Minimal Changes to Achieving What Matters Most

Who says you need a lot to be happy?

I am a former consumerist workaholic zombie pack-rat. I saw minimalists as losers and lazy bums. Mostly because I felt that the entire world should be as busy as I am. I not only did work to get results but I also, mostly worked to be busy. I told myself that if I was going somewhere and doing something, I’ll get to my goals. The sudden pause in my life had caused me to see myself in full view. Before I started my journey to financial freedom I had fairly simple goals. A nice place to stay, a regular car, a means to contribute and the ability to not worry about money. When I started to work I found the things important to me.

What’s truly important to me.

My relationship with God
My relationship with my family
Freedom to do what I want when I want it.
Doing the work I love while contributing to others.

Maybe you have your own list but this is mine and I was looking at my life and I realized that I was taking care of the wrong things. I was more concerned with result than I was willing to taking care of them. My life had to be all about the means to get my goals and I had to get rich quick. It didn’t end so well. The set back had not been because there is something wrong with the strategy but with the execution. I was focusing on the wrong things and filling up my schedule and trying all sorts of stuff to rush results. That’s what got me into trouble. When I look at all my major set backs things started to fall apart when I attempt to rush things.

I eventually adapted a minimalist lifestyle and attempted to change my direction with minimal changes.

Here’s a short list of what I learned and did:

1. Figure out what is important – **you can choose to write a list of what you want but try to keep a short list. I learned that we don’t need much to be happy. Its actually stressful if you have too much. **2. Eliminate what isn’t important – I’m an upgrade junkie and I like the item with the most features. The problem with that is I usually don’t really use all the extras but I pay for them and they take up space one way or another. Believe it or not, less is more because in my experience more means more stress. Keep looking for things to eliminate until you have the few you really want. 3. Results are always temporary – That’s why you shouldn’t worry about it. 4. People are more important than results – in the end what you’ll have are people. Treat them well. You might not find gold in this particular quest but I’m sure that at on your next campaign you’ll have a crew that will support you. 5. If you are faithful with the small things you will be entrusted much – this, I believe is the best advice I got. No need to drop your goal of being successful. Just do what is important to you well and the results will follow. **6. Things take time – **if you’ll get it, you’ll get it. Just move forward. Don’t compare with others and results will come eventually. Bad decisions are usually a result of wanting to speed things up and mistakes are okay. Just enjoy the journey.

It doesn’t take much to get the life that you want. The funny thing about our goals is that in the end its not the big house or the Ferrari or the major passive income. It’s being there for the people that matter and enjoying the journey together. I had to put my old goals on hold for a while but I found much more. Maybe I’ll go back to working on my projects and attempt to make more money later on but next time at my own pace. Try it!