6 Key Takeaways From Goodbye, Things (On Minimalist Living) by Fumio Sasaki
1) Information: Fumio Sasaki calls this information minimalism. I have been writing a lot about information recently. How it can be used to control the narrative, influence others, or provide power over somebody. The items we own always provide us with information. If it’s filled with dust it needs cleaning. If the picture on the wall isn’t straight, it needs sorting. With fewer items, we receive less information. We need to control the information we receive to think more clearly.
2) Functionality: Minimalism allows us to consider how functional an object we own really is. If someone buys a watch for $20,000 and someone buys a watch for $50, they both have the same functionality because they both tell the time. You don’t get 400X more functionality out of the $20,000 watch, even if it has additional features. We all have things in life that we enjoy spending more money on, for example, mine is music. If yours is buying watches, it was just an example. You keep enjoying your expensive watches! So the important aspect is considering functionality when we make purchases. Are we buying this because it will make us happy and we need it to function, or are we giving in to pressure from societal expectations or others that we need to live up to certain status requirements?
3) Self-Worth, Status and Comparison: As humans, we get used to things. We buy a new product, and it's amazing for a short time. But after that, it's just another thing we own. If we buy things to gain status, to look intelligent, or to feel included with other people, then it is a pointless purchase. Happiness comes from an environment where you know everything has a use, and that use contributes positively to your life. Any items that don’t contribute positively have a negative impact, and clutter your physical and mental space. When it comes to comparison, there will always be someone doing better than you, and there will always be someone doing not as well as you. So the comparison is futile. No matter much you tick off on life’s tick sheet, you’ll never finish the list if you compare yourself to others. Once you stop comparing to others or letting status and self-worth through purchases drive your life, you become untouchable. You’ll naturally become happier as you’ll be more likely to do what brings you happiness, rather than being embarrassed or worrying about what others will think. People who truly love you will stick around anyway.
4) Time and Freedom: With fewer distractions comes more time. With fewer demands on our time comes more freedom. This time and freedom can be used to engage with people. Loneliness is one of the true causes of unhappiness, and this comes from human connection. We can’t fill the hole that loneliness creates with items. It needs connection with people. Minimalism and connection go hand-in-hand. It will allow you to consider your true values and principles and determine what is important to you. From this, you’ll connect with people who are most similar to you. This base layer can lead to deeper relationships down the line. The book ends with the following quote:
“What’s important in my life? It’s the person who’s sitting or standing in front of me right now.”
So minimalism will enable you to find deeper relationships, but it will also contribute to appreciating people more, and any present situation that you find yourself in.
If you’ve thought about throwing something out more than a few times, it is taking your time. Throw it out and take photos of things to remind you of the memories that the item triggers. If you ever find that you need this item one day if it's cheap enough you can buy it back. As this process repeats over and over, you’ll find that you’ve collected only the necessary items.
5) Living In The Present: It is much easier to focus on the present when you’re not surrounded by distractions. Minimalism enables this. The author refers to Steve Jobs frequently as a keen minimalist. Every morning when Steve Jobs woke up, he asked himself if he would want to do this daily schedule if it was his last day alive. I think this is a great exercise to adopt. If we aren’t surrounded by distractions, we can show more gratitude for what we have. Through minimalism, if we have fewer items that we own, they must be key necessities in our lives. Hence we feel more gratitude towards them.
6) How Our Happiness Is Constructed: Our happiness comes 50% from genetics, 40% from our actions and 10% from our environment. Our environment includes where we work, our home, if we are married, or have children. If our environment is minimalist, we have more time to focus on the 40% of happiness that can come from our actions. We don’t become happy, we feel happy. So if we live a simple life, we have more time and effort to focus on our actions. Everyone has a base layer of happiness. You might think the glass is half empty, while someone else might think it's half full. This is the genetic part of happiness. However, you can influence the other 50%, and Fumio Sasaki argues that minimalism can get people started on the process of considering how their environment and actions can lead to feeling happier.