Joshua Becker's Blog, page 125

How to Stage Your Home for Living

“All journeys eventually end in the same place, home.” —Chris Geiger

I am 38 years old. And I have lived in 16 different homes.

Now, most of these moves took place when I was young. But since getting married to my wife 15 years ago, we have lived in 5 different homes. Needless to say, moving is something I have become accustomed to. And as a result, I have become familiar with the process of buying and selling houses.

Each time we have sold a home, we have been advised by our realtor to “stage our home for selling.”

So then, in the weeks prior to our house hitting the market, we spent numerous hours “staging our home” for the sale. We did the research describing what makes a home attractive to a potential buyer and put most of their recommendations into place. By the end, our house looked better than it ever had since moving in—and then we sold it to some lucky family.

Each time, I can’t help but be struck by the irony of the situation. We spend countless hours getting our home into its best possible condition, only to leave it? Most of the time while staging our home for sale, I wondered why we had never put in the effort to stage our home for living. You know, so we could have actually enjoyed it more while we called it home.

To not make the same mistake we did, consider setting aside a weekend to stage your house for living. The process will take some time, energy, and money. It will take some intentional effort. But in the end, your home just may look better than the day you bought it. And maybe, just maybe, it could be a little bit of fun too.

A Step-by-Step Process to Stage Your Home for Living.

Remove 1/3 of your possessions. Those who stage a home for sale will tell you to remove roughly 33% of your personal possessions from the property. Less stuff means your rooms/closets have room to breathe and feel more spacious. A decluttered home is calm and inviting.

This may be easier if you were actually moving (natural purging almost always takes place during transition), but if you wouldn’t take it with you when you moved, why let it take up space in your life today?

Grab some cardboard boxes and walk through your home room-by-room, closet-by-closet, and drawer-by-drawer. Collect all the stuff you no longer need or love. Donate it, sell it, or give it away.

Find a home for everything. Walking again through your home, make note of the items that are stored in your field of vision (think countertops, toys, entertainment units). Why are those items stored out in the open? Are they in the wrong room? Are they too big to be stored out of sight? Is their proper home too crowded? Intentionally identify the visible clutter. Ask questions to identify the problem. And brainstorm a new solution.

Find new places to store these items out of sight. Visible clutter pulls at our attention and distracts us on an ongiong basis. On the other hand, clean, undistracted rooms promote relaxation and intentionality.

Declutter counter tops, cupboards, and drawers. Buyers always open cupboards, drawers, and closets. Unfortunately, storage spaces packed too tightly look small, unsightly, and counter-productive. Remove unneeded items from everyday storage spaces. This won’t be difficult. You have likely collected a number of items over the years that are no longer necessary. At this point, they are only taking up space in your storage areas. Discard them. As an added benefit, you just may realize you have had enough storage space all along.

Personalize your decorations. Realtors and professional home stagers will ask you to remove most of your personal decorations as it subtly communicates “I live here, not you,” to your potential buyer. And that is not a good aura to give the future residents of your home.

However, when staging your home for living, leave the personal decorations. Even better, capitalize on them! Rather than devaluing them, highlight them by removing some of the non-personal decorations in your home. As a result, the ones that make you unique will play a more pronounced role in your home.

Give your bathroom the attention it deserves. Put away personal hygiene products. Scrub bathtubs, toilets, and shower walls. Make clean and bright your goal. It’s not glamorous, but it sure makes getting ready every morning more enjoyable.

Consider curb appeal. Realtors will tell you that you can never spend too much attention on curb appeal. Your potential buyer will likely make their decision on your home within the first few minutes of entering. Therefore, first impressions are the most important. And the very first impression they receive is when they pull into your driveway.

If you have children, clean up their toys. If you have shrubs, prune them. Lay fresh mulch. Put some grass seed on the bare spots in your yard. Paint your foundation. Plant some flowers. After all, you pull into your driveway almost everyday of your life. Don’t you want to pull into something you’d like to purchase all over again?

Clean thoroughly. Clean the surface. Then, clean deeper. Give extra attention to corners and windows and hard-to-reach areas. Just like in the bathroom, make clean and bright your goal. If you’ve successfully removed a good portion of personal possessions, you’ll find this task far easier to complete.

Complete minor repairs. Take a notepad and create a to-do list of minor home repairs such as wall nicks, paint touch-ups, squeaky doors, running toilets, loose pieces, and burnt out light bulbs. Most of the minor repairs can be handled in less than 20 minutes for less than $15 and can be found with a simple Google search.

Eventually, the repairs need to happen. And if they have to be taken care of before you sell your house anyway, why not repair them when you can actually enjoy them too? The investment sure beats walking back into your bathroom to wiggle the handle on a running toilet 3 times a day.

Tackle a major repair. Roof about to go? Replace it. Leaky basement? Research your solutions. Kitchen appliances barely working? Go for it. These major repairs can be costly. And I’d never advise you to go into debt to stage your home for living. But if the time ever comes when your house does indeed need to be sold, an inspector/realtor will ask you to solve the problems. And if it gets to that, you’ll be paying for someone else to enjoy them rather than yourself.

Likely the hardest part of staging your home for living is finding the motivation to get started. I get it. Life gets busy. And without the potential for a future sale on the horizon, it can be difficult to get started. So you just may need to artificially create the momentum to get started in the process. That is, unless the simple fact that you live everyday in this home is motivation enough.

Image: 55Laney69

How to Complain Less

“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.” —Tom Wilson

Life is not perfect. It never has been and never will be. This is not bad news. In fact, once we begin to embrace this reality, we welcome a great number of possibilities. Life is never perfect. We know this to be true.

