Becker Minimalism Quotes

The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don't.

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.

Owning less is better than organizing more.

Don't just declutter, de-own.

Own less stuff. Enjoy more freedom. It really is that simple.

You don't need more space. You need less stuff.

Sometimes, minimizing possessions means a dream must die. But this is not always a bad thing. Sometimes, it takes giving up the person we wanted to be in order to fully appreciate the person we can actually become.

...minimalism in the service of others is a logical extension of the same ethos of selflessness.

Have the courage to build your life around what is really most important to you.

The goal of minimalism, let’s remember, is not just to own less stuff. The goal of minimalism is to unburden our lives so we can accomplish more.

In our overcrowded homes today, most possessions are not truly “belongings.” They are only distracting us from the things that do belong.

Be who you are, not who you wished to be.

Our excessive possessions are not making us happy. Even worse, they are taking us away from the things that do. Once we let go of the things that don't matter, we are free to pursue all the things that really do matter.

Minimalism isn't about removing the things you love. It's about removing the things that distract you from the things you love.

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts from it. It is a highly personal journey that forces us to identify and articulate our highest values. Because of that, it is always going to be practiced differently by each individual.

At its core, minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.

Minimalism isn’t about removing things you love. It’s about removing the things that distract you from the things you love. #minimalisthome

Not every possession is belonging.

The typical person saw over 5,000 advertisements yesterday telling them to buy something new. Here's 1 with the opposite message: Buy Less.

If you're not using the stuff in your home, get rid of it. You're not going to start using it more by shoving it in a closet somewhere.

The payoff isn’t just a clean house — it’s a more satisfying, more meaningful life. Minimalism is an indispensable key to the better life you’ve been searching for all along.

Minimalism isn’t about removing things you love. It’s about removing the things that distract you from the things you love.

How to Handle Gifts as a Minimalist. 1) Needs over wants 2) Quality over quantity 3) Experiences over possessions 4) Gift list as early as possible 5) Consumables over non consumables.

Sometimes, parting with our possessions means giving up an image that we have created in our mind of the person we would like to become. Sometimes, minimizing possessions means a dream must die.

Minimalism is about what it gives, not what it takes away. It’s the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them. It’s a new way of living that fills us with hope.

as your minimizing frees up resources you can share, go ahead and give them away with freedom and joy. Your heart will feel warmer. The world will be a better place. And you will discover you never even needed the stuff in the first place.

minimizing is actually optimizing—reducing the number of your possessions until you get to the best possible level for you and your family. It’s individual, freeing, and life promoting. It’s a makeover that you can do on your own, in your current house, just by getting rid of stuff.

Simplifying your life can be more than just removing physical belongings. If minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things that I most value, it is also about deciding what is most important in my life and removing the things that distract me from it. It is about removing the urgent for the sake of the important. Plain,

1)    The woman has intuitive feelings that she is at risk. 2)    At the inception of the relationship, the man accelerated the pace, prematurely placing on the agenda such things as commitment, living together, and marriage. 3)    He resolves conflict with intimidation, bullying, and violence. 4)    He is verbally abusive. 5)    He uses threats and intimidation as instruments of control or abuse. This includes threats to harm physically, to defame, to embarrass, to restrict freedom, to disclose secrets, to cut off support, to abandon, and to commit suicide. 6)    He breaks or strikes things in anger. He uses symbolic violence (tearing a wedding photo, marring a face in a photo, etc.). 7)    He has battered in prior relationships. 8)    He uses alcohol or drugs with adverse affects (memory loss, hostility, cruelty). 9)    He cites alcohol or drugs as an excuse or explanation for hostile or violent conduct (“That was the booze talking, not me; I got so drunk I was crazy”). 10)   His history includes police encounters for behavioral offenses (threats, stalking, assault, battery). 11)   There has been more than one incident of violent behavior (including vandalism, breaking things, throwing things). 12)   He uses money to control the activities, purchase, and behavior of his wife/partner. 13)   He becomes jealous of anyone or anything that takes her time away from the relationship; he keeps her on a “tight leash,” requires her to account for her time. 14)   He refuses to accept rejection. 15)   He expects the relationship to go on forever, perhaps using phrases like “together for life;” “always;” “no matter what.” 16)   He projects extreme emotions onto others (hate, love, jealousy, commitment) even when there is no evidence that would lead a reasonable person to perceive them. 17)   He minimizes incidents of abuse. 18)   He spends a disproportionate amount of time talking about his wife/partner and derives much of his identity from being her husband, lover, etc. 19)   He tries to enlist his wife’s friends or relatives in a campaign to keep or recover the relationship. 20)   He has inappropriately surveilled or followed his wife/partner. 21)   He believes others are out to get him. He believes that those around his wife/partner dislike him and encourage her to leave. 22)   He resists change and is described as inflexible, unwilling to compromise. 23)   He identifies with or compares himself to violent people in films, news stories, fiction, or history. He characterizes the violence of others as justified. 24)   He suffers mood swings or is sullen, angry, or depressed. 25)   He consistently blames others for problems of his own making; he refuses to take responsibility for the results of his actions. 26)   He refers to weapons as instruments of power, control, or revenge. 27)   Weapons are a substantial part of his persona; he has a gun or he talks about, jokes about, reads about, or collects weapons. 28)   He uses “male privilege” as a justification for his conduct (treats her like a servant, makes all the big decisions, acts like the “master of the house”). 29)   He experienced or witnessed violence as a child. 30)   His wife/partner fears he will injure or kill her. She has discussed this with others or has made plans to be carried out in the event of her death (e.g., designating someone to care for children).

