My story comes from a TED Talk,” Does Less Stuff mean More Happiness”. Graham Hill, a man who made millions from a company building websites in the 70’s when the Internet was just getting started, speaks about happiness. He tells us what it was like being a millionaire at age 30. While he didn’t go crazy spending money, he did start buying stuff. He bought a Volvo sedan and a 3600 ft² house. He filled it with furniture and the latest electronic gadgets. But rather than making him happy, he felt a pit in his stomach. Hill said he felt pressure to fill his house with even more stuff. Stuff that was not making him happier.
Graham concluded, after some time and contemplation, that less stuff allows you more freedom and more time. Graham gave examples of the joy of experiences where you have less. Things like your college dorm room and camping instead of staying in a hotel room when traveling. Less can be more.
So Graham decided to edit his life. He moved into a 420 ft.² apartment in SOHO with light, bright rooms where the furniture pulls out from the walls. The living area and couch can morph into a bed and bedroom. Graham even has a 10 seat dining table for entertaining. So now, he has only great stuff that he really loves, as long as it’s versatile. Everything else, such as paper and other clutter, can be digitized and made to disappear, stored and retrieved as needed.
And that is the spirit of World Free Paper Day on November 6th. To vow to reduce the amount of paper we have to process in our everyday work and personal lives. Research shows that less paper in our processes means huge benefits in efficiency, collaboration, and well-being.
In fact, in a recent survey AIIM Industry Watch “Paper Wars 2014 – an update from the battlefield”, sponsored by Iron Mountain, 68% of respondents agree that business-at-the-speed-of-paper will be “unacceptable in just a few years’ time”. And 46% consider that the biggest single productivity improvement would be to remove the paper.
Graham Hill is right. When we focus on what we are doing in the moment, we are happier. Take this opportunity to remove paper from your process (store it somewhere else but only if you need to) and give yourself a little more freedom and a little more time to do what you do best – focus on your business. You will likely be happier.