Do less, better

以前から読んでいる「ストア派哲学入門」（The Daily Stoic）の著者であるライアン・ホリデイのメルマガ　"Daily Stoic" を購読しています。

現代の生活に役立つ諸哲人の言葉が毎日紹介してもらえます。

昨日は　哲人ローマ皇帝マルクス・アウレリウスの"Do less, better" でした。

最近の「エッセンシャル思考」やミニマリズムと似た教えと感じます。Less is more という本もありますね。

本質的なことだけをせよ、ですね。

そうすれば、より良いことができるし、心も平安になれると。

意識してなにが本質的（大事）か、を考えながら行動していきたいですね。
それには、「考える時間」が必要ということでしょう。

Here’s the simple recipe for improvement and for happiness. It comes from Marcus Aurelius and the fact that it came from such a busy man with so many obligations and responsibilities should not be forgotten.

“If you seek tranquillity,” he said, “do less.”

And then he follows the note to himself with some clarification. Not nothing, less. Do only what’s essential. “Which brings a double satisfaction,” he writes “to do less, better.”

Follow this advice today and every day. So much of what we think we must do, so much of what we end up doing is not essential. We do it out of habit. We do it out of guilt. We do it out of laziness or we do it out of greedy ambition. And then we wonder why our performance suffers. We wonder why our heart isn’t really in it.

Of course it isn’t. We know deep down there’s no point.

But if we could do less inessential stuff, we’d be able to better do what is essential. We’d also get a taste of that tranquillity that Marcus was talking about. A double satisfaction.