Less is More
Savvy Saturdays - 12/12/20
I’ve always believed that more is better.
The more resources, experience, or time you have, the better you’re able to do things. That extra dollar, extra skill, and extra hour can go a long way.
But sometimes, having more can be a hindrance.
Having too much can breed security and comfort. Though both are good things, they can become shackles when the goal is innovation, progress, or change. ⛓️
As Life.church pastor Craig Groeschel mentions, the greatest obstacle to future success, is current success.
Being placed in circumstances where you’re limited, where there is no surplus, can create an environment of urgency and greater focus.
Though it may not be ideal, putting yourself in these circumstances can force you to adapt and innovate.
To use whatever you have at your disposal and try to do great with it.
To grow. 🌱
Kelvin Doe was someone who was born in circumstances where he didn’t have much, yet he grew under those limits. 👇
“15-Year-Old Kelvin Doe is an engineering whiz living in Sierra Leone who scours the trash bins for spare parts, which he uses to build batteries, generators and transmitters.
Completely self-taught, Kelvin has created his own radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music under the moniker, DJ Focus.”
Ironically, having less can be more.
When you have less money, you’re forced to be more careful with your dollar. 💰
When you lack ability, you’re forced to learn or find someone who can fill that gap. 🙋
When you have less time, you’re forced to allocate your time on what’s important. 🕒
Ultimately, having less can be a refining fire that brings about clarity, focus, and the ability to create high-quality work with little.
Questions to ponder: 🤔
Where do you have a surplus in your life, that may be hindering your growth?
What artificial limits can you set in order to learn, achieve innovation and growth?
Weekly Collections
A collection of resources for you to enjoy… 📰 🎬 🎙️
Faith
All true obedience comes by faith.
So, if you want to be an obedient person and live the Christian life the way Paul conceives it, then work on your faith.
Don’t try to work on your works, because you’ll wind up being a legalist.
Work on your faith; focus on the Lord.
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17)
And so, focus on Christ, know Christ, delight in Christ, meditate on Christ; get the whole Christ before you.
—How Can I Grow In Obeying God | Ask Pastor John
Leadership
I recently finished reading “The Effective Executive” by Peter Drucker. Highly recommend it to anyone who is trying to learn to “get the right things done”!
Here are the 6 high-level concepts Greg from Goodreads took note on it:
Know where your time goes; relentlessly prune unproductive activities.
Know the contribution you're expected to make - to others' contributions and to the organization.
Make your strengths productive and hone them; focus on the absence of weakness leads to mediocrity.
There are always more opportunities available than time to pursue them – prioritize and focus on the truly impactful.
Continually shed unproductive programs and processes by asking, "If we didn't already do this, would we go into it now?"
Most events are generic and should be handled by rules, policies, and procedures; solutions to truly unique events should be formed on the highest conceptual level possible.
—The Effective Executive | Peter Drucker
Productivity
The Ultimate Annual Review is an actionable blueprint to conduct your own self-paced annual life review. You'll explore the challenges yo8u faced, what you learned, and what you desire in the new year.
I plan to do this review over the winter break in order to better assess and future plans. If you want to join in doing it, you can check out the full website here.
—Annual Review | Steve Schlafman
Weekly Tidbits
Learnings, verses, & quotes to chew on… 🧐
Verse of the Week
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
—Psalm 1:2-3
Challenging Quote
“The secret to winning is learning how to lose.
That is, learning to bounce back from failure and disappointment—undeterred—and continuing to steadily march toward your potential.
Your response to failure determines your capacity for success."
—James Clear
Weekly Update
Personal life stuff… 🔔
Hello friends,
Greetings from Austin! 👋
(I can’t believe I’m writing this update at 2 AM in the morning, but sometimes, it be like that.)
This past week I’ve noticed that my personal life has kind of started to go into shambles. 😳 I’ve started to have fewer responsibilities because ministry is dying down, and so things like leaving my emails to stack up, not having the motivation to do things off my task list, and going on long walks in order to procrastinate and avoid my responsibilities have been very real to me.
Fortunately, long walks for procrastination have been good for all aspects of health (rip my sore legs) and I’ve been listening to audiobooks during that time, so that’s nice. 🎧
Currently, I’m listening to Small Giants, and a takeaway I’ve gotten is that great small businesses are run by “mojo”, essentially a cultural advantage of trust & impact, which can be ruined if you grow too fast in a company and lose that sense of care and community for one another. 🧐
A very good insight, as it made me reflect on whether I was going for business for the right reasons, as I’ve always wanted to start a startup and see it grow big, but now I’m reconsidering that whole life plan haha… 👀
Aside from that, I’ve also been working on my personal website more.
Things like supporting emojis, and creating cool CSS transitions. Website work is always fun to do, and the only danger is coding on a workday night while in the zone (… fortunately, there’s coffee to wake up to 😬), and spending hours just getting one small functionality of code to work.
I’m hoping one day to be able to run my newsletter through my website, rather than hosting on a platform, but we’ll see what happens.🤔
Anyways, here are several pictures from this past week: 📷
I’ll take this opportunity also to update that I’ve been trying to grow a man bun, and my hair is long enough for me to cosplay like one of those long-haired Japanese horror girls 😱
Anyways, thanks for checking in y’all. If you have any prayer requests, I’d love to pray for you! 🙏
With that, stay safe 😷 , keep it savvy 🧠 , and I’ll see y’all in the next update 😊
Eric
P.S. If this is your first time around and you enjoy my content, feel free to subscribe!
You’ll get content delivered weekly on insightful learnings, faith, leadership, productivity, and some tidbits to chew on. If you ever feel it to be unnecessary or too noisy, you can always unsubscribe.
If you enjoy the content, give the post a like! (you will need to sign in with your email)
This helps with exposure, getting the word out for what I make! 😬
P.S.S. Want to write a guest post? Have a cool article, resource, verse, or quote to share? Email me @ eric-lee [at] utexas [dot] edu.