Zen Habits Revisited

I wrote a scathing review of the Zen Habits blog here. Since writing that piece, the advice of Leo Babauta has grown on me. The guy may be right after all.

A few years ago, I fell in love with the concept of the Renaissance Man. This was a person with a polymathic sensibility skilled in various disciplines and an encyclopedic knowledge of all things. Along with this concept was a newfound love for all things consumer oriented. Unfortunately, it has all come with a darkside. I will elaborate.

Leonardo da Vinci was a Renaissance Man. His knowledge of various fields and his skills as an artist and whatnot are inspiring until you realize that he achieved very little. Today, we praise his imagination as recorded in his notebooks, but those notebooks represent nothing more than daydreams. These were the projects Leonardo intended to work on but never got to. As for the projects he did get to, he would often grow bored with them and abandon them before completion. This sounds much like our modern multitasker caught in a stream of info and an attention span shorter than a sneeze.

I am reluctant to admit it, but this Renaissance Man concept amounts to being a fulltime daydreamer. The reality is that you can't do it all. I am always lamenting the lack of time, money, and energy when it comes to realizing my plans and dreams, but the sad truth is that these dreams are unrealistic. They make no sense. The result is frustration. I can't make good on my ambition.

Leo Babauta's advice is to reduce ambition to the essential things that matter to you. The result is less frustration and more success. By simplifying your life, you achieve more and daydream less. Leo is right, and I am wrong.

I have been simplifying my life lately. I have stopped watching televised sporting events. The result is that I have more time on the weekend. I have been decluttering which has led to an easier lifestyle and easier cleaning which creates more time. I spend less money, and I have pared my wish list down to just a few items. I don't feel frustrated anymore. I am at the beginning of this process of minimizing and have a way to go.

I said that I found Leo's minimalism to be boring, but the fact is that I treat my boredom with a glut of media instead of with activity. This makes work even less tolerable because you are always craving a distraction. But I do work now, and I feel something I have not felt in a long time. I feel satisfaction. I complete tasks now where I did not complete them before

The choice to me is between being a daydreamer or an achiever. Like I said, Leonardo really didn't do much. The man could not simplify his life and focus on doing a few things well. The result was wasted brilliance.

On the consumer side, I am back to my frugal ways. People buy too much stuff, and I am no exception. There is little I can buy now that would improve my life in any significant way. My current lifestyle can only have marginal improvements from the things I buy since I have everything I need. The things that would yield the greatest improvement would be to get in shape, and that is less about money than it is about getting off my ass. There is nothing I can buy that will exercise for me. And why don't I exercise more? Because I can't stand to be deprived of the constant distraction of television and the internet. Once again, Leo's minimalist path is the way to go.

I will have more on this minimalist path as I go along, but I am pleased so far. It feels better to have less and do less and to live in a simple way. It is an adjustment, but I am taking it incrementally.

Zen Habits
mnmlist

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -Leonardo da Vinci

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