Category Archives: simplify

Often I absolutely hate to see a book come to an end. I savor the last fifty pages and sip them like fine wine. This happens more times than not, but this week it was “not”.

I read three books, all of which would have benefited from a haircut, two severe, one just a trim.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is an engaging flight of fancy. The reader leaves behind roots in reality and yields to the power of imagination. It’s a story about a fantastic circus where nothing is what it seems. Is the illusionist doing clever slight of hand tricks or are other forces at work? Yes, there’s a love story, but that isn’t the prime mover for me. The tension between what is possible versus the bizarre energizes the novel for me. Is it all a dream or would that be too simple? So many people told me they either hated the book or loved it. I liked most of it, with the exception of three or four chapters that seemed unnecessary and non-productive. The ending is not as interesting as I would have hoped, but the author succeeds in making me let go of rational expectations and that is an experience worth having.

It’s true that I tend to favor fiction over non-fiction, but two pieces of non-fiction made it to the top of my reading pile this week. Unstuff Your Life by Andrew J. Mellen caught my attention because of its focus on simplicity and minimalism. It is just shy of 400 pages and could well have afforded to unstuff itself. This is one of those books that would have made a superb two to three page magazine article. There are basically three messages:

1.     You are not your stuff. Separate yourself from your things and make rational decisions about them.

2.     One home for everything. That means everything has its place; put it there.

3.     Like with like. Group like objects together so you know where to find them.

I didn’t learn anything new from this book and should have known better to buy yet another book about decluttering my life.  Lesson learned; I’m donating the book. It will be out of the house tomorrow.

The second non-fiction book I tackled this week is The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. The subtitle interested me: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Duhigg explores how habits are formed and looks at the science, business and behavioral aspects of the subject. Examples are drawn from the research labs of MIT as well as case studies from around the country. He lets the reader see how cravings are turned into habits. This book bounces from neurological studies to animal research to case studies focusing on anecdotal stories then ricochets to management’s study of customer habits and back again. There is the constant reiteration of The Habit Loop which shows that habits consists of a cue that prompts a response, a routine that satisfies the prompt, and finally, a reward. The bottom line in converting bad habits to good ones calls for leaving the cue and the reward in place, while swapping out the routine to a healthier one. Duhigg shows that it is possible to create new habits and that even unsuspecting victims of memory loss can succeed at this task. Maybe there is hope for me.

I confess, I was fascinated by the analysis of how businesses collect customer habit information and use it to increase sales. I felt like a voyeur looking into the creation of Febreze—a product that was almost doomed for failure because customers were not making this product a habit. People who had smelly houses, didn’t recognized the smell after a while, and never felt the need to “refresh it” or get rid of the odor. The folks who did buy it saw it as a finishing touch to a room that was just tidied. I was likewise curious about how Alcoa revamped its entire company by making Workplace Safety its top priority. It retrained all levels of its operation to strive for no workplace injuries. Basically, new habits had to be formed from top to bottom. The process was eye-opening and yet another example of “doing well by doing good”.

The Power of Habit is a worthwhile read, but needs some serious skimming through the repetition and prolonged case studies. It is interesting to learn how business endeavors to get inside the consumer’s head (literally) in order to push for more sales, more business, more buying. The marketing research team at Target found a way to identify pregnant women at the very earliest stages of pregnancy in order to capture the $6800 of potential sales during the first year of a new born’s life. Big brother is alive and well—I should have already known that.

Monday’s Short List

Being bored was not permitted in my childhood household. Any version of or indication that the words “I’m bored” were to be voiced were met with an immediate command to grab a rag and wipe the baseboards or, worse yet, clean the bathrooms. So, I learned not to voice it and never to think it.

My days were always jam packed with things to do; some were required tasks dictated by firm looks, but most were fun adventures in my head just waiting to happen. I loved getting up early and riding my bike around the neighborhood, feeding Papa Louie’s chickens, reading a book under the big trees in the front lawn, climbing up into my tree house and looking straight up at the sky through the sassafras leaves…there was never a dull moment. None of these events are earthshaking or monumental, just little moments that collect to make a fine, non-boring day. I also learned the value of solitude. I gave myself time to myself. That was a lesson worth learning.

As I got older, my stack of books on my nightstand got taller. The local bookstore and library became favorite haunts.  I chose a bookstore as a client and teaching as a career so I could get even closer to the good stuff. A similar pattern erupted with fabric and yarn and cookware. There’s always something that wants to mix and hatch—and I’m quite excited about it all. Mind you, it’s not non-stop busyness—there’s ample quiet, downtime to recharge my creative batteries, daydream, and sleep!

Having an overflowing list of possibilities is how I function. Yes, I have to work to limit the overwhelm and chaos, but it’s worth it. I make lists, but have learned to keep them short. Three items on a small scrap of paper guide my daily adventures and give some modicum of focus. There’s no real obligation to complete the list or even to look at it… it’s just a suggestion. I do much better with suggestions rather than ultimatums. At age sixty, I enjoy “being in the moment” more than ever and let that govern my schedule.

When I go to a restaurant or any kind of food purveyor, I often ask… “What should I not leave today without trying.”  That opens new doors and lots of windows every time. Spotify gives me the chance to play “what’s new” and try to figure out if I want to hum the lyrics. Pinterest provides fresh visual images and interesting ideas from around the world. When I was in the classroom, every day was a new adventure with lots to think about during and afterwards. I appreciate the “rush” of pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. Maybe that’s why I’m never bored… who knows.

This time of the year marks new beginnings for me. It’s probably because I always connect the end of summer with the beginning of the school year. It’s an opportunity to look at time spent, and look forward to how I want to spend it in the future. Assess, reevaluate, re-think, create anew. Now that I’m retired, this ritual is more rich and exciting. What do I want to accomplish this Fall? The challenge is to keep the list short and never boring:

1.    Design and create 25% of my wardrobe by hand.

2.   Exercise every day (oh bullshit… maybe every other day)

3.   Read a book a week. Yes!

4.   Play in the garden.

5.    Waste less time on the internet.

That’s it. I’d love to hear how you broach Fall and any issues with boredom. Please feel free to leave a comment.

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