I would like to share 3 benefits of minimalism that extend to all areas of life. Through life's ups and downs, it is important that we remember to take the time to enjoy the simple things in life. We need to be grateful for what we have, and focus on finding meaning in our lives.

Life is meant to be enjoyed, not filled with stress and frustration. Minimalism is a state of being, a simple approach to life, that can help us do more with less.  In the words of Vernon Howard, “You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”

That is why I wanted to invite Will Chou, the founder of Will You Laugh, a self-development blog that focuses on the secrets to success, to write a guest post to talk about 3 benefits of minimalism that extend to all areas of life.

Take it away, Will!

When I first discovered minimalism, I was a mess of a person and I thought it was stupid. But everything has changed now.  To explain my change of opinion, we have to go back to the beginning. When I first discovered minimalism, I really wanted to travel the world for a living.

At the time, I was disillusioned with my career paths and confused about my future. I was struggling to find work I could enjoy and the job opportunities that I was offered, sucked. To put it simply, like many Millennials, I had chosen a tough college major that I loved (pre-med Biology) but realized too late that it wasn’t my passion (after graduation).

My days of despair led me to seek escapism on the Internet. I discovered a large group of online bloggers that had a huge following and who called themselves, “travel hackers.”

Essentially, they would travel to exotic places for a living and make their living by “hacking life.” They were able to achieve a level of financial freedom that most people would envy. At first, I wasn't sold on this whole idea of minimalism, but that soon changed. Today, I want to share with you the three benefits of minimalism that extend to all areas of life:

1. You Will Stay Organized and Clean

I had always been a messy person. Despite my best efforts to stay clean, my room would quickly morph into a mess of junk. To put it simply, the more items you have, the more opportunity it is for it to make you feel and appear messy.

When you only have a couple of items on your desk, it’s never going to look that messy no matter how long you delay cleaning it up. It’s shocking how few people understand or use this habit. Nowadays, I have applied this minimalist philosophy to every area of my life.

2. You Will Achieve More By Working Less

A lot of people make the mistake of approaching their daily to-do list with a reactive state of mind. They take on too many tasks on a daily basis, many of which are unimportant. When they look back at what they have accomplished, they are surprised by their lack of progress.

A solution is a form of minimalism called essentialism. The concept is simple. Focus on one to three tasks per day. Make sure they are the most important tasks that will make the biggest impact on the accomplishment of your goals. If you do this right, you will realize that you’re doing less work but getting more results by prioritizing and cutting out the unnecessary.

3. You Feel Happier and Less Stressed

Not so long ago, I was frustrated with my progress, both professionally and personally. I didn’t have quality friends, I wasn't earning much, and I was lost and without direction in my dating life.

It was confusing because I had always worked super hard in school and “done the right things.” After doing a lot of research on success, happy people, and the science of happiness, I came up with a simple mantra that has helped me a lot. It goes something like, “As long as I have air, water, food, a healthy mind, and a healthy body, I am happy.”

This mantra reminds me to lead a simple, happy life. By living this philosophy, I have become a much happier, more relaxed, and lighter person.

I Am Not A Minimalist And I Don’t Want You To Be. 

Wait, what? After all, I have said, I’m now revealing that I’m not a minimalist, I don’t intend to be one. Why? I can't say that I would be happy with living a lifestyle of extreme minimalism, and that’s OK. What I love about some minimalist influencers out there is that they’re not telling you to become a minimalist.

Rather, they are encouraging that you adopt the minimalist practices that work for you. That’s where I stand. I will be rich one day and I will buy expensive experiences, but the items and services I do buy will be fewer than the average person, and they will be focused on memorable experiences, rather than a desire to hold onto possession.

It’s important not to swing from one extreme perspective (“Everything you buy has value so you should hoard it.”) to the other (“Nothing has value so get rid of it all.”). The truth lies closer to the middle.

