REVIEW OF THE BOOK "THE ART OF PURSUING MINIMALISM"

If you search for Danshari, the minimalist lifestyle originating from Japan, you'll find apartments that often only have one chair, an empty kitchen counter with a few dishes, a few essential clothes, etc., in short, very few belongings, and those that are truly necessary. The purpose of this increasingly popular lifestyle is to free people from obsessions with material possessions. So why has Danshari become so popular and helped those who pursue it to have a happier life?

In the book "The Art of Pursuing Minimalism," author Greg McKeown presents a system from thinking to acting of a minimalist. Danshari is an expression of this philosophy, but this book will give you much more about minimalism—minimalism in thinking, in choices, in decision-making, and how to achieve success and happiness through minimalism.

Why is minimalism necessary?

“Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Have you ever felt that you work extremely hard but are not appreciated? Have you ever found yourself focusing only on trivial matters? Have you ever felt constantly busy but ineffective? Like you're always moving but not getting anywhere?”

Greg tells many stories of people who answered “Yes” to these questions, from ordinary employees to leaders of large companies, especially the latter group. They are slaves to their phones, piles of paperwork, meaningless weekly meetings, appointments they know will lead nowhere… In short, their commonality is that they constantly try, work more and more, but still can't make any progress. Worst of all, they don't feel happy because they no longer have time for the things that truly matter in life and time for themselves.

In German, the three words “Weniger aber besser” mean “less is more.” This is also the motto of minimalists, pursuing “less is more,” but not rigidly, but with discipline. Minimalism means focusing only on what is important and discarding what is unnecessary.

“Half of life’s troubles can arise from agreeing too quickly and not refusing early enough,” Josh Billings.

The opposite of minimalism is perfectionism. Perfectionists consider everything important and think, "I can do it all." In fact, the more successful people become, the more likely they are to fall into perfectionism, what the author calls the "Paradox of Success." The author also points out factors that lead people towards perfectionism:

Too many choices: Our lives are presented with too many choices, from what to eat for lunch to what to wear. When faced with too many choices, we gradually lose the ability to select what is important and what is not, and the quality of our decisions deteriorates. Psychologists call this decision fatigue.

Too much social pressure: In this era, interaction and connection between individuals in society help remove barriers and make it easier for people to share their opinions. This has inadvertently created an overload of viewpoints and put social pressure on each individual's decisions.

The "I can have it all" mindset: This is a very common mindset, evidenced by people trying to learn as many skills as possible in every field, and job descriptions listing a long list of requirements from employers. This isn't necessarily bad and is even reasonable in some cases, but if not careful, it can lead to a mindset of trying to do everything and cause perfectionism.

The author summarizes the behavior of a perfectionist as "pursuing more in an unprincipled way." In contrast, minimalists address these issues by being more selective about opportunities, taking more time to evaluate and prioritizing before making decisions. Minimalists “pursue less in a principled way.” Perfectionists allocate their limited energy in many directions, but only advance 1 millimeter in each direction. Minimalists, with the same energy—not diminished—focus on their priorities and make far greater progress.

What is the core philosophy of a minimalist?

“There are three extremely extreme assumptions we need to overcome to live a minimalist life: ‘I must,’ ‘It’s important,’ and ‘I can do both.’ Minimalism requires us to replace those assumptions with three essential realities: ‘I choose to do,’ ‘Only a few things truly matter,’ and ‘I can do anything but not everything.’”

First, let’s explore the minimalist approach. In the book, the author points out three practices that minimalists have used to shape their lifestyle: choice, the prevalence of excess data, and the reality of compromise.

Choice

“The ability to choose cannot be lost or given away, but it can be forgotten.” You find it difficult to refuse requests from relatives; you agree when they ask for help as long as you are able, and gradually, you forget that you can choose to refuse unnecessary things. After such a process, you only focus on your ability to do something and forget about your ability to choose.

