This Week’s BIG Idea
In the early 20th century, an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto realized that 80% of the outcomes come from 20% of the causes. Although the concept originated in sociology and economy, people soon started applying the principle to all areas of life. To illustrate the Pareto Principle in simple terms, I use 80% of the time, I use 20% of the items in my wardrobe. If you look around, there are infinite advantages to the Pareto principle, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s focus on the thing we tend to ignore, our wardrobe.
I’ve been meaning to downsize my wardrobe for years now. Since getting rid of things is usually an emotional process rather than an emotional one, this proved to be harder than I anticipated. For this purpose, I used YouTube, Pinterest, men’s fashion blogs, and other resources. I always ignored content of this kind because I thought it was frivolous, shallow, and more importantly, hard. In reality, the principles of fashion are ridiculously simple, and despite what people think, it isn’t expensive either. The idea is to spend more money on fewer high-quality items you use regularly. The aim is to spend 80% of your budget on 20% of the items. Again, the advantages of the Pareto principle show up.
I learned a lot over the last couple of days and interestingly, I also came across a bunch of books about style I intend to read at some point. I’d love to share what I learn if anyone’s interested. I must go now, I have a bunch of things I must get rid of.
What I’m Working on
I’ve been working on a summary of The Comfort Crisis. By the time this newsletter article goes live, the summary should be available for everyone to read.
What I’m Listening to
Cal Newport: Take the Pressure of Productivity: in this episode of The Daily Stoic podcast, Ryan Holiday interviews Cal Newport, and the authors discuss all things productivity. I can’t resist a talk between two best-selling authors in the non-fiction space, especially when they discuss topics I care about deeply. I’m looking forward to listening to this episode, as well as reading Newport’s book. Which leads me to…
What I’m Reading
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport: as I’m writing this week’s newsletter, I just finished reading Atomic Attraction. The next item on the list is Slow Productivity, a book I’ve been thinking about ever since Newport announced it. I don’t know much about the book, but I’ve enjoyed most of the author’s books so far, so I’m sure it won’t disappoint.
What I’m Watching
My new minimalist wardrobe by Matt D’avella: as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I’ve been thinking about downsizing my wardrobe to the 20% of items I use regularly and getting rid of the 80% I don’t. This has been more difficult than I anticipated. Although I wouldn’t call myself a minimalist, I adhere to a bunch of principles from the minimalist movement. The problem is that when I think about getting rid of things, I’m not rational; I’m emotional. For this purpose, I watched this Matt D’avella video where he shows the advantage of having a minimalist wardrobe and he shares a simple system to keep everything organized.
This Week’s Quote
“The past is not as good as you remember, the present is not as bad as you think and the future will be better than you anticipate.”
Morgan Housel
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