A lot of people mistake Minimalism for living a stark, barren life with no possessions and no fun.

A proper definition of it is eliminating the unnecessary and excess in your life so you can focus on the things and activities that are most important to you.

Get rid of the unimportant so that only the important is left.

I’m currently decluttering my entire house and chucking almost all of my possessions.

My life goal is freedom.

Freedom to do anything, live anywhere, be whatever I want to be. Freedom to write without the distraction of stuff.

Owning enough stuff to fill a three-bedroom house does not support that goal of freedom.

It ties me down with maintenance, organization, storage, and mental stress.

Not to mention that moving to a new house or apartment is a long, painful process when you have that much stuff.

So far, the decluttering process is eye-opening.

Items I thought I would keep forever are getting the boot as I’ve decided that freedom is more important to me than STUFF.

I’m selling, donating, recycling and trashing.

It feels really good.

I feel my mind and life getting lighter with each piece that leaves my house.

Are you holding on to the unimportant?

-

A good portion of my book collection is up for sale as part of my decluttering efforts.

I have many books on writing as well as a lot of fiction listed at Half.com.

Check them out if you’re interested.

Like to get rid of your own stuff? I’m using the guide from Baker at Man vs. Debt called Sell Your Crap. It shows you how to sell your unwanted stuff on eBay, Amazon, amd Craig’s List.

The last couple months have seen a lot of thinking and soul-searching.

And resulted in some new goals for my life.

I’ve long struggled with how to ensure that I’m working toward the things I really want in life.

In reading Far Beyond the Stars, Everett Bogue’s site on minimalism, I found the answer.

In his post, The Stunning Truth About Focusing on the Important, he says this:

1, Identify the four areas of your life that are most important to you.

Simply write them down. It can be powerful to know what is most important to you, because then you can begin to focus on only the essential.

My four priorities are: Writing, Yoga, Cooking, and Reading.

Wow… what a wake-up call for me.

I could limit my priorities to just four things and maybe, actually get something done.

And what an easy system to use.

I sat down and wrote out my four priorities in life. Took a while to narrow it down.

Here they are:

Writing
Make money from writing
Eliminate credit card debt
Minimalism

Writing is a no brainer. This is what I do. I love to dream up stories and write them down.

Make money from writing – This is the marketing activities necessary to sell books. It’s on my list because while writing comes easy, marketing does not, so it needs to be a separate priority.

Eliminate credit card debt – I made an impulse decision a couple years ago and signed up for some online training that cost a LOT of money. I’m still paying it off. I want to wipe out that debt.

Minimalism - I’m getting rid of the excess in my life so that I can focus on the important things.

To make my four priorities work, I select one task in each area to work on each day.

That’s it.

I might do other stuff that’s not on the list, but not until the four daily tasks are done.

I might do more than one task in an area, but not until I’ve accomplished my daily task in each of the other three areas first.

Simple. Effective.

-

To read more about Minimalism, check out Far Beyond the Stars. The original site is shut down, but the archives are still available. Start in October 2009 and just begin reading.

If you enjoyed this article, the best way you can help me out is to take 10 seconds and retweet this post. Thank you for your help!

photo credit: quinn.anya

I had lunch with two friends from my former job last week. We talked about changes at the employer, how their jobs were going, what it was like working from home. Eventually we wandered onto the topic of worry and panic.

I admitted that even though I’m living my dream, I still lie in bed at night sometimes, totally panicked about money, health issues, will I be successful? Can I make this work? Did I make the right decision to quit my job?

One of my friends said, “But we have those same worries, even though we have jobs.”

I could have hugged her.

I needed that reminder – that EVERYONE has the same worries and fears, no matter who they are or what their situation is like. We all worry about money and health and our family and our jobs and whether we’re on the right path.

Uncertainty is everywhere. It’s part of life.

Even if I had stayed at my former job, I’d still worry about getting laid off, the assignments I was given, health concerns, money, and family. But the difference would be that I’d be working in an environment I didn’t enjoy, doing work that didn’t mean anything to me.

Instead, I work at home with my puppy sleeping beside me (or on me which makes typing really difficult). I work on writing projects that I love. I have a ten foot commute, a flexible schedule, time to fit in house chores and the ability to run errands during daylight (instead of in the winter dark after work).

Same worries, better life.

Don’t be afraid to take steps toward your own better life. The worries and fears will still be there, but everything else might get a whole lot better.

photo credit: Stephen Cochran

I attended the Get Motivated all-day seminar at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines about a month ago. Great day, enjoyed listening to the speakers, got a free lunch, came home with a migraine. (Too many people, loud sounds and flashy lights.) But a fun day.

At one point in the day they announced they were going to give away a Disney vacation as a door prize. Rather than draw for a winner, they had a “dance-off” with people pulled from the audience. One gentleman, Alan, had the most hilarious dance style-arms flailing and jumping from side to side. It was positively ridiculous, but you could tell he was having a great time. His enthusiasm and willingness to get up on stage made me clap the loudest for him.

I have a real problem with looking ridiculous. Not that I look ridiculous on a regular basis. (I hope.)

Instead, it’s that I might look ridiculous to someone else and I don’t want that. REALLY don’t want that. Could properly be called a dread of looking ridiculous, I suppose.

I couldn’t get up on that stage and dance like Alan did. I could, but I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t get up and dance like any of the contestants, even if I could dance as well as some of them. I have no self-confidence in my dancing skills. If I didn’t look ridiculous, I would certainly still feel ridiculous.

It got me thinking about what makes people willing to get up and do whatever, despite how it may look. Passion about an idea or a topic is one of the things that will drive people to those extremes. You’re too passionate about what you’re doing to care that you look ridiculous to other people.

Susan Boyle is another good example. She’s the UK lady who went on Britain’s Got Talent and shocked the audience and judges with her singing ability. A middle-aged lady, not fashionably dressed or made up… when she came out on stage you could see the derision on the faces of the audience. Everyone thought she was ridiculous to even get up on the stage, let alone sing. They were laughing at her. Until she opened her mouth and started to sing. Then she got a standing ovation from the crowd.

Did she care that she got laughed at? That the crowd thought her ridiculous to try? No. She loved to sing and wanted her chance to show them that she could sing. Her passion gave her the courage to step out on that stage.

Do I have anything in my life that I am that passionate about?

Do you?

Shiny is the best way I can think of to explain my outlook on life.

My inspiration for shiny came from a terrific book – Style Statement: Live by Your Own Design by Danielle LaPorte and Carrie McCarthy.

I read this book and was immediately struck by how fun this idea was. Figuring out a style statement to live your life by. I settled on Tailored Sparkle for mine. Tailored because I love planning, organizing, designing… I’m always thinking of ways to do something better, to improve.

And my creative edge? I’ve always been drawn to things that sparkle. Shining, glittery things. Even the words – sparkle, glitter, glimmer, spark… are some of my favorite words just for how they sound and make me feel. And my last name is a variation of Corvus which means Raven. Ravens are drawn to shiny things. Seemed like an obvious match.

I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate my Style Statement with my outlook on life to be a theme for this site. I had a brain spark one day on ‘shiny’. I see the shiny in things. Shiny is my personal pair of rose-colored glasses.

Shiny is:

• being optimistic
• searching for possibilities
• looking for the bright side
• not giving up
• making things better
• working toward my dreams
• believing in people
• believing in hope

Don’t get me wrong, I see the bad, too. There’s plenty of bad out there and you don’t have to look hard to find it. I choose to focus on the good, on the shiny in life.

Shiny is how I see the world.