#1 - Subtract

A trip to A&E, the power of taking away, and the pursuit of being (not) unhappy

I find it takes something going wrong to learn a lesson; at least, that’s what I told myself at A&E last week.

After a self inflicted knife wound and a day of DIY disasters, I learnt the power of subtracting.

In this weekly email I'll share the lessons I’ve learnt from launching Unplugged. There will be plenty startup bumps and mishaps but also reflections on finding space in life and why it matters.

Above: Screwfix to the rescue (you might see a bloodied bandage if you look closely enough)

Solar struggles

Our cabins need power. Plugging them in is not an option, which leaves us to navigate the murky world of off-grid energy.

I knew this would be an issue for months before launching. Not only is the British Countryside not famed for its sunshine but I somehow failed to communicate this to the Swede’s building the cabin.

So when the batteries ran flat a week after launch in the middle of July, I knew we had a long road ahead.

We put together a plan to modify the generator so that it would start automatically when the batteries ran low. A complicated solution but our only idea.

Until last week that is…

DIY Disaster

We had three months of battery issues. This led us to swap our pellet burner for a wood stove; that way even if the battery ran out our guests could keep the cabin warm.

We discovered, to our surprise, that the pellet burner was a huge drain on the batteries. Taking it out (subtracting) was the first step towards solving our problem. Of course!

Before I could digest this things got messy.

Wood stoves have thicker chimneys than pellet burners. Who knew? Thicker, even, than our hole in the ceiling.

We found ourselves with guests arriving in a matter of hours and a ceiling hole to enlarge.

We set to work. 

To our horror we hit a metal plate between us and the outside- more than a match for our flimsy tool set.

A trip to Screwfix to buy a large metal saw. A finger (mine) impaled with a Stanley Knife. We finally hacked our way through.

With just an hour to go, we sighed with relief and admired our handiwork...

…For three minutes before it started raining and the hole began to leak. Damn. More frantic work and we sealed it in the nick of time.

The power of subtracting

It took a trip to A&E that evening before I could finally relax. It was then that I realised we’d stumbled upon a solution to our energy issues:

Subtract.

Remove the power hungry elements.

Why this took me four months to figure out I have no idea.

All this time I’ve been trying to solve our solar issues by adding; adding a generator, adding an automatic start. Never once had I considered stripping back- this despite the fact our brand is “Unplugged”!

Via Negativa 

This same lesson applies to life.

Nassim Taleb has a concept in his fabulous book “Antifragile” called Via Negativa:

We’re better off avoiding the negative than seeking out the positive.

“Likewise happiness is best dealt with as a negative concept”

”Modern happiness researchers should be lecturing us about unhappiness. Each of us certainly knows not only what makes us unhappy but what to do about it.”

Stop trying to be happy, Taleb tells us; instead start trying to not be unhappy. 

I spent last year dissatisfied with life. I was constantly adding to my busy schedule in a bid to find meaning.

Until, that is, I realised much of my unhappiness came from heavy nights of drinking. We all have our own relationship with alcohol; mine frequently resulted in excess.

I stopped completely and overnight my life changed.

By striping back the things that bring unhappiness we’re left with the good stuff.

Life then becomes… Good.