Eliminating the Non-Essentials in Life

The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” – Lin Yutang

There are many ways in which we can discover waste in our lives. The first most obvious way of seeking waste is through our material possessions. Often times, people hold onto tons of junk or clutter that end up consuming so much space. When you hold onto clutter, your mind can also be filled with clutter, having to take extra inventory of what is in front of you. So the best thing to do is to find a way to eliminate material possessions that we no longer use or desire to use.

Another example of a non-essential is a time-wasting activity. For example, smoking can be considered a time-waster, and a health hazard as well. Why waste your time smoking a cigarette when you could be doing something more fun or more productive? It’s a no-brainer to eliminate such habits and to replace them with more worthy time-consumers.

Just imagine how much extra mental clarity you would have if you lived in a clutter-free home. You would feel more relaxed and more at ease. Your eyes would have an easier time taking in the environment that you’ve created for yourself. A daily 5-minute clean up habit might be a good way to kickstart creating your clutter-free space.

One way to identify non-essentials is to track your time throughout the day. Keep note of everything you do in a single day (or even a single week if you’re that dedicated). Start off by writing the time, then how many minutes you spent on a certain activity and write that activity down. For example, you may spend 15 minutes in the bathroom, 12 minutes of which were actually you on your smartphone watching a YouTube video. Or you might spend 1 hour on Facebook at another time. It’s a good way of tracking non-essential tasks and trying to find more ways to make that time more meaningful throughout the day.

Reclaim your precious time and space! Let’s not live another life of waste.

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