The Minimalism Challenge

The Minimalism Challenge

52 Small Changes and Good Habits That Will Simplify Your Life in a Year

Streamline Your Life Series Book #1

A. Edmond

Minimalism Co, Oct 2018

241 pages

Self-help

Purchased for Kindle app

⭐⭐⭐

The cover is minimal, which fits the theme of the book, but is totally not eye-catching or appealing. Sorry, but that’s a star.

Minimalism is the latest big trend. The book is broken down into 12 themes, as in 12 months, then into 4 weeks to work on each theme. The themes are your life, desires, work, finances, spaces, relationships, health, mindset, schedule, tasks, taste, and happiness. I simply sat down and read the book. It was not the book to simply read. This is really a workbook to literally work with. Somewhere in my mind, there is a memory of an actual workbook to accompany this book, but I may be wrong. If not, then a notebook would be a good idea. There are things you need to do, exercises to do, lists to make, ideas to make note of. This is not just a book to read and set aside. If you are going to bother with this book, then you need to be prepared to work with it. To think about what it is telling you and think about the changes it is encouraging you to make and how much change you want to make or if you want to make any changes.

I found parts of this book totally boring because they were themes I wasn’t interested in doing anything with. Other parts of it were much more interesting as they appealed to me personally. As for changing, I’m not sure I’m meant to be a total minimalist. I do want to declutter my spaces and live with less, and I want to simplify my life some, but not as totally as this might indicate I should. For me, a lot of this was wasted. But for someone who is looking to really overhaul their busy, congested life and home, this book might be a place to start. It would help you to see where the worst congestion is and map a way through or around such problems, a way to eliminate such areas in your life and not reacquire them in the future. This book deals with every aspect of your life from your health and what you think, to your work, home and finances, to your friends and family, the way you make decisions and deal with disruptions. It attempts to help you style a whole new way to deal with your total life if what you want is a totally minimalistic life.

“The challenge is not just about inspiration but motivation. You won’t just think, you will act. You will de-stress, declutter, deprogram self-limiting thoughts, and eliminate distractions.”

I personally like a little clutter in my life. I recommend that you check this out for its definition of minimalism and see if it fits what you are looking for, or what you think you may be looking for. If it does, I think this might be a good way to achieve such a thing. But beware of how much you strip from your life. Some things once discarded can’t be reacquired and you may find your life a little bare. Recommended with reservations.