3379: How to Reset Your Life by Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist on Changing Your Life Direction

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[00:01:04] It's a Minimalist Monday edition of Optimal Living Daily.

[00:01:08] How to Reset Your Life by Joshua Becker of becomingminimalist.com

[00:01:12] Happy Monday and welcome back to the Optimal Living Daily podcast where I read to you every single day of the year.

[00:01:19] I'm Justin Malek, by the way.

[00:01:20] Today I have a post from Joshua Becker, a super popular writer and minimalist.

[00:01:25] For now, let's get right to it as we optimize your life.

[00:01:32] How to Reset Your Life by Joshua Becker of becomingminimalist.com

[00:01:38] I was talking to a good friend of mine earlier this year when she made a fascinating remark to me.

[00:01:43] They were in the process of selling their large home in order to pay off some debt.

[00:01:46] When I asked her how they came to that decision, she said to me,

[00:01:50] We've decided to hit reset on our life.

[00:01:53] She continued, quote,

[00:01:55] For too long we've overextended ourselves financially and it's time to take whatever steps are necessary to start fresh.

[00:02:01] So we put our house on the market and began living within a tighter budget.

[00:02:06] I don't know what we were thinking living like that for so long, but it's time to hit reset on our lives, end quote.

[00:02:12] I found the phrase to be almost magical.

[00:02:16] We've decided to hit reset on our lives.

[00:02:19] I was reminded of a computer that I'd begun to run too slow, overheating with too many applications running in the background.

[00:02:26] Control, Alt, Delete, Reset.

[00:02:28] Or as Anne Lamott once said, quote,

[00:02:31] Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you, end quote.

[00:02:36] In speaking with my friend, I was reminded of my own life.

[00:02:40] In many ways, I hit reset on my own life when I discovered minimalism.

[00:02:45] I went back to the beginning, challenging my consumption and the many unhealthy habits that had become present in my life.

[00:02:52] Of course, not every life is in need of a full reset.

[00:02:55] And I'm smart enough to know that resetting a life is not the same as restarting a computer.

[00:03:00] You can't just delete past memories, experiences, injuries, or every unenjoyable responsibility in your life.

[00:03:07] Resetting the direction of one's life requires more than a few minutes of downtime.

[00:03:12] But we are nearing January 1st, the time of year when we naturally assess the trajectory of our lives and what direction we are heading.

[00:03:19] And maybe, just like my friend, your life needs a reset.

[00:03:24] There's a powerful truth in the reality that you are in control of your life and you alone are responsible for the experience of living it.

[00:03:32] If you do not like the direction you are heading, you alone can choose a new path.

[00:03:37] If you have become overloaded financially or overburdened in your schedule, you alone can hit reset on your life.

[00:03:45] Even if our relationships have turned unhealthy, there is a lot we can do individually to foster an environment for change.

[00:03:52] If your life needs a reset, it is within your power to do so.

[00:03:57] But how do we go about hitting reset in our lives?

[00:04:00] I fear to say these are not easy steps.

[00:04:03] This is not your typical 10 minutes to a clutter-free morning blog post.

[00:04:07] These are weighty changes that require not just reestablishing a mindset, but also implementing the hard work of making it a reality.

[00:04:16] Sometimes these changes require conversations with loved ones that may or may not be thinking about the same things.

[00:04:22] But life reset is possible.

[00:04:25] My friend is a mother with a husband and two teenage daughters.

[00:04:29] If she can hit reset during that stage of life, so can you.

[00:04:33] Here are some of the places we might look to reset.

[00:04:36] Number one, look hard at your spending.

[00:04:40] Lifestyle creep occurs when an individual's standard of living improves as their discretionary income rises and former luxuries become new necessities.

[00:04:49] If the idea of minimalism is brand new to you, it is very likely lifestyle creep has crept into your life more than you realize.

[00:04:58] If rethinking your finances, getting out of debt or beginning to save is part of the necessary reset, start by looking at your spending.

[00:05:07] Number two, consider your time commitments.

[00:05:10] Many of us live hurried, stressed lives.

[00:05:13] We rush from one activity to another.

[00:05:15] For some people, this is within their nature and they thrive in that type of environment.

[00:05:20] But for others, the urgent is keeping you from the more important, longer lasting pursuits available to all of us.