Who knows what advantages you might find in a smaller home, even beyond what you were initially hoping for, after you move in? Maybe you'll be inspired to become a more creative person when you take up residence in a quaint older neighborhood and get out of that suburban tract where you can have a house of any color as long as it's beige. Maybe by putting your preadolescent kids in a bedroom together, they'll socialize better and develop closer bonds. Maybe you and your spouse will rediscover each other when you're actually spending time together instead of tag-teaming on chores.

Whatever your motivation for downsizing, you're going to love the benefits that come with this change. Let me highlight a few: 1. More money... in general a smaller home costs less to buy or rent and less to maintain. 2. Less time and energy spent cleaning and maintaining... 3. Better family bonding... A smaller home naturally brings family members into proximity, leading to their having more conversations and doing more things together. 4. Less environmental impact... using less energy and fewer natural resources. 5. Easier perpetuation of your minimalism... 6. Wider market to sell.

In your process of removing the unneeded excess, you’ll want to develop your own working definition of clutter. Early in our minimizing journey, my wife and I began to define clutter as (a) too much stuff in too small a space, (b) anything that we no longer used or loved, and (c) anything that led to a feeling of disorganization. Feel free to rip off that definition if you want. But there are other definitions you might find resonate better with your ideals. For example, Joshua Fields Millburn defines clutter as anything that does not “add value” to his life.1 Marie Kondo describes clutter as those things in her home that do not “spark joy.” 2 Peter Walsh goes even further, saying that clutter is anything that “interferes with the life you could be living.” 3 And William Morris says it this way: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” 4

Minimalism

Early in our minimizing journey, my wife and I began to define clutter as (a) too much stuff in too small a space, (b) anything that we no longer used or loved, and (c) anything that led to a feeling of disorganization.

Organizing has its place. But it’s not the same as minimizing. Think about it. Organizing our stuff (without removing the excess) is only a temporary solution. We have to repeat it over and over. As my fellow minimalist Courtney Carver puts it, “If organizing your stuff worked, wouldn’t you be done by now?” At its heart, organizing is simply rearranging. And though we may find storage solutions today, we will be forced to find new ones as early as tomorrow.

The goal of minimalism is not just to own less stuff. The goal is to unburden our lives so we can accomplish more.

Expect this stage [our storage, hobby, and play areas] of minimizing to stir up emotions and recall memories both sweet and bittersweet. You may encounter old photo albums whose pages you haven't turned in decades, mementos of celebrations long gone by, trophies you formerly sweated to win, personal objects you remember being in the possession of loved ones you've lost, the wedding dress you wore..., the stuffed bunny your daughter fell asleep clutching throughout infancy, and art supplies you once envisioned yourself creating beauty with. The experience at times may warm your heart and at times may fill you with sensations of regret, loss, or failure. Don't back away from these emotions. Work your way through them. This might be just the opportunity you need to process the past and position yourself better for the future.

Today I'm a better follower of Jesus because I understand how much my heart used to be tied to the things of this world and because now I am freed up to cultivate my relationship with Him.

