Getting Started With Minimalism: 3 Beneficial Steps

You've been looking at sleek images of office spaces free from piles of paper and empty coffee mugs, and kitchen counters so sparse that the light actually reflects off the surface. You look around at your own scattered space and think, Screw this, I'm going minimalist. But how do you go about getting started with minimalism?

It’s a very captivating lifestyle that's even more appealing once you dive into the promising benefits of minimalism vs the massive psychological effects of clutter.

But let's slow down a second. Before ditching all of your belongings and declaring your new life status, remember that clutter-free living isn’t just a style. It’s a LIFEstyle. No lifestyle changes happen overnight. As with any change or growth, this too is a process, and it's the process that gets people.

Just like learning a new language, there's a path to getting started with minimalism or clutter-free living. In general, that path includes some form of discomfort and often frustration. True success requires even more than an efficient strategy, although that's a part of it. It requires a holistic approach.

1. The 'whats' and 'whys'.

As a teenager, I was pretty reckless. One time I got a speeding ticket for driving 90 mph in a 35 mph zone while trying to make my 10 pm curfew. I had done this a hundred times and the officer was irate.

Now, I'm from a super small town (population around 2,000). In my mind, it was no big deal, because nobody else would be on the road that late at night, and I would easily be able to see another car coming on the flat Texas straightaway. Also, I didn’t want to get grounded.

I was always questioning authority - I was pretty passionate about it, actually. It seemed to me that the authority figures didn’t know much more than I did. So, my natural stance was one of defiance and questioning.

Why did I need a curfew anyway? How was 10 pm better than any other number? Why was I more likely to do something horrible in the dark than in the light of day?

Tell me a rule and I would give you a reason that rule was ridiculous and unnecessary. So, as you can imagine, I got myself in a lot of trouble and had a difficult time keeping a basic job. If I’m being honest, I still have a version of that in me.

Finding a good 'why'.

When I was 19 years old, I hit rock bottom (one of them) and was feeling pretty empty and pathetic. But I was also angry, apathetic, and open. I remember laying on my parents' couch in an empty house, listening to CDs of a motivational speaker talking about mindsets. My mom had bought them for me as a last-ditch effort.

The lady started talking about authority. I can’t remember the wording she used, but something about her explanation just made sense to me. I could finally see things from a different point of view. All of a sudden it made sense that a different approach could actually be beneficial for me. It gave me a reason - a "why".

I can say, pretty positively, that if I had tried to implement behavioral changes prior to that moment, it would have all been in vain. It would have been forced because I wasn't ready. And those forced actions never last. I’ve tried those too!

Getting started with minimalism begins here.

So when I say that the first step in getting started with minimalism is to identify your ‘why’, I’m not just throwing words at a wall. If this change doesn’t have some purpose or meaning to you, you’re wasting your time. Your efforts will be in vain, forced, faked.

The "whats" and "whys" are the foundation of all things. What do you want and why do you want it? If you can’t find a way that minimalism will truly benefit your life, if you’re just following a fad, then it won't last and you'll definitely relapse.

Say what?

The more clear and specific you are about what you want, the higher the chance of success in your transition. You'll also be far happier with the end result because you'll have created it yourself. Decide how you want to spend your time, how you want to feel, what you want to see, and what things you'll need to remove or relocate in order to achieve this.

I’m talking high-def and detail-oriented. This is where the fun planning takes place, like creating a Pinterest board and collecting images that inspire you for different rooms of your house. Getting started with minimalism is just as much about a fresh vision as it is about letting go.

What do you intend to do with the extra space? Do you need a yoga spot or a place to read so you can feel more fulfilled in your daily life? How much money will you save every month and what will you do with it? If you feel stuck here I have a whole other article on 'how to create intentional living spaces'.

But why?

Knowing what you want is only as powerful as why you want it. Why are you getting started with minimalism right now? Reasons, purposes, results, visions, emotions - this is why we do things. Having a strong "why" gets us out of bed and allows us to accomplish absolutely anything. It's the rocket fuel that will propel you forward when you'd much rather sit on the couch eating Cheez-its.

I share my big WHY and how I created holistic clutter-free spaces to solve serious problems I was facing in my free signature masterclass. You can watch the whole thing right here!

2. Assess where you are.

The number one thing that you should constantly question and evaluate is yourself. Yes, seriously. I've trained myself to question and assess just about everything about myself. And I don’t mean that in a negative, judgy way. In fact, I tend to be pretty neutral about the whole thing.

For example, if I’m upset with someone - or really disagree with another person in any way - my immediate response is to question myself. Why do I disagree, why am I offended, is this something that I’m just being sensitive about?

Sometimes I realize that I’m the one in the wrong. I don’t beat up on myself about it, I just stop being offended. You absolutely cannot make a progressive change without first assessing where you stand.

Self-awareness is a road map.

You can’t get from point A to point B without an assessment. If I’m sitting at an intersection with no signs or maps in an unfamiliar area and you tell me to drive home, I won't be able to do that successfully. I wouldn't know whether to go left or right or what supplies I need based on distance. I won’t be able to effectively plan. I’m not good at navigating as it is, so I may literally never find my way home.

Self-awareness is a roadmap that shows you how to navigate your own tendencies and achieve success in spite of them. I go deep on this topic of self-awareness in another article I wrote that shares the #1 key to living a minimalist life.

This is why you have so much clutter.

So, what does all of this have to do with getting started with minimalism? Well, our belongings are tethered to our psyche and to our emotions. You're going to find out very quickly that letting go of things isn't always easy.

There's a reason you have the things that you have. Certain interests, compulsions, memories, obligations, etc. It's not just random junk that happens to be there; it's indicative of who you are, your habits, how you think, and how you live.

The clutter isn't difficult, we are.

If you go into this blind, then loading and carrying a box of items to the donation center will be the least of your battles. It's never the act of decluttering that makes the process difficult - it's us.

Get to the heart of why you (specifically) have the things that you have. Are you a collector? Do you have issues with boundaries? Do you feel guilty about letting things go? Are you stocking up because you might need things someday (i.e. fear of the future)? Address these things and assess yourself honestly.

3. Use a smarter strategy.

We covered the what, why, and where. Now it's time to address the 'how'. Most people dive into decluttering a life's worth of belongings with absolutely no strategy. Not only have they not done any of the foundational work that we discussed in steps 1 and 2 to make them successful, but the approach is sloppy and quickly results in burnout.

The biggest mistake I see people make is walking into a room full of clutter and going through everything one-by-one, or worse, dumping bins of belongings into a heaping pile to sort. Let me just ask you, how does it feel when you enter a room full of clutter with the intention to fix it all? How do you feel when you walk into a room and everything you own is in a pile on the floor?

Do you feel inspired? Motivated? Or do you feel completely paralyzed with a sinking weight in your chest and a burning urge to run away and watch Netflix? If you're struggling with the "strategy" part of getting the clutter out then I highly recommend watching my free masterclass, 'The Holistic Clutter-Free Formula'.