Muda: Japanese concept of superfluous waste (comes from the Toyota lean manufacturing concept).

My take:

Strive to remove muda from your own life.

Muda as:

1. Superfluous belongings or things/objects
2. Superfluous social relationships or interactions
3. Superfluous responsibilities or duties in life

In photography and art:

1. Subtract muda (superfluous compositional elements) from your photos
2. Don’t have photo equipment muda (don’t weigh yourself down or distract yourself with superfluous equipment or stuff).
3. Subtract muda social media (don’t use Facebook or Instagram, use arsbeta.com instead).

Why subtract muda?

The more superfluous matter you remove from your life, the less distracted and weighed down you are. Then, you can become more creatively productive and prolific. For me, uberlight is the goal — as this is a bridge to empower me to become more artistically productive.

Muda as defined by you.

Don’t let others tell you what is superfluous or essential in your life. You determine this for yourself.

And don’t be like me — don’t get suckered into becoming “minimalist” for the sake of it. Better is to become a “simplicisist”— strive for the optimal/best simplicity in your life. Because in life, having some excess and buffer does make life more simple, powerful, and effective.

ERIC