Keep it small. Keep it simple. That’s a great personal motto and one for successful businesses as well.
Many years ago, E.F. Schumacher wrote the book, “Small is Beautiful.” It’s a series of essays centered around the theme, “if people mattered.” That phrase in and of itself encapsulates why keeping things manageable is important, and conversely why so many people experience frustration with the way the world is today.
There is so much bigness we can’t control or wrap our hands around. We grow anxious and disconnected, wanting to lash our verbally and physically. Bigness is badness.
The essays by Schumacher championed appropriate technology. His core point attacked the concept of “bigness is better,” and was designed to empower the individual.
We need to hear this message now more than ever. As we increasingly distance ourselves from the institutions and businesses established to serve us, we need to reconnect with what we can actually do in our jobs and daily activities by asking a question: “What can I personally accomplish?”
“What can you control?,” translates into, “What can you do something about?” It’s the things we can’t do something about that most frustrate us, and that’s when we tend to blow off steam.
The weekend before last, we were fortunate to see our younger daughter run in the state cross country meet, and further blessed that she won her event. That was something we couldn’t control but gave us a lot of joy. My wife and I just cheered and soaked it in.
On the other side though, my wife’s father was to have joined us for the race, but instead was hospitalized after falling in his hotel room and hitting his head. He is fine, but at the time there was a lot of worrying, from how long he’d have to stay in the hospital to finding a local hotel room for another night, to other odds and ends that had to be taken care of back home for him.
Some of the things we could take care of and others caused needless worry. They were issues out of our hands. Those are the ones that are hard to let go of, and you tend to obsess about them, “What if this happens if I can’t do that?”
Never mind that there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT THEM. Your mind continues to worry.
Most of us want a voice in the outcomes relating to our lives. We would like a say-so, but like the case when you needlessly worry, we often can’t affect the outcome.
The bigness of so many institutions creates a built-in wall against outside input. That leads to frustration, greater worry and a heightened sense of meaninglessness.
When you try to get your medical prescription addressed through the 800 number from your insurance company and it takes 22 minutes to get someone on the line, and another 8 to be told that you need to go back to your doctor to get a new one written, then follow the process again, it isn’t surprising you want to slam the phone against the wall afterwards. Multiply this one incident by several (dealing with the cable company; the Department of Motor Vehicles; the car dealership), and you have a recipe for continued brain-boiling temperatures.
They are big. You are small. You become anonymous. Your voice disappears.
The solution is to take care of your own business, handle the things you can control. The rest? Let it go.
If that doesn’t work, do like a friend of mine often suggests: “Pretend it doesn’t exist. With enough time, it will go away.” It works.
Many years ago, E.F. Schumacher wrote the book, “Small is Beautiful.” It’s a series of essays centered around the theme, “if people mattered.” That phrase in and of itself encapsulates why keeping things manageable is important, and conversely why so many people experience frustration with the way the world is today.
There is so much bigness we can’t control or wrap our hands around. We grow anxious and disconnected, wanting to lash our verbally and physically. Bigness is badness.
The essays by Schumacher championed appropriate technology. His core point attacked the concept of “bigness is better,” and was designed to empower the individual.
We need to hear this message now more than ever. As we increasingly distance ourselves from the institutions and businesses established to serve us, we need to reconnect with what we can actually do in our jobs and daily activities by asking a question: “What can I personally accomplish?”
“What can you control?,” translates into, “What can you do something about?” It’s the things we can’t do something about that most frustrate us, and that’s when we tend to blow off steam.
The weekend before last, we were fortunate to see our younger daughter run in the state cross country meet, and further blessed that she won her event. That was something we couldn’t control but gave us a lot of joy. My wife and I just cheered and soaked it in.
On the other side though, my wife’s father was to have joined us for the race, but instead was hospitalized after falling in his hotel room and hitting his head. He is fine, but at the time there was a lot of worrying, from how long he’d have to stay in the hospital to finding a local hotel room for another night, to other odds and ends that had to be taken care of back home for him.
Some of the things we could take care of and others caused needless worry. They were issues out of our hands. Those are the ones that are hard to let go of, and you tend to obsess about them, “What if this happens if I can’t do that?”
Never mind that there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT THEM. Your mind continues to worry.
Most of us want a voice in the outcomes relating to our lives. We would like a say-so, but like the case when you needlessly worry, we often can’t affect the outcome.
The bigness of so many institutions creates a built-in wall against outside input. That leads to frustration, greater worry and a heightened sense of meaninglessness.
When you try to get your medical prescription addressed through the 800 number from your insurance company and it takes 22 minutes to get someone on the line, and another 8 to be told that you need to go back to your doctor to get a new one written, then follow the process again, it isn’t surprising you want to slam the phone against the wall afterwards. Multiply this one incident by several (dealing with the cable company; the Department of Motor Vehicles; the car dealership), and you have a recipe for continued brain-boiling temperatures.
They are big. You are small. You become anonymous. Your voice disappears.
The solution is to take care of your own business, handle the things you can control. The rest? Let it go.
If that doesn’t work, do like a friend of mine often suggests: “Pretend it doesn’t exist. With enough time, it will go away.” It works.