Jack Reacher is one of my favourite book characters.

He is the ultimate minimalist. He travels around America with an expired passport and a folding toothbrush. And nothing else. Every few days he buys a new set of clothes and continues on his way.

Lee Childs is the author of the series. I heard him interviewed recently and he was talking about his writing process.

He doesn’t plan his books. He knows vaguely what he wants from the book, but then he lets that go and just writes. The exciting thing for him about writing is finding out what happens. How the story unfolds.

That blew my mind. It’s so not how I would write a novel.

And I think it’s a nice metaphor for how to live life. Get clear on what you want, but then let that go. Show up and see what happens. Discover how the story unfolds.

(I also reckon that most of us could do with a bit less stuff too. I think I’d struggle with only a passport and a toothbrush, but I could definitely head a little more in that direction.)