Hasta La Creative!

Media entrepreneur, Om Malik, had a heart attack three months ago. Since then, he’s quit smoking, consumed less meat and started an exercise routine. He’s also retooling how he works.

Simplification Through Elimination

I was reading a review of the Macbook Air over on Macworld when I realized that the machine and post-recovery me have a lot in common. I have to be very careful as to how I use my mental and physical resources, for there is a high risk of relapse. Similarly, the Macbook Air comes with miniscule amount of storage space, so one needs to be careful about how to use it. The machine’s battery power limitations remind me of how much time I have to devote to work on a daily basis.

It has been hard to use the Macbook Air as my primary computer, just as it’s been hard to change all those pesky “little things.” Indeed, the Macbook Air is an acquired taste. It’s also an apt reflection of an effective “simplification through elimination” strategy.

Three months on, I am looking to eliminate a number of things from life: excessive public appearances, too much travel and many, many RSS feeds. I am going to cut down the effort I spend on certain projects and focus on making the most of what we have at hand.

The Macbook Air as simplifier is an intriguing idea. Maybe I need to get one. I noticed in response to Om’s piece that Steve Rubel says he only keeps two apps open on his desktop at a time–Safari and Mail. I currently have 12 apps open.