12/27/2009: "The Power of Less"

I'm reading a book called The Power of Less and it's very persuasive.

It argues that the path to happiness in life is to set limits and eliminate all but the essential.

I have always held minimalism to be a cold kind of beauty. Full of hard surfaces and sharp edges; a place for everything and nothing out of place. But reading the book I found myself warming to the concept.

The reason we find it hard to order our lives and make progress on our goals is because we have so many things to order and so many projects on the go. We need to get clear about what is most important and build our lives around that. Limits are the sentinels we set at the edges of our consciousness, keeping out distractions so our minds can focus.

Parkinson's Law and its corollaries say: work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion; data expands to fill the space available for storage; and expenditures rise to meet income. Neuroscience says that multi tasking is a myth. So I expect the author of this book is on to something.

Three minimalist habits you may want to adopt:

#1: decide on your ONE GOAL for the year and focus all your energy on achieving that.
#2: do something every day to move you closer to your ONE GOAL.
#3: if what you're doing isn't taking you where you want to go, stop doing it right now.

Yours with creativity and imagination,
Darlene

p.s. I still think there is something magical about mess, like the chaos from which all creation emerges. But am reminded that the opposite of any truth is another truth, and I am satisfied to live with the paradox for now. A true minimalist would make me choose.
p.p.s. The Power of Less was written by Leo Babatua. Check out his blog Zen Habits.