How To Get More With Minimalism?
The idea of getting more with minimalism is a counterintuitive one, and it sounds like it just came out of a marketing agency working for Marie Kondo. The hard truth is that a minimalistic approach can help you to improve your wellness and tackle your daily fitness challenge. Minimalism can be beneficial in many aspects of your life, and some people even say a minimalist mindset may help you be happier.
How Can I Get More In Life With Minimalism?
Deriving joy and contentment from simple things with a bit of discipline is most likely the best part of minimalism. One of the best ways to understand how to get more in life with minimalism is through stories. Here is a very simple one:
Megan’s goal to lose weight led her to subscribe to a premium gym membership. Despite the large amount she spent on her gym membership, she didn’t show up at the gym every day. She felt she did not have it all. Her commute to the gym took her one hour each day. After exercising, she always had to buy take-away food to catch up on time wasted. On top of that, the noisy encumbered traffic to get to her gym wasn’t relaxing at all.
She was not committed and finally resigned from her expensive gym membership. She started exercising at home instead. She found that doing so at home with her favorite music in front of the mirror made her feel better about herself. This minimalist approach to fitness also helped her to stick to a daily fitness routine. She now had something enjoyable to look forward to after her daily workout. With the time and money she saved, she can spend more time with her loved ones and treat themselves to a nicely prepared dinner.
“The possession of anything begins in the mind.” – Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a fulfilled minimalist and a person that didn’t like to waste time. He knew the value of time and how important it is to be a free man in life.
His philosophy was simple (In parenthesis is how we can relate it to Megan’s story):
-
- research your own experience (Megan tried a premium membership)
- absorb what is useful (Megan needed some fitness to help her losing weight)
- reject what is useless (Megan wasted time, money. Traffic jams were annoying too!)
- add what is specifically your own (Megan managed to spend more time with her loved ones without compromising on his goal to lose weight)
Are Minimalists Happier?
An almost century-old billionaire, Charlie Munger (Warren Buffet’s right-hand man), recommends a minimalist approach to get more from life. He declared that the key to living a long and happy life was easy and straightforward as long as:
-
- You don’t have a lot of envy
- You deal with reliable people
- You don’t overspend your income
- You don’t have a lot of resentment
- You do what you’re supposed to do
- You stay cheerful despite your troubles
And lastly, let go of negative feelings and stay cheerful.
It may seem easy to execute, but mastering oneself requires discipline. I wouldn’t consider myself a minimalist, but I do apply the minimalist philosophy in some areas of my life; my daily fitness routine is a minimalist simple workout.
How Minimalism Can Improve Your Relationships With Money & People?
Lewis Howes is a former athlete who runs a podcast called the “School of Greatness.” In his episode 1161, called “How Minimalism Can Improve Your Relationship With Money & People,” he meets again with one of the most prominent champions of the modern minimalism movement: Joshua Fields Millburn. Joshua is a New York Times bestselling author, host of the popular Netflix documentaries Minimalism and The Minimalists: Less Is Now. In this episode, you will learn:
-
- The benefits of minimalism and organizing your life.
- How to support people around us without trying to “fix” them.
- How to heal your relationship with money.
- And much more…
“He who knows others is intelligent; he who understands himself is enlightened; he who is able to conquer others has force, but he who is able to control himself is mighty. He who appreciates contentment is wealthy. – The Virtue (Teh) of Discrimination, Tao Te Ching”
Do You Need A Gym Membership To Be Fit?
You certainly don’t need a gym membership to be fit. Taking care of yourself with calisthenics or core fitness exercises like pushups is more than enough. If you are not motivated to work out by yourself, ask why you want to work out in the first place. Are you looking for a way to stay fit and get your dose of happy chemicals, or going to the gym is just an excuse to socialize or comfort yourself you’re doing something?
We live in a society with an abundance of options. We consume well-marketed tools, services, or programs all day long. Each time we face a challenge or some resistance to start something, we look for the least effort possible, the latest revolutionary app or online coach to solve our motivation issue. Worst, we may avoid the challenge with a made-up excuse. We want to be fit; we buy a gym membership. We want to eat good food; we go to the best restaurant around the corner. The opposite works too for some people. No gym membership, no reason to work out. No restaurant, no possibility to eat good food.
The prevalence of options distracts us from simple but effective solutions or provides us with excuses. The key is in your ability to motivate yourself to get things done. Minimalism helps to grow on that essential requirement. Suppose you want to be fit, exercise. Don’t wait for a fancy fitness machine or the latest fitness app. That’s an excuse. Be minimalist, and use your own body to exercise. Work on your motivation. Once you control your motivation, you will be set up for success.
“The less you have, the more you own.”
Adopting a minimalist approach in fitness and life, in general, force you to focus on what is essential. Your body and your mind do not necessarily need a fully equipped gym or a life of abundance to have it all. Most probably, the simple things are enough.