Why then, do we continue to complain about its imperfections?

We complain about the weather, the traffic, and the weeds in our yard. We complain about tight clothing, misplaced keys, late airplanes, and the price of gasoline. We complain about our jobs or our lack of jobs. We complain about nosy neighbors, crying babies, ungrateful teenagers, and lazy spouses. We have become a society too quick to complain.

But complaining is almost never a positive reaction to our circumstance. There are times, of course, when notifying someone of an injustice is good and proper. But most of the time, we express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment simply because it is our natural response.

But this response ought to be reconsidered in our lives because it is rarely healthy. In fact, there are many negative outcomes to this reaction. Complaining feeds and breeds a negative response. Additionally,

It fosters a negative attitude. Complaining draws our attention to the negative aspects and circumstance around us. And focusing on the negatives always brings about greater negativity. Complaining never results in joy—it only sinks us deeper into our misery.
It negatively impacts those around us. Complaints spread negativity. By focusing on and drawing attention to the problems and discomforts around us, we direct other people towards it too. Misery loves company.
It doesn’t change our circumstance. Taking action does. But complaining words by themselves do not.
It disqualifies the value of discomfort in our lives. Discomfort—both physical and emotional—can have profound benefit for our lives. There are countless life lessons that can only be learned by embracing discomfort: patience and perseverance just to mention a few. Become OK with discomfort. You’ll be glad you did.
It is highly unattractive. It is unenjoyable to spend time around people who constantly highlight the negatives. And not only unattractive, the self-centered emphasis of complaining can be annoying as well.
It leaves us in victim-mode. One of the greatest obstacles to lasting change is blame. And complaining finds its foundation almost entirely in blame.

On the other hand, there are numerous benefits to complaining less. It shifts our focus to the positive. It allows gratitude to take root. And cheerfulness can be an excellent beautifier.

How then, might we begin to overcome the habit of complaining? First, admit lifestyle changes can take time. And then, consider adopting some of these helpful steps below.

How to Complain Less.

1. Consider the importance of adopting the change. Many of us complain only because we have never considered the alternative. We have never been alerted to its harmful effects—both in us and around us. We never considered there may be a better way. But when given the choice, most of us would prefer to give life rather than drain life with our words. Determine to do just that.

2. Embrace the recognition of an imperfect world. Life is not always going to serve up what we would like (or even expect) at every turn. There will be trouble, trial, and pain. Again, this is okay. And the sooner we stop holding out for a world that revolves around us, the sooner we can embrace the fact that our contribution is far more needed than our pleasure. Discomfort should not surprise us—and we are not the only ones experiencing it.

3. Understand the difference between helpful criticism and complaint. There are times when it is entirely appropriate to raise attention to a wrong being committed. This can be helpful and should never be discouraged. Decipher if the situation can and should be resolved. If not, there is a good chance our complaints have no real interest in dialogue, problem solving, or human connection. And in that case, they should be avoided.

4. Be mindful of your audience. Are you speaking to someone who can help solve the problem or has a vested interest in bringing about a resolution? If so, use problem-solving language. If not, tread lightly. If you must continue, preface your complaint with impact-reducing language. For example, beginning with “Can I just vent for a minute or two?” may be all you need to orient yourself and your listener toward your purpose and be helpful in reminding yourself to keep it brief.

5. Avoid beginning conversations with a complaint. Take notice of how often we initiate conversations with a complaint. Often times, even subconsciously, this tactic is used because it garners a heightened response. Remove it from your arsenal. And try spreading some cheer with your opening line instead.

6. Refuse to complain for the sake of validation. Sometimes our complaints are used to validate our worth to others. “I’m so busy,” is a good example. We often say it as a means to subtly communicate our importance. Don’t seek to impress others with your complaints. That strategy won’t gain you any friends in the long run anyway.

7. Notice your triggers. Is there a specific time period of the day you tend to complain more than others? Morning, evening, or late afternoon? When your spouse is home? When you are drinking coffee or lunch with your friends? Maybe it is around the water cooler with your co-workers? Take notice. Then, avoid triggers if possible. If they cannot be avoided, make a point to be extra vigilent when you see them arise.

8. Embrace the idea of experimentation. Setting a goal of “never, ever complaining again” may be counter-productive. Instead, try designating a short period of time where you can be particularly mindful. For example, decide to go just one day without complaining. This shorter time period will allow you to concentrate more fully on your goal. The shortened, experimental time frame will foster increased sensitivity.

Mindless complaining serves little purpose in our lives. It fosters displeasure, spreads negativity, and sparks conflict. We’d live happier without it. Moving forward, let’s recognize and embrace the positive instead.

Image: baronsquirrel

The Single Principle You Need to Clean Out the Mind Clutter for Good

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post by Farnoosh Brock of Prolific Living.

“We should start choosing our thoughts like we choose our clothes for the day.” —Farnoosh Brock

Fact: No two physical objects can occupy the same space at the same time.

This is just basic physics. We have to choose between this piece of furniture and that piece to fill a given space in the corner of the living room. We have to choose between a handful of blueberries or a handful of nuts to go into this bowl. We have to choose between this dress or that suit to clothe our bodies.

We have to choose because we can’t have both occupying the same space. And we get this. We learn it as little kids. We live by it even if we fight it once in a while (overpacking a suitcase just a wee bit, anyone?).

