Life is short, we only have 24 hours a day, we spend 8 hours sleeping every day and the rest of our time is only 2/3 left. Don’t try to do everything, it will mess up your life and get mad easily. When you own fewer items, you won’t be stressed, you will complete it as soon as possible. But if you own lots of things, it requires time, energy, and money to maintain. At the end, you get stressed out and did nothing and overwhelmed.
As a minimalist, we discard, give away, sell, or donate items that have not been used for more than one year at home. For example, magazines, books, clothes that are no longer worn, and various gifts or decorations that have been received earlier. Also, I do streamline my bank card, social networks, friends, applications, software and furthermore.
The Myths of Minimalist
Minimalist doesn’t mean you’re poor
Many people think minimalists are poor, however we don’t own many things doesn’t mean we are poor (Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs). The involuntary minimalist cannot be called minimalist, mostly they are poor and forced to live a minimal life. If you keep track of those people who voluntarily live a minimal life, their life is rich because they choose the essence of their life.
Many things we purchased are because we think we may need them in the future. But most of the time you don’t need it in future too. Minimalists don’t buy things that don’t use them frequently, they rent them when it is necessary. The reason they don’t buy more things is not to distract your focus and to have more cash in hand rather than things you own but never use. Try to make full use of every single thing you had, let go of things you own but don’t use.
Minimalists don’t avoid material possessions; we avoid excess. Paradoxically, by owning less, the things we own bring greater joy to our lives.
THE MINIMALISTS
What is minimalist lifestyle?
The minimalist way of life is a process of In-depth re-understanding yourself. Before you live as a minimalist, when you see something new you buy, you see something new is popular now then you follow. A minimalist won’t do that, they will buy a classical thing that can use for all-purpose. It’s more like streamline your living lifestyle. Minimalists give up the items that can’t bring utility, control the spiritual activities that increase the troubles, and live a simple life to gain maximum spiritual freedom.
How to become Minimalist?
Businessman are smart, they keep hyping new trends to let people buy this and that to maximize their profitabilities. In our daily life, we have flooded by lots of brain wash advertisements like if we don’t go to travel, buy a new house, travelling here and there, didn’t share what you ate and didn’t share about your lifestyle we may get feel like being abandoned by the society. A general people may feel likes if they don’t follow what everyone did they may not even to able keep up with the pace of society.
Not only that, we also being trained to be a consumerism by the flooded of advertisement. We are starting to getting FOMO(Fear of Missing Out) that makes us can’t control ourself to buy things. The moment you buy it, you are happy to have a new item. Have you experienced we stop using what being purchase last week after few weeks? Then, we may feel it’s wasting our hard earned money to buy things we thought are good and we may need it, but at the end we don’t need and even never use at all. Those things cost us lots of time, money, energy and pull us down from being rich.
To control yourself, we need to start re-understand yourself. Don’t buy things you don’t need it at least once a week/month, rent it if it’s more worth. Don’t own everything, look at your home how many things you purchased are never being used for a year? How many things you have not even remembered it’s exist? Did it became a waste? Everything you own, that cost you money to maintain, space, energy and time to clean and manage it. If you go and check for it, you may find you have wasted a lot.
We try to own everything when we are poor because we don’t afraid to let go things even it we don’t use but we always think we may need it. Most of the time, those things are cheap, it cost more than what we keep it. In most time, it may cost you more than let it go. Also, If you let go you will have money, you can buy it back at any time or rent it. But If you poor, you will keep it even it’s cheap just want to in case you need it. However, rich will let go things they don’t use, they created more time to concentrate what they had and more space and opportunities to accept.
After so many words, I would like to share my ways of living as minimalist on below. I hope it helps you.
The Spirit, Mindset and Habits
The first things I change is from my spirit, mindset and habits. I try to keep implement the rules below in my mind every day. Be sure I can be better to keep myself a minimalist life. I don’t want to be over minimalist, just good as normal but never too over minimal.
- Sleep early wake early
- Implement the KISS principle(keep it stupid simple) on everything
- Keep a normal heart for the loss and damage of the item, but not regret and sad.
- Keep Exercise
- Do it immediately, no procrastination and excuses.
- Never follow the trend and majority, understand your actual needs.
- Understand, choose, and focus on 1-3 of the spiritual activities that you really want to engage in, and fully study and improve.
- Treat time wisely, don’t waste time and energy.
- Reduce the number of hobbies
- Avoid multi-task as much as possible, do one thing at a time.
The Social
- Treat everyone the same
- Keep ineffective social in minimum.
- Avoid fair-weather friend
- No smoke and less alcohol
The Expression
- Keep your expression clean, clear, short and straight forward. Keep things simple.
- More nouns and verbs, but less adjectives and adverbs.
- Simple expression
- Use the right words
- Use Idiom
The Reading
- Depth reading, not shallow reading
- Pick the right book you can understand, don’t waste time on reading book that you can’t understand at all.
- Filter low quality books. Check the reviews online before purchase it.
- Write book notes and review. Many times we thinks we have read everything. But in the end, we missed lots of point from the book. Writing can helps us thinks better.
- Implement the book knowledge as soon as possible.
- Don’t read book for quantity
The Stuffs
As a minimalist, we do not hold items are not suitable and beyond the management ability. After you have defined your desires and needs, don’t buy unwanted items.
- Digitize: Store in digital rather than physically stored. Write notes in cloud instead of paper.
- Stupid Easy to Use: Less problem, saved time.
- Maintainable: Durable and long lasting
- Wireless: Use Wireless as much as possible rather than wire
- Quality: Do not use bargains, defective products. Buy the Best items within your capabilities. Replace the pile of gelatin pens with a good pen.
- Recycle: Reduce waste. Replace the paper cup with a porcelain cup or a steel cup.
- Needs: Do not buy things you don’t use immediately
The Phone
- Reduce the use of social networks, instant messaging. Don’t use all kinds of social networks and messaging apps, only use a few important one.
- Mute notifications, only appear important notification.
- Do not pay attention to entertainment and social news that are not related to oneself.
- Don’t follow everybody, only follow people that are concern with important messages.
- Uninstall unnecessary software/applications that you don’t use.
- Keep your email mailbox clean.
- Write things with your computer and use less paper. Develop the habit of scanning and archiving paper documents.
- Streamline the number of emails.
- Consolidate and streamline power cords and charging equipment. Do not purchase electronic products repeatedly.
The Clothes
I don’t recommend purchasing a lot new clothes after let go the clothes. But I recommend let go clothes that you never wear and keep the rest that can be used for all purpose. The clothes don’t necessary to be expensive, but must be keep yourself looks clean and tidy.
- Simple design clothes, but not fancy, cartoon or colorful.
- Buy things that can be use for all-purpose, not follow the current trends. Popularity is only temporary, and classics are eternal.
- Good material, simple design, washable and not deformed
The House (Future)
- Computer table only for computers and working related stuff.
- The kitchen and bathroom are only place required stuff, nothing more nothing less.
- No useless decoration on the wall.
The End
These principles are not restrictions on life, but on the pursuit of quality of life.
Minimalist lifestyles helps me reduce my dependence on material and saves time and energy that is wasted, also makes my inner world extremely rich and unattainable.