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!

We all fail.  That's part of process of achieving any goal.  But how do you deal with the inevitable failure that comes during the pursuit of your goals?

In this video blog, I answer a question I received from a follower of PLM on this topic.  The person described in their e-mail that they are following a specific diet, but often will “fall off the wagon” and end up sabotaging their success by eating unhealthy foods.  Does this sound familiar?  We've all sabotaged ourselves in some way and violating our own standards.  You can call this “failure” if you'd like, but let me share with you my thoughts on how to deal with failure so that you can ensure you're achieving your goals.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Be Prepared To Fail

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, experiences failure.  Don't even bother setting a goal if you aren't prepared to fail.  In fact, I don't understand why people act surprised or down when they fail… don't they understand that it's part of the process?  Don't they know that EVERYONE fails?  Don't they know that the SECRET TO SUCCESS is to DOUBLE their rate of failure?

When people succeed, they party.  When people fail, they ponder.  Rarely do you change your life at a party.  But when you ponder, you come up with new distinctions and ideas to change your life.

You need to first and foremost prepare yourself for failure.  How?  By making sure that you're physically and emotionally strong enough to handle it.  By cultivating your ability to persist and not give up.  It's your MINDSET that will ultimately pull you through any adversity or challenge in your life.  The stronger you are mentally, emotionally and physically, the less failure affects you.  It simply bounces off of you, since you're in this state of being unstoppable.

Let me give you the example of dating.  I was a dating coach for many years when I was younger and used to take guys out to meet and interact with women.  One thing about meeting and approaching random strangers is that you will likely fail a lot.  You will walk up to a woman you find attractive, but they will have a boyfriend.  You will approach someone to say hello, but they're in a hurry and have to jet.  You will start talking to a girl at a bar, but her friends will pull her away.  There's so many instances where you fail in dating, whether the person simply isn't interested or due to logistics, but it's part of the process.

What happens if you aren't mentally and emotionally strong to deal with the rejection and failure that comes with dating?  You will break down.  You will feel frustrated, rejected and feel like a failure.  You will feel embarrassed or not good enough.  Likely, you will give up because you don't have a strong enough mentality to keep going.  On the other hand, someone that is mentally and emotionally strong is unfazed by this.  They understand that it's part of the process, they delete any negativity that may have occurred, and they move onto the next person.  They don't get down on themselves when they fail or come up short – they simply keep going.

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
– Michael Jordan

Focus On Progress, Not Perfection

Being perfect is impossible.  You know this.  In fact, perfection is the lowest standard there is, simply because it's unattainable.  When you try to be perfect, you're really just finding a way to beat yourself up constantly, which is a way of giving yourself pain.  When you give yourself enough pain, you begin to ASSOCIATE that to your goal or your attempt towards your goal, which will cause you to likely give up on it and not take any action.

The key is to focus on making PROGRESS.

Let's say your goal is to follow the slow carb diet everyday this week.  Well, let's say that you realistically fall off the wagon twice and only complete it during 5 days.  Instead of beating yourself up, congratulate yourself for succeeding during those 5 days.  The next week, if you complete 6 days of the slow carb diet, then should again congratulate yourself and feel proud for making PROGRESS.  Don't beat yourself up for failing during that one day.  Look at the progress you've made and that you are making.  You are never going to be perfect with the slow carb diet and complete it EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE anyways, it's just not realistic.

The same goes with your weight loss goal.  If you wanted to lose 10 pounds, but only have lost 5, still feel proud.  Who cares you came up short with those 5 extra pounds?  Reward and congratulate yourself for being halfway there!  It might take you longer than you expected (which is always normal), but you should feel encouraged and motivated based on the progress you already made.

Remember, progress not perfection.

You need to set yourself up to win more often.  You need to treat yourself better and be more reasonable with your expectations.  You are human.  You are not perfect. And you will fail.  Accept it and understand it.  Focus more on rewarding yourself and giving yourself pleasure on what you DID do, not what you didn't do.  This will help free yourself from beating yourself up constantly.

There Really Is No Such Thing As Failure…

Finally, I will say that there really is no such thing as failure.  It's all in your head and the meaning you are associating to your experiences.  If you learn from your experience, it becomes an asset and actually a success.  I look at all of the “failures” of my life and am grateful for them, because all of them have contributed to my success today.  That's why I said earlier that the secret to success is to DOUBLE your rate of failure, because you will succeed faster that way and take more risks.

The key is, you must LEARN from your failures and not just repeat them.  If you ignore the lessons, then yes, it will be a failure.  But if you start to ask yourself, “Why did this happen?  What can I do better next time?  What can I learn from this?”, then you are gaining value from your failures and making progress.

Every failure is an opportunity to learn something new.

I hope that this video blog has helped change your perspective on failure and your life experiences.