{"id":230,"date":"2021-02-15T07:55:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T02:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/?p=230"},"modified":"2021-02-14T12:28:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T06:58:55","slug":"minimalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/index.php\/minimalism\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Powerful Lessons I Learned from an Insightful Netflix Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For 25 years, I worked hard to build businesses and create value for stakeholders. As you would already know, entrepreneurship is no easy task. Most of the time, entrepreneurs pursue\u00a0futuristic goals<\/a>, and that takes a lot of effort. Like other entrepreneurs, I have been busy building teams, creating products, and running from one task to another chasing the next goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lockdown changed all that. Suddenly, work reduced to a trickle and I had a lot of time at hand. I used it to catch up with my family and other loved ones and to reflect on my life so far. The lockdown gave me a lot of time to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest thing I realized was the importance of doubling down on the most important goal of my life \u2013 financial freedom<\/a>. I want to have the freedom to do what I want, when I want, and at the same time give my family the comfort they deserve. And I started evaluating all my tasks seriously. I began questioning whether they were leading me towards my goals and doing more of the ones whose answer was yes and saying no to the rest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important contributor to financial freedom is the ability to live below one\u2019s means and think higher, not just in material possessions but also in intangible aspects of life like decisions, choices, relationships, and more<\/a>. Last month, I watched a Netflix documentary that reinforced this belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The documentary, \u2018The Minimalists: Less is Now<\/a>,\u2019 was not just inspiring. It also offered deep insights into the choices we make and how they affect how our lives turn out, and how the adage \u201cless is more\u201d is one of the most powerful truths of life. If you haven\u2019t seen it, I highly recommend you watch the hour-long documentary. It will change the way you look at life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is not a review of The Minimalists, but a narration of the profound impact it left on me. Here are the four biggest takeaways from the documentary that I want to apply in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The importance of reducing our spending.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love stuff,\u201d author Dave Ramsey says in the documentary. With those three words, he summed up the way we live our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We always want new clothes, gadgets, and accessories. We want to watch movies in theaters and enjoy expensive dinners at the drop of a hat. And there\u2019s no limit to this consumerism; the more we have, the more we want. As a result, things begin to own us instead of vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we reduce our possessions<\/a>, we have more space and bandwidth to enjoy them. Also, we don\u2019t waste time and money chasing other possessions, and that ushers inner peace in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why I\u2019ve resolved to not buy anything I don\u2019t need in 2021. No window shopping, no buying things because they are on sale, and no trying to inflate my possessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I am experimenting with living like a monk. This means I\u2019m examining my existing possessions and donating what I don\u2019t use to someone who needs them. And, I\u2019m filling those empty spaces with natural beings like plants, whose freshness and greenery improve the mental and emotional health of the people around them as research has proved<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2. Giving more than getting.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve embarked on an exciting project recently. It\u2019s not a business deal or trying to get a company listed on the Stock Exchange. It\u2019s building a library in my building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m encouraging residents to donate their personal books to the library. Hopefully, this collection of books will benefit not just children, but every person who\u2019s keen on constant learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can already tell that I hit upon the inspiring idea after watching the documentary, which emphasizes producing more than consuming and giving more than taking. That\u2019s such an inspirational thought!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking and consuming is all about ourselves. To an extent, they\u2019re selfish thoughts. But when we ask ourselves how we can contribute to making the world a better place, we automatically switch our perspectives from taking to giving and consuming to producing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each day, I ask myself, \u201cWhat more can I give to the world?\u201d The library is just one step in that direction. I\u2019m also planning a plantation drive in June month. My continuous writing<\/a> also falls in this category of sharing knowledge and wisdom with people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. Prioritize experiences over possessions.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Now that I\u2019m reducing my possessions, a void will get created, one that I want to fill with experiences. Like spending time with my family, going on treks, teaching and uplifting others, writing, adding value to ideas, people and places, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we buy things, they make us happy only for so long before we begin to long for other things, even if we don\u2019t need them. But when we invest in experiences, we grow as individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is the sum of our experiences, not our possessions. Each place we visit, person we meet, and idea we germinate, is an experience that teaches us something. And it doesn\u2019t just become a part of us but also shapes who we become in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cornell professor Dr. Thomas Gilovich<\/a> said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em><\/strong>Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods. You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless, they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on our experiences creates opportunities to improve ourselves and to pursue real freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. The flexibility to work from anywhere.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned earlier, I spent a lot of my time pre-lockdown at work. I would conduct meetings, travel to interact with clients, and take care of our physical infrastructure \u2013 office space, computers, furniture, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But during the lockdown, I realized like a lot of other people that the world has changed. It\u2019s not just possible but also normal to work out of anywhere because the world has condensed into two devices \u2013 a laptop and a smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus \u2013 the two people who created the documentary \u2013 are a great example of this. For a couple of weeks, they research different places and plan an itinerary for a few months to follow. Then they spend months away from home, visiting new place, soaking them in, and even working from there. Thus, they don\u2019t need to be tied down to a specific place to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m trying something similar. I\u2019m working to build systems and processes that enable the business to function without my physical presence all the time. Meanwhile, I can travel to new places without neglecting my work. I can work out of anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m excited to see how that works out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Minimalism is all about freedom, to live anywhere, to do what appeals to us, and to have the space for higher thinking. The philosophy can make us evolve from the current \u201csimply living hardly thinking\u201d lifestyle to \u201csimple living and high thinking.\u201d That, in turn, will exponentially improve the quality of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you want to embrace the minimalist lifestyle, just try the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Reduce how much you spend on possessions. Buy only what you need and eliminate everything else. The less you have, the freer your mind is to enjoy them and do what\u2019s important.<\/li>
  2. Give more than you take. Embracing the giving mindset will bring about a marked shift in your perspective. You\u2019ll begin thinking about how you can add value to the world. And that action will make your own life better.<\/li>
  3. Invest in experiences rather than spending on possessions. Your possessions are fleeting; your experiences remain with you forever. Invest in the latter and learn from them instead of depriving yourself of them by pursuing materialistic gains.<\/li>
  4. Build the flexibility to work from anywhere. In the passion-to-profession economy, you don\u2019t need to be tied to a specific place or a customer base. You can work from anywhere and offer your expertise to the world.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Which lesson did you relate to the most? Do leave a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For 25 years, I worked hard to build businesses and create value for stakeholders. As you would already know, entrepreneurship is no easy task. Most of the time, entrepreneurs pursue\u00a0futuristic goals, and that takes a lot of effort. Like other entrepreneurs, I have been busy building teams, creating products, and running from one task to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n4 Powerful Lessons I Learned from an Insightful Netflix Documentary - SME Value Advisors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How the Netflix documentary taught me lessons on minimalism and is helping me turn a new leaf now in my life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/index.php\/minimalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Powerful Lessons I Learned from an Insightful Netflix Documentary - SME Value Advisors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How the Netflix documentary taught me lessons on minimalism and is helping me turn a new leaf now in my life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/index.php\/minimalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SME Value Advisors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-15T02:25:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-14T06:58:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-be-a-minimalist.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" value=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" value=\"Manish Bansal\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" value=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" value=\"6 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smevalueadvisors.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SME Value Advisors\",\"description\":\"Business Solutions. 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