Category: Lessons from Less

I am the worst offender of this.

I’m so rushed doing one thing, thinking about the next thing, that I forget what it’s like to just BE in the moment.

I have scheduled time to tightly and packed my life so fully, that sometimes I try to swim faster just to get out of the pool faster so I can move on to the next step.

Swim faster? Seriously?

While taking the bus, during a few car-free days last month, I had the chance to observe. To sit, to wait, and to not move while waiting for the bus.

No more foot-tapping. No more impatiently waiting. No reading 3 books at a time.

Sometimes, life is worth savoring. Long, slow, wonderful exploratory runs with no music. Decadent dates in the sunny park without somewhere to be or something to do on the near horizon.

Enjoy the time.

Today, for a brief moment, relax.

Savor things and Go Slowly.

There is no substitute for good sleep.

Just get into bed.

Stop doing what you’re doing. even if you don’t feel tired, get into bed early.

Tomorrow will be better for it.

Today will be better for it.

Now will be better for it.

Even if you read for a bit, chances are you’ll go to bed earlier.

Go to bed. Get a good night’s rest.

I’ll admit, I fail at this a lot. But each time I come back to this lesson, I’m reminded how powerful it is.

Don’t do ten things at once.

Work on one thing at a time. Or two. But never more than two.

In a well-known graph about productivity and multi-tasking (from a 1990’s Harvard Study by Steven C.Wheelwright and Kim B.Clark), two researchers showed the benefits of multitasking – but only in situations where the subject worked on two things at once. Any more than two, and productivity declined. A lot.

In an NPR story about multitasking and performance (it’s a little over a year old, but still relevant) – they discuss the impairment associated with multitasking, revealing that people who multitask actually do far worse on performance than people who eliminate distractions and focus their attention on one or two things.

Do less. It really is doing more.

Simplify. Work on one thing at a time – or two.

The spaces where we do our work are important.

What spaces are conducive to good work? Do you work from home, in an office, in an open studio, in a coffee shop?

Where do you get your work done?

Look around the space you’re in, right now. What does it help you do? What behaviors are you engaging in? What is the most distracting thing about your workspace? Is it the people around you, the colors, the internet connectivity, your own brain? Write down what distracts you from doing your work. Then write down a way to remove those distractions.

Choose the environment that is best suited for the behaviors you want to encourage. For me, that’s the library. I pack up my books, take the effort to load up the backpack and walk down the corridor, and I sequester myself in the quiet, well-lit space because that’s where I get my work done.

Eliminate the distractions. When I need to write, I turn off the internet. When I’m at work and I need to focus, I take myself out of the flow of people-traffic in my office for a few hours, dedicating time to what I want to do.

Set up systems that work. Turn off the distractions. Be pro-active about your work efforts. Reduce clutter. Clean off the desk. Work on one thing at a time.

Less is more. A whole lot more.

What will you do first?

First things First, my dad always says.

What is the first thing you did today? Check email? Work on the most important thing, or the least important thing?

When you get to the end of the day, what do you regret not doing?

Less means maybe only doing 1 thing each day. What is that one thing, the most important thing, the hard thing that you’re not working on? That you’re not giving yourself time to do? Say No to other things. Say Yes to time for the most important things.

Making important things first is critical.

This morning, what’s first?

You are not a fixed entity.

You are not exactly as you are. Things change. The greatest gift we all have is the ability to learn, to develop, and to grow.

If you are not learning – you are obsolete.

Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin, speaks to this effect: become indispensible.

Be more than ordinary – be extraordinary by doing above and beyond what is required.

If you don’t know how to do something, learn how to do it.

If you’re not happy with what you currently have, figure out how to fix it.

If things aren’t working the way you’re doing it, try something new.

Everything changes. You may not see the differences now, but take stock in where you are and remember to look back after a few months and notice the changes.

If you’re the type of person who never remembers someone else’s name, don’t fret. You can learn. You can change. What type of person are you? Would you explain this away (“I can never remember anyone’s names!”) – incorrectly assuming that you, in fact, could never change this, never learn?

I think that’s wrong. You can learn. You can change. It takes practice, energy, time, and observation. But each time, a little more awareness – and one day, you’ll realize that the habit you have has changed – and it’s easy for you to remember someone else’s name.

Everything changes. It happens slowly, but if you’re making an effort, watching, observing, thinking, and always practicing new things, you’ll surprise even yourself.

Everything changes.

Smile.

