Category: Personal

Things I Can’t Live Without

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As an assignment for my painting class I have to bring in 3-5 things that I can’t live without on a daily basis. Receiving this assignment right after I completed the 100 Thing Challenge, it took me some time to figure out what to take for my things. Especially since I’m not sure if she means this in a literal or a representational way (ie: I can’t live without my computer, so I bring in my computer or I can’t live without my wife, so I bring in something that represents my wife). Since my teacher has been gone for a couple of weeks I haven’t had the chance to ask her. (I really want to be a smart-alek and take in some food, a bottle of water, and a jar of air.)

Computer!

My first thought was my computer. I use it far too much, every day. (Indeed, I am sitting here right now, typing this post.) Beyond that, however, I have no idea what else I use on a daily basis that I “can’t live without.” To help me decide, I looked at my short list for inspiration.

Marriage!

Even if my wife wanted to come in and sit as part of the still life that I will be composing, she has class at the same time that I do. Her representative, then, will be my wedding ring. I don’t often think about it, but every time I take it off greatly feel its absence. It’s only when gone that I notice how often I fiddle with it, adjusting it on my finger. Therefore, it is something that I cannot live without on a daily basis (it only comes off when working on a project that could damage it, which is not that often.)

Motorcycle!

The next thing that comes to mind is my motorcycle. I greatly love riding it on a daily basis. However, I’m not sure how I would get it into the second floor studio where the class meets. It would fit in the industrial elevator that the building has, but I don’t think it would make it through the tight curves required to get into the building via the handicap ramp. I’m also pretty sure that though I wouldn’t mind doing it once, having to bring the bike up twice a week for nearly a month would get tiring fairly quickly. And yes, I have given this serious consideration.

In lieu of the actual motorcycle, I will be taking its key. Not only does it represent the motorcycle, but it really is a vital part of the bike (I wouldn’t get very far without it).

What I can’t live without

    (Not in order.)

  • Computer – I will probably just take the mouse with me, instead of the whole computer. That studio is dirty and I don’t want to ruin the computer. Plus, it would likely be a distraction for me.
  • My Wife – Since she has class at the same time, my wedding will be her representative. How fitting!
  • Motorcycle – Too big and hard to get into the building, so its key will suffice.

What about you?

What can you not live without on a daily basis? Are you surprised at what first comes to mind? I was surprised when I thought of the computer, and a bit saddened. I really need to reduce my dependency on this thing. I’d love to hear what you come up with!

Arbitrary Numbers

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I love Everett Bogue’s blog, Far Beyond the Stars. It has made it’s way into my reader and stayed there for some time now. He’s an inspiration for minimalists, entrepreneurs, and bloggers. That’s why a recent post, How to Create an A-List Minimalist Blog, really caught my attention. I’ve read this post a number of times now, taken notes from it, created a to-do list based on it, and shared it with some blogging friends. However, I feel that one of Everett’s statements is wrong.

Everett recently turned off comments on his blog during a vacation, and decided to leave them off. As soon as I read his post, I wanted to leave him a comment about his incorrect statement, but couldn’t. So I let it pass. However, I continue to think about what he said, and finally decided to follow his advice.

Everett’s Incorrect Statement

So, what was this heinous statement that Mr. Bogue made?

Living with less than 50 things is a good benchmark for most people these days,
if you’re into counting your stuff.

It may be a silly, personal annoyance, but I don’t like this statement. I feel that he chose an arbitrary number, that even he doesn’t conform to.

Everett does not meet his own benchmark. Does this mean he isn’t a minimalist? Of course not! He’s one of the leaders in the movement! He lives with less so that he can live and work anywhere in the world. Minimalism makes his lifestyle possible.

Why I dislike it

I feel that this number was chosen just because it is less than the common 100 Things. In short, he chose it for shock value.

Unfortunately, while I know that living with only 50 things is possible, I feel that it is too limiting. The average person has a whole house full of stuff (and likely a garage and storage unit). In order to stand out today, living with only 100 things is sufficient. In fact, while living with only 100 things might seem common today, I feel safe in saying that these bloggers are the minimalist Olympians.

