Not at all. I certainly don?t do that. We should do what makes us happy, follow our passions, do things that make us excited. For me and many people, that?s creating, building new things, expressing ourselves, making something useful or new or beautiful or inspiring.
79
So here?s what I do, instead of setting and achieving goals:
» I do what excites me. Each day. I wake up, and work on things that I?m passionate about, create things that I love creating.
» I don?t worry about where I?ll be (professionally) in a year or even six months, but where I am right now.
» I don?t make plans, because they?re an illusion ? you never know what will happen in a year or even six months. You can try to control what happens, but you?ll lose. Things always come up, sometimes good and sometimes bad, that will disrupt plans. Instead, I?ve learned to go with the flow, to not worry about things that disrupt plans but worry about what to do right now. This allows me to take advantage of opportunities that come up that I could never have planned for, to work on things I couldn?t have known about, to make decisions about what?s best right now, not what I planned a few months ago.
» I don?t force things, but do what comes naturally.
» And I focus on the present, on being happy now.
This has taken me time ? letting go of goals is a scary and uncomfortable thing, but if you let them go gradually, it?s not that hard. I?ve slowly adapted the way I work, and learned to work in the moment, and go with the flow of the world that surrounds me (online and off).
It?s a beautiful way of working. And not incidentally, I?ve accomplished even more this way, without making that a goal. It?s a natural byproduct of doing what you love.
?A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.?
? Lao Tzu
_______________
80
7: finding simplicity
?Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.?
? Antoine de Saint-Exupe
For years now I have been working on living a simpler life ? in my personal, family and work life. It?s been one of the best things I?ve ever done, in many ways:
» A simple life is less stressful, more sane, happier.
» Simpler living is less expensive, which helped me to get out of debt.
» I?m able to focus better when I work, leading to a more successful career than ever (by far).
» I free up time for my family, and for the things I love most.
» I?ve rid my life of things I didn?t like doing.
» I have fewer possessions, leading to a less cluttered home and workspace, which I love.
And those are just a few of the benefits. When it comes to finding focus, simplifying is a great place to start. When you simplify, you remove the extraneous and allow yourself to focus. You might say that simplifying is a necessary part of finding focus.
This is a short guide to finding simplicity.
Simplifying your life
What does a simplified life look like? There?s no one answer. While some might go to the extremes of living in a cabin in Alaska or on a tropical island, others find simplicity in a city while working a job with the hectic pace of a 81
stockbroker. The key is to find what matters most to you, and to eliminate as much of the rest as possible.
A simpler life probably means fewer possessions. We allow ourselves to accumulate possessions through years of shopping, receiving gifts, and so on, until we?re overwhelmed by it all. We are strongly influenced by advertising to acquire things, but we don?t have a good system for getting rid of them. Freeing yourself of clutter leaves room for thinking, for focus.
