The Power Of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential

by Leo Babauta

Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.

Only a few years ago, I was over my head in debt, with a work schedule that rarely allowed me to see my family and had me stressed to maximum levels every day. I was overweight and unhealthy, I was eating fried and fatty and salty and greasy foods every day, I wasn’t exercising, and I was a smoker. I was unhappy at work and going nowhere, fast. My life was complicated, and I didn’t have time for the things I loved.

The haiku, as you may know, is usually a nature-related poem of just seventeen syllables, written in three lines (five syllables, then seven, then five). A poet writing a haiku must work with those limitations, must express an entire idea or image in only that number of syllables.

Limitless is weak. Learn to focus yourself with limits, and you’ll increase your strength.

Set your 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks) each morning. Single-task. When you work on a task, don’t switch to other tasks. Process your in-box to empty. Check e-mail just twice a day. Exercise five to ten minutes a day. Work while disconnected, with no distractions. Follow a morning routine. Eat more fruits and veggies every day. Keep your desk decluttered. Say no to commitments and requests that aren’t on your Short List (see Chapter 13, Simple Commitments). Declutter your house for fifteen minutes a day. Stick to a five-sentence limit for e-mails.

Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.