Why I like it

At least Everett added on the final portion of this sentence. I love that he states this is not a requirement.

… if you’re into counting your stuff

To be a minimalist, you don’t have to count your stuff. In fact, unless you are just making up rules, minimalism isn’t about stuff, or how much of it you might have.

According to Joshua Becker, minimalism is about “the intentional promotion of the things you most value and the removal of anything that distracts you from it.” You’ll notice that he doesn’t mention possessions anywhere in his definition. While you may value something that you own, you may also value your relationships, activities, or even work. Likewise, it may not be possessions that distract you, but bad relationships, time-wasting activities, or (yes) even work.

Everette may admit that he views minimalism as being able to put all of his possessions into a backpack, but he has also acknowledged that this isn’t for everyone. He knows that numbers aren’t the important metric for one’s life.

Final Thoughts

I know that this specific post was written to those who wish to be the leaders in the minimalist movement, and leaders need to be examples. I want to fill that role, but I am not concerned with how much, or how little, stuff I have. Instead I feel that the important things in my life should be the focus, while letting the others fall away. I would hate to see minimalism become a numbers game! I feel that Everett would agree with me wholeheartedly.

My Short List

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One of the most useful ideas that I gleaned while reading The Power of Less by Leo Babauta (which I reviewed here), was the Short List.

What’s a Short List?

Leo talks about the short list here. Basically, it’s a list of the 3-5 most important things in your life. Things that you want to spend time with, time on, learning, or improving. Once you’ve defined them, you can then proceed to build your life around the items on this list, for now. Your list can change later if you want it to (it’s your list, after all.)

My Short List

Like most everyone, I have a long list of things that I want to accomplish in my life: things to try, to do, to see, etc. I took a few days to write down all of my interests and goals, then sat down and looked for patterns. Many things come up multiple times, in different forms. Or the same interest seems to repeat itself over time. These things are what made it to my current short list. And without further ado…

In no specific order, here is my short list:

  • marriage
  • minimalism
  • money (business)
  • motorcycle
  • making things (art)

(Well, I say no specific order, but I mean after marriage. Marriage is first, the rest are listed randomly.)

After coming up with this list, I realized that these items are reflected in my life list, which just illustrates what I mentioned above. These are the interests that repeatedly appear. Marriage falls under family; money fits in both the financial and professional categories; motorcycle fits both under travel and hobbies; making things fit under hobbies, professional, and education.

Minimalism is what will enable me to focus on these other interests, which I wrote about here.

Now what?

So now that my short list is made, what is the next step? Now it’s time to focus. I feel that I’ve been fairly successful in focusing on these five areas of my life for the past few months. However, I want to do so in a more conscious way. This means dropping other interests, at least for the time being. If they don’t pertain to an item on my short list, then it’ll have to wait until a later date. It also means not accepting new demands on my time.

Focusing

I’ve already been focusing on minimalism in my life, which became apparent to me as I worked through the Minimalist Experiment and the 100 Thing Challenge. I will continue to explore this lifestyle in order to better focus on the other items on my short list.

As I’m earning my art degree, a great deal of my time is already spent on making things. Even though I have issues with school, I have another year until I will graduate. At that time, I will shift how I am focusing on making things.

I haven’t decided if I want to tie money/business together with making things or not. In some ways I think that would be ideal, and sometimes I think that they need to be separate. At this moment, the two definitely don’t coincide, though I will be experimenting to see if they work better together.

As a year-round motorcycle rider, I also already have a motorcycle focus. However, I want to expand that focus to include more traveling.

Marriage is my main focus, as it is one of the cores around which my life is built. This focus was one of my motivators to try minimalism. I had too many distractions that kept me from spending time with my wife. As I removed them, I found that our relationship improved, which only made me want to continue.

What about you?

Now you’ve seen my short list. Do you have one? I would love to see it. Post it in the comments, or link to it on your blog. What’s important to you?

