October 2011
44 posts
Desk
We spent a large amount of time at work. The physical location where we spent the majority of the time thinking, doing, writing, replying and deciding plays a big role in our daily routine.
A cluttered desk, a disorganized room or a noisy location don’t necessarily mean lack of productivity or poor performance, however they can, in my experience, affect how we work and how well we reach...
via Frank: Elegance, Lightness, and Nothing →
viafrank:
There’s an old story, true or not, that people love telling about writing implements in space. The American space program discovered that normal ink pens didn’t work on missions (no gravity in orbit to pull down the ink), so they spent millions to research and develop a pen that could write…
Principle of Least Software →
Use only the software that you need. No more, no less. Choose one application for each task, and become an expert on that application.
Why I take sketch breaks instead of internet... →
Staring at a pair of monitors for 10+ hours a day can get rather taxing. That’s why I pepper in small breaks throughout the day, like most people. When I need five minutes to untangle my brain I reach for my pile of art pens and the closest post it note
“For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know.”
– Wiseman (Sucker Punch)
Names
We live in an increasingly complex world. We need to keep things simple as much as we can so we can make our day simpler and better.
One of the things that tend to be complicated are names. More specifically names of products and software. Marketing people tend to like uber-complicated names with dashes and numbers. The same goes with programmers.
For example if I tell you there is a program...
Less Choices
This is something I wrote a while ago but I think it’s good to read it again.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the amount of mental power we need to use and waste every day in order to be able choose from a ridiculously large amount of choices we are constantly assaulted with. I revisited and re-read two great posts by Patrick Rhone (of Minimal Mac): Final Choices and Sensible...
“Whatever we are, whatever we make of ourselves, is all we will ever have – and...”
– Philip Appleman
Simple tools. Another example.
I mentioned before that I like my tools to be as simple as they can possible be. Another example of this is my notebook.
I love Field Notes notebooks. They are simple, lightweight and provide exactly what I need.
Here’s one of my Field Notes, together with my Embassy Pen
Now, you might think that being a geek and a computer security guy I would not use a paper notebook. That was...
1 tag
The way I like to work →
Here’s a picture of how I like to keep my desk: a computer, a coffee mug and a french press.
“The best part about traveling is the forced minimalism. My life at home, as it...”
– Travel Minimalism (more about packing light in Pack Light. Go Fast
Asymmetry and emptiness: lessons from the tearoom →
Abundance of vacant space allows for the clear existence of a focal point and the participation of the viewer to complete that which has been left incomplete or that which is only suggested.
Steve Jobs & the art of focus | Presentation Zen →
Continuing remembering Steve Jobs:
Simplicity, among other things, is a conscious choice between inclusion and exclusion. Often the magic is in what you leave out. But this means that you need to be comfortable with saying no, to yourself and to others. This is not easy to do. In the two video clips below from 1997, Steve Jobs shares his ideas on simplicity and focus while speaking to the...
Remembering Steve Jobs →
“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to try and sell it…..we have tried to come up with a strategy and a vision for Apple, it started with “What incredible benefits can we give to the customer? Where can we take the customer?” Not...
“The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.”
– Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity
WatchTracing The Edge.
This 10 part series of short videos feature 3 silent sport athletes. They show the simplicity (and complexity) of being in tune with nature and pursuing one’s dream. Watch the series, it’s a great way to realize that disconnecting and going outside is great.
“Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and...”
– Lao Tzu
(Update: This quote actually from Lao Tzu. Stephen Mitchell translated. Thanks Patrick for pointing this out)
Fund raising for the Green Beret Foundation →
Some of you might be aware but I am going to do the GORUCK Beached. Part of the challenge is to raise awareness about the Green Beret Foundation and to raise money for that organization. Every bit helps.
Please head to the page, read my story and consider donating if you want.
Thank you!
Tools
In this post I want to talk about why it is important to me that my tools be simple and without too many features.
I spoke already about minimalism and gear and I covered a little about how I chose my tools, however I wanted to explain why I like the tools I buy and why I buy them. By tools I mean physical tools that help me finish a task, allow me to carry gear, provide me with information,...
“It means subtraction in order to get to a point, in order to make a point clear....”
– Robert Hood
Your Shit, My Stuff, Goldilocks, and Making the... →
There’s no name for this way of thinking, but if I had to steal a term, I’d use Merlin Mann’s Appropriatism. It’s not minimalism, it’s not maximalist, it’s just-right-ism. Goldilocks was on to something. The idea sits somewhere in the middle, exactly at the crux of whatever works the best with the least amount. The core precept of all of it is this:
“Add things until it starts sucking,...
“Simplicity and complexity need each other.”
– Maeda, the Laws of Simplicity
Feature bloat and the art of keeping things simple
Software, like pretty much everything in this world, is succeptible to clutter and bloat. More specifically feature bloat. Developers keep on adding new features until their products can send email, or in other words their software gets so full of features it’s no longer agile and fast and it’s very hard to maintain.
Take Firefox for example. Firefox started as a response to the Mozilla Suite....
Simplify The **** Out of Everything | Nerd Fitness →
zenhabits:
Simple fitness advice.
The Takahashi Method of presenting information →
Mr. Masayoshi Takahashi has a unique way of presenting information. Takahashi uses only text in his slides. But not just any text — really big text. Huge text. Characters of impressive proportion which rarely number more than ten, usually fewer. The goal, he says, is to use short words rather than long, complicated words and phrases.
This method forces you to simplify what you have to say to...
Wallet simplification
A lot of people I know have wallets that look like this one here. They store there money, cards, tickets, more cards, papers, coins, pictures (sometimes full albums of pictures), the kitchen sink and pretty much every receipt they ever received.
Then they complain about back pain, not being able to find anything (I know it’s here, I know…), how heavy it is…
It doesn’t...
Calling cards
Calling cards have been with us for some time. Unfortunately, like with most things today, cards tend to be cheap quality and cluttered with a lot of information.
However it doesn’t have to be this way. Cards can be simple and beautiful and present only the information needed, leaving white space for any extra information you would like to add when giving it away, thus creating a custom...
Minimalism and gear
I have a confession: I am addicted to gear. I love hiking gear, climbing gear, everyday carry gear (1), tactical gear and survival gear.
On the plus side, I know how to use the gear I buy. I am a climber and a former Recon operator and sniper. However because I know I have a weakness here I am very careful with what I buy and when I buy it. I follow Rule 12 as part of my Final Choices. Each...
Minimalism and books
How can you be a minimalist and have books? That’s a question I often get asked.
Books can pile up and create clutter. Books can be hard to shlep around and can slow you down. All this is true.
So what’s the answer? Don’t buy books? Buy them only in digital form?
I thought that only buying ebooks would be the answer, however I missed the feeling of a good bound book in my...
“By knowing things that exist, you can know that which does not exist.”
Thoughts
Several months ago I reached the end of my research on minimalism and then I closed Minimal. I discovered a lot and I learned a lot, but I was also disappointed. Mostly at what people thought minimalism was.
To me minimalism is practical minimalism.
Practical minimalism means that I have what I and my family need to be happy and nothing we don’t. If we need to have 100 things or 1000...
To me minimalism is not...
To me minimalism is not getting rid of all your possessions just to say “look I am a minimalist, I live with 1 tshirt and 1 meal a week”.
To me minimalism is not having cheap things so that I can say “look I don’t spend money because I am a minimalist and I live with nothing”
To me minimalism is not living in a tiny box so that I can say “look how minimal I am, my family and I live in this 2x2...