The first step: Know your style

Just as you need to know your destination before beginning a successful journey, you need to know your personal style before you start making style choices. This is the single most important step in any strategy. Knowing your style will keep you focused and guide your decisions so you don’t end up with a mass of souvenirs in various styles. Detours may be interesting but they don’t always contribute to your end goal. When the end is clear, it will be easier to make goals, as well as to say no to anything that doesn’t fit.

Doing it minimalist

When defining your style, remember the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. There’s no need for a colour-coded filing system, fancy spreadsheets or a stack of new books and magazines (electronic copies count too!). Exercise your little grey cells and use what you have. Borrow if you need to. This is about discovery and analysis. The wise minimalist invests time and energy on thinking.

How to start

Like most good things, there is no one way. It depends on your learning style… which is a bit Catch-22, I know. Just start with whatever seems easiest. You could read a book, take a quiz, hire a coach, join a forum or make a collage. The process depends on you. The main idea is to analyse what lights you up and simplify it down to the bare minimum that still does it for you. Your style expresses the real you to the world.

Here are a few points to get your thinking started.

• What’s your definition of minimalism?  What would your ideal minimalist life look like?
• Who do you admire? What do you admire about them?
• Picture your ideal life. Consider your career, physical environment, finances, health, looks, personal growth & development, fun & recreation and relationships.
• What are you drawn to? Consider music, art, films, colours, textures, people, places and books.

Bon voyage!