Power of Less – Book Review

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I’ve already mentioned Leo and The Power of Less in my post about books that can change your life. I was reading this book while writing that post and felt that it deserves a longer review now that I have finished it and had time to reflect on it.

Short review

There’s so much information in this book about how to streamline your life, including both theory and actionable items. Use it like a workbook, mark pages, scribble in the margins, and make it yours. It can change your life for the better. Get your copy.

Long review

There’s so much goodness in the book that I’m not sure where to start. I know that I read through it in only a couple days, marking pages as I went (there are at least 30 pages marked). If it wasn’t a library book I would have marked more pages and been scribbling notes in the margin as I went along. As it was, I had to renew it so that I could keep working. I’m not done with it yet, because my life is still more complicated than it needs to be. As I progress, I will refer back to the information in this book to help guide me to the next step. (It’s well worth purchasing a copy to keep.)

Power of Less is divided into two sections: The Principles and In Practice.

The Principles

Leo begins by giving the concept of the entire book (and his success) in two simple steps:

  1. Identify the essential.
  2. Eliminate the rest.

These two steps are all that you need to know to create a simpler lifestyle for yourself. However, Leo continues on to tell his personal story of how he changed his life using these steps and explains the six principles that enabled him to do so.

  1. Set limitations.
  2. Choose the essential.
  3. Simplify.
  4. Focus.
  5. Create habits.
  6. Start small.

Each of these principles are expanded up on in their individual chapters. Not only does Leo give the reasons why each is important, but he outlines ways to implement these principles in your life.

In Practice

The great thing about the book, for me, is that Leo does such a great job of not only mentioning changes that we can make in our lives, but gives practical tips for doing so. Fortunately for all of us, these tips aren’t just aimed at productivity, but span work, life, health, and our daily lives.

  • Overwhelmed by email? Check out chapter 10.
  • Need to figure out how to be more productive each day? See what chapter 9 has to say.
  • Feeling unmotivated? Chapter 18 will help you find the kick in the pants you need.
  • Having a hard time fitting regular exercise into your schedule? Chapter 17 tells you how.

Leo does a great job of providing step-by-step instructions in each chapter that are simple enough anyone can follow them while also being broad enough that they will work for anyone’s circumstances. It doesn’t matter if you can’t see your desk or only have an extra 10 items on it; chapter 15 will help you clear your workspace in order to make it more comfortable to work at.

Simplify your life to improve it

Fight against multi-tasking and the speed at which life is coming at us. The future only holds more things that will demand our attention. Take control of your life now, so that you can live the life that you have dreamed of. Give the Power of Less a try.

Hiking San Francisco – review

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Ran across this website the other day and thought I’d share it with you.

HikingSanFrancisco.com is a geographically-based community website that revolves around hiking. It provides information about local trails, parks, and hiking groups. There is a forum, hiking advice, and much more!

Since I live on the opposite side of the country from the trails described on HikingSanFrancisco.com, the great information available about trails, parks, and hikes don’t do me much good at the moment. My favorite part of the site, however, is the Outdoor Resources page. There you will find links to all kinds of useful information, no matter where you live.

It doesn’t matter if you have been hiking for the last twenty years, or have never set foot outdoors, you will be able to find some helpful information. If you’re interested in taking a stroll, walk, or hike, then I highly recommend that you check out HikingSanFrancisco.com.

Only 100 Things

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I just finished the 100 Thing Challenge, and it made me think. About 3 weeks into the project, I realized that I hadn’t used a lot of the items on my list. There might be enough room on the list that I could follow the examples of others and have only 100 things, period.

Even though I don’t see this actually happening, I think that it will be a good exercise for me as I continue to examine what I really need in my life. Also, a version of this list may end up being my packing list for some of the goals that I mentioned here.

Recently I realized that I still had a number of items on my list that I hadn’t used yet. I was only keeping them for special occasions, which don’t come up very frequently. In essence, then, they were “just in case” items. As such, I’m sure that I could get by without them. And so I decided to see what my list would look like if I only owned the 100 things that on it (similar to the 10 Things list).

