Simplicity = Sanity

John Maeda's 10 laws of simplicity

Law 1 Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

Law 2 Organize: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

Law 3 Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity.

Law 4 Learn: Knowledge makes everything simpler.

Law 5 Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other.

Law 6 Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

Law 7 Emotion: More emotions are better than less.

Law 8 Trust: In simplicity we trust.

Law 9 Failure: Some things can never be made simple.

Law 10 The One: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

http://lawsofsimplicity.com/
http://www.tompeters.com/cool_friends/content.php?note=009446.php

Equilibrium

For those who search to be more produtive, one of the keys is equilibrium, the first step to harmony. So we cannot forget about the spirit. I've always loved the following poem. Hope you like it too:

For those who have hurt me, knowingly or unknowingly
in thought, word, or deed, I freely forgive.
And for those whom I have hurt,
knowingly or unknowingly in thought, word, or deed,
I ask forgiveness.
May I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be free.
May my friends be happy, may my friends be peaceful, may my friends be free.
May my enemies be happy, may my enemies be peaceful, may my enemies be free.
May all beings be happy, may all beings be peaceful, may all beings be free.
(Buddhist prayer)

Your servant,

Fier.

Plain, simple, meaningful

According to John Maeda "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful"

I would like to be like that but there is a long way ...

The best I can do right now is this entry.

http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/

http://web.mac.com/calpurnio/iWeb/Calpur/CalpurHOME.html

Your servant,

Luciano Fier.

Polishing the brick

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw.


Hey, lets do a little test together? Pick up your moleskine and a really fancy pen, ok if you don't dig these things, you'll need only to think for a while.
Ok, lets start: think about something in what you really love to be well succeed but your results so far not being as good as you want. Difficult, congratulations! For me it was easy - chess is something that I'll love to play better than my feeble results in this last 20 years. Now write down 3 things that you intend to do to improve your results.
If you're like me the things that you wrote and the things that you want to improve your results are different. In this kind of situation I tend to do enjoyable things that I like to do instead. In chess what I really need is to exercise and analyse my own games. My list consists in buying more books and perhaps subscribe a magazine. It is like trying obtain a mirror by polishing a brick and after the initial insucess trying to polish it harder. Said that lets find some reasons for such a unreasonable behavior. In my case I tend to feel more secure if I have plenty resource to deal with each problem. But I tend to like more collecting resources than deal with the issue itself. This makes me feel that I'm doing something towards the solution but it doesn't really helps to deal with the problem. There are other possible reasons: the joy of collecting things, the joy of the organization itself and the joy of not put the hands on the dirty part of the job. Meanwhile I can dream about the beautiful mirror I will get by polishing that darn brick.
What is the solution? Well I did not promised any solutions did I? Anyway I think that awareness is a good start. Other approach is try to find a middle term between things that I like and things that are really necessary. And finally I find it important to share. Any suggestions?

Luciano