Unfortunately, the mantra, “Bigger, better, more” has pervaded our modern culture. More options, increased complexity, larger products. We’ve even constructed elaborate systems to organize it all. Thankfully, we have champions of logic, such as Nick Pagan, who help cut to the core of what is important. He recently wrote two articles dispensing pragmatic thinking with a Zen like twist -Multitasking Reduces Your IQ More Than Smoking Pot and Too Many Options Reduce Your Effectiveness.

Both articles connect to the same theme: Less is more. When it comes to multitasking, the less you focus on, the more gets done, faster. As for sifting through dozens of options, Nick shows a clever use of the Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule to make decision making a snap.

In the spirit of brevity, his works would good summations for two great books - The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz and The 80/20 Principle, by Richard Koch. Aside from being excellent lead-ins for the aforementioned books, you’ll find Pagan’s writing to be very useful by themselves.