I was just out visiting some friend’s blogs and felt compelled to share a message of how sometimes less is more. It’s a standard truth that can be applied to many things. I wanted to leave a comment on one of my friend’s blogs about some technical woes she’s having but the page wouldn’t load the required anti-spam word for me to type. So I figured I’d touch on what I wanted to say this way in hopes it would help her and maybe some others.

Often we begin doing things simply because they are available. As more becomes available we find ourselves delving into more of those things. In the long run we may be clogging some vital things without knowing it. The fact remains that just because you CAN do something, doesn’t necessarily mean you SHOULD. Let me share an example of something super simple but that illustrates the point well.

When I began e-mailing I delighted in the ability to so easily correspond with others. As it caught on, a new wave of customizing e-mails surfaced and I thought it was pretty cool. I could add stationery backgrounds, images, etc. After a while it became a little cumbersome so I backed it down to just adding a cute picture in my signature line. I was happy with it and although I hate to admit it, it was one thing that had some impact on my decision to use a different e-mail service/program that didn’t support images. Up to that point I had been using Microsoft Outlook, now my husband was encouraging me to try Gmail. Now the major difference is Gmail was developed by an Internet search engine company, namely Google who specializes in the area of Internet services. They understand how plain text versus html message formats work. The bottom line is that as cute as all my images and things were they were sent with every message as an attachment. Spam filters know that virus e-mails contain attachments and are set up accordingly. As soon as I made the switch I found more reliability with my e-mails reaching their destinations unfettered, and I began to really appreciate the way Gmail filtered my incoming mail. I’d unknowingly sacrificed functionality for frills before.

Blogging is a classic example of more becoming more. Plug-ins, gadgets, widgets….all these things are enticing and offer enhancements to the basic web page, to say nothing about ads. But they can also really slow things down. When I redesigned my blog a few years ago I moved all the “blog stuff” onto it’s own page so every page view wouldn’t be trying to download every unrelated but “cool” thing on my side bars. I can’t tell you the difference it made. I took control over my blog navigation and cut out all unnecessary elements. It was a good lesson.

I can’t remember if I shared it here before or if I just talked about it with someone else, but in the recent Indiana Jones movie there was an early scene that stretched believability to a breaking point. Sadly, it wasn’t necessary to the story line and it has now coined the phrase “Don’t nuke the fridge.” In other words, less is more. In my experience 99% of blogs nuke the fridge.

No matter the realm or situation, the truth that often less is more resounds with truth and clarity. If there is clutter in your life or surroundings, you’ll feel cluttered and messy. Sometimes we don’t recognize building clutter in our lives and projects but if it builds you can rest assured that eventually it will catch up to you. So my advice when you’re having problems is to step back and see if you’re nuking the fridge. It’s likely that if you work on simplifying you’ll regain much of what you desire, control being at the top of the list. *smile*

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