Not everyone has, needs, or wants a yard. But if you've got one, then you know that it, just like your house, can contribute to the feelings of clutter, mess, and distraction you feel. On the other hand, if you minimize it well, you can turn it into a space that creates the context for a peaceful, orderly, and lovely place to live.

It's a completely different feeling when I return from work now. There are practical benefits: finding things quickly, being able to walk around the car without squeezing against boxes, and feeling less anxiety about the garage that I knew needed to be cleaned. But the benefits go beyond that. My minimized garage helps me to feel more in control of my life.

Minimizing your garage and yard is likely going to be hard work for you. But at the same time it is going to be rewarding because the yard is on display for you (along with everyone else in the neighborhood as well as your guests) to see, and the garage is probably the first place you encounter when you come home.

Minimize your kids' playtime possessions and you may find that they become less selfish and less materialistic, cherish more and take better care of the toys they do have, and have more time for reading, writing, art, and imaginative play. They might spend more time with real live human beings. They might even go outdoors!

... at the same time that getting rid of these reminders of a former or failed avocation will declutter your house, it will most likely help you move on from the past and be ready for new and more rewarding pursuits in the future.

When you've got your devices down to the ideal number, use these tips to minimize them and prevent distractions: - Remove as many icons from your desktop as possible. - Uninstall software you don't need. - Delete unneeded files from your Documents folder. (If you don't want to delete them completely, at least move them to an archive folder so they don't clutter your most-used folder anymore.) - Develop a simple but logical folder structure so that you can find documents you want easily. - Unsubscribe to blogs, email newsletters, and advertisements that no longer serve your interests. - Delete internet bookmarks, cookies, and temporary internet files you no longer need. - Delete apps you don't need, remembering that if you need them later, you can always download them again. Put only your most crucial apps (such as your calendar and your phone) on your home screen. Put the rest in folders on your second screen. - Turn off notifications, including social media push notifications and email audio alerts. - Make sure your spam filters are working. - Delete photos that are of poor quality or that you don't need. - Delete unused music and movies. - Subscribe to a password manager so that you don't have to keep track of a bunch of passwords.

Does the memory associated with an object cause you to smile? Your reaction may show you that you need the object, not for utilitarian purposes, but for purposes of the heart. But then again it may not. Maybe all you need is this one last moment to savor the nostalgic charm that the object inspires. Your life has moved on- maybe it's time for the object to do the same. Remember, just because something made you happy in the past doesn't mean you have to keep it forever.

Maybe the life you’ve always wanted is buried under everything you own. —Joshua Becker

Minimalism isn’t just about less—it’s about making room for more: more passion, more purpose—more life.

MINIMALISM: the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them

There may be times when competition is appropriate, but life is not one of them. We have all been thrown together at this exact moment on this planet. And the sooner we stop competing against others to "win," the faster we can start working together to figure it out. The first and most important step in overcoming the habit of competition is to routinely appreciate and compliment the contribution of others.

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts from it.

minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it.

A minimizing accelerator: removing duplicates

When you think about it, the living and family rooms are the most public places in your private home, aren't they? Here is where you can get together with all the loved ones you live with. Here is where you invite your friends to sit down with you and talk, or have tea, or watch the Super Bowl on television. If you host a club or a church or neighborhood group, it's likely you'll be gathering in one of these rooms. These are your "us" rooms. So minimizing in these rooms immediately starts helping you not only to enjoy the benefits of minimizing yourself but also to share them with others.

For the most part, these items in storage aren't consumables. They're durable goods that we don't use or even look at very often- and that's a clue right there that many of them are candidates for minimizing.

Before minimizing your home office, clarify in your own mind how you want it to work. Are you running a business out of there? Is it just for processing the household accounts? Do you want it to be inspirational, encouraging creativity and dreaming, or would you rather keep it sparse and utilitarian? Is it a retreat where you like to read a book or sip a drink- more of a den than a mere office? Is it for the whole family or just the parents?

Expect minimizing your storage spaces to take time. These spaces are filled with items that took years to accumulate, so it will take more than one day to get through it all. For me, it was a multiweek process to minimize our basement in my spare time. Set a realistic schedule for yourself.

How do you decide which [books] to keep and which to give away? ...Four categories for your books, regardless of which room you keep them in: - Books you own but have never read and don't realistically expect to read. Don't hold on to them for "someday". Donate them today. - Books you have read but will never go back to. Donate these too. - Books that you have read and that have become influential in your life. Keep them... - Books you have already read and know you will want to return to. Of course, keep these. Shelves looking better now?