[00:05:27] Consider the time commitments you have slowly accumulated over the years and find a new filter to promote your highest values.

[00:05:34] Number three, question your work.

[00:05:37] The average person spends more than 90,000 hours of their lifetime at work.

[00:05:42] For many, work has become their routine and they've given up any thought of changing.

[00:05:47] Our job is our job and we give little thought to the reality of something different.

[00:05:52] I think that's why two-thirds of Americans report being disengaged at work.

[00:05:55] I know that changing jobs is not always easy and not always possible, but if we're talking seriously about hitting the reset button on our lives, looking at what we do a third of our waking hours is an essential consideration.

[00:06:09] Number four, check your motivations.

[00:06:11] There is great progress to be made in life when we look deeper than our actions and begin checking the motivations behind them.

[00:06:18] When we don't actively keep our motivations in check, unhealthy ones begin to emerge.

[00:06:24] We become motivated by the pursuit of riches, accolades, or building our own selfish kingdom.

[00:06:30] On an almost daily basis, it is wise to check our motivations, but we rarely do.

[00:06:36] If we can see the need for an entire life reset, it would be foolish to not check the internal motivations that may have moved us to our current situation.

[00:06:44] Number five, evaluate your relationships.

[00:06:49] People are not things and choosing which relationships to keep and which to remove is not as simple as decluttering clothes in your closet.

[00:06:57] There are some relationships where both parties benefit and there are some relationships where we benefit.

[00:07:02] But there also ought to be some relationships in our lives where we are serving and giving and being the one who loves more.

[00:07:10] Balance is important in this area.

[00:07:12] Evaluate the current relationships in your life.

[00:07:15] Are your closest friends moving you toward the person you want to be?

[00:07:19] Or are they holding you back?

[00:07:21] Number six, be honest about your habits.

[00:07:25] Sometimes the habits we develop increase our chance of success.

[00:07:29] But other times our habits keep us from it.

[00:07:31] How do you spend your day?

[00:07:33] How do you care for your health and body?

[00:07:35] What habits are creating a better you?

[00:07:37] And which habits are keeping you stuck where you are?

[00:07:40] Resetting your life is going to require more than a one-time decision or evaluation.

[00:07:45] Oftentimes it is going to require you to rewire your habits from the ground up.

[00:07:50] I don't offer this list as exhaustive.

[00:07:53] Certainly there are other considerations to factor in your life reset.

[00:07:57] More than anything, I simply want to encourage you.

[00:08:01] Your life doesn't have to remain on the same trajectory that it is today.

[00:08:06] You can hit reset if you need to.

[00:08:13] You just listened to the post titled, How to Reset Your Life by Joshua Becker of becomingminimalist.com.

[00:08:19] And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:21] Over the years, our podcast team has launched new shows, given away hardcover journals, and looking ahead, hopefully bringing you more engaging content.

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[00:09:34] Thank you to Joshua.

[00:09:35] He's been an author I've narrated for a long time now.

[00:09:38] And I'd consider him a friend.

[00:09:40] I got to meet him at the personal finance conference called FinCon a while back, before the pandemic.

[00:09:45] And he's always been so open and welcoming, so I'm really happy I got permission from him to share his work.

[00:09:50] Always great content on his site, too.

[00:09:53] It's crazy that the average person spends over 90,000 hours of their lifetime at work,

[00:09:58] even when not breaking it down like that, when you consider that most of our days are spent basically sleeping and working,

[00:10:06] those two seem like the most obvious places to start when thinking about optimizing our lives.

[00:10:11] I think there's only so much you can do with sleep, although lucid dreaming is pretty awesome and takes a lot of practice and awareness to do consistently.

[00:10:19] You can check out episode 50 way back in the day to listen to my own article about lucid dreaming.

[00:10:24] But work, the world is your oyster there.

[00:10:27] It may not seem like it at times.

[00:10:29] We can feel stuck.

[00:10:30] But like Joshua said, it is an essential consideration.

[00:10:34] So really take that to heart.

[00:10:36] But that should do it for today.

[00:10:37] Hope you're having a great day.

[00:10:38] A nice start to your week.

[00:10:40] And I'll be back tomorrow as usual, where your optimal life awaits.