The best thing about minimalism is it’s great for sales. First you sell your design/self-help book, then after disciples realize that box springs are indeed worth the clutter, they’ll shop for replacements for everything they cut out.
Of course abundance does create problems. Our environment functions as a kind of memory that can trap us in unhealthy patterns, so it makes sense to consider how much is too much. The closest thing nature has to possession is hiding stuff, like a squirrel does, so minimalism feels natural but let’s get real. Our world requires some basic essentials. Having been at this life thing for several decades I know the good life doesn’t come from amassing or paring down.
The obvious path in life is to grow possessions according to our means, then once we’ve got too much and realize we’re too lazy to sell it, we either become hoarders or minimalists. What if we forget about quantity though. Let me suggest that rather than more or less, what we really need is to organize. That doesn’t mean buying a bunch of containers just so you can squint through the foggy plastic to find what you need.
Organize to simplify. Go with one if it can do the job of two. Pack away what hasn’t been used recently. Bring things together that belong together. Appreciate the beauty of space, like when your hands are full and you need to open a door.
At my first job in software, my manager John had a rule: if you buy one thing, get rid of two – the ultimate minimalist – and some say he has less than two things to this day. More recently I started taking music lessons from a Dutchman named Bob and our first task was to get everything working on one machine. As he said, “Keep it simple.” Finally in painting class I was afraid the scene I’d composed was too simple and my instructor Joe said, “It’s never too simple.”
Of course we’re all human and I’m sure my teachers have their own challenges but at the same time the passion to simplify is common among them, and it should be for me and you. I’ve explored many hobbies, professions, and ways of working and noticed top performers always seem to operate with simplicity. Let us therefore see what’s around us with fresh eyes, not to imagine where another gadget might fit or how to get rid of everything, but where space and things can organized to support our grand visions for the future.