Operation Simplify « No Brand Like Home | A Professional + Personal Guide for Creatives

Operation Simplify

I HATE STUFF.

I really do. Not people. Not places. Not things. Stuff. Junk. Unnecessary crap. That’s why I have so little of it. I try to get by on what I need and eliminate the rest. I hate being in a cluttered space. (It leads to cluttered thoughts, which lead to cluttered actions.) This wasn’t always the case. A few years ago (in my “artist” days) I was living in New York. It was an emotional time. My relationship with my girlfriend was on the rocks and I was to blame. I was overwhelmed by baggage and insecurities and something needed to give. In short, I needed a fresh perspective.

STUFF IS BAGGAGE.

One day, under a lot of stress, I looked around my apartment and noticed how much stuff I owned. So in a fit of spontaneous catharsis I started throwing it out. All kinds of stuff; lots of it. I took no prisoners. It felt great. I looked around my room after the moment had passed and watched the dust settle. I felt different, much better. It was only then that I noticed the strong attachment I had on my things. And I realized that my attachment to those physical possessions was only part of a larger problem of attachment to negative mental constructs. Memories, emotions, patterns of thought: these things were all tied up in my general perception at the time. And this perception (which included the subconscious need to hold on to stuff) was causing me anxiety.

THOUGHTS ARE BAGGAGE.

When we hold onto physical things we don’t need it’s usually because we are actually holding onto emotional and mental baggage. It’s an addiction. And we keep stuff and form meaningless mental connections with it as a way of feeding that addiction. We are stuck. We don’t understand how to let go and embrace the present and the possibility of a future without baggage.

Embracing the future begins with letting go. If we want to adapt to meet new challenges we need to transcend the baggage we carry from past challenges. This baggage is usually subtle and isn’t easy to detect. But it’s there, inside us all. And we can’t legitimately move forward until we overcome it. The future belongs to those of us not afraid to leave the past behind. And it’s always worth it. Our potential is much greater than our history.

WHY SIMPLIFY?

The final result of simplifying your space, thoughts, and habits is the ability communicate your values to the world in a clear and succinct manner. People who have taken the time to thoughtfully reduce their lives are more productive, less scattered, and generally more at peace with themselves and the world at large. In my experience, simplifying is useful in support of the following three points.

1) Understand who you are.
Evaluation leads to understanding. When you realize what you can live without you also realize what is most important to your well-being and personal advancement. When you realize what you care most about you’re able to dedicate yourself to it more fully.

2) Avoid mixed messages.
When you become selective about what you own/do/think, you start to project a clear image of yourself. Without the selective process your message is mixed and confusing. To project clearly you must first think clearly. Controlling what comes into your life is a big part of controlling what comes out of it.

2) Set yourself apart from the crowd.
All clutter looks the same. All crowd noise sounds alike. Eliminate the extra stuff so people can spot your unique qualities. Otherwise you are lost in white noise.

The accumulation of clutter extends way beyond the amount of stuff we own. It touches every area of our lives. We can always improve. So I’m launching a personal lifestyle campaign called Operation Simplify, in which I will evaluate different areas of my life and determine how to make them more efficient. Everything is up for review: my diet, job, leisure time, relationships, spending habits, etc. If I come across anything that could be changed or reduced, I’m going to make adjustments (no matter how attached I am to the current state of things).

Where should I start? What areas of my life can I reduce? What habits do I have that I would be better off without? Coffee? Alcohol? TV? Stay tuned to hear more about Operation Simplify as I try to leave behind things I don’t need. Please comment with your own thoughts on simplicity.

Look around your home, what is essential?
Regarding the non-essential, why is it there?
What thinking patterns are you holding onto and why?
At this very moment, what can you reduce?

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02/23/10 | 3 comments