I feel I’d be doing my readers a big disservice by not mentioning these excellent resources, and that’s why I want to dedicate a post solely to raise awareness toward these personal development sites that have been on my radar lately.

Of course, these sites are going to appeal to different people. Some are focused on minimalism, others are more about achieving goals and motivation, a couple are geared toward business, and some are very philosophical and introspective. Despite these differences, I believe a well-balanced individual can take something positive away from each one.

Before we get started, let me just share the criteria I’m using for choosing which sites to recommend:

1) It has to be a site related to some realm of personal development.

2) It has to be a site I honestly enjoy and read on a frequent basis.

2) It has to be a site that gets less traffic than me (one of my goals is to promote sites that I believe deserve more recognition).

So without further adieu, here are the personal development sites I highly recommend you check out. Also, feel free to share your own recommendations in the comment section below.

Advanced Riskology is a site that focuses on bold living and how to take smart risks. Blogger Tyler Tervooren recognizes that uncertainty is an unavoidable aspect of our lives, but the difference between successful people vs. not-so-successful people is their ability to face these uncertainties with a little more faith, courage, and intelligence. I recommend his site to anyone who is looking to better face their fears.

Free Download: Take This Job and Shove It

Featured Product: Guerrilla Influence Formula: More Followers for Your Cause

2. Becoming Minimalist

Becoming Minimalist is a very practice-based blog on how to live a more minimalist and self-sufficient lifestyle. The author Joshua Becker strongly believes in the “less is more” principle that is commonly advocated on minimalist blogs, but he does it in a down-to-earth way that can help anyone de-clutter the waste in their lives and realign their focus toward what really matters.

Featured Product: Inside-Out Simplicity: Life-Changing Keys to your Most Important Relationships

3. Beyond Growth

Duff McDuffee and Eric Schiller at Beyond Growth are probably some of the most critical and rational thinkers in the personal development community right now. They are never afraid to call out other personal development “experts” on their BS, and they approach personal development from a uniquely clear-headed perspective that is very rare to see these days when discussing these topics. I consider Beyond Growth a very essential counter-force to a lot of personal development mythology out there. It’s the place I go whenever I need some of my common beliefs and assumptions challenged. Definitely check them out, but be willing to do some serious thinking and reflection.

4. Hustler’s Notebook

JK Allen describes his blog The Hustler’s Notebook as “growth and development from a street-smart perspective.” His writings are thorough and comprehensive – but always fluff-free. JK seems to have an uncanny ability to get right at the core of motivation and “hustling,” without getting too ambiguous and conceptual. His ability to communicate simple but profound ideas is virtually unmatched by other bloggers. Not only does he know how to hustle, he knows how to hustle hard – I recommend his site to anyone who needs that extra boost in motivation.

5. Live Bold and Bloom

Live Bold and Bloom is a site by blogger Barrie Davenport which focuses on how we can live more meaningful and purposeful lives. She covers many areas in personal development, including balanced living, how to reframe our thoughts so that they are more positive and productive, and how to step outside of our comfort zone for truly transformational experiences. I recommend this site to anyone who is in need of positive and uplifting advice. Her posts will definitely make you smile.

Free Download: The Bold Living Guide: 7 Key Ingredients to a Meaningful Life

Featured Product: Discover Your Passion: A Step by Step Course for Creating the Life of Your Dreams

6. Living Authentically

Living Authentically is a site by Evan Hadkins which focuses on how to live at the core of who you really are. Evan takes a very personal and introspective approach to personal development, but it’s accompanied by very practical and informative advice. Unlike many other personal development bloggers, Evan respects individual’s independence and autonomy, but at the same time he offers highly applicable information to anyone who is seeking a more grounded direction in their lives (and he carefully does all of this without commanding you on how you “should” think, feel, or act). He also shares considerable knowledge on how to overcome trauma and other deep-rooted phobias and anxieties.

Free Download: Satisfaction from Authenticity

My Interview: Living Authentically with Evan Hadkins

7. Mindful Construct

Mindful Construct is an excellent blog that focuses on healthy mindfulness and other important teachings in psychology and personal development. The author Melissa Karnaze has a BS in Cognitive Science and is currently pursuing her Masters in Experimental Psychology. She offers a great amount of critical reading on some of the potential dangers of mindfulness and how we can avoid these dangerous while still maintaining the benefits of mindfulness. She advocates nurturing a healthy ego, questioning our programmed thinking, taking responsibility for our lives, practicing emotional intelligence, and self-love.

