Embrace Minimalism
“Keep it simple” is an overused, yet under-executed mantra for most. With the abundance of distractions in today’s society, it’s not hard to realize why this is the case.
When it comes to maximizing your personal, professional, or financial life, eliminating complexity can do wonders. I urge you to think as minimalist as possible when confronted with daily tasks and decisions. “Throw out” all of the unnecessary anchors that do not add benefit to your life. Clear out unused furniture in your office, consolidate multiple bank accounts, completely end a relationship…whatever it may be, always keep the following in mind:
- cut the fat wherever and whenever possible
- if it’s not important, forget about it, move on to something that is
- get used to eliminating instead of accumulating
- strive to have less of something (money may be the only caveat)
It appears that that the majority of society associate having “more stuff” with having more overall value. This “bigger is better” mentality is not only wrong, it’s unproductive. If we relate this to startups, you begin to see how a minimalist approach creates the most effective results.
The minimalist-approach to launching a company
All too familiar scenario: You’re an entrepreneur. You have no money. You’re time and resources are very limited. And you want to launch a startup? Are you crazy!?
Crazy or not, one thing is certain: you cannot afford to waste anything. Very simply, you must operate as efficiently as is humanly possible. And herein lies the core of the minimalist-approach to business.
I just picked up a book by the team at 37signals entitled Get Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application. The book serves as an effective reminder to all the upstart businesses, entrepreneurs, and aspiring world-changers to strip down their approach to its simplest, most fundamental components. The book focuses on the internet sector, but can really be applied to any number of business fields as well as to most any type of business owner.
The core of the book focuses on getting things done fast and efficiently. They strongly endorse simplicity in an overly-complex world, which is refreshing, and most importantly, effective.
Focus on the fundamentals
Fundamentals mean everything. Unfortunately, we seem to be accustomed to burying them whenever the option presents itself. Why write a 5 paragraph email that can be expressed in 3 lines? Why waste your coworker’s time with a 2 hour presentation? It’s probably because your email is garbage and your presentation sucks.
Ironically enough, when things are broken down to their most basic component, that particular thing becomes instantly more powerful. In business, and in life, focus on the foundation and strip away the rest — you’ll be surprised at how simplicity will conquer complexity.
