Hmm.
Hey,
I'm Connie [inaudible] and in today's 
video I want to share with you why I 
became a minimalist and how it has been 
such a huge,
huge game changer for me ever since I 
consciously embrace this lifestyle about
seven years ago now.
It's been awhile and I'm making this 
video because lately I've been 
rediscovering just how important a 
minimalist lifestyle and I am a 
minimalist approach to living and being 
and working.
Just how important that really is to me 
and my life and my business.
Minimalism really is the way that I live
and work and make decisions and yes,
I'm a digital nomad and I have been for 
most of this time,
but it's not just about things.
It's about so much more than just the 
physical stuff that we own and the main 
reason that I adopted this way of living
goes way,
way deeper.
Let's talk about what minimalism really 
is before I share with you how I came to
fully embrace this way of being and 
doing and living in thinking.
So here's a little quick and dirty 
definition of minimalism.
Less is more,
less is better,
and that enables you to be less 
distracted from what's really important 
in life to you and that might be very 
subjective so you get rid of all the 
clutter,
all the things that are not essential,
and what remains is that what really 
mattered
as a minimalist,
you're constantly asking,
is this adding value to my life and if 
not,
if that's the answer,
then you let it go and to me it's really
not just about owning less and 
decluttering physical things,
minimalism,
there's so much more than just about 
stuff I applied to all areas of life,
business productivity,
social media decisions,
relationships,
finances,
goals,
work space,
digital space.
The concept of minimalism can be applied
to every area of your life and I think 
that's why it's so powerful.
Discovery,
minimalism,
really me to start questioning 
everything in life.
It helped me to realize and reflect on 
what is really my truth as connie you 
and not just programming and 
conditioning.
It really helped me to distinguish 
between this is society,
this is comes from my family.
This comes from how we're conditioned 
and this is who I really am.
Just one tiny little detail up front.
So my brain is generally very active and
it gets overwhelmed really quickly.
It's always been like that.
And so when I discovered minimalism,
it was Kinda like,
ugh.
Finally a relief to all this stuff that 
was going on up here.
The reason that I know that it's so easy
for me to meditate every day and 
exercise and have all these healthy 
habits is because my big why is I want 
to chill,
chilled his brain out every day and feel
more relaxed and at peace and I don't 
like to feel stressed out.
My limit as to how much stress I can 
take and overwhelm is tiny.
So back in 2011,
you know,
I'd been a nomad,
an analog nomad for years.
Ever since I was a teenager,
living all over the place.
And and in 2011,
I found myself in my first real nine to 
five job back in Berlin and I was really
miserable and I discovered the book,
the four hour work week by Tim Ferriss.
Through reading that book,
I discovered all these lifestyles in 
ways of living and it helped me to start
questioning everything in life and 
because I was so unhappy after a couple 
of weeks at the job and I just couldn't 
see myself living a nine to five life 
for the rest of my existence,
I was looking for solutions.
My ultimate goal was freedom.
It's always been freedom ever since I 
can think of.
I always wanted freedom.
That's why I started traveling so early 
and living in all these different 
places.
That's why minimalism from years to 
move,
but freedom for me was always the thing.
I just could not see myself being an 
employee and living in the same city,
doing the same job at the same desk for 
years on end.
And so the solution to that problem,
as I eventually discovered through the 
four hour work week and then some other 
stuff was become a digital nomad,
create an online business and then 
you're good to go.
You can travel the world and you can 
live wherever you wind.
You can work when you're one where you 
want as many hours as you want and 
really also make an impact with your 
work as an entrepreneur rather than 
being an employee.
And as I was going down that rabbit hole
of lifestyle design,
lifestyle business,
it didn't take much for me to come 
across blogs by Liam about us and 
habits.
The minimalists and Colin,
right at exiled lifestyle.
And also another guy that I discovered 
who was really big at the time with his 
blog about minimalism but doesn't exist 
anymore,
was called far beyond the stars.
So it came across minimalism at a time 
where I had started slowly to really 
question conventional ways of being and 
working especially.
And as I was reading through all these 
blogs,
I just felt so much relief because there
were people who felt like me who had the
same desire,
namely freedom and just less 
overwhelmed.
They put it into words and they 
verbalized it,
and that word minimalism just hit me so 
hard.
And I was like,
yes,
that's it.
That's it.
It just,
it was just boom.
Everything was so clear that,
wow,
finally I am not alone in my struggles 
and there's other people who have the 
same needs and desires and interests.
And through the process of diving into 
this new approach to life,
it really helped me to find my identity 
and who I really am and my truth.
