As humans, we tend to rush towards more. As I have talked about in don’t stinge your way through life, money remains one of the biggest drivers affecting how we live our lives. So many of us fall into the trap of buying items if they are discounted, even when we probably don’t even need them (yes I know, that yellow ticket sure is alluring). How much are we willing to sacrifice to get that bang for our buck – thanks for the catchy phrase Macca’s. In a similar way, we seek easy solutions in other aspects of our life. We tend to rush into relationships (platonic and romantic), try to cut corners when completing tasks like trying to get fit when we should have a stronger focus on consistency in how we exercise and even have normalised binge drinking. Here’s on seeking quality not quantity.

When it comes to fashion, there always seems to be a great divide. Some people swear by only wearing brands, scoffing at “plebs” who buy their clothes from wholesale department stores. Others, including me, tend to just wear what we think looks good. But a word of caution in which stores and fabrics we do select. It is quite distressing to head out and rip your pants the first time you wear them. Nor is it particularly ideal to be wearing an itchy cheap shirt the whole day. Not to mention the fact that most of the time fast fashion and sweatshops go hand in hand. Sadly, beloved online stores like boohoo.com are at the crux of such exploitation. Maybe spending that little bit extra on our clothing will not only mean our clothes last longer but will also be better for our moral responsibility. Even better is to recycle clothes and use sites like Depop.

I do find it hard to justify spending $800 on a dress I would wear one time - spending money on clothes is within reason. For example, I would prefer to spend more on a good pair of joggers that support my running for a while. I know most of the time we are tempted to buy those five-dollar kicks instead of the $70 good shoes. Yet, if we give in, we end up buying about 20 of these five-dollar kicks and if my maths isn’t too rusty, that is a lot more than the $70 long-lasting option. Funny how those “cheap” $5 shoes are the more expensive of the two choices and provide horrendous support for our poor feet anyway.

Now something that I always come back to is friendships. The number of Insta followers or Facebook friends you have means squat. It doesn’t matter how many friends you have really, it only matters how many you can count on. Some of the most seemingly sociable people are the loneliest. A Psychology and Aging study surveyed 1 496 adults of various ages about their social networks, interactions, and their feelings of wellbeing. The survey indicated that the perception of wellbeing was heavily linked to how satisfied one was with their social life but more specifically how many people they counted as close friends. Their findings showed that although younger people reported a higher number of friends, most of these were considered “peripheral others” and unsurprisingly this same age group identified lower levels of wellbeing.

Having lots of surface level friendships doesn’t allow you to truly invest in the real friendships you deserve to find. Frankly, having a larger number of friends for the sake of it, in the end won’t make you as happy. Neither does putting time and effort into someone who contributes little to your life or doesn’t think much of your friendship. Basically, stop limiting yourself at the extremes- trying to be friends with everyone or trying to keep existing friendships alive when they shouldn’t be – but instead seek quality and honesty in your relationships.

Let’s flip over and have a quick look into the working field. Firstly, I hope you all have worked before to truly appreciate what I am going to say. I see work as a very personal and individual aspect of one’s life. Traditionally, we spend a big part of our lives working, about a third actually, and how we spend our days is how we live our lives. Your job has a dramatic effect on your quality of life so do something that makes you happy rather than doing what others expect of you. Don’t pour extra hours of your life into a job just to get extra money (and feel passionless). Anyway, research these days suggest that the number of hours you work doesn’t equal better work. In fact, studies have suggested that the level of productivity plummets after working 35 hours in one week.

For me, the conventional 9-to-5 job doesn’t really cut it. I know that if I have a task, I would much rather smash it out in 3 hours rather than an extended period known as the working day. As proven, working longer hours doesn’t necessarily reflect ideal work. When I am given a smaller block of time to complete things, I’m more driven and focused during that time. It also means there is less temptation to procrastinate because I know I’ve got to do what I got to do. Again, the quantity of hours worked doesn’t reflect a higher quality. The moment you get to work, it is showtime. When you start work, you are in business, and you have the responsibility to make it your best. Everything you do brings you closer to greatness or to ordinary and accepting mediocre results is the beginning of average. When we have a large road ahead (an insane number of hours to fill), we are less motivated, and we set the bar low. Thus, we should shift our focus from completing many tasks to completing tasks well.

All in all, I think more doesn’t necessarily mean better. Let’s stop sacrificing the value of our time and efforts to cut corners or appear more distinguished. Seek a better quality of life filled with genuine joy and comfort rather than a mash-up of half-hearted attempts. Come on, change your attitude and start leading your life instead of blindly tailing it.