Comments on: Simplifying Your Life: It’s Time For A Reality Check

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:48:46 +0000

James, you make me wonder what a Minimalists complaint would look like now. “Disagree” perhaps?

By: Anthony Feint

Anthony Feint — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:20:32 +0000

I think the whole key is to identify what’s important and what you should be doing and focus on that. Then find out the most productive and efficient way to achieve it! More often than not efficiency is simplicity.

By: Max Leibman

Max Leibman — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:03:50 +0000

Great post! I think there’s a lot to be said for minimizing/cutting out, but your point about automating and the like is well taken.

I’m reminded of a quote I’ve seen attributed to Oliver Weldell Holmes: “I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity; I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity” Simplifying is easy – simplifying the right thing in the right way, maybe not so much.

By: James

James — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:28:22 +0000

Great to read all the feedback so far and glad to see you all think I’m on the right track. I was worried I’d get some backlash from the Minimalists (just joking).

As Shane points out, I think it’s really about balancing between removing the truly unnecessary (not always easily identifiable) and streamlining the rest (a regular, ongoing process). When put like that it’s easy to think that achieving simplicity is anything but simple and in many ways that’s true… but it’s worth it in the long run.

By: Armen Shirvanian

Armen Shirvanian — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:11:26 +0000

Hey James.

This was good to read. It’s nice to see the other end of the spectrum. You can only cut out so much before you have nothing left.

Streamlining sure does have a more valuable connotation, but it is not as flashy to talk about streamlining or optimizing, since those have been discussed a lot. One might say that automation is within the category of simplifying, but that is in a field all of its own.

I also agree with that message about how something you do that seems useless can be something you need to do to learn from, or that builds up future equity. We are usually glad when things surprise us in the future by being useful things to have done. There’s no need to cut out those types of activities.

One time I put in a lot of effort to get into the Technorati Top 10K, which I eventually did, and while it wasn’t worth much I have something to compare to from my past and I learned a lot from about blog promotion.

Thanks for this practical take on simplicity.

By: Carole

Carole — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:11:26 +0000

Stephen, you’re on target about breaking things down. I break tasks down into little bitesized tasks that I can complete in just a few minutes every day. I have the attention span of a gnat, and this way I can keep up with things without much thought. That’s what I meant when I said that systems are important. I’d never survive without my efficient systems in place.

And when you do what needs to be done when it needs to be done, you have a lot less crises to deal with! Makes life much calmer.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:23:16 +0000

An interesting perspective. “The value of an activity isn’t always apparent” – this is a really fantastic point.

I’ve been simplifying for twenty years now and it comes naturally. In theory and not always in practice, I find that breaking things down into two groups helps – is this activity important and is it urgent? If you take care of the things that are important (to you) and NOT urgent than you will seldom have urgent issues to deal with, making your environment a little less intense and more enjoyable.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:36:48 +0000

Simplify, minimize, do less, cut out the crap… I think all are open to individual interpretation. The key is not to defeat your purpose – why do you want to simplify? And what do you need to do to achieve it?

By: Carole

Carole — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:24:50 +0000

You are so right! Simplifying by cutting out, or ignoring things doesn’t work. Getting good systems in place to do things more efficiently is what works. I teach things that many people might consider stupid – like how to clean your house fast and keep it that way, and how to eat healthy even if you’re busy. Just these two simple life skills make a big difference in how smoothly your life runs, and how you feel. So I can fully support what you’re saying here!

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:54:57 +0000

I guess you could say simplifying consists of two separate components – eliminating the truly unnecessary and making everything else more efficient. Of course all of that is easier said than done.

Thanks for this post, I enjoyed it a lot!