Monday Musings - how to be less stupid

I read this article last week, mostly because of the awesomeness of the title (warning, if you do read it, there is some mild language) and I loved one of the first lines that Altucher wrote:

Subtraction, and not Addition, is what makes the window to the brain more clear.

Fantastic.

Most of us would argue that if we could only learn more, add more knowledge to our memory banks, develop broader expertise, that would make us smarter.

However, I totally agree that it's likely a bit of spring cleaning is in order and we need to de-clutter.  If only we could all let go of the list of things Altucher suggests we subtract (love that he only came up with 9... I'm sure we could all add many more to it), who knows how much smarter we would become.  As we let go of other people's expectations, guilt, regret, the need to control - imagine the creativity, excitement, sense of freedom we would experience.  There is definitely a lot of clutter in my mind that could do with some clearing out to create extra room for healthy thinking...

I also know that for me, I'm far more productive and effective when I have less that I need to focus on.  When I try to be all things to all people, when I try to stay on top of everything, I'm actually far less capable.  As the genius folks at Steam Whistle say... we all need to try to do one thing, really, really well.  (Clearly they do marketing well, because I didn't even need to look that up...) 

Our church family is focused has the concept of simplicity at the centre of who we are - that "we value uncluttered lives (yep, that's the official wording!), which free us to love boldly, give generously and serve joyfully".  Whenever I unpack that with people, I'm quick to remind them that the value of simplicity is about far more than just living on less money so we can give more away (although that's part of it).  It's also about subtraction - having fewer relationships, fewer responsibilities, fewer things that are demanding our attention and resources, so that we can be more generous with what is left - the key people in our lives, the priorities we want to set.

Obviously there are many things that pull for our attention, but I wonder how much more healthy, effective and excited we would be if we were able to take some time to remove some of the clutter and junk, get rid of some of the areas of our lives that are actually not that important and put our priorities in their right places.  I know I could benefit from being a little less stupid...

What do I need to de-clutter in my mind - others' expectations? guilt? regret? resentment?
What do I need to let go of, so that I can have a greater sense of focus on what's important?
What areas of my life can I simplify and cut back, so that I can be more generous?