Less is more is one of those counter-intuitive principles that on the surface makes little sense. I guess that’s because having more resources seems like the safer way to live and we sure love the promise of safety and certainty.

Yet less is more as a principle is best applied in the realm of understanding. When it comes to the comprehension and expression of ideas less is always more.

Consider how you understand concepts and communicate with others. In this realm of understanding having more to perceive leads to greater confusion and less knowing.

When we use more words to understand we risk the listener tuning us out because it’s more challenging to grasp the point. One could say that more disconnects and less intrigues.

Less is more is a principle of clarity. It states that a lessening focus creates more desired results.

Brevity does indeed lead to clarity and clarity resolves doubt and confusion in three main areas: clarity of desire, clarity of purpose and clarity of expression or marketing message.

Clarity of Desire

Desire comes before everything else. What we desire motivates us to act. Desire is often the why behind action.

Every coach has encountered clients who have lost their way. When lost we often spout fearful statements like. “I don’t know what I want!” Not knowing can be a scary place because it puts us in a holding pattern.

When lacking clarity of desire it’s wise to let go of everything that doesn’t bring you vibrantly alive. If a relationship, an activity or an objective doesn’t bring you vitally alive then it takes too much of your precious energy to maintain.

Clarity of Purpose

Resoluteness of intention is always better fueled by a single clear purpose. Trying to live by multiple purposes is exhausting.

Defining one’s life purpose is a challenging task that many let fall to chance. Without purpose we take whatever jobs are offered and fall into the relationships chosen by others.

Your life purpose is the single, defining aim of your existence. It takes your core desire and activates it into a mission.

Less is more is essential in being guided by purpose because successfully achieving multiple life missions is rare and best left to the Michaelangelos among us.

Clarity of Expression

How often have you heard service professionals introduce themselves like they’ve never heard of the less is more principle?

It’s not uncommon to hear someone stand and say. “I’m a speaker, an author and a life coach who does corporate training and facilitating.”

What value message does this send? For what expertise does this individual want to be known? It’s common knowledge that specialists are more valuable than generalists in any field and yet many persist with this scarcity thinking.

Their fear pushes them to cast a wider net because they fear choosing incorrectly and being left with nothing. But watering down a message just doesn’t work when it comes to developing expertise or marketing it.

Less is more is a question of marketing accuracy and visibility. When you narrow your value down to the deepest gift it shines so it can be recognized and acknowledged.

Too many professionals share too many services in fear that they will miss out on something that they could do. It takes work to know yourself and your perceived value so well that others can easily notice and connect. But it’s well worth the effort.