Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.

~E.F. Schumacker

I don’t profess to be a genius, and I know that I often tend to complicate matters when I think I am simplifying them, but this quote resounded with me. It does take a lot of courage to move against the flow… and to move against expectations and the pressure to conform.

It seems to me that we get to a certain point in our lives - and for each of us, it’s a different point, caused by different circumstances and influences - and we feel the need for simplicity. We long for order, calm and a simple life - free of the pressures, demands and chaos we’re incessantly bombarded with.

For me, it was a disillusionment with the corporate world, coupled with the realisation of the need to feel grounded and reconnect with nature.

Simplifying my life has meant going within, seeking beauty and joy, and looking less for happiness from external sources. It will be a life long process.

This month at The Calm Space we’re talking about Simplicity. Each of our expanding team of contributors talks about simplicity as it relates to their own particular genius, and I feel blessed to read their inspiring words, and see their beautiful photography. We’d love to have you join the conversation.

If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know that I - and my whole family - are Potter fans. We’ve devoured the books, we’ve worn out the movies… and we keep going back for more.

Over the weekend, I was thrilled to find the clip and the transcript of JK Rowling giving the commencement address at Havard “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” here.

We all know that JK Rowling is phenomenally successful… but it wasn’t always so. I have heard the story of sitting in a cafe, with her baby daughter in a pram beside her, writing the first draft of Harry Potter #1 by hand. What I guess I didn’t think about was why.

“So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

…

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.”

It made me think about success, and how many of us settle for a moderate success because, well, because we don’t fail at it. And in so doing, we compromise ourselves, our dreams and often, our life, for a ’settled for’ existence.

We get the car loan, the mortgage, the spouse, the kids, the school fees, the holidays and we feel tied to whatever it is that brings in the money to pay for our lifestyle. Even if it is slowly killing us.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

To do what matters most is all there is. We can learn from JK and others like her, without having necessarily to hit rock bottom ourselves.

Now is the time to do what you are meant to be doing. Don’t wait until you hit rock bottom. Don’t settle for.

There is a step or two you can take today. Then another step tomorrow. Maybe a little jump the day after that. Before you know it, you’ll be leaping and soaring and flying towards your dream.

Go listen to, or read, her speech - it’s magical.