Free E-Class: Your Life is Your Construct

8. Mind Adventure

Mind Adventure is a very wise and practical resource on how to cultivate inner strength and outer freedom in our lives. The author Rob White is a former philosophy professor turned multi-millionaire after running successful businesses in a variety of industries including selling real estate and owning a couple restaurants. His bog is filled with stories, anecdotes, and metaphors that awaken readers to their true inner potential and how they can live happier and more successful lives. It’s worth noting that Rob was also kind enough to mail me a copy of his 30-day workbook 180, which is a phenomenal (and beautifully designed) step-by-step guide on how to cultivate new attitudes that improve your well-being in almost every domain of life. There’s no doubt about it, he’s a very generous and hard-working dude who fully lives by the maxim that “we reap what we sow.”

Featured Product: 180: Climbing The Two Ladders to Inner Strength and Outer Freedom

My Interview: Rob White of Mind Adventure

9. Sam Spurlin

Sam Spurlin is a writer, coach, and graduate student at Claremont University, currently pursuing his MA in Positive Psychology. His blog offers incredibly sensible advice on how to live more consciously, especially when it comes to our values, health, work, thinking, and relationships. Although he started his personal development journey within the minimalist movement, his current writings offer simple and useful strategies that anyone can begin using to integrate more consciousness into their daily living.

Featured Product: Regaining Consciousness

10. The Shrink for Entrepreneurs

Peter Shallard from The Shrink for Entrepreneurs is a psychotherapist and business consultant who specializes in helping entrepreneurs overcome the mental obstacles that often come with running a business. Being an entrepreneur himself, he has a very intimate understanding of the worries, fears, and anxieties that often plague aspiring business owners. His site is the #1 resource for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs who want to stay productive, but sane.

Free Download: Seek and Destroy: How To Identify Entrepreneurial Obstacles and Overcome Them (PDF)

My Interview: Peter Shallard: The Shrink for Entrepreneurs

Thanks for checking out these sites. I sincerely hope you found something valuable, and I’m sure these bloggers are going to keep providing quality content well into the future. Please feel free to recommend your personal favorites in the comment section below!

And that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

That’s why I’m on social media, like Twitter and Facebook, so frequently. I want to show myself more, share my thoughts more, dive into personal conversations more, and build meaningful relationships. Especially with people who actually give a shit about what I write here – because, for all intents and purposes, they are the ones that keep me going. Thank you.

And that’s also why I’ve started recording videos on my YouTube channel. I want to show my face. I want to be more engaging outside of just digital text. That’s why I started recording videos a little over a month ago (now I’m up to 10) and that’s why I am going to continue with it. And even though I’m not the best public speaker, it strengthens my message. I think most people will watch me talk about this stuff and believe that I’m being honest and genuine. Mostly because I really do believe in what I say, so why should more transparency be a problem for me? It’s not. I’m ready to be judged. I’ve had people tell me I run a “shit blog” and that I believe in hocus pocus nonsense. I didn’t always have thick skin, but it grows thicker everyday.

And this “thick skin” actually plays a big role in what Gary Vaynerchuk has been advocating in his new book The Thank You Economy. Many business still don’t have the “thick skin” to use social media for anything more than a mini press-release. They are too afraid to read what their customers are saying about them, let alone actually respond to problems.

Any smart businessmen or entrepreneur should understand the goldmine of having access to what people say about your company. What better way can you find opportunities for growth and innovation? Not only that, but social media gives you the opportunity to solve problems in a public domain. If people can see you are putting in the extra mile, it matters. And as more and more companies begin utilizing social media, a new level of customer service is going to be expected.

Vaynerchuk’s book is captivating, thought-provoking, and strengthens a lot of the convictions I’ve had while trying to build “The Emotion Machine” (which is, yes, still a huge work-in-progress).

