Minimalism & meditation flavored M&Ms
minimalism & meditation over managers & meetings
Jason Fried tells us to go Easy on the M&Ms. He’s talking about managers and meetings. This (and his Remote chapter, and TED talk) got me thinking about a better flavor of M&Ms: minimalism and meditation. These new M&Ms are a provocative counter to managers and meetings.
In summary, Fried explains that meetings and managers interrupt productivity. Meetings break up the day. They communicate too little information for too large a time investment. Managers disturb the workday with frequent checkins and status updates. And they are the ones that schedule meetings. It’s a bad cycle. Business should go easy on these M&Ms, like a chef salts a well seasoned dish. Just enough to enhance. Too much ruins the plate.
Here’s a different flavor of M&Ms: minimalism and meditation. These are a delicious and productive alternative. Minimalism is about having less and doing less. It’s about focusing on the what remains, and making that great. Meditation is about mindfulness, calmness, and being present. It’s about focus and being intentional. The qualities of these new M&Ms improve productivity and make great work.
Let’s compare flavors:
Minimalism and meditation M&Ms are… time savers, productive and healthy, simple and calm, focus on the present, autonomous, slow and mindful, stress decreasing, with a singular few, and subtractive.
Managers and meeting M&Ms are… time wasters, disruptive and unclear, complex and stressful, focus on the past and future, micromanage, fast and urgent, stress increasing, with too many, and additive.
Do you find yourself with too many manager and meeting flavored M&Ms? Try minimalism and meditation instead. Tell your boss about it. If you’re the boss, offer them as a replacement. Even a partial replacement. Just don’t schedule a whole meeting about it. 😉
A small investment in these new M&Ms could make a large improvement in productivity.
