5 Mindset Shifts to Become More of a Minimalist

Minimalism isn't (at least by my definition) a state of having the smallest possible amount of material possessions, but rather a lifestyle lived with a certain mindset. I love Joshua Becker's definition of it being that "minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we value most and the removal of anything that distracts from it."

The kind of minimalism that I promote looks different for every person because every person is different. Treating hoarding by becoming an extreme minimalist and getting rid of everything you own is comparative to treating obesity with anorexia.

If you want to see your outer world transform to become simpler and easier it is important to go through the journey of decluttering with the right mindset so you experience a full transition into a new way of being rather than just a tidier house for a short period until it gets all cluttered again.

Here are my top 5 minimalist mindset shift to share with you:

1. Everything you own is owned with intention

Possessions are kept intentionally as a member of your household. They have an intentional resting place in your home for when they are not in use and they serve a purpose in your life even if that is just because it makes you happy when you look at it. I've gotten to a point where all the belongings in my entire house belong and are kept where they belong. When I open a cupboard I am seeing a bunch of belongings that add to my life. This makes looking after m house so enjoyable because everything in it is an important member of the household, so tidying up is never dealing with a bunch of random crap.

2. You don't need things for 'someday'

Saving that item for when you do that thing that you never do? If you ever do end up doing that thing, you can borrow the item or use something else instead. Most people have sometimes thousands of items that they keep for just in case, but if they got rid of all of them, there would probably be only a handful that they would miss. Be intentional with the items you keep and if you barely ever use something only keep it if you love it. The freedom you feel from having less is totally worth the chances of potentially having to repurchase one of the purged items in the future.

3. Realise you can appreciate things without owning them.

This mindset shift happened for me when I was 17 and at a market with a friend who told me that; because ownership is just a human concept anyway when he sees something he likes a shop he considers it his, but decides to store there at the shop for others to appreciate too. LOL! In all seriousness, I often think back to this when I see something I love but don't really have a place for it in my home. Many of us fall victim to having a whole bunch of things we bought because we liked at the time but then it ended up just becoming clutter. For example, if you find a dress that you love but know you would never have the appropriate event to wear it to, try it on, take some pictures of it, feel the joy and happy leave it at the store for someone else to buy and wear.

4. Discard everything that does not spark joy

As Marie Kondo teaches, if it doesn't spark joy let it go. Some people worry that if they got rid of everything that didn't 'spark joy' then they will not have enough things left to live comfortably. In reality, imagine if every single item you owned was something you loved, even if it was a very few items. What's wrong with that? Of course, some items are such practical necessities that they don't partially excite, but when you start to work on your relationship with your belongings, you find joy in the gratitude for mundane items because of what they do for you. My washing basket, toothbrush, minimalistic toolbox, and dish brush, all do spark joy for me because of how they help me.

5. All stuff takes up time, space, money, and background brain power

When you come to realize that everything in your possession, takes up time and brainpower then you get real intentional with what possessions you keep. Each item takes up your time to clean it, sort through it when you are looking for something, move it around and use it, obviously. Weather its 20 seconds every few months or 20 minutes a week, when we own thousands of individual items, the time spent all adds up. As well as that, there all our items not in use, cloud up our brain to a degree when we look at a space or when we think about where things are located. Part of our brain processes everything we see. And there is the obvious factor of taking up space is also worth reflecting on. Do we want to have said item taking up that space or would we rather create breathing room for our loved items?

I believe that minimalism is for everybody. In saying that, I am talking about creating our own version of minimalism that suits who we are as an individual. We live in a world that is far from sustainable and one of the main causes of that is the disconnect between humans and the effect our consumption has on the world. With changing our mindset, mindless consumerism would end and we would shift from being consumers to impact investors. While most of us are not wealthy enough to consider our selves as investors of any sorts, I love to see all money and time we spend as an investment no matter how small. All of our investments make some sort of impact. What impact is your investments having?