick cancer for Marcella. And I started training, like a lot, probably too much. I was training as I worked, I was training as I played, and I was probably even training in my sleep. My apologies to my wife Sheridan.

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And then it came time for the big day itself, the world record attempt. There were cameras rolling, there were witnesses, there were timekeepers, it was all happening. But most importantly, I saw Marcella sitting down, shaking her head and laughing at the sheer idiocy I was about to undertake on her behalf. A few minutes in though, and I was struggling, what they call in the game, tongue cramp.

And so I did what anyone who was trying to break a very prestigious and storied world record of longest duration touching tongue to nose should do. I went then to the power of dumb. Soon 10 minutes passed, then 20, 30, 40, and finally, after 50 minutes and 52 seconds, the world record was mine. Thank you.

It was great. We raised almost $10,000 for Marcella, but that wasn’t really the point. Because I saw Marcella sitting there, exhausted, but smiling a smile I’ve never seen so wise. And she walked towards me, and we hugged, and she smiled some more, we laughed, and I smiled too.

And I looked around the room at all the people who had come along to witness a very important world record, and they were all smiling too. Hopefully, you’re smiling. I keep smiling about it as well. Who doesn’t want to smile more, right?

And when she passed away, sadly, 18 months later, I went to the funeral, and I saw her family. We hugged, and we smiled together, because we knew we’d done something very stupid, but we’d also done something very special that we’d remember for the rest of our lives. That’s the power of dumb. Rest in peace, Marcella.

Dumb Idea #2: The Melbourne Shuffle Marathon

Now, on to my second dumb idea. I was a big raver back in the day. I used to go out and dance this move called the Melbourne Shuffle, named after the place where I grew up called Melbourne. Does anyone know the Melbourne Shuffle here?

There you go. Good on you. I’ll give you a chuffa-chuff later on. So, if you don’t know what the Melbourne Shuffle is, it might be easier if I demonstrate it.

All right? So, imagine there’s a techno beat going, and there’s strobe lights everywhere. All right. But when COVID hit, the music stopped, and so did the dancing.

Six million of us in Melbourne were thrown into the world’s longest COVID lockdown. And for a lot of people, this was a really, really tough time. We couldn’t go out, couldn’t see our friends, and we definitely could not dance. And then I started thinking, what about all those people who don’t even have a home to be locked down in?

What about all the homeless people living in Melbourne? In that moment, I had a thought. I had a dumb thought. What if I danced a marathon in my living room and tried to raise some money for the people experiencing homelessness in the middle of COVID?

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I told a bunch of friends my idea, and they all thought it was really, really, really dumb.

So, I knew I was onto something. And that’s how the Melbourne Shuffle Marathon was born. A whole bunch of legends volunteered to help me, to DJ for it, set up a live stream, a dance floor, and bring it to life.

It’s fair to say that on the day itself, it went off like a frog in a sock. What started as the Melbourne Shuffle turned into the Melbourne Struggle, then into the Melbourne Stumble, and finally into the Melbourne Collapse on the Floor from absolute exhaustion. So, there I am, absolutely exhausted. It took me over nine hours and 55,000 steps.

Hundreds of people watched the live stream. Thousands of people donated, and we were able to raise over $50,000 in one day for Melbourne’s homeless community. Thank you. But more important than raising the money was seeing all the smiling faces throughout the day.

I saw person after person smiling on the live stream, having the best time. Some people watched me for the entire nine and a quarter hours, just sitting there, having a drink, looking at me, which was quite disturbing, but it was also beautiful, because they were having a great time, and they had forgotten about the lockdown for a few hours. Now, on a side note, if you ever want to lose seven and a half kilos in one night, dance a marathon in your living room. That is not medical advice.

See your doctor for advice.

Dumb Idea #3: A Statue for Nicky Winmar

Now on to my third, final, and I think most powerful example of the awesome power of dumb. I’m a massive Australian rules football fan. Where I’m from in Melbourne, it’s like a religion.

A religion in 1993, though, that was sadly desecrated when Indigenous footballer Nicky Winmar was racially abused in a match by the crowd. He turned on a best on ground performance, and as he walked off, though, he was still being racially abused. So he turned to the crowd, pulled up his jumper, pointed at the colour of his skin, and yelled out, “I’m black, and I’m proud to be black.” This image by Melbourne photographer Wayne Ludbey is an iconic image in Australia.

And in 2018, I knew the 25th anniversary was coming up. In that moment, I had a thought. I had a dumb thought. What if I try to turn that photo into a 10-foot tall bronze statue?

Why was that a dumb idea? Three reasons. I knew no sculptors, I had no experience in getting a sculpture made, and I had no idea what to do. So I did what anyone with a dumb idea with grand ambition should do.

I asked a mate to help. This mate, Aaron Tyler, also had no idea what to do, but we had the shared conviction that it was the right thing to do. So we started a crowdfunding campaign, and we worked on it for free for weeks, and then for months, and then for years. And after years of hard work, with the help of Nicky, Sculptor Louis Lauman, Tanya Hosh at the Australian Football League, and a whole range of other people, we were able to turn that dumb idea into this magnificent reality.

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It’s very beautiful. Now, it looks like it was a beautiful, sunny day that day, but I’m here to tell you it was anything but. It was absolutely raining cats and dogs all day. It rained on the Welcome to Country Ceremony, it poured on the people giving speeches, and it absolutely bucketed down on the thousands of people in attendance for the unveiling.

But then it came time for Nicky to give his speech, and as he stood up, it stopped raining for the first time for the day. And as he walked to the lectern, the clouds parted, and as he opened his mouth, the sun came down for the first time for the entire day. It was an amazing scene. Everywhere I looked, people were clapping, cheering, and smiling.

And there was Nicky himself, literally 10 foot tall and bulletproof, absolutely beaming. What had been a dark day decades earlier, filled with anger and hatred, was now a beautiful, sunny day full of laughter and love. The statue of Nicky will stand for a thousand years or more, and still Nicky will be standing strong and proud, teaching a country about the need for respect and equality.

The Power of Dumb: A Call to Action

And now I stand before you, having learned a lot over the years from the power of dumb, and it can be boiled down to this.

The power of dumb is not actually about being dumb at all. It’s about you being smart enough to listen to your heart. It’s about you being naive enough to believe that anything is possible, and it’s about being brave enough to never, ever, ever give up. And the great thing is, absolutely any idiot can do it.

I am living proof. Imagine what you, someone a thousand times smarter than me, could achieve if you leaned into the power of dumb. So if you have an idea that’s tapping you on the back of the head, maybe now it’s time to turn to the power of dumb. It just may be the smartest thing you ever do.

Thank you.