How to Harness the Power of Minimalism to Become More Productive

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Do Less and Accomplish More by Applying Minimalist Principles to Your Life

For some, the term “minimalist lifestyle” brings to mind a scrawny monk wearing a tattered robe in a barren room with no WiFi.

However, minimalism is not about living in squalor, eschewing material goods and technology, going vegan, or backpacking the world. Rather than focusing on what you should get rid of, minimalism is about making room for things you value, and that includes experiences, tasks, and time. A line often attributed to Einstein says it best: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

As minimalism becomes increasingly trendy, there’s been plenty of seminars, workshops, Udemy courses, and blogs on how minimalism can help your home life and relationships. There’s less information out there, however, on navigating work, school, and productivity with this ideology. This post is about to change that.

A Brief History of Minimalism

Though it has become fashionable, minimalism is not a new way of thinking. The concept of “less is more” has been around for hundreds of years under different names in Chinese, Buddhist, and Stoic philosophies.

The idea keeps coming back because it works: people who do exceptional things tend to be ruthless about focus and have little patience for distraction.

The Connection Between Minimalism and Productivity

It’s easy to confuse quality with quantity, convincing ourselves that cramming in a ton of tasks means we’re being productive. We end up investing our time in fast and easy activities to have a sense of accomplishment, rather than focusing on the more difficult but important pursuits.

By applying minimalist principles to your time commitments, goals, and activities, you can accomplish more by doing less. Instead of trying to force production by stuffing your schedule with menial tasks, minimalism helps you free up time to focus on the things that matter.

8 Ways to Become More Productive Through Minimalism

Don’t let less important things stop you from accomplishing your goals and keep you from living the life you could be living. Here’s how to use minimalist ideologies to boost your productivity:

1. Start with a Clean Workspace

Whether you’re a student, artist, or entrepreneur, you probably have a designated space in your home or office that serves as a dedicated workstation. Though there are some who argue that a messy desk is a sign of genius, a cluttered workspace could be costing you more time and focus than you realize.

A study from the Princeton Neuroscience Institute found that visual clutter competes for our attention, leaving less of it for the task in front of us. Meanwhile, a 2014 study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that people in a tidy room kept going at a frustrating task for longer than people in a messy one.

How to declutter your desktop?

Clear off everything you did not use this week, keep one tray for the paper you still have to deal with, and do the same on screen: close the tabs, file the stray downloads and silence the notifications.

2. Trim Down Your To-Do List

Here’s a fun fact: crossing a task off your to-do list feels good in itself, which is part of why long lists of small tasks are so tempting.

After the momentary pleasure of crossing small tasks off your list has passed, an ultra-long to-do list can make you feel guilty at the end of the day. Faced with a long list of tasks you still haven’t completed, it’s easy to become stressed and discouraged.

To harness the power of minimalism, attack your day’s to-do list with an eraser, delete button, whiteout, etc. Your to-do list should have a maximum of three tasks a day. On a day with one big job, make it one.

3. Identify Your Most Important Tasks

Here’s another fun fact. For hundreds of years, the word “priority” only existed in the singular. It wasn’t until the past century that we came up with a plural version, believing we could and should handle multiple priorities, as author and leadership consultant Greg McKeown noted in his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.

To distinguish the Most Important Tasks (MITs) from the not-so-important ones, start by defining one goal or priority for the day. Ask yourself this question: will this activity move me towards this goal? If the answer is no, slash it from your list.

4. Do a “Mind Dump.”

Are you having a tough time trimming your to-do list to three MITs? Or do you continue to carry around the other tasks in a nagging “mental” to-do list after getting rid of less important tasks from your physical list?

The mental to-do list can also be a barrier to productivity. It seems more daunting and difficult to quantify or organize. To rid your brain of a distracting mental to-do list, try starting each day with a “brain dump.” Dedicate 30 minutes to writing out all the other tasks you need to remember or any worries floating around your brain. After getting everything out on paper or in a Word Doc, put your list away and forget about it. Following the exercise, your mental to-do list should stop haunting you, making it easier to focus.