Will has spent thousands of hours studying the world's most successful people and shares his findings on his self-development blog, Will You Laugh. Get his free gift made especially for Project Life Mastery readers by CLICKING HERE!

I would like to share with you 3 things I'm stopping in my life.  I am committed to mastery in every area of my life. I know that if I remove these 3 success blockers, it will bring me closer to achieving my goals.  When you take massive action, you step into your power.

If you want to achieve success in your life, you need to be aligned with your purpose.  Be honest with yourself.  Are you living a congruent life?  If not, it's time to make a change.  In order to become the best version of yourself, it requires that you remove all distractions and focus your attention on the path that will bring you closer to the life you have always dream of.

In the words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, “When you stay on purpose and refuse to be discouraged by fear, you align with the infinite self, in which all possibilities exist.”

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/492104-plm-416-3-things-i-m-stopping-in-my-life.mp3″ ]

Do you want to learn 7 online business models that have made me an Internet millionaire in less than 3 years? CLICK HERE to receive my FREE course!

1. Aimless consumption

When you consume your time with technology, and watch other people live their lives, it holds you back from taking action to achieve the goals you aspire to.  I have been guilty of spending hours aimlessly consuming other peoples’ feeds. This isn't enhancing my life in any way.  At times, I come across something that is educational, but oftentimes it’s a distraction from doing the things that help me grow.

I am trying to spend more time away from technology.  I want to be in the real world, where I am able to communicate and connect with people.  That is what I want my life to be about. We get so caught up in the digital world. Technology is there to support my lifestyle, but I don’t want to be defined by it.  It is important that you consume content with a purpose.

2. Saying yes too often

I have come to realize that I say yes too often.  When you do so, you overcommit, and it can overwhelm you. I commit to too many things that aren’t aligned with my ultimate vision.  As part of my morning ritual, every Monday I look at my calendar and I ask myself, “What do I need to cancel or reschedule?” Lately, I spend a lot of time cancelling things.

By saying no, you learn to focus on mastering one or two things, as opposed to over-stretching yourself, which can lead to dabbling.  There may be great opportunities that present themselves, but I need to say no and put the blinders on.  It may offend people, but that’s OK.  I’m not here to please everybody.

Rather, I’m here to serve, share my passion with the world, and make a difference in peoples' lives.  That is what fulfils me the most.  I choose to reserve my valuable time for experiences and people that I love the most.

3. Anything that doesn’t align with my purpose

Anything that takes you away from your purpose is a waste of time.  I refuse to give power to any person or thing that is not in alignment with what I want in my life.  Every choice you make impacts your life in some way.  I don’t want to have any regrets, which is why I am committed to only taking actions that serve my highest self.

These are 3 things I’m stopping in my life. I challenge you to let go of 3 things that no longer serve your life.  Dr. Steve Maraboli said it best – “Pay attention: Are your daily choices in alignment with the life that they want for yourself?  If not, nothing will change.”

Do you want to learn 7 online business models that have made me an Internet millionaire in less than 3 years? CLICK HERE to receive my FREE course!

Video transcript

I'm going to share with you three things that I commit to stopping and no longer doing in my life. Number one is what I call aimless consumption.  I know you probably know what I'm talking about. This is where you are consuming all the feeds that are out there online – Facebook, Instagram feeds, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube. There are a lot of feeds out there these days where you are watching other people live their lives, and it's holding you back from living your own and from taking action to pursue your goals and dreams.

I've been super guilty of this. In some cases, Ive spent hours just aimlessly consuming content from other people. I don't even know who they are. I'm just watching them live their lives, or I'm clicking on links that lead me down this path and that path. I'm thinking to myself, “How does this even benefit me in my life? How is this enhancing my life?” Yeah, maybe once in a while I come across something that's cool, interesting, or funny, or actually educational, but a lot of the times it's aimless and without a purpose.

