It sounds like a joke, but my to do list for becoming a minimalist is very minimalistic. In fact it contains just one task I focus upon until it’s finished. Then I search for the next thing I can do to become, feel, behave and live like a minimalist.

One Step at a Time

it’s easy and much more fun to do anything one step at a time, having a glimpse on the endgoal from time to time when motivation starts to fade. But the true strengh of this method is that I avoid feeling overwhelmed and stressed by reducing clutter. As I began to declutter my room, I faced a great amount of paper, notes and old bills I needed to read through first. It was really overwhelming seeing that stuff and knowing, that there is plenty more of that waiting for me right after that. But through focusing on that task only, I could create momentum, be productive and stay joyful. The task itself wasn’t even that hard but more like a passive meditation hour. “Sit down my Padawan and read through all of this stuff to exercise your focus on the present moment.”

Your Joker is Your Goal

But most of the time your task won’t make any fun. Your motivation shrinks, you get distracted easily and loose focus. This is the time to tap into your vision of your endgoal, in my example the clean and stuff-free room. You need to know why you want that goal and intensely feel it. Create a good feeling, providing you with positive energy and excitement about all the things you could do after through completing that task. This should push your motivation to a higher level again. That’s my Joker, my way of breaking my own whining.

This post ist short. There is nothing more to say about that.

Go and create room. Create freedom. Create clarity.
One Step at a time.

Author’s Note: This is the start of a series about Minimalism and my pursuit of it. Feel free to share it via twitter & co.

Author’s Note: This is the start of a series about Minimalism and my pursuit of it. Feel free to share it via twitter & co.

The first time I heard about Minimalism was reading Zen Habits. I really like the idea of it being an extension of the known “Simplicity lifestyle”. Minimalism leads to freedom, clarity, true abundance and focus. Somehow, you gain more through having less.

I get clarity.

“The things you own end up owning you.” ~ Tyler Durden

Who am I? I’m defining myself like many others by the possesions I have. But who am I under all this stuff? I get clarity in my mind by creating clarity in my life. I want to relate only on truly important things, saying proudly: “That’s a part of me, of my life.” With Minimalism I can see easyly what I own and why I own it. If it doesn’t bring me joy, comfort or freedom, it needs to go. I declutter my mind by decluttering my space.

I get freedom.

I see myself traveling through foreign countries, only with one backpack with all my stuff. If you do not own much, you are able to move with nearly all of it from space to space. But I also sense another form of freedom. I’m free of attachment. I can not only know but experience that I do not need all of these fancy things to be happy.

I get focus.

No distractions on your desk. Sharp focus. Intense clarity. Deep calmness. Flowing creativity leads to impressive productivity.

I get true abundance.

I feel abudant independently of any circumstances around me. I don’t need to spend much money on stuff, so I safe more. I don’t need to spend much time on stuff, so I have more. I don’t need to spend much space on stuff, so I see more. Minimalism is creating pure abundance in my life.

Clarity, Freedom, Focus, Abundance and Joy. That’s why I love Minimalism.

it’s really simple:

1. define what you would like to experience and how it would feel.
2. focus on the pure feeling and believe you will experience it.
3. be happy in anticipation of what is coming to you.

the anticipation should make you feel great right where you are.

Source: Abraham Hicks

Again, my mind starts to talk to me:

“You need to find a solution. You need something great for your life purpose, some sort of career you can focus on daily. You need to achieve something. Search for the answers, you are nearly in trouble. Soon it could be to late.”

My mind often starts telling me what I should do and why I can not focus now on the present moment. Because I have things to get done. My life needs a shift and I can not relax now, how dare I?

But in reality there is no problem. My mind is the one who creates the problem just to push me to solve it. My mind cannot survive in the present moment very long. It isn’t needed that much at all as it is used to when I stay in the present. It is far more efficient when I choose to deliberately use it, instead of when it takes me over and creates concerns about my future.

My minds problem is: there is no problem.
And that’s how I can quite my mind. By telling myself that there is no problem now, no need to worry. If something needs to get done for the future, there still is no need to worry, I can solve everything with calmness.

Even no need to live only for the present moment to avoid a worried mind. Be wise, stay calm and you are able to plan everything without worry.

Simple facts: Do 20 push-ups and you feel great afterwards.

