Do less and do better.
There are countless things you could be doing with your time. Some things deserve your attention, and some things don’t. Your family deserves your attention. Reality television doesn’t. Your health deserves your attention. Your neighbors income doesn’t.
In order to be better you’re going to have to do less. In order to do better you’re going to have to do the few things that matter, and ignore the countless things that don’t. The key is in finding the few things that matter to you personally. This is different for everyone. But once you find something worth doing, do that; ignore the rest.
Have less and have better.
This is my appeal for you to (well, at least try to) live a minimalistic life. We as a society have been hording more and more things, but the fact is that more things doesn’t necessarily (and usually doesn’t) mean that you’ll be happier. The right amount of things makes you happy. If you have more than the right amount you’re diminishing your happiness. If you have less, you’re diminishing your happiness. This right amount is different for everyone so you’re going to have to go out and find your own “right number of things”. Here’s a hint: it’s usually a lot lower than you think (a lot lower).
Speak less and speak better.
We’re moving towards a more compact world. Just look around; smaller computers, smaller phones, and smaller cars. But this is also happening with intangible things; we have smaller attention spans, and smaller languages (text slang and twitter being examples). Most people don’t read books anymore, but they do read twitter. So instead of trying to force them to read books, bring the same message in the book towards their new compact environment. If they won’t read the book, tweet the message of the book to them. If it’s that important it’ll be the stepping stone to them reading the book. And if they don’t read the book at least they got the message (the thing that matters).
This is why I created the graphic above. Most people won’t read this section (if you are thank you), but they will see the image, and both this and the graphic send the same message – focus on less, focus on better. And if they get that message (no matter the means), I’m happy.
Love less and love better.
This is my appeal to ask people to stop throwing love around to things that don’t really matter. I love this, I love that, I love how, I love the, I love… etc, etc. all in less than ten minutes. This is my appeal for the world to keep love, true love, special. To assign it to things that matter (like your wife, husband, children, and parents), and detach it from things that don’t. Use “really like” instead of love if you have to, because most likely you just “really like” it. Use love less, and use it better.
Be less and be better.
This is one of those things that life teaches you along the way; in order to survive you’re going to have to niche. Trust me if I could be everything in the world I would be. I’d love to be an astronaut, an actor, or an archicture. But sadly I can’t. But what I can do is see what I love (computers, words, and art) and find the few things I can be that will maximize my happiness by combining all of these (a writer and graphic designer). Sure, maybe down the road I’ll get the chance to become an actor, archictecture, or astronaut, but if I don’t I’ll be happy with being a writer and designer. I write and draw and I come to life and feel powerful, I can create worlds!
The kicker here being that usually the less you be, the happier you are and the more money you get paid (in business this is called niching). Find those few things you can be that will utilize all your passions and aim for those. For we can’t be everything in the world, but we can be happy.
Thanks for reading.
A lot of people are telling me that the graphic resembles a heart. Ha! Go figure… I will say however that the placement of less and better was intentional; It begins with less and ends with better. Get it? (And if you’re wondering, yes – it is simplistic by design.)