Break the Twitch

Own Your Attention, Build Better Habits | Minimalism, Habits, & Focus

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How to Meditate and Why You Should Try It

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I learned about meditation back in my High School days and have been practicing it on and off ever since. Recently, I’ve found that I really enjoy taking some time out of my day to just breathe and be present. Remember, there are many wonderful forms of meditation and prayer that you can explore, this is just one way that I like to practice.

Most importantly, meditation doesn’t need to be intimidating. If you’re wondering how to meditate, or simply how to get started, check out this video. I explain why I started meditating, the benefits I’ve seen, and provide some tips on how to get started with meditation.

The Four Types of Personal Growth: Which One Do You Need Right Now?

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As I enter this new phase of my life, largely having complete control over my time, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how I should be spending my time and attention. Outside of a typical career, personal growth can be a little more difficult to track. Without the traditional promotions and positions, I’ve had to come up with my own definitions of growth and success. Right now, reigning in my schedule, creating my own accountability structure, and working efficiently are my priorities.

Historically, I’ve allowed myself to get distracted by exciting new projects, meeting random interesting people, and generally expanding my social sphere. What I’ve realized in the past few weeks, is that right now is not the time for that particular type of growth. Currently, my primary focus is making videos and writing for this site, as I have a ton of ideas and opportunities to do so–now it’s simply a matter of producing and executing on that plan.

That’s what got me thinking about these different types of personal growth and how, if we’re able to recognize which we need, we can make better decisions on how to spend our time and energy. Each type of personal growth will benefit us more or less depending on whether we need to discover new interests and redefine who we are, or simply go ‘heads down’ and crank out the work.

While they can be blended, even switched back and forth each day or week, it’s important to be aware of which type you’re currently in. That way, your attention can be focused in a meaningful way on achieving that particular type of growth. Knowing this will also prevent you from getting too laser focused on the wrong narrow path if what you really need is to be expanding yourself in all directions.

This is the first time I’ve shared this idea about the types of personal growth, so please check out the video above and leave a comment below when you’ve figured out which type you’re geared towards right now. I’d love to hear what you think!

Make One Small Change to Create Massive Results

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We all have aspirations and goals, but what is standing between us and those dreams? Most of the time, it’s one small change that can create tremendous results. All it takes is a shift of mentality and a bit of action.

A common thing many of us do (and something I used to do) when starting on a new goal is to talk about it. It’s a habit of declaring what we’re going to do next — either for ourselves or for others to hear. Sometimes, simply talking about the thing feels like enough of an accomplishment that you feel like you’ve made progress, even when you really haven’t. Which person would you rather be, someone who “says” you’re going to do something or someone who actually does it?

This is a potential pitfall you can avoid. Simply take the thing you said you were going to do, find the easiest action you can take, and then do it immediately. For example, if you want to exercise more, you can start with a single push-up per day. With this trick, it doesn’t matter how small the action is; all that matters is that you took action towards your goal. 

Continuing with the exercise example, perhaps you started with a single push-up a day for a week. After the first week, let’s say you were able to go up to two push-ups a day.  By slowly dialing up on the number of push-ups, by week 52, it’s likely you’d be able to do 52 push-ups a day. 

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Now, if you had chosen to start the exercise routine by going full tilt and doing as many push-ups as you could, you’d likely burn out on the first day or so. You’d just be too sore to keep going. By keeping the action immediate and small, there’s lower resistance from Newton’s Third Law, and it’s easier to be consistent with the action. 

This technique works the same way for any other goal or objective you’re trying to reach. Just take the smallest thing you can do, do it, and keep on building up from there. Below are some examples for how to take immediate action and make one small change based on bigger goals.

  • Read one page of a new book (instead of the goal to read a book)
  • Write 250 words a day (instead of the goal of writing a book)
  • Eat an apple (instead of the goal of eating healthier foods)
  • Start getting ready for bed an hour earlier before you usually do (instead of the goal wake up earlier)
  • Put your phone on silent and away in another room while working (instead of the goal of less phone time)

While it may be simple, the small change does make a difference. Over the last three years, this philosophy has allowed me to become a minimalist, declutter our home, build a popular blog, and recently quit my full-time job. You can use the same strategies to accomplish whatever you desire.

