Lesson 1.
What is Minimalism?
Hello and welcome to this course about Minimalism.
In this course we are going to learn what Minimalism is and how you can implement Minimalism in every area of your life.
Let me introduce myself.
My name is Emilio Jose Garcia.
I am the co-founder of KW Professional Organizers and since 2012 I have been helping individuals and families stop feeling overwhelmed and leverage the power of organization,
Minimalism and self-care so that they can create the lifestyle they want to live.
What is Minimalism?
Let me tell you that Minimalism is not about extremes.
Like having only one chair and one table.
Minimalism is not about limiting yourself or deprivation.
It's quite the opposite.
It's about letting go of the non-essential to open up space,
Time and energy for the things that really matter to you.
You define what Minimalism means to you.
You define what's important in your life right now.
And you decide when it's a good time to reassess your situation.
Life keeps evolving and your priorities,
Needs and wants may change over time.
This is why Minimalism is a lifetime philosophy that will help you be intentional in every stage of your life.
Redefining yourself and the lifestyle that you want to live.
I would like to share a few definitions about Minimalism so that you can then come up with your own.
The Minimalists say that Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life's excess in favor of focusing on what's important.
So you can find happiness,
Fulfillment and freedom.
The Minimalist Vegan says the process of identifying what is essential in your life and eliminating the rest.
Less is more.
Minimalist.
Com says it's a way to escape the excesses of the world around us.
The excesses of consumerism,
Material possessions,
Clutter,
Having too much to do,
Too much debt,
Too many distractions,
Too much noise but too little meaning.
Minimalism is a way of giving up the non-essential in order to focus on what's truly important.
What gives our lives meaning,
What gives us joy and value.
Exile Lifestyle.
Com says what Minimalism is really all about is reassessment of your priorities so that you can strip away the excess stuff.
The possessions and ideas and relationships and activities that don't bring value to your life.
As you see,
Minimalism can mean something different for every person.
You can define what's important in your life right now and what are the things that are most meaningful to you.
There are many similarities in these definitions I just shared.
They talk about defining what's essential,
A priority and eliminating the excess so that you can experience meaning and joy.
The priorities of a family with children will look very different than the priorities from a single person.
Life in your 20s will not be the same as life in your 40s.
Minimalism will adapt with your lifestyle needs.
This is why it's very important to reflect and reassess what your needs and priorities are in your current stage of life.
We recommend doing this reflection every time you feel frustrated,
Stressed,
Lacking meaning.
These are clear indicators that you can benefit from a change and Minimalism can be the answer that you were looking for.
This course will help you create your own recipe to live your Minimalist lifestyle.
During this course,
We are going to learn from real life examples and experiences of myself and all the people we have had the opportunity to help through our courses,
Life events and one-on-one sessions around the world.
Yes,
We have gone to people's homes,
Rolled up our sleeves and helped them declare their lives.
It normally starts with the physical spaces first,
Their homes,
Their offices.
Once they are in control of their physical surroundings and they feel motivated and energized,
They move into other areas of their lives that may require their attention.
You are going to learn practical,
Simple and effective techniques on how to implement Minimalism in every area of your life.
These are all tested methods that have been used and improved over and over until we found a successful recipe that works.
We call it a shortcut to happiness.
We all have to manage the basics of our lifestyle so that we can thrive in life.
And Minimalism is a great tool to help you bring simplicity back into your life while being intentional.
The basics of life are the things that we all have to manage and we are going to cover them all in this course.
Some of these basics are home,
Your shelter,
Physical surroundings including paper management,
Body,
Mind,
Work,
Finances,
Digital life and time management.
We are going to dive deeper into the awareness of your current lifestyle,
Current habits and current routines that you are following so that you can understand why you feel the way you do and what you need to do to create the change you want to see in your life.
Then we will learn the new habits and new routines that we can implement to start getting the results that we are aiming for and create the lifestyle that we want to live.
In our next lesson we are going to define what clutter and excess is so that you can get started eliminating all the clutter in your life right away.
