7 Steps to Becoming a Minimalist
/Minimalism helps create balance and contentment in our lives. It’s recognizing the things that mean the most to you—spending more time with family, enjoying a hobby, traveling more, excelling in your career—then, making decisions with the intent to create time for each of your priorities. Here are my 7 Steps to Becoming a Minimalist. I hope this inspires you to make the simple changes to achieve more calm, purpose, and happiness in your life.
Step 1. Prioritize
Make a list of the things that are important to you. How do you enjoy spending your time? What are your goals? What do you value? What does your ideal day look like?
Once you have a list, you’ll be able to better plan how to best use your time. Prioritizing tasks and goals will help you create balance in your schedule so you have more time for the things that mean the most to you.
Step 2. Plan
Our schedules are often our biggest stressor. Planning your day will help you feel in control of all that you need and want to get accomplished. It’s important to have long term goals, but it’s also important to set daily goals for ourselves.
Create and complete to do lists, being realistic about what you can and need to get done each day. Don’t just list chores and tasks, include your hobbies, time with family, exercise goals—everything!
With everything accounted for on a list, you’ll have less mental clutter and you’ll be able to better focus on what needs to get done next.
Step 3. Declutter
Decluttering is key to create more time and peace in your life. Start by editing out unnecessary and duplicate items. You can set aside 10 minutes each day, or schedule to declutter one room each week, whatever works for you. Be consistent, and you’ll soon see the benefits of removing the excess from your home.
Start with the items that are easy to let go, items that you know you don’t want, things that are broken and can’t be repaired, things you know you won’t miss. If you need some ideas, check out my Declutter Checklist.
Decluttering isn’t a one-and-done job. Since our needs are always changing and there are always new items coming into our homes, you need to continually evaluate want is truly needed. Don’t let that overwhelm you, decluttering gets easier the more you do it.
Step 4. Organize
Creating order in your home will give you more mental clarity. Once you’ve purged unwanted items, create organizing solutions that work for you.
If you’re not sure which organizing methods will best fit your lifestyle, take my What’s Your Organizing Style quiz. It can help you determine storage solutions that would be the easiest for you to maintain.
Step 5. Simplify
Find ways to simplify tasks and chores. Now I know this is easier said than done. Think about all the things that fall on your plate.
Can you delegate some of those tasks to save time? Maybe the whole family can pitch in with cleaning and laundry. Perhaps you can hire a cleaning company or a lawn mowing service.
Automate as much as you possibly can. Set up automatic bill payments and savings account transfers. Take advantage of subscription services for frequently used household products and grocery items. Schedule repeating calendar entries and reminders for reoccurring events, tasks, and appointments.
Follow the One Minute Rule—immediately do any task that you can complete within one minute. Doing the quick tasks as they arise will ultimately save you time and give you peace of mind.
Step 6. Focus
It’s okay to say ‘no’ to invitations and events. Go ahead and read that again. Be assertive when taking control of your schedule. Additionally, avoid saying ‘maybe’ when the answer is simply ‘no’. Not committing to a decision is mental clutter. We allow the question to linger in our mind, even if we know the real answer.
Alternatively, it’s okay to say yes! Don’t feel guilty about doing things, especially when they fall in line with your priorities and values—a coffee date with a friend, and weekend getaway, taking a break to play a game with your kids.
Focus on your priorities. Having a clear understanding of where your attention needs to be and taking control of your schedule is what will give you that feeling of balance and contentment in your life.
Step 7. Reflect
So we’ve covered the ways to save time so that you can accomplish more, not just more work and chores, but more in life—time to pursue your passions and hobbies, time to spend with your family and friends.
Take a look at the priority list you created in step one. What’s important to you? Where do you want to devote more time?
Be sure to give yourself credit for all of your accomplishments, whether it’s the source of your income or the source of your happiness.