In fact, we can even thank this law of physics because it has compelled so many of us to choose a path to a simpler life, to live with less so we can create more space and more openness to breathe and to live a minimalist lifestyle.

We have chosen to give away the physical clutter that piles up in our spaces in exchange for serenity, for simplicity, and for a richer life.

But what about non-physical clutter that fills up our minds and fogs our vision every day, every second even?

Why can’t we apply the same principle to our thoughts, which could benefit a thousand fold from a little clean-up in their dusty attic?

What would we do if we knew for a certain fact that a positive thought and a negative thought cannot occupy the same space in our mind at the same time? That they cannot co-exist at all?

We would have to start choosing our thoughts like we choose our clothes for the day.

For the longest time, I could not get on board with the positive thinking movement. It sounded fluffy and shallow at first. It seemed to make light of my problems and most of all, it didn’t seem to work.

I would read books, scan hundreds of blog posts, even write a few of my own, and repeat the positive affirmations over and over to myself, all to little or no avail. Deep inside, I still felt largely negative, unhappy and far from positive or peaceful.

Worst of all, I felt like a fake. I wanted to be positive. I talked about positivity, and I wanted to believe in it but it just wasn’t working its magic on me.

And it wasn’t for lack of trying. I really did try. My husband can tell you about my sincere attempts, and my Kindle can prove how many books I devoured to prove my interest!

But positive thinking still didn’t work for me. Here’s why.

You see, I was committing to the positive thoughts as much as I was holding on to the negative ones. I was thinking “I am powerful beyond measure. I can run a successful business.” as much as I was thinking, “This is not going to work. I am going to mess it up. It is too late for me to start over.” I repeated and reinforced the good as much as the bad.

And since both thoughts could not occupy the same space in my mind, the power of habit sided with the one that it was used to nurturing: the negative thought. It was the familiar voice it knew, and it takes a lot less effort to believe the familiar than to get on board with the new and unfamiliar.

So how do we apply this principle to clean out the mind clutter for good?

If you are reading this, you are either a pro minimalist or a new and aspiring one (welcome). So given our love of “less is more” in the physical world, let’s follow the step-by-step approach below to clean out the clutter in the mind:

1. Get ready to move out of your castle. Imagine your mind lives in a giant castle filled with the stuff that fills up minds: thoughts, worries, anxieties, fears, memories, desires, questions, yearnings, … and more thoughts.

Now imagine you are going to move out of this giant castle. It has been good to you no doubt but the rent is up and you can’t afford it anymore, and you are moving into a clean, open, well-lit but teeny tiny space in your favorite spot in the world. (For me, Queenstown, New Zealand next to Lake Wakatipu and you’re welcome to join me!)

2. Choose carefully what you pack. You have to pack very light. And you can only take with you what you plan to use. Ask yourself (really, loud and clear, ask yourself):

Am I going to use the worries, the anxieties, the fears and the negative thoughts? Am I going to use the memories, the desires and the positive thoughts?

Decide on each one as if this were a real move (because it is). Decide consciously and with intention. What will you choose to take, and what will you choose to leave behind?

3. Find a space for everything you brought as you move into your new place. Everything has to occupy a space and no two things can occupy the same space at the same time so it would be best if you brought not quite so much. There’s room only for half the stuff in your head anyway!

4. Apply the rule to live clutter-free now. If you chose to leave behind the worries, anxieties, fears, and negative thoughts, then you have de-cluttered your mind from the get-go. You are truly a hero, at minimalism and at positive thinking (and the rest of us envy you!)

But not all of us can detach so quickly from our cozy familiar world even if it means our negative thoughts.

So if you chose to bring everything—the good, the bad and the ugly—your tiny space will be beyond cluttered. That’s okay. Just consciously apply the rule: No two things can occupy the same space in your mind at the same time. Choose either a negative thought or a positive one for this day or this hour or this very minute. Discard the other.

For instance, you can either choose a peaceful memory or a big worry, fear or courage, acceptance or denial.

And listen, you can choose the worry if you want. Just choose it consciously. No fooling yourself. And then, worry. Worry until you are sick of it. Worry a lot. Then choose fear if you must and fear as much as you can. Then choose anxiety and be anxious for a few hours.

I am not saying you can’t choose the bad. I’m just saying you can’t choose both and this is where we finally start to outsmart that clever mind of ours.

And it’s where you begin to think simpler now: You can have one thought at any given moment, but not two or ten.

Sometimes you choose right, sometimes you learn, but if you keep applying the rule, every day you will get closer to the freedom and peace that only a clutter-free mind can give you.

But what if you can’t choose? What about the times you feel indecisive or don’t care?

Every time you give up the choice, you return to what you know, you go back to default, to the familiar face, the good old smell and taste. Your familiar and your default mode is different from mine but as far as our desires, I’ll go out on a limb and say we both want the same thing, you and I.

We want to be happy, free of worry and anxiety, free of stress and fear, and definitely free of clutter. We want to fill our minds with positive thoughts and our hearts with peace and joy and love. No?

So as you settle into your new tiny clean clutter-free space in your favorite spot in the world, make room only for positivity, for joy, for serenity, for optimism and for happiness. It’s a process, my dear, it’s an adjustment, it takes time but It Works.

Choose to fill your new abode in this manner one thought at a time and you will be surprised how the small stuff adds up to take you where you were always belonged: with a quiet clutter-free peaceful mind.

***

Farnoosh Brock left a 12-year corporate career to start her own company, Prolific Living Inc. She is the author of several books including her latest, The Healthy Juicer’s Bible. You can also find her on Twitter.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Links.

