Struggling with motivation? Try minimalism.

I don't just mean Marie Kondo-ing your apartment...

If you’re like me you’ve probably already heard of minimalism and are all caught up on Marie Kondo’s latest recommendations.

I’ve listened to countless podcasts, and still do…(hello Millennial Minimalists...) and found a ton of useful advice on how to declutter anything that doesn’t spark joy or that I don’t see fitting into my ideal life.

But once you’ve curated your closet to perfection and still find yourself feeling overwhelmed and dueling with distraction, panic sets in. What now? I did everything I was supposed to, right?!

The real change happened for me when I applied minimalism not only to my physical space, but also to my mental space.

Part of this builds on a book I came across and listened to called Essentialism. I just started saying no. No, I can’t hang out or do dinner that day. I can’t volunteer at work. I can’t sign up for any new classes or hobbies. By (somewhat ruthlessly) filtering everything out from my schedule, I got to determine what I really missed and slowly add it back in.

Basically, it’s an elimination diet for your schedule. This was a total lightbulb moment for me.

All that being said, when you start to edit your schedule this way, it’s important to let your friends, family, and even employer know. You don’t have to tell them you’re doing an elimination diet for your schedule. In fact, I think that would sound really weird and advise against it. I recommend something more along the lines of:

I do not believe I can commit to x right now. I would love to revisit this in the future, but at this time cannot give it the attention it deserves and do not want to compromise the quality of my work/being fully present.

Obviously, adjust this for whatever you’re saying “no” to to make it make sense and not come off totally robotic if your friend just asked you to grab a coffee.

If you know someone struggling to do it all, help them out:

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