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Minimalism Concept and Goal ; What is Minimalism and how to set your goal?


In this article, I'm going to talk about the concept and goals of minimalism.

The idea of minimalism is always on trend, and I find many people trying to become minimalists.


This is the article for those who want to be a minimalist; for those who are trying to change their life.


Let's jump into it.


What is Minimalism?


I have written the article 3 reasons why minimalism can save you a lot of money -my story-  previously and in this article, I have talked about the reasons why minimalists can save a lot of money compared to non-minimalist people.


Before start talking about the concept and the goals of being minimalist, I would like to share the definition of minimalism or minimalist


Regarding the word "minimalism", the meaning for me is the notion of focusing on something and erasing the power to do something else which is not necessary.



For me, the word minimalist means 

  • the persons who focus on something they want to focus 
  • The persons who know that they are focusing on something they want to


You can google to know the well-known definition of minimalism or minimalist but the true definition is in your mind.


Personally, I believe it is natural that the definitions of "minimalism" and "minimalist" is different depending on the person.


However, in general, looking at myself and some of my friends who are minimalists, I feel that the most common notion that true minimalists have is that it is important to make a line between something valuable to the person and something not valuable to that person.


My Core Concept of Minimalism


As being a minimalist for more than five years, I would like to share what's my core concept of minimalism for me.


My concept of minimalism is always the same; to focus on less than five important and valuable activities.

The reason why I came up with this idea is that I lost three of my grandparents last year, and I faced the reality of human beings that death will definitely come to us.

Then I decided to focus on only something very valuable, fun, and important for me.


Life is very short so I don't want to do something I don't enjoy, and I listed up five valuable things/ activities for me.


Those are

  1. Coffee
  2. Traveling 
  3. Music 
  4. Workout
  5. Being calm as much as possible


As I have this core concept in my mind all the time, if something comes up like an event or job opportunity etc..., I can easily know whether I really want to do it or not.


I don't want to waste my time.


Procedure to set your goal



From now on I would like to talk about how to set your goal of minimalism.

You have come to this article because you were looking for a guide for setting your own goal.


The reason why people become minimalist defers very much depending on the person so I would like to share what I have done to set my goal.

Here, the goal means "short goal".

If you set a gigantic & very far away goal, it's too far so you can't really imagine what you should do from now.


The procedure I have done is...
  1. Write down the reason why you want to become a minimalist
  2. Write down your ideal situation
  3. Write down the verb to achieve your ideal situation 

Let's take a look at them one by one.

Step 1:Write down the reason why you want to become a minimalist



My case: I want to become a minimalist because it is easy to travel and I feel comfortable.


For the first step, you want to start with I want to become a minimalist because...

This will help you to make sure that you have a concrete reason you want to become a minimalist.

Like losing weight, it is very difficult to achieve something without a concrete reason for it.


Step 2:Write down your ideal situation



My case: Fewer objects that I own than now.


The next step is to write down your ideal situation.

If you have the ideal situation and you don't have that situation, there should be always a gap between what you want to be and what you are right now.

For me, understanding the gap between the ideal situation and my current situation helped me a lot.

In my mind, I thought I understood the gap but by writing down it on paper, I could know that I didn't understand clearly.



Step 3:Write down the verb to achieve your ideal situation 



My case: I will throw away three objects every day for a week

The last step is to write down the verb to achieve your ideal situation.

Writing down by using the verb is very important for you because knowing what you have to do, if you don't do it that's your fault...

Sometimes you are busy with work or other things and you want to procrastinate the verb to achieve your goal.

Writing down the verb is a key factor to avoid procrastination because procrastination doesn't make you achieve the goal.


My Advice



Here is my simple advice which I always tell to the people around me who want to become minimalists.

"Why don't you start by picking up some clothes which you haven't worn for a year? If you haven't worn a certain outfit for a year, you have successfully lived without it so you don't need it"


Minimalism is deeply connected with mental awareness.


Imagination and action are two very different things.


You have finished reading this article and you know what to do to set your goal, now is the time to do the "verb".


Please leave a comment if you have any questions about this topic.

I hope you will have a wonderful journey on the path to becoming a minimalist.


By the way, if you want to start cleaning your room or house seriously, the article "Why I can't clean my house? Part 1: Minimalist with less 50 possessions teaches the ultimate method" will help you to move forward.

Let's do it together.