Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
This week we hear from Jonathan, who explains how minimalism helped him find his dream job. His story is a wonderful example of how minimalism applies to so many aspects of life—not just our stuff.
Jonathan writes:
Did you know that searching for your dream job leads to become a skillful minimalist?
I experienced this first-hand. I never knew what I wanted to do with my life. I tried many jobs, always feeling frustrated or even depressed. But I had that drive that an ideal job for me existed somewhere.
I had no idea how to find it. I didn’t know what I wanted or even what I was good at. School wasn’t helpful and I had no close relatives to guide me, no mentor, no older brother, nothing. But I wasn’t going to give up on that quest.
Entering into this journey of self-discovery, I had to overcome obstacles in various aspects of my life. I had to be more careful about my time, my relationships, the way I organized myself to work, everything.
- I realized that having a few solid relationships was way better than knowing many people in a superficial way, so I cut the meaningless ones.
- I realized that distractions – social media mostly – are usually not linked to fulfillment but to stress, so I cut them down.
- I realized that multitasking was not only bad for me but it killed my productivity and my ability to do any deep work, so I cut that down.
- I realized that not all foods were giving me energy, so I focused on the natural and efficient foods and I cut down on the greasy and sweet ones.
- I realized that peace and happiness didn’t come from status or the opinion of others but from my ability to appreciate what was around me… so I cut down the value I had in other’s opinions.
- I realized that having a lot of stuff didn’t bring me more joy but that owning less uncluttered my life. I made space for things that matter and as travel was part of my plans, I cut down anything that wasn’t light.
- I realized that jumping from project to project was not productive in the long term… so I said “No” to many professional opportunities that were not aligned with who I was.
As you see, lots of things were cut down to move further.
The quote from Meister Eckhart illustrates it well: “The soul does not grow by addition, but by subtraction”.
Minimalism was on the way to my evolution in so many aspects, and I’m thankful for where it led me: I now help frustrated employees identify and create a profitable and remote job they love. Funny, sometimes what you struggle the most with in your life turns out to be what you should do professionally…
One of the things I learned in the process was to assess a job opportunity. Sure, asking myself if I had the skills for the job was important but it wasn’t enough to find a great fit. Some questions were more useful for me such as “Does it fit my lifestyle?”, “Do I feel great about supporting this audience?” or “Will this give meaning to my life?”.
If you’re curious, I created a checklist called the “Opportunity Filter” that features 12 questions to help you evaluate your new career opportunities at https://yourecloser.co/filter
Finding my dream job was challenging, but the drive to reach my goal pushed me to improve myself in many ways. 3 lessons here.
First, come up with a big and inspiring goal. You won’t take action until you really want something.
Second, know that deciding to find a job you love will take you on an exciting self-discovery journey.
And third, when you find yourself cutting off something negative from your life, realize that minimalism is part of your evolution, for your own good.
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or joining my email list.}