In the book, he talks about how business is coming around full circle. In the early days of markets and capitalism, there weren’t many corporations, but mostly “Mom and Pa” businesses – small and local businesses that thrived on building relationships and communities with their customers. But in today’s corporate world, businesses have become more depersonalized and detached from their consumers. People, in a sense, have been reduced to numbers. And the quality of relationships in business has declined. But social media is beginning to change that again:

“I believe that we are living through the early days of a dramatic cultural shift that is bringing us back full circle, and the world that we live and work in operates in a way which is surprisingly similar to the one our great-grandparents knew. Social media has transformed our world into one great big small town, dominated, as all vibrant towns used to be, by the strengths of relationships, the currency of caring, and the power of word of mouth.”

Books like Wired to Care have also emphasized a similar transformation in business. The author Dev Patnaik gives numerous case studies on the importance of empathy (or as Vaynerchuk refers to it -”currency of caring”) and how building a community around your brand is crucial for long-term success. This means, of course, listening and responding to the needs of the people in your community. Social media now gives us the tools to apply these principles at a scale never before possible.

According to Vaynerchuk, social media is now even more important than search engines or SEO – because search engines lack the social context needed for long-term businesses to succeed. Often we Google something, we click on a relevant link, get the information we need, and never visit the site again. But sites like Twitter and Facebook allow us to build a social context around our content and products. Social context builds trust and relationships. And when a product is referred to you by someone who you like and trust, the impact is much greater than when you receive that information from a site you just visited for the first time. Social media is changing the way consumers make decisions:

“A few months ago I was at Best Buy, and I watched as a teenager used his Facebook status to request recommendations on a Nintendo Wii game. He got feedback in real time, and used it to decide what to buy. Recommendations and contextual social search are the future. Is it any wonder I’m not bullshit on search engine optimization’s (SEO) long-term potential?”

In The Thank You Economy, Vaynerchuk also predicts that social engines are going to begin integrating sites like Facebook and Twitter. In the future, when you search “Nintendo Wii games” on Google, you are going to see tweets appearing at the top of your screen by people you follow who recently mentioned “Nintendo Wii games.” This is going to add tremendous social context to the information we now get off the internet. As a business, imagine how important it is today to start developing these relationships.

As I mentioned before, a lot of business still don’t have the slightest idea what social media is or how to use it. Gary mentions a recent article on Ad Age called “Most Brands Still Irrelevant on Twitter: Marketers Are Certainly Tweeting, but Users Are Barely Listening.”

“The article actually explains the problem: ‘While marketers such as Dell, Comcast, Ford, and Starbucks have been, at times, clever participants on Twitter, the majority of marketers use it as a mini press release service. Only 12% of messages from marketers are directed at individual users, meaning marketers still see it as a broadcasting medium rather than a conversational one.’ So you see, it’s not that Twitter doesn’t work; it’s that most brands aren’t using Twitter correctly. It’s like saying a trumpet is broken because the first hundred people who try to play it suck. You can’t have a relationship with someone if you won’t shut up and let him or her get a word in edgewise. Brands have to realize that it’s not all about them. When they do nothing but push product, there’s no reason for the consumer to say anything back. It’s like that friend you have who always talks about herself and never asks how you’re doing. Eventually, she gets tiresome, and you lose interest in keeping the relationship.”

Holy shit does this message ring true for me! I find so many businesses and brands on Twitter are not using it correctly at all. After reading the Thank You Economy, I’ve made a conscious effort to go through everyone I’m following on Twitter – and if I don’t see that “@” sign being used, I unfollow them, because they completely miss the point of social media.

When I use Facebook and Twitter, I try to respond back to anyone that shows the slightest interest in what I do. And if someone shares a link I say “thank you,” because the point of social media is that businesses need to start listening to other people and showing appreciation toward those who support them. Remember, we’re going back to a word of mouth economy, and simply broadcasting your message (jamming it down people’s throats without listening or engaging) is going to become more and more irrelevant. Again, consumers are going to start expecting more from the companies they do business with.

In business, it’s so important to start listening to people. Not just for closing sales, but for doing research into what people want and adjusting your business accordingly. The other day someone critiqued something I wrote in an article, I thought they had a good point, so I went in and edited my post. Hello? Social media is a tremendous tool for improving your content. Sometimes I ask people, “What do you want to know about X?” And I get replies and then shape my next blog post according to those demands. That’s also why I post polls on my sidebar and on Facebook. I want to know what other people think. As I mentioned before, social media gives you the chance to correct and improve on things within a public domain; and people will begin to notice that you take notice. It matters to them.

