25 tips on how to live more simply

"A man is the richer the more things he can afford to be deprived of." - Henry David Thoreau

For 9 years now I have been learning to I live more simply. A life cleared of most of the things people fill their lives with, and with space open to what really matters.

A life that is not constantly busy with rushing and running around, but with contemplation and creation, connectedness with the people I love and time spent being active in nature.

That doesn't mean I have zero junk and zero complications: I'm part of the world, not a hermit monk. I have belongings, electronics, distractions and the occasional overload. I've just scaled them down to make room.

I've been reflecting on this simplified life today and thought I'd share some of those musings.

Here are those 25 tips on how to live more simply, which I learned from the simpler life:

1. Decluttering your home and work space can make your mind less cluttered. This visual load affects us more than we realize.

2. A quiet and peaceful morning is priceless. I wake up early to have time to read, write, meditate.

3. You cannot live more simply if you are not willing to give up the things you are used to.

4. Quitting can be hard, but it's easier if you do it as a month-long challenge. To give something up for a month and see if you like it or not.

5. Giving up cable TV was one of the best things we did in the beginning. No more blaring TV at home, no more junk ads we don't need.

6. Shopping is not therapy. It is a waste of time and money.

7. If you're filling your life with distractions, it's probably because you're afraid of what it would be like to live without constant internet, social media, news, TV, games, snacks.

8. Simple, healthy food is not only better than fast snacks: it is a pleasure.

9. You need to free up time for what is important: time spent with your children, with your loved one, time to create, time to be physically active. Remove everything else to free up time.

10. Overcommitment is the biggest sin against the simple life that most people commit. It was painful for me to cut a huge number of commitments to simplify my life, but I'm glad I did. I do it almost every year again because I keep forgetting.

11. I try to keep my days unplanned and unstructured for the most part so that I have room for the little things that are so important: reading with my child, going for a walk, taking a nap.

12. There are certain things I do every day, although not on a schedule: write, read, eat healthy food, exercise or play with the kids outside, check the mail, read with the kids.

13. It's easy to fill up our lives because there are so many things that sound amazing. We hear what others are doing and want to bring it into our lives. But it's harder to remember that by bringing so many things into our lives, we're taking up space. And this space is important.

14. By saying NO to things that sound cool as hell, we're saying YES to what's really important.

15. Distractions are both more tempting and more destructive than we think.

16. It's tempting to fill every minute of the day with productivity or entertainment. Don't do it. Leave some space.

17. We put too much emphasis on excitement. This is temporary and not important.

18. We overestimate productivity. Concentration, priorities and efficiency are more important. Just as important is a nice walk with a loved one.

19. If you can't sit in a room, in silence and alone, without distractions, you can't simplify your life.

20. Buying things doesn't solve our problems. The food too.

21. It is not about having few things. The point is that these things matter.

22. Better to have six books that you actually read than a hundred that you never get around to.

23. When you travel with light luggage, you are freer, less burdened, less tired. This applies to life, not just travel.

24. Attention is your most valuable possession. Give it as a gift to the people you love the most, not to a bunch of clowns on the internet. Give it to the work that matters most to you, not the distractions.