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 how to stay focused and productive, without getting overwhelmed or stressed.

No matter how successful you are, there will always be days when you don’t feel on top of your game. Have you ever had so much on your to-do list that no matter how well you prioritize your work, you have no idea where to start?

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed when you have endless deadlines to meet, a business to run, a family to provide for, or a staff that is relying on you. Given these circumstance, it’s nearly impossible to not experience stress.

Our ability to succeed at anything in life is directly linked to our ability to stay focused and productive, without getting overwhelmed or stressed.

Are you ready to master the quality of focus so that you can achieve more with greater ease and confidence?

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

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Do you want to learn how to create a morning ritual that will inspire you to live every day with confidence, passion, and energy? CLICK HERE to join my Morning Ritual Mastery course!

Below are 3 ways for how to stay focused and productive, without getting overwhelmed or stressed:

1. Accomplish More By Doing Less

People get overwhelmed when they commit to too many things. The brain becomes frazzled and people lose focus when they feel that they have too much to do and too little time to do it.

According to psychologist Daniel Kahneman, “It is the mark of effortful activities that they interfere with each other, which is why it is difficult or impossible to conduct several at once.

Multitasking isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It doesn’t allow you to be more productive. Rather, it creates stress. The key to not getting overwhelmed and stressed is to work smart, not hard, which means narrowing your focus on the few things that matter the most.

Every day I ask myself, “What are the 3 highest leverage actions that I need to take in order to achieve success?” When you master those 3 things, you will find the motivation to do and achieve more.

2. Outsource Tasks

When you run a business, it can be tempting to do everything yourself. Nobody knows your business more than you, right? This way of thinking is what gets people into trouble.  The reality is that financial success occurs when you work ON your business, not IN your business.

Outsourcing some of your most simple business tasks can save you a lot of time and energy. More importantly, it will free up your time so that you can focus on what is most important and be more productive.

Make a list of everything that you are currently doing and ask yourself on a scale of 1-10 how important that task is. Then determine what you can outsource. In the words of Peter Drucker, “Do what you do best, and outsource the rest.”

3. Calm Your Mind

Meditation is one of the most effective ways to cope with stress and increase your ability to concentrate. A new study in the Journal of Neuroscience found that people who regularly practice meditation may improve their mental focus by altering brain function.

Meditation isn’t about emptying your mind. Rather, it’s about conditioning the mind to focus on one thing. It’s natural for the mind to wander, but if you commit to doing it every day, you will see a massive shift in your ability to focus on tasks over time.

In the words of Deepak Chopra, “Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet; it’s a way of entering into the quiet that is already there, buried under the 50,000 thoughts that the average person thinks every day.”

These are just a few ways of how to stay focused and productive, without getting overwhelmed or stressed. Are you ready to get back to a life of flow and ease? You don't have to live in a state of overwhelm. A worry-free life is yours for the taking. The choice is yours!

Do you want to learn how to create a morning ritual that will inspire you to live every day with confidence, passion, and energy? CLICK HERE to join my Morning Ritual Mastery course!