Simplifying Your Life: Why Less Is More

Written by Robert Pagliarini - 21 Comments
Categories: self improvement

We’ve done the binge thing for awhile; now it’s time to do the purge thing. Most of us have a tremendous amount of excess. Too many expenses, too much stuff, too many commitments and responsibilities.  Do you dream of calm over chaos? Do you wish you could hit a button and be transformed to the tranquility of another era? You can create an oasis of peace for yourself and your family, but you’re going to have to relearn what it means to simplify as I bust the top three myths about the subject over the next month.

Myth #1 – Simplifying means having and doing less.

Wrong! Simplifying is not necessarily about less. It can be about more. More time. More enjoyment. More joy. More fulfillment. More of what enriches you.

If you do or have a lot of things that don’t bring you joy or support your long-term plan, then doing or having less of that kind of stuff makes sense. But you can’t eliminate everything. If you throw out, reduce, cut back, and cancel as much as you can, you’ll be left with a void. The purpose of simplifying — at least as I see it — is to chuck what’s not important and add what is.

To understand what should be removed and what should be added, try thinking of activities and things as either assets or liabilities.

Assets

An asset is something that is valuable or that may be worth something. Obvious examples are stocks, bonds, buildings, raw land, gold, etc., but I want you to think of an asset a little more broadly. An asset is anything that:

  • Gives
  • Increases in value
  • Provides something valuable such as money, joy, security, happiness, etc.
  • Strengthens and empowers you
  • Moves you closer to your goals
  • Provides positive stress and healthful excitement
  • Relaxes and calms
  • Increases health and vitality

Liabilities

Liabilities are obligations, debts, and things that cost more money than they produce or are worth, but again, let’s think more broadly. A liability is anything that:

  • Takes from you
  • Decreases in value
  • Eliminates or reduces something valuable such as money, joy, security, happiness, etc.
  • Weakens you
  • Moves you farther from your goals
  • Provides negative stress
  • Creates anxiety or agitates
  • Decreases health and vitality

Bottom line? Assets give. Liabilities take.

So how does this help you simplify? Create an inventory of everything in your life — from your friendships, projects, and commitments to your expenses, belongings, and goals. Since this is quite a task, make it easier by starting with just one area. For example, non-work commitments.

List all of your commitments, responsibilities, obligations, or whatever you call them. Take out your calendar and look back a few months and forward a few months to jog your memory. Make a big list. For example, your list may include a homeowner’s association meeting, mowing the lawn, paying bills, volunteering, being a greeter at church, driving the kids to school, planning a birthday party for a friend, etc.

Now, categorize each of these commitments as either an asset (A) or a liability (L). Does the activity or responsibility give or does it take? Does it get you closer to your goals or farther away? Does it create healthful excitement, or does it just stress you out?

The next step is determining if you can eliminate any of the Ls. You’ll never be able to eliminate all your liabilities, but your goal should be to get rid of as many as possible. The power of this exercise is becoming conscious of what gives and what takes, and then making some informed decisions about what A activities you can add and what L activities you can reduce or eliminate.

Again, simplifying is not about doing or having less. You can be running around from one project and commitment to another all day every day and be 100 percent content as long as you have filled your life with assets.

Stay tuned for two more simplifying myths over the next month. If you can’t wait, skip on over to Leo Babauta’s blog, ZenHabits.com — you won’t find a better site on doing more with less.

For a limited time, you can download several free resources (assessment, poster, audio interview, video, and more) at www.other8hours.com and learn more about my new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth and Purpose.

Don’t Forget to Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!


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  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/aydhor Tweets that mention Simplifying Your Life: Why Less Is More – PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Topsy.com

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  • http://qupfromtheashes.blogspot.com/ quinn

    I think i could be useful to break things down a little farther. Lay out categories like financial, happiness, peace, time. Then for each item on the inventory lay out your A and L in each category so you can get a full picture of what each item’s effect on your life is. Great post and great proses thanks for sharing it.

  • http://go.officearrow.com/home Lauren

    I think the assets vs liabilities approach is really helpful not just for simplifying your life, but also for increasing your happiness. I haven’t thought of it like this before, but it makes it easier to get rid of what’s holding you down because you’re forced to think about the negative things in your life and do something about it. Great post, Robert!

  • http://www.DogTrainingSanDiego.com K9 Coach

    These are things to practice everyday… BUT, it’s hard to start.

    I say this from experience and am glad to see how eloquently Pick the Brain has put it into words. I was able to leave the fear this year of getting rid of things would mean I would have less in life.

    As I actually did it, pretty hard core for more than a year now, I have WAY more. More time, more money, more energy.

    Pass this article on as often as possible!

    Wag more!