Awareness: It's Not Necessary to Do Everything

From a young age, we've been taught that hard work is the key to success. But how hard should we be? Is there a limit to hard work, or should we work until we're exhausted? According to the Pareto principle introduced by Vilfredo Pareto in the 1970s, only 20% of our efforts produce 80% of the results. Therefore, success doesn't simply come from hard work, but from hard work done correctly, with principles and strategy.

We live in a world where most things are insignificant, and only a few things matter. Distinguishing between "many small things" and "a few important things" is crucial in your endeavors, because if you only try to do more and more, at some point you'll reach a state of saturation or even stagnation.

That's why minimalists spend more time learning about the opportunities they have. They understand that some opportunities are more important than others, some opportunities where putting effort into them will yield far better results than trying to do everything. In short, minimalists learn more so they can do less and contribute more.

The Compromise: Which work do I want to do?

Why do we find it so difficult to make choices? The reality is, accepting one opportunity often means rejecting others. Sometimes you might not reject any opportunity, but you can't do them all well because, in the end, you'll get stuck like a perfectionist, unsure of what's important and needs prioritizing, feeling exhausted and overwhelmed.

“It’s easy to see why people don’t accept trade-offs. By definition, a trade-off involves two things we want. Do you want more money or more time to rest? Do you want to finish answering emails or arrive at a meeting on time? Do you want to do things faster or better? Obviously, when faced with a choice, we want to achieve both. But no matter how perfectionistic we are, we can’t have both.”

Minimalists view trade-offs as an inevitable and positive aspect of life. They make trade-offs proactively by choosing what is important and accepting the loss of others. Minimalists take trade-offs seriously and strategically.

Returning to the Danshari lifestyle, which involves minimizing material possessions around us, to follow this lifestyle, we must choose what is essential and what is not, accepting the loss of (many) familiar but unnecessary items. Thus, those who follow the Danshari lifestyle are people who have the ability to choose, knowing that only a few things are truly important amidst countless trivialities, and accepting the reality of trade-offs, letting go of those trivial things. These are also the core principles of minimalism.

How do we distinguish the most important things from the multitude of trivialities?

“In Part II, we will discuss five practices to discover what is essential. You might be so captivated by the allure of minimalism that you might overlook or only skim this step. However, this is the most crucial step. To recognize what is truly essential, we need space to think, time to observe and listen, permission to play, clarity to rest, and principles to apply high standards to our choices.”

Conversely, in perfectionist cultures, things like rest, recreation, and quiet space for reflection are overlooked and considered a waste of time. These issues are crucial for discerning what is essential among the trivialities for a minimalist.

The Way Out: The Benefits of Not Working

There is a paradox:

“As things move faster and people become busier, we need to set aside time in our schedules to think. And as things get noisier, we need quiet places where we can truly concentrate.”

Not working might sound negative, associating it with laziness and self-indulgence. But not working actually creates space in our lives: space for creativity, space for concentration, space for reading. Actively creating space in a busy life helps people shift from a state of passively receiving and processing problems to a state of actively thinking, strategizing, and deciding what to do.

Seeing: seeing what is truly necessary

An important aspect of minimalism is knowing how to observe and listen. The author emphasizes that we need to look at the big picture, delve into reality, select what is interesting, and keep our eyes wide open to discover the unusual, like a journalist:

“In all things, the fundamentals are always hidden within. And a good journalist knows that to find them, one must investigate the information and point out the relationships between them… The best journalists do not simply transmit information; their value lies in discovering what is important to people.”

Entertainment: Unleashing the Wisdom of Your Inner Child

“At Google headquarters, you might bump into a giant dinosaur outside covered in flamingos. At Pixar, the artists’ offices can be decorated to resemble anything from an old-fashioned Western saloon to a wooden shack (what fascinated me most when I visited was an office with thousands of miniature Star Wars characters neatly arranged from floor to ceiling).”

