Mind the Beginner

As you probably noticed my posting frequency is still a bit lower than usual,it;s because the topics I’m currently writing about (and reading about) are quite tough to get to grips with. In a comment on my last post John Bardos pointed out that:

In the west, it (Zen) has been co-opted to mean “simple,” but I don’t feel that really encompasses the idea.

Take a look at zen habits for instance. Although on the one hand you could say that there’s a lot on the topic of Zen there, on the other hand in a nutshell Leo’s blog is about “simple productivity”. It’s a really tough nut to crack but if you’re really interested in Zen I recommend Alan Watt’s book, The way of Zen. My brother-in-law let me borrow his copy a while back (along with Raymond Smullyan’s The tao is silent) after he got wind of my interest in Zen. Although those who know do not speak Alan did manage to explain things in writing.

But this is not why we are here right now, it’s Saturday and so it’s time for the weekly update.

But first, I’d like to introduce a new number in place of the Average number of pageviews this week. Instead I’m going to give you the average numbers of pageviews a day this month so far. In my last weekly update I calculated an average of 163 a day for the entire month. As long as the number is larger than that my blog is growing. The number is a bit more stable and so gives a better representation of the current status of my blog. So here it is:

Average numbers of pageviews a day this month so far: 191 (period 8-1 till 8-7). Actually a bit larger than expected, very nice.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed: 77, again, a nice leap here. Even though I feel I’m slightly letting you down by not writing so often. I guess it really is quality over quantity here, exactly how I want to be blogging. I don’t just want to churn out blogpost after blogpost just to say something. I’m a firm beleiver of “If you have nothing to say, don’t open your mouth” and apparently you appreciate this. Thanks!

Where the traffic is coming from: Absolutely no surprises here, although my blogpost ranks on the second spot in google as I’m typing this. Just search “minimalist living” in google. Good for 30 referrals a day by Google. Thanks you Google.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned: Again, absolutely nothing. I’ve been reading a lot and getting up at dawn to go fishing for several days now. It’s very relaxing I can tell you, even though I don’t catch a lot. Getting up this early and heading off into nature is something I should have done a long time ago. Yesterday I caught my first pike (Esox lucius), ever… a whole 33cm of fish with sharp teeth. I hope many more will follow. Call me crazy but I’ve dreamt of catching this type of fish for years. It’s a childhood dream that finally came true at 26 years of age. And here she is:

I did learn something from fishing already. As with all things, don’t expect huge results the first time, everything takes practice and patience. Growing this blog is exactly like fishing. It’s hard work and it takes dedication. But in time the results get better and better. You’re going to catch bigger fish either figuratively or literally.

Yes, it takes just one step to transform your home into a minimalist living space. It’s huge actually and if you want to give it a go there are a lot of smaller steps to go through:

• Throw away everything you haven’t used in a year
• Get rid of paperwork/magazines
• Find a way to properly manage all the cable work
• “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”
• Stop yourself (and others!) from letting more stuff get into your home
• Get rid of anything with strong patterns (floral curtains….)
• …
• …

There are probably hundreds of tips you can find all over the net but in the end it comes down to my one step:

1. Keep every surface clear

Be it your desk, a wall, the floor, a table… Assign one (an only one) space in your home here you can “dump” stuff and don’t ever dump anything anywhere else. Everything has it’s own place and should be in that place and nowhere else. The simplest of examples that comes to mind right now is dirty laundry and the hamper. Dirty socks somehow have this tendency to land on the floor. Make it easier on yourself and undress in the vicinity of the hamper, or put the hamper closer to where you undress. The floor is a very popular storage place for all kinds of stuff. Just imagine the average dorm room, everything is all over the place and more often than not you can’t see the floor. The same goes for desks: stacks of paper, piles of books, (half)empty cups, maybe even your phone charger.

Take a look around your home and see all the surfaces, now imagine how they would look without anything on them. See the minimalism? It’s right there under all the clutter, just waiting for you to uncover it.

Why would you want to create a minimalist living area? Again, there are huge benefits. For ease of reading (and just because I can’t say it any better myself) I’ve copied a bit of a blogpost on Zenhabits

Benefits of a Minimalist Home
I could probably go on for awhile about this, but let me just list a few key benefits:

1. Less stressful. Clutter is a form of visual distraction, and everything in our vision pulls at our attention at least a little. The less clutter, the less visual stress we have. A minimalist home is calming.
2. More appealing. Think about photos of homes that are cluttered, and photos of minimalist homes. The ones with almost nothing in them except some beautiful furniture, some nice artwork, and a very few pretty decorations, are the ones that appeal to most of us. You can make your home more appealing by making it more minimalist.
3. Easier to clean. It’s hard to clean a whole bunch of objects, or to sweep or vacuum around a bunch of furniture. The more stuff you have, the more you have to keep clean, and the more complicated it is to clean around the stuff. Think about how easy it is to clean an empty room compared to one with 50 objects in it. That’s an extreme example, of course, as I wouldn’t recommend you have an empty room, but it’s just to illustrate the difference.

