In 2010 , I was first introduced to the idea of Minimalist Elimination.
The concept is simple: we possess so many material things that we have let the emotional burden of these material things to control us and that leaves so little room for what really matters .
That same load chokes us and doesn´t allow us to enjoy our friends and family; the more material things we accumulate, the less we enjoy our people; and ourselves.
Why is it important for all of us to accumulate and hoard things, instead of accumulating ideas, relationships, experiences and time for us?
I promised in that year that I´d dedicate myself to substract the unnecessary and non-essential things in order to start accumulating the essential non-material.
Then, I did an inventory of the things that I had in the world; in 2010, had around 3,000 material objects... just the average of what you and I and everyone else we know on Facebook have.
Clothes, books, records, computers, gadgets, cars, shoes, school supplies, appliances ... large or small, everything counts; the rule is that it should be yours.
Three thousand things seems a lot, but consider it as the sum of everything that we all have been accumulating over many years; perhaps you possess more than what I owned.
Since then, I have taken very seriously that theory, and I have embarked on the process of removing all that I really do not need.
The results?
Today, I only own 250 material things; I have freed up 60% of my mental space; I have reconnected with many of my friends of the past; I made new friends and have had new experiences, and I am enjoying the friendships that I have now with many people, not to mention that I am now more thankful to the little things in life that I would not thought before.
Keep reading:
The concept is simple: we possess so many material things that we have let the emotional burden of these material things to control us and that leaves so little room for what really matters .
That same load chokes us and doesn´t allow us to enjoy our friends and family; the more material things we accumulate, the less we enjoy our people; and ourselves.
Why is it important for all of us to accumulate and hoard things, instead of accumulating ideas, relationships, experiences and time for us?
I promised in that year that I´d dedicate myself to substract the unnecessary and non-essential things in order to start accumulating the essential non-material.
Then, I did an inventory of the things that I had in the world; in 2010, had around 3,000 material objects... just the average of what you and I and everyone else we know on Facebook have.
Clothes, books, records, computers, gadgets, cars, shoes, school supplies, appliances ... large or small, everything counts; the rule is that it should be yours.
Three thousand things seems a lot, but consider it as the sum of everything that we all have been accumulating over many years; perhaps you possess more than what I owned.
Since then, I have taken very seriously that theory, and I have embarked on the process of removing all that I really do not need.
The results?
Today, I only own 250 material things; I have freed up 60% of my mental space; I have reconnected with many of my friends of the past; I made new friends and have had new experiences, and I am enjoying the friendships that I have now with many people, not to mention that I am now more thankful to the little things in life that I would not thought before.
Keep reading:
In other words, my life is much better without having to own many things, I have the liberty to fly wherever I want, I have extra free time in order to dedicate myself to things that I love, and I have peace of mind.
How did I do it? It was a 4 year process, but here are some examples of how to eliminate things:
I gave away more than 90% of my clothes. I put out all pants, shirts, suits, etc. and put everything in more than 5 bags well loaded to my car and went to donate them to charity.
Out of more than 20 pairs of pants, I left only 2 of them, plus three that I bought recently in Paris, today I only own 5 pairs.
I put an entire big bag of underwear only; socks; dozens and dozens of socks that I never used. Now, I only own a week of underwear.
Shirts of soccer teams, elegant shirts for clubbing, casual shirts, polo shirts, long sleeves, like 30 heavy metal band shirts, blazers, ties, I gave EVERYTHING to charity.
I would have around 15 pairs of shoes. Pumas, Converses, Aldo Conties, Gucci, Prada, running shoes, etc. Now I only own three pairs; casual ones, semi-casual and dress shoes. I don´t even own running shoes or athletic ones, since I work out bare feet in my gym or the martial arts dojo.
Accesories?, belts, buckles, chains, rings, caps, hats, scarves, etc. I gave away everything.
Basically, I only left those clothes that I normally use; the most used 10%. I freed up lots of space in my drawers.
(Weeks after, I was informed by two of my best friends that I could have sold all of that in the flea market for a good profit, since they did the same and they were paid such good money for almost all their clothes.)