Only 100 Things

    Clothes

  1. jeans
  2. jeans
  3. zip-off pants
  4. swim trunks
  5. pj pants, silk
  6. pj pants, fleece
  7. sanuks
  8. dress shoes, brown other
  9. belt, leather
  10. belt, fabric
  11. watch
  12. bandanna
  13. handkerchief, white
  14. underwear, group counted as 1 item
  15. socks, group counted as 1 item
  16. dress shirt
  17. dress shirt
  18. dress shirt
  19. dress shirt
  20. button shirt
  21. polo shirt
  22. polo shirt
  23. t-shirt
  24. t-shirt
  25. t-shirt
  26. t-shirt
  27. running shirt, black
  28. running shirt, gray
  29. sweater
  30. sweater
  31. hoodie
  32. beanie

    33. Daily Use

  33. glasses, prescription
  34. wedding ring
  35. pillow
  36. pillow case
  37. wallet
  38. chapstick
  39. keys
  40. sticky-note pad
  41. cell phone (incl: charger)

    42. Hygiene

  42. razor (incl: brush, soap, stand)
  43. washcloth
  44. towel
  45. deodorant
  46. toothbrush
  47. electric clippers
  48. nail file

    49. Work

  49. backpack
  50. laptop (incl: mouse, power cord, headphones)
  51. camera (incl: case, charger, mini-tripod)
  52. Moleskine planner
  53. writing instruments, primarily fountain pen (incl: bottle of ink, needle for refill)
  54. 3-ring binder

    55. School

  55. books, 2
  56. sketchbooks, 2
  57. cardboard tube – for transporting work from home to school on motorcycle
  58. art supplies, drawing
  59. art supplies, painting

    60. Transportation

  60. motorcycle (incl: saddle bags, t-bag)
  61. helmet
  62. boots, slip-on
  63. boots, lace-up
  64. doo rag
  65. jacket, leather flight
  66. gloves, leather
  67. gloves, neoprene
  68. rain suit
  69. polypro pants
  70. polypro shirt

    71. Other

  71. tools
  72. shoe box of mementos

    73. Camping Gear

  73. hammock
  74. tarp
  75. bug net
  76. sleeping bag
  77. sleeping pad
  78. stove – either JetBoil or home-made alcohol stove
  79. sauce pan and lid
  80. headlamp
  81. water filter

    82. Eat

  82. spork
  83. stainless steel water bottle
  84. tupperware bowl
  85. pocketknife

One thing that I’ve always noticed about other people’s lists that I’ve found, is that they never take into account things like shelter and food. I feel that if you list everything that you own, but use a whole lot of other things on a regular basis, some might consider that “cheating”.

The above list tries to take this into account. Using the motorcycle as my base, I can travel just about anywhere that I wish to. The camping gear provides me with shelter and the ability to prepare food for myself. It might only provide a minimal life, but one of ultimate mobility. I would be able to sleep anywhere I could lay down or hang my hammock (which includes parks and under bridges in a pinch, or a friend’s porch.)

Well, I’m surprised. Even after adding basic camping gear, I still have extra room on my list. I’m sure that there are things I’m forgetting, and I know that more items would add to my comfort level. What do you think that I’m missing?

100 Thing Challenge Wrap-Up

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I easily lived with only 100 personal things for the Month of October. The 100 Thing Challenge ended up not being a challenge at all. There were only a couple of things that I missed, and a number of things that I never used.

What I missed

Two things. I can think of only two items all month long that I missed. And really, I didn’t miss them. I just used something else in their place after remembering that I “couldn’t” because they weren’t on the list. The two things that I missed?

  • messenger bag – Because sometimes my backpack is just too big, and it would be nice to use something smaller.
  • slippers – It turned cool, and since the heater hasn’t been turned on yet, it was rather brisk in the mornings. I simply wore my sanuks in their place. Though I could have added slippers to my list, I decided to do without, at least for the couple of weeks left in the challenge.

