7 Ways Less Can Mean More

Think big, you’ve been told, but sometimes we make things bigger than they need to be.  Sometimes, less is more.  Scaling down can be a viable strategy for creating more abundance.

You can experience this by making things . . .

1. Less Complicated

I’ve seen programs for personal development that involve keeping journals, making charts and graphs, conducting daily and weekly and monthly reviews, and setting goals for every imaginable period of time: one week, one month, one year, five year, ten year, and so on.  And it all looks so great.  You can just see yourself as this highly organized, mega driven, ultra focused, super being forging your way through the jungle of life with the equivalent of a mental machete blade.

Then two days in, you find yourself growing weary of the constant record keeping.  You wanted to follow a dream, not take on a mountain of paperwork.

It may be time to simplify.

Maybe you don’t have to become a dream statistician to get where you want to go.  Maybe, God forbid, your dreams just aren’t that complex.  Maybe the life you desire is just a little bit quieter and a wee bit more peaceful than the one envisioned for you by the latest self help guru.

Simply jotting down your goals and keeping a record of your progress in a little calendar book might do the trick.

Or you might try something like  Nick Cernis’ ToDoodlist, a pencil and paper solution to productivity that simplifies the art of getting things done (GTD).  Thanks to Nick and his book, I stopped berating myself for not becoming a GTD god; my lifestyle doesn’t require it.

It’s simple. The less complicated the process, the more apt you are to implement and maintain it.

2. Less Intimidating

We have a tendency to turn enjoyable tasks into monumental challenges.  Every choice becomes a life-or-death decision, every action a high wire act.  It’s hard to take that first step when you fear falling to your death.

One of the books that helped me see the benefits of being mildly creative instead of wildly creative was Neil Fiore’s The Now Habit.  Fiore highlights the importance of creating safety and placing ourselves nearer to the ground.  In our minds, we often place ourselves a hundred feet above the pavement.  One slip, and it’s the end.

Mark Twain, in response to a false report that he had passed away, retorted   “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  When it comes to things we are attempting, the rumors of their danger are often exaggerated too, primarily by us.

If you write a book and no one reads it, so what?  If you write a book and they do read it but hate it, so what?  You’ll have written a book and you’ll still be breathing.  Blood will not be running in the streets.  And if you live in a free country, no one is going to come and haul you away.

Failure isn’t fatal; it’s formational.  Every time you fail, the worst that can happen is you’ll sting a little and learn a lot.  When the fear comes, step back, take a deep breath, and remember that you’ll go on breathing no matter what.

Fear not.  The less intimidating you make something out to be, the more likely you are to approach it and work your way through it.

3. Less Urgent

Almost every day, we messages telling us this could be our last chance.  If we don’t act right now, at this very moment, we could be missing the opportunity of a lifetime.  This is almost never true.  Waiting might cost us a few extra bucks, but it’s not going to cost us our last chance.

I’m not advocating waiting out of fear.  That’s called paralysis.  But taking your time to sift through an offer or an opportunity before diving in doesn’t make you dopey.  It just makes good sense.

It’s okay to spend some time weighing the costs and benefits of a decision.  It’s alright to do a little analysis and a little soul searching.  It might help to place a time limit on your decision process, but impulse is not a process.

Take your time.  The less urgent you make something, the more likely you are to make a calm and clear minded decision.

4. Less Ambiguous

I said you don’t have to be a dream statistician, but it’s helpful to spend time clarifying what your dreams really are and what they’re really not. This enables you to focus and set priorities.

You might have multiple goals competing for your attention. Fail to clarify and you might feel frazzled and pulled apart. You might wake up and have no idea where to begin or where to invest your energy. You might feel “goalverwhelmed.”

Take each goal and figure out what you really want from it.

For example, I have a desire to be physically fit, but I had to clarify how fit I really wish to be. I want to be a bit leaner, have more endurance, and pack on a little muscle, but I’m not seeking to compete in a Mr. Universe competition or become a marathon runner.

I had a workout routine I was trying to implement that was just too elaborate and too intense for what I really wanted to accomplish, and as a result I was resisting it.  So I simplified it.  I like to run, so I kept that.  I reduced my strength training to a handful of simple but beneficial exercises.  I made it manageable and doable, which frees up time to pursue other things that matter to me.

