The Power of Less Part 1 of 5: Simplicity
January 8, 2010 by dr. lam
In the spirit of the new year, let’s figure out how to get a more streamlined life, which we will explore in this short blog series. Hey, less is more.
In life, especially our current, hurried, modern existence, we have a cluttered experience: stockpiled emails, a string of voicemails, staccatos of “got-a-minute” meetings, etc. However, the more obtrusive that these elements become in our life, the less of a life we have. Leo Babauta’s book is intended to help us become uncluttered, untethered, and unfettered. We will explore some of the dimensions of what we can do to live by the motto, “less is more.”
First, he asks us to prioritize what is important to us by asking some basic questions:
1. What are your values? What is really important in your life? What principles do you live by?
2. What are your goals? Both short and long term what are you wanting to achieve in life?
3. What do you love? In short, what do you love doing?
4. What is important to you? Make a list of the most important things in your life and use that list as a tool to decide what you should keep and what you should shed.
5. What has the biggest impact? What action or task would create the biggest impact in your professional and/or personal life?
6. What has the most long-term impact? There’s a difference in deciding what may have the biggest impact is what would that impact look like over the next few months to years? Oftentimes the immediate impact leads to no lasting value and we must look at the long road to see what real impact that decision will have for us.
7. Needs versus wants. If you start with the needs, you may be able to eliminate a lot of unnecessary wants.
8. Eliminate the nonessential. Sometimes it can work for you to work backwards and find the things that are non-essential.
9. Continual editing process. Continue to look at your list and see if you can pare it down further over time as you do some more soul searching and thinking about things.
For me, I have come to realize that my time on the computer can be a great waste of time. I tend to respond to emails around the clock, and that can disturb my productivity. I have looked more intently at the following actions that I am going to take on my emails, forum and blog responses:
A. Check email only when I have a free moment during the day so that it does not interrupt my schedule. Check email only once at night rather than multiple times throughout the evening.
B. Immediately attempt to clear my inbox if I have time.
C. Respond only to important emails rather than to every single piece that comes through to me.
D. Keep my email responses as short as possible. Babauta recommends fewer than 5 lines as much as possible.
I think his ideas are great, and I would love to know how you begin to implement this uncluttering process in your life.
Comments
13 Responses to “The Power of Less Part 1 of 5: Simplicity”
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These are very challenging questions. I tried to answer them, as my start. 1 and 4 were the only easy ones. I’m guessing that is a very bad sign for Nord! ;0 I was honest, lol. I mean, I know what I love to do, but say it’s staring at my toes! One can’t aim to “stare at toes” that won’t pay the rent, lead to self actualization.
I do not love this blog!
Thanks.
clearly, i am still responding to emails now. lol.
Very good point to make! I love that list! My sister, Hannah’s famous saying is, “When in doubt, pitch it out.”….lol I don’t know if she made that up or not, but that’s her motto and it’s close to, “less is more.”
That email thing is really good, Dr. Lam. Yeah, I need to work on that too. I’m going to incorporate this motto into my thinking in life and start to consider what I am doing and eliminate the things that are taking up my life and are not enriching it. Really good things to contemplate, Dr. Lam!!
Thanks!
Dr. Lam, you’ve been so awesome to comment on all these comments on your blogs so quickly. Will miss you!
Miss you already, Dr. Lam!…lol
Heather, we’re gonna be blog refugees now.
Or something like that.
Or nothing like that.
ok guys. calm down. lol.
LOL, Nord and Dr. Lam!
We understand you have to make adjustments, pruning time-wasters and the like.
We need you. All the time, not some flim-flam TYM approach to “email”.
Family went out to eat tonight, rather shi-shi dive. DD and I practiced eating ‘continental’ style. I think we learned that here, or maybe Leticia Baldridge’s tape, IDK , but it doesn’t matter. My point is that these blogs help all to open eyes and hearts to new ideas, new approaches. You’re kind of Martha Stewart for our souls, spirits, hearts, minds……You go out there and cull the best of the best and bring it home and break it on down for us.. That is a huge service to all readers and it is appreciated AND successful. You just don’t always get to see or know when you’ve made a good difference. But, you DO make a difference. You aim to elevate us and we aim to be elevated!
And you all know I mean more than how to use flatware in a shi-shi dive, lol. THE BIG STUFF.
Elevate! Not de-Laminate!
There’s no other blog like this one. Stay with us! No blog-orphans!
Oh wow. That reads goofy this morning.
Thanks.
thanks nord. really appreciate it! those words meant a lot to me. don’t worry, i’m here!
Aww, isn’t that sweet!
Yeah, we’re kind of attached to you, Dr. Lam. 
Glad you’re still here! There’s no blog like this one!!! You just plain rock, Dr. Lam!!! And, Nord, you rock too! 