There is nothing more beautiful than a smile.

The expression you wear on your face is priceless. There aren’t too many things more powerful and contagious than your demeanor. I’m reading essays by Dale Carnegie this week, and his insights and ideas about the power of a smile are spot on:

“Your smile is a messenger of your good will. Your smile brightens the lives of all who see it. To someone who has seen a dozen people frown, scowl or turn their faces away, your smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds. … A smile can help you realize that all is not hopeless – that there is joy in the world.” – Dale Carnegie

William James : “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.”

Shakespeare: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

Smile today, even if you don’t feel like it. Perhaps smiling first will make you feel like it.

Image from here.

The more I have to do, the more stuff I have, the more I feel anxious about time. I check the clock, the analog clock I keep to plan things, I mark up my calendars, and I rush-rush-RUSH to get things done.

Letting go means things go slower, differently. Doing Less means being okay with open spaces and unplanned moments in life.

Time happens at different paces.

Not worrying to the clock so much means I actually listen to my internal clock.

A few nights back I got tired early – really early – and I went to bed before 9pm. I actually yawned while sitting in my chair reading, thought about going to bed, and looked through my glasses at the clock.7:51pm. I laughed. I can’t go to bed at 7:51pm! Then I looked at my list of things I wanted to get done that day – nothing much, except for a silly to-do list that I promptly ignored in my practice of “saying no” to more things.

I CAN go to bed at 7:51pm. I started the rituals: turned the heat up for a half hour, brushed my teeth, cleaned up the dishes, and cozied up into my bed. I ended up reading for a bit and jotting a few notes down in my notebook as more essay and blog ideas jumped to mind – but I was out like a light before 9 PM.

Delicious.

*** *** ***

The opposite is true, too.

Over the holidays I was caught in a whirlwind pace of writing – I had 4 tabs open in my browser and I was scribbling thoughts down – and then I took a break to look through Reverb10’s prompts.

Awww shit, I thought, I should catch up on those. And the “word” prompt struck me again. I was STUCK. Stuck for a word, for a thought. It felt heavy, like I was getting behind on another list of things to do. Can I really catch up on all of these Reverb prompts? The voice of reason tried to tell me to procrastinate. But I sighed, opened up a new browser window, and started composing.

A word? What word could possibly describe 2010?

I looked in the rearview mirror a little more – let’s see, what happened in 2010?

And then I was writing, writing as fast as I could, just letting words tumble out and not judging myself or stopping to edit. I just wrote. (And the one word response has been the highest hit blog post on this blog, ever.  Go figure.)

And then I looked up at the clock. 2AM.

What?

Not a yawn, not a peep, not an ounce of tiredness. And this was two days BEFORE my exciting night of the 8 PM bedtime. I still had more in me. I wrote another post, and then another, set the publishing times for 5AM and the following two days and hit the bed. It took a while to sleep – I had lots more to scribble in my notebook – and then I was out like a light.

Waking up the next morning was refreshing. Well, maybe not refreshing – more like a dazed stupor around 10AM and I stumbled around a bit before I felt like I was honestly awake.  I had given up coffee for a month, so waking up felt a bit difficult.

And then I remembered the writing marathon the previous night – it made me smile. I felt like I had written some good stuff, and I was excited to go back and proof some of it a little more and check the piece I’d published out in the print-like feeling that is a posted blog entry.

I opened my email, my twitter, and a few other accounts. And my email inbox started blowing up.

So, thank you.

So many people reached out, commented, shared, and laughed with me. Writing has taught me that moments like this – the connection across the internet, to people all around the world, to friends that come out of the woodwork to share stories with me – are not to be taken lightly.

Readers and blog followers and every single subscriber – even the ones who never email me or leave a comment – Thank you. I am constantly amazed by the people who come here, to read my words, to listen to the random stories and scribblings and thoughts. I had an overwhelming number of emails in my inbox from people sharing their own stories and being grateful for my post – I couldn’t have even expected it. Who knew that my writing would reach out to so many people?

And, thank you for Less. For coming with me on this journey. If I’ve learned anything, it’s to make space for the things that matter. For me, that means making time and space for writing and for reflecting. And for things like sleep, open space to dream, time to read, and possibly allowing yourself to stay up late in marathon sessions of productivity. :) Sometimes it means making space for slowing down. Other times, it mean making time for the things that matter – your goals, your dreams, and your ambitions. Make space for things to happen.

Making space and making time for things that matter is vital.