Have you ever been part of a project team where you felt like you spent the first few meetings talking a lot but not really making much progress?
(Yeah, me too).
As it turns out, that’s not only normal – it’s science.
When I surveyed readers of this blog, one of the strongest themes that emerged was a desire for greater clarity in your lives. So what kind of deliberate experiments might help along that journey?
Well, recently I’ve been mulling on the phrase “Less but better”.
It’s the credo and book title of German designer Dieter Rams, famous for his minimalist approach to design and an influence on the design aesthetic of Apple.
You may have seen a video spoof that was created a number of years ago re-imagining Apple packaging in the Microsoft packaging style of the time. It demonstrates beautifully the merit of the ‘less but better’ principle in design.
Of course, it’s not just in design that Rams’ credo is worth consideration. The deliberate design of our lives should also prompt us to consider the ways in which ‘less but better’ might be worth implementation.
In my own life, I’ve been experimenting with designing a life of greater clarity by pursuing ‘less but better’…
When we think about our lives, we can tend to think of it as divided between time set aside for responsible purposes – work, study, the fulfilling of commitments – and free time.
It’s a natural mentality, and one that can be useful. It enables us to make necessary decisions about what we can and can’t schedule into our week.
However, if unchecked, it can also very subtly and easy take us into a mindset of powerlessness – one where we start to think of ourselves as the victim of our calendars.
