Jessica's Blog 3

Law 1: Reduce

I really liked this law because that is what I am constantly struggling with in my life. I like to keep things as simple as possible, but I also want the ability to try new things and branch out. I recently purchased a new phone. I was sure that I would buy a basic phone that all it did was call and text, but then I realized that I also liked being able to get on the internet and check my email, I loved being able to look at the weather before I went outside and so on. I ended up picking a phone that allowed me to choose what functions were on my screen so that I could take away the clutter without losing functionality.

Law 4: Learn

This photo reminded me of the screw analogy Madea used to illustrate this law, but it is also represents to me a situation that is definitely not simple.

The idea that knowledge makes the world simpler is something that we are constantly proving to ourselves. I recently moved into my first apartment. It doesn’t seem like a huge step, but now I have to learn basic things that my parents had always done for me. I looked over my first lease and got a feel for the legal language, I am learning to cook on a gas stove, repairing things, paying rent, and so on. These things are not difficult to do once you either learn how to do them or just get used to doing them. Being able to do all of the stuff my parents used to do has helped me manage my life better by not waiting for someone else to do something for me, I just do it myself.

Law 5: Differences

This one stuck out to me because of my apartment again. All of the walls are white, and all of our furniture is blue. My boyfriend is big on not cluttering everything with decorations, so we have to find a middle ground as he refuses to live in an apartment cluttered with candles and pictures, and I refuse to live in an apartment with nothing to look at.

I did like what Cassie said about this law. I do agree that color combinations don’t necessarily mean something is complex, but I still think that the law itself is valid simply because of the physical clutter people can accumulate trying to make something functional. You can have 10 shelves to keep things organized, but if there isn’t space for them in your room they begin to work against you.

Law 9: Failure

I struggled with this concept in coming to college. In High school I always got good grades without really trying to. But this promptly changed when I took my first test my freshman year. I stayed up all night studying. I made note cards, read through my notes, looked over old assignments, and filled out every question on the study guide I was given, but I still failed the test. Eventually I decided that I would never understand the subject matter and dropped the class, but I also figured out that I was going to have to try a lot harder here than I was used to. I am still working with this in the student organization I am in. I am currently trying to reorganize our budget, which is a seemingly endless task in itself.

Law 10: The One

The last law I liked because of the way it was worded. I would agree that the simplest tasks are the ones that mean something to you. The classes that I can relate to personally always are much more fun to e regardless of how much homework is involved, but if I do not connect with the subject matter the class seems much harder than it probably is to me.

For me, these laws apply a lot to my personal life, trying to find a balance in my life where I can be a functional human being while still enjoying my life. I have been constantly struggling with the idea or organization, time management, and learning. When it comes down to it, I would love to be one of the students who could read every assignment and complete every exercise to the best of my ability. However, there are so many other aspects of my life I try to juggle that it rarely happens the way I want it to.