Smart People Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

Hammock relaxing
photo from Exfordy

Today’s advice: don’t get too busy. It’s foolish to cut back on something as pleasurable or healthful as sleep. It’s equally misguided to pack the hours in your waking life.

The happiest people I know live very simple lives. Some of them don’t use email, if you can believe that. And yet they are productive.

Their genius comes from a natural idea, expressed by Philip K. Howard:

Smart people spend time alone. They don’t fill their days with appointments from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., as many politicians and executives do. Great science does not emerge from hard logic and grinding hours. It comes from the mysterious resources of the human brain and soul. Inspiration is nurtured by activities like chopping wood and raking leaves, preparing dinner and reading to the kids. These activities soften the rigid pace of the day’s pursuits and allow all our God-given intuition to work its unlogical magic. Only then can we reach our fullest potential. Only then can we leap from thinking to understanding. [source]

Most of us are busy from the minute we hear our alarm clocks to the time we collapse in bed and reset our alarms (after sending that last email, of course).

We ought to consider the path less traveled. Go simplify and relax. Sleep in, meditate, take a walk, or do whatever eases you. Who knows, you might even experience that relaxing provides a competitive advantage.

I often think about how busy we are. I think, perhaps this is why we get great ideas in the shower. It’s the primary time we spend alone. It is the last sanctuary that connects us to our natural form.



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  • http://jamie.shortbet.org Jamie

    Couldn’t agree more Presh. I know so many people (I’m a software engineer) who seem to almost pride themselves on being “staggeringly”, “stupidly” busy all the time. They always complain of having too much to do; spending their free time chowing down on takeaway food and getting 4 hours sleep.

    To me, that isn’t what life is about. Work is a means to earn money so that you can spend the time enjoying life with your family and friends. Why some people work 70 hour weeks, every week, I’ll never know! I pride myself on having a good work/family balance. I think it’s also a culture thing – I do know less people in the UK who are working 80 hour weeks than I do in the USA.

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    Jamie: Absolutely. As my friend often says, “money is just money.” We should pursue personal happiness, not money. I also agree with you that non-US people seem to understand the issue. That’s what my labors economics professor at Stanford taught us!

  • Shug

    Although I exercise your philosophy personally (I think in many ways I think along very similar lines with you), this method does not work for everyone (in its entirety, anyway). I have two friends who pack their schedules all the time, and when they are not packed, they are neither productive nor as happy as they would otherwise be. Both are very optimistic, outgoing, and in general very happy people otherwise, however.

    One friend in particular (the one who I know better) can get borderline depressed when she cannot fill up her time, and so tries her hardest to keep her days as filled as possible. This really boils down to personality, for me. Some people, like myself, need to take personal time to relax and really think about things, reflect, take a walk. Others, however, love the fast-paced life, love having every moment of every day full of something to do.

    Howard’s quote doesn’t quite capture the full depth of the issue, either. In the case of me and my friend, for example, I am a Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering and she is studying law. The problems I deal with on a day-to-day basis, more “scientific” in nature, require incredible depth of thought, oftentimes moreso than many problems in law, business, or politics. (At the very least, arguments that may not be the best, but at least pass as reasonable in fields such as those pretty quickly, while thinking about a hard EE problem can take weeks to come up with something even remotely feasible).

    I did say above that people do this “in its entirety” with respect to your post; my very busy friend still loves to take long walks and to exercise (although she is often too busy to do so). It depends on your definition of “busy.” Personally, I have found that I can’t have my day fully scheduled; I love having time which is un-allotted for anything in particular, and to make an impromptu decision on what to do with it. Some people crave that regiment in their life though, and it works for them.

  • http://www.mawsoft.com/blog RohoMech

    So actually, I wonder if there’s a different issue at the core of this. Sure, personality might play a factor but at the heart I wonder if its just boredom…

    Some people get pets pre-maturely because they can’t deal with being alone, wouldn’t it be possible that some people over schedule because they can’t stand to be bored?

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    Shug: I appreciate the insightful comment. Let me take a moment to address some of various issues you’ve raise to further the discussion.

    I also know people that say they like the “fast-paced life.” They confide that’s only because they have been conditioned to feel guilty about relaxing and sleeping. I often find it’s funny that I am considered radical for advocating a full-nights rest when conventional wisdom is to have people walking around like zombies, a state akin to inebriation. It’s only natural that we all can enjoy relaxation.