I had a library full of books; I emtpied it and left only a row of books that I wanted to keep. The rest? books whose contents I am sure I won´t read again, have theories that I don´t believe in them anymore, or have bought them on kindle.
Am I really going to read again The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell?, Do I really want to keep all my International Relations, Economics and Politics books?, Do I really believe in everything that Richard Dawkins says? No way; I took them and donated them to my local university and the State Library.
Fiction books and classics from García Marquez, Vargas Llosa, Saramago, Erenst Hemingway, William Faulkner, Henry David Thoreau, etc. Everything I gave it away or donated.
Magazines? I had huge collections of The Economist, Expansión, Forbes and Playboy (I swear that I only read Playboy only for the articles.) Everything went to the garbage bin. Now, I only have a Forbes suscription on my iPad.
Talking about suscriptions, I eliminated my one to Grupo Reforma and El Financiero; I was done with waking up everyday with the news that we are losers on the brink of bankruptcy, war and on the risk for any crime related injury. At least those are the things that today media is obsessed about.
Hundreds of fitness magazines, martial arts and books; all of them went either to the garbage or I gave them away to my friends.
Since then, any book that I´ve needed, I acquire it directly from Kindle. I´ve saved up around 70% in books and physical space, either on my home or when traveling.
I had more than 150 cd´s; the complete collection of In Flames, Dimmu Borgir, the complete collection of Helloween, Edguy, Sonata Arctica, the complete collection of Stratovarius, Carcass, Amon Amarth, Simple Plan, Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Machine Head, Soulfly, etc. I gave away everything on gifts for my little nieces; let them know about good music ;)
I even eliminated entire mp3 libraries from my computer; more than 50GB in music. I even gave away my two desktop computers; the one for my business and the personal one. Now, I manage everything from a small Mac Pro.
Talking about business, I had my own office, supplies, employees, etc. now I manage everything from my Mac Pro, with only 4 "employees," freelancers who work from home in India, Russia and New York City. I gave away printer, desks, chairs, etc.
Talking about eliminating digitally; from more than 500GB of pure information, now I possess less than 120GB (And no, it was not porn.) mp3, documents, old projects, video, movies, I eliminated everything. I only left pictures and important documents.
Talking about DVD´s, I gave away all my DVD library; heavy metal concerts, Charlton Heston movies, the whole series of The Fresh Prince, Lost and Saved by the Bell, Robotech and Saint Seiya. I gave away everything. And I threw away others, because I knew no one would want them.
My car; I did not technically give it away by my own, but I don´t own a car anymore; my legs do the job for me to transporting. Fortunately, I live in a city where public transport is excellent and people don´t judge you by not having a car. Here I am not a poor little bastard by not owning a car. Even more, if I owned a car instead of bicycle, people would not see that with good eyes. Here in Copenhagen, even the Prime Minister of Denmark commutes by bicycle.
People; yup, I eliminated people that were bringing me down. I cut everyone´s head, figuratively speaking of course. I cut down like 60 people.
And in Facebook, from more than 2500 contacts, I was left only with 500.
I was called asshole, uppity, bad friend, traitor, etc. just because I eliminated all of those people (in Facebook as well as in real life). But curiously enough, now I feel great and I enjoy more the company of my real friends in berbecues and dinners.
(Of course, now that I think of it, whenever I arrive at a party, instead of shaking hands with everyone in the room, I only shake hands with no more than three people :) Now, whenever I throw a party at my home, instead of preparing food and drinks for 100 people, I do it for 20.)
I emptied every drawer in my home; cables, batteries, tools, old documents, toys, etc. I threw away everything.
I was a member of more than 15 social clubs or social communities; I announced almost everyone that I would be cutting commitments with them.
From more than 35 products and services that I would sell in my business, now I only sell 4. Curiously enough, I thought that I would work less, but that´s not the case; now I sell more, but also eliminated most of the processes of service delivery and operations.
¿Pictures? I did not throw away them, but I gave them to my mother for her to keep them.