I spent most of the past week in beautiful Prescott, AZ chaperoning an Outdoor Educational trip for a group of 100+ 5th graders. The students were wonderful. The air was crisp. And the scenery was breath-taking. It was interesting to notice a common theme sparked in many of my conversations with the other parents. Because of the beauty, we commented often on our tendency to take beautiful things for granted at home. Maybe we can all be reminded this week to practice extra mindfulness and appreciate the good things we have around this.

With that being said, there are many wonderful people pursuing and promoting simplicity. I enjoy reading their unique perspectives. I’m sure you will too. So fix yourself a nice warm cup of coffee or tea. Find a quiet moment. Enjoy some encouraging words about finding more simplicity in your life today. And refuse to take any beauty for granted this week.

A Smaller, Lighter, More Beautiful Life | Allison Vesterfelt by Morgan Day Cecil. Letting go of an insatiable hunger for more and a constant striving for bigger and better has given me the kind of grace and peace and gratitude for the moment I felt strolling down the cobblestone streets in Italy.

So You Want to Be Rich? | The Unitive by Joshua Becker. A spiritually-based conversation on the inherent dangers of wealth. And given this recent article in the New York Times, I think it is an important discussion for us to engage in.

The Story of Solutions. | YouTube (9:07) by The Story of Stuff Project. It is time to move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal.

Happier | by Nataly Kogan. You don’t need to be happy to be happier.

Harvest Your Health Ebook Bundle Sale. Last weekend for this health and wellness sale featuring 71 ebooks, 4 meal plans, and 22 discounts for only $37. I’m glad to have a book included to help inspire simplicity. And you’ll find plenty of others that interest you as well.

Owning Less, Intentionality, and Living Your Best Life Possible

“Something deep in the human heart breaks at the thought of a life of mediocrity.” —C.S. Lewis

At the time, I was just looking for a little relief. I was weary of living paycheck-to-paycheck. I was weary of spending so much money on myself knowing there were others that needed it more. And I was weary of the time and energy being wasted on cleaning, organizing, repairing, and maintaining our home.

Our decision to intentionally live with fewer possessions was motivated by discontent. But regardless of our motivation, shortly after the decision was made, we found countless life benefits: freedom, productivity, rest, and a whole bunch more.

Though not expected, we also discovered intentionality in some very valuable places.

We found intentionality in our values and passions. Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it. And while this looks different for each person, it always requires its pursuer to further define his/her passions—and discover intentionality because of it.

We found intentionality in our finances. Owning less did not provide us with more money (except for the items we sold), but it did provide us with more opportunity for our money. Once we became attracted to living with less and the hold of consumerism on our checkbook was broken, our money could be used for more valuable purposes than the clearance rack at the local department store. New opportunities to help others became available—and new decisions were forced because of it.

We found intentionality in our health. Six months after discovering minimalism, I was faced with a pending birthday. After spending so many months removing the clutter from our home and life, the last thing I wanted to receive was anything that could become clutter. Brainstorming nonphysical gift ideas, I took notice of a new fitness gym that had just opened down the street from my house. And for the very first time, I had the space, the motivation, and the finances to get in shape and place priority on my physical body.

We found intentionality in our diet. Interestingly enough, the last thing you want to put in your body after working-out is junky, processed food. As a result, we started making healthier food choices: more fruit, more vegetables, less sugar. I began to form new friendships with other simple living advocates—many of whom modeled intentional diets. Over the years, we have experimented with many of their ideas. Each time, we discover new foods to eat and increased understanding about the food we put in our bodies.

We found intentionality in our spirituality. Minimalism offered the opportunity to slow down. It also provided the motivation. As I began to realize how much of my thinking had been hijacked by advertisements and a consumer-driven society, I was drawn to the practice of meditation and solitude. I was drawn to find new voices for guidance. Being raised in a religious home, I was also drawn to find the voice of a higher power—one who knew far more and could reorient my life around greater, more eternal pursuits. This voice is still and small. And it requires each of us to slow down long enough to listen.

We found intentionality in our relationships. Owning less opened the door for new relationships in our lives. We were able to become more involved with our neighbors and our community. We were more willing to have people in our home as preparing for their arrival became easier. We spent less time shopping and cleaning and organizing and began to spend more time with the people who made life enjoyable. Our capacity for and appreciation of relationships began (and continues) to grow.

We found intentionality in work. The longer we lived with fewer possessions, the more our view of money began to change. It became less important. Our essential needs are met and we have enough left over to practice generosity—what else is needed? As our view of money shifted, so did our motivation for work. Work became less about the weekly financial deposit and more about the value and contribution we could provide to peoples’ lives. It opened the door even wider for honesty, cooperation, people, passion, and joy at work.

We found intentionality in our heart pursuits. Living with less opened the opportunity for contentment, gratitude, and generosity to take root in our heart. It forced us to redefine happiness. Happiness was no longer for sale at the department store. Instead, we discovered it was a decision available to us all along. And once we stopped looking in the wrong places, we were able to find happiness in the right places.

Minimalism was entered into because of discontent in our lives. But among its greatest gifts, we found intentionality. And we couldn’t be more thankful.

Because if you only get one life to live, you might as well make it the best one possible.

***

This week, I have partnered with 65 other authors in an ebook bundle sale to promote health and wellness. Some of the topics include cooking, fitness, simplicity, home care, paleo, and motherhood. With over 71 books in all, there are probably too many to read. But at only $37, I’m sure you can find plenty that interest you. You can find out more right here.

