Lettuce, Light Sabres, and Lessons in Happiness

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Remember when all you used your phone for was to call someone?

It really wasn’t that long ago.

We’ve reached a point where we’ve overcomplicated even the simplest tasks.

I was talking to a college student the other day who had himself convinced that he needed a fancy new phone, with the extra $30/month data plan, because he had to have a GPS app on it. Really? Was he wandering around aimlessly, getting lost all the time yesterday because he didn’t have a GPS app on his old phone? Probably not.

Of course he also had a Star Wars light sabre app (you heard me, an effing light sabre app) and about a dozen other time sucking apps that didn’t do shit for him on there as well.

And he was lamenting how he hadn’t saved enough money over the summer. But he’s got a whiz bang phone with a light sabre and a $30/month data plan on top of his regular cell charges so he can find his way home.

May the force be with him.

I know, I can hear you now. “But Dave, GPS, smart phones, and other new gadgets allow us to be more productive. I can get email anywhere, I can look up restaurant menus in a flash, and I can track my workouts in my phone.”

Bite me.

Do you think you’re really more fit now that you log your workouts on your phone? Umm, no. But you ARE the person at the gym with GEEK stamped on your forehead.

And checking your email while you’re out to dinner with your family doesn’t make you more productive. It makes you an asshole. And you’re a double asshole if you do it while wearing your stupid bluetooth earpiece.

Learn to disconnect every once in a while people.

Really, it will be okay. A little less stress will be a nice bonus, too.

The other day I traded some email (the ‘old fashioned’ way, on a computer) with a good friend of mine, Sean. He’s the President of 4signals Marketing, but one of his main passions is sustainable living and going green.

He said that this year, for the first time in 13 years, he didn’t plant a bigass garden in the back yard. Instead, he went minimalist and threw some seeds in a few pots on the back deck. According to Sean:

It’s really just an outgrowth of where I am at right now…this was the first summer in 13 years that I didn’t plant a garden. I just didn’t have time. But I did toss some seeds into a few containers on my deck and with the water spigot/hose strategically placed near the deck I can water my ‘minimalist garden’ in 10 minutes — and that includes two waterings a day — no weeding needed and I also have full sunlight since my “portable garden” could be placed perfectly to grab the most sun on my deck. This weekend I noticed I harvested as much lettuce in one pot as I did a full row in my 10 x 20 garden bed — which required weeding, pulling watering hoses out and about 1 hour a day in maintenance time. If I added just one more pot it would add maybe 1 minute more of maintenance but it would double my yield. Hmmmmm…maybe less really IS more?”

I’m in violent agreement with Sean. Less can be more.

Less stuff. Less stress. Fewer apps on your phone. It’s all good.

95% of you can live without email and GPS on your phone. 100% of you can live without a light sabre on your phone.

Just because you can have something doesn’t always mean you should.

Smart phones are just an example here, but the truth is we waste so much time, energy, and money chasing all kinds of material stuff, whether it’s phones, clothes, cars, money, jewelry, food, smart phone apps, you name it, because we equate stuff with happiness, productivity, and being ‘better’ than the guy without that stuff.

We want the stuff with the most features possible, even though we won’t use 90% of them. Why is that?

Stuff rarely will bring you happiness. When it does, it’s usually only temporary until the shine wears off your stuff, that new stuff smell is gone, or (shudder) someone goes out and gets better stuff than you. Then you’re left with just more stuff cluttering your life.

Happiness comes from within.

If you can’t be happy today, right now, you won’t be happy if you simply have more stuff tomorrow. You’ll just want more stuff the next day, and you’ll end up always chasing more stuff in the endless pursuit of happiness, productivity, and being ‘better’ than the guy without the stuff.

Stop focusing on getting more stuff every once in a while and focus on what actually makes you happy.

You might actually see how much happiness you already have.

~Dave

ps – Agree? Disagree? Want more stuff? Getting rid of stuff? Let me know in the comments below.

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