We are constantly barraged with advertising that says, more is better. Truth is, less has greater power than more. Commonly referred to as "less is more", this mantra of minimalism is a term that grew out of the art community in the late 60s and early 70s. The concept however is age old and is true in every area of our life.
Economics
Do you want more financial freedom and less financial worries? Live a simpler life. You can give yourself a significant raise without changing jobs or taking a job that pays the same. It’s actually simple: Live in a smaller house, commute a shorter distance, drive-out the miles on your car and save to pay for one in cash, eat-out less, shop at Goodwill and garage sales. Purposely choose to lower your standard of living. Life can be very exciting when you see the long-term affect in giving and saving more.
Productivity
I hear a typical complaint and have been guilty myself. "Too much is demanded of me." Most of the time people are really saying, "I don’t know how to manage myself well." Being productive starts with simplifying your work flow. Group, prioritize and categorize work into a few key segments. My post on How to Get Stuff Done goes into more detail on how to tackle a tough project. The key is to streamline and group tasks to eliminate work flow noise, i.e. do like work together.
Spiritual
Jesus said in Luke 17:33 "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." Living life to help others is much more fun and enjoyable than to simply gratify and fill ones own whims and desires. I don’t do this well enough, but when I set my mind and heart towards serving God and others, I find that the many troubles of this life become smaller and the joys larger. It’s a sure fire way to gain more in life and decreases the constant tug of desire for more money, possessions, and other elusive, temporal pursuits.
Software and Web Development
Wirth’s law states, "Software is decelerating faster than hardware is accelerating." As a web developer, I’m constantly challenged to reduce complexity and streamline variables for both management and performance. My latest major project reduced a site from 80+ tables and several thousand pages of code to six tables with a few pages of code. An earlier post WordPress Plug-in Tips discusses practical ways to utilize features on your site. Whether managing a blog or a full-scale enterprise site, the KISS method will always serve you well for a more optimized and user-friendly experience.
Design
Good design generally follows a simple guideline: form follows function. Part of Googles success is their devotion to simplistic design. They have not deviated from offering the lightest loading search engine on the web. Part of the rise of the blog is the realization that people are not wowed anymore by groovy, heavy page wrappers. They are interested in content that is fresh and offers useful information. Website design should be more like a picture frame with the content being the real work of art. The frame complements and helps focus the reader on the content, but a frame alone does little to educate, entertain or bring pleasure to the reader. For more on web design, check out: Priniciples of Design at Digital Web Magazine.
Go for It
Do yourself a favor and let go of things that hinder and entangle you from being who you were created to be. Life really can be exciting when we let go of unnecessary stuff. There are many tips and tricks in almost any arena to living life with less. The power is in the pursuit and the constant choice for what is important. I wish you well and look forward to learning what works for you.