— If You’re Busy, You’re Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers (via msg)
(via msg)
"The solution suggested by this research, as well as my own, is as simple as it is startling: Do less. But do what you do with complete and hard focus. Then when you’re done be done, and go enjoy the rest of the day."
Simplicity is…
Simplicity is not about making something without ornament, but rather about making something very complex, then slicing elements away, until you reveal the very essence.
(via @djacobs)
(Source: jkottke)
"But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands."
— Daphne du Maurier
(Source: larmoyante, via graceyu)
Love this distinction between clarity and simplicity.
This is what clarity is all about. It’s about eliminating “I’m confused” answers. Lots of people think simplicity is the opposite of confusion (“It’s confusing, let’s make this simpler”). It’s not. The opposite of confusion is clarity.
"Minimalism is not a style, it is an attitude, a way of being. It’s a fundamental reaction against noise, visual noise, disorder, vulgarity. Minimalism is the pursuit of the essences of things, not the appearance."
— Massimo Vingelli
(Source: soul-surfer)
"Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world."
— Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching
(Source: soul-surfer)
"Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward. Rather, returning to a simpler way allows us to regain our dignity, puts us in touch with the land, and makes us value human contact again."
— Yvon Chouinard (via soul-surfer)
(via awelltraveledwoman)
Confusing Simplicity with Clarity
This comment struck me as profound. It’s a rebuttal to Aaron Levie’s recent FastCompany article, “The Simplicity Thesis,” where Levie argues for “the radical simplification of everything.” All credit to Mr. Nathan Shedroff for the following points.
Mr. Levie, like many, I’m afraid you’ve confused simplicity with clarity. Nobody wants a simple life with few choices—especially those preconfigured by others. None of Apple’s products are simple in any way. [What] we want and what Apple’s products deliver is a tremendous amount of functionality, and the ability to customize the experience, but in an exceedingly clear way.
Simple is a life where you have few options. It’s a map that only has the most obvious information on it—one that makes no allowances for unforeseen circumstances (like a road under construction). Simple is “one size fits all” and “any color you want as long as it’s black.” Simple delivers little or no context and answers that don’t fit our lives.
Clear is a path to a new destination that doesn’t delete every landmark or context that might help orient us and, thus, get us there. Clear is alternate views that allow those of us who are visual, spatial, readers, or more comfortable with speech to learn, search, make, and understand in ways that make more sense than the “average.” Clear isn’t eliminating features from systems but arranging them to be found and available JUST when they’re needed in a context that is natural and “obvious.”
There really isn’t anything simple about Square, for example—not in the backend technology, the ecosystem, the partnerships, nor even the front-end. What makes it appear simple is that it is so CLEAR (and obvious to many, though not all) that we think it’s simple and even natural. It is neither and THAT is the magic.
‘simple’ seems to describe an outcome (sausage). ‘clarity’ seems to define the process and the goal (how the sausage is made). i’m not sure the same context is used in defining the terms, however it brings up a great point and i’ve spent a couple weeks mulling over how i use each term in my daily conversations.
"Here is only in my head as I can’t afford to have a cabin. How is the irony of it all? Even after working my arse off all these years often having three jobs at a time I can’t actually afford to live simply in a modest hand built cabin. But I can live my life with a a mortgage resting heavily on my shoulders, plenty of personal debt and an unending supply of bills."
"The cabin has become shorthand for a whole complex of values and aspirations, of self-reliance, doing-it-yourself, living off the land and off the grid, using our bodies in simple, honest, manual labor — all the things that modern urbanites supposedly have lost."
—
What It Means That Urban Hipsters Like Staring at Pictures of Cabins.
I’m not a hipster but dream of my cabin because it IS simpler.
"I’m bent, I’m broken in parts and I’m a flawed model. But I’m me. Nothing I can do to change that. It’s natural and I wouldn’t have it any other way."
"Clarity of writing usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to say, then say it as simply as possible."
