Top Quotes: The Minimalist Way
I’m an avid reader and learner. I know that I will never know it all and I also know that I can always be learning. Whether that is from my clients, other organizers, authors, or just in everyday life. There are times when what I’m learning just can’t be contained. I finished a book recently that falls into that category.
The Minimalist Way: Minimalism Strategies to Declutter Your Life and Make Room for Joy by Erica Layne is beautiful. Quite literally, the pages are pastel colored and the fonts are lovely. Not only is the physical book beautiful, but the way Erica writes about difficult subjects is also beautiful. While those of us who have been practicing minimalism strategies for some time may not think these subjects are difficult, you may have a different opinion. I am recommending this book to you as a quick, digestible introduction to what it looks like to live a life on purpose. Thank you for joining me for my favorite quotes from each chapter to serve as thoughts to give you a little tease and hopefully whet your appetite for more.
My biggest takeaway from the book is that in order to move forward in living a more enjoyable life, you need to know what you enjoy and value. Everything else will come from that.
What stood out to me…
Chapter 1
”A minimalist knows that life is full of trade-offs. Giving your time to one thing means withholding it from something else. The real cost of the unused gear… isn’t just the dollar amount you paid for them; it’s the time you spent researching, buying, tidying, storing, or repairing these…. Bottom line: If our lives are burdened with clutter, we’re giving the best of ourselves away to the things that matter least.” p7
Chapter 2
”When we’re knee-deep in the business of running our day-to-day lives, we often make decisions based on habit, convenience, conformity, and fear of making waves. But knowing our values - and continually getting back in touch with them - allows us to take a step back and see a fuller picture. With our values in mind, we remember to do life with purpose, not by default. We give our best energy to the things that matter most, and we let lesser priorities slip away (guilt free!).” p28
Chapter 3
”You don’t have an organization problem. You have a too-much stuff problem. So often I see people writing off their hope for change by saying, ‘I’m just not an organized person.’ But the problem is more fundamental than that. You don’t need to organize more; you need to own less.” p37
This is something I see every day. I cannot emphasize this enough. Your laundry hatred? Eased by having less. Your constant struggle of having other people in your house put their things away? Eased by having less. Name the issue in your home and 99% of the time it will be eased by owning less things. This is what I enjoy the absolute most about what I do. Helping people to decide what they are willing to let go of in order to find peace and freedom in their home again. Having less isn’t the entire solution but it is a major part.
Chapter 4
”Single task” as a strategy. “Most of what we call ‘multitasking” is actually the brain switching quickly from one task to another - and back again. Researchers call the time we lose between tasks the ‘switch cost,’ and although the seconds we lose may seem insignificant, they add up when we’re continuously switching between tasks. For this reason, multitasking seems efficient on the surface but actually results in lost time and increased error.” p69
This is especially true for those who are anywhere on the ADD spectrum.
Chapter 5
”We live in a culture where our worth seems to be measured by our busyness…. the problem here is our assumption that busy equals better.” p80
This chapter is talking about family life but since not everyone has a family, I edited that quote to apply to everyone. For those of you with families, this chapter gives some beautiful strategies to think through.
Chapter 6
”At first glance, the connection between minimalism and money is obvious: A minimalist spends less and saves more! But beyond that, minimalists get to enjoy the mental and emotional space that minimalists spending frees up, from worrying less about bills and debt to feeling more secure in their financial future.” p97
Chapter 7
”’I have all the hours I need.’…. feels infinitely better than… ‘There is never enough time.’… Time management strategies will take you a good distance, but a shift in your mindset will take you the farthest.” p126
Chapter 8
”…where it is perfectly justifiable to get rid of your unused things, it’s so rarely justifiable to rid your life of a person. Aside from truly toxic people, as we discussed, the vast majority of the people in our lives deserve so much more patience and so many more second chances than our things.” p141
Chapter 9
”Setbacks are inevitable, but it’s what you do next that matters most. Sure, you hit a stressful season in your life and coped by quitting your decluttering efforts and continually prowling Amazon deals - or whatever your particular situation may be. Let yourself feel the disappointment, but then you have a choice to make. You can choose shame and self-loathing; you can allow yourself to believe you’ve failed. Or you can recognize the setback, accept yourself as human, and direct your thoughts and energy to your next steps. For most of us, the second option is much harder, because it goes against the way we’ve trained our minds, but’s also the quickest, surest - and healthiest - way to get back on track.” p148
Erica finishes the book with a reminder that “minimalism is a frame of mind. It’s a decision to slowly, over the course of months and years, work toward a life that fits. A life that matches who you are inside - and somehow makes you even more.” p150
Erica Layne is a wife and mom of three living in the San Francisco Bay area, and the author of The Minimalist Way. She writes at The Life On Purpose Movement, documenting her journey from overwhelmed and worn-out to centered and at peace.