I even eliminated 40% of what I eat per week; most of my friends know that I practice regularly intermittent fasting since 4 years. Now, instead of eating 4 or 5 times per day, I eat only once per day on certain days, and only what is necessary. Of curse, I drop many pounds and now I feel light.
Back in the days, physical activities would take almost all my calendar; Kung fu, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Don, Boxing, MMA, running, etc. Would I really need all of those activities? My beer belly would not dissapear, anyway. So I only started to dedicatemyself to MMA and normal weights. And curiously enough, the beer belly dissapeared.
My griller? I gave it away. My beer glasses collection and wine glasses? I gave them away. My wall paintings and ornaments? I gave them all.
What about my girls? Karen and Poleth? my mom takes care now of my two chihuahuas.
I even eliminated my need to drink that much. I started to question myself my need to drink that much. 20 beers in a single week? Thank God, old age reached me and now I can barely stand 4 beers or glasses of wine. Oh! yes, I quit smoking.
I gave away my treadmill. Why would I want them? I have everything I need in a 40 usd per month fitness center.
The day my family dropped me at the airport in order to travel to Denmark, my mom was surprised about the small size of my luggage. I explained her that in that bag was contained every single thing I owned in this world, and they fit perfectly.
The only thing I left in my old hometown were my guitars and musical instruments. I will take care of them in another time. But for now, the most important things that I have I´ve brough with me in the heart and my memory.
Ricardo Siller
How did I do it? It was a 4 year process, but here are some examples of how to eliminate things:
I gave away more than 90% of my clothes. I put out all pants, shirts, suits, etc. and put everything in more than 5 bags well loaded to my car and went to donate them to charity.
Out of more than 20 pairs of pants, I left only 2 of them, plus three that I bought recently in Paris, today I only own 5 pairs.
I put an entire big bag of underwear only; socks; dozens and dozens of socks that I never used. Now, I only own a week of underwear.
Shirts of soccer teams, elegant shirts for clubbing, casual shirts, polo shirts, long sleeves, like 30 heavy metal band shirts, blazers, ties, I gave EVERYTHING to charity.
I would have around 15 pairs of shoes. Pumas, Converses, Aldo Conties, Gucci, Prada, running shoes, etc. Now I only own three pairs; casual ones, semi-casual and dress shoes. I don´t even own running shoes or athletic ones, since I work out bare feet in my gym or the martial arts dojo.
Accesories?, belts, buckles, chains, rings, caps, hats, scarves, etc. I gave away everything.
Basically, I only left those clothes that I normally use; the most used 10%. I freed up lots of space in my drawers.
(Weeks after, I was informed by two of my best friends that I could have sold all of that in the flea market for a good profit, since they did the same and they were paid such good money for almost all their clothes.)
I had a library full of books; I emtpied it and left only a row of books that I wanted to keep. The rest? books whose contents I am sure I won´t read again, have theories that I don´t believe in them anymore, or have bought them on kindle.
Am I really going to read again The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell?, Do I really want to keep all my International Relations, Economics and Politics books?, Do I really believe in everything that Richard Dawkins says? No way; I took them and donated them to my local university and the State Library.
Fiction books and classics from García Marquez, Vargas Llosa, Saramago, Erenst Hemingway, William Faulkner, Henry David Thoreau, etc. Everything I gave it away or donated.
Magazines? I had huge collections of The Economist, Expansión, Forbes and Playboy (I swear that I only read Playboy only for the articles.) Everything went to the garbage bin. Now, I only have a Forbes suscription on my iPad.
Talking about suscriptions, I eliminated my one to Grupo Reforma and El Financiero; I was done with waking up everyday with the news that we are losers on the brink of bankruptcy, war and on the risk for any crime related injury. At least those are the things that today media is obsessed about.
Hundreds of fitness magazines, martial arts and books; all of them went either to the garbage or I gave them away to my friends.
Since then, any book that I´ve needed, I acquire it directly from Kindle. I´ve saved up around 70% in books and physical space, either on my home or when traveling.
