cigars,scotch,vices,vice,pleasure,nanny state,puritanism,tobacco,alcohol

Every man (and woman) should have a vice or two. Mind you, the vice shouldn’t be illegal, only harmless to others. The good vices are merely simple pleasures that make life far more enjoyable. It is a way to escape the puritanical nannyism of the modern welfare/warfare state. My two vices are the most vilified of recent years: tobacco and alcohol. I smoke fine, hand-rolled, premium cigars and I drink aged single-malt scotch. I also occasionally smoke a beautiful briar pipe and drink fine wine, beer, brandy, conganc, vodka and other tantilizing spirits. My consumption of said products are moderate. I smoke three-four cigars a week and have roughly one drink a day.

The health-Nazis may be ready to arrest me at this very moment, but there is nothing more relaxing than smoking a cigar and sipping a dram of whisky. It is a form of meditation and opens up the creative process. Hell, about 70% of my book was written over a cigar and scotch. It is simple and satisfying, as a vice should be.

Enjoy your vices for their simplicity and pleasure, and while they are still legal.

I received a copy of Mac OS X Leopard late Friday morning. Instantly, I upgraded my laptop and everything went smooth. I was using it all day Friday and early Saturday morning. Then, I decided to plug in my M-Audio Oxygen 8 keyboard controller so I can finish a song I was working on in Logic Studio. I launch Logic and proceed to play the keyboard, but there’s no sound. I check and recheck my connections; restart the Oxygen 8; re-install the drivers and relaunch Logic. Still no sound. Oh yeah, I forgot I upgraded to Leopard. I checked M-Audio’s web site for driver information and, sure enough, they’re working on Leopard drivers for all their products. They say my product may or may not work and I’ll have to wait until new drivers are released. So when are they going to release new drivers? They can’t say for sure, as usual. Well, I can’t finish this song until the drivers are released.

The upside to all of this is now I can spend a good deal of time practicing the guitar. It’s one instrument I’ve always wanted to play (I play drums and keyboards) so now I can sit down and really learn how to play. I won’t have to worry about dealing with the complexities of recording software, new operating systems, and incompatible drivers. It’s just me and my guitar.

I read an article by Dr. Denis Waitley about freedom from urgency. He talks about defining priorities and how we get caught up in the “urgent” things. These fires that we encounter each day take us away from doing what we love and care about. He writes, “What we seldom realize is that the really important things in our life don’t make such strict demands on us, and therefore we usually assign them a lower priority.” He means things like health, relationships, solitude, chasing our dreams, etc. He’s right and it got me thinking about how the little things, the minutia, that we encounter every day also distract us from achieving our dreams.

I’m reminded of a colleague who loves to discuss the minutia of every little technical challenge. This conference call was a high-level strategic overview and didn’t require any in-depth technical discussions. Yet, my colleague continued to get ever deeper into insignificant minutia. He literally extended the meeting by almost 15 minutes. In effect, the meeting was useless. It is an easy trap for people to fall into, especially those in the technology industry but it can happen to anyone who is passionate about what they do. They get a big thrill discussing the intricacies of something. Look, there is always a time and place for minutia. You just have to know when and where to apply it. If you don’t, not only will you bog yourself down with unimportant information, your colleagues will won’t appreciate it very much.

The other problem with blabbing on about minutia is people will think you like to hear yourself talk. No one else can get a word in because you’re still blabbing! Learn to say only what is necessary to move the conversation along. The positive outcome is shorter meetings! Speak and write with scarcity and authority.

My Clean Desk

Originally uploaded by livesimplegetrich

I spend the majority of my day in my office. In the past my desk has been cluttered with paper, magazines, cables, coffee mugs, and other knick-knacks. The move to simplicity resulted in the picture shown above. I’ve moved all of my paper documents, including phone logs and meeting minutes to Google Docs. I keep index cards in the drawer in case I need to write something down quickly, then I transfer it to Google Docs.

My desk is free of clutter. I find I work better when I don’t have to frantically search for pieces of paper scattered on my desk. Now all I need to do is get rid of my office phone and go all wireless.

Hello, I’m Ryan Taylor. I’m a Macintosh guru by day and aspiring writer by night. This blog is a companion to my upcoming book entitled, “Live Simple Get Rich.” There are many fine blogs and books about simplifying your life. In this age of rampant consumerism, simplification, by nearly any means, is becoming increasingly popular. Millions of people are quietly giving up the material world and living simpler, more enriching lives. I am now amongst those millions.

I used to be among those who yearned for stuff. I thought stuff made me happy. Working in the tech industry for nearly twenty years has turned me into a geek of sorts. If a new gadget was cool enough, I wanted it. I acquired it all over the years: music, movies, books, clothes, computers, gadgets, recording gear, musical instruments, etc. During the course of acquiring all of these things, I racked up some serious debt since my income never kept up with my spending. I always thought my income would eventually catch up but it never did. Thankfully, I paid off my debts but I really didn’t start to simplify until a couple of years ago. I looked around and noticed I had too much stuff.  So I donated quite a bit of it and conditioned myself to not buy things unless there was a specific need. Even then, I would think twice before buying more stuff.

I started reading books on simplifying and found many useful tips. But I noticed that these books rarely mentioned the monetary aspect of simplifying. They focused on living with less income as if it was a sacrifice. Making more money was subconsciously frowned upon. And while it is true that many people give up significant portions of their income to enjoy a simpler life, I realized that you can become wealthy by living simply. The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley, is the most famous book about obtaining wealth through frugality. I decided to write a simple, practical book about simplifying your life and getting rich at the same time. I argue that getting rich is a good thing. There should be no stigma attached to it. Once you live a simple life, having monetary wealth doesn’t mean being able to buy a bunch of stuff, it means buying freedom. Freedom to do what you want, when you want, and how you want. It means living life on your own terms. My book contains practical tips for simplifying your finances, investments, physical possessions, and clearing your mind and body of clutter.

I’ll be posting the book online for free once I’ve completed it. I’ll be using this blog to post my thoughts and ideas on simplifying. As I get near the completion of the book, I’ll post a few excerpts. Eventually, the book will be available in a softcover edition.

So let’s simplify and get rich. Please feel free to send me comments at livesimplegetrich@yahoo.com. I’d be happy to hear your tips and techniques for living the simple life!