I mean,
to be fair,
my coming out was probably the first big
step into really figuring out who I am,
but embracing minimalism and then 
consequently the digital nomad lifestyle
and becoming an entrepreneur that I'd 
had such a huge impact to who I really 
am.
And really going deeper into the meaning
of life and my purpose here on this 
planet.
In practical terms,
I started to declutter the stuff that 
wasn't even a lot of stuff,
so I downsized to 100 things.
I got a bit obsessed maybe I like to as 
maybe some of you know,
I get interested,
then I get passionate and then 
eventually I get obsessed with a few 
things and that's cool.
So I just,
I got into it and I was like,
all right,
100 things.
It is.
And I even ended up in the newspaper and
on television because I was writing 
about it and on my blogs back then.
And so it was,
it was really awesome and I loved it.
And so the rest is basically history.
The number of possessions has been up 
and down over the years,
you know,
I don't keep track.
It was,
it was fun for a while and it was 
important to me for awhile,
but essentially minimalism is not about 
the number of things you all want and it
generally isn't just the bad things.
For many years I used to only travel 
with carry on luggage.
I wouldn't check in any bags,
but today I own more camera gear and 
podcasting gear and so I have a few more
things that I carry around the world as 
a digital nomad and hence I do check in 
a bag a lot of times even though I'm 
kind of about how can I downsize again 
because I really don't like checking in 
bags.
So seven years later I'm still a digital
nomad.
I don't own much.
I did have a home base here or there for
short periods during those seven years 
in Bali and in a little bit in Berlin as
well,
but even when I did have a home,
I didn't really accumulate much staff 
and when I did I would just declutter 
really very frequently.
And so to this day I still don't own 
much.
I don't have a house,
I don't have an apartment at this point.
My,
I stay with my girlfriend when I'm in La
and otherwise I stay in airbnbs like 
right now and I choose minimalist 
airbnb.
It's like I look at the photos and when 
there's too much clutter on like love 
Max.
I do have a few things at my mom's house
in Germany,
but it's mostly just a couple of winter 
stuff and a couple of books and I have a
little box or a bag in Bali in a soft 
board,
but that again is not a whole lot of 
stuff and and other than that I just 
have my,
my big bag and I have my backpack and 
that's it.
I might make an extra video about all 
the things I own maybe,
but after all the essence remains,
which is I just don't like things I 
don't like clutter.
Let it be physical material or 
immaterial and I don't like distractions
and I don't want things in my life that 
weigh me down physically,
mentally,
emotionally.
Minimalism enables me to experience true
freedom,
freedom from overwhelm,
freedom from location,
just in so many ways that are so 
beautiful to me.
I have so much more peace of mind in my 
brain and that enables me to live more 
and really focus on the things that are 
meaningful and important to me.
Things that really matter and it helps 
me to fully use my energies,
my time,
and ultimately my potentials to really 
create something meaningful with my time
and my work and thus create true value 
in this world and also like to say 
consume less,
create more.
Being a minimalist definitely allows me 
to do that by getting rid of 
distractions,
optimizing my productivity,
and that allows me to create every 
single day like this video.
And lastly,
agents really don't care about stuff.
I just,
I just don't.
I'm not into things.
I don't like clutter.
I don't like stuff just to have stuff.
I'm all about experiences over things.
I'm all about experiencing life.
We can't take anything with us when we 
die anyway,
and when I'm on my deathbed,
am I going to remember the stuff that I 
bought?
I'm going to remember the amazing 
experiences that I've had and what will 
you remember when you die?
So instead of investing my money into 
things and just stuff,
I invested in experiences.
I invested in traveling.
I invested in events and workshops and 
conferences and retreats.
I invested in getting a life coach or 
business coach.
I invested in good,
healthy,
high quality food.
I invested in staying in,
yeah,
of course.
Nice spacious airbnb apartments when I'm
traveling and I missed it in kindle 
books because I love reading and growing
and I like to have a lot of time to read
every single day and minimalism allows 
me then to,
I believe we find true fulfillment,
not through the consumption of more 
things and more information,
but through life itself and minimalism 
helps me live more.
It helps me to live on purpose and 
create more meaning every day.
And that's to me kind of the purpose of 
it all.
How about you share with me in the 
comments,
what do you think about minimalism?
Are you a minimalist and,
or what other approach to life has been 
such a game changer for you?
And that's it.
My friends.
Um,
one last thing.
Check out my podcast.
I just launched my new podcast.
I had one before.
Now I have a new one.
It's the Cani of bizarre ski podcasts.
Go and check it out.
I'll put all the links below,
but just go to your favorite podcast app
and it's there for sure,
and if you enjoyed this video,
give it like one of these and subscribe 
for more and I'll see you in the next 
one.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate you and your attention.
Thank you.
Bye.
