Welcome to the Art of Less Doing! I’m Ari Meisel. Before we begin, I’d like to give you a little background on me and on Less Doing.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my life. I started my first company at the age of 12, doing website design. By the time I started college, I had also started a few other tech companies, and after college, I started working in construction.

When I visited a friend in upstate New York, I got the idea of creating a loft district in Binghamton. I spent the next three years working in construction. I built the lofts, a bar, and a few other spaces.Then I returned to New York City, where I started specializing in green building materials. I’ve invented two green building materials, I’ve written a book on green building materials, and I’ve spent most of the last eight years building and consulting.

In 2006, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a very painful and incurable inflammatory disease of the digestive tract. My case was severe. I was in and out of the hospital, and I was taking 16 pills a day. I nearly died.

After reaching a personal low point in the hospital, I decided to do everything in my power to strengthen my body, which by then was very weak. Through a combination of yoga, nutrition, natural supplements, and rigorous exercise (Ironman and Crossfit), I was able to fight back the symptoms of Crohn’s until I was finally able to suspend my medication. Eventually, I was declared free of all traces of the ‘incurable’ disease, and I competed in Ironman France in June of 2011.

I have since spoken at seminars and at a regional TED Talk about my struggle against a seemingly insurmountable opponent. What I discovered is that nutrition and fitness are not the whole story. Even with them under control, stress was still a big part of my illness. It’s a big part of other autoimmune illnesses and inflammatory conditions, too, not to mention life in general. Before I could completely solve my problem, I needed a way to address stress.

Through the process of data collection, self-tracking, and analysis, I became an Achievement Architect. Less Doing is my approach to dealing with the daily stresses of life by optimizing, automating, and outsourcing all of my tasks in life and business.