After creating the statue of David, the great artist Michelangelo was asked how he had accomplished this masterpiece. Michelangelo answered that he looked at the original block of uncut marble, imagined David hidden in there, and simply took out everything which wasn’t David.
This powerful insight can be applied to quickly and systematically improve our lives: Focus every day on taking out micro-annoyances to uncover our own David.
A micro-annoyance is a recurring annoyance, which is too big to go unnoticed, but too small to overcome action inertia.
For example, after not being used for several hours, my fountain pen needed several dummy strokes, before I could finally start writing. Not a big deal, but it subconsciously provided a hurdle to write things down. After doing some research, the problem was solved by buying a better quality ink.
A continuous barrage of micro-annoyances can slowly grind you down.
The opposite is also true: Getting rid of micro-annoyances can be a powerful energy booster.
A recipe for mental nourishment is therefore to tackle one micro-annoyance a day. It prepares you to dream big and be ready to face macro challenges.