Yeah I know – I’m not the best “public speaker.” Actually, for most of my life I’ve hated it. But this blog isn’t about staying within the boundaries of the past, right? It’s about exploration, making mistakes, and learning to overcome those boundaries. This is just as much true for personal development as it is for professional development, working on your career, or running a business. I’ll get better (I promise)!

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However, in the midst of these complex economic hierarchies, there is an emerging generation of self-bossers, freelancers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and independent minds who don’t want to work a 9-5 or assimilate to today’s corporate culture. They want to have more control over their labor and what they produce. And today this is more possible than ever before.

Are you a self-bosser?

Are you a part of that growing minority who can’t imagine working for someone else or having a boss loom over their shoulder 24/7? Do you loathe taking orders and only cherish spending time as you see fit?

If not, that’s okay. Plenty of people are more than happy to spend their working lives under the jurisdiction of someone else. As long as you enjoy your job, it doesn’t make you any less of a person; in fact, in many ways it can be smarter, easier, and more financially stable to work as an employee for another company rather than start your own endeavor. However, this article probably isn’t for you. If you prefer working for another person’s business, but perhaps you are experiencing some trouble at your current job, then check out this article: 10 Reasons You’re Losing Your Mind At Work.

On the other hand, this post is intended for a smaller percentage of people who simply can’t imagine having to work for someone else. They value their free time and creativity so much that they are willing to do anything it takes to become self-employed or manage their own business. They desire more productive and creative control over their time, and therefore they are willing to bare the financial and psychological risks it takes to build a career on their own terms.

Self-bossers see the world differently.

Self-bossers think about the world in a different way than your average worker. They are filled with ideas and visions about the world they live in and what is possible. Their aim is to act out these ideas, to test them in the real world, and learn more as they continue to mold reality to the best of their abilities.

Their visions however are not without boundaries. A self-bosser must be a practical idealist, always exercising his or her control when possible, and not showing too much concern to the realities that lay outside of his or her control.

However, sometimes the territory outside of our control scares us away from claiming power over our lives. While we often recognize that we have responsibility over our actions, we are often afraid of deviating from the norm, making mistakes, failing, and suffering the consequences of our devious behavior.

But it is precisely this devious behavior that defines a self-bosser. One of my favorite contemporary philosophers Brad Spangler once said,

But are you willing to exercise your abnormality for the sake of progress and innovation? I presume that not everyone is willing to bare the risks associated with going against the grain of society, and some probably have a great fear of it.

Being a successful freelancer or entrepreneur will require some degree of stepping outside the norm. Anyone who builds their own career must be innovative in their own way, according to their own knowledge, values, skills, and passion. If we only follow blueprints that have been handed down to us from other authorities in society, then we will never maximize our potential, which is partly unique for every individual.

Self-bossing is self-discovery.

Because we each can only manage ourselves in our own way, self-bossing is also a process of self-discovery. You need to first identify your strengths, weaknesses, intentions, and goals, just like a good employer should identify these attributes of their employees before assigning them a job. The only difference between you and any other employer is that you must build the self-awareness and self-knowledge to know what you are best at.

Only once you discover your capacities and limitations can you begin to exercise them and start building your empire. This is going to take a bit of introspection and self-inquiry. You need to ask yourself what you are capable of, what you desire to create, and what obstacles you may face in the future.

Self-bossers make tiny changes with long-term leverage.

Becoming a self-bosser can seem like a daunting task. You might already be integrated into the corporate world and you have a hard-time imagining how life would be without it. You have to first accept that this is a process that doesn’t take place over night, but over many days, months, and even years. Don’t quit your day job, but start making changes today that will help align you with your goals. Even writing on a blog 10 minutes a night can do wonders to help you organize your thoughts, clarify your values, and face anxieties that many self-bossers face when they begin to make this leap into the unknown.

10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes a night is all it takes to start making the transition. This is a new way of life that you need to start building brick by brick, and finding just a couple little things to do on a daily basis can build up your momentum fast. Start by asking your friends what you are good at, do some research on the internet or at the library, and contact others who may be able to offer you practical advice.

