Luke Wilson

What does living simply mean to you?

For me, simple living means keeping my life focused. Obviously our lives have many different components (relationships, family, work, etc), but living simply means that all the components of my life are pointing in one direction. Living a focused life means that I try to eliminate all the distractions and detours and obstacles that stand in my way.

Why is it important to you?

Living simple is important to me for a couple of reasons: Most importantly, because it helps me achieve my goals. Living the simple life means I’m not measuring success by the same measurement as the culture does (houses, cars, toys, ect), which makes it easy to live simply and create the kind of life I want. There is no way I’d be able to do what I’m doing right now if I wasn’t living a very simple lifestyle.

And the second reason is that it is just a more enjoyable and less stressful way to live. Stress is a killer. It’s terrible for us – for our bodies, for our relationships, really for our whole existence. So the more simply I can live, the more I can eliminate this dangerous distraction and really live life to it’s fullest.

What steps have you taken to live simply in your day to day life?

I try to keep a balance between working on the physical and non-physical aspects of simplicity. At this point, I have reduced all my possessions down to a minimum level – if I get rid of any more, I would start making life more complicated again. So at the present I’m concentrating on the non-physical sides of simplicity more – the mental, emotional, spiritual side of things.

One thing in particular I’m working on right now is saying no to things that don’t fit into my simple life and move me towards my goals. The truth is that there are an infinite number of good things I could do, but a limited amount of time in which to do them, so I better find the best things and concentrate on those.

What’s been the hardest part of your simple journey?

Three things that I would say are the hardest parts for me:

(a) past habits. Each of us has habits that we developed, maybe very early in life, that complicate everything. It could be a physical habit like never throwing stuff away or poor spending habits, or it can be emotional and relational habits, like not having good self awareness or a negative outlook on life. Whatever it is, these habits are ingrained in us, and it can be tough to break them at times.

(b) other people. This is the hard one because it’s partially out of our control. Our culture is not one that understands the beauty of simplicity or minimalism… in fact, it’s often the polar opposite. And you can’t control what other people do, so they can definitely complicate your life… Focusing only on things I can control is easy to say, but hard to do when you’re in the middle of the situation and your mind starts racing.

(c) the second law of thermodynamics: “Everything tends towards disorder.” The truth is that while I try to make progress in simplicity every day, there will never be a day when I have arrived. The unfortunate truth is that everything tends towards disorder, so it takes thought and work every day to keep moving down the path to simplicity.

What advice would you give others who are on the living single journey?

One thing I would encourage everyone to do is read! Go to your library – most will have a least a couple of good books on how to simplify. Read blogs – there are new blogs on simplicity everyday, it seems. And don’t just read from one perspective, either – different kinds of simple living have different things to offer. From rational minimalism to living with 50 Things, lots of people are applying principles of simplicity to their lives in vastly different ways, and that’s totally okay! You’re not going to be challenged to grow if all you ever read are people you agree with.

The other thing is to not get discouraged – it is a lifelong journey that’s all about the little steps everyday. Don’t listen to the naysayers, ask the questions that nobody else is asking, don’t be afraid to try new ideas, and craft your own form of simple living that fits you. It’s worth it!

Luke Wilson is a follower of Christ, married to Kay, passionate about helping people acheive less chaos and more life through simplifi.de, and thinks the iPad is going to revolutionize computing. You can find him on Twitter at @simplifide

Five questions with Luke Wilson

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