The Art of Simplifying

Declutter your Life

Apr 05, 2023

Berlin, April 2023

TL;DR: The word “priority” was singular until the 1900s. Then we tricked ourselves into thinking we could have multiple first things. We can’t.

It’s 10 AM and you haven’t actually done anything, but your brain feels like a web browser with 300 tabs open.

You aren’t productive; you are just fragmented.

In a world that screams “Do More, Be More, Buy More,” the most radical move is to ask: “What can I remove?”

The Burden of Excess

We have a tendency to accumulate. We hoard emails. We hoard obligations. We hoard “just in case” items in the garage.

We think this accumulation is security. “I have options,” we tell ourselves. But in reality, this is just overhead.

What we perceive as stability is often a glass ceiling. You can’t jump higher because you are weighed down by the junk in your pockets. Once you feel the weight of the excess, the value of simplicity becomes clear.

It’s time to audit your life.

Via Negativa (Improvement by Subtraction)

In Latin there’s a concept called Via Negativa – improving a system by taking things away. You don’t make a statue by adding clay; you make it by chipping away the stone that doesn’t belong.

1. Declutter Your Space (Visual Noise) Physical clutter creates mental static. Do you really need that collection of promotional mugs? Do you need the dusty treadmill that serves as a $200 coat rack? Your environment is the user interface of your life. If the UI is cluttered, the user (you) will lag.

2. Simplify Your Schedule (Bandwidth) “Busy” is not a badge of honor. It is often a sign of a lack of priorities. We overcommit because we are afraid to say no. We treat our time like an infinite resource. It isn’t. Stop trying to fit more into the jar. Get a smaller jar and only put the big rocks in.

Last month I counted 47 apps on my phone. I deleted 30. I’ve opened zero of them since. The treadmill that served as a coat rack? Gone. Sold it for €50 and felt €500 richer.

Prioritization & Diworsification

The power of “Less” isn’t just about cleaning your room. It is a strategy for long-term success.

Avoid “Diworsification”.

In finance, “Diworsification” is when you add so many investments to your portfolio that you dilute your returns and increase your risk. Life is the same. If you have 10 priorities, you have zero priorities. If you try to be a chef, a triathlete, a day trader, and a novelist all at once, you will fail at all of them.

Pick your asset class. Invest your time heavily in the few things that compound. Ignore the rest.

The Etymology of Priority Fun fact: The word “Priority” entered the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first thing. It wasn’t until the 1900s that we pluralized it to “Priorities.” We tricked ourselves into thinking we could have multiple “first things.” We can’t.

Embrace Patience (The Long Game)

This is the hard part. Simplifying requires patience. It requires the discipline to say, “I am not doing that right now.”

Instead of fixating on the end result, focus on the signal-to-noise ratio. Reduce the noise. Amplify the signal.

In an attention economy, focus is the new IQ.

By prioritizing the things that actually move the needle and ruthlessly cutting the rest, you create the rarest asset of the 21st century: clarity.

The power of less isn’t about living a monk-like existence of deprivation. It is about aerodynamics. You strip the plane down so it can fly.

Don’t just organize your clutter. Eliminate it.