Many of us feel like we’re drowning in invisible complexity. So I wanted to hit pause and ask a simple question: What are 1–3 decisions that could dramatically simplify my life?
In this episode:
- Chip Conley shares how a near-death experience onstage changed his life
- Greg McKeown reveals what a stormtrooper costume has to do with all the goddamn clutter in our lives
- David Allen explains why the to-do list living in your head costs you more than you think.
- Elizabeth Gilbert explains why she treats her inbox like her home, and what she does when uninvited guests show up.
- And Oliver Burkeman explains why so much simplicity advice backfires and what has actually worked for him.
This episode is brought to you by:
How to Simplify Your Life — Tips from Oliver Burkeman, Chip Conley, Elizabeth Gilbert, and More
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Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Transcripts
Show Notes
Connect with Chip Conley:
Connect with Greg McKeown:
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Connect with Elizabeth Gilbert:
Connect with Oliver Burkeman:
Recommended Reading, Listening, & Viewing
Books
People
Timestamps
- [00:00:00] Start.
- [00:01:36] Chip Conley: Turning manic into magic.
- [00:13:00] Greg McKeown: Is that a stormtrooper you’re pursuing?
- [00:20:18] David Allen: Agreements you haven’t kept with yourself.
- [00:28:35] Elizabeth Gilbert: “Thank you” and “No.”
- [00:36:37] Oliver Burkeman: Simplicity is an attitude, not a technique.
Quotations from This Episode
“Knowledge is something you accumulate, you add. Wisdom is something you distill, you simplify.”
— Chip Conley
“I think a lot of people have a lot of stormtroopers in their life.”
— Greg McKeown
“You can only feel good about what you’re not doing when you know what you’re not doing.”
— David Allen
“I now treat my inbox like it’s my home because I think it’s an extension of my home.”
— Elizabeth Gilbert
“True simplicity, the simplicity that actually practically helped me in life, is not a question of techniques; it is an attitude.”
— Oliver Burkeman
Want to hear more strategies for simplifying your life? Listen to my conversations with Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, and Martha Beck, in which we discussed why simple is the opposite of complex (not a synonym for easy), living without subscriptions or dependencies, building a house from scratch in New Zealand, getting clear on who your work is for, eliminating gray areas, reclaiming time with personal boundaries, following true joy instead of dopamine hits, how a near-death experience sparked a radical commitment, and much more.
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Photo by Monica Toner
