Rocket Science

Einstein said that “Everything should be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.”

I love this quote, if only because it makes me feel a bit better about my indifferent success at simplifying my life. Einstein was far brainier than me, after all. Okay, so he wasn’t talking about life as much as science, and simplifying has to be simpler than rocket science. But still. It’s nice to think that certified genii have thought along the same lines, and hit upoon a level beyond which simplifying is dangerous because overdone.

I was having a look at the 4 Hour Work Week as well, and one of the things that struck me was that it’s really not that simple. Or necessarily that effective. Just efficient.

Efficiency = work done/ time.

Effective = impact of the work done, regardless of time taken.

Efficient gets things done. Effective gets the right things done. Yes, to outsource the nitty gritty of your life to a subcontinental call centre or agent gets things done, leaving you free to get more of the right things done. But if the minutiae is so voluminous as to warrant outsourcing, I have to wonder if it’s all necessary.

I admit, I am far too much of a control freak about my life and my affairs to wantonly hand over control to a stranger in a another country. Even when I had holdings in two countires, my agent where I didn’t live was a relative. I am far to technocynical to trust the Cloud and the internet as a safe place for all my personal details. It’s far too easy to hack, and identity theft is on the rise. It may be Luddite of me, but I like to be in control of my own accounts, my own life. It gives me the illusion of controlling my own future. But cynicism and paranoia aside, surely it both simpler and more effective to apply the Einstein quote – and first make your life as simple as possible, before paying someone else to take over the small-print of your to-do list? Because you may well find that it’s no longer worthwhile (much less necessary) to outsource anything at all. And you’ll still have a lot more free time on your hands than you’re used to.

Return to Complexcity

It has been something of a struggle to reacclimatise to London life. I’ve never really had Post Holiday Syndrome before, but I did this time. It’s that flustered trance in which you walk around for a week while trying to get your head around a) the 1003 emails in your inbox, b) the leftover stuff from your last project, c)  the logistics of the new project, as well as d) all the logistical life stuff: exercise, commuting, washing, shopping, rent, bills, contracts, fees, ironing, filing, shredding and cleaning.

Life is bewilderingly, almost depressingly complex, especially in a megacity. A large part of me wants to pull the duvet over my head and opt out for a few more days or  weeks.

I have tried to make the transition back to my usual life as gradual as possible, to make it less shocking, less jarring, but it’s still a bumpy ride. I guess the problem is that while I was travelling, my world shrank to the present, as it does on the road, even as my horizons expanded, as they do when you experience new places and things.

Is this where the iLife falls down? Because it must bring all the complexity of modern urban life with it – even if it’s all online, all virtual. You still have to worry about, exercise, commuting, washing, shopping, rent, bills, contracts, fees, ironing, firewalls, encryption and cleaning. Granted, if you take it to the extreme of living in a hotel, you can lose cleaning – and probably washing, ironing and shopping from that list, but it creates more in the way of rent and fees. Simpler in concept, but not necessarily simpler in execution (depending on how many different people you end up paying and how long between hotel bills).

I have been researching ways to ease back in:  taking my lunch break outside the building, not staying later than necessary, prioritising and saying no. But the trouble with easing back in is that you still end up back in the thick of it. And I don’t want that. I’d like to try to keep some small semblance of the simplicity of my life on the road in my normal day-to-day. I’d like to find a way to stay waist-deep at most in the swirling currents of hectic city life, not be swept again out of my depth.

head out on the highway

Having just returned from one adventure, I'm already looking for the next one. As inviting as home is,  I've always been susceptible to the Road Trip. I have an itchy throttle hand as well as itchy feet. I want to explore the world, to see and experience new things. But the more I travel the more I question what it is about the Road that romances me: the novelty and adventure, or the simplicity?
When you're travelling, your world comes down to a microcosm of the present moment, the present surrounding, your current day, that particular adventure. It's very liberating not to worry about the past or the future to nearly the extent we normally do.
Your possessions are simplified to what you brought and what you've bought. All you have is in one place, in one suitcase if you're a seasoned traveller who's learned from past mistakes and aching shoulders. So why can't we live like that, or more like that, all the time?
One of the attractions of the iLife is that it's a lifestyle based on the simplicty of travelling: minimal possessions, because entertainment is virtual, minimal logistical issues because everything is digital, online, cloud-based. It's a gypsy freedom that still has all the mod-cons and comforts of home, as conferred by technology (and trust therein. Which is the bit I lack. But I'm working on it).

One Suitcase Rule

So I went away for two weeks, on a road trip that required careful  packing: balancing legal requirements and necessary gear with clothes,  cameras and cosmetics.
I tried to plan my packing carefully, therefore, instead of my usual last minute chucking in of anything clean that doesn't need ironing. This time I did internet research on packing lists and tips, and found a wealth of information and conflicting advice for every conceivable type of journey. There are websites that make checklists for you, based on who you are, where you're going, how you're travelling and what you plan to do when you get there. You can - and I did - distract yourself for hours with these online gadgets. I looked at long range weather forecasts and histories for the areas I was travelling through, and thought and agonized and thought and agonized for days until I had what I thought was the most pared down list possible.
Turns out I still packed far more than I needed. I could have got my three bags down to one, even given the bulkiness of my waterproofs. All of which makes me wonder why we think we need more stuff than we actually do. Why do we have such an inaccurate sense of what we can and can't do without? Contingency packing is all very well, but it's all in the odds. Maybe I'm just not good at judging them.