DO QUIT MORE

Quitting I think, is highly underrated. Ask anyone on the street, they will most likely tell you that quitting is a bad thing, you should never quit - winners don’t quit and quitters never win. I believed that for a long time as well – I believed you could achieve anything if you just kept going in the face of all niggling hardships -  I remember some ten years past, I passionately tried to talk my son out of quitting cello which he had been playing for a year and a half. I ended up upsetting him so bad that my husband had to intervene and tell me to back off. Oh yes, I was one of those mums, I wanted my kids to succeed in everything they did.

I have since realised that it is simply impossible to be even passably good at everything and neither can your kids – and the sooner you teach your kids that the better (without killing their sense of exploratory adventure, ofcourse) - so they are still keen to try out new things but if things don’t work as expected, they know it is not only OK to quit, it is essential that they do, and make room in their life for something else. Do not keep banging on a wall hoping it will change into a door, were Coco Chanel’s wise words and this lady knew success in an era when very few women enjoyed notable success.

We women, as mothers and homemakers and career women, tend to take on too much. We think it is OK to do that. We take pride in our multi-tasking skills - going as far as to boast about it - and not surprisingly, we become the jack of all trades and end up being the master of none. Men, however are more clever than we give them credit for – they secretly have it all figured out, they focus on one thing  and have a much better success rate than us. The same is true for all successful individuals, gender notwithstanding - think about someone you admire and want to be like, and then emulate their focus on life, I can assure you it will be very narrow but whatever they do, they do very well, they do it with a pizazz and passion that you wish you had. Well, guess what, anyone can have that pizazz and passion if they clear out their life and free their resources, not to mention energy, of abc’s to focus on just one z. So, the secret to success is to do less but do it well – excel in your craft.

The same concept of less is more is true for elegant design. Fashion comes and goes, but elegance whether in interior design or personal attire, stands the test of time. Aim for elegance over current style, I guarantee you won’t have to redecorate ever (unless you really want to). Clutter in design is not elegant, never was and never will be. Having one statement piece in your room creates a focus and has more of an impact than many things dotted around.  Coco’s famous words  - you are dressed when you take off one accessory after you think you are dressed –  is true for elegant interiors as well - pared down simplicity and quality is the key. Aim for less, not more. It actually makes good sense as well, buy less, but buy quality that will last you decades – and do not ever settle for second bests, buy exactly what you want, even if you have to wait a while or save months for it, because then you’ll treasure it even more. But first, quit all unnecessary stuff you can do without in the first place - and do keep the focus in your personal space and your life simple. You'll much happier for it.