I had more than 150 cd´s; the complete collection of In Flames, Dimmu Borgir, the complete collection of Helloween, Edguy, Sonata Arctica, the complete collection of Stratovarius, Carcass, Amon Amarth, Simple Plan, Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Machine Head, Soulfly, etc. I gave away everything on gifts for my little nieces; let them know about good music ;)
I even eliminated entire mp3 libraries from my computer; more than 50GB in music. I even gave away my two desktop computers; the one for my business and the personal one. Now, I manage everything from a small Mac Pro.
Talking about business, I had my own office, supplies, employees, etc. now I manage everything from my Mac Pro, with only 4 "employees," freelancers who work from home in India, Russia and New York City. I gave away printer, desks, chairs, etc.
Talking about eliminating digitally; from more than 500GB of pure information, now I possess less than 120GB (And no, it was not porn.) mp3, documents, old projects, video, movies, I eliminated everything. I only left pictures and important documents.
Talking about DVD´s, I gave away all my DVD library; heavy metal concerts, Charlton Heston movies, the whole series of The Fresh Prince, Lost and Saved by the Bell, Robotech and Saint Seiya. I gave away everything. And I threw away others, because I knew no one would want them.
My car; I did not technically give it away by my own, but I don´t own a car anymore; my legs do the job for me to transporting. Fortunately, I live in a city where public transport is excellent and people don´t judge you by not having a car. Here I am not a poor little bastard by not owning a car. Even more, if I owned a car instead of bicycle, people would not see that with good eyes. Here in Copenhagen, even the Prime Minister of Denmark commutes by bicycle.
People; yup, I eliminated people that were bringing me down. I cut everyone´s head, figuratively speaking of course. I cut down like 60 people.
And in Facebook, from more than 2500 contacts, I was left only with 500.
I was called asshole, uppity, bad friend, traitor, etc. just because I eliminated all of those people (in Facebook as well as in real life). But curiously enough, now I feel great and I enjoy more the company of my real friends in berbecues and dinners.
(Of course, now that I think of it, whenever I arrive at a party, instead of shaking hands with everyone in the room, I only shake hands with no more than three people :) Now, whenever I throw a party at my home, instead of preparing food and drinks for 100 people, I do it for 20.)
I emptied every drawer in my home; cables, batteries, tools, old documents, toys, etc. I threw away everything.
I was a member of more than 15 social clubs or social communities; I announced almost everyone that I would be cutting commitments with them.
From more than 35 products and services that I would sell in my business, now I only sell 4. Curiously enough, I thought that I would work less, but that´s not the case; now I sell more, but also eliminated most of the processes of service delivery and operations.
¿Pictures? I did not throw away them, but I gave them to my mother for her to keep them.
I even eliminated 40% of what I eat per week; most of my friends know that I practice regularly intermittent fasting since 4 years. Now, instead of eating 4 or 5 times per day, I eat only once per day on certain days, and only what is necessary. Of curse, I drop many pounds and now I feel light.
Back in the days, physical activities would take almost all my calendar; Kung fu, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Don, Boxing, MMA, running, etc. Would I really need all of those activities? My beer belly would not dissapear, anyway. So I only started to dedicatemyself to MMA and normal weights. And curiously enough, the beer belly dissapeared.
My griller? I gave it away. My beer glasses collection and wine glasses? I gave them away. My wall paintings and ornaments? I gave them all.
What about my girls? Karen and Poleth? my mom takes care now of my two chihuahuas.
I even eliminated my need to drink that much. I started to question myself my need to drink that much. 20 beers in a single week? Thank God, old age reached me and now I can barely stand 4 beers or glasses of wine. Oh! yes, I quit smoking.
I gave away my treadmill. Why would I want them? I have everything I need in a 40 usd per month fitness center.
The day my family dropped me at the airport in order to travel to Denmark, my mom was surprised about the small size of my luggage. I explained her that in that bag was contained every single thing I owned in this world, and they fit perfectly.
The only thing I left in my old hometown were my guitars and musical instruments. I will take care of them in another time. But for now, the most important things that I have I´ve brough with me in the heart and my memory.
Ricardo Siller
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