{"id":106856,"date":"2018-08-02T09:01:21","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T16:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=106856"},"modified":"2018-08-02T09:01:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T16:01:21","slug":"simpler-not-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/02\/simpler-not-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Simpler, Not Better."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

A philosophical insight I had recently — we should seek to live simpler lives, not ‘better’ lives.<\/p>\n

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Download PDF: Simpler, Not Better<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"tokyo<\/p>\n

In today’s modern world, we are always seeking to ‘improve’, and make our lives more ‘optimized’ and ‘efficient’. However the problem is this:<\/p>\n

\n Often when we try to “improve” our lives, we end up complicating<\/em> our lives more.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And when we complicate our lives more, we actually get more<\/em> stress, anxiety, and cares.<\/p>\n

\"diagonal<\/p>\n

What I think we should do instead is to simplify<\/em> our lives– for us to have FEWER<\/em> cares, for us to have less<\/em> stress, and less ‘decision anxiety’\/”paralysis by analysis”.<\/p>\n

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\"Tokyo<\/p>\n

For example in photography<\/a>, we generally seek to upgrade our cameras and gear to ‘improve’ our photography– for us to take better photos.<\/p>\n

But the problem is when we upgrade our equipment, or buy new lenses or gear — it ends up complicating<\/em> our photography lives\/workflows more!<\/p>\n

\"flash<\/p>\n

For example, if you buy a new digital camera, you will have to deal with the stress of new RAW file types, which means you will probably have to change\/modify how you post-process your photos.<\/p>\n

Or, when you upgrade your phone, there is always hidden frustrations\/annoyances you might not know — for example when you upgraded your iPhone and your new iPhone no longer has a headphone jack (which means you need to figure out some annoying solution to use your old headphones, or perhaps you now have the headache of having to find the “best” bluetooth-wireless headphones).<\/p>\n

\"car<\/p>\n

Or if you buy a newer and “better” car, you have to deal with the stress of insurance, maybe finding a new mechanic to fix your car– or if you buy a new electric car, you have to deal with the complication of figuring out how to charge your car (also consider the stress that a lot of electric car owners have from “range anxiety”).<\/p>\n

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Why isn’t “simple” seen in a more favorable light?<\/h2>\n

\"simple<\/p>\n

In modern society, we are always told to upgrade. Why aren’t we taught to “de-grade”, or too simplify<\/em> our lives?<\/p>\n

The answer is simple — because if you have a product to sell, you want your customer to purchase\/buy the thing.<\/p>\n

Generally when we try to simplify our lives, the easiest is by subtracting — by GETTING RID<\/em> of, donating, or throwing away stuff.<\/p>\n

\"back<\/p>\n

And that is the hard thing about living in a consumerist society — we are all seeking to improve our lives. But we have been suckered into believing that in order to improve our lives, we need to purchase\/ADD that “new new thing” to our lives. But in reality, to live a better life often means to simplify our lives. And to simplify our lives means to subtract the superfluous. Bruce Lee has a similar saying, something like: “What we seek is a daily decrease; not a daily increase.” Or Bruce Lee’s other saying, “I fear not the man who knows 10,000 moves, but the man who has practiced 1 move 10,000 times.<\/p>\n

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Why is a simpler life a better life?<\/h2>\n

\"flash<\/p>\n

This is my idea: Our lives are short, and there is only so much human metabolism\/energy we have in a single day. We are limited with time, energy, focus, and attention. It is impossible for us to do everything in life. I think it is better to choose a few things and focus on doing them really really well<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"cigarette<\/p>\n

And by simplifying our lives, we cut out the superfluous distractions in our lives, in order for us to focus on what is truly meaningful in our lives, and for us to focus on how we can make the biggest impact on society<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Seek simpler solutions<\/h2>\n

\"eye<\/p>\n

I am a huge fan of “satisficing<\/a>” in life — the concept that we can satisfy+suffice certain decisions by choosing a simple and elegant solution.<\/p>\n

In other words, to “satisfice” means to make a decision is 80% “good enough”, and for us to move on. Why is this good? Well let me explain with these two scenarios:<\/p>\n