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I grew up in a privileged community. My neighbors and I would probably call ourselves “upper middle class,” but depending on where you are from you might consider us rich. Nassau County used to be one of the 10th wealthiest counties in the United States. The median income here is $93,579 and many households make well above that. Some of us are millionaires. Most aren’t. But all of us have surpassed the point of material comfort.

And none of this is a bad thing.

Big screen TVs, Droids, iPads, Xbox 360s, nice cars, underground pools, and summer vacations are all fun. If you can afford them, enjoy them. I recommend it.

This blog certainly isn’t about dismissing wealth. It also isn’t a minimalist blog.

However, I consider myself to have minimalist tendencies. I like thinking of things in the most simplest way possible, and I like to minimize my actions to only what really adds up. I also defend minimalist blogs when others poke fun and say: “If you are truly minimalist, you would get rid of your Macbook, Blackberry, and Wii Fit.”

Why would someone say that?



Because real minimalists don’t have a blog right? All they need is a mountain in Tibet and a good meditation routine. Oh, and all their nutrition comes from the sun!



If you believe this then please press this play button:

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If you don’t believe this then please press this play button:

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Minimalism isn’t a quantity, but an attitude.



You’re making a mistake if you think minimalism can be defined by how many possessions someone has. Here’s why:

Your possessions don’t necessarily define your reasons for living

Non-material values can still take precedence over material values, regardless of how much or how little you have.

Person A may have little material luxury, but want a lot more.

Person B may have a lot of material luxury, but still be happy if they had a lot less.

Often the more we desire the poorer we feel in comparison. But this is a subjective state of mind, and it can’t be observed based on how much stuff is around you. Instead it is about how you think of the stuff that is around you.

Therefore, minimalism is not a disregard for money. It is not a rejection of it or fear of it. Instead, it is a healthy relationship with money. It is an acceptance of money for what it really is – not evil or divine – but merely a means of exchange. A tool at our disposal.





“Money is a means. If you are happy and you have money, you will become more happy. If you are unhappy and you have money, you will become more unhappy because what will you do with your money? Your money will enhance your pattern, whatsoever it is.”

– Osho





Minimalists can still achieve simple-living and have material luxury. The key difference is that they don’t let their possessions rule over their lives. If they lost everything in a massive earthquake? So what, they know that life goes on and things will work out. If they keep making more money? That’s great too, but it still doesn’t define their happiness. It is up to you to set the correct pattern in motion whether you have a lot of money or not.





Simplify life by identifying your Ikigai



Ikigai is a Japanese term for “reasons for living.” When we narrow our focus to our core values we are engaging in a minimalist process by cutting out the fluff and leaving only the essentials.

When we align these core values with our career or business or finances, then we have achieved a true minimalist dream. Work is no longer distracting or tiresome or overbearing, but an effortless flow.

A few questions to help identify your Ikigai:

What part of your day do you enjoy the most?

What can you see yourself doing long-term and never getting bored of?

What are your non-material values (knowledge, kindness, compassion, meaningful relationships, creativity…)





My 3-Step Minimalist Plan To Make Money



Arguably the most difficult part of life is trying to make money in accordance with our highest values. Many wrongly assume that making money might be a contradiction to a truly moral or dignified life. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. As we touched on before, money is only a means. It is up to us to choose where it takes us.

I grew up in a privileged community but I wasn’t able to find happiness through material luxury. This frustrated me. At times I wanted to just disown everything and run away. Moving to a mountain in Tibet was looking rather tempting!

A lot of this frustration is what fueled me to start this site. It became a way for me to relinquish selfish needs and begin to provide value to others. I got a natural high off of it, and discovered that this must be my passion.

However, if you look around you’ll notice this site hardly makes any money. There are zero ads and no products for sale. The only thing I have are a few affiliate links buried in old articles.

Now it is up to me to take this craft and learn how to make it profitable. It has been almost a year since I have graduated college and I have zero income. I can’t live with my parents forever, something has to change. Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a self-employed entrepreneur, but it had to be achieved doing what I love.

Here are the main frontiers of my plan:



STEP 1: Blogging and Relationships

No surprises here. I love writing and I love sharing advice. This stuff comes effortlessly to me to the point where I don’t consider it work at all – it’s only play. When you find yourself providing value to others and loving it, that is a good sign that you can maybe transform that activity into something that makes money and puts food on the table.

Therefore the first part of my business model is to continue writing quality articles and building up an audience. A big part of this will be building real relationships with my readers and connecting personally to everyone who visits the site. Help me accomplish this by sending me an email: contact@theemotionmachine.com.



STEP 2: Create Quality Products

This is a lot easier said than done. However, it’s a lot simpler to decide on a product or service after you have defined your Ikigai. I now have more than a solid two years of serious writing, and I’ve also built up a lot of knowledge and passion over those years. I don’t doubt that I will run into some obstacles along the way, but I have confidence that I can write a kick-ass e-book that people will truly value and want to purchase. My workflow will need some adjustments here and there, but I’m doing what I love so the struggle will be minimal.



STEP 3: Exercise More

To you this may seem like it has nothing to do with making money. But for me getting exercise is an integral part of my minimalist routine. It will help me deal with any stress I accumulate throughout the day, and it will also help me feel better and be more confident in myself. For most of my life I never took part in any kind of exercise and this really hurt me both physically and mentally. Without this balance I know I won’t be able to run the best business I want to run.

These are the three main things I feel I need to focus on to build success. They may not work for you, but I hope in a couple months from now I can point you to this article and say, “This simple way of looking at things really helped me to make money doing what I love.”



Questions for readers.

Do you agree with my definition of minimalism? Can someone own a lot but still not cling to their possessions?

How does money fit into your worldview? In what ways can billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet still be men of “moral integrity?”

Do you make a living following a minimalist plan?

How much do you compromise your Ikigai (“reasons for living”) for financial security?



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