Closely connected to the previous share "What matters most?", we are exploring the ideas of Essentialism, Core Values and Decluttering. All intricately linked. All deeply influencing quality of living. The conscious choices we make every day.
While we hone mindsets, we shall find practical applications of the most resonating elements. Identifying habits that can make these ideas an integral part of our days.
The regular invitation is, to re-evaluate and optimise the foundation of your choices and align it with what's most important to you.
The share is peppered with reflection questions for Self-discovery, as always.
I trust you get good value out of them. Here's one for starters:
What do you believe brings you closer to your current definition of a high-quality Life?
Essentialism.
What are your most valued choices?
What matters most at this time, in this season of your Life?
What are those Values, principles, ideas, events, activities which have always been, as long as you can remember, consistently highest priorities for you?
Essentialism I identified as a key concept for a higher quality Life and I invite everyone to try and test its application. It goes beyond day-to-day scenarios deep into whether you are aware of what you truly value in Life and whether your choices are aligned with that.
MINDSET.
Applying Essentialism, you use a set of Value-filters through which you prioritise what you find most worthwhile to invest your precious Lifeforce energy into.
DISCERNMENT.
Greg McKeown defines it as: "Less but better."
What is encouraged? Not deprivation, but the removal of unnecessary and often harmful noise, clutter, distraction.
Like a good red wine sauce – reduction intensifies flavours. (You'll see, I tend to like "edible analogies... .)
TRUE PRIORITIES.
You could look at it as your very own Eisenhower Matrix for Life, too, along the lines of importance and urgency, but pay very careful attention to not invest most of your energy into things that are urgent, but for your Life Vision not (as) important.
Essentialism asks you to align your choices with who you believe yourself to be and your envisioned ideal Self and lifestyle as well. Making choices that don't simply satisfy short-term needs, but are an investment into long-term plans.
When in doubt, you can ask yourself:
"What kind of long-term benefits do I expect of my choice?"
"Am I responding with this choice habitually or does it really contribute to my plans optimally?"
"If I could make a different choice, how different would the outcomes/benefits be?"
"Am I willing to try out a different response to what I've been routinely doing?"
"Am I ready to let go of this habit/connection/thing and see if that choice improves my Life quality/mood/energy levels etc.?"
SELF-RESPONSIBLE.
Our choices express us.
How can we create the most value and realise that most effortlessly?
How can we peel away not only choices that go against our Values and are more obvious, but the convenience choices that may seem harmless, but eat our energy quietly in the background?
For most of us who find these ideas most meaningful, it was an internal urge to change. When you feel you'd force it, maybe your tipping point to make different choices hasn't arrived yet.
We shall respect our own timing.
Break ourselves in the process? No.
Encouragement to dare towards better choices? Yes.
Our time so far is linear, has a beginning and an end in this physical form, our information age means a storm of data trying to get our attention every day.
Even in the simplest of choices we can practice to weigh the value of saying Yes or No to something.
It really is a process we can unfold.
Date and enjoy experimenting.
Core Values.
Which Values do you choose not to live without?
The most fundamental compass I always encourage in all conversations around Life Vision, Personal Growth, increasing quality of Leadership: to consider and get clear on the most important Values we navigate choices by.
In all the information, noise, pressure we can face at any point, to have something we can reliably and clear-mindedly reach for.
If that's the only clear thing at the time of our decision process, it can already be immensely helpful for the next, potentially optimal step.
Core Values.
When you are debating about options.
Whether it's seemingly small (yet significantly impactful, especially if repeatedly done) or greater decisions.
In its name we define it already: What do we value in Life?
All the themes like the recently elaborated on Essentialism or crystallising a Vision for our Life areas, lifestyle design is the expression of T. Ferriss, the Ikigai concept, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs... all are organically connected.
The what-do-we-value-in-Life consideration also means: What do we find meaningful?
Finding Meaning, whether subconsciously yearned for or consciously explored, seems to be common in all of us humans.
When in the middle of our daily tasks, we may not consider being on a planet orbiting a star.
Yet, any dissatisfaction, frustration can lead to a question like:
"Is this meaningful to me?"
"Why am I doing this?"
"Why did I say this?"
A spectrum of emotions guiding us to what we feel is acceptable, fair, what we enjoy doing and what we don't, what ideas we resonate or disagree with.
Then passing our responses through our conscious Awareness-filters.
Like a puzzle. A process of Self-discovery.
Freedom, Fairness, Integrity are my main navigation points.
When a stronger emotional response is triggered, practising Self-reflection I check in if the event/ behaviour/words seem contrary to or aligned with any of these.
