Goodbye, things4 min read

8/10

The Book in 3 Points

• Minimalism is about reducing the unimportant things in your life, so you can focus on the important things.
• Does it evoke joy? Would you replace it if you lost it or broke it? If the answer is no to either one, throw it away.
• Find your uniform day and life and stick to it. This includes clothing, morning and evening routines, food, exercise, and everything else.

Should You Read It?

Yes, read it, there are novel approaches. This guy can move out of his apartment in 30 minutes that’s crazy. Many new ideas on minimalism inspired me to actually try minimalism and it has improved my life. My rating, however, is likely inflated because I am in a “minimalism” zone at this point. I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about minimalism and give it a try. I even like it better than Marie Kondo’s famous book.

Major Take-Aways

• What’s your uniform? Wear the same thing every day. I have a formal outfit, a normal outfit, a gym outfit, and a pijama outfit.
• Apple products generally don’t include operating manuals because they don’t need them.
• Make the differentiation of what is truly necessary for you versus what you have for the sake of appearance.
• There’s no need to get rid of everything at once, if there is something you really can’t part with, you can put it in storage as well. You will see how much you truly use it if you need to go back and get it.
• There is no need to stock up or get your money’s worth. So what if you spent this much money on it. Not only is it taking up space in your literal space, but it is also taking up space in your mental space. There are storage areas near you everywhere that are called convenience stores. That’s free storage space. When you need something new, just go there. No need to store 9 million backups.
• One in, one out.
• Develop your own opinions based on values. We are bombarded with urgent messages through the media, ads, and everything else we come across.
• The more things you have, the more things you accumulate. You will always like it more. It’s always a monster that becomes hungrier and hungrier as it eats.
• Comparison is a wall to creativity and action. Instead of comparing to others, use others for ideas and inspiration, then stop thinking about them.
• Experiences >> material objects. Practicing minimalism makes this an easy change.

Helpful Quotes

• Everyone wants to be happy. But trying to buy happiness only makes us happy for a little while. We are lost when it comes to true happiness.
• “We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.” Francoic De La Rochefoucauld
• Since I got rid of my TV, I read a book or write instead. I go to bed after taking my time doing some stretching exercises, using the space that used to be filled with all my stuff.
• We all came into this world as minimalists.
• When you discard something, you gain more than you lose.
• “The accumulation of small achievements is the only way to do something incredible” – Ichiro Suzuki
• Which of your items would truly be necessary if you were to start with zero belongings? What if everything you owned was stolen? What if you had to move next week? Which items would you take with you? There are probably a lot of things we have sitting around in our homes for no particular reason.
• “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs
• I am aware of every single one of my possessions, and since they’re always stored in the same location, I spend zero minutes looking for misplaced things.
• Aristotle, restated by Will Durant, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
• “When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” Lao Tzu
• Deeper relationships are only possible if we see every person as a real human being with the same meaningful desires, concerns, and fears. With more time and less stress, we can stop betraying our urges and take action for the good of others. We can begin to see people as people instead of objects.
• “Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.”