    I side with you on the “grind it out” mentality of some tough problems. I think Howard is talking more that a balance often helps. I can’t tell you how many times I couldn’t solve a problem and then it came to me after a good night’s rest.

    You also bring about how randomness is a joy to the day. That’s something I have only recently learned, and I completely agree with you.

    RohoMech: I think boredom is combined with guilt to make people feel the need to be overly busy. We need to start respecting relaxation and sleep if we want to get serious about health.

  • http://dkanou.blogspot.com par…alogos

    Hello there!!!

    Well maybe you haven`t come to Greece. Here ALL the people are relaxing all the time [not only on holidays]…
    And I was thinking: Maybe when I `ll come to live in USA, I `ll have a cultural shock. They are working all the time and you are not working at all. :P
    :) )))

    Good afternoon!!!

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    par…alogos: Yes, I need to visit Greece! I took an entire course on Greece culture and dreamed about going there, sipping ouzo by the beach on a nice day :)

    Even though I grew up in America, I am still shocked at the work culture. I often tell people to relax and they tell me “some people just can’t relax.” There is too much pressure to work, and that in fact makes people work less efficiently and creatively. It’s quite a counterproductive pursuit.

  • Pankaj

    Presh,

    I have a minor disagreement with your following sentence:

    “There is too much pressure to work, and that in fact makes people work less efficiently and creatively.”

    If that is true (on a country scale), how do we explain that most nobel prizes, most new inventions and most new discoveries originate from north america (unsubstantiated general impression).

    In other words, if

    too much pressure to work = less efficienty + less creativity then how do we have the results we have……of more inventions and discoveries?

  • http://jamie.shortbet.org Jamie

    Pankaj – I think your assumptions are wrong – take a look through a list of Nobel prize winners, most of them are not American. Historically Europe has produced more. New “inventions” and “discoveries” – don’t agree with that either – I’d suggest most technological advancement comes from a mix of North America, Japan and Europe.

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    Pankaj and Jamie: My psychologist friend tells me “you have really made it” when people closely analyze everything you say. So I am pleased to see my comments under such scrutiny–thank you guys for elevating me to that level ;)

    Yes, I concede my statement has shaky evidence. But that doesn’t mean it’s logically wrong. So here would be some of my responses:

    1. Jamie points out Nobel Prize winners are not necessarily American but European. I think we should take the Nobel Prize as an indicator but not necessarily the only evidence of invention given we don’t know exactly how they choose people–I understand there is controversy over the picks.

    2. We can’t simply look at the winners of a system. Yes, perhaps a society of relatively more pressure leads to Nobel Prize winners, but what about the losers? We would have to account for people that get discouraged from science who could have added something. I think about how medical school is a very competitive system with lots of pressures. I’m not sure if we necessarily get the best doctors out of it–there are lots of good people that get discouraged.

    3. My statement would be more appropriately limited to the average office worker, not the highly talented researcher/athlete that is nearing perfection but needs some pressure to get to the top. My own experience shows that pressure paralyzes rather than motivates.

    Ultimately it is an individual choice. I feel highly-talented people are always under pressure to produce, and at Stanford I saw how people buckled under the pressure. I want people to see there is another path to the top of the mountain. You should never feel guilty for a simple lifestyle, which is its own reward.

  • Mahesh

    Jamie
    You are wrong about Nobel Laureates. Americans Rock on the number of Nobel Laureates. Americans have more Nobel prizes than UK, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark combined together. A lot of the Nobel Laureates ended up at American Universities. (Einstein, Bohr, Fermi, Hayek etc.).
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_laureates_by_country

    Also, simplification is one of the factors that impact creativity.
    A nice article can be found here.
    http://www.scribd.com/doc/2149673/A-Model-of-42-Models-of-Creativity-by-Richard-Tabor-Greene-20june06-pdf-for-global-distribution-FINAL

  • Jamie

    Mahesh – for comparison,

    UK – population ~55milion – 114 Nobel Laureates
    US – population ~250million – 304 Nobel Laureates

    Per head of capita, the UK has ~2 per million, the US has ~1.1 per million. Obviously that is not a real factor in this, but I’d say working life in the UK is far more relaxed than in the USA, yet we still produce more Nobel Laureates per head of capita.

    In my opinion, pressure stifles creativity and invention, rather than driving it.

  • http://www.mindyourdecisions.com/blog/ Presh Talwalkar

    Mahesh and Jamie: Thanks for sharing those interesting metrics on Nobel Laureates. I’m going to save those up for party trivia ;)

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