Simplify (or Maintain) Your Life

My friend (and real-life neighbor) Clint had this to say as a follow-up to my life requires maintenance article. It’s a very interesting way to think about life.

Here’s the thing … there is strong relationship between (simplify your life) and (maintain your life). The more you simplify, the less you have to maintain. If you don’t prune those emails, you have to spend more time organizing. If you buy too many gadgets, the more likely one will break (probably the one you depend on the most), and the more time you’ll have to spend fixing them (or packaging them and sending them away to get fixed). The more papers you have on your desk, the more time you’ll spend looking for that one important one.

So, you have a choice … spend a lot of time maintaining … or spend a lot of time simplifying.

Actually, there is a way to accomplish both … and that’s with automation (not to sound too much like the 4-hour work week guy, but if you automate with backups and mail filters and lights that go on automatically at night and autoreplies, etc., maybe you can still be some-what complicated (i.e., not simplified), but not have to spend as much time maintaining.

Visualize it on a continuum:

Too simplified; not enought toys <——– highly automated ——-> Too much maintenance

Buddhist monk <————————– perfect GTD geek ——-> Grandma’s attic

Bare walls, no furniture <————– perfect house with all you need —————-> Too much junk

Ask yourself this question: 

Where do you want to be on the continuum?