We all have a long list of what we value. Various degrees to it too.
The invitation here is to have your most important steering points readily available, to utilise them not only at intense decision points, but when envisioning the Future and planning the realisation of it. Increasing Self-/Awareness.
Core Values help prioritise choices.
Decluttering.
What is not an essential part of your Life any more?
Have you heard the analogy how releasing limiting beliefs in Personal Growth can be likened to throwing out sandbags from our hot-air balloon?
Analogies can help us bond with concepts. For me this one worked.
Decluttering beliefs or objects improve our Lives.
When these don't represent Value to us at this time - or any more.
When we consider how well we want to invest our time and energy into what matters to us most, the essentials of our Lives, discerning and decluttering those excess elements which take away more than they give, we all can mostly experience similar things: a growing clarity and confidence in choices and a sensation of elevated outlook around realising Life plans.
The less opportunity we give excess to weigh us down or cloud our vision on what truly matters to us, the clearer we can see more optimal choices.
We stop losing Lifeforce on insignificancies, and what we retain we can invest then meaningfully.
Consider for both the act of decluttering and the benefits harvested both the tangible and non-tangible items of our human experience.
For the very personal standards on what quality of Life means to us, only we can say whether something is valuable enough to take up space and energy in our Lives.
It's our individual measurement.
Any trade-offs we may make? Can be.
Can we optimise these? Whenever we choose to.
Making choices, letting go of things, connections, non-relevant options, with practice becomes less emotionally charged than at the beginning when we may still be frustrated with overwhelm.
Peeling away distracting layers the process becomes this way less mentally-emotionally taxing.
More neutral. While we become not less, but possibly even more compassionate, because we retain more capacity for understanding ourselves and others.
That's my observation/experience so far.
Less unnecessary complication and drama, more clarity, increased peaceful states throughout days, more resilience in stressful periods.
Increased Life quality.
It's a process we can learn to enjoy. It brings not only long-term benefits, but most immediate ones too.
We shall tailor next steps to our current capacity.
Like with any habit it's key: steps to be doable+repeatable+rewarding.
habit choices.
What do you best saturate your Mind with?
Repetition. Subconscious re-/programming.
That's why it can be helpful when we embrace the idea that habits are not just activities we describe as daily routines etc., but it entails our thought patterns as well.
Our habitual thought patterns are governing choices, actions.
So, when we find useful information (in form of podcasts, books, own journaling, freewriting, autosuggestions via listening to affirmations etc.) that helps us reprogram unhelpful/detrimental thought patterns by "soaking" our Mind in these new and more ideal ones, we can harness the impact of repetition.
No washing, but seeping, soaking, saturating the Mind with for you and your Life optimal inputs.
Mind-reps.
Likening these things to muscles I found also helpful and motivating:
decluttering muscles, discernment muscles.
It really seems the more we repeat the optimised patterns, just like with any skill we hone, it becomes easier, less resistance, our system transitioning to the new, optimised programme. It becomes autotelic, a natural expression of Self and evolves with us.
And just like with mastering skills, our confidence grows and stabilises with it, transcending the initial uncertainty of attempting something different.
With a healthy confidence our Mind is less bogged down by doubts, confusion and indecision.
Mental clarity combined with Self-awareness turns out to be one of the highest impact investments we can make, if we are to increase our quality of Life and Leadership.
I bring all my learnings into my shares, reflection exercises, Coaching, so that my personal investments and revelations enrich not only my Life, but through my Work all your Lives too.
To explore the opportunity of working together
Reach out via message or head straight to the Coaching Session preparation form.
See you there! T.
Recommended Resources.
which helped me in my process of Wayfinding, Self- and Life-improvement.
Directly related to one of today's main theme:
Greg McKeown Essentialism. The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. About optimal energy investment for highest yield and disciplined thinking as a way of living.
All these books I like to regularly recommend, since they speak to all the foundations of what we build our Life upon. The Values, standards and principles, the quality we desire and plan to realise for Life and Leadership.
H. García and F. Miralles Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Dr. Joe Dispenza Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Workweek
Stephen R. Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.
Carol Dweck Mindset. Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential. This book is quoted by many others and is one of the most fundamental concept descriptions on Fixed vs. Growth Mindset and how they influence our level of Success.
James Clear Atomic Habits
BJ Fogg Tiny Habits
Charles Duhigg The Power of Habit. Why we do what we do in Life and Business. or Why we do what we do and how to change
Enjoy your Self-discovery and the Adventure.
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