“More” Is Not the Answer to Too Much

“I’m overwhelmed” is something I’ve been hearing over and over lately. I’ve probably said it a couple of times myself.

Chalk it up to life in the vortex: the sense of having more time than ever before (at least in some ways), but uncertain of where it goes.

Feeling overwhelmed is a common condition—yet in trying to deal with the problem, we often end up compounding it by adding more programs, systems, and solutions.

Here’s the irony of the $11 billion self-improvement industry: in an attempt to simplify, we end up adding new tools, gadgets, email newsletters, and subscriptions to our lives. A few examples:

• You can now download apps with the sole feature of blocking your ability to access other apps. An app to keep you from using apps!
• There is now a podcast that consists entirely of trailers for new podcasts. Within a few weeks of its debut, it had dozens of episodes, all highlighting new series
• Online meditation is now a multi-billion dollar industry, with brands that are just as competitive with their adversaries as financial trading firms are

With no end to this growth in sight, you’ll only have more and more opportunities to study at the feet of the digitally enlightened—but should you? Your inner world deserves better treatment than your sock drawer. 

Of course, some of these things can be helpful. I use lots of different apps and tools every day.

Just notice that the people and companies who promise you a simpler life are the same ones that contribute to your life being complicated in the first place.

Headspace and Calm don’t just want to soothe your mind; they also want to capture your subscription fees. (And if they could only do one, which do you think they’d choose?)

Learn to be wary of everything that demands your constant attention. Use the tools that help you, and religiously discard the ones that don’t.

Apply a high filter to this decision process: don’t think “This might help me one day, so I’ll keep it around.” Instead, think “If I’m not using it now, I don’t need it in my life at all.”

Whatever the solution to overwhelm is, it can’t just be “more.”