You probably know the saying, less is more. In this article, I will go into depth and let you know my take on less is more. Because it is easy to say less is more, but taking action on it it requires you to go a level deeper. It boils down to self-control.

Desires

It all starts with a desire, a desire to start something, to eat something, etc. You feel the urge to react to everything to comes to mind. A better word for this may be an impulse. What happens when you react to all of those impulses?

You become reactive instead of proactive. You can read more about becoming pro-active in this article: Tips for developing effective time managment skills.

Your desires will control you, you become a slave to them.

Self Control

So what can you do about this? It sounds easy: Say no! When a desire comes up, for example, start that new project, or that crave for junk food, say no to it. In this article: The secret to overcoming fear. I talk about controlling your fear. The same principle applies to desire. People are created with the ability to respond: Response ability. So choose how you respond and say no.

Practise self-control

It is hard to say no to your desires. Because your mind is programmed to always go for the easiest solution. Fortunately, there is are multiple ways to practice this.

In my article: Be like Hercules and take the path of most resistance. I explain how to take the path of most resistance, which is the same as saying no to your desires. It is about denying yourself the easiest solution.

Another way to practice self-control is by practicing discipline. Go to bed on time, wake up on time, exercise, etc. A very good way to train self-discipline is by starting the 75 hard program. Read more about that here: I completed Andy Frisella’s 75 hard challenge.

When you practice discipline you will become better at denying yourself and saying no to the negative voice. Because that is also what you do by practising discipline. By choosing to exercise you say no to something else.

Like I wrote in my article about David Goggins’ principle: Callus the mind: Callus the mind by David Goggins. You start doing things you dislike, but you keep doing them over and over again. At a certain point, you will notice your mind gives up and you win the battle. You said no to the negative voice so many times, you won’t even hear it anymore.

So I have control over my desires what now?

Don’t be afraid that there won’t be anything left to do for you when you control those desires. Steven Pressfield describes this in his book War of Art. He calls it resistance(not to be confused with taking the path of most resistance). He describes those desires as resistance to reach your goals and walk the path you are meant to walk. Filtering out those desires, removing that resistance will bring you closer to what you are meant to be doing.

In practice, this means you have a clear mind. With a clear mind, you are able to make better choices and actions that lead towards your goals. Just think of it as the fog that blocks your vision. Clearing up desires will remove the brain fog.

Conclusion

This is my take on less is more, you say no to your desires to clear up your vision and take action towards your goal.

Instead of being controlled by desires and impulses. This doesn’t come easy and might be one of the hardest things in life. In this article, we discussed ways to practice saying no to yourself, desires, negative voice or impulses whatever you would like to call it.

So fewer actions clear up the fog, that will lead to more result, because you see your vision more clearly:

Less is more