HOW TO BECOME A MINIMALIST 101
Less is more.
More or less?
Minimalism is not new, in fact it is becoming the new trend but the Philippines is left behind. Nowadays, there are so many new things, many luxuries, many must-haves. We desire more and more material things each day. Every day we labor and work hard to buy new things. We love to spend. Our lives became a rat race, we are running in a maze, chasing something unseen. A lot of people will continue to run the race, but there are those who chose to rest and slow down. They started asking themselves, “why am I running?” “Where am I going?” “What is it that will make me happy.” They started to stand still and looked around. Only when you rest your mind will you see that you are running in circles. You work, you buy things, but not truly happy.
Minimalism comes in like a fresh flowing water where you can rest after watching others run the endless race. You will ask yourself, “what is it that will make me happy”. You will look at everything you have, everything you have done. You will ask again, am I happy with these things? Did I just run a race but with no direction? Maybe, it is time for you to reevaluate your life and run purposely towards the things that are making you happy.
Filipinos love to buy things and create drama. They want to be so involved with so many things that they are already caught in the web of endless maze and clutter. I compiled some important lessons for every reader to enlighten you to the world of minimalism.
1. Reaching your goal
Minimalist is not simply throwing everything you own. It is about living a purpose driven life. There are so many blogs about minimalism but there are so few that caters to Filipinos. What is so unique about us is that we value God and our family above all.We cannot truly separate a man from his Creator, thus a minimalist lifestyle should never forget God and family values.
Filipinos are known to dedicae their lives to their families. The Filipinos are willing to throw away their lives and future just so they could help their families. It may be satisfying but leaving nothing for one’s self is truly terrifying. Every Filipino has a dream. Minimalist works to achieve that dream. Filipinos can work for their family at the same time, work a way to reach their dreams.
Minimalist sets goals. They maximize their time so they could make their lives more meaningful. They do not overwork themselves but they create a time and space for everything. They remove unnecessary activities to give way to those that truly matters.
Do you want to put up a business? Then sacrifice your time allotted for browsing Facebook and Instagram, and make way for researching about business. Leave the gaming console and read ebooks or books about starting a business. One should not say, “when I have time”, learn to say “how can I make a time”.
What one goal would you like to achieve in life and what are the steps should you take to achieve them?
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2. Clutter free
Minimalists hate clutters. Clutters are anything that does add value to our lives. They are those that pull us down instead of helping us out. Clutter is not just abundance of unused material things. Clutter can also be a toxic relationship, a depressing social media, vices, and many more.
Minimalists believe that when your mind is free from distraction, you can focus. Hence, they make sure that their work place only contains thing they need for work. No unnecessary magazines to distract them, no unnecessary browsers to catch their attention, no useless things to stop them.
At the same time, ones life should also be free from clutter. If a friend keeps on pulling you down, drop him or her. You do not need anyone who keeps on critisizng you. If facebook posts make you lonely nad envious of others, then deactivate it. If you feel like a victim of cyber bulliying, turn off your social media account and stay away from the internet. If yuor job makes you depress, find a way to get the job you want.
Drop off those that only hurt you. Be clutter free.
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3. Focus
There are so many distractions in this world. We want to do so many things, yet we can only do one thing at a time. Hence, you should stop multi-tasking and start focusing all your energy into one activity at a time. Minimalists set a goal and list down the steps that they should do to achieve that goal. They also incorporate the steps into their Most Important Things To-do-list (MIT). With the list on hand each day, they finish one before going to the next step.
Example, you want to travel somewhere? What are the things that you should do to travel? If you need to plan the trip, set aside a little time of your day to read and research about the place you want to visit. Add to your MIT, a time where you can read blogs and destination guide. One article a day is better than not researching at all.
You want to open a business but do not know how? Add to your MIT, a time where you can read how tos and guides in opening a business.
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4. Slow down
You do not have to bite a big chunk to reach your dreams. Even Henry Sy did not become a millionaire over night. It is a long process, the more you rush the farther you’ll get in achieving your dream. Take baby steps at a time. If you bite a big chunk all of a sudden, you will choke and give up. You will be so overwhelmed that doing your MIT will be a burden instead of a pleasant activity.
Remember, you do not have to run. Slow down and appreciate everything that is happening around you. One minimalist said, “the journey is the reward”. One should not dart ahead,and neglect the beautiful things happening around them. There are people who are so absorbed in their goals that they kick everyone away from them.
I know someone who wanted to succeed in her MLM business that she annoyed all her friends until we started drifting away from her. She created a stigma where every time she comes, we know that she will force us to join her team or buy her product. She was so goal oriented that she saw us as nothing but potential clients and not her FRIENDS. If she slow down a bit, she might realize the silver lining separating a friend from a business partner. Her friends became nothing but money to her, she was caught up chasing a dream and neglected the importance of friendship.
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5. Breathe
Take time to relax. Have a break. Always make a time for meditation and self wellness. Make it a habit to learn something new everyday. Learn to meditate here.
These are some basic things about minimalism and I hope that it gave you a great understanding in the world of minimalism.
Thank you!