If entertainment and leisure are considered a waste of time and the enemy of productivity, what makes these places that gather creative minds allow it? Hopefully, no one will use the author's arguments to justify laziness, because even for minimalists, entertainment is taken seriously and systematically; they understand the importance of leisure, not just reckless fun.

Sleep: Protecting a Precious Asset

Successful people hardly sleep? If you're familiar with this saying, or are following this principle, then take the time to learn about our sleep.

The greatest asset we can offer is ourselves. But some people, especially ambitious and successful ones, are destroying this precious asset by neglecting sleep. Clearly, countless scientific studies show that lack of sleep reduces our productivity and intelligence, so why do some people still consider sleeping a waste of working time?

Choice: The Power of Rigorous Standards

Having a rigorous standard is key to making optimal choices. The author calls this the 90% Rule: If something is only just good or nearly good, the answer should be "No." Think about the most important criterion when choosing, evaluating opportunities on a scale of 0 to 100. If the score is lower than 90, meaning it's only near good, consider it a 0 and reject it.

This can be difficult when you're just starting out (because it's "strict"), but the author has pointed out the benefits and logic of this principle. Like other minimalist skills, it requires you to act in a calculated, not intuitive, way.

Do the elimination work in a principled way.

After identifying what is unnecessary, how do we eliminate it? More importantly, you will have to learn how to do it in a way that earns you the respect of those around you.

Clarification: One decision leads to a thousand others.

You've probably heard about the importance of setting a clear purpose. A specific and inspiring goal will motivate you throughout the process. More importantly, it helps you eliminate activities that are close to what you want (the 90% rule), focus your energy on a few truly important activities, and avoid being overwhelmed.

Dare to face: The power of a polite "No."

Now you know the importance of focusing on what matters, but doing so isn't easy. You need the courage to say "No." A polite refusal when necessary will earn you more respect from others. This section of the book will show you the necessary skills to say no.

No Binding: Winning by Cutting Losses

People are trapped in traps created by their own psychology. These psychological traps are incredibly difficult to escape, even for the smartest people. You waited too long for the bus but continued waiting even though you could have chosen another mode of transport; you tried to watch a terrible movie because you paid for the ticket. This is the "Cost Propensity": you continue to strive for something even though you're not sure it will yield results, simply because you've already invested too much in it. This book will point out the vicious cycles of human psychology that hinder us from making sound decisions and how to escape these traps.

Editing: The Invisible Art

Cutting out the unimportant things in your life is like the work of an editor: dedicating time and effort to selecting and creating only the most valuable films and books. This is difficult because sometimes you can't bring yourself to let go, as Stephen King said: "Kill what you love, kill it, even if it breaks your selfish heart."

Limits: Freedom to Create Limits

You've probably heard the saying, "Discipline is freedom," right? For perfectionists, setting boundaries is a hindering and weak act; they believe no boundaries can hold them back, ultimately struggling with too many things. In contrast, minimalists see boundaries as a power. Limits allow them to proactively eliminate distractions that interfere with their strategy of focusing on what matters most. Limits allow them the freedom to choose what is necessary for themselves.

"We should help, love, and make a difference in the lives of others. When others turn their problems into our problems, we are not helping them, but letting them do so."

Focus on the Few Things That Matter

If we've eliminated the minor, unimportant issues, how do we easily and effectively focus on the few important things?

In this section, the author will show you how to pursue your chosen path, prepare a plan, overcome obstacles, and make minimalism your lifestyle. Of course, whatever you choose, difficulties will arise, but living with principles will help you overcome them more easily because you already know your goal.

In short, with the same level of effort, there will be a difference between the results of someone who uses it for too many unselective things and someone who only does a few things but chooses them carefully. Living minimally doesn't mean you do less. Living minimally means you proactively choose what is important in your life and focus on it, eliminating things that don't contribute to your ultimate goal, controlling and enjoying your life.