Month: September 2018

My goal for the week was to focus on creating more concrete writing projects. I’ve had a number of ideas come to me for stories and even some non-fiction concepts, but my delivery of said items has been a miserable failure.

Everyone Has One

Excuses can definitely be made for why I haven’t been writing per my goal, but I’m not going to bring any up. The problem is not making writing a habit that I must do every day.

I often have found myself waiting until the end of a long day to finally get my writing goal completed. This is what has led to a journal type formal, as I typically write about the results of my day. It’s a nice way to decompress at the end of a long day.

Unfortunately, this is a terrible approach when trying to create content of value. Setting a number of words to reach as the last task of a long day leads to rushed writing seeking to hit a number.

I mentioned last week that the number was irrelevant to the goal, but it is simply a stand-in for putting quality effort into writing.

Mid-Trial Adjustment

In order to attempt to better settle this rocky habit, I am going to try and hit only 250 words before leaving to head to work. The goal here is to put some effort first thing in the morning. The word count may be a little loosely followed as a measure of success.

During my morning routine trial, setting a first win of the day was one of the elements I wanted to establish each morning. It’s been a while since I’ve made a point to do so.

Writing early will hopefully help to push writing about particular subjects or project more likely. Instead of waiting until the end of a day of work, chores, and other commitments, I’ll have the energy to focus on writing first thing. In theory anyway.

For the past week, I’ve been writing at least 750 words every day. This has mostly come in the form of journaling. Writing so often has given me the opportunity to improve.

Not Just a Journal

A lot of the writing I’ve been doing has been mostly freeform without much planning or structure. This leads to a lot of written entries becoming journals about the day that just occurred. Writing whatever comes to mind usually revolves around the experiences I had throughout the day. Though, I have mixed in rough outlines of ideas that I’d like to work on.

One day, I started writing the broad strokes regarding a video essay inspired by Lessons Animation Taught Us by Mikey Neumann. There were a few ideas I had to respond to his “challenge” to his audience to release a personal version of his video.

When writing out the ideas I had, they quickly became a lot less profound then I was hoping. Once the words hit the paper, well screen, the direction I was going in didn’t really make sense. However, actually exploring those ideas was still a lot of fun, even if the end result wasn’t what I was hoping. This is the part of writing every day that I am enjoying so far. There is no goal, the word count is arbitrary. The point is to just write. Anything.

Get Good

It’s evident that writing nearly every week for well over a year now has improved my writing. I’m frightened to go back to those early posts. In fact, I read one a few weeks ago and was floored by how rough it was to get through. It really was a testament to how far I’ve come with practice.

As much as it pains me, that’s one of my favorite parts of this blog. I have a virtual record of my improvement over time. I am interested to see if there is a marginal difference in this post and the final one of this trial in a few weeks.

This post is going to be relatively short. Over the next week, I do want to push myself to try more complex writing projects. Until next time!

After 28 Days of piling up the stuff I’ve accumulated after years, I’ve tallied up 312 items to remove from my life. The number was never the goal. Recognizing how easy it is to collect what will be nonessential in a short amount of time was what I wanted out of this. Minimalism is a philosophy that some may consider extreme, but I think it can be a beautiful thing. Forget about the stuff for a moment, and focus on what matters.

Practicing Letting Go

Following the Minimalists’ game, I found and removed an incremental item each day. One on day one, two on day two, etc. I was hoping to make it through all 28 days of this trial, but on the 25th I just couldn’t let anything else go.

When I did add items to my list, letting go of so many things without value had been surprisingly cathartic. Especially early on. Most of my early picks I had to question how I ended up with it in the first place. I’ve told friends recently that not having stuff stored under my bed is one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had in years.

Throughout the duration of the trial, I was swinging back and forth between the idea that I don’t have nearly enough and that I have more stuff that the trial would even come close to addressing. One of the strongest muscles of strengthened over the past few weeks has definitely been quieting the voice in my head that adds value to the junk in my life.