I guarantee you that the hardest part about this whole process is getting started. The more you invest into your projects, the harder it will be to give up or walk away. Focus on the little things now and you will begin to recognize the bigger things building up over time.

Flexible persistence

Obviously staying committed to your goals is a big factor in accomplishing them. However, there is a point where blind persistence can leave you investing more time and more energy in plans that simply aren’t going to work out (in behavioral economics, they call this the “sunk cost fallacy,” our tendency to throw money at bad investments because we want to fix them, but we just end up losing more). This is when you need to recognize failure and adjust your course of action.

Just because you fail at one endeavor doesn’t mean you are a terrible self-bosser. Self-bossers often pride themselves in the mistakes they’ve made in their past because they realize how important they were in their professional growth. Self-bossers are persistent when trying to achieve their ends, but flexible when it comes to the different means that can be used to achieve them. They can have long-term visions, but they also know how to stay focused in the present and adjust their actions when presented with new information.

Smart risks and failing small.

When we first decide to be a self-bosser it can be an enthralling experience. We often have big dreams of the future and we are willing to take big risks to meet those dreams. But while I’ve mentioned that risks are unavoidable, it would be stupid to take out a three hundred thousand dollar business loan and think you are going to be able to build a successful business your first try.

Let’s say you are a musician who wants to record an album. Before you go out to Sam Ash and buy a whole bunch of recording equipment, why not perform your songs live a few times and see how the audience reacts? Although it may hurt temporarily, you want to know if your music is good enough and if people actually enjoy it (and will want to buy it) before you spend all that money for a recording.

By taking smaller risks you find out what areas you need to improve in before you move on to bigger decisions. It’s a process of trial-and-error, but you want to make sure your errors are small enough to be recoverable. This is how you sustain positive growth.

Before I write a whole book and send it off to a hundred publishers, I should probably write a few chapters and get some people’s thoughts on it. You want to get feedback on your work periodically and in moderate doses, so that you can build off of it and not get overwhelmed or discouraged by the bigger failures that often occur when you take bigger risks. Be a smart risk-taker and try to do smaller litmus tests to see if what you are doing is productive or counter-productive.

Start reclaiming your dream today.

You’re not going to become a self-bosser simply by reading this article. I’ve tried to illuminate some of the key components it takes to begin to make the leap, but ultimately this is something that you need to figure out for yourself. I hope at the very least this article has inspired you or motivated you, and I also hope that you now have a clearer picture of some of the things it will take to become successfully self-employed. If you want to read these ideas expanded on with more depth I recommend Jonathan Mead’s “Reclaim You Dreams: An Uncommon Guide To Living On Your Own Terms” – a great self-starter for aspiring self-bosses everywhere.

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So often people live their lives based on the blueprint that has been handed down to them: go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a comfortable job, and then settle down and start a family.

While this lifestyle may be perfectly suitable for some, I have always had other ideas in mind. I’ve always wanted more freedom and more choice. It’s good to know that I’m not alone, and others like Jonathan have already been successful defining their own path and living their dreams.

It can often be a scary thing to start living on your own terms. I’ve experienced the fear firsthand, and I face it everyday moving forward. It takes a great deal of responsibility to take control of your life. It also takes a lot of experimentation and inevitable failure.

It requires a leap that many are not willing to make, but when they make it work, they realize it was well worth the effort.

I’m currently in the same process Mead maps out in Reclaim Your Dreams. I’m facing uncertainty, I’m taking action, and I’m ready to learn from my failures and push forward.

I want to thank Mead for participating in this interview and letting me pick apart his brain a little:

Question #1: The unemployment rate remains high, and a recent article in the NY Times said that many are now seeking the entrepreneurial route. How can your book Reclaim Your Dreams help those who want to become self-employed or start their own business?

Reclaim Your Dreams isn’t a how-to guide to starting your own business. But it is a book that addresses an important pre-requisite to taking the plunge: how to find the courage to follow your heart. Most people sabotage themselves before they’ve even taken the first step. The ownership of their mind is not theirs; it’s overrun by the conditioning and ideas of what other people think they should do. We’re told from an early age that what it’s not okay to be who we are, we need to become something. We’re told that we need to work hard to succeed, and the work is a chore. All of this is nonsense. You don’t need to become anything, who you are right now is what you need to embrace. Work needn’t be a chore, you can do what makes you come alive and find purpose, enjoyment and earn a comfortable living from it as well.

