Minimalism will look different for everyone, and I’d like to share my version of what it looks like for Amy and me. For us, minimalism has been an essential part of doing more of what matters—in a way that works best for our lifestyle and goals.

This isn’t your white-walled, extreme minimalist home. Over the last few years, we’ve used minimalism to create a space that works really well for everything we need on a daily basis. Call it practical or rational minimalism, where you get to define what it looks like for you.

Despite the fact that minimalism has risen exponentially in popularity over the last several years, it’s still hard to avoid the overwhelming mainstream consumer culture. It seems like everywhere we go we’re bombarded by advertisements with images of perfect lives that we might be able to capture if we just had that one more thing.

And that’s right where they want to keep us—just one more thing away from having it all.

This pressure to consume can come from all directions, not just from companies wanting us to spend on the goods they have to offer. Sometimes other people in our lives can apply similar pressure, through certain expectations of what a successful life might look like to them.

Some questions I received recently inspired this perspective on why minimalism is essential for me. There is no shortage of articles or videos about minimalism out there, but this is important.

I share quite a bit about our own minimalism journey here on Break the Twitch. In fact, it’s the reason why I started this blog. Minimalism is one of the core topics I talk about regularly, along with habits and creativity.

In my worldview, minimalism is key to the framework for doing more of what matters—and here’s why it starts with minimalism.