One Less Thing

For the last ten years I have focused on keeping my life as simple as I possibly can. While I am not a hermit living in a cave, I do pretty well rolling through my life from day to day by adhering to this principle. When I hear myself thinking, “This is getting way too complicated.” That’s when I know I must back off or stop whatever it is I am thinking or doing and reevaluate.

With simplicity in mind, I love being able to say or think, “One less thing!” It’s one less thing to consider, worry about, clean or maintain; it’s one less gotta-do! But here’s the rub, before you can determine whether you are one less thing worthy, you have to consider all possible scenarios. What do I mean? Are you just using the one less thing mantra on something you haven’t thought through? If so, it will come back to haunt you, and more times then not, with more things to do or consider than you had to do or consider in the first place.

Shocking! I know. You can’t just make rash decisions in order to check another “thing” off your list when you may be creating more work for yourself. We all like the less is more feeling, and may get sucked into the moment without considering the elements of one less thing. What’s a person to do?

• Think it through!
• Consider possible outcomes.
• Are there consequences and are you willing to deal with them?
• If you do this, how will you feel?

Before you know it, you will be one less thinging left and right. You will feel good about your less is more decisions, you will feel the weight of whatever it is lift and feel a sense of satisfaction as you move forward. Please note: if you one less thing yourself into a cave, and that works for you, make sure it's well stocked.

Cave photo courtesy of John Carl Johnson and Creative Commons