Work.

I believe the way toward mastery of any endeavor is to work toward simplicity; replace complex technology with knowledge. The more you know, the less you need.

Yvon Chouinard, from Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

Gain.

The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life; it’s so easy to make it complex.  The whole purpose of an adventure is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain and if you compromise the process, you’re an asshole when you start out and you’re an asshole when you get back.  The more you know, the less you need.

Yvon Chouinard

Pursues.

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.

Yvon Chouinard, from Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

CONNECT

Simpler.

Technocrats tell us we can’t go backward, we can’t refuse technology, because then we won’t progress. We are told that life is increasingly complex, that’s the way it is.  If this is all true, then we are doomed.

Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward; rather, returning to a simpler way allows us to regain our dignity, puts us in touch with the land, and makes us value human contact again.

Yvon Chouinard

Know.

The more you know, the less you need.

Yvon Chouinard

Examined.

The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. What’s important is leading an examined life.  The more you know, the less you need.

Yvon Chouinard

Both.

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.

Yvon Chouinard

Elements.

In Zen archery you forget about the goal – hitting the bull’s eye – and instead focus on all the individual moments involved in shooting an arrow. If you’ve perfected all the elements, you can’t help but hit the center of the target. The same philosophy is true for climbing mountains. If you focus on the process of climbing, you’ll end up on the summit. I say the last 10 percent of the way to perfection takes so much of your life that it isn't worth the effort. This overzealous attitude is what creates religious fanatics, body Nazis, and athletes who are exceedingly dull to converse with.

Yvon Chouinard

Know.

The more you know, the less you need.

Yvon Chouinard

Simplify.

Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward.  The more you know, the less you need.  Taking a trip for six months, you get in the rhythm of it. It feels like you can go on forever doing that. Climbing Everest is the ultimate and the opposite of that. Because you get these high-powered plastic surgeons and CEOs, and you know, they pay $80,000 and have Sherpas put the ladders in place and 8,000 feet of fixed ropes and you get to the camp and you don’t even have to lay out your sleeping bag. It’s already laid out with a chocolate mint on the top. The whole purpose of planning something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain and if you compromise the process, you’re an asshole when you start out and you’re an asshole when you get back.  The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. What’s important is leading an examined life.

Yvon Chouinard

Know.

Process.

The whole purpose of planning something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain and if you compromise the process, you’re an asshole when you start out and you’re an asshole when you get back.

Yvon Chouinard

Process.

The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process you’re an asshole when you start out and an asshole when you get back.

Yvon Chouinard

Adventure.

The word adventure has just gotten overused.  For me, adventure is when everything goes wrong.  That’s when the adventure starts.

Yvon Chouinard