5. Consider the Pareto Principle

The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto noticed in the 1890s that about 80 percent of the land in Italy belonged to 20 percent of the population, and that the same lopsided pattern turned up wherever he looked. The observation became known as the “Pareto Principle” or “80/20 Rule.” In simple terms, the principle says that in any event, 20 percent of the inputs or tasks are responsible for 80 percent of the outcome or results.

For example:

• 80 percent of the value in a project is achieved with the first 20 percent of effort.
• 80 percent of a company’s sales come from 20 percent of its products.
• 20 percent of employees contribute 80 percent of the company’s output.
• 80 percent of complaints come from 20 percent of a company’s customers.

While these aren’t rigid rules and the ratio won’t always be precisely 80/20, both in business and in life, a minority often generates a majority.

By applying the Pareto Principle to our own productivity, we can find the activities that are unnecessary or don’t move us towards our mission, and cut them. To determine which tasks to cut, analyze your daily activities and ask yourself questions such as:

• Which tasks are yielding the most results?
• What are the interruptions that cause most of my productivity problems?
• Who are the friends and family members that take up the majority of my time?
• Which tasks can I get rid of?
• Which tasks can I automate?

Determine which tasks need to be delegated, automated, or eliminated. You will not get 80 percent of your time back, but you will stop spending most of it on the things that matter least.

6. Learn to Say “No.”

As the saying goes, “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” The adage shines a light on why it’s so important to learn to say “no” to tasks that don’t support your mission or add value to your life. A key element of leading a minimalist lifestyle and boosting productivity is knowing how to say “no” to unnecessary meetings, urgent requests that are not your responsibility, social obligations you’re dreading, and any other tasks that don’t add value to your life. If you aren’t able to say “no” to things, you may never have time or energy to focus on the things that are important to you. As a result, your productivity will suffer.

To say “no” effectively, say it politely but firmly without stalling or beating around the bush. One trick is to say “I don’t” instead of “I can’t.” In a study from Boston College and the University of Houston, psychologists found that “using the word ‘don’t’ serves as a self-affirmation of one’s personal willpower and control in the relevant self-regulatory goal pursuit, leading to a favorable influence on feelings of empowerment, as well as on actual behavior. On the other hand, saying ‘I can’t do X’ connotes an external focus on impediments.” Replacing “I can’t” with “I don’t” can put you in a position of power and leave less room for debate.

7. Stop Multitasking

Regardless of how adept a multitasker you feel you are, humans have a very limited capacity for simultaneous thoughts. Our brains can trick us into feeling as though we can seamlessly transition between tasks, when in actuality, this drains valuable energy when we have to backtrack and refocus. While it may seem like multitasking enhances efficiency, researchers estimate that switching between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of your productive time.

Multitasking doesn’t only hinder productivity; it reduces your capacity for creativity by preventing extended concentration on performance.

To kick your multitasking habit, begin by allotting a portion of time to work on one task. Power off your phone and resolve not to check social media platforms, time-wasting websites, or even email. If you find yourself unable to resist temptation, start a FocusMe plan to block distracting sites and apps for as long as you choose: a Quick Timer for one sprint, or a Weekly Schedule for every working day, on your computer and your phone.

8. Take Meaningful Breaks

Resist the temptation to work through lunch or bring work home.

Without breaks, attention wears down. One study of hospital staff found that they followed routine rules less carefully as a shift went on, and more carefully again after a longer break.

A good rule is to walk away from your computer or desk every 60 to 90 minutes for three to five minutes to get water, find a snack, socialize, or stretch. Use different spaces for different activities, and don’t you dare eat lunch at your desk.

In Summary

Life is simpler than we make it. Simplify yours by removing everything that distracts and detracts to make space for the things that matter to you. When you apply this philosophy to your job, studies, art, or productivity, you put your goals centerstage while banishing stress and boosting efficiency.

Start small. Tackle one step at a time, from decluttering your workstation to slashing unnecessary tasks. As you eliminate stuff, stress, and time-sucks, you’ll find you have more time, energy, freedom, and purpose.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

First published November 2017

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