For a minimalist, a thing which is not dearly needed is a thing that clutters your living space. Although in my life I certainly wouldn’t call myself a minimalist (yet), on the count of all the junk I horde “just in case it is needed” or “because of its sentimental value”, I recently got interested in this lifestyle, as it supports to a great extant my Stoic beliefs and life philosophy, I’m also of the opinion that de-clutteirng my working environment can help me be more productive in my work-life. Living a minimalist lifestyle is seen like something very taboo in the modern age of consumption and consumerism, however I found that many people have a terrible misconception on what the minimalist lifestyle entails.

A good introduction to minimalism is this video by the minimalist youtuber Matt D’Avella, a great guy engaged in becoming the best man he can be:

Being a minimalist doesn’t mean that you should own one fork, one spoon, one soap and sleep on the floor with no carpet, although you could experiment with this extreme version of minimalism, most minimalist chose to keep those things in their life, and simply throw away the things that aren’t essential to their life or that bring little to no value by virtue of them owning them. For example if you’re a software developer like myself, throwing away your laptop for the sake of a minimalist lifestyle wouldn’t be a smart choice (obviously), since I need the laptop to do my work which fulfills me and gives me my purpose. Also, going by the same logic, if you’re a person who enjoys making and drinking quality coffee, throwing away your coffee roaster isn’t a choice you should make as a minimalist, since it brings so much value and happiness into your life. However, as a minimalist, you should probably throw at least half of the things you own, since most of those things are pure junk. Old room decorations which clutter your space, old cloths you no longer wear, that broken tv etc.

The problem I had when starting my minimalist journey is how to pick which things are needed in my life and which are not. For some stuff, like my laptop, my books, or my old cloths it was obvious in which category they fall into. But for other things it wasn’t so black and white. So to help me decide what to keep and what to throw away, I’ve created a decision-making system with three simple steps:

1. Step: How often to you use the item

Answering this question will help you to see how much do you really need to posses this thing, for example I use my laptop every day which means it’s essential to my life. But on the other hand, out of my five belts I ever only use two in my outfits, thus the other three are basically useless clutter. Once you made a list of all your things and how often you use them, we can move on to step two.

2. Step: How much happiness does this item bring to you

Now that you decided how useful the item is in you day-to-day life, the second question will show you how much actual value does this item bring to you. For example, I have an old chess board at home, which I rarely use, but when some of my friends who play chess come over it brings us endless entertainment and helps to strengthen our brotherly bond when we use it, thus, although it’s useless in my everyday life, it brings a lot of joy when I do use it, and I use it often enough to justify keeping it. Once you’re done evaluating the true value of each item, move on to step three.

3. Step: Does the item have sentimental value

Sometimes, we have in our possession item which are completly useless, yet we keep them because the person that gave it to us, or the memory that it is attached to it gives it sentimental value. This is fine, and a healthy habit to have, yet cluttering a lot of junk just because you might go over it and remember the past once a year is pretty much totally against the minimalist principles. My approach to this problem is simple, keep one, most useful, most valuable thing for each person or situation that reminds you of them. For example, I keep one meaningful and useful gift from each friend, instead of keeping a lot of junk that each one gave me. By the same logic, I keep one souvenir from each trip I had that most reminds me of that travel experience, or that is the most useful to my life.

Another good approach to this problem which I’ve seen many minimalists use, is to have a box with sentimental items, so that you can keep those kinds of items contained to that box, which means that in order for everything to fit, you need to throw away one item each time you want to add a new one. Although I prefer my approached, you can try both and see what works for you.

Using this simple three-step method you can easily declutter your space, and be on your way to living a minimalist lifestyle.

The Inner Minimalist

Being a minimalist isn’t only about de-cluttering your space, but de-cluttering your mind as well. It means living a simple, yet fulfilled life, lacking nothing yet having nothing in needless excess. One method to achieve this “inner-minimalism” is though meditation. I found that an hour of quiet Taoist meditation per day helps me de-clutter my mind of useless thoughts, and keeps my head clear and focused on my purpose, helping me live at the moment and enjoy life as it come. I suggest you meditate in silence, or in nature, with only ambient sounds, since in my experience, meditating to music or via those guided meditations you can find on YouTube, rarely had that deep of an effect.

To help me me reach a minimalist mindset, I started doing prolonged fasting, which helps clear out junk from your body, as well as from your mind. Most people don’t realize how much of a spiritual experience fasting can be. Depriving yourself of food helps you concentrate on other things, on your inner self, on the nourishment that your own life energy can bring you, which for those who never tried it before can be an eye-opening experience.

All in all, going to any extreme of having or not having isn’t going to bring you any happiness or fulfillment in life, but I sure think every man who is trying to become the best alpha man he can be needs to adopt at least the key aspects of the minimalist mindset, clutter in your life transforms to clutter in your mind which blocks you from growing and reaching your full potential as a man. Try the minimalist experiment for at least three days, and see how this lifestyle works for you, it might open your mind for new perspectives, or at least create a better and clearer living space in your day-to-day life.

For more resources on the topic check out the following links, and for more content on how to evolve into a better version of yourself follow my blog via the form at the bottom of the page.

Resources and references:

What is Mininmalism? | The Minimalists : https://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/

Why Minimalism is a Better Way of Life: https://nosidebar.com/why-minimalism/