Beyond Decluttering: How a Minimalist Mindset Can Enhance Your Life

Ask people to name someone they admire and want to emulate, and many will name a star actor, athlete, singer, or business titan.  Some will name a teacher, mentor, parent, or grandparent, but a large number of us idolize and model our lives on someone who has acquired fame and riches for their accomplishments.

Achievement.  It's the one strong desire of our era.  The brightest and best want to achieve what no one else has managed, and I'm not just talking about Olympic record-setters.  We want to be richer than anyone has ever been.  We want to be internet sensations with millions of followers.  We want to colonize Mars, and then launch ourselves beyond the solar system with ships designed to travel for generations.

In our production-driven, climb-the-corporate-ladder world, we're always reaching for something we don't yet have.  Yes, we're capable of imagining things that don't exist.  We can innovate.  But today we believe that there are no limits to human potential.  God may be an outmoded concept, but we've decided to take his place.

Another way to be

Of course, some of us prefer other ideas – or we say we do.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.  When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.

Lao Tzu

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.

Socrates

A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Jesus (Luke 12:15)

We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.

Henry David Thoreau

If one's life is simple, contentment has to come.  Simplicity is extremely important for happiness.  Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is vital.

The Dalai Lama XIV

The Buddha, St. Francis, Mother Teresa – all were minimalists who practiced and advocated a simple life.  We may admire them, but how many of us truly follow their example?  Most of us would rather be wealthy strivers.

How minimalism helps

Our desire for achievement keeps us pushing for things we don't have.  First it's a toy we want, then it's high test scores and a high GPA so we can get into our preferred university.  Then it's internships, a career, promotions, and all of the goodies – the car, the house, the dream vacation.  Whatever we already have – which at one point we eagerly longed for – is never quite enough.

It's a sad way to live, because we're never satisfied.  And even though that unending pursuit never satisfies, we keep at it.  Even Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos aren't satisfied.  The two richest people in the world want more money and more influence, and want to remake the world according to their own desires – in their own image, so to speak.

The opposite of this is being aware of and grateful for what you have.  It's learning that achievement is a dream that keeps receding – the more we have, the more we want.  It's a carrot we follow, but it never delivers.  And that search in which the goal is like mist which we can never hold can lead to great unhappiness.  As the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes puts it, it's all "vapor."  We can try to have it all, and it will never satisfy.

Instead, we can enjoy the gifts we have today and relish them.  We don't need to "have it all" if we learn that we can be comfortable and happy with much less.  Minimalism is a mindset that lets you realize that.  It encourages you to have enough, but not too much.

What does success really look like?

Think about the person you should really emulate, the person who has done the most for you.  It's not someone rich, powerful, or famous.  It's not an all-star athlete or a powerful leader of business.  It's probably someone who has listened to you, encouraged you, taught you, and tried to bring out the best in you.

The question of true success is something we need to consider deeply, and we need to do it away from our society's influence or we'll just fall back into the trap of chasing money, fame, power, and ever greater achievements.

True success looks like joy and purpose.  Think about the things that bring you genuine fulfillment.  Aren't they moments when you feel deeply connected?  Aren't they activities that you're particularly gifted to do?  Aren't they times when you know you're making a positive difference for yourself and others?

True success comes from attention and gratitude.  Attention lets us focus on who we're with and what we're doing now, instead of continually looking for the next upgrade or achievement.  And gratitude overcomes that feeling of deprivation that the chase for more and more displays.  Gratitude highlights the good things in our lives, and develops a sense of completeness.  It makes us less inclined to feel inadequate or covetous, and better able to find joy in the here and now.

Minimalism lets you escape the trap of constant striving and busyness.  Instead of chasing our tails – and thinking that gives us a purpose – we can discern what really matters and give our time and energy to it.  Instead of being held captive by a fear of missing out and falling behind, we can understand that not everything that demands our attention deserves it.

Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.

Francis Chan

Maybe it will take a colony on Mars for us to realize that we can find joy in a tiny wildflower that blooms after a spring rain.  Maybe it will take a completely mechanized existence or an artificially enhanced 500-year lifespan for us to learn that the scent of a ripe strawberry is mouthwatering, or that appreciating each day brings more value to our lives than merely extending the number of them.

We need so much less than our society tells us we do.