Become More Efficient By Simplifying Your Life
Simplicity is a concept that we all desire, yet very few of us follow. Ironically, despite its definition, achieving simplicity can be extremely hard! We manage to get our stupid brains in the way. The two voices inside our head battle each other out until the selfish one wins. As a result, our job performance suffers and the quality of our lives diminish.
A simple life is vital if you want to maximize your creativity and productiveness. So how can we become simple when our lives our so complicated?
Step 1: Decide That You Want A Simple Life
You can’t expect to follow the forthcoming steps unless you, too, agree that a simple life is what you need. This decision can be harder than you might think. I struggle with it a great deal. On one hand, I love technology and make a living off of it. I’m constantly researching the newest gadgets and salivate when I watch the trailer for Resident Evil 5. On the other hand, I’m sickened by the fact that, by the time the “Indiana Jones” credits are rolling, I’m already checking my email from my phone. You know you do it too! How pathetic is that? Now, simplifying your life doesn’t mean that you ignore your responsibilities. It merely means that, by reducing the stress that fills up so much space in our heads, we can work on our projects with a much greater focus.
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 10: The One
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is the final part in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their businesses.
Day 10 – The 10th Law of Simplicity: The One
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.
This entire series has been about extending your existing life as any kind of freelancer or even a full-time web worker and adding a social media perspective to it without being a victim of information overload. In achieving this goal, this series consists of two distinct kinds of of posts. The first is the immediately actionable advice and the second is more holistic. Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 8: Trust
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 8 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their businesses.
Day 8 – The Eighth Law of Simplicity: Trust
In simplicity we trust.
Trust is one of the most important elements of any relationship. Whether it be the relationship between a writer and her audience, a consultant and his client, or an individual and his fellow community members, without trust, the system screeches to a halt.
Trust and You
Before you can do anything worthwhile, you have to learn to trust yourself. Only once you trust yourself will you be able to trust your peers and trust the system, and if you don’t trust yourself, others are even less likely to do so. Every time you start a blog, someone has already started one better, when you start a business, there are a dozen more people trying to do the same (and with the backing of venture capital), and every time you go to participate on a socially driven site, there are dozens of “top users” who are dominating the conversation. But this shouldn’t be discouraging, not as long as you trust yourself and your abilities that given time, you can rise to the top and be a part of the so-called “A-list” crowd.
If you trust yourself, you make your life simpler by not wasting time worrying about everyone else and can actually achieve your dreams. Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 6: Context
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 6 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their business.
Day 6 – The Sixth Law of Simplicity: Context
What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
Here’s something you don’t hear very often: context is King. Let’s look at an example from The Tipping Point, an increasingly important book by one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell. In the book, Gladwell presents the following situation:
Imagine there is a deck of cards which has letters written on one side and numbers on the other. In addition, there is a rule that any card which has a vowel on it, must have an even number on the other side. Knowing these circumstances, if you are shown four cards on the table, labeled A, D, 3, 6, how many, and which cards do you have to flip before you know for a fact that indeed, the rule mentioned previously holds true.
Now consider the same question, but this time in a more contextualized form. Imagine that there are four people in a bar. One of them is drinking juice, one of them is drinking a beer, one of them is underage (a teenager), and one of them is over 25. Knowing that no one under 21 can consume alcoholic beverages, how many and which of the four people do you have to ID before you know that no illegal drinking is taking place (i.e. the no drinking under 21 law is being upheld)? Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 5: Differences
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 5 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their business.
Day 5 – The Fifth Law of Simplicity: Differences
Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Maeda perfectly captures the necessity of acknowledging the importance of differences and contrast. “Even a child that is allowed to eat ice cream three meals a day will eventually tire his sweet tooth.” Thus, to prevent yourself from falling in a rut, and to prevent your audience or clients from getting bored with you, your content/services, it is important to create differences, and help them appreciate these differences. I have previously extolled the virtues of narrowing down your goals and having a laser-sharp focus on what you want to do, and this is not in contradiction to that. Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 4: Learn
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 4 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their business.
Day 4 – The Fourth Law of Simplicity: Learn
Knowledge makes everything simpler.
It seems paradoxical that achieving simplicity would be such a laborious and complex process, but it’s true. Simplicity rarely comes naturally and we have to learn how to achieve simplicity in our daily routines and how to live by its principles.
There are entire industries and business models built on simplifying the learning process and teaching people how things work, how to do things, and lately, step-by-step guides to performing certain activities online or using web 2.0 sites and technologies. Even this site simplifies for it’s expansive audience the process of getting started as a freelancer, how to price yourself, finding freelance jobs, dealing with clients, and remaining productive as a freelancer from day-to-day. Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 3: Time
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 3 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their business.
Day 3 – The Third Law of Simplicity: Time
Savings in time feel like simplicity.
Time is of the essence. Time is money. And for a freelancers, it is doubly important. The faster you accomplish what you set out to do, the more free time you have to do multiple things and the more you can branch out and diversify. Today we’re going to prove what Douglas Adams said, “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” Time is what you make of it, so let’s try to make the most of our time.
Every minute you spend reading this article (and this series in general) will translate to hours saved and spent elsewhere in the future, without compromising on the quality of the work you’re doing already. Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 2: Organize
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 2 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their business.
Day 2 – The Second Law of Simplicity: Organize
Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
Because there are so many different things you can do on social media, and because there are so many new sites launching daily, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Of course you can decide not to participate at all, but where’s the fun in that? You’d be surprised how far a little organization can take you in terms of simplifying your social media life and enabling you to better use all the tools at your disposal. Continue Reading
Social Media and Simplicity, Part 1: Reduce
Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites.
This post is part 1 of 10 in our groundbreaking series on how freelancers can use social media and the principles of simplicity to build their business.
We as human beings are always striving for efficiency. However, the harder we try, we somehow manage to complicate things for ourselves.
Just as we’re getting a foothold in the offline world, we have to compete in the online world.
Just as we think we have a fair presence, we’re rudely awakened by newer technologies that help new entrants propel themselves forward faster than we imagine.
Making changes and embracing new ideas and technologies can be difficult. Especially considering the prevailing notion that once you get sucked into the world of new media (i.e. the social web or web 2.0) that it will consume you and all your time and that there will be no turning back.
The idea behind this 10-part series is very simple. First, we want to disprove the notion that it’s either your business or the new web by providing a set of “tricks” that help you separate the signal from the noise and integrate useful technologies in your daily workflow. The tools that various social media sites provide us are revolutionizing how we conduct our business and our relationships online, and there is no reason that anyone should be left out. Continue Reading
Introducing a Landmark FSw Series by Muhammad Saleem
Muhammad Saleem, author of our upcoming
'Social Media and Simplicity' series.
In the next few hours we’ll be publishing part 1 in a revolutionary 10 part series authored by one of the web’s most influential figures, Muhammed Saleem. Muhammad is a freelancer, social media power user (which includes being the #2 ranked user on Digg.com), social media consultant at the esteemed Pronet Advertising and someone with an unsurpassed knowledge of social media and web 2.0.
If you’ve ever wondered about how you can use the web’s newest communities to promote and grow your freelancing business, this ‘Social Media and Simplicity’ series will serve as a definitive guide.
Posts in the series will be published every second day, to provide a healthy balance between the type of FSw content you know and love and this cutting-edge guide.
We’re excited to bring this series to you. For your convenience, you’ll be able to navigate through the entire series from this post as new installments are published.