  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/bJ8J4R Tweets that mention Simplifying Your Life: Why Less Is More – PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement — Topsy.com

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  • http://www.alternaview.com Sibyl – alternaview

    Great post and great point. We really have to strategically filter out of our life those things that are not aligned ultimately with where we are trying to go and are taking away from our ability to focus on what we truly desire. The reality is that we really do have only so much attention and focus we can direct. In order to move in the direction we know we should, we have to ensure that we are directing as much of this energy and attention to our top priorities and eliminating those other things we can. Thanks for sharing a great insight.

  • http://theinternetmonk.com Sneh

    Great post.

    Check out : Why are we afraid of failing??? @ http://www.theinternetmonk.com

  • http://www.2knowmyself.com Farouk

    i love the idea of doing more with less. thanks

  • http://enlightr.com/cloud Craig Thomas

    Nice, simple and straight forward. I always tend to categorise by priorities – never used asserts/liabilities but it’s a good idea.

  • http://www.fawnmcmanigal.com Fawn

    I like your idea, Robert, of inventorying your life and categorizing items as either assets or liabilities. Like Lauren, I had not considered this approach before. This will be a great exercise in determining if all my current projects–that glob together to form a giant stress ball–are really assets. Thanks for the article, and the tip!

  • khaled

    I think that during the process of categorizing ,we should consider both the short-term and long-term impact of each thing.Sometimes one thing can have a short-term benefit but on the Long-run it will do more harm and vice versa.For example,you may find that going back to college to earn a degree will need hard work for 2 or 3 years and so you hate the idea ,however on the long run this maygive you a better life and more money.
    So,It obviously needs a deep and thoughtful reflection when deciding about everything in your life whether this thing is A or L.

  • http://www.stevescottsite.com Steve Scott Site

    Interesting points here.

    Right now, I’m having problems with the assets/liabilities in my business. What I’m doing is eliminating anything that doesn’t provide real value in my life. Then I’m going to get started on outsourcing the critical, but boring activities.

    I think that the best way to get everything out of life is to spend as much time as possible doing the things that provide real value.

  • http://www.japellow.com/ Ivan

    Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later.
    Thank you
    Ivan

  • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

    @Lauren You are 100% right! By replacing liabilities with assets you will benefit from being more aligned with what you are best at doing and what you most enjoy doing, which should increase your satisfaction and happiness.

  • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

    Coming soon . . . a post titled “When You Should Break Up With Your Mother” about getting rid of the people in your life who are liabilities (sorry mom, it’s just the title I promise!)

  • http://www.knowledgereform.com/ Jason

    Some wise advice there, robert.

    Why people wish to overcomplicate their lives is beyond me.

    That is why I am a firm advocate of the wisdom of living simply, something which in the long run gives you more time to do the important things you love in life, as well as avoiding any self-imposed difficulties.

    As I wrote in my following post; If one can live a simple life, one then can attain peace of mind – which I think is an important thing one should embrace (especially in today’s hectic lifestyle) if one is wanting a calm and stress free life.

    Please read here:

    http://www.knowledgereform.com/2009/11/03/the-simple-way-of-living-towards-peace-of-mind/

  • http://www.other8hours.com Robert Pagliarini

    @Jason Good stuff. You write “Emptying your mind helps develop clarity, common sense and insight.” What is your advice on how to best “empty your mind?”

  • http://kathyberman.com/2010/02/how-you-can-simplify-your-life-and-make-it-a-habit/ How You Can Simplify Your Life and Make it a Habit

    [...] Simplifying your life: Why less is more–by Robert Pagliarini: [...]

  • http://www.knowledgereform.com/ Jason

    Hi Robert,

    I don’t think there is no simple answer, but that’s the point. We think too much before instigating meaningful action. Thought is the product of knowledge, so maybe we should first stop accumalating superflous information which is probably not needed to live a simple life that is filled with clarity.

    Other than the necessary knowledge to do our jobs and other tivial things in life, I feel self-knowledge is the key to improving our minds towards living a more wiser and happier life.

    Read my post on the subject here:

    http://www.knowledgereform.com/2009/09/14/self-knowledge-is-power-knowledge-of-self-towards-successful-living/

  • http://lifecoachtips.wordpress.com Guy Farmer

    Great ideas Robert. I frequently think of simplifying in terms of cleaning out a closet. It may take a little effort, you might have to rearrange some things and possibly even get rid of a few, but once it’s clean you’ll feel great. Taking the time up front to assess your life situation is a wonderful way to ensure that you will live a less cluttered life in the future.

    Take care,

    Guy

  • http://browardcrafts.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/how-you-can-simplify-your-life-and-make-it-a-habit/ How You Can Simplify Your Life and Make it a Habit « Our Broward Crafts

    [...] Simplifying your life: Why less is more– [...]