Beverly’s Top 10 from the 30/30 Challenge: When Less is More
I must thank my friend Lynn for reminding me that less is more on so many levels.
Last week, Lynn and I met for lunch at the Beverly Hills Grill in Southfield, MI – our tradition when I visit my mom (Lynn likes the idea of “Beverly at Beverly Hills Grill”). How’s this for a paintable entrée?
When I told Lynn, an old art history buddy from the University of Michigan, about the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, we started going through my blog posts on her phone. You can read about the 30/30 Challenge which began on New Year’s here.
I was pretty shocked by how intimidating those long paragraphs looked on a cell phone screen (vs. my large desktop). While I had seen my posts on my iPhone, I had never tried to actually read them. Lynn gently suggested shortening future posts for mobile devices (less copy, more photos). Good advice, don’t you think?
It turns out that even in this digital information age less is still more! This applied to my blog, my painting and the rest of my life during the Challenge.
So here are my lessons learned from the Challenge in a list which I call Beverly’s Top 10: When Less is More (missing Letterman already?):
10. Less copy means more involved readers.
9. Fewer diversions = more painting time.
8. Laboring less over my paintings translates into fresher work.
7. Using less paint can result in a more realistic impression.
6. Painting smaller allows for experimentation with more new subjects (like the double yolk egg paintings on Days 14, 30, and 31).
5. Less shopping = more money.
4. Less cooking = more painting productivity. (Thank you Bonnie and Jay!)
3. I ate less, weighed less, and was happier with how I felt and looked.
2. Less time spent cleaning = more focus (mentally and physically) = more clutter – oops! A subject for another day.
Try this instead: Cleaning less somehow resulted in more motivation now to de-clutter and get organized (go figure…), if nothing else, for the next challenge. I got so much out of this one that I will do it again.
I saw that for a month that I was very happy without using any of that stuff lying around my house, just like the Happiness Project book promised (which I highly recommend). By ruthlessly focusing on one thing that mattered, I enjoyed painting more than I had in a long time. And so, I will end this blog with something important for you to consider:
1. Less complexity = more satisfaction and fulfillment = more fun.