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it.” —Joshua Becker

Minimizing Checklist How will you know when you’ve cleared out enough clutter and excess from your living room and family room or great room? Ask yourself these questions: ☐ Is this space calming? Does it reduce stress? ☐ Does this space encourage conversation? ☐ Is this space inviting to my family? To my friends? ☐ Is this space easy to maintain? ☐ Does this space highlight what is important to our family? ☐ Does this space encourage my family to live life to the fullest? ☐ Does this space promote our family’s values?

Let your regret about how much you have to throw away reinforce your determination not to buy so much in the future.

I was sitting in a Colorado radio studio in the middle of recording an interview when the interviewer said he wanted to play an audio clip for me. I was stunned to hear my daughter’s voice coming over the speakers. She was responding to a question about how her father’s passion for minimalism had influenced her life. “I learned that I don’t need as much stuff as I think I do,” then-eleven-year-old Alexa said. “Because you think you need all this stuff, but you don’t actually end up using most of it.

Those who experience the greatest joy are the ones who seek to implement wise and healthy habits in all aspects of their being. Because when they do, they are equipped to accomplish more with their lives than they ever imagined. And accomplishing things with our lives is what minimalism is all about. I’ve said it from the beginning: minimalism frees us up to pursue big dreams in our lives.

life is about choices, but some choices are more valuable than others. Some things matter more. Some things matter less. There is greater life available for those who recognize the difference. And there are some endeavors worth sacrificing everything for. This principle lies at the very foundation of minimalism. There are more valuable pursuits available to us than the purchase and accumulation of material possessions. And when we begin to recognize these opportunities, removing every distraction that’s keeping us from them doesn’t feel like sacrifice. It feels like the smartest thing we could do with our lives right now.

Minimalism, as I’m referring to it, is not about taking something away from you; it’s about giving something to you. My definition of minimalism is “the intentional promotion of things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.

Quick reminder for Amazon Prime Day: If you didn’t need to buy it at full price, you don’t need to buy it on sale.

Minimizing forces us to confront our stuff, and our stuff forces us to confront ourselves.

Today is the day you rid yourself of anything that distracts from your best life.

Every time someone tells me, "I could never be a minimalist." I think to myself, "But you are already are." Because everybody is minimizing something. If you're not minimizing your possessions, you are minimizing your money, time, and potential.

If you need nice things to impress your friends, you have the wrong friends.

Picture your dream home. I bet it’s not filled with clutter.

It's better to have extra time on your hands and extra money in your pocket than extra stuff in your closet.

One underappreciated benefit of minimalism is the ability to walk confidently through your bedroom with the lights off.

Mark Bittman is the New York Times’s “minimalist cook” and author, whose books include: How to Cook Everything, The VB6 Cookbook, and The Food Matters Cookbook. Bittman says you can do virtually all the cooking you need to with just these cooking supplies. 6 Use this list as your guide when minimizing your kitchen: eight-inch, plastic-handle stainless alloy chef’s knife instant-read thermometer three stainless steel bowls sturdy pair of tongs sturdy sheet pan plastic cutting board paring knife can opener vegetable peeler colander small, medium, and large cast-aluminum saucepans medium nonstick cast-aluminum pan large steep-sided, heavier-duty steel pan skimmer slotted spoon heat-resistant rubber spatula bread knife big whisk food processor salad spinner Microplane grater coffee and spice grinder blender knife sharpener

Minimalism isn't about owning less than you need. It's about owning exactly what you need.

If you want to accomplish the most good for the most amount of people, own less stuff.

Society says you need lots of stuff to be happy. They are wrong.

Time spent minimizing possessions is never wasted.

The minimalism that works for us is almost certainly going to look different than the minimalism that works for you.

I have seen countless lives radically changed by the simple notion that we don’t need to own nearly as much stuff as we think we need.

Minimalism is not necessarily the same as frugality. It is a philosophy recognizing that owning more stuff is not better; owning better stuff is better.

Because the best things in life aren't things

Simplifying your life can be more than just removing physical belongings. If minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things that I most value, it is also about deciding what is most important in my life and removing the things that distract me from it. It is about removing the urgent for the sake of the important.

Minimalism is not that you should own nothing. But that nothing should own you. Joshua Becker, The More of Less

What are your purposes for your home? What are your purposes for your life after you’ve minimized your home?

