Did you know that today is National Simplicity Day?  What is that you ask? 

The simple answer (pardon the pun) is:  It’s a holiday created to celebrate American essayist, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.  It happens every year on July 12, since that’s the day Thoreau was born.  It’s a day intended to remove clutter and complexity in our lives in favor of living a simple life.  

You should know that behind most simple answers lies a more complex story.  And that is true for this as well.

Thoreau was a transcendentalist, which means he subscribed to a way of living common in the 19th century that believed in the following principles:

• All people are inherently good. 
• All people possess infinite intuition (about themselves and the world around them), which allows them to “transcend” the external world.  They believed all people made sense of the world around them through reflection, emotions and insight instead of rational logic, intellect or the five senses.  
• Because of this, they believed that all people can and should trust themselves to have the answer to what’s right for them.  They valued personal freedom and self-reliance. 
• They had a high level of respect for nature.  They believed that everything in nature was connected and therefore, it was a place people could connect with their intuition in order to “transcend.” 

Thoreau valued living a simple life - one that relied less on materialism, external rewards, quantity and complexity and instead focused on individualism, internal fulfillment, quality and simplicity. You can read many a quote by Thoreau that talks about letting go (physically, emotionally and mentally) of the clutter and attachment that we have to multitudes and instead finding joy in the simple things.  For instance, Thoreau said:

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” 

“The rule is to carry as little as possible.”

“Simplicity is the law of nature for men as well as for flowers." 

So why am I sharing this with you?  I’ll be honest.  I don’t know a lot about transcendentalism, but as I started exploring more about it, a lot resonated with me and I noticed many parallels between Willown’s philosophy and the transcendentalist philosophy.  Namely: 

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”  Thoreau

Like Thoreau, I believe in the beauty that people are inherently good. For years, I’ve subscribed to the mantra of “Assume best intentions” and I believe most people want to do and be good at something.  It’s because of this that I’ve spent most of my career investing in the growth and development of others as an instructional designer, trainer and leader.  

“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.”  Thoreau

Like Thoreau, I believe in the beauty of intuition, personal power and self-reliance.  In fact, that’s how Willown got its name. Willown is a hybrid of “will” and “own”.  “Will” refers to our uniquely human quality that allows us to act and make choices based on our principles (ie our intuition) and not what our environment dictates we should do. “Own” refers to our ability to have possession and control over an asset.  Willown represents our combined ability to make choices for ourselves that permit and encourage us to own and develop our greatest asset - which I think is our ability to learn, grow and become better through and because of change.  This is personal power and self-reliance at its finest.

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”  Thoreau

Like Thoreau, I believe in the beauty of simplicity.  And the older I get, the more true this has become.  Over the last couple of years, I’ve taken on more and bigger projects both at work and home.   Starting this business is one such example.  I’m also currently embracing a wellness journey with the aim to lose weight and get fit.  I’ve taken on new roles and responsibilities, both at work and home.  On many days it can feel like I’m juggling one (or two or three) too many balls and some days, it feels like some of those balls are on fire.  

So the need to simplify and focus on what’s most important is crucial to my success, well-being and happiness.  And that’s true for most of us.  I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like our lives have become more complex in recent years and our limited time and energy is demanded by so much more.

And that’s why I created The Willown Way.  I’ve curated and simplified the “best of the best” project management strategies and I’ve organized them into a five-step process that walks you through how to use them for personal use in your every day life.  It’s project management simplified.     

In Step 1, I encourage you to lean into your intuition and emotional intelligence to discover what you’re really great at and what you love to do, so that you can allow those things to carry you through the (sometimes difficult) change process.  In Step 2, you’ll dig deeper into your intuition to discover your core motivations for why you want to make a change in the first place, so that you can create a compelling “business case” for yourself - one that allows you to stay focused and steadfast through the end.  As Thoreau once said “Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”  Understanding your strengths, motivations and relationship with change are all needed to grow your personal power and self-reliance as you navigate change.

In Steps 3 - 5 of The Willown Way, we simplify project management as a tool you can use in your personal life to simplify change.  These courses help you think through what you can let go of and how to let them go.  For instance, you’ll learn techniques that will help you answer the following questions:

• What’s actually feasible to get done and what work can you let go of?  
• What are the most important requirements and priorities that you need to fulfill?  Are there assumptions you can let go of?
• Rather than focus on all obstacles that can get in your way, how can you identify and focus on those roadblocks that will have the most impact on your success?

The transcendentalists believed in the power of personal freedom and self-reliance.  I believe in the power of personal effectiveness and self-efficacy, both of which can grow and develop through the regular and ongoing practice of project management. 

Thoreau, with all of this many great quotes, once said:  

“Things do not change; we change.” 

And that’s something I agree with 100%.  Change is ever present in our lives.  It feels like a constant.  And yet, every time we go through a life change, the new experience can feel different than our previous experiences.  We’re uncertain how to navigate it.  What worked last time is no longer working for us now.  It can feel overwhelming and scary because of that.  

Additionally, so many times, our first attempt to manage change is to change our surroundings or the conditions in our environment.  And yet the only thing within our locus of control to change is ourselves.  We need to adapt to our surroundings and evolve our way of thinking and doing with each new change.  And that’s one of the reasons change is so difficult - it takes a lot of effort and intention each time.

But project management can help.

• It gives you a way to think strategically and intentionally about how to adapt yourself through the change process.  
• It allows you to test your assumptions of what’s most important (and why) and how you can achieve the results you’re looking for.  
• It’s all about focusing your time and energy on the right priorities to get the best results possible.  

So on that note, I’m going to refocus us back to today’s priority - which is National Simplicity Day. We’re encouraged to focus on a simpler way of living.  We’re reminded to declutter our homes.  Disconnect from technology.  Pursue a simple pleasure such as reading or taking a walk outside.  For me, I’m going to honor the day by taking a walk outside.  I’m going to allow myself to focus on nothing but the sounds, sights and smells of nature, so that I can hush the voices in my head that remind me of everything I should be doing.

How are you going to celebrate National Simplicity Day?  If you need some inspiration to get you started in your reflection, consider the following:

1. Is there something you’d like to bring focus to that maybe you’ve been putting off or neglecting?  How can you get rid of the noise that is preventing your focus?
2. Is there anything you can let go of (physically, emotionally, mentally, work/task wise)? 

I could easily provide more questions to reflect on…but in the celebration of all things simple…let’s just stick with the two questions above.  As Thoreau said…”Simplify, simplify, simplify.”  

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Transcendentalism-American-movement 

 https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/ 

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/transcendentalism 

https://iep.utm.edu/am-trans/ 

https://www.ushistory.org/us/26f.asp 

https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3551 

https://nationaltoday.com/national-simplicity-day/