What I didn’t use

If I thought I was surprised by how few things I missed, I was amazed at how many of the things I kept out never got used.

    Clothes

  1. khakis
  2. shorts – never wore these, because of the weather
  3. pj pants, fleece
  4. dress shoes, brown sketchers
  5. belt, leather, 2-sided
  6. suit
  7. dress shirt
  8. dress shirt
  9. dress shirt
  10. button shirt
  11. polo shirt
  12. rain jacket

    13. Transportation
    (I haven’t used these yet, but with the temperature dropping, it won’t be long now.)

  13. gloves, neoprene
  14. polypro pants
  15. polypro shirt

    16. Eat

  16. lunchbox – I don’t remember carrying this all month long

    17. Other

  17. books in library – I don’t remember referencing any of my books even a single time

17 things that I didn’t use all month long, and there are at least a couple more that I only used a time or two (swim trunks, handkerchiefs, most of the tools, and second doo rag). I could easily drop about 15 things, bringing me to a total of 80.

What I learned

I’ve got far too much stuff, “just in case”. Books that I once read, or tell myself that I will read one day, knick-knacks held on to for the memories they are supposed to provide, decorative items, tools that “I might need one day,” and far too many clothes. All things that I don’t need, and that are just taking up space in my apartment and cluttering up my life.

Removing these things from my life didn’t affect it in a negative way at all. In fact, I didn’t even notice their absence.

However, I also realized that I could get rid of so many things that it would be inconvenient. For this project, I kept out 5 days worth of socks and underwear. The way the laundry works out, that was just the right amount. There were only two times that I “had” to do laundry because I was going to run out. So, while I could live with only two pairs, at this point in my life it is not worth the inconvenience of having to wash them every night in order to have a clean pair the next day.

Was it worth it?

Definitely! It might not have been as much of a challenge as I expected it to be, but I am certainly glad that I gave the 100 Thing Challenge a try. I’ve learned a lot about my relationship with my possessions, and about how much I really need. Now I can more easily get rid of some of the things that I have allowed to stick around, just because.

What about you? Has this project helped you in any way?

Life List Roundup

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A lot of the reason that I’m undertaking the 100 Thing Challenge is because a minimalist lifestyle will help me to complete items on my Life List.

There are a number of names for a life list: bucket list, Things to do before I die, 43things, etc. No matter what you call it, the basic idea is the same. It’s a list of things that you want to do before a certain time-frame (generally your death, but some people are more specific.)

I always find it interesting to look at other peoples’ lists. Some have items that I want to add to my own list, some have things that I would never have any interest in trying. No matter what, it always provides an interesting insight into the author’s personality.

And so, I thought that I would provide a round-up of some of the life lists that I’ve read recently.

If you don’t already have a list of your own, now’s a good time to sit down and write a list of your own. The directions are simple, so don’t delay. With all of the inspiration above, you might be over-whelmed. Here are some popular life list items and 525 ideas to get you started.

Sticky-Note Love now available!

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One of my goals has been to write an ebook. I’ve mentioned this before. Even though I’ve had a number of ideas, and written a number of outlines, it has taken me this long to finally finished one, and here it is!

Sticky-Note Love

What it’s about

It’s about keeping the romance burning in your relationship. It gives you a simple way to create some daily romantic adventure. The simple system that I describe is not only easy to follow, but can greatly improve your relationship. I know because I’ve been using this exact system for over 2 years with my wife.

The Guarantee

The guarantee is simple. If you don’t love Sticky-Note Love, then you get your money back. Pure and simple.

I’ve used the Sticky-Note System in my own life. I know that it works, and that it can have profound effects on your relationship. Try it out for 30 days, if it doesn’t strengthen your relationship, let me know and I’ll send the money your way.

Half Price!

If that guarantee isn’t enough, then you can get Sticky-Note Love for half price until October 29th. At that time I will be taking it off the market for two weeks to turn it into a more complete resource; adding videos, worksheets, and more! Then it will be available again, at the full price. If you purchase it now, you will receive updated version at no extra charge.

Want to know more? Check it out.