Keeping It Simple

In my natural state, I'm wildly disorganized. To do lists on countless scraps of paper. Tiny unlabeled jars of spices hidden behind canisters of forgotten grains. Parsley I meant to pick the leaves off, but then left to wilt on the counter. 

I have a shelf of self-help books for organizing my life. My apartment would make for a good time-lapse video. I pare my belongings down and then, ever so slowly, they creep back in. And it's not just stuff. I am a high-functioning scatter brain. 

I've done a lot of work to rein the chaos in. I am easily enchanted by systems and I've tried dozens of them. My hard drive has the remnants of nearly every task management software on the market. I've used spreadsheets. I've color coded notebooks. I've compartmentalized my inbox into a complicated network of tags and folders. 

And therein lies my problem. It's complicated. If I've learned anything by starting Sweet Roots NYC, it's that what I need, just like everyone I work with, is for things to be simplified. My favorite dishes are the simple ones. A salad dressed with a grassy olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Rice loaded with handfuls of freshly chopped herbs. Roasted chicken seasoned with nothing more than a little salt and pepper. They are the ones the come together intuitively. Without effort, they manifest perfect order. 

Lately, I've been living by my own advice. I have a start-up and my instinct is to tell myself that sleep is a luxury and that I should always do more, but I've been keeping things simple. Trying to do more with less. I have one imperfect, yet intuitive system for keeping track of my easily sprawling list of tasks. I read somewhere that over the summer I should only commit to things that I'd want to do even on the nicest day. That's what I've been doing.

Another thing I've learned from my clients is that it's ok to ask for help. I have profound respect for their humility and it's given permission to cultivate my own. I've asked a few experts to share their wisdom. I've culled the most useful apps for bringing order to the kitchen and I'm using you as motivation for a spring cleaning of my pantry. You'll have to hold me to it and, in return, I'll share what I learn with all of you. 

Comments

[Douglas B. Minter]

I appreciate you and honor your thinking of simplicity. Usually it makes a man healthy and happy.