I’ve discovered this little truth a while ago. Putting effort and energy into the present actually can create great pleasure afterwards. I never was a big fan of investing energy now for pleasure afterwards, but somehow I discovered that the process itself can be fun, too. I focus on the present moment, the movements, the process itself, instead of on the goal – and get the results I like while having already pleasure. In the past I focused on the goal and got frustrated with the process of exercising. But today everything was new for me. I never really felt my body while exercising, never focused on how it feels to literally cause pain to yourself and holding it. How long do I stand? When do I give up? How much control do I have over my body? New insights in every present moment.

Why discover the world already if you don’t know yourself?

All my life I’ve struggled with one topic more than with anything else. Going to school. And I bet I am not alone! So what I really want to know is if my hate, my pain, my loss of motivation and my loss of purpose are immutable? May I be able to change myself so crucial that I would start to love school? I only live once and this month, the February of 2010, I will try to change myself for the sake of science and personal development

I love school.

25 days of pretending based on “fake it till you make it”. I may be concerned that I won’t follow the path of my heart but I really feel inspired to try it. I know that 25 days are a lot of time and that I may be discouraged after one week or even one day. But I will try to force myself until it hurts to shift my focus from hate to love.

I want to setup a love school mindset and tell myself that I love school, only focusing on the positive aspects of it. And yes there are more than one I’ve found so far:

1. Breaks
2. Socializing
3. General knowledge
4. Future business contacts
5. After school projects and activites
6. Special access for school groups
7. A-level / university-entrance diploma
8. Lower responsibility (no taxes, no community service)
9. Observe social situations and learn rhetoric
10. I can do sport activities with friends for free

I think there are several more but this are my 10 major aspects I want to focus on. What I want to stop is to focus on the negative problems that occur with going to school at 8am. Instead I will change my mind-chatter into sentences like: I want to feel more relaxed and energized. I want to have fun learning new languages, mathematical theories, biological structures and historical facts. I want to feel a surge to engage myself for my reputation at school, having fun while being in class and entertain myself by learning.

Today this sounds really like an utopia. But I am very curious about the outcome and the consequences on my other interests or social activities.

The School Game

I see my life as a human game experience I’ve got, while being a divine being in my human body. This allows me to see life as exciting, challenging and not frustrating or depressing. There is no real good or evil, but there is an experience I’ve got as the divine being.

Now translate this model of reality onto school. I am a human playing the school game. I know it’s only a game and failing won’t kill me, but rather give me experience to learn from. There will be plenty of fun out there waiting for me, good marks and bad marks, but all in all it will be experiences which lead me as a human being, playing the pupil, to grow and expand. You can compare graduation with a death experience. At the end we will all die (or commit suicide and leave school earlier) and thats why it only counts how you lived your life (what marks you’ve got), how much fun you’ve had. At the end there will be a Numerus Clausus, your mark, summed from all of your life experiences (summed from all of your exams and marks). All that counts is that you had fun!

Converting Old Beliefs

There are several beliefs about school I hold for too long. I want to convert them into positive beliefs which support me in playing the school game. Here are some of them listed and converted:

old beliefs:

1. School steals my free time
2. I got no money for going to school
3. I could achieve a lot of things without my a-levels
4. I need to invest f*king lots of hours of my life
5. I need to struggle and push myself even after school

now converted:

1. I have 24hours of free time, which I use for things that deliver fun and pleasure like playing the school game
2. I can play the game for free, but I would even pay for playing it like I need to pay for a ride on a roller coaster.
3. I can play even more games in the “human game” with my A-levels
4. I invest hours of my life and gain fun.
5. I am playing for fun even the whole day to get more skilled.

That are some examples of mine. I bet there will be several more new phrases after the first week.

I’ve created several other tools for defeating spontaneous depression or creating and boosting my motivation. For example if I feel overwhelmed by school one day, facing my upcoming exams or A-levels, I will face that day exclusively. It will be a game for itself. Focus on every step until you reached the top (of the day).
In other cases I will need special motivation. I may perceive the day as a special level where I need to “win that exam”. I may see that class as some sort of boss I need to beat. I may try to trick the teacher and make him believe I am fully motivated that day even if I want to run, but the tricking could be my quest.

Go With The Flow

Again I need to remember to go with the flow. I don’t want to start paddling upstream but to focus on the positive aspects of school, focus on feeling good all the time and go with the flow of the school day. I don’t need to control anything there, its everything already done for me to become a great student. The teachers are there, the books are there, the other people are there. Everything is waiting for me to start playing.