It's a distraction that is holding me back from taking action in my life and doing the things that I really want to do that will actually progress me even further.  I'm trying to spend more time away from the computer, away from technology, away from my phone and the Internet, and spend more of my life in the real world, offline.  You are away from the screen and you are actually talking to people face–to–face, interacting with them, having a conversation, connecting, exploring the world, having adventures and real experiences in life.

That's what I want my life to be about.  Oftentimes we get caught up in technology. We forget that the Internet is there to support a certain lifestyle that we might desire and just waste my time consuming, that's holding me back from creating. I'm not saying not to consume. I'm saying consuming with a purpose. If I'm going to consume something, I don't want to just aimlessly open up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat, but actually deciding, “Okay, I'm going to go on Facebook so I can see what this friend is doing in their life and I want to look at their photos.  I want to follow them”, or if I'm on Snapchat, I'm going to unfollow all the people I don't care about that don't enhance my life in any way.  I'm just going to follow that one person that I might look up to one person that actually has some benefit or actually care what's going on in their life.

Or, instead of just aimlessly clicking around on the Internet watching different videos out there, I'm going to be more selective about the information that I consume. I'm going to be more selective and decide that if I'm going to go on YouTube, I'm going to go on it with the purpose of searching for something or browse on Google that favorite person that I know has value and benefit.  Then, I'm going to turn it technology and I'm going to live my life spending more time in the real world and being more strategic about what I consume.  That's the number one thing I'm committing to. The second thing that I'll stop doing is saying yes too often.  I'm going to commit to saying no a lot more than I say yes. I don't know about you, but a lot of times when you say yes to things, you overcommit and it stresses you out. It overwhelms you. I know, for me, there's certain things that I commit to that oftentimes that are not aligned with my purpose and my ultimate vision.  

In fact, one ritual that I have every single week on Mondays is I look at my calendar throughout the week and I ask myself, “What is it on this calendar throughout this week that I need to cancel or reschedule?”  I'm spending a lot of time now cancelling things. I may say, “Sorry, I can't make this appointment. I can't make this lunch.” It's not part of my vision and my purpose. It's not the most important thing for me to do. By saying no, you will learn to focus and immerse yourself in what is most important.

You will learn to commit to mastering one thing or a few things, as opposed to overreaching yourself and over-stretching your focus.  This can lead to dabbling in distraction.  It doesn't serve you, so I will be saying no a lot. There may be a great opportunity that comes along, but I don't care. I need to respond with, “I'm focused right now. I'm grinding. I'm hustling towards this one goal, and this one outcome that I have.”  I'm saying no to everything else, I'm putting the blinders on, and narrowing my focus.

This might offend people. Some people that might contact me might not be a part of my plan or might not be able to get a response from me. But you know what? I'm not here to please everybody. I'm here to live my life and serve in the highest possible way that I know how and that I can.  So, I'm going to be saying no a lot more in my life.  I'm going to reserve that my valuable time for people that I love and care about the most – my family, my friends, my girlfriend. That, unfortunately, might mean that I'm going to have to say no to some people. Some people might not like it. That's okay. The third thing that I'm going to commit to stopping and no longer doing is anything that does not align with my purpose and my ultimate vision of what I want for my life.  These might be certain habits, activities, and things that take away from the life that I want.

I'm not going to be giving any power whatsoever to any person or any thing that is not in alignment with the life that I want to live. I guess that kind of fits in with saying no a lot. Even just cutting out certain things so that I can really allow the time that I'm spending in this world to be the most efficient.  I don't want to have any regrets.  Those are the three things I'm committing to stopping in my life.

No more aimless consumption. No more saying yes too often. I'm going to say no a hell of a lot more, and I'm going to no longer do anything that's not aligned with my purpose. Those are my three things. If you've got three things you want to commit to no longer doing, leave a comment below. I would love to hear what they are. Hit the thumbs up button if you enjoyed this and subscribe for more videos. I'll talk to you guys soon. Take care.