Less is more is a very famous saying left by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; which means that Less is the key to More.
Many minimalists including myself are positively affected by this famous and moving saying.
In this article, let's look at the philosophy behind this and consider what we can learn from it to utilize in our minimalist lifestyle.
Let's jump into it.
Table of contents
- Definition of Less for me
- Definition of More for me
- What can we learn from Less is More?
Definition of Less for me
This is all my personal perspective and opinion towards "Less", so I would like you to take mine as an example to think about your definition of less.
For me, the word less means "comfortable decrease" of
- Physical quantity
- Human relationships
- Schedule
Let's take a look at each of the above.
Physical quantity
I do now own many things.
For the past five years, the physical things that I have with me have been always less than 50.
I think minimalism is all about focusing and I think focusing on the choice of physical objects is also important to maintain the minimalist lifestyle.
Decreasing the physical quantity of your possessions will help you to become a minimalist.
If you want to know how I decrease the number of things and live as a minimalist, please refer to the articles below.
"Aeropress Go; the best coffee maker ever for a minimalist lifestyle"
"The 3 best minimalist shoes 2022"
I do not need many things to enrich my life. I'm already happy now.
Human relationships
The second point is that the word "less" means for me is the comfortable decrease of human relationships.
This may sound like a very extreme philosophy, but as a serious minimalist, I also focus on human relationships.
What does the phrase "focusing on human relationships" even mean?
In my opinion, life is once, so the people who you spend time with should be chosen by you, and those people have to be very reliable and comfortable to be with you.
Sometimes it is difficult to choose the people who you spend time with, for example, you cannot choose your boss or colleagues, but excluding those cases, you should always have the right to choose with whom you spend time.
Actually, in my dictionary, there is no vocabulary "friend".
The vocabularies that exist in my dictionary are
- Family
- Siblings (translated to "best friend" )
- Acquaintance
Basically, I treat my best friends as same as my siblings, and when I look back at the history of my human relationships, it usually takes 5 to 10 years before I recognize that person as my "sibling", so spending time with those people are really comfortable and valuable for me.
Life is once, so I want to have less uncomfortable human relationships in my life.
This is why the comfortable decrease of human relationships is very important to me.
I spend time with you because you are so important in my life.
Schedule
The last point is that the word "less" means for me is the comfortable decrease of the schedule.
I always try to think about what are the important events and schedules for me in my life.
Writing a blog, as my main income resource, and drinking coffee as my top priority hobby are the two most important things to do in my life.
I try not to do something I don't feel like doing because I always think about what if today is the last day of my life, and what if I regret spending the time like today???
The basic philosophy that I have of this approach is that I do not want to regret even one second of my life, so I want to focus on what I want to do and what I have to do.
Erasing "no fun" events from my life is also important for me and I have learned this from the notion "Less is More"
Less no-fun event, more fun event.
Definition of More for me
As decreasing is difficult, "more" is much easier I think.
The word "more" means to me is...
- More free time
- More free mind
- More fun
More free time
It is very obvious that if I erase the unnecessary even from my life, I will get more free time that I can spend on something I really want to do.
In my opinion, time is much more valuable than money, so instead of calculating my savings or earnings, I always calculate my free time.
The more free time I have, the happier I become.
Do you have your own free time that you can spend on what you want to?
More free mind
In this century, there are so many distractions and unless you try to free up your time or mind, so many things will try to occupy your mind and your time.
Making your mind free is very important because you can have the time to think about your life and yourself.
Being "Less" makes it possible to have a "More" free mind.
More fun
By decreasing unnecessary physical quantity, human relationships, and schedule, I will be having more fun.
I think life is based on a very simple principle; Are you happy now??
The ultimate goal of my life is to have more fun, and when the time of my last day comes, I do not want to regret my life, that is why minimalism is very important to commit myself to spread this idea to the world by blogging.
Let's have fun. Life is once.
What can we learn from Less is More?
So what can we learn from this wonderful philosophy "Less is More"?
As I have my own definition of less and more, you may have your own.
But the common learning that you and I can get from this saying is that to achieve more, you have to be less first.
I think the meaning of this saying is that it's not about adding or increasing, it's all about focusing by decreasing and erasing.
So, what would you do now?
Thanks for reading and I hope this article had helped you to think about "Less is More" and minimalism.