In Western society— we are always to do more busywork just to keep us busy for busy sake.

But what if the secret to happiness, productivity, creativity, and life was doing less? Specifically, doing more of less?

Do more of what is important to you

There are a billion, trillion things we can do in our lifetimes. Yet very few things are important to you in life.

Your life is all about making decisions— specifically what not to do in life. That is what defines you.

What is unnecessary or superfluous activities, work, hobbies, or decisions that you can decide not to do?

By learning what to avoid, we learn what to do. This gives us focus. This gives us the opportunity to do more meaningful work, and less bullshit work.

Active and creative leisure

I think we all need to rest more. We need more sleep. We need to recharge our batteries more.

But when you have leisure time (either after work, or on the weekends) — my suggestion is to do the following: either totally rest 100% (taking a nap, sleeping more, or just sitting, and staring at the ceiling), or do creative work 100% (writing, photographing, reading, painting, drawing, making music, etc).

What I discourage against is “passive leisure” — TV watching, social media browsing, anything that causes you to passively consume, rather than be creative.

Of course there are some caveats— some TV or film is very creative, and can help you learn composition, and effects. But if that is the case, I encourage you to actively study, and observe your screens, and the media you intake.

I feel the biggest myth is that “happiness” is retiring on a beach, and doing nothing for the rest of your life. No, it is having the freedom not to do work we don’t want to do, and having more time to do what we love to do.

What if I don’t know what my passion is?

Unfortunately most of us don’t know what our passion is.

Honestly, we don’t know what we are passionate about. But we certainly know what we are not passionate about. So my suggestion: figure out what you are not passionate about in life, and simply subtract those activities from your life. And sooner or later, you will be left with what does bring you happiness, joy, and excitement to your life.

Your passion might not be photography. It might be reading, drawing, dancing, spending time with friends and family, conversation, hiking, appreciating nature, or something else. So just because you are a photographer, don’t pigeon-hole yourself. The whole world is your oyster— and full of creative possibilities.

Even if you don’t know what your passion is, do what excites you. Avoid boredom. Challenge yourself. Don’t settle for the status-quo. Try to push yourself past your boundaries by 25% (I try to do this when doing physical exercise, or doing creative work).

But above all, try to do less. Do less superfluous work. Do more meaningful work.

Be like a laser

I have great faith in you friend. Stay focused, don’t be distracted, and you will be able to move mountains.

Always,
Eric

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