Dear friend,
A practical tip in life:
When in doubt, optimize for lightness.
Light Feet
I remember in Phil Knight’s “Shoe Dog” book (his autobiography of starting NIKE), Phil said something like:
We must seek to constantly lighten our shoes. Even a quarter of an ounce lighter on the shoes of a sprinter, compounded over a mile, will make tons of difference!
Don’t travel with rolly bags
Consider when you’re traveling, how many steps you take when you’re out and about. Every ounce and pound you can save will compound tremendously.
Even after a decade+ of traveling, I still have a problem with overpacking. I still bring too much stuff with me on my travels, for the fear of “What if?”
In reality, all these superfluous things we carry and travel with us on our backs weigh us down, physically and metaphorically.
Fly
It’s sad: a lot of us are held back by our stuff. We don’t travel, see the world, take risks, because we are burdened by our stuff. We are held down by our mortgage, our comfort, our car, bills, payments, and stuff.
What if we could have lightness; physically and metaphorically? How much further could we fly? How much more of our potential could we reach, then overcome?
Light Footed Gods
In Homer’s Iliad, the gods were all described as having “light feet”.
What if we could become more godlike by having lighter feet, lighter loads on our back? Some ideas:
- Light stuff: Buy a light camera (RICOH GR II), use a light phone, light laptop, or light devices. The lighter our devices, the more likely we are to carry with them with us wherever we go, and the more likely we will create more stuff with our devices!
- Light cars: Don’t seek to add more horsepower to your cars, be like the Miata and seek to REDUCE weight. Power/Weight ratio is key.
- Light bodies: Be like Bruce Lee; add strength instead of adding superfluous weight. Bigger muscles and bigger weight doesn’t always mean stronger.
Optimize for lightness!
ERIC