Book Review: The Power of Less

You might already be familiar with much of Leo Babauta’s The Power of Less [affiliate link], because it is based on his popular Zen Habits blog. I also have read Leo’s blog for a long while, but thought it would be good to have his best blog articles all packaged together, as is claimed for the book. So, I paid my $10 to Amazon and downloaded it to my Kindle.

By the time I had read only about 20 pages, I felt like my $10 had already been paid back: in discussing eliminating the non-essential from our task lists, Leo noted that we should ask questions like the following for each task:

• Will this have an impact that will last beyond this week or this month?
• How will this further a long-term goal of mine?

When I read this, I was embarrassed that I had gotten away from asking myself these sorts of questions. When I was working, I regularly used questions like this in going through my tasks. But, now that I have been retired for over 2 years, I have gotten into the mode of just doing what I want to do, when I want to do it. That may sound like fun, and a certain amount of it is, and I do deserve to be at the point where I can do it. But, too much of it is not good for me or for anyone.

Anyway, other things from the book which I found helpful were:

• Identify 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks) for each day, and ensure you complete them. Ideally one of the tasks should relate to one of your goals.
• Create new habits. If you need to feel more peaceful, for example, create a habit in which you wake up 15 minutes earlier each morning and you give that time totally to yourself to gain a sense of peacefulness (via meditation or whatever means works for you).
• Make the best use of the power of focus: for those important tasks you need to complete, dedicate focused time to them, ignoring email and other distractors.
• The section on motivation (getting motivated and “remotivated”) has a lot of good tips.

But, there were some downsides to the book, too:

• It has far too much repetition.
• Many of the techniques simply would not work in Corporate America. For example, Leo insists on limiting yourself to 3 open projects and not doing any other projects until those are complete. Many has been the time when I’ve gone in at 6:30 am, worked on 3 projects by 7:30 am, and was at the point where those projects could not be completed until I heard back from others … I assure you I did not set around the rest of the day, nor could anyone in the “real world.”
• One of Leo’s recommendations is to not schedule any appointments. This is another example of him preaching something that just doesn’t work in Corporate America. Furthermore, it is disrespectful of the time of other people to not plan the time you spend with them.
• The recommendation to reduce email to a few times a day just will not work for a lot of people. In many professions, you never know when you’re going to get an urgent email, so you have to stay on top of it.
• A couple of the book’s recommendations are just plain nonsensical: His recommendation to pay bills as soon as they arrive (rather than when due) is not good cash-flow management, and will cheat you out of some interest income. And his recommendation to “ignore other drivers” when driving is guaranteed to reduce your life span in many cities, mine included.

In general, it seems to me that Leo comes across as too dogmatic. His principles of simplicity and mindfulness are sound, though, and one should try to focus on the “why” he is making a recommendation instead of on the “how” of the recommendation.

For example, while I have noted that many people must stay on top of their email, as a matter of corporate survival, I have seen too many people who could not even enjoy a dinner with friends because of their perceived need to check email every five minutes. While they sure couldn’t cut back to twice a day, these people would be better off if they could cut some slack on the email, especially in the company of friends and family.

Similarly, his principle of “limitation” is good, if you keep it in the right perspective. One has to keep in mind that the real objective is to be effective, not to follow dogma.

Should you buy this book?

As I noted earlier, I got my money’s worth out of this book while early into reading it. But, in reading all the way through it, I also recognized that the book is not for everyone. I think the best way for you to know if it is for you or not is to check out Leo’s Zen Habits site and see what you think of the material. The book is based on material from the website, so you can get a good indication from his blog whether the book will serve you.

A theme that runs through the book is mindfulness, which we have discussed before. If you already know that you really are just looking to be more mindful, there might be better resources for you on this. Some of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s material, such as his Wherever You Go, There You Are, might be a better book for you, because he has done research in this area for many years. Or, maybe you just want to grab both books.