Do Fewer Things Better

Say no to distractions and yes to focused attention and higher output

Photo by Ewan Robertson on Unsplash.

PS. Thursday I released my latest newsletter Future Swells on Sustainability Innovation for organisations. Please take a look and help share with people working for a better planet.

Less is more, not just in things but also in doing. When we try to do it all we’re often spreading ourselves too thin and can easily get overwhelmed but also paralyzed. Eventually we know a little about everything but not a lot about anything which just fuels the consumption of more and the doing of less. A vicious downwards spiral.

The remedy in a world were we theoretically can have anything we want is to scale back and rightsize. Rightsizing means that we adapt and design our environment for our personal essential needs, interests, and learned skills to avoid materialistic and neurological obesity and overconsumption. The right size, of course, is very personal.

Create a niche with a clear vertical target

In the book The Business of Expertise, the author David C. Baker is making the argument that we should position ourselves in a professional niche where our expertise aligns with a clear vertical demand to excel in expertise and rewards. Every doing will then lead to accelerated learning and higher output faster.

I think this can be applied to both our professional and personal lives. If we focus 80 percent of our time on doing fewer things better we can assign 20 percent to playful discovery – the Google model – which can be done through borrowing or renting.