Greg McKeown Archives — SMART Living 365

RightSizing — Choosing Semi-Retirement Instead of Retired

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Rightsized, Sustainable

“If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.” ~Confucius

A good friend of mine plans to retire in the next couple of months. She’s earned it. After working at a challenging job for over 25 years, she’s more than ready to move on to something new. But underlying that excitement I detected a bit of worry about the uncertainty before her. That mixed message of elation and concern got me thinking about how Thom and I are approaching our future. What I realized was that in our quest to rightsize our lives, Thom and I have gradually slipped into what we are calling semi-retirement in a natural and stress-free way. While so many people our age are asking an all-or-nothing question about retirement, rightsizing right now might be the best solution of all.

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7 Reasons Why Play Needs To Be A Part Of A Happy & SMART Life

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful

During the last couple of weeks Thom and I have been staying in Baja Mexico at an oceanfront condo. We came here to escape the excessive heat of summer in our hometown of La Quinta. We found a reasonable rental where we can enjoy the cooler weather, get outdoors and still accomplish our daily work schedule.But even better than a more temperate climate is the enjoyment we are having by changing our routine, getting outdoors, and hanging out with new and old friends. It’s fun—pure and simple. And while playing and having fun might seem to be frivolous and extravagant in times of climate crisis, a struggling economy and political and social unrest around the world, play is much more than that. In fact, playing just might be the antidote to all those problems, plus much, much more. [Read more…]

Nine Simple & SMART Ways To Say No

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Rightsized, SMART Book Reviews

Using humor is always one way to say “no!”

When I sat down today to make up my to-do list it occurred to me that this was going to be a very busy week. And to make matters worse, I had no one to blame except myself. For much of my life I’ve had trouble saying no to people, especially when it comes in areas I think are important. But as I’ve mentioned before, I recently read Essentialism—The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Not only does the book focus on eliminating everything that is unessential in our lives so we can focus on what really matters, McKeown suggests that learning to say “No” is a critical and courageous step required to do just that. So for those of us on the path to simplifying our lives or those of us who want to live by design rather than default, it is very SMART to learn ways to say No from here on out. [Read more…]

Essentialism—A Better Way To Describe Minimalism?

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Rightsized, SMART Book Reviews, Sustainable

Making the messy and complicated simple.

I’ve been writing about the value of sustainability, simplicity and minimalism for over six years. Because it’s a big part of living SMART, I’m always on the lookout for ways to introduce new people to the idea and explain the value and incredible advantages that such a perspective offers. Maybe that is why I synchronistically stumbled across the word “essentialism” during a recent Internet surf about how to create more meaning and purpose in a person’s life. Author Greg McKeown uses it frequently in his best selling book, Essentialism—The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. And after reading the book, it’s possible that Essentialism just might be a new and better way of describing what so many of us seek when pursuing minimalism or a simple life. [Read more…]