Harvest Your Health Ebook Sale

“The first wealth is health.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

For the next 7 days, the Harvest Your Health Book Sale will be live.

WHAT IS THE HARVEST YOUR HEALTH BOOK SALE?

For the next week (ends on October 14th), 65 unique authors have come together to offer over 71 courses/e-books/guides in one unbelievable package for only $37. If bought separately, the products total a retail value of $1071. But for the next few days, you can find them uniquely compiled together in one location for one low price. The books cover a variety of fascinating topics. Our book, Inside-Out Simplicity, is one of the books included promoting simplicity and intentional living. If you’ve been debating the pursuit of any of the topics included, this may represent the perfect time to jump in.

WHY THE HARVEST YOUR HEALTH BOOK SALE?

A few months ago, Todd Dosenberry (Primal Toad) contacted a number of bloggers via e-mail asking them to come together for one single, giant event. I can remember where I was sitting—in a hotel room in Iowa—when I got the email. I was about to pass on his generous offer, but decided instead to ask him what other books would be included in the sale. When he sent me the list and it included books from Tsh Oxenreider (Simple Mom) and Lorilee Lippincott (Loving Simple Living), I was in. They are two of my favorites. And the more I familiarized myself with the other books and authors in the sale, the more I looked forward to offering it to the Becoming Minimalist community.

Eventually, I decided to contribute for three reasons:

It’s a quality package with good people and good products. It’s focused on wellness, health, and intentionality. And I can get behind those themes all day long.
It’s a good opportunity to get Inside-Out Simplicity into peoples’ hands. My hope when writing the book was to inspire people to view simplicity as something more than external factors. Simplicity, eventually, needs to reveal itself in gratitude, generosity, and contentment. It ought to influence each of our most important relationships. To date, the book has been read thousands of time by thousands of people. Hopefully, through the Harvest Your Health Bundle Sale, it will inspire a thousand more.
I find these sales to be a great opportunity to introduce minimalism to new people. Done well, these bundle packages generate quite a bit of publicity. And the more publicity for minimalism, the better. Also, the affiliate income from the sale is helpful to offset expenses.

WHERE CAN I BUY THE BOOKS?

The deal can be found by clicking right here. You will be redirected to the Harvest Your Health Website where you can purchase/find out more.

WHAT BOOKS ARE FOR SALE?

I’m glad you asked. Here you go:

1) Tsh Oxenreider’s One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects For Making Life Simpler. Regular price: $5.00. Broken down into manageable chunks, One Bite at a Time provides you with steps, tips, links, and motivation to slow down and simplify. 52 tasks. Practical. Do-able. Given to you in a one-at-a-time, take-a-breath format, for you to tackle at your own comfortable pace. One of my favorites.

2) Lorilee Lippincott’s Simple Living–30 days to Less Stuff and More Life. Regular price: $2.99. A blogger I’ve been reading for years, Lorilee currently lives in China with her husband and 2 kids. Her course is created to help readers tackle thirty different clutter areas, showing them where to start and how to begin living with less. The course is uniquely created to answer the question “Where do I begin simplifying?” and “How do I start?”

3) Joshua Becker’s Inside-Out Simplicity. Regular price: $2.99. Inside-Out Simplicity goes beyond the superficial, external fixes to our complicated lives. Instead, this book dares to focus on the very heart and soul of a simplified life. It is based on the truth that a truly simplified life begins in a person’s soul and will help the reader find an inside-out simplicity by focusing on life-changing principles in their most important relationships. It is meant to encourage, challenge and inspire.

4) Andrew Miller’s 25 Intentional Days. Regular price: $25.00. Based on his highly-popular blog post “25 Ideas to Help You Live on Purpose” Andrew’s book, 25 Intentional Days, dissects each idea with greater research in a practical, step-by-step format. Each day focuses on equipping the reader to discover a more intentional life to live.

5) Katie Wellnessmama’s Natural Cleaning Guide. Regular Price: $15.00. A wonderful step-by-step guide from one of the most popular bloggers in the world of family wellness. Katie’s guide contains easy-to-understand steps to clean your whole house naturally for under $10 a month. Fantastically thorough.

6) Sandra Calixto’s Homemade Health & Beauty: 21 Simple Do-It-Yourself Recipes for Products You Use Everyday. Regular Price: 4.99. 21 recipes for products that we use regularly and can make at home without all the toxic, irritating chemicals. For example: shampoo, conditioner, bath salt, shaving cream, bubble bath…

7) Stacy Myer’s Crock On Cookbook: A Semi-Whole Foods Slow Cooker Cookbook. Regular Price: $5.00. 40 all-original slow cooker recipes, from soups to desserts, and everything in between. Each designed to satisfy even a hardcore foodie. If you hate to cook and wish you could just put decent food on the table without a lot of effort, here you go.

8) Alison Golden’s The Modern No-Nonsense Guide to Paleo: Shopping, Kitchens, Lunches. Regular Price: $10.00. Mark Sisson (Mark’s Daily Apple) called it one of the best tools he’s seen yet to get started and keep motivated throughout the Paleo journey. If you’ve been debating getting started, this may be one of the best intros to the Paleo diet you’ll find anywhere.

9) Sarah Fragoso’s One Month Subscription to Everyday Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness. Regular Price $20.00. Programmed workouts, beginner workout modules, coaching videos, nutrition videos, and seminars from certified strength and fitness coaches.

10) Laurie Neverman’s Common Sense Health. Regular Price: $8.95. Great ideas to remove toxins from your life; strategies for simple, healthy eating; and physical activities beyond exercise that have been used by holistic practitioners around the world. No big investment or complicated format, just start where you are with what you have to discover a more healthy-you.

