Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jeffrey Tang of The Art of Great Things.
“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life…” – Henry David Thoreau
Some people look at the minimalist movement and see a bunch of ascetics and misers, a group of modern monks who willingly deprive themselves of the material pleasures in life.
That’s not what I see.
In my eyes, minimalism isn’t about depriving yourself or about undergoing sacrificial suffering. It’s not about being miserly with your money or your time or your space.
Rather, minimalism is about becoming a high connoisseur of life. Being willing to burn away the chaff in order to enjoy the wheat of life, like a sommelier who discards a thousand cheap imitations in favor of a single bottle of fine wine, or like the biblical merchant who sells all his belongings to purchase a pearl of surpassing beauty.
Think about it:
- When you clear the clutter from your closet, what are you doing if not making room for the enjoyment of the few quality items you keep?
- When you sell off unneeded books and gadgets and toys, what are you doing if not highlighting the usefulness of the ones that remain?
- When you create space in your life, when you empty your schedule, or your inbox, or your to-do list, what are you doing if not making room for better experiences, better communication, better work?
In Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson write: “Be a curator. You don’t make a great museum by putting all the art in the world into a single room. That’s a warehouse. What makes a museum great is the stuff that’s not on the walls … it’s the stuff you leave out that matters.”
Jason and David were writing about the art of business – but their advice applies to the art of life as well.
Be a curator of life. Edit. Leave out the junky parts. Don’t be afraid to say no – but when you find something worth saying yes to – treasure it. Enjoy it. Hang it on the walls of your museum and be proud of it.
When you look back in 20, 30, 60 years, what would you rather see? A life filled with stacks of stuff and a ton of obligations and a lot of scurrying around from errand to errand? Or a life centered around carefully gathering valuable experiences and items and goals?
Because that’s the other half of minimalism. The half where less gives way to more: more experiences, more enjoyment, more purpose, more connections, more laughter, more independence, more passion, more great work. The best kind of more.
We can let the world label us misers, or we can show them that we’re connoisseurs. Which do you prefer?
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Jeffrey Tang is the author of The Art of Great Things, a blog about changing the world through lifestyle leadership. You may also enjoy following him on Twitter.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Jeffrey, that’s a wonder-ful example – becoming a connoisseur of life.
I always had this Spartan approach where I just want to rely on the most basic stuff to survive – that’s probably the macho version of being a connoisseur
I barely buy material stuff anymore – it’s mostly digital now.
It’s so relieving if you don’t need much to lead a wonderful life, and it stresses the communication with yourself.
That’s why I luv Diogenes – the old Greek philosopher who didn’t rely on anything but himself – and what confidence he possessed !
I don’t want to overstate it, but this could be the best post on TRUE minimalism I’ve ever read. (Perhaps I did overstate it, but I’m not so sure.)
I’ve been working on some posts for my blog recently to put up in the coming weeks about living deliberately or mindfully — and that’s exactly what you’re saying really. We choose carefully to make sure we get the best from life.
Thanks, Jeffrey. And thanks Joshua for putting it up.
@Mars – Hey, if macho works for you, I say do it
I’ve pretty much moved entirely to digital as well, and though digital clutter can be a challenge too, at least it doesn’t take up physical space. I completely get what you’re saying about confidence, because that’s part of what minimalism comes down to – the confidence that you are enough, that you don’t need to constantly buy things to solve problems or make you happy.
@Gip – Thanks so much for the compliment! You’re right – minimalism is about making a (conscious) choice. Where do we spend our time, our attention, our resources? Do we throw them around randomly, or do we carefully prune away the extraneous to leave space for the truly valuable?
Nice post Jeffrey.
I like to look around the space where I am and ask myself “how is this thing going to help me get where I want to go?” If the answer is that it won’t or that I don’t know then I probably can get rid of it. I love that feeling of clarity.
I also like the idea of re-distributing (selling or giving away) stuff because someone else might need it themselves and it’s win-win for them to have it and for me to get rid of it.
It’s kind of funny how you can have a whole bunch of clothes but can only wear one outfit at a time. I aim to simplify to prevent being overwhelmed by choices and to move towards exactly what I do want.
What a wonderful post! This is exactly what I strive for in my minimalist journey!
Great post. This is what I am striving for. Thanks Joshua for posting this and Jeffrey for writing it.
Jeffrey, this is a wonderful post.
I love the sentence, “Be a curator of life.” Yes! We do have a choice and we can choose to leave out the junky parts and embrace those treasures (experiences, connections, laughter…) we find along the way. Thank you for articulating this so well.
What a nice read, Jeffrey. Who doesn’t want to be a high connoisseur of life?
This was spot on. You are not refusing the pleasures in life, you are clarifying them to yourself. By reducing the superfluous distractions in your life, you are then able to focus on enjoying what really matters TO YOU and no one else. Great post.
This post makes so much sense! The more things we have, the more diluted our love for each of those things becomes. By keeping fewer things, each one of those is more cherished.
This explains why my wife’s parents love her more than my parents love me. She’s from a family of two kids; me, a family of eight. Hehe.
I hardly feel like a miser (but i have been called one plenty).
It is so true that when one pares down their belongings what is left does become more precious. You start to look at that item in a whole new light. When you have 20 of something (t-shirts for example) none of them are all that special. Remove them all but 3, now those 3 are like the greatest gift in the world. You treasure them more, care for them more, appreciate them more.
If people would just stop the over consumption and start to take care of the items that they already own then i think the world could be a happier place. It’s not about deprivation, but only those of us that have figured this whole thing out really understand that. Unfortunately the ones that have everything, they are truly the deprived ones.
Years ago a close friend moved to a neighboring city (Vancouver). That summer I visited him in his new apartment. “Spartan” would describe the decor … as an under-statement.
He had moved things in 1 thing at a time, exercising extreme triage. The first thing was a tea set, which also happened to be his most recent acquisition.
When I visited again, the next year … the term that comes to mind is “impressionistic” … perhaps also “symphonic” … almost stark, but not quite. Not by intent, but what he had actualized was quintessentially Zen, c/w wabbi sabbi. It was was quite wonderful!
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