瑞安·米切爾　王慧儀/譯

Minimalism can take many forms; the important part is to figure out your flavor of minimalism and optimize your life towards your ideal life. To get started with a more minimalist lifestyle， you might want to consider a few different approaches.

極簡主義可以有多種形式；重要的是弄清自己的極簡風格，優(yōu)化自己的生活，以過上理想的日子。想開始一種更簡單的生活，你可能要考慮一些不同的做法。

Try decluttering your possessions

試著清理物品

To live a simple lifestyle， youll need a simple living space. Take some time to declutter your living area. Focus on keeping things that you value deeply， and toss things that you dont need any longer.

要過一種簡單的生活，就需要一個簡單的生活空間?；ㄐr間去清理自己的生活空間。只保留那些你真正看重的東西，扔掉那些你不再需要的。

I like to complete the decluttering process in sweeps; get rid of anything that you know you no longer use. Take a few weeks to live without those things， and notice if the things youve kept are serving you.

我喜歡分批次完成清理。處理掉自己知道不會再用的所有東西。過幾周沒有這些東西的日子，注意留下的東西是否有用。

Question everything about your lifestyle

質疑生活方式的方方面面

The best skill you can hone in your life is the ability to take a step back and look at things objectively. As humans， we have blind spots into things in our lives that hold us back. It could be a toxic relationship， it could be not holding ourselves accountable when we should have stepped up， its the million little things that bother us as we go about our day. Any time I realize I just got used to something or hear “thats just how weve always done it”， I start to ask questions.

你在生活中能磨煉出的最好技能就是做到退一步客觀看待事物。作為人，面對生活中阻礙我們前行的事物，我們會有盲點。可能是一段有害的關系，可能是該自己負責時沒有采取行動，可能是每天煩惱的無數(shù)小事。每當我意識到我只是習慣了一些事，或是聽到“我們一直以來都是這么做的”，我就會開始質疑。

I found that me fixing small little things in my life that bothered me was a game changer for me. I had a whisk that Id make eggs with every morning， but I hated it because the handle was so uncomfortable. Its such a little thing to be bothered by， so I just put up with it. Then one day I realized every day Id pick up that whisk and it bothered me and said aloud “Whisks are like $5， why am I putting up with this！”.

我發(fā)現(xiàn)，解決生活中困擾我的小事，對我來說相當于改變游戲規(guī)則。我有一個打蛋器，每天早上都用它打蛋，但我不喜歡用，因為手柄握起來很不舒服。這件事微不足道，我也就忍了下來。后來有一天我意識到，我每天都會用那個打蛋器，每次都會感到困擾，于是我大聲告訴自己：“換個打蛋器不過五美元的事，干嘛要忍呢！”

Stay mindful and live with intention

保持思考，生活有目標

Minimalists live intentionally. If there is something in your life that you dont love， change it！ I like to think about what my ideal life looks like， and then work towards that. Cutting out the things that arent serving you is the first step to creating the life that you want. An exercise that helps me is to write down what an ideal day would look like for you in five years time. Then outline what things you want more of in your life and what things you want less of in your life. With that in hand， you have a goal post to work towards as a goal.

極簡主義者生活有目標。如果生活中有自己不喜歡的東西，那就去改變！我喜歡思考我的理想生活是什么樣子，然后為之努力。去除那些無助于你的東西，這是實現(xiàn)理想生活的第一步。有個練習對我很有幫助，那就是寫下五年后你理想生活的一天會是什么樣子。然后列出你生活中想要增加及減少的東西。有了這些，你就有了一個可以為之努力的目標。

Consider your lifestyle around relationships

針對人際關系思考生活方式

Going minimalist to me meant that I was spending time with only the people I wanted to spend time with. Though I have many friends， only a few of them are people who motivate and inspire me to grow and learn. I evaluate my relationships on how well they fit into my future ideal life and focus there.

對我來說，極簡生活意味著我只和我愿意花時間的人相處。雖然我朋友很多，但只有少數(shù)能激勵和啟發(fā)我成長學習。我會評估自己的人際關系，看看是否符合我未來的理想生活，并專注于此。

To me， becoming minimalist meant focusing my social time on people who lifted me up. This way， I was maximizing my social time on people that mattered and freeing up time to spend on other priorities in my life.

成為極簡主義者，對我來說意味著將社交時間集中于那些使我振作的人。這樣一來，我的社交時間最大限度集中于那些我在意的人，騰出了時間處理生活中其他優(yōu)先事項。

Doubling down on debt free living

努力堅持無債一身輕

A huge part of minimalism is creating financial freedom and the number one enemy of freedom is having debt. Throughout my journey working hard to get debt free has made almost everything else in my life better. If I didnt like a job， I had the money to find a new one. If the economy tanked， living below my means made it easier. If I had a big bill come up unexpectedly， I had the cash in the bank.

極簡主義很重要的一點就是實現(xiàn)財務自由，而財務自由的頭號敵人就是負債。在我的人生中，我一直努力做到無債一身輕，這使我生活中幾乎所有事情都變得更好。如果不喜歡這份工作，我有余錢支撐另找一份。如果經(jīng)濟不景氣，我量入為出就能度過難關。如果突發(fā)意外急需大筆用錢，我有銀行存款可取。

The security it brings， the peace of mind you have and the ability to weather the worst life can throw at you is a blessing of the highest level. It also allowed me to be very picky about what jobs I took， how I spent my time， where I lived and the life I live.

這么做獲得的安全感、獲得的平和心態(tài)，以及應對生活中可能出現(xiàn)的最壞情況的能力，是最大的福氣。拜其所賜，我還能十分挑剔地選擇工作、選擇如何度日、選擇住在哪里，以及選擇想要的生活。

Take time for introspection

花時間自省

One of the best “investments” Ive made in my life is to take time alone for introspection， which is just you sitting with your own thoughts to analyze your thoughts and emotions. In a world where we are so “busy” I think people are terrified to spend time with our own thoughts because theyd come face to face with some uncomfortable truths.

我生活中最好的“投資”之一就是花時間獨處自省，和自己的思想列席而坐，分析自己的想法和情緒。在一個人人都如此“忙碌”的世界，我想人們害怕花時間去面對自己的想法，因為那會讓他們直面一些不愉快的事實。

The biggest thing is to just make space to think. So put your phone on silent in the other room， turn off the TV and block out distractions and just sit with your thoughts. Youre going to feel a lot of internal resistance to this， but pushing through to the other side is where the magic happens. Ask big open-ended questions and dont judge the answers that come.

最重要的是騰出空間來思考。因此，把手機靜音放到另一個房間，關掉電視，屏蔽干擾，就這樣獨自思考。你會感受到許多內(nèi)在的阻力，但撐過去就會有奇跡發(fā)生。問一些開放式的大問題，不要評判得出的答案。