You don’t need modern furniture, a stainless kitchen and all those other fancy things to be a minimalist. It’s simply the byproduct of minimalist living: because minimalists don’t buy a lot of clutter they save huge amounts of money and can spend that on nice quality things. The few items they do buy tend to be highly functional and of a superior quality.

Go have some fun in your home, one room at a time clear all the surfaces and find a place for everything you want to keep. Good luck and above all, enjoy yourself and reward yourself at every step!

I’ve had several questions lately about what certain terms are that I’ve been using here. Well, to make things a bit clearer I’m going to provide you with a post on  terms that are being used in the personal development and lifestyle design niche. It’s by no means complete though and I urge you to add more in the comments.

• Let’s start with some names first

Tim Ferris This name really should ring a bell. It’s the guy that started it all (for me at least) He’s the author of “The four hour workweek” and blogger writing about “experiments in lifestyle design”. He’s living the life so many of us want to. It’s probably why his book is so popular, it talks about a something that seems a fantasy and he claims can be reality. However, there are those who believe the four hour workweek to be a lie.

Leo Babauta Blogger over at zenhabits.net and author of the book “the power of less”. Has radically redesigned his life to what he wanted. I could explain it all but it’s easier to read this page.

Jonathan Mead Blogger over at Illuminated mind and author of “reclaim your dreams”. He also writes for zenhabits and lateral action. Someone who really kicks ass in the virtual world stating what it’s really all about without being gentle. He regularly kicks against what people think is reality and gets your head back out of the clouds.

Carl Nelson A friend, blogger at slacker reform, professional lindy hopper, vagabond, philosopher and rising start in the location independence world.

Corbett Barr Blogger at freepersuits writing about lifestyle design, another rising start in the community.

Rolf Potts Author of “vagabonding”, the second book that’s an essential read to anyone who wants to become location independent. Not from the perspective of how to get there, but on what to do when you’ve got it.

Darren Rowse Also known as problogger. A full time blogger making a six figure income through it and a huge name in the blogosphere. Anyone who takes blogging seriously has heard is name and has probably visited his blog as well. A great resource for anything blogrelated.

Seth Godin Writer of a lot of (11 so far) books on diverse subjects in the direction of market development and business.  A name you’ll see pop up from time to time, so I thought I’d mention him.

Steve Pavlina This guy might just be the original personal development blogger. He’s been blogging since 1 oktober 2004

• Some essential literature

The four hour workweek (4HWW) The book that got it all started, or at least put things on the map. In a nutshell this book teaches you how to find an online market, set everything up, automate it and reduce the number of hours you work to the bare minimum while keeping a descent income so you can spend your time on other things.

The Power of less Leo’s book, a nice summary of all his blogposts that will get you up to speed on minimalist thinking when it comes to daily life.

Vagabonding The book about extended world travel or how to “live out of a backpack” for months or yours. Perhaps even giving up a home and constantly traveling the world.

Reclaim your dreams An  eBook on getting away from the 9-5 till 65 life. You can read my review of it here

• Some often used terms

Lifestyle design Everything that has to do with living your life like you want to live it. Severing the ties that keep you from doing what you want to be doing. For most people this means quitting their job (a major timesuck where they are not in control) and setting up an alternative income through Internet. This frees up time so one can do all those things that one dreams of but never does. It’s getting rid of preconceptions that life has to be a certain way just because your parents lived that way or the education system has taught you how to live.  In short: It’s thinking for yourself on how you want to live your life and doing everything you can to live that life right now! Corbett over at Freepersuits has dedicated a blogpost to the subject that’s far more comprehensive that the definition I give here. If you’re interested you can find that blogpost by following this link. It’s a great read and will get things crystal clear.

Muse. A term used by Tim Ferris to describe the thing that generates the Internet income. His muse is a food supplement he’s selling online. Probably by now it’s also his blog and his book.

Vagabond. A person who travels for extended periods of time where not the destination but the travel is important and where at times there is no plan on where to go or on how long to stay there.

Digital Nomad. A vagabond with a laptop and other technical devices who has an Internet income and manages that through his laptop while vagabonding.

Location Independent Professional (LIP). A professional who isn’t bound to a location in order to make an income. More often than not these people generate their income through Internet and might just be called digital nomads as well. That is, if they choose to travel. Being location independent means you can go wherever you want, it doesn’t mean you have to.

Freedom business. This term is used in Project Mojave to describe an Internet business (selling an information product) that generates an income that’s significant enough to quit ones dayjob and become free. This means it consistently generates an income of some 2-4k a month depending on your needs. Also, this business requires little “maintenance” so you have an income that costs little time as well. Although you might not reach the 4 hours a week, it’s definitely doable with about 10 hours a week.

Project Mojave An online program where Clay Collins and some others teach you how to set up a freedom business, in three months or less.

Personal development The ongoing effort to develop oneself and keep learning. Learning new skills, keep questioning ones thoughts, beliefs and habits. You probably know people who do the same thing every day like clockwork. Have a dayjob, don’t read, don’t try new things or whatever. These people don’t develop any further for they don’t expose themselves to new things.

Well, that’s it for now, I hope you will all contribute to this blogpost by adding more names, blogs and terms to the comment section.  If you have any questions or if what I’ve written in this blogpost is just pain wrong or hopelessly incomplete please do let me know.

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