You could also benefit from deciding what’s most important to you right now, at this moment in your life.  I’m interested in learning to draw and play guitar. I like to write poetry. But the thing that’s most important to me right now is developing this website and working my way towards self employment.

The reason that’s so important to me is that I want the power to exercise more control over my schedule. I want my time to be flexible so I can do more things like (Can you guess?) drawing, playing guitar, and writing poetry.  Knowing that, I can focus on this without feeling guilty for temporarily cutting back on those things.  I’ve said it before. Allow yourself to go through phases and cycles.

The lesson is easy to understand.  The less ambiguous you are about your dreams, the more you’ll be able to determine where to invest your time and energy.

5.  Less Pretentious

As I’ve shared before, when I first started blogging I tried to be someone I wasn’t.   I tried to present myself as an all knowing, all loving, all purpose blog deity.  I tried to sound smarter than I actually was.  I tried to seem more experienced, more successful, more together.  It was baloney and I knew it, so it became difficult to think up new ways to impress readers, and as a result, I didn’t have many of them.  I didn’t write very frequently and when I did write, I didn’t believe what I had written.  I doubt anyone else did either.

Now, I practice not pretending.  I try to be as real as I know how to be and people are responding.  They’re leaving comments.  I’m making connections.  And it’s fun.

Acting like you’re someone you’re not can be a chore and make others bored, but being yourself can be a breeze and put others at ease once you get the hang of it.

Let’s be real.  Being less pretentious makes you more approachable and provides you with more opportunities to make real connections with other people.

6. Less Secretive

This is similar to the last item, but slightly different.  You can be authentic without revealing every sordid detail of your life.  Some things are indeed private.

But if you’re hiding something from everyone, it can be really hard work.  In fact, it can be downright exhausting.  There’s nothing worse than living with shame.  You can become so obsessed with obscuring the “worst” parts of yourself that you never share the best.

I spent a great deal of energy hiding the fact that I haven’t yet kicked the smoking habit.  It was fairly easy to do on a blog.  I just didn’t write about it.  But offline, it meant smoking in secrecy and hoping that no one would smell it on me. I’m not crazy about the fact that I haven’t yet kicked the habit, but feeling as though I have to hide it is demoralizing.

I realized the other day that the very least I could do is stop covering it up.  I don’t intend to wear it as a badge of honor; I just want to get it out in the open so I can do something about it.  When we try to hide something from everyone, the person we fool the most is ourselves.  If we hide it, we don’t have to look at it.

I’ve placed a little box near the bottom right corner of the page. Each day, I’ll post how many cigarettes I smoked the previous day. I hope you’ll soon see a nice round zero in that box for several days on end. At the very least, being open and accountable will help me be honest with myself and more conscious of my actions.

Let’s be candid.  The less secretive you are, the more open you can be to change.

7.  Less Serious

If you really want to kill a good idea, get serious about it.  Make a big deal out of it and dress it in a starched white shirt and drab necktie.  You’ll actually be able to hear the air being sucked right out of the room.

Whenever I’m feeling stuck, it’s a pretty good bet that I’ve temporarily forgotten how to be playful.  Playfulness and silliness are the hallmarks of creativity.  Seriousness and earnestness are the hallmarks of rigidity.

If you really want to jar some good ideas loose, get ridiculous.  Write a goofy song about the thing you’re working on.  Create bizarre combinations of seemingly unrelated items.  Discuss your idea with a four year old.  Create a model out of play-doh.  The dumber, the better.  It’s hard to stay stuck when you’re wearing a big, dorky grin.

It’s crazy, but it’s true.  The less serious you can be, the more apt you are to stumble upon new and interesting ways to look at things.

Summary

If you want more out of life, try making things a little less complicated, intimidating, urgent, ambiguous, pretentious, secretive, and serious.  This is kind of downsizing can really boost your bottom line.

Why not get some Quiet Inspiration?

You can also join me on Facebook and Twitter I’d love to meet you.

Tagged as: Make Commitments, Make Meaning, Make Priorities, Make Things