My definition of minimalism is “the intentional promotion of things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.” As I sometimes like to say, minimizing is actually optimizing—reducing the number of your possessions until you get to the best possible level for you and your family. It’s individual, freeing, and life promoting. It’s a makeover that you can do on your own, in your current house, just by getting rid of stuff.

We minimize not out of guilt but because of our goals. It's a positive process.

As a result of my experience on that summer day as well as similar experiences I’ve seen repeated many times, I have some advice for you: If you’re getting rid of things to simplify your lifestyle, don’t try selling them. It’s not worth the trouble. Selling everything brings extra burden and stress to the minimizing process.

1) The woman has intuitive feelings that she is at risk. 2)    At the inception of the relationship, the man accelerated the pace, prematurely placing on the agenda such things as commitment, living together, and marriage. 3) He resolves conflict with intimidation, bullying, and violence. 4) He is verbally abusive. 5)    He uses threats and intimidation as instruments of control or abuse. This includes threats to harm physically, to defame, to embarrass, to restrict freedom, to disclose secrets, to cut off support, to abandon, and to commit suicide. 6)    He breaks or strikes things in anger. He uses symbolic violence (tearing a wedding photo, marring a face in a photo, etc.). 7) He has battered in prior relationships. 8)    He uses alcohol or drugs with adverse affects (memory loss, hostility, cruelty). 9)    He cites alcohol or drugs as an excuse or explanation for hostile or violent conduct (“That was the booze talking, not me; I got so drunk I was crazy”). 10)   His history includes police encounters for behavioral offenses (threats, stalking, assault, battery). 11)   There has been more than one incident of violent behavior (including vandalism, breaking things, throwing things). 12)   He uses money to control the activities, purchase, and behavior of his wife/partner. 13)   He becomes jealous of anyone or anything that takes her time away from the relationship; he keeps her on a “tight leash,” requires her to account for her time. 14) He refuses to accept rejection. 15)   He expects the relationship to go on forever, perhaps using phrases like “together for life;” “always;” “no matter what.” 16)   He projects extreme emotions onto others (hate, love, jealousy, commitment) even when there is no evidence that would lead a reasonable person to perceive them. 17) He minimizes incidents of abuse. 18)   He spends a disproportionate amount of time talking about his wife/partner and derives much of his identity from being her husband, lover, etc. 19)   He tries to enlist his wife’s friends or relatives in a campaign to keep or recover the relationship.

The Becker Method Have goals for your home and your life in mind as you start minimizing. Try to make it a family project, if you live with family members. Be methodical: Start minimizing with easier spaces in the home and then move on to harder ones. Handle each object and ask yourself, Do I need this? For each object, decide if you’re going to relocate it within the home, leave it where it is, or remove it. If you’re going to remove it, decide if you’re going to sell it, donate it, trash it, or recycle it. Finish each space completely before proceeding to the next. Don’t quit until the whole house is done. As much as you can, have fun with the process. Notice and articulate the benefits that appear along the way. And celebrate your successes. When you’re done, revisit and revise your goals, aiming to make the most of your newly minimized home and newly optimized life.

Some initial de-owning and de-cluttering decisions are easy to make, but before long we realize that we’re not sure what we want to keep until we know what we want to be doing with our time. And so minimalism becomes a lens through which we see the world and ourselves.

Minimalism is freedom from the passion to possess. Modern society has bought into the lie that the good life is found in accumulating things--in possessing as much as possible. They believe more is always better and have inadvertently subscribed tot he idea that happiness can be purchased at a department store. But they are wrong. Minimalist brings freedom from the all-consuming passion to possess. It steps off the treadmill of consumerism and dares to seek happiness elsewhere. It values freedom do disengage. It seeks to remove the frivolous and keep the significant. And in doing so, it values the intentional endeavors that add value to life.

Minimalism is countercultural. We live in a world that idolizes celebrities. They are photographed for magazines, interviewed on the radio, and recorded for television. Their lives are held up as the gold standard and are envied by many. People who live minimalist lives are not championed by the media in the same way. They don't fit into the consumerist culture promoted by the corporations and politicians. Yet, they live a life that is attractive and inviting. While most people are chasing after success, glamour, and fame, minimalism calls out to us with a smaller, quieter, calmer voice. It invites us to slow down, consume less, but enjoy more. And when we meet someone living a simplified life we often recognize we have the chasing the wrong things all along.