In this post, I am leaving profound in the rearview mirror in favor of simple.

Occasionally, I need an easy framework that will help me think about growing as a person. To this end, I suggest a little Life Math. Fortunately, I don’t need to understand calculus or geometry, or even algebra to do this Life Math. Simple arithmetic will do.

Here’s an example of Life Math

Perhaps you might give it a try too.

Addition – What do you need to add in your life?

• What life-giving habits might you develop in order to grow going forward?
• What people are missing in your life? Friends? Mentors?
• Are there any resources that you need, such as church, or an exercise facility, whose absence is holding you back? Do you need to add a vacation, an adventure?

Subtraction – What do you need to subtract from your life in order to make room for what you need to add? This may be the most important math you do!

• What habits do you need to eliminate? 
• What food or drink do you need to subtract?
• What technology or app can you live without?
• What area of your house or possessions needs decluttering?
• What commitment is not working, but you continue to do it anyway?

Multiplication – What can you put in place that multiplies its benefits in your life, such as a savings plan or an early morning routine? These practices have a compound effect. They also ripple, effecting other areas of life in a positive way.

• Is it an exercise commitment? 
• A reading habit?
• A journaling habit?
• A prayer habit or giving habit?
• Perhaps it is starting each day by deciding your one highest priority for the day ahead?
• Or cutting off technology after 9:00pm?

All of these efforts don’t just add to life, they multiply life. They form a foundation that creates other good results. In isolation, they seem small and insignificant, but practiced regularly, over time, these efforts multiply the fruitfulness of our lives.

Division – What habits or practices serve to diminish your potential in life?

• Could it be that staying up inordinately late is sabotaging the rest of your day?
• Or perhaps a secret habit or developing addiction is destroying the good coming from the rest of your life.
• Is a friendship proving to be toxic for you?
• Is technology creating an ADD interior? (At one point in my life, I got so addicted to an online game that I no longer had time to read, I was distracted in conversations, and I was in a perpetual multitask mode.)

Years ago, I read the book, 100 Ways to Simplify Your Life. I poured through all of the good ideas, highlighting about 20 that were worth considering. Then…I went on to the next book. Twenty ideas are too many to realistically implement. To that end, I recommend even simpler math.

Which Life Math suggestion(s) grabbed your attention? Which might you focus on and make a part of your life right now?