Plus 61 other titles from the following subjects: Personal/Home Care, Simple/Intentional Living, Fitness, Paleo Diet, Healthy Diet, Inspiration, and Mothering. Indeed, one of the most-extensive bundle packages I have ever been a part of.

Certainly, if any of the preceding books peak your interest, you can purchase them individually. Or, for the next week, you can purchase them all for $37. Not a bad deal if you ask me. I’m glad to be part of it. And I think you’ll find tons of value here.

A Simple Experiment to Change Your View of Words

“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” —Bernard M. Baruch

Long before becoming minimalist or embracing my love for writing, I attended a Graduate School in St. Paul, MN to major in Theological Studies. It was an intensive three-year program that focused on spiritual understanding and spiritual formation—I have since come to realize there is indeed a great difference between the two.

As part of an assignment for a personal development class, I was asked to refrain from speaking for 24 hours. “Pick any normal day,” the professor said, “and try not to say anything. That’s your assignment. We’ll talk about your experience when we return next week.”

The assignment was met with skepticism. But as I woke up on my selected day, within the first hour, I began to see the logic. By the end of the 24-hour period, my view of communication and the words we choose had changed forever. And I learned valuable truths about myself and my motivations.

It was, in fact, far more enlightening than I ever imagined.

As the professor outlined the assignment, he warned, “It’s very likely you will have to speak at some point during the day. It is difficult to make it through an entire day without communicating at all. But when you do have to speak, immediately go back to silence. Find space to dwell on the words you chose and the motivations behind them.”

This, then, became the greatest learning opportunity of the experiment. After speaking and returning to silence, my mind was left to dwell on the words I chose, my attitude in my speech, and my internal motivation behind it. Or when I didn’t speak, but really wanted to, I was forced to discover why I wanted to speak in each situation.

I quickly learned of my desire to control situations or convert someone to my opinion. Sometimes my words were motivated by love, but far more often than I’d like to admit, they were motivated by selfish pursuits, personal ambition, or a desire to impress others.

We often speak for the purpose of control: to control what people think of us or to make sure people do what we want done in the way we want it. We often use our words to cover-up or hide our mistakes or faults. We use words to explain ourselves to others. Hugh Prather may have been right when he said, “No matter what we talk about, we are talking about ourselves.”

Refusing to speak forces us to embrace silence. And in a world addicted to noise, idle chatter, and meaningless words, silence can be very uncomfortable. But there is great life to be found in solitude—if only we’d give it opportunity.

It was, indeed, a heart-revealing assignment that resulted in personal (and spiritual) development. Even 10 years later, I remember it well and I have recommended it countless times to others. Today, I recommend it to you.

To conduct a 24-hour experiment of your own, here are a few helpful tips:

1. Choose a “normal” day. For example, don’t choose a day you already planned to be alone in the woods or driving a car alone for 8 hours. Choose a day where you will engage in normal relationships with other people. Avoid excessive external stimulation: MP3 players, radio, television, video games. Provide space for your thoughts.

2. Inform your closest relationships. Tell your spouse and/or kids about your experiment. If appropriate, inform your co-workers. This will be helpful as the day unfolds—and a bit comical as they try really hard to get you to talk.

3. Don’t be rude. Don’t be unloving. Just decide not to speak unless you are spoken to.

4. Study the silence. Is it difficult? Uncomfortable? Do you feel an urge to talk just to break it? And if so, why?

5. Notice your urge to speak. They will be far more common than you expect. Investigate your intention when you feel the urge. For what reason did you feel compelled to speak?

6. When you do speak, choose words that are “few and full.” And then return to your discipline.

7. After you speak, journey inward. Wrestle with the words you chose. Why did you choose them? What were you hoping to accomplish? And what were your internal motivations in choosing the words you did?

8. If possible, choose a friend to do the experiment with you. You can send them this post for motivation and information. Afterwards, share your victories and your failures. Together, you’ll be able to process the day better.

Talking can be fun. But silence can be life-transforming. We would be wise to provide it more opportunity.

Image: John Lemieux

A Simple Experiment to Forever Change Your View of Words

“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” —Bernard M. Baruch

Long before becoming minimalist or embracing my love for writing, I attended a Graduate School in St. Paul, MN to major in Theological Studies. It was an intensive three-year program that focused on spiritual understanding and spiritual formation—I have since come to realize there is indeed a great difference between the two.

As part of an assignment for a personal development class, I was asked to refrain from speaking for 24 hours. “Pick any normal day,” the professor said, “and try not to say anything. That’s your assignment. We’ll talk about your experience when we return next week.”

The assignment was met with skepticism. But as I woke up on my selected day, within the first hour, I began to see the logic. By the end of the 24-hour period, my view of communication and the words we choose had changed forever. And I learned valuable truths about myself and my motivations.

It was, in fact, far more enlightening than I ever imagined.

As the professor outlined the assignment, he warned, “It’s very likely you will have to speak at some point during the day. It is difficult to make it through an entire day without communicating at all. But when you do have to speak, immediately go back to silence. Find space to dwell on the words you chose and the motivations behind them.”

This, then, became the greatest learning opportunity of the experiment. After speaking and returning to silence, my mind was left to dwell on the words I chose, my attitude in my speech, and my internal motivation behind it. Or when I didn’t speak, but really wanted to, I was forced to discover why I wanted to speak in each situation.