Question #2: What is the single biggest factor that stops people from following
their dreams?

Passive assumption. The belief that things are a certain way without any real evidence to prove it. Most of the things we believe about the world or our capabilities are rooted in these assumptions. The problem is that we haven’t actually tested them, we don’t know if they’re true or not, so we’re really just guessing. That may be okay when you’re playing a game of cards, but when you’re life is at stake it’s better not to guess. It’s better to take what you believe, suspend it, and see what happens when you actually follow your dreams. You’ll be surprised that the repercussions are often vastly overrated.

Question #3: Is there ever a dream that is too big?

The only dream that’s too big is the one that you can’t truly believe in. Or the one that takes you away from living right now.

Question #4: In your book you write about dealing with naysayers, those people who discourage us from pursuing an unconventional lifestyle. Can you share some of that advice?

Well the first thing to remember is that “a statue was never raised to honor a critic.” It’s easy to be a critic, it’s a lot harder to do great things.

With that said the best way to deal with naysayers is to not care. And the only way you can be unaffected is when you get all of your approval from yourself.

Question #5: Instead of living their dreams, many are stuck in nightmare jobs, with nightmare bosses, and nightmare workloads. They want to be independent, but they have families to feed and bills to pay. They have no clue how to escape this prison-like lifestyle – what can these people start doing RIGHT NOW to build a better life?

You can start making more deliberate choices within your current circumstances. In a situation like that there are probably a lot of obligations and commitments that seem mandatory or unquestionable that really aren’t. Start systematically removing the commitments that don’t make you come alive. But start with something small. That might be deciding that you won’t work on the weekends and the evenings anymore, without exception. It might mean that you’re going to write a letter to your boss to explain how you want your working relationship to be. The more we work on these small things, the more courage we build to take bigger steps to creating the life we want.

Question #6: I’ve been collecting a lot of quotes lately. Do you have any favorites you’d like to share?

While we’re on the subject of following your dreams, I’ll share this quote I
highlight in my other ebook, The Zero Hour Workweek.

“The master in the art of living
draws no sharp distinction
between his labor and his leisure,
his mind and his body,
his work and his play,
his education and his recreation.

He hardly knows which.

He simply pursues his vision of excellence
through whatever he is doing
and leaves others to determine
whether his is working or playing.

To himself, he is always doing both.” – James A. Michener

—

That quote is one of my personal favorites. I’ve always explained to friends how I’ll never have a “job” or do “work,” because I absolutely hate the negative connotations attached to those words. To me, the biggest obstacle in life is re-framing your work as a form of play, and then using that playfulness to create awesome things that people value. I sometimes think of this as the “Google mentality” – Work hard. Play hard.

Thanks again Jonathan for sharing a little about your personal philosophy. I think we could all benefit from listening to your advice and applying it more in our lives. I know our paths will cross again soon.

And none of this is a bad thing.

Big screen TVs, Droids, iPads, Xbox 360s, nice cars, underground pools, and summer vacations are all fun. If you can afford them, enjoy them. I recommend it.

This blog certainly isn’t about dismissing wealth. It also isn’t a minimalist blog.

However, I consider myself to have minimalist tendencies. I like thinking of things in the most simplest way possible, and I like to minimize my actions to only what really adds up. I also defend minimalist blogs when others poke fun and say: “If you are truly minimalist, you would get rid of your Macbook, Blackberry, and Wii Fit.”

Why would someone say that?

Because real minimalists don’t have a blog right? All they need is a mountain in Tibet and a good meditation routine. Oh, and all their nutrition comes from the sun!

If you believe this then please press this play button:
(this will only take 3 seconds):

If you don’t believe this then please press this play button:
(this will only take 3 seconds):

Minimalism isn’t a quantity, but an attitude.

You’re making a mistake if you think minimalism can be defined by how many possessions someone has. Here’s why:

• Your possessions don’t necessarily define your reasons for living
• Non-material values can still take precedence over material values, regardless of how much or how little you have.
• Person A may have little material luxury, but want a lot more.
• Person B may have a lot of material luxury, but still be happy if they had a lot less.

