Being Busy to Be Simple

11 inches of paper- that is equal to about 4 reams of paper which means this is equal to about 25% of one tree! This one stack of about 4 this size sitting in our office. Think we could have saved a tree with less printing.

It has been quite a month, more travel than anticipated, but still a good one in terms of being more content with the life I have now.

So first an update on January's Goals:

Goal Number One: Paperless Office

My desk.

I have made huge progress on the Paper Free Office Goal. I have to say the zippy little scanner helped a lot. In part, because it is cute and zippy, and in part because it is screaming fast. So here is a look at the second stack of paper that got scanned and later recycled. The last step is going through the tax files that fill the file cabinets that you see here, and I expect we can successfully reduce our paper in our office by at least 90%. As practicing lawyers it may be hard to eliminate paper in total, but I am pretty happy with 90% reduction.

Here are some after pictures of the office with it's new clutter reduction plan.

The craft/kids craft area half way...

The Craft Area after.

Goal Number Two was an inward goal, touching base with those Simple Living goals that are important to me. Why do I advocate voluntary simplicity, even if my life seems anything but? I am currently in the process of reading three books (well I was only reading one, until Jeff stole it from me) which are helping me focus on what is important to me and why I value an intentional life.

1. Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin. The Second Edition. This was the book that I read back when I took classes at the Northwest Earth Institute. Really caused me to think about being in the rat race and why I wanted to live more intentionally.

2. Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. I started this book at the end of the year and then Jeff started reading it, I am really behind what he is stating in this book, it is all about Asia. More on this later.

3. Harmony by HRH Price Charles. Mostly a book about the interconnection between our lives and the environment, a bit hard to plow through as he does tend to jump around a bit, but again defining what is important to me.

So, on the personal goal of getting back in touch with my inner reasons, I would say this goal is only about 50% done. There is still a bit more soul searching to be done, which is driving me to the February Goal here at "Casa de Simple".. what's next.

What's next is a finalization of some things that started about a year ago. I read the book the 4 Hour Work Week, which is mostly about hacking your life into one that allows you to work on your schedule. I then read Chris Guillebeau's Art of Nonconformity. Coupled with the insane, intense, and frankly less than stellar year I had in 2010 from a side business (Far Flung) work and health perspective, I know somethings got to give.

February 2011's Simple Living Singapore Goals are:

1. Outer Goal: Define those necessary actions with those unnecessary actions. Right now, I can't give up the 9-5 job, I can and will be finalizing the shut down of Far Flung (I will post on that later, as it will be quite an emotional one) and will be working on, working towards some new business ideas/ventures. Some of these businesses I hope will lead my family into a path of sustainability; professionally, economically and socially. Some of the business ideas involve a possible partner. Needless to say, this is not a making life more simple in the short term, but may lead to the ultimate goal. February is about defining what I (and my family) needs versus what we want and planning for our future.

2. Inner Goal: Refine and Define Inner Motivation. Before I can start the outer goal, I have to be confident in my motivations, confident in my desires. Set with my core values and principles. I know I am leaning towards an independent future, one that tends to shun conventional trappings in some ways, but yet in many ways I am a bit of a stick in the mud. So clarifying my vision is imperative. I will keep you posted on that as well - well all three of you who read this anyway!

I am off the road for another week, so expect another update soon, but in the meantime, here are a few more pictures of the re-organized office.

Lina and her new "space" aka the center of the office floor


Four of the six magazine holders that went to recycling. Just think again how many trees.

I am declaring WAR on Paper: More on the Paperless Office

I just read that the average lawyer uses between 20,000 and 100,000 sheets of paper every year. That means 5 tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. For those lawyers who use up to 100,000 sheets, that is over a half of a ton of paper. That is over 1000 pounds of paper Yes....1000 pounds. HOLY CRAP that is a lot of paper.

I know that my average is much much less than that, probably closer to 5000 (about 10 reams of paper a year). But think about what that means. So I am only off putting a ton of CO2. That doesn't make me feel much better. I am still on my quest to rid my house and home office of excess paper. My schedule has been delayed slightly as I have been on the road more than I anticipated this month, but all told I have probably scanned in over 2000 sheets of paper and recyled them. I still have 6 or 7 notebooks filled with CLE (Continuing Education) materials that I need to review and either toss or scan as well as 15 years of taxes/receipts that need to be pruned back to the last 5 years only. My goal is to toss anything older than 7 years and scan anything older than 5.

Why am I doing this? Well, partially to get rid of the clutter in my office, partially because there is just too much paper, and partially because I just need to get things back in order in my quest to be more focused. I think my goal for February may be to create a "life hack" or other type of response to my need to touch things more than once. Work towards the goal of pick it up and sort it immediately. We will see, I still have a couple more days to figure that out!