There is such a story.

A middle-aged man's life was unsatisfactory. In order to find relief, he went to seek advice from a Zen master.

The Zen master didn’t say anything. He just asked him to put the basket on his back and walk along the rugged path, picking up stones and putting them in the basket.

The middle-aged man complied. After walking for a while, there were more and more stones in the basket, and his shoulders became heavier and heavier.

He couldn't bear it and had to turn back.

The Zen master asked him how he felt, and he replied: "I am very tired and my body is very heavy."

The Zen master then taught him: "When people come to this world, they first memorize The backpacks I carried were all empty. As the people I met and the things I experienced gradually increased, all the marks left on my heart were left in my heart, just like those pebbles.

The capacity of the 'heart' is limited. When you catch too much, fill it too full, and are overwhelmed, tiredness is inevitable. ”

People are always greedy. I always want everything. I feel that the more I have, the happier I will be. For example, the more clothes the better, the more friends the better, the more opportunities the better, the more houses the better... So I desperately want to get more choices, but I find that many people are becoming more and more anxious in this pursuit. , lost in various choices.

Wu Jun analyzed this in his book "Insights". He is the former vice president of Tencent and the main designer of the current Google Chinese, Japanese and Korean search algorithm. He is the author of "The Beauty of Mathematics", "Top of the Wave" and "Light of Civilization". In the book, he shares his own experience and the experience of contemporary leaders in a wise way, providing readers with a unique perspective on the problem that is worthy of in-depth thinking.

In the book, Wu Jun uses a large number of cases to analyze "happiness without choice". If you want to live a relaxed and happy life, the key is to make subtractions in your life.

Why are relatively backward Indians more successful?

"Human nature is to like to increase but not to decrease, to like to gain but not to give up. However, many times, reducing and giving up will make us live better."

Wu Jun The book shares this set of data: Chinese people are relatively smart and hard-working, but in recent years, many Indian immigrants have become CEOs of large American companies, while there are almost no Chinese at the same level; as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies There are also many more Indians than Chinese who serve as vice presidents of strong companies.

Professor Xi Kaiyuan from the University of Chicago Business School gave an explanation from the perspective of happiness - because Indians lack choices and the sense of happiness and achievement generated by not choosing, it helps their elites to Be successful in your company.

China's current marriage advocates free love, and everyone can freely choose their partner. However, the survey found that China's willingness to get married has hit a record low, and the divorce rate is getting higher and higher. Because people have more and more choices, their attitude towards marriage is becoming more and more casual.

In India, affected by the deep-rooted caste system and traditional concepts, they pay attention to "the orders of their parents and the words of the matchmaker" and require that they be well-matched and of the same caste, so their options for marriage are very limited.

Precisely because Indians have no choice in marriage, they manage their marriages and families carefully and carefully, and are much happier than those countries that only focus on choices and not family.

In addition to marriage, Indians also have limited career choices. So they had no choice but to work hard at their jobs and work hard to climb up.

Compared with Indians, Chinese people have too many choices, which makes people become impetuous. The mentality of riding a donkey and looking for a horse is very common. They are unwilling to operate in one place or one field for a long time and put too much pressure on them. Too much energy is spent on selection rather than management, making it difficult to improve.

When Bai Yansong gave a speech in "The Story of Time", he said: "The biggest feeling in life at the age of 30 is to look back. I think it is very important to make subtractions.

Why do we need to subtract?

You are not suitable for everything, nor should you do everything that is suitable for you. You are tied to eight threads, and they may hinder each other as far as you can run.

The architect Van der Rohe has a famous saying: less is more. That is, "less is more."

Many people nowadays generally suffer from a disease called "difficulty in choosing". This disease is caused by too many choices and they are entangled. Xiao Ma Song mentioned a psychological phenomenon in "The Top Students in the Circle of Friends": decision-making paralysis, which refers to the fact that there are too many choices and too much energy is spent comparing options without knowing how to choose.

Japan's Eiko Yamashita wrote a book called "Breakaway" which advocates "minimalism", returning life to the most essential and simple needs.

In 1845, the American scholar Thoreau ran to Walden Pond,

built a small cabin and lived alone for 2 years and 2 months.

He said, "I am willing to plunge deeply into life and suck out all the marrow of life.

Live a solid and simple life, and cleanly eliminate all content that is not part of life. ,

Push life to the extreme, use the most basic form, simple, simple, and simpler. ”

First, subtract from material desires

There is a saying: There is always a shortage of clothes in a girl’s wardrobe.

There are obviously clothes in the cupboard, but when I go on a date, I have to try on the clothes for a long time before going out to work, and I am still mentally nagging that I have nothing to wear. Our desire for material things is always unsatisfactory like a bottomless pit, so we have been on the road of "buying, buying, buying" and have become a hoarding people.

Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is the youngest billionaire in the world. But he is a loyal supporter of "minimalism". Having worn a gray short-sleeved T-shirt for many years, he said:

"I bought many identical gray short-sleeved T-shirts. I want to make my life as simple as possible without having to do too much. The more successful a person is, the more he pursues a simple life, and the less likely he is to be controlled by material desires.

Second, make subtractions in doing things

There is a type of people called "busy poor". They always look busy and diligent, especially "motivated". They work during the day, After getting off work, I studied painting, photography, English, WPS... I studied hard in various courses, but I still didn't have the hard skills to master them.

The biggest problem for this type of people is that they are too "greedy". They want to learn everything and want to do everything, but they bite off more than they can chew, are inefficient, and are busy, and in the end achieve nothing.

Buffett’s rule for managing time is to write down 25 things that you think are important, and then pick out 5 important things from the 25. Many people ask about the remaining 20 things and then slowly Do it again? This is wrong. Cut off all those 20 things.

Buffett’s strategy is to subtract rather than add when managing time. Use a strategy to deal with those things that can be done or not done, and cut them all off with a broad stroke.

Buffett

Because only by cutting off all unimportant things can you ensure that all your energy, time and wisdom are used on very important things.

Wu Jun mentioned in "Insight": The secret of business management is not to give choices.

Samsung has cut hundreds of mobile phone models down to just a handful of models that can be counted on the palm of a hand. With these models, Samsung has occupied the number one market share position for a long time. Nicholas George Hayek, the business god of the Swiss watch industry, once said that the categories of Omega watches were reduced from thousands to more than a hundred, but sales increased significantly.

It can be seen that whether it is an individual or a business, it is wise to know how to do subtraction.

Third, do subtraction in social interaction

With the convenience of communication, we are constantly trying to do as much as possible whether on virtual social software or in real life. To make friends, in order to maintain some "brothers and brothers" friends, I am often busy with various gatherings, have a dinner today, have a K party tomorrow...

On social software, I have joined various communities, and I am inundated. In various group messages, we spend a lot of time "climbing stairs" every day, for fear of missing some information...

Many times we think that we are maintaining social contact and maintaining connections, but in fact we are just consuming I was "kidnapped" by others and wasted my time.

Only by cleaning up your "circle of friends", reducing social interaction, and cutting off some superficial connections can you better understand who the really important people are.

"We throw away the unimportant 90 in life, and the remaining 10 will make us gain more."

People who understand life actually adhere to the principle of subtracting from life. wisdom.

When I grow up to a certain age, I realize that people who really know how to live are actually people who know how to make subtractions for life. We know what things should not be needed and what things should be discarded decisively. By subtracting and throwing away unnecessary items and ineffective relationships, and focusing on the most important things, we can breathe freely, be targeted, and move forward lightly.