A New Year, A New Word
Happy New Year!
In keeping with my tradition that I described in a new year post last year, I want to share my “word of the year” or the theme that I want to undergird my way of life for the year. Before I do that, I thought I should hold myself accountable for how things went with last year’s word, lagom. Lagom, is a Swedish word that means “sufficient, enough, adequate, just right.” I still remain very much enamored with that word. It is just so elegant the way it encapsulates so simply some wonderful concepts. That said, my year was not so lagom. It was a remarkable year in so many respects, but unfortunately, lagom was not the theme of the year. Rather, “too much” carried the day. Too much travel. Too much work. Too much food. Too much stuff. You get the idea. So, to learn from that, this year’s word tries to deal with “too much.”
My word of the year or theme is “minimal.” Lagom will be a word I revisit when it is not drowning in a sea of too much. This year needs to be a year of pruning. I need to strip things down to the boards to see what is really needed and what I can do without. There are the obvious things we all need to literally survive that I hope, heaven willing, will still be part of my life. Another thing I cannot have too much of is quality family time. But, beyond that, I hope to test what I can do without. I want to approach things in a very minimalist way from here on out.
Related to minimalism, I love a concept that Tim Ferriss always talks about called “minimum effective dose,” or “MED.” In pharmacology, when a drug is being developed, the scientists seek to find the minimum amount of a compound that is both efficacious against the target and safe for the patient. Ferriss has extended this concept to pretty much everything. The result is one does not overdo things to the point that we waste time, effort, or resources on things that have no marginal value or, in many cases, negative marginal value. The lens of MED will be a key tool in my goal to strip things down.
The other key element of my minimalist year is gratitude. I have noted over and over my tendency towards ingratitude. Ingratitude is a wonderful tool to indulge in too much. If we do not acknowledge all we have, we tend towards filling our lives with things that are a feeble attempt to fill voids that will not be filled by palliatives that do not address the fundamental needs that are going unmet. All the while, we miss the majesty and grandeur that is right before us. I believe that conversely gratitude is quite likely a powerful tool for keeping things MED.
So, in honor of the minimalist ideal I have set for this year, I’ll try to keep this brief. I wish you all a wonderful new year filled with peace, love, and happiness. I express my gratitude for my family, friends, and the wonderful life I have been blessed with. I am excited to undertake a year of my own version of living on “Walden Pond.” I am confident it won’t look much like Thoreau’s experiment, but I am optimistic that in setting such a high goal even falling short could have profound effects on my life. Wish me luck.