Define a "simple life"

Welcome to another edition of the Growth Catalysts newsletter, where I share growth strategies from over 25+ years in finance and product.

Today I thought I'd share a "growth strategy" that everyone can leverage.

I'm freshly back from a business trip where my team and I were doing our annual strategic planning and working with a new strategic partner to design our joint product.

While I don't love traveling, I'm a bit of a home body, I try to make the best of these trips. One way I do that is to connect with some of the team members that I don't get to interact with regularly.

On the last day of the trip, one of the team members needed a ride to drop off his rental car. I've known Van for some time, but we rarely have a chance to chat privately.

We spent the first few minutes talking about business. I had picked up Van from dropping off his rental car and we were heading back to rejoin the meeting we had both been sitting in on.

From the hotel parking lot we walked through the downtown area of the small town where our meetings were being held.

Passing by the local coffee shop I asked Van what it was about the idea of owning a local business in a quaint small town that was so appealing to people.

“It’s the simplicity,” he replied.

I followed up with a question about whether or not people who pursue simple lives eventually see that life turn to just…well…life.

Van felt that was probably the case. Meaning, that their life might have some simplicity to it, but that over time that feeling of simplicity normalizes for them and they no longer feel their life is simple. They have moved on to a new definition of simple.

Imagine owning a bookstore and coffee shop in a small town. You know everyone that walks in. Your business is so popular that you stay pretty busy. In fact, you are so busy that you work 50-60+ hours a week. During peak hours you hustle through crafting tasty coffee drinks for people and checking out book customers. During the downtime you work hard to keep the place clean and supplies stocked up.

Is that still a “simple life?”

Van felt that for the right people, those that truly understand what they are getting themselves into, the choice to lead a “simple life” could lead to some degree of contentment.

I would argue that it is no simpler, but that they have instead made a trade off for a different definition of simple.

Maybe they left a corporate job that required them to sit in 8-10 hours of meetings every day. Or, they no longer operate an Uber or DoorDash business, sprinting between pickups and deliveries.

Working 80 hour weeks at your coffee shop and bookstore might be a simpler life to you. To others, it might be a nightmare. Selling everything you own to move to a self-sustaining farm might sound simpler, until you are putting in 14+ hour days just to take care of your animals and maintain your land.

After all, what really defines a simple life?

I don’t think people are really looking for simple lives. At least, not most people that claim to enjoy the simple life.

I think they are looking for more fulfilling lives.

Lives that are full of doing more things that bring contentment to their lives than things that create harmful stress in their lives.