Less Doing, More Living: Q-and-A with author Ari Meisel

Author Ari Meisel discusses how his struggle with Crohn's disease led him to develop a system for managing his stress. His book Less Doing, More Living outlines a series of 21st century life-hacks designed to help individuals and spend more time doing the things they enjoy.  

We’ve all heard the phrase “less is more.” But our modern lives constantly demand more from us—more time at the office, more errands, and more media to keep up with. While we’d love to do be able to do more of the things we care about, there never seem to be enough hours in the day. And yet the stresses seem to build continually.

For author Ari Meisel, life came to a head when he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2006. Fueled by his desire to take control of his life, Meisel found a way to manage his stress, his illness, and to make time for the things he values in life. In his book Less Doing, More Living: Make Everything in Life Easier (Tarcher/Penguin paperback; on-sale April 7, 2014), Meisel offers a series of “life-hacks”—21st-century tools designed to help people automate and outsource mind-numbing tasks, increase their productivity, and streamline their lives.

Meisel’s Less Doing philosophy offers a new framework for businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals (parents included) who want to reclaim their lives and make time for what truly matters. Now a father of three, he still manages to work, care for his family, write a book, and maintain good health, all by using the tips outlined in his book.

What inspired you to come up with the philosophy behind Less Doing, More Living, and in what ways has it changed your life?

In 2006 I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease which is a horribly painful chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. I was taking a lot of medicine and getting worse. After one particularly bad night in the hospital I decided I need to make a change and went on a long journey of self-tracking and self-experimentation. I got off my meds after four months and competed in Ironman France a year later. I was doing much better, but I wasn't thriving. I had figured out the nutrition and the fitness, but there was a still a big element of stress in my disease and my life. Less Doing was born of the desire to mitigate stress by freeing up as much time as possible so people could reclaim their minds, stress less, and achieve their goals.

You describe yourself as an “Achievement Architect.” What does this mean to you?

Often times the path to achieving a person’s goal is unclear or there are obstacles in the way. Designing a better system and perfecting the roadmap to getting to that goal in the most efficient manner is what I call achievement architecture. 

What is the fundamental principle behind the Less Doing philosophy?

The basic framework is to optimize, automate, and outsource, in that order. First we optimize, which means really identifying the problem or challenge and breaking it down to its bare boned state. Then we try to automate it as much as possible with the mindset of "set it and forget it." Finally, if there's anything left over, and oftentimes there isn't, we look at outsourcing to specialists or generalists.