Every year 80% of all people who make New Year’s resolutions have dropped them by the end of February. Any time is a good time to commit to the one resolution that makes all the others easier. It’s not so much a resolution as a theme. Best of all, you can use it every year and get results. This is the one resolution to rule them all. Here it is in one word:
Simplify.
The world is a confusing place. We make it more confusing for ourselves by buying into complexity bias. It’s no surprise that rates of anxiety and depression consistently rise, but they don’t have to.
Sadly, we can’t simplify our world but can simplify our lives in ways that reduce stress, increase happiness, and raise our confidence levels.
Why We Need Simplicity
First, let’s understand ‘simple’ does not mean ‘easy’. In simplifying any aspect of life, a large amount of mental work needs to be done at the beginning. Don’t use motivation to do the task, use it to find the most efficient way to get the task done.
Planning to do anything with the least effort sounds ‘lazy’, but planning to do something more complicated and not getting it done at all is worse. There is an abundance of examples, such as diets that don’t work, exercise regimens that don’t make us fitter, and financial plans that fail, all because they were too convoluted.
What you are aiming for when simplifying is the reduction of time spent and conscience effort needed to get something done.
“Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.”— Edsger W. Dijkstra
How To Simplify
Get Clarity
What do you most want to do before your time is up? Choose an item or two from your Bucket List each year and plan how to accomplish them. Cull anything that takes away from your plan and provides no return value.
For example, I’ve been shark diving and skydiving (Bucket List activities) but live without cable TV or any streaming service while pursuing meaningful hobbies such as wood turning, snorkeling and blogging.
Embrace A Religion, Philosophy, or Mindset That Values Simplicity.
If you want simplicity to become a characteristic of your daily life, you must incorporate it into your identity. The Golden Rule of Christianity and The Three Tenets of Taoism both strip away extraneous belief while giving followers essential rules for spiritual betterment.
The philosophy of Stoicism stresses the control of emotions, willful ignorance of things that don’t matter, and gratitude for your life.
Minimalism, Occam’s Razor, and the Pareto Principle embrace the Simplicity Mindset. These are useful in relationships, investing, Personal Finance, career building, and personal style.
Streamline Your Routines
Researchers at Cornell University estimate that the average American makes 35,000 conscious decisions each day!! This number of decisions is mentally taxing. Small unimportant choices that pop up diminish the ability to make major decisions throughout the day. Most of these choices are about what to watch, wear, or buy. The effect is decision fatigue, so we make worse decisions because we are tired of choosing.
The antidote to decision fatigue is limiting the number of choices you make per day.
I ate oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, and fruit for breakfast today, just as I’ve done almost every day for the last 10 years. Why would anyone do that? All of my decision-making in the morning is reserved for making art in the workshop. Other people streamline their decision-making processes as well.
Barack Obama wore only gray or blue suits during his presidency and Mark Zuckerberg famously wears gray t-shirts every day at work. These behaviours improve the chances of making excellent decisions on more important matters. While these actions sound ridiculous, you’ll realize that this technique, combined with strong habits, is the bedrock of principles used by the creative masters of the last century.
Look at your life and decide how much of it is beyond your control. More than likely, you’ll overestimate what is beyond your control, but that’s okay. Now concentrate on what is in your control. Is it complicated? Do you need to make 35,000 decisions/choices every day? Streamlining your routines frees up valuable mental real estate, and it focuses you on things that matter.
We have a passion for keeping things simple – Charlie Munger
Areas To Simplify
You’ve read this far (thanks!!) so at least you’re intrigued by the idea and motivated to start. Take this motivation and WRITE the one thing you’ll simplify.
The book, Tiny Habits, explains that motivation is best used to examine behaviours and build systems that become habits. Don’t skip this step.
Most Self-Improvement resolutions revolve around ‘Health’ and ‘Money’, so simplifying those areas will be a good start. Read these posts to become happier, healthier, richer, and more productive.
Habits for Happiness
Happiness is not a by-product of chance. Here is how to cultivate happiness through practice.
Fit and Happy After 40
Staying fit is harder with age. Here is the solution for weight gain and mid-life grumpiness. You could also get an overnight travel bag, and newspapers then follow this routine to lose weight and build muscle.
Personal Finance
A continuous source of anxiety is money. Making more is essential, but managing what you have is crucial. This is an allegory of what happens when debts get out of control.
Creativity and Productivity
The world is always asking for more creativity and productivity. This post explains how to be more creative and productive.
The guidelines for a better state of mind are all laid out. Please comment below on which one you’ll choose first.
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