On January 6, 2026, I became a minimalist.
A beautiful thing about living is we have choices. We can do things and other people have no say in what you do. In 2025, I did not like living. Everything around me seemed dull like an artist created a masterpiece and whitewashed it. Whenever I went out to engage the world, I picked out things that irritated me: a car sitting in my crosswalk while I attempted to cross, the anxiety of being thirty seconds late for the train, a customer staring at me like I’m a zoo animal at my workplace.
I read Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, the Minimalists. Two days later, I began The Fewer Things Project. Millburn and Nicodemus don’t focus on decluttering or organization tips but the point of getting rid of the stuff to focus on what is important: health, passions, relationships, growth, and contribution. Together, these make up the Five Values.
This experience led me to a question: how do I start? Saying I was starting minimalism is great, but action was the only way I could feel like a true minimalist. On their blog, Millburn and Nicodemus talk about the need for urgency (Day 1: Deciding – The Minimalists). Take the following statements.
I should read more books to grow as a person. I should eat healthy to live a longer life. I should spend time with my cat to create a lifelong bond with them.
What do these statements have in common? I should. Should means I’m acknowledging what I know is correct, and I can do it tomorrow.
Let’s modify our above statements.
I must read more books to grow as a person. I must eat healthy to live a longer life. I must spend time with my cat to create a lifelong bond with them.
By using must instead of should we bridge the gap from tomorrow to now. This rewires the brain to think, I must read more books or a negative result will occur. By using my previous negativity as fuel, it finally clicked for me. Below are some of my must statements. These form the why to my practice of minimalism.
- I must exercise to become stronger and to live a longer life.
- I must master my emotions to be a more genuine person.
- I must practice chess every day to keep my mind sharp.
- I must continue towards financial freedom to give more.
- I must sleep for eight to ten hours every day to be most present.
Your must statements dig into your why. Without a why, there is little point to minimalism. Why not just live our lives the way we were living them? We were not satisfied with our lives as they were. It was time to make a change.
I choose the important things, not stuff.