Eliminate What Sucks #SuckleMe
You have a choice
Your enjoyment and happiness are not all about what you choose to allow into your life. Sometimes the opposite is when you think about what you keep out. This one is really an addendum on my recent post: My Master Plan is Flexibility Eliminate what sucks for a better life!
What did Steve Jobs know?
I read an article once that loosely described how Steve Jobs thought about the design process for improving the iPhone. To paraphrase, it went something like this: "what do people love about theirs phones? Now, what to people hate about their phones?" He apparently was a leader in not only improving what was good about his product but seeking to eliminate what sucks! Addition via subtraction can be a real benefit and the results have shown in skyrocketing iPhone sales to the masses.
Me? I don't even own a phone so I'm surely no expert but I am sure that Mrs. Smidlap and many others enjoy the many features of a darned phone.
Apply liberally to people, objects, and ideas in your life
What sucks in your life? Or, what would make no negative difference if it/they were gone? This does not apply to everyone, especially people who have enhanced your life in the past and with whom you have a history, but a short leash can be handy.
I meet a lot of strangers being a dog walker and have about 95% encounters I consider neutral at worst and excellent at best. The same applies to new people who come to our house. Let me tell you a little story about the short leash when it comes to new people coming around.
When I just moved into Le Smidlap Chateau around 2002 or '03 the future Mrs. Smidlap and I threw a party. I want you to understand that we're pretty easy hosts. We don't have a lot of what you would call "rules." I was pretty new on the scene and back in those days not only close friends but acquaintances and friends of friends were all welcome. It was a party, after all.
I remember walking through the house with my drink and seeing someone I did not know. Then what came next took me slightly aback, to say the least. When I went to introduce myself this douche said "Who are you?!" My response? Get out. Leave right now. That was that. There are just too many good and interesting people in the world than to waste a second on some jackass you don't even know. Maybe he was the nicest guy in Western NY but I don't care. I was and remain willing to take that risk. I flushed his toilet and never saw that fool again. Like I said, if we have some history of positive interaction you get a lot of leeway. I call it the Karma Bank and we both make deposits there. Some idiot stranger acts that way? You suck and you got'sta go!
I went ahead and flushed that fool despite the risk!
Do you have objects that have outlived their usefulness to you?
We have a habit of accumulating free items to furnish and fix up our house. Most of our outdoor furniture and a good portion of the indoor stuff came from the curb. We spend plenty of money in other areas of our lives that matter more and that is a matter of personal taste. All that being said we have sold a ton of crap on eBay over the years. Once an item has outlived its usefulness in our house it goes to the curb or to the eBay machine to recoup some costs.
We really don't toss too much as we tend to take decent care of our stuff. We have a gigantic Goodwill bag we deliver a couple of times per year for most apparel we can't sell. Even when we toss furniture it doesn't ever last long on the curb. I remember we finally bought a sofa and got rid of our ancient sectional sofa from the 50's. We walked out the door with one of the sections and didn't even set it down when the collegiate neighbors asked if they could have it? Absolutely! As good as it feels to rid ourselves of items it feels better when they go to a home and not a landfill.
Not all furniture is fortunate to find a home. Mrs. Smidlap has a whole series of sidewalk sofas and chairs. Some even have the mighty Banjo! on them.
Remember when my investing strategy sucked?
I really started investing in 2006 when I opened a couple of Roth IRA's. I opened one for Mrs. Smidlap and one in my name. Well we didn't perform terribly but I knew we could do much better and had to take a hard look at our "assets." 2016 Review: Stock Reset – Taking Out the Trash I realized the world was changing and disruptive technologies were going to take a large piece of commerce and adjusted accordingly with great results...so far. We eliminated what sucked for a strategy and got a better one.
Just like people, there are so many good businesses and investments in the world why would you tolerate the shitty ones? Get a new one if our plan is not working.
What content do you consume that sucks?
You know those people who seem to wake up in the morning and bend every single conversation towards their agendas or ideals? If you enjoy reading this blog you must think that kind of content sucks too. I always think: this author must be lots of fun at a cocktail party! They just can't wait to write or tell you something you're thinking of doing wrong. Wow! - omniscience must be a heavy burden to carry around for these know-it-alls. It took me a while to just quit those fools and spend my time on something else more fulfilling.
It's not like I want to be in an echo chamber where everyone agrees with my principles. I just can't abide someone who will torture facts in any way necessary to fit their preconceived narrative. Those folks can #SuckleMe. It took some time but I have mostly eliminated that content from my life outside of occasionally checking in to make sure it hasn't changed for the better. That transformation is rare.
You can't always eliminate all that sucks, but you can minimize it
Y'all ever had a family member or friend or a friend who sucks? Maybe you're tired of seeing Dirty Uncle Snakey at every family gathering. Stay home once in awhile. Usually I'll tolerate most any behavior if I'm in public or at least in town where I can go home for my escape. But I won't tolerate too much in my sacrosanct home. Sure, I can go into another room and that is usually my first voting move. See, we vote our free will most of the time with our absence or presence. You don't need to say a word of explanation to just disappear. The offending party will figure it out or not but the objective is to not be around them and achieving that is a victory.
Did I mention we're a tolerant bunch? It might not sound like it but it's just a few people who elicit this feeling. Most visitors have been exchanging good karma with us for years.
I'll be in seclusion in the west wing.
If you can't eliminate what sucks you can make the most of it
You can't often choose your coworkers and I'll be you sure ain't gonna love them all. That's life. For a period of my work life I also could not choose my hours and consequently worked a lot of my pure golden hours. See: Not All Time Is Created Equal. I was working a lot of nights and weekends and I looked at that sucky situation and decided to make the best of it.
I made the situation by always having more like a series of jobs than a career. I decided that if I was scheduled for a weekend of work and overtime was available I would work it on top of when I already had to be there. It felt like being pregnant; there was no way to get more pregnant! See, the weekend was already ruined by that schedule so there was no way for it to be more ruined. At least I was getting time and a half on Saturdays and double time on Sundays for time that was already in the crapper. The result of saving and investing that extra blood money was ensuring I would not be chained to that kind of work in perpetuity. I embraced the suck in weird way and the important part was not blowing all the extra money on taupe furniture or meth. I knew I was buying future freedom by embracing temporary suck.
You can't eliminate all of it
You can choose what to consume most of the time and who you see in most of your free time. I never considered this any right to shirk true responsibilities in life. Maybe it turns out you have a kid who sucks. You're kind of stuck with that one.
Also, if you adopted a pet I urge you to see that through, lest I judge you harshly. It doesn't make anyone a bad person who gives up an adopted pet. It only makes them one in my eyes.
There are some things we still do out of obligation because, y'know, it's the right damn thing? I feel like I also have to say that the more important things deserve a lot more patience and tolerance apart from the less important examples I've outlined. Some things are too important to cut bait and get out of Dodge at the first sign of trouble. Even with that being said sometimes you need to make those hard decisions for the betterment of your life. I think the unimportant sucky aspects are life far outnumber the truly important ones and easier to eliminate.
What about you Smidlappers? Ever had any habits, objects, people, etc. that you had to eliminate because they sucked? Are you more patient about it than I am?
p.s. If you readers think this particular blog sucks, please eliminate it and move onto something more entertaining/informative.
Mrs. Smidlap just made me this #SuckleMe logo that will go on a t-shirt in the Smidlap Etsy Store! Woo Hoo.