Welcome back to another edition of Optimal Living Daily, episode 290, excerpts from the book Essential by Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus of TheMinimalists.com. And I'm Justin Malek. Hopefully this will be the last day for a while that I play you excerpts from a book. Not that it's bad, it's actually a really good book, but I like to vary things up for you and read from lots of different blogs as often as possible, so I'm hoping we'll be back to normal tomorrow, but no promises yet.
Still recovering from being sick and catching up with work. For now, let's hear more from The Minimalists book Essential and keep optimizing your life. Getting rid of just-in-case items. We often hold on to things just in case we need them.
We don't let go because we might need something in some far-off, non-existent hypothetical future. And we pack too much stuff for trips and vacations just in case. We needn't hold on to these things just in case. The truth is, we rarely use our just-in-case items, and so they sit there, take up space, get in the way, weigh us down.
Most of the time, they aren't items we need at all. Instead, if we remove the just-in-case items from our lives, we can get them out of the way. We can free up the space they consume. Over the last few years, the two of us let go of the vast majority of our just-in-case possessions, and during our last tour, we made sure we didn't pack anything just in case.
And then, we tested our theory, the 20-20 rule. Anything we get rid of that we truly need, we can replace for less than $20 in less than 20 minutes from our current location. Thus far, this theory has held true 100% of the time. Although we've rarely had to replace a just-in-case item, fewer than five times for the two of us combined, we've never had to pay more than $20 or go more than 20 minutes out of our way to replace the item.
This theory likely works 99% of the time for 99% of all items and 99% of all people, including you. More important, we haven't missed the hundreds of just-in-case items we've gotten rid of, and we didn't need to replace most of them. Getting rid of these items clears one's mind, frees up their space, and takes the weight off his or her shoulders. What are you holding on to just in case?
90-90 rule. Rules can be arbitrary, restrictive, boring, but they are often helpful when we hope to make a change. Whenever we attempt to simplify our lives, we often get stuck before we get started. When faced with a horde of possessions, some useful, others not, it is difficult to determine what serves our purpose and what we're holding on to just in case, which makes letting go nearly impossible without some sort of rules to move us in the right direction.
Here's one that has worked for us. Look at a possession. Pick something. Anything.
Have you used that item in the last 90 days? If you haven't, will you use it in the next 90? If not, then it's okay to let go. Maybe your rule isn't 90 days.
Maybe it's 120. Maybe it's six months. Whatever your rule, be honest with yourself. If your material possessions don't bring you joy, then they are likely in the way of a more intentional life.
When everything is your favorite thing by Joshua Fields Milburn. When you get rid of most of your stuff, your life invariably changes. Without all the things in your way, you have the opportunity to focus on the most important aspects of your life. But there was also an unexpected benefit from my newly uncluttered life.
Now I truly enjoy everything I own. Before I embraced minimalism, I had a lot of stuff. A three-bedroom house teeming with stuff. A basement and a two-car garage filled with boxes overflowing with stuff.
Spare bedrooms and closets and cabinets jam-packed with stuff. Every nook, every cranny, more stuff. It was hard to keep track of it, and all that stuff added very little value to my life. It often just made me feel anxious, overwhelmed, and depressed.
I was unhappy with the way I felt, so I started questioning everything I owned. Today, I don't own much, but the things I do own add immense value to my life. When I got rid of my extraneous material possessions, what remained were the things I use every day. Now nearly everything I own is my favorite thing.
All my clothes are my favorite clothes. All my furniture is my favorite furniture. All my possessions are my favorite possessions, all of which I enjoy every day of my life. How about you?
What if you enjoyed everything you owned? How would it make you feel if you were surrounded by your favorite things every day? Favorite clothes of a minimalist by Joshua Fields Milburn. Quote, Look at all those fancy clothes, but these don't keep us warm just like those.
Jack Johnson. What does a minimalist wear? I'm surprised I get this question as often as I do, as if people expect to see me walking around in a loincloth. But given the many misconceptions surrounding minimalism, I suppose it's a valid question.
My answer? A minimalist wears his or her favorite clothes every day. Most days I wear jeans, a t-shirt, and a pair of boots. Or when I feel like it, I wear a crisp white button-up shirt, jeans, a blazer, colorful socks, and a clean pair of dress shoes.
I avoid logos because I don't enjoy being a walking billboard. I don't have many clothes now, and I still go to the Goodwill a few times a month to donate an item or two if I'm not wearing it anymore, it gets donated. But I thoroughly enjoy the clothes I own. I don't, however, give sentimental meaning to my clothes.
If all my clothes burned in a house fire tomorrow, it wouldn't be a big deal to me. Quote, What about those shoes you're in today? They'll do no good on the bridges you burnt along the way. Jack Johnson.
Spill bleach on your wardrobe? By Joshua Fields Milburn. What if you spilled bleach on half your wardrobe? What would you do?
Some hypothetical questions are so ridiculous, we dismiss them as absurd, laughable queries. Sadly, though, the above question is not purely hypothetical. After returning home from the final leg of our recent tour, fatigued and murky-headed from cross-country traversing, I separated my dirty laundry into appropriate piles, prepping each color-coded assemblage for his usual rinse and spin cycles. Then, unknowingly and stupidly, I spilled a bottle of liquid bleach on literally half the clothes, staining the floor-strewed heaps, instantly ruining the majority of my wardrobe.
I was shocked by two things. First, I was shocked by my brainlessness. How could I make such a ridiculous mistake? Truth be told, I simply wasn't paying attention.
There's no other explanation. If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that attention must be paid, even during the most mundane tasks. Second, I was shocked I wasn't more horrified by my idiotic mistake. I should be outraged, right?
Two years ago, I would have been pissed. I would have fumed angrily and cursed the ceiling and hurled various breakable objects at one or more of my apartment's walls. But last week, as sodium hypochlorite soaked through my threads, I didn't react obnoxiously. Instead, I realized I couldn't control everything.
I took a few deep breaths, snatched a mop from my closet, and started cleaning the mess I'd made. The sooner we clean up our mess, the sooner we can move on with life. Sure, half my attire is ruined, but everything's fine. I'll replace some of the clothes if I need to, but my closet isn't upset, and nor should I be.
Those clothes were just clothes, replaceable things that don't have any more meaning than the meaning I give to them. There's no case in crying over spilled milk, or in this case, spilled bleach. You just listened to an excerpt from the book Essential by Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus of theminimalists.com. I'm constantly thinking about how to optimize my health, what supplements to take, hours of sleep, what my diet should focus on.
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And head to superpower.com and use code OLD at checkout for an additional $20 off your membership. And that is it for today. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some fresh new blog posts to read to you. We'll see.
Have a great rest of your day, and I will see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.