I quickly learned of my desire to control situations or convert someone to my opinion. Sometimes my words were motivated by love, but far more often than I’d like to admit, they were motivated by selfish pursuits, personal ambition, or a desire to impress others.

We often speak for the purpose of control: to control what people think of us or to make sure people do what we want done in the way we want it. We often use our words to cover-up or hide our mistakes or faults. We use words to explain ourselves to others. Hugh Prather may have been right when he said, “No matter what we talk about, we are talking about ourselves.”

Refusing to speak forces us to embrace silence. And in a world addicted to noise, idle chatter, and meaningless words, silence can be very uncomfortable. But there is great life to be found in solitude—if only we’d give it opportunity.

It was, indeed, a heart-revealing assignment that resulted in personal (and spiritual) development. Even 10 years later, I remember it well and I have recommended it countless times to others. Today, I recommend it to you.

To conduct a 24-hour experiment of your own, here are a few helpful tips:

1. Choose a “normal” day. For example, don’t choose a day you already planned to be alone in the woods or driving a car alone for 8 hours. Choose a day where you will engage in normal relationships with other people. Avoid excessive external stimulation: MP3 players, radio, television, video games. Provide space for your thoughts.

2. Inform your closest relationships. Tell your spouse and/or kids about your experiment. If appropriate, inform your co-workers. This will be helpful as the day unfolds—and a bit comical as they try really hard to get you to talk.

3. Don’t be rude. Don’t be unloving. Just decide not to speak unless you are spoken to.

4. Study the silence. Is it difficult? Uncomfortable? Do you feel an urge to talk just to break it? And if so, why?

5. Notice your urge to speak. They will be far more common than you expect. Investigate your intention when you feel the urge. For what reason did you feel compelled to speak?

6. When you do speak, choose words that are “few and full.” And then return to your discipline.

7. After you speak, journey inward. Wrestle with the words you chose. Why did you choose them? What were you hoping to accomplish? And what were your internal motivations in choosing the words you did?

8. If possible, choose a friend to do the experiment with you. You can send them this post for motivation and information. Afterwards, share your victories and your failures. Together, you’ll be able to process the day better.

Talking can be fun. But silence can be life-transforming. We would be wise to provide it more opportunity.

Image: John Lemieux

How a Decision Became a Passion. And a Passion Became a Career.

“Buy less stuff. Do work you love. And make a positive difference.” —Joshua Becker

I never set out to become a blogger. In fact, it is with mixed emotions today, that I announce I have become a full-time writer.

And it all started on a typical Saturday morning with a decision that became a passion. A passion that became a career.

How a Regular Morning Led to a Life-Changing Decision.

I woke up Saturday, May 24, 2008 with a relatively simple goal: clean out the garage. It was a decision not unlike the decision made by countless people around the world every weekend. After all, houses need cleaning, cars need maintaining, and possessions need managing.

Little did I know my life was about to change forever.

After a few hours of cleaning, my neighbor was the first to notice my defeated posture and frustrated facial expression. Her smile and light conversation was meant to cheer me up. I appreciated it. But it wasn’t until I began pointing out my frustration over the time and energy spent cleaning that she responded with a sentence so profound, it turned my life upside-down immediately.

“That’s why my daughter is a minimalist.” She said, “She keeps telling me I don’t need to own all this stuff.” I remember her words like it was yesterday.

I turned around to see the pile of things in my driveway. As I did, I noticed my 5-year old son playing alone in the backyard. And suddenly, a life-giving truth became clear.

All the possessions I owned were not bringing joy into my life. But worse than that, they were distracting me from the very things that did. And a minimalist was born.

My wife and I would go on to remove many of the nonessential possessions from our lives. All told, 60-70% of our stuff would eventually be sold, donated, recycled, or thrown away.

How a Decision Became a Passion.

I remember sitting by my computer just hours after our decision to intentionally live with less. I registered a free WordPress domain name: Becoming Minimalist. I intended to use the website as a simple online journal to chronicle our journey and keep our extended family updated on our progress.

But the process of journaling held far more benefit than I ever imagined. It provided opportunity for me to write about our process. But more than that, it forced me to articulate the emotions I was feeling, the lessons I was learning, and the benefits I was experiencing.

As a result, I became highly attentive to the positive, practical benefits we began experiencing almost immediately after choosing to live with less. We noticed we had more time, more energy, and more money for the things that mattered most.

I remember one dinner party just months after our decision. I sat next to a wonderful friend and began explaining to her our decision and our progess living with less. Her face lit up immediately. She began listing all the things in her home she would like to remove and began dreaming of the possibility of living a freer life without them. It was almost as if she was just waiting for someone to give her permission to own less.

Suddenly, it occured to me that I had just played the role of my neighbor in my friend’s life. I had invited her to a new and better way to live. Around this same time, more and more readers began visiting the Becoming Minimalist website—just enough to remind me there was great value in this message of minimalism and people were drawn to it.

Living with less quickly became a passion for my own life. But additionally, a passion was growing in my heart to spread the message of minimalism in a world bound to consumerism—to become one voice calling people to buy less when every other advertisement was calling them to buy more. My passion for simplicity quickly grew beyond the walls of our own, uncluttered home.

How a Passion Became a Career.

With a renewed focus and desire, the goal of Becoming Minimalist began to evolve. What started as a personal online journal quickly morphed into a website dedicated to inspiring and equipping others to discover and embrace minimalism.

I watched other bloggers. And learned from their example.

Social media began to play an important role in spreading the message. We established Becoming Minimalist on Facebook and joined Twitter shortly after. Our presence on both continues to grow.

