5 Tips To Becoming A Midway Minimalist

Inside Thread welcomes a new guest post series from Mohamed Tohami, of Midway Simplicity! 

Read more about his work & his site below! 

5 Tips To Becoming a Midway Minimalist

Minimalism is a minimal, low-consumption way of living.

It is also defined as design or style in which the simplest and fewest elements are used to create the maximum effect.

To be a minimalist you need to design and live your life using the simplest and fewest elements possible to create maximum joy and experience. Joy should be at the center of minimalism. 

I don’t see any other reason for being a minimalist rather than maximizing joy and inner peace - specially if we talk about the mainstream (i.e. ordinary folks like you and me).

Some people want to be monks! But, that’s another issue.

The midway (mainstream) approach promotes minimalism in order to maximize joy in your life. In addition, you embrace minimalism to experience inner peace, financial independence, and freedom. 

So, let me share with you 5 tips on how to be a midway minimalist:




1. Become Clear

You need to be clear about what brings you joy. Find your passion and purpose in life. Find your joy. Everything else is just noise that needs to be minimized.

“Find your joy. Get rid of everything that isn’t part of it. That’s minimalism!” - Kate Carpenter




2. Focus

Focus on what matters most and eliminate the rest. You need to be highly selective for what occupies your life.

“Minimalism is easy when your mind is clear and your goals are crystallized and your focus is sharp.” - Kate Carpenter

3. Determine What Is Enough

Here is a Tibetan saying that gives an indication of the proper measure of wealth: “A person is rich when he knows that he has enough.”

What is enough for you? How much would you like to earn on a monthly basis to live a good life without sacrificing too much? 

Now, imagine how your ideal lifestyle looks like. How much is enough to support your ideal lifestyle?

Remember, the ideal lifestyle is the minimal lifestyle where you maximize joy and minimize noise.

4. Save To Do What You Love

Think about this... 

What would happen if you could live on the interest of your savings and do work that you are passionate about and that makes you really happy?

That’s minimalism in its ideal form.

But, it is not easy to apply in real life. 

The midway approach that you can start with is to save a year’s or two worth of living expenses, then quit the job you hate and put all your energy in doing what you’re passionate about.

When you do something you love and find a way to offer something that people are impressed by its value and are gladly willing to pay you for it, then you’ve found your sweet spot.

Doing what you love and making enough money to support your ideal lifestyle is the most realistic (midway) approach to minimalism.

5. Watch old ‘black and white’ movies!

Minimalism is an open invitation to bring life back to its original form, without all the unnecessary excesses that are stuffing our lives.

Recently, I started watching old ‘black and white’ movies. When I watch an old movie, I feel inspired by how peaceful and joyful life has been in the past. People had minimal ways of communication and entertainment, yet they had their unique ways to enjoy every moment. 

You can witness how people were building genuine relationships and how romance was in its golden age. 

With minimal distractions and noise you can experience your true identity as a human being ... not a machine. You can easily realize that nowadays we are more machine-like individuals than human-like.

Watch old movies and let your heart and soul enjoy the natural peace, rhythm and harmony of the golden age. Back to the beautiful old days.

Remember, midway minimalism is all about minimizing noise and maximizing joy.

About our guest :

In his blog, Midway Simplicity, Mohamed Tohami shares simple living ideas that fall midway between extreme frugality & radical minimalism and the hoarder’s extreme fear of deprivation. If you’re looking for more mainstream simple living ideas that are not too harsh for your lifestyle, then give a visit to Tohami’s Midway Simplicity blog and grab your copy of “The 30-Day Simplicity Challenge” ebook.