We don t apply more with less to our individual lives

We dont apply more with less to our individual lives

Though the modern world has embraced the law of progress the economic and scientific principle of more with less it has consistently failed to apply the very same principle to the way we organize our private and social lives. The modern principle for individuals is more with more . To get more money, more status, a more interesting job, an exciting life, it seems to be necessary to give more and more to ones profession, job, company, or customers, sometimes to the point where theres no time or energy left for oneself, ones family, or ones friends , let alone for healthy relaxation or to recharge creative batteries.

Life in the fast lane turns into work in the fast lane. There is certainly more challenge, more stimulation, and more money, but there is also total submission to work demands, more burnout, and pervasive anxiety.

How come we successfully use

more with less

for science, technology, and business ,

and yet insist on more with more

when it comes to our working lives?

If more with less works for companies and economies, it should work for individuals as well. In fact I know it does, from personal experience and from seeing many friends and acquaintances getting more with less: more satisfaction, more achievement, more money, more happiness, better relationships, and a more balanced and relaxed life, from less blood, toil, tears, and sweat.

Many of the things we do absorb energy but are worse than useless. Worry is a prime example. Worry is never useful. When we find ourselves worrying, we should either act and not worry, or decide not to act and not worry. If we can act to avoid a bad fate or reduce its chance of happening and the action is worthwhile then we should act and not worry. If, on the other hand, we cant control or influence what will happen, then worrying will cause us distress but not help us: we should not act and not worry. Worries will always arise but we can do without them, instantly deciding to act or not act, but in either case not to worry.

We have a big project ahead of us: nothing less than the reversal of modern work and living habits, the change from more with more to more with less in our personal, social, and professional lives.

It will take time. Social fashions dont change all that easily or quickly. The Calvinist notion that toil and trouble are essential for personal advancement is so deeply rooted in the culture and working assumptions of modern life that it will take a generation to uproot it. Yet the beauty of the 80/20 Way for any individual for you and for me is that we dont have to wait. We can start using it and benefiting right away.