Do Less, Better.

In Stoic philosophy, hypomnemata refers to personal notes or writings that serve as reminders, tools for self-reflection and moral development. These were often used by philosophers like Marcus Aurelius to record thoughts, lessons, and reflections that helped reinforce their practice of virtue and reason. Rather than being polished essays, hypomnemata are meant to be lived-through ideas, revisited and refined over time.

I’ve been reflecting on what makes up my hypomnemata, and I’ve started to explore them in more detail. This short ramble focuses on one in particular:

Do less, better.

This idea comes from Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. In Book 4, Section 24, he writes:

“If you seek tranquility, do less.”
Or more accurately: do what is essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and do it in the requisite way. This brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better.
Because most of what we say and do isn’t essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time and more tranquility.
Ask yourself at every moment, “Is this necessary?”
But we also need to eliminate unnecessary assumptions—and the unnecessary actions that follow.

I find this lesson incredibly valuable, especially in the kind of society we live in today. It’s full of distractions, constant information, 24-hour news, and always-on social media. We make ourselves so busy that we forget what’s important, and we end up doing everything poorly. Our culture seems to celebrate busyness, and we’ve outsourced many of the most meaningful parts of life - spending time in our homes and our gardens, cooking for our family, caring for our children or our parents, just to keep up with that pace.

To afford outsourcing, we chase higher-paying jobs, which often don’t bring fulfilment, just more stress. It’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to break.

I now try my best to do less, better. Whether it’s during the workday or on the weekend, I aim to be more intentional. I don’t always succeed, but it’s something I’m working on.

I find it fascinating how many people I talk to who look back on the COVID lockdowns with a kind of nostalgia. Being forced to stay home gave us space to reconnect - with family, with partners, with hobbies, and with ourselves. It was a rare chance to just be. And that’s something we could choose to give ourselves every day, without needing a lockdown to force it. But instead, we often go the other way. We overload ourselves and end up doing more, but at a lower quality.