Beyond Stuff

Minimalism doesn’t have to end with just physical stuff, but it can be a philosophy applied to any facet of life.

As mentioned before, the strength in recognizing what things are actually important is what minimalism builds. It’s a muscle that gets worked out every day with regular practice.

If a certain activity or relationship isn’t adding joy or value to my life, I put it on the chopping block. Life’s too short to put ourselves in situations we don’t want to be in. Those that hold up to the scrutiny are those that I believe are the most important thing to be doing or person to be with at that time.

Minimalism: A Lifestyle, Not Just a Game

That’s a wrap for this trial. It has been a blast cleaning out and organizing the things I’ve held on to for years. Now comes the exciting part of actually getting rid of it all from that pile in the corner I’ve been photographing throughout the trial.

The big takeaway I want to emphasize to both you the reader and to myself is that minimalism goes beyond this 4-week trial. Without applying it as a lifelong philosophy, I will find myself in the same place I was before. Luckily, a lot of beliefs I follow build on each other, making each easier to practice as another grows stronger. These include Mustachianism and stoicism.

Next time, I’ll be trying something a little different. I’m going to be shooting for a daily writing goal of 750 words, per the website appropriately named 750words.com. Writing every week has definitely improved my ability, and so I’m interested in what writing every day will do! Give it a try yourself and let me know in the comments how it goes!

As I clear the clutter and free up my mind, I’ve thought a lot about how big of an impact thinking with a minimal mindset has had. For a long time, I’ve seen myself as having a longterm approach to life. I make plans that will benefit me down the road, but until recently I never really had that thinking when it came to the stuff in my life. Exhibit A, the picture at the top of this post. My brother is definitely to thank for this new appreciation.

I wanted to take this post to thank my brother for getting me turned on to Minimalism.

Oh Brother

My brother has long influenced some of the best decisions I’ve made or at least helped open the path to them. Joining cross country in long-term led to me doing the same, which is pretty much the root of the life that I’ve lived to this point.

While most of our conversations over the years revolved around quoting cartoons and talking about video games, there is the occasional serious chat that is on a whole new level. From relationships to goals, we’ve had some interesting discussions. One that was particularly crucial to this latest trial was a long conversation about Netflix documentaries, in which of course, Minimalism came up.

When I got home, I gave it a watch, and it resonated with me. It forced me to look around at what I had and think about it.

A couple of months after first watching the documentary, I moved back to Eastern Iowa from the Dallas area. The move made me think about what I was taking with me, and so I took what I thought was important.

Time went on, and Minimalism kind of crept to the back of my mind. I fell back into similar habits before. Using stuff as a frequent stimulant to keep things interesting. New electronics, new trinkets, and new gear for new hobbies filled up the space around me.

This cycle continued for a while. Then, last month, I was back home for a visit. My brother and I were geeking out about Mr. Money Mustache and financial independence philosophy. I was amped.

He then mentioned the director of the Minimalism documentary had a YouTube channel and podcast. As a frequent suggester of possible trials, he also recommended I try out this game. Here we are. As I pile my mountain of the nonessential, I have him to thank.

Throughout the duration of the trial, he’s been updating me with his progress as well. For his sanity, he hasn’t been keeping the pile around as I have, but removing clutter big and small has been going well.

To my surprise, my mom also wanted to participate in this game. I’m sure she hated my post last week regarding sentimental items. We argue about them all the time. It’s been awesome hearing about how things have been going for her. Hopefully decluttering is giving her the good vibes I’ve gotten.

Coming to an End

The other night I was excited and stayed up way too late adding stuff to the pile. I may not make it all the way thru this trial but am not thinking of it as a failure. I’m beyond excited to look around at what remains and know that it survived scrutiny.

Next week will bring this trial to a close. Stop by to at least see the final photo of the accumulated clutter. While you’re here, find out what I’ll be doing next! Leave a comment below with suggestions and I might just give it a try.