Often the more we desire the poorer we feel in comparison. But this is a subjective state of mind, and it can’t be observed based on how much stuff is around you. Instead it is about how you think of the stuff that is around you.

Therefore, minimalism is not a disregard for money. It is not a rejection of it or fear of it. Instead, it is a healthy relationship with money. It is an acceptance of money for what it really is – not evil or divine – but merely a means of exchange. A tool at our disposal.

Minimalists can still achieve simple-living and have material luxury. The key difference is that they don’t let their possessions rule over their lives. If they lost everything in a massive earthquake? So what, they know that life goes on and things will work out. If they keep making more money? That’s great too, but it still doesn’t define their happiness. It is up to you to set the correct pattern in motion whether you have a lot of money or not.

Simplify life by identifying your Ikigai

Ikigai is a Japanese term for “reasons for living.” When we narrow our focus to our core values we are engaging in a minimalist process by cutting out the fluff and leaving only the essentials.

When we align these core values with our career or business or finances, then we have achieved a true minimalist dream. Work is no longer distracting or tiresome or overbearing, but an effortless flow.

A few questions to help identify your Ikigai:

• What part of your day do you enjoy the most?
• What can you see yourself doing long-term and never getting bored of?
• What are your non-material values (knowledge, kindness, compassion, meaningful relationships, creativity…)

My 3-Step Minimalist Plan To Make Money

Arguably the most difficult part of life is trying to make money in accordance with our highest values. Many wrongly assume that making money might be a contradiction to a truly moral or dignified life. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. As we touched on before, money is only a means. It is up to us to choose where it takes us.

I grew up in a privileged community but I wasn’t able to find happiness through material luxury. This frustrated me. At times I wanted to just disown everything and run away. Moving to a mountain in Tibet was looking rather tempting!

A lot of this frustration is what fueled me to start this site. It became a way for me to relinquish selfish needs and begin to provide value to others. I got a natural high off of it, and discovered that this must be my passion.

However, if you look around you’ll notice this site hardly makes any money. There are zero ads and no products for sale. The only thing I have are a few affiliate links buried in old articles.

Now it is up to me to take this craft and learn how to make it profitable. It has been almost a year since I have graduated college and I have zero income. I can’t live with my parents forever, something has to change. Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a self-employed entrepreneur, but it had to be achieved doing what I love.

Here are the main frontiers of my plan:

STEP 1: Blogging and Relationships

No surprises here. I love writing and I love sharing advice. This stuff comes effortlessly to me to the point where I don’t consider it work at all – it’s only play. When you find yourself providing value to others and loving it, that is a good sign that you can maybe transform that activity into something that makes money and puts food on the table.

Therefore the first part of my business model is to continue writing quality articles and building up an audience. A big part of this will be building real relationships with my readers and connecting personally to everyone who visits the site. Help me accomplish this by sending me an email: contact@theemotionmachine.com.

STEP 2: Create Quality Products

This is a lot easier said than done. However, it’s a lot simpler to decide on a product or service after you have defined your Ikigai. I now have more than a solid two years of serious writing, and I’ve also built up a lot of knowledge and passion over those years. I don’t doubt that I will run into some obstacles along the way, but I have confidence that I can write a kick-ass e-book that people will truly value and want to purchase. My workflow will need some adjustments here and there, but I’m doing what I love so the struggle will be minimal.

STEP 3: Exercise More

To you this may seem like it has nothing to do with making money. But for me getting exercise is an integral part of my minimalist routine. It will help me deal with any stress I accumulate throughout the day, and it will also help me feel better and be more confident in myself. For most of my life I never took part in any kind of exercise and this really hurt me both physically and mentally. Without this balance I know I won’t be able to run the best business I want to run.

These are the three main things I feel I need to focus on to build success. They may not work for you, but I hope in a couple months from now I can point you to this article and say, “This simple way of looking at things really helped me to make money doing what I love.”

Questions for readers.

• Do you agree with my definition of minimalism? Can someone own a lot but still not cling to their possessions?
• How does money fit into your worldview? In what ways can billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet still be men of “moral integrity?”
• Do you make a living following a minimalist plan?
• How much do you compromise your Ikigai (“reasons for living”) for financial security?