How to Live a Better Life with Les

I’ve worked for more than 5 years now to simplify my life, and while I’ve discovered the sublime joys of living a simple life, I’ve realized most people don’t get it.

“Why would I want LESS?” they ask themselves. “Less is less fun, harder, monk-like, boring.”

The simple answer: because life can be so much better with less.

That’s hard to believe if you haven’t tried it, but today I am happier than ever. I’m better off financially than ever, now that I’m out of debt and living blissfully debt-free. I am unencumbered by a crapload of stuff, and I have room in my life for what’s truly important: my family, my writing, and my twin loves of reading and running.

The beautiful thing is that you don’t need to earn more money or buy a bigger house or car or have a bigger company in order to have this better life — you need less of all of that. It’s attainable simply by cutting back.

Here’s how to do it — briefly. This will be familiar to long-time readers, but it’s a necessary primer for newer converts.

Do less. Cut back on your workload, on your commitments, on your schedule, on your todo list. Focus on the things that make the highest impact, and drop everything else. You can do this slowly, over time, but do it consciously. The result is you’ll have more room in your life for other things, you’ll be more effective with your time, and you’ll be less stressed out. Read more.

Have less. If you learn that enjoyment of life isn’t having stuff, you’ll be able to let go of it … and declutter. Having a life with a minimal amount of clutter is so enjoyable, so peaceful, it’s hard to describe. It leaves you feeling free, without the stress that comes with an overwhelming amount of stuff, and leaves room in your life for relaxation. Less of a focus on buying stuff means you also have more money, or less debt, or you need to work less in order to live the life you want. Any of those options are good.

Produce less. This is nonsensical to a lot of people — after all, aren’t we all trying to Get Things Done? To Get More Done? Well, that’s the norm, I’ll grant you that — people seem to think that producing grand amounts is great — to write a prodigious amount, to code a prodigious amount, to create a ton of products, to churn out services at an astronomical rate, to have more billable hours than anyone else. Well, that’s fine if you want your life to be all about churning out stuff, but not if you’re concerned about quality, about beauty, about meaning, and about having a life outside of producing. Instead, try producing less — spend more time making better things. Spend more time editing your work down to less, leaving only the most essential parts. Embrace a philosophy that work which is edited down to a minimum is better than volume.

Consume less. This is about how many resources we consume, how much we eat, how much waste we produce from our consumption. Instead of consuming, focus on enjoying what you have, preserving the beauty in what you’ve attained, being content with what’s already around you.

Connect online less. I love connecting with others online. Unfortunately, it consumes our lives if we let it. So if you do a lot of connecting online, through email and web surfing and blog reading and Twittering and Facebooking and what have you … cut back a little. Disconnect from time to time. Read the beta version of my book, Focus.

Connect with others, and your passions, more. Ah, here’s the good part. This is how your life becomes better, not worse, in living a life with less. It’s better because you disconnect from the online world in order to connect with what’s truly important: your loved ones, real people in the real world, and the things you really love doing. You’ve cut things out of your life not just for the sake of cutting, but for the sake of making room for what you’re really passionate about.

Edit, edit. Simplifying isn’t a one-step process of cutting things out. It’s an ongoing process, not only of simplifying but of putting a focus on what’s essential … and then continuing to edit. Think of your life as a work of art, and you as the artist. Come back to it and make it more beautiful by whittling away the unnecessary. Then come back and do it again, and again, until all you’re left with is what’s most beautiful, what’s most essential.

Life can really be better with less, if what’s left is what you love.


美好生活“少字经”

5年来，我一直努力使自己的生活变得简单。尽管我发现朴素的生活给我带来莫大的快乐，我却也知道大部分人并未做到这一点。

他们会对自己说：“为什么我得到的要少一些？获得的少意味着快乐更少，生活更艰苦，象和尚般的生活，那太无趣了”

答案很简单，要求的少一些，生活更美好。

如果未亲身尝试，很难相信这是真的，但如今的我确实比以前幸福，我经济上更富有，没有债务，过着无债一身轻的生活。我不用再为一些乱七八糟的事情忙碌，有更多的时间做更重要的事：照顾家人、写作、读书、跑步。

最美妙的是，你不必赚钱去买更大的房子和车子，也不必为了过更好的生活，开一间更大的公司——你并不需要得到这么多，只要节约开支，就可以得到这些。

下面是具体的作法，对于经常看我文章的读者来说，这些很熟悉，但对于刚开始改变的人，这些很值得一看。

少做 减轻自己的工作量、承担的义务、日程安排、繁杂的清单，将精力放在最能产生效果的事情上，其他事都搁在一边。然后可以慢慢地甚至加班做，但是一定要有意识的去做。之后的生活中，你会有更多的时间做其他事，你对于时间的利用率会更高，紧张感也少了。多读书吧。

少得 如果你知道享受生活并不是意味着拥有，你才会去放弃，或者说减少所得。杂乱的事务如此之少，生活多么美好，多么平静啊，其美妙是难以描述的。你会感到自由，不会因为繁重的事务而有紧迫感，你有更多的空间可以放松。减少购物的时间吧，那样钱会更多，或者减少自己的债务。或者应该少工作。这些选择任何一个都是好的。它可以使你过上自己想要的生活。

少创作 对于这一点，大部分人都没有什么意识——毕竟，我们不都是在”尽量去做“吗？嗯，这是一种标准，我承认那是对的，人们似乎总是认为大量的创作是好的——大量创造，大量编译，大量生产，以惊人的效率大量制造各种服务，比他人获得更多的计薪时间。好吧，如果你想让自己的生活充斥大量粗制滥造的东西，那就这样干吧，但是如果你所关心的是生活是否有质量，是否美好，是否有意义，并且想拥有一种不只是干活儿的生活。那么，试着少做些——将更多的时间用于制作更好的事物，花些时间将你的工作修改的少些，只保留精华部分。要拥护这样一个哲学理念，追求质量比追求数量要好。

少用 就是说我们用多少资源，吃多少，制造多少废物。我们不应该只是消费，而应该享受现有的，节约已得的，满足于周围的一切。

少上网 我喜欢上网与他人联系。但很不幸，如果我们任其发展，我们的生活会被吞噬。因此如果你很多时间都在上网、看电子邮件、上网冲浪、看博客、逛Twittering、Facebooking 网……之类的。那么减少一些上网时间，慢慢地，不再上网，多读读我新出版的《焦点》的试读版。

多与他人联系，多作作自己喜欢的事 哈，这个很重要，”少“会让你的生活变得更美好，而不是变糟。生活变好了是因为你不再上网，将时间花在了更重要的事情上：诸如你喜爱那些真实世界中真实的人们，以及你真正热爱干的事情。你将某些事从生活中去除不仅仅是去除这么简单，而是为你真正充满激情的事腾出时间。

修改 简化的过程绝不是一步就能完成的，那是一个持续的过程，不仅仅只是简化，而是将精力放在重要的事情上……然后继续修改。将你的生活想象成一种艺术品，而你本人是一个艺术家。重新开始，将繁缛的细节去掉，使作品更加完美。然后再重头来，再修改，周而复始，直至留下的是最完美，最重要的。

只要一点点，生活真的可以更美好。只要留下的是你喜爱的。