Keep It Simple, Silly

I recently read the book "Essentialism" and it got me thinking. I have to admit that I have a footprint way larger than optimal but I feel that I have always been an essentialist and more recently, I have started being more deliberate about it.

In this post, I wish to introduce the concepts of Essentialism and in the following posts, we can get into more practical details.

I think it is worthwhile to consider why developing the skill (everything is a skill) of active decluttering is so important in every facet of our lives and why being very deliberate about the things we choose to "add" and to "retain" can elevate our level of general well being and satisfaction.

Essentialism

If I had to nitpick over jargon, I would prefer Essentialism or Intentionalism over Minimalism to describe the topic.

I don't think there is anything wrong with procuring things, which can add value to our lives, as long as we can afford them comfortably. When I mean affording something, it involves financial considerations but more importantly, it involves energy (and time) considerations and commitments.

So, instead of thinking of getting rid of everything and stop buying anything, it is useful to start practicing being "Intentional" about our choices. Practicing delayed gratification principles to re-evaluate our choices more deliberately and ensuring that we (increasingly) invest only in things that are essential for our well-being. As the Author, Greg Mckeown puts it, "If it is not clear Yes, it is a clear No"

It is not about having the Least number of things but to have the Optimal number of things, chosen Intentionally.

Introducing the Adversary

I will not bore you with explaining why Essentialism is so attractive as a practice. It is best to take examples in an attempt to understand what we are up against here.

Most people have experienced the following things in their everyday life at some point or another.

• Holding things we haven't used for ages
• Buying things and never using them much.
• Installing apps and not using them ever
• Subscribing to mailers and never reading any one of them
• Feeling exhausted with constant notifications/updates. Constant messages on large groups. Non-stop emails where you are really not needed.
• Feeling exhausted with the never-ending (and ever-inflating) to-do lists at work and at home. Some items might be imposed onto us but oftentimes, a lot of items are self-imposed
• Lack of lasting satisfaction even after purchasing the things we thought would make us happy
• Inability to Focus or sustain Deep Work
• Not getting quality work done leading to long term dissatisfaction and loss of productivity
• Inadequate savings even with increased earnings a.k.a Lifestyle Inflation
• Reduced maneuverability in terms of career changes. e.g: moving to a new city for a new job opportunity might require more considerations if you own a house in the current city. Even within a (large) city, your commute times might be significant with traffic, etc if moving closer to the office is not an easy option.

I could go on and on. If the list above doesn't describe your life, I am very happy for you because it does describe my life (pathetically accurately) not so long ago. The point is, as we move through life, we gather stuff, we gather commitments and we never revisit them and question them. It is okay to find ourselves in situations, we inadvertently signed up for but it is very much in our power to decide whether to continue. In the end, it is simply a matter of being efficient with the limited amount of energy we all have. Tolerating things that seem harmless will actually drain you and leave you from doing something more meaningful and fulfilling.

Decision Fatigue

Too many choices makes us a Tyrant to Ourselves

Decision-making requires a lot of energy. The reason the human brain loves to fall back on default habit patterns is that it is extremely energy efficient. As discussed in my earlier posts, the Monkey Mind loves coming up with quick solutions and the Rational Mind is too lazy to bother unless we take charge of the situation.

I am old enough to remember simpler times:

• 1~2 uniforms for school
• A couple of new sets of clothes limited to festival times
• Dad had a few sets of office clothes and he wore them every day
• Ordering food was not an option. Eating out was strictly limited to "special" occasions only and even when we wanted to celebrate, it was 1 of 3 choices
• Maggie was a luxury
• We wrote letters (Yes, pen and paper)
• Collected stamps
• Our first phone connection (from BSNL) took 2 years after applying
• We took a walk early morning or late night (because rates were cheaper in those hours) to an STD booth to call relatives
• Car was a luxury that only the "well to do" could afford, we couldn't
• Dad sold his Rajdoot for a scooter and we had the same scooter for more than 15 years (and I loved it because I learned to ride on it).
• Building a retirement home was what everybody did as a default
• LIC and FDs were pretty much what people understood as "Investments"

Life wasn't Abundant but it was Enough

The point is, we were blessed with the Essentials and somehow, it is one of the reasons why I never felt not having "stuff" was equal to being unhappy.

De-Clutter Aggressively

I think this is quite self-explanatory. How often do we "tolerate" unproductive trash because we simply are unable to muster the courage to take a decision to eliminate it? Remember, decision-making is energy expensive, and deciding what to remove and what to keep can be extremely daunting for a lot of people, so, we procrastinate. However, just like any good habit, it is a skill that can be developed through deliberate practice. The principles of "Growth Mindset" are just as applicable.

I would like to dedicate the following post (s) on how to attempt de-cluttering in different facets of our everyday life but I'll share some snippets here:

• Eliminating excess clothes that we do not like, that we might never wear again to a separate (defined space) before it is moved out. Given to charity or to somebody who might still find value in it.
• Unsubscribe from irrelevant mailers aggressively in my inbox. Report spam wherever required. The number of unsolicited, unproductive emails every morning started going down drastically.
• Reducing (turning Off) notifications on our mobiles
• Reducing the engagement with low quality, fast food acquaintances and focusing on high-quality relationships/people instead

The point is not about eliminating everything but thinking of the process as a way to create more space. The saved space, time, energy can now be utilized productively so, the opportunity cost of not de-cluttering is insanely high.

Conclusion

The purpose of the post is not to eliminate everything, I am no saint but I feel that the practice of being more deliberate with our choices on a moment-to-moment basis can be a good skill to develop in general.

The next post (s) will have some suggestions on things to try in different aspects of our daily lives. I think the best way to approach any "suggestion" is to start with curiosity and accept it as an experiment (without getting overly attached to the outcome). Once, we start to enjoy experimenting with small things in our everyday lives and use the "Growth Mindset" concepts, everything is a puzzle that can be solved. Ultimately, the goal is figuring out a hack that suits you, it need not be perfect, it need not be pretty, it is not something that needs to fit everybody, it is tailor-made, with love, for you and you alone.

As always, do share your thoughts and feedback.

Read Next >>

I hope I could do justice to the time you have just invested. If you wish to explore more, I have linked the next article below for easy reference:

• Essentialism 101: Digital Detox

Footnotes

• Start Here
• Greg Mckeown
• Joshua Becker
• Growth Mindset is the Way
• Resistance 101: The Monkey Mind