The concept of minimalism is often associated with intense frugality, bare undecorated walls, and capsule wardrobes. However, more than just a “look,” minimalism is actually more on the side of a lifestyle or an attitude. It is intentional living without the things that aren’t truly needed.
Minimalism means liking less stuff so you can do more with your life and time, allowing you to channel precious energy towards true living. You can experience the benefits of a minimalist lifestyle by making a few small tweaks to how you work and live, including the feeling of calm and clarity and lesser mental stressors.
Living as a minimalist doesn’t require you to let go of the things that you hold precious, nor deny yourself memorable experiences that bring delight and happiness in your life. Essentially, it helps you focus on the most important aspect of your life by parting with things that do not bring real value.
Minimalism isn’t a way of living that “restricts” but “frees.” It’s about learning to be happy living life with less. It’s about being free from the tight hold for material greediness in our lives. With minimalism, you’ll feel less burdened with the desire to get more since you’re already comfortable with less.
If you want to break free from the chains of materialism, here are the things you can do to be a minimalist:
Have your own set of rules in place
There aren’t any inflexible or fast rules when it comes to minimalism since everyone’s minimalistic ways are quite different. Some think minimalism means living with lesser items, while others perceive minimalism as taking up lesser space in the world in general. The latter is the reason why some people desire to live in tiny houses and studio apartments, only having a few amenities.
Since minimalism varies from person to person, you have to decide which face of minimalism you want to see and pursue. To do this, you need to create a set of rules to follow, ensure that you can achieve and sustain them for life. Think of your basic goals as a base point.
Stop multitasking
The idea of multitasking goes against the idea of minimalism (living with less) since it causes you to pig out on many activities without having a priority set. Although many people take multitasking as their badge of honor, don’t be like them.
Research has shown that multitasking can lead to bad performance and even damage your brain in the long run. Each time you multitask, you aren’t just spoiling your present performance but also damaging a part of your brain that’s essential to your future success in your career.
The human brain can also focus on one thing at a time, so you are basically reducing your performance and efficiency in accomplishing the task whenever you do two or more things at once.
A study conducted at the University of London suggests that multitasking causes a significant decline in IQ scores. The decline is quite similar to the IQ decline of a person who pulled an all-nighter or smoked marijuana.
The IQ of a multitasking man has been found to drop 15 points, getting into the average IQ range of an 8-year-old kid. The next time you resort to multitasking, remember that your cognitive capacity shrinks up to the point that you might as well allow an 8-year-old to do the job for you.
Start off in a clean slate
No matter how much you don’t want to let go of things, you need to admit that there are things in your house that are better off as junk. These items are those that are taking up too much space while serving no purpose in return—for instance, the clothes you aren’t wearing anymore and broken objects that are not repairable. Starting off on a clean slate means donating or throwing things that do not bring you any value.
Assess your life
Analyzing your life is the most critical point in being a minimalist. By assessing your life, you will identify which aspects of life bring value and happiness to you. Once you learn which those are, you will be able to set your priorities straight, making it easier to commence in the process of minimizing. Create a simple note of all the things that matters to you and start there.
Evaluate your possessions
After analyzing your life and setting your priorities straight, looking into your material possessions comes next. Explore whether the things you own are in line with the priorities you have selected and puzzle out whether they truly add value to your life or just produce an excessive mess and mental noise.
Most of the time, we buy things, thinking that they will add value to our lives just to realize that they don’t fetch any significance. Make an inventory of all items which you find insignificant and start getting rid of them every week.
Keep an eye on how you spend your time
It’s not that hard to exhaust yourself with work in this fast-paced world we are living in. However, burying yourself with your duties and responsibilities in work can shove you to mislay time for yourself altogether.
If you don’t keep an eye on how you spend your time, you might end up burning yourself out, which can impact your mental and physical health negatively. Steer clear of neglecting your needs and abstain from putting insignificant things above your well-being.
Divyanshi Mehrotra wasn’t wrong when she quoted this, “Your job can replace you anytime, so why slog behind it? Pamper yourself. Give yourself time.” If you die working yourself, your boss can easily replace you with another diligent worker. But if you drop dead, breaking your back to work, nothing can be undone.
Minimalists know that their careers will always be there, but their health won’t. Hence, they make sure not just to declutter insignificant objects but also activities that waste their precious time for themselves.
Of course, you shouldn’t quit work and do nothing at all. However, instead of working “overtime” for a job that doesn’t make you happy, spare that time to do things that you genuinely enjoy doing.
Identify whether your daily activities are synchronized with your priorities and figure out ways on how you can minimize senseless activities that aren’t aligned with your goals. You don’t need to rush yourself to get rid of all useless activities that eat up your time, though. Rather than dealing with them all at once, eliminate them one by one.
Once your hair grows white, you remember life as something beautiful because you spend your time on memories and experiences with your loved ones instead of working too hard for that paycheck.
Examine the people around you
You must have known this by now, but the people you surround yourself with have a significant influence on your life. If you want your life to be full of positivity, it’s only rational to besiege yourself with an encouraging and positive circle.
If you have people whom you usually spend time with, recognize if they give off toxic and negative vibes and keep your distance from them. Every people we meet have the power to lift us up or bring us down to their level, so you need to be wary of who you spend time with.
