Grow Small

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This week I've been thinking a lot about the idea of staying small, having less & not chasing growth. Both in personal life and in business. We live in a society where having more is considered successful. More money, a bigger house, a bigger business. And while in the area of personal life minimalism has been growing strong, in business this concept is still incredibly uncommon.

There are a few negative effects of this "dream big, do big" approach:

1. It hardly ever guarantees true fulfillment. It may satisfy our grandeur desires of being seen & noticed, but will not satisfy the need for appreciation, both of yourself by others, and of others by you.
2. More growth requires more investment, which raises operational costs, which in turn creates the need for more investment. (Applies to both personal & business).
3. Growth is uncontrollable. Very often we loose our focus when we do more. It's almost impossible to not let growth dilute your moral compass.

This is where the idea of growing small comes in. Traditional growth, in both life & business, thinks that when we have something new, we should go for it, but at the same time preserve the old. That we should simply juggle more things at once whenever we create or are given something new. Growing small on the other hand means letting go of the past. When there's a new venture we're interested in, a new place where we want to live, we just have to let the old one die in peace. That way, we are growing (becoming better versions of ourselves), but not diluting our growth.

Don't try to live in three places all at once. Live solely in the now, with consideration of the future, and respect for the past.