I like New Year’s resolutions. I think it’s one of the best moments to reflect on where I’m at and where I’m going, and to make a simple effort to direct the course towards a place that I’d like to be in the future. This year, mine comes from a classic tenet of design I learned in college: less is more.

There’s a lot of “more” around. I’m at the mercy of it at times (maintaining this blog, my Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Viddy while I work on my band stuff and other stuff at the same time). But there are moments when the “less” really shines. As I was working on some new music tonight, I was thinking about how few instruments and gadgets I’m really using in the studio, for example. Sometimes, zeroing in on a few things that you like best can really help define what you’re doing. It can also give you more time to effective in what you’re doing. Rather than screwing around with 50 gadgets, you’re going deeper using the 5 that are your favorites. As Buckminster Fuller might say, “do more with less.”

I like being busy and I’m fine with dabbling in a lot of different creative pursuits. And I don’t expect for my “less” to be anything like anyone else’s “less”.

But like most of us, the noise out there in the world is deafening, and it pays to shut it off for a minute and focus.

http://mikeshinoda.com/2012/01/15/more-about-less-is-more-more-or-l...