What Matters.
Feeling busy but not productive is a terrible combination. To sense that your wheels are constantly turning but you’re unsure where you’re going is both exhausting and depressing. The reasons for this feeling are varied and obviously dependent on the individual, but I think most often stem from “movement” without purpose - going through a day without having your actions tied to greater meaning. Basically, no “why”.
If you find yourself in this category there are a number of ways to begin developing a “why”. In the previous post I mentioned the idea of a personal mission statement and I think that’s a great place to start. I also think deeper spiritual exploration is another key component. In this post however, I’ll talk briefly about the idea of “essential” living or “essentialism”. Essentialism encourages consistent evaluation of the things in a person’s life with the goal of paring down to those that hold the most meaning. The framework can be applied to many areas including relationships and time commitments to name just two.
As a starting point in this journey, I think taking stock of material possessions offers the most immediate and measurable value. A closer analysis of our possessions (and hopefully the ensuing decluttering) offers an important energetic starting point on the journey of figuring out what matters. One important note - the goal is not to just get rid of as much stuff as possible, but instead to figure out what holds the most value and then discard/donate the rest.
Information consumption is the second area I recommend to clients who are looking to apply an essentialist lens to their life. Most folks today live permanently in a state of information overload, attempting to handle a constant bombardment of news, likes, tags, notifications, etc. For an individual trying to create organization and purpose in their life, this constant influx of stimuli/distraction makes pursuing answers to any of life’s deeper questions almost impossible. As mentioned in previous posts, the fix to this problem is not an easy one. Most solutions aimed at cleaning up the information we consume require high levels of self-discipline, self-confidence, and involve an effective system. I think the simplest place to start for most folks is committing to an information detox. This usually involves some combination of deleting apps, putting duration caps on tech use, and journaling/meditating about the information we consume to determine which content is the most necessary and provides the most value. In a future post I’ll provide a more in-depth look at what a tech detox could look like.
There are a number of great resources that exist if you are interested in learning more about an “essentialist” framework. Greg McKeown coined the phrase and wrote Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Anything you read or listen to from him is a wonderful starting point.
“Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We’ve been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.” - Seneca