We wrote two books. Simplify and Inside-Out Simplicity have sold in the tens of thousands on Amazon and as PDFs in bundle sales. Simplify has ranked as the #1 Self-Help book on Amazon on two separate occasions.

Readership at Becoming Minimalist began to grow and has exploded recently. Traffic has doubled over the past five months. During the month of September alone, over 300,000 visitors visited Becoming Minimalist and were exposed to the message of minimalism.

One year ago, we launched the Becoming Minimalist Newsletter after sensing a growing desire to unite simple living advocates. The newsletter serves as encouragement for those committed to promoting simplicity. It is unlike any other email newsletter I have ever received. It is designed to equip the reader to grow in influence and promotes simple-living posts from every corner of the web. It is read by over 6,000 subscribers.

And through it all, because I love my work and find rich meaning in it, I have continued to work 50+ hours/week at my full-time job. For the past 15 years, I have served as a pastor in a number of different Christian churches. When this blog first started, I served as the Youth Pastor at one of the largest churches in New England helping middle school and high school students find fuller-meaning in their hearts and souls. Most recently, for the last two years, I have served alongside a good friend of mine planting a church in one of the fastest-growing counties in the country.

But I have known all along pursuing both passions was unsustainable for the long-term. And at this point in my life, my greatest opportunity for impact is to promote living with less in a world that has bought into the lie that pursuing possessions is a worthy endeavor.

As a result, effective today, October 1st, I am committed to the full-time promotion of minimalism. With fear and excitement, today, everything changes for us.

What Does This Mean for Becoming Minimalist?

At this point, there will be little change on Becoming Minimalist. In fact, regular readers will probably notice very few changes on the website. I do not intend to increase the frequency of posts. I only hope to improve their quality. I also hope to spend more time writing guest posts on other websites looking for new opportunities to introduce others to the invitation of minimalism.

The Becoming Minimalist Newsletter will still be delivered on an every-other week basis. There is a chance this frequency will increase in the future. But for now, it will stay the same. By the way, thanks for all the kind words and feedback I receive from it. I appreciate every single one of them.

I do hope to become far more interactive and available to readers than ever before. I hope to become more responsive to blog comments, Facebook messages, tweets, and e-mails. Community is important to me. And I look forward to having more opportunity for it.

I have a desire to accept more speaking opportunities than before. I desire to continue promoting minimalism and its intersection with entrepreneurship, business, happiness, and spirituality. My commitment is to continue offering speaking engagements at an incredibly affordable price. You can find out more here.

I also have plans for some exciting new projects in the very near future. I will be releasing a new book later this month and have been collaborating with other simple living bloggers for an amazing opportunity we will unveil soon. I have also begun the process of creating a book proposal for 2014. These projects are ones I am passionate about creating and offering to you. I look forward to the opportunity of finally having the time to create them with full excellence.

Lastly, it is every bit my intention to keep Becoming Minimalist reader-supported (ad-free). Despite what some may think, my income from Becoming Minimalist is just barely equal to the income from a part-time job. While we don’t need much (minimalism has made this possible), I do have a responsibility to my wife and two young children to provide faithfully. And to that end, I will continue to pursue and create resources that benefit both the reader and the creator.

There are such wonderful days ahead. Our message is important. Our opportunity is great. And together, we can absolutely change this world for the better.

Image: Swaminathan

Influence. And the Importance of Focus.

“A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it.” —Anonymous

Distractions. Our world has become a constant feed of information and entertainment. Each message enters our mind with one goal: Gain control of our attention and resources.

Additionally, we live in a world of unparalleled opportunity. Most of us live in environments where we are free to pursue an infinite number of possibilities with our lives.

And in a world of constant distraction and ever-increasing opportunity, the need for focus becomes even more significant.

Those who accomplish the most good and realize the greatest influence with their lives understand this importance. As a result, they are committed to refining their focus and living intentional lives because of it. They know the good they can bring to this world. And they seek desperately to remove the distractions that keep them from achieving it.

Focused, intentional living requires three important steps, none of which can be forgotten or neglected:

1. Those who live intentional lives define what they most desire to accomplish. They recognize there is not enough time to accomplish everything. Instead, they have learned to develop a clear picture of their greatest possible accomplishment/s. For example, one of my goals is to significantly change the world by promoting minimalism in a world of consumerism. This passion provides the framework upon which I make decisions. It impacts my pursuits. And it directs the resources (time, energy, finances) I have available to me.

2. Those who live intentional lives recognize the importance of removing distraction. Distractions, by their very definition, cause harm by stealing our resources. They adversely impact our potential to achieve our most-desired accomplishments outlined above. But unfortunately, far too often, they go unnoticed. Our lives go unevaluated. We are subtly lured away from true significance in our lives. As a result, our greatest goals often go unmet. One of the greatest benefits of minimalism is that it forces us to define our values. And it helps us better define and remove distractions—at least, in physical terms.

3. Those who live intentional lives act upon their understanding of the world. The true potential of wisdom is found in its implementation. Simply knowing we are a distracted people accomplishes little, the solution must also be implemented. The specific steps to remove distraction and gain greater focus vary from person-to-person and passion-to-passion. What distracts me may be an essential piece of your life’s purpose and vice versa. While the specific solutions may vary, the importance of finding one does not.

There is little doubt our world is filled with constant distraction. And there is little doubt that those who achieve the greatest significance in life learn to manage them effectively. Influence may, at times, find us by chance. But those who create it for themselves are entirely committed to intentional living.