The paradox of choice
When it comes to getting things done, options aren’t always a good thing.
When everything is a possibility, it actually becomes harder to make the right choice. Meanwhile, when we place a constraint on ourselves, it can become much easier to get something done.
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It means focusing on and committing to the fundamentals, instead of wasting time, money, or energy on details.
A minimalistic approach can be applied to consumption, goals, schedules, tasks, design, and much more.
Obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption which leads you to acquire more new things.
As a result, we end up buying things that our previous selves never needed to feel happy or fulfilled.
Choosing one priority guides your behavior by forcing you to organize your life around that responsibility.
Your priority becomes an anchor task, the mainstay that holds the rest of your day in place. If things get hectic, you have already decided what is urgent and what is important.
- Buy items that fit your current system
- Each time you make a new purchase, give something away
- Go one month without buying something new
- Realize that wanting is just an option your mind provides, not an order you have to follow.
RELATED IDEAS
- The minimalism of things argues that getting rid of possessions means ridding yourself of trouble.
- The minimalism of ideas means stripping away excess to see that the world is more troubled and difficult, and more wondrous and full of possibility.
The question is whether you accept less in order to assert your will more efficiently, or whether you assert your will to receive the reward of self-diminishment.
- It’s more sustainable.
- It’s easier to organize.
- It’s lower in stress.
- It’s less expensive and less debt.
- It’s less cleaning and maintaining.
- There’s more room for creating, for loved ones, for peace, for doing the things that give you joy.
- There’s more time for getting healthy.
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the idea of doing more of the things that matter most to you, your calendar is overscheduled, or your physical space is filled with items that don’t serve you and your family, minimalism will help you make more space in your life.
- Space to take bigger risks, try something new or simply spend more time with the people you care about.
- Over time, minimalism can potentially help in making a radical lifestyle change like moving to a new city, changing careers or exploring entrepreneurship.