Move To Simplicity

Hi Basics Team,

A few months ago I started following the movement of Living Simply.  Surprising there is a vast amount of information scatter all over the web and book stores (the irony of this wasn't lost on me).

One of my favorite stories is from Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Toms shoes (www.toms.com).  If you don't know about Toms shoes the key theme is for every pair of shoes they sell they donate a pair to the third world through a Shoe Drop.  A Shop Drop is a mission trip where Blake and others travel to third world communities to deliver the donated shoes and meet the local people.  Early on during the Shoe Drops he tells of a the reoccurring theme that the happiest people tend to be those who often possessed the least.  Living complicated lives and acquiring countless material possessions doesn't necessarily bring happiness.  Seeing this over and over on his Shoe Drop missions, Blake eventually ridded himself of his loft in Venice Beach, which included a large flat screen TV, expensive furniture, count less pieces artwork, vast wardrobes, etc.  He moved on to his 200 square foot sail boat with just the essentials.  In his book, Start Something That Matters, he says "Once I got rid of all those things, I felt remarkably free.  That led to a great peace of mind and, from a business standpoint, more creativity.  Without clutter, I think more clearly than I ever have".

In Basics we know that to be great we have to study the greats.  Now most of us are not going to give away most of our personal possessions and move on to a sail boat (heck we live in Colorado, home of only a few lakes).  What if we just tried to simplify the massive amounts of information that cripples our creativity and ability to create value.  Information is expanding exponentially and hitting us in countless avenues like newspapers, cable television, magazines, radio, internet, postal mail, email, social media, etc.  We just can't keep up with this information and it is distracting us from growing our businesses, excelling in our jobs, and creating value for clients. 

My suggestion is to cut out unneeded distractions and seek the core of every situation. It's just that simple!  I am experiementing by:

• Cancelled cable television (big money saver)
• Cancelled my subscription to the Wall Street Journal 
• Utilizing news iPhone apps like Feedly and Flipboard that streamline news of my interest in an easy and quick platform to read
• Retired and simplified much of my wardrobe (goodbye countless t-shirts, pants, suits, sweaters, etc.)
• Moved to a paperless personal file cabinet (thank you Evernote and Dropbox)

If you took minor steps to simply and uncluttered your life what could you accomplish in the next 30 days?  I look forward to hearing from you.

-- Pat Roth