Make One Small Change to Create Massive Results // We all have aspirations and goals, but what's standing between us and those dreams? It's one small change that creates massive results. // breakthetwitch.com

Why I Became A Minimalist

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If you’re new to minimalism or considering becoming a minimalist, it may be helpful to learn about why I became a minimalist and why I continue to use minimalism as  a filter for my life.

Minimalism has become a filter for the decisions I make in my life. Before minimalism, I tried buying happiness through numerous purchases on Amazon, and it didn’t bring me joy (pun intended) to see how much all my purchases added up to over the years. 

Pulling four years of my Amazon purchase history resulted in a rather large number. It was after seeing the total and the same purchase patterns happening over and over that I embraced the idea to become a minimalist. In fact, it’s also the reason behind why I started Break The Twitch. Seeing the “Twitch” of the one-click purchases  made me realize that the Twitch also applied to many other areas of life. 

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The Twitch is not just limited to one-click purchases. Think about checking our phones, think about social media, scrolling through the timelines and endless newsfeeds. The Twitch encompasses the impulse actions that do not align with our long-term vision of health, happiness, and purpose in our lives.

Since embracing minimalism, I’ve seen several significant impacts in my life. Below are some other reasons why I chose to become a minimalist.

Greater Flexibility

Another reason I became a minimalist is because of the greater flexibility that comes with the lifestyle. If you don’t have monthly payments on expensive or luxury things that stretch you beyond what you’re able to reasonably afford, you’ll have more flexibility in life. This flexibility provides you with more leeway in your budget and your schedule to experiment with a life change, try new things, or travel on a whim.

More Space, Less Clutter

Aside from flexibility, I became a minimalist because minimalism creates space. It creates space to find ourselves and what’s important to us. This space results in greater clarity because of clutter’s absence—be it mental, digital, or physical clutter. With greater space, there are fewer things to distract you from what really matters to you. With more space and less clutter, I’ve been able to realize that I love traveling. Before embracing minimalism, travel felt more out of reach and too much of a hassle, along with being more unaffordable. 

I’ve been able to afford to travel more since I became a minimalist. With greater flexibility and space, I’ve been able to take on fantastic opportunities to volunteer my time in other countries that have let me give back in a meaningful way. Those are things I could not have done had I not embraced this lifestyle. 

Less Clothing Maintenance

One thing I’ve been enjoying since becoming a minimalist is how much less time laundry takes. Honestly, after getting rid of about 70% of my clothing, my life has gotten so much easier. I only have to do about two loads per week or so—one load of dark and one load of lights. I fold them up, the clean clothes go into the closet or drawer, and I’m done. 

Before, I would have piles and piles of laundry overflowing the hamper. I found that I was feeling resentful towards giving time to clothing that I didn’t care about. There was this recurring process where I’d end up wearing clothing I didn’t even like once all the clothes I liked were worn and in the dirty laundry pile. Then I’d end up having to wash and take care of loads of laundry consisting of many pieces I didn’t even like, and the overall process was taking too much of my time. 

If you’re interested in ways to declutter your clothing, consider these popular decluttering methods. Courtney Carver also has a fantastic program called Project 333, and I would highly recommend you check it out. It’s a framework for creating a wardrobe that will work well for you. 

Increased Confidence

Yet another reason why I became a minimalist is that through the process, I noticed I was becoming more confident. Now, this was a result that I didn’t expect. It was pretty strange when I started feeling this coming through. As I began getting rid of things around me, I started to realize that I was not attached to those things—that my value had nothing to do with my possessions. 

I grew more confident in deciding which items I needed and which items I could let go. Going through the decluttering process helped me realize that I never needed many of the items in the first place. That I’m fine without those items. 

I genuinely believe that there’s a type of minimalism that works for everyone. It’s normal to feel intimidated when you hear the word minimalism. I often see a visible recoil whenever I say the word to someone in a conversation until we talk more in-depth about it. It’s only after a lengthier discussion that I see an enlightened look or a sense of relief when they learn more about what minimalism can look like. 

When they learn that minimalism is more about the idea that we don’t have to chase the things we don’t want to chase, it becomes a lot less intimidating.  Through minimalism, we can create more flexibility, space, time, and confidence to live a more intentional life.