I’ve recently started to reduce my personal belongings to just a handful of things that fit into a backpack. I wanted to share the motivation behind it and the things I decided to keep.

I’m not fully there yet but the journey is quite amazing so far. I’ve already got rid of a ton of things I haven’t touched in years and were just occupying space like books, magazines, clothes, random hardware, video game consoles, DVDs and shelves to hold them.

Why am I doing this?

Last year I’ve travelled a lot. While being on the road and spending a few weeks in different places I’ve never missed all the stuff which I have left behind in my hometown. Quite the opposite, it feels great.

It was amazing for me to realize that what you have access to and what you are capable of is way more important than what you physically own.

It might sound obvious in hindsight but it was a big aha moment for me.

Also recently I’ve stumbled upon an insightful presentation by Mary Meeker of KPCB on market trends and the Asset-Light Generation. By going through the slides I had a similar epiphany.

Mobile in combination with the cloud are accelerating our journey into an asset-light world.

The conclusion of the slides is mind blowing and obvious at the same time.

We’ve got a computer in our pocket. We’re always connected.

Books, games, movies, photos, all have a digital equivalent which in many ways far exceed the usefulness of their ancestors.

We have access to services which just didn’t exist a few months or years ago. It feels like the opportunities people anticipated during the dot-com bubble actually are materializing right now.

I’m curious about how the future feels like so I’ve decided to go all in.

As a by-product getting rid of stuff also has other interesting aspects. It is a great opportunity to …

re-evaluate what’s important to me & why

simplify my day to day

increase my awareness about what to consume & why

It’s easier to realize if I forgot something important :)

My List of Things to keep for now

Here is the list of things that I’ve decided to keep for now.

Backpack & Travel

Deuter Futura 32l

Sleeping bag

Passport

Wallet including IDs and credit cards

Gadgets

iPhone 5

Macbook Air 13"

Clothes

7 T-shirts

7 Pairs of socks

7 Boxer shorts

2 REI adventure pants

A small fast-drying towel

Salomon hiking shoes

Vibram Five-Fingers KMD

Columbia jacket

Ideation

Set of Sharpies (2 black, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 green)

A few Post-It note stacks

Curious about joining my Journey?

I personally got inspired by a bunch of amazing people that I follow for quite some time now.

If you want to read more about owning less, minimalism & simplicity you also might enjoy the following posts: