Jim Murray

7 years ago · 2 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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The Simplicity Manifesto: A Constant Work In Progress

The Simplicity Manifesto: A Constant Work In Progress

STORIES & OPINION FROM THE QUIET SIDE OF THE LAKE - oz NLL

Recently, and over a protracted period of time, I have been working to simplify my existence.

This arose out of two separate addictions that I wanted to rid myself of.

1. The addiction to constantly acquiring and having to learn new technology, both hardware, and software. I announced that intention in this piece.

Sitting On My Front Porch In Ludditeville Ontario

2. The Trump addiction, which is really quite widespread among those with actual functioning brain cells.

The Long View...A Long Time Coming

From kicking other addictions in my life like tobacco and weed, I have learned that for me at least, these are better done gradually as opposed to cold turkey.

In point of fact, I think that a lot of people struggle with their addictions because they choose the cold turkey method, and frankly it really is not for the faint of heart.

Since announcing my intentions to do this I have found #1 to be rather easy and a huge relief. I reverted to a flip phone, which I only use as a phone and my iPhone only as a camera, I use my iPad only to check the weather and to cruise down my Facebook page when I’m having a dump.

All of our TV stuff has been simplified and we are working towards ditching cable and becoming a streaming-only couple. That may take a while, because there is a bit of a learning curve there.

And the list goes on.

The second addiction has proven a bit harder since Trump is the gift that keeps on giving and by giving I mean trying to destroy his country through a potent mix of greed, ego, stupidity and mental illness.

Having said that, I am now at the point where I may just publish the odd meme, and participate in comments. which for me is 80% of the way to being free of him and the massive dark shadow he casts over his country, which is a country I happen to be quite fond of for many reasons.

Since this self-imposed simplicity movement, I have created a meme series in which I outline how I am actually going about creating this simplicity or at least reducing complexities in my life.

I have posted the first set of these below. Hope you enjoy them if you so inclined as to wade through them.

ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO ¢¢« 1. BORN AGAIN...OR AT LEAST TRYING TO BE A few months ago, while riding around on my bike, it occurred to me that my thought processes had become way too complex This was, I discovered, because I was trying too hard to optimize all the tech at my disposal. And it had been steering me in the wrong direction, creatively speaking. Right then and there, I decided to make a concerted effort to simplify my whole approach to work and how it gets done. It's definitely an unlearning process, but the gestalt of letting go of a lot of the tech-induced useless and point- less bullshit is incredible I have started to think like a real creative guy again. I strongly recommend this kind of re-boot for every- one whose brain is spinning-in-place way too quickly, these days Copyright 2018, Jim Murray All mghts reserved. Mur

ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO so ¢« 2. THE MEDIUM IS NOT THE MESSAGE One of the things I have always believed is that, when it comes to communications, the tools, or media may have changed, but the primiciples are still very much the same. Trouble is there are a lot of people who want to change the principles to better suit the tools. And what that does, quite simply, is put the cart before the horse Tools are tools. If you fall into the trap of relying on tools and their application to be your idea of how to communicate, you invariably end up boring the shit out of people. To me, this is the main reason why most digital marketing has a pathetically low ROI. People are letting the medium, and not their brains, do the thinking for them. And the results speak for themselves. Getting back to creating ideas and then finding the best ways to communicate them will put you in the very unique position of the lemming who runs away from the cliff. Simple. Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All rights reserved Mur
ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO + 3. POLITICS IS SIMPLY NOT WORTH THE EFFORT For the past few years, I have spent, or should I say, pissed away a lot of time, writing about politics. I really didn’t have anything good to say about it, and from time to time, it would even depress me. So as part of simplifying my existence, I have been making a conscious effort to wean myself off writing about, even thinking much about, politics The simple fact is that the only way that politics, at least wjere I live, can affect my life is by making it cost more for me to actually live it. This, in turn, means I would have to work harder to maintain my lavish life- style. LOL 80 by ignoring politics I am simply cutting out the middle man, and leaving more time to work, and less time to be depressed about the sleazoids who populate the better part of that world Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All nghts reserved Mur
ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO + 4. THE JIG IS UP FOR TV It only took about 50 years, but I have finally admitted to myself that most of TV is formulaic crap, and not worth watching I figured this out recently, and kick myself for not glomming onto it sooner, but in TV dramas and mysteries, which are most of what I have traditionally watched over the years, the who that done it is always, always the first person the cops talk to. Once you know this, there's really no point in watch- ing most of what's on TV. Hardly any of the sitcoms are actually funny. The news is violent and depressing. I enjoy baseball and football more listening to them on the radio, and I get more accurate weather on my computer. So all I really have left is Masterpiece Classics and Star Trek. Simple Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All nghts reserved Mur
ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO + 5. MY ‘PERSONAL BRAND’ ... 8.0.B Since I have come to the conclusion that all of social media is simply bullshit that's fun, I have spent very little time worrying about my ‘personal brand’ there In point of fact, I'm not even sure what the hell what a personal brand really means. Here's the thing. You're either a poster or a commenter or a lurker on social media. So what do you do when you are all three? Damned if I know. I used to have thousands of Facebook ‘friends’ but closed my account when I realized that most of them were just dipshits of one kind or another. Then I opened a new account and have about 110 friends now, all of whom I actually know, have met, or have made meaningful contact with. To them, my personal brand is...whatever they want it to be. 8.0.B.? Sure, why not? Simple. Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All nghts reserved Mur
ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO + 6. WHY I HATE MY CAR Actually I don't hate my car. It's a beautiful, comfortable Scion and we consider it part of the family. What I hate is driving. I've always been much more partial to riding my bike wherever I need to go This mainly has to do with the fact that I get paid to think. And I think best, believe it or not, when I am riding my bike When I am driving my car, even here in St Catharines, I'm only thinking about driving. Because there's a lot to think about if you don't want to kill someone or get into some sort of fender bender. On my bike, I can take side streets where there is no traffic, and be free to let my mind wander. This has always been an extremely fruitful way to come up with ideas or solve problems, which are, at the end of the day, the two key aspects of my job and what I like to do most. Simple Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All rights reserved Mur
ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO + 7. QUANTITY IS NOT QUALITY There was a time when I would say yes to anything that came along, work-wise. And I invariably paid a price for that, by ending up doing a lot of shit I really did not care about for a lot of people who simply didn't get it. We all go through that in our lives. But one of the key points of simplifying is having a pretty clear idea of what it is you want to do and who you want to do it for. I would much rather have a few really good clients who are out there trying to make some kind of positive difference in the world than a whole bunch of hustlers out to make big bucks off an unsuspecting public And part of that process is teaching yourself to settle for less materially in exchange for more spiritually. These days, for me at least, that's a fair trade-off. Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All nghts reserved Mur
ees THE SIMPLICITY MANIFESTO + 8. SPIRITUALITY VERSUS RELIGION I was raised to be a Catholic. I believed in God and Jesus. I was even an alter boy, and wore a 8t Christopher medal around my neck When you're young, religion is comforting. It keeps you from driving yourself nuts with questions like ‘How did we get here?’ and ‘What the hell is this all about?’ A lot of people can carry this belief with them throughout their whole lives, despite the fact that no one ever shows them any proof that God actually exists But others, like me, would rather puzzle over life's other mysteries. Abandon religion for a more esoteric view on the big questions concering our existence and purpose. So a big part of simplifying in this area is just forgetting all this shit, religious or secular, and simply being thankful for every day you have on this planet. If you choose to live like that, I would argue you're a lot more ‘religious’ than most so called religious people Copyright 2018, Jim Murray. All nghts reservedjim out


86922294.pngJim Murray is a highly experienced advertising and marketing professional. He is a communication strategist, op/ed blogger, writer, art director and broadcast producer.

He is also a partner at Bullet Proof Consulting. www.bulletproofconsulting.ca

You can follow Jim:

On beBee: https://www.bebee.com/bee/jim-murray

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-murray-b8a3a4/

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jimbobmur

On Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/y97gxro4



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Comments

Jim Murray

7 years ago#4

#4
Peter Altschuler. TRaking care of your tribe is job #1. My kids have the same attitude toward their kids as we did toward them. Educate, challenge and set a good example. Yeah, it puts you in the minority. But that's where the leaders of tomorrow come from. The US is learning a hard lesson about change right now. I hope they come out of it. But it will be a long time coming.

Jerry Fletcher

7 years ago#3

Back to basics is too often considered an excuse. It ain't.

Jim Murray

7 years ago#2

Thanks Pascal Derrien. I have spent a lot of my life slaving away in one complex situation after another. Finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Pascal Derrien

7 years ago#1

To the work in progress and its manifesto .... :-) Simple is good

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