Musician, entrepreneur and author, Derek Sivers, advocates minimalism to focus on what matters. He believes in simplifying life by reducing distractions, material excess and commitments. This creates space for creativity and meaningful pursuits. He sees minimalism as a path to clarity and freedom, where intentional choices align with core values and goals. By owning and doing less, people gain energy and fulfilment. Minimalism characterises Derek’s life. He said, When people visit my house, the first question is, “Do you live here?” Because it’s very empty. I’d say, “Yeah. To me, I feel quite settled. Look, I have a couch. That’s big for me.”
Derek Sivers perspectives
If more information was the answer then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs.
Derek Sivers highlights a paradox of the Information Age. Despite abundant data, many of us struggle to achieve goals. Having stats and knowledge alone isn't enough. Action is essential. Success requires applying knowledge through consistent action, not just accumulating data. Analysis paralysis is real. Rory Sutherland also points out data comes from the past and, beyond a certain point, more data is unlikely to help us make better decisions.
I work for a large corporate business with what it terms data lakes. I draw and share commercial insights from such data. However, I like to remind myself and colleagues: Not everything that can be counted matters and not everything that matters can be counted.
What's obvious to you is amazing to others.
We often underestimate our abilities and assume that what we know is common knowledge. Derek Sivers challenges this. He suggests that our insights, perspective and experience can often be valuable to others. This is especially so with creativity and innovation, where simple ideas can lead to breakthroughs when shared.
I thought I had little of interest to share beyond work colleagues, friends and family. However, Derek made me rethink this. Then Austin Kleon’s book Show Your Work provided the trigger I needed to start this weekly blog in August 2021. A recent post about Steve Jobs sales techniques was read 200,000 times.
You can't please everyone so proudly exclude people.
Embrace the fact that not everyone will resonate with our work, particularly for creatives. Focus on a niche and stay authentic to ourselves. Trying to appeal to everyone, in reality, results in us appealing to no one. The mythical average person does not exist. Kevin Kelly and many others suggest it is far better to delight a few people, rather than slightly satisfy many.
The mobile game app I launched on Apple’s AppStore acquired an enthusiastic group of players. Full of excitement, I concluded that there was something worth pursuing. I plan to launch an improved version called Scarper before Christmas.
Other resources
Derek Sivers Interview by Modern Wisdom
Ten Tips from Futurist Kevin Kelly post by Phil Martin
What Nassim Taleb Taught Me post by Phil Martin
Here’s a final thought from Derek Sivers. Don't be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams.
Have fun.
Phil…