I recently spoke to a reader who was thoroughly overwhelmed with the idea of embracing minimalism. While he was well aware of the high level of clutter in his life, trying to wrap his head around how to solve the problem was it’s own problem entirely.

For someone like this, I think the advise of thinking about ‘the end’, when you have less than 100 things, is just too overwhelming. Don’t. Think about small changes that can lead to that goal.

It’s so important to remember that becoming a minimalist is about small changes in habit. These are decisive steps that you take in a mindful way.

The decision to take fifteen minutes to clear your kitchen table, is one way that you can manifest a more minimalist lifestyle.

We don’t reach the freedom of being minimalist by throwing our all of our possessions a way at once. This would hurt us too much, it would cause us to suffer. We would miss all of those things that we had and then we didn’t.

Think about simple, and achievable, ways that your can bring about this lifestyle. Making a small regular change is so much more effective than a huge impossible change.

Here are five ways to apply minimalism to your life in a small way.

**1, Pass on buying a beverage. **If you’re out to eat, it’s customary to purchase some sort of drink to go with your lunch. Consider skipping the drink and just having a glass of water. You’ll have a few dollars, and water is very good for you.

**2, Clear your desk. **Take fifteen minutes and just clear the surface your desk of all objects. Consider each object, ask yourself if it is important. Of it is, find it a home, perhaps in a drawer. If it is not important, consider getting rid of the object. Once your desk is clean you’ll be more productive.

3, Walk slower. Everyone rushes everywhere. This takes away valuable time which we need to do thinking, to contemplate our lives, to think of new ideas. Slow down, if you worry that you’ll be late, leave a few minutes earlier and take your time. You’ll be calmer and more useful when you reach your destination.

**4, Sort through one drawer. **Almost everyone has a drawer that fill with stuff they don’t want to think about. Consider confronting this drawer and the objects in it. Take each object out and consider whether you need it or not. If you do, find it a home. If you don’t, consider getting rid of it. Once the drawer is gone, it’ll be natural to start on another when you have more spare time.

5, Cook a meal at home. Take one regular meal that you eat out and cook that meal at home. It’s very hard to over eat or eat unhealthily at home, consider fixing one meal in your own kitchen. Beginning to cook at home may be a challenge, but you’ll slowly build a lasting habit that will create a lifetime of healthier and less expensive living.

These are all small, and yet startlingly effective ways to apply minimalist philosophy to your life. I hope you’ll try one tomorrow, if not, perhaps next week. Don’t do everything all at once, just try one and see if it feels good. If it does, consider adopting it as a regular habit.

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