Simple Living: 3 Resources You Can't Live Without
Ranked #12,739 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #498,511 overall
The Power of Less Helps You Move From Chaotic to Calm
Let's start with The Power of Less by taking a look at this book and its approach to simplicity. The book's author, Leo Babauta, is well-known as a leader in the simplicity movement. He, like many of us, took a life that was overfilled and chaotic and pared it to down to something much simpler and more pleasing for himself. In the process, he also found ways to revamp his financial situation to something much stronger and more stable by changing careers.
The Power of Less is a book that you should read because it's a good, quick read that's packed with no-nonsense ideas. It's centered around six principles - beginning with setting limitations and choosing the essentials followed up with lessons to simplify, focus, create habits and start small.
When you put these six principles into action, you see that his plan makes a lot of sense - simple sense that will handily take you out of the mindset of going and having and doing, to a mindset of connection with what's meaningful and necessary in your life.
Besides giving you the six simple principles to live by, the book also give you practical tips for implementing each one. While the principles are simple, implementing them takes some time and discipline, and the book gives encouragement in that direction. As a part of a plan for moving from chaotic to calm, you will find this book instrumental. Soon, you'll be enjoying a life that's less anxious, clutter free, and full of things that you enjoy!
The Power of Less
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The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life
Amazon Price: $7.94 (as of 02/16/2012)
List Price: $16.99
"THE POWER OF LESS is one of the more logically written, user-friendly manual companions for self-improvement available in book form. Leo Babauta succeeds where many others fail because he converses with the reader instead of setting out a grand plan, scheme or recipe as a checklist for obsessive self-help book readers. His writing style is casual yet intelligent, supportive, and encouraging.
The quest for simplifying our too chaotic lives is the driver for this book. Babauta has a way of presenting his thoughts that challenges the reader to examine just how cluttered our days have become. And if our days are cluttered with addictions to email, blog sites, and other fixations on the internet, he offers ways to re-think the priorities we have established in this immediate communication world in order to find a sense of balance for living the lives we all desire. Early on in the book Babauta presents two principles that remain the key to the book: 1) 'By setting limitations, we must choose the essential. So in everything you do, learn to set limitations'. and 2) 'By choosing the essential, we create great impact with minimal resources. Always choose the essential to maximize your time and energy.' The remainder of this easy to digest book takes the reader on the journey of learning how to implement these principles.
If there could be only one reason to read this book it would be to gain an appreciation for just how cluttered our lives have become, and unfortunately, lost in that clutter are such vital treasures as true interpersonal friendships and tending to our fellow human beings. And that is reason enough to read THE POWER OF LESS: the discovery of the essentials will follow."
Release Date: 12/30/2008
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The 4-Hour Work Week Teaches a More Practical Way of Living and Viewing Wealth
In his book, The 4 Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferris offers a lot of interesting insight into what it takes to streamline your business and your life, while still accumulating wealth. It also reminds you that wealth can take different forms and giving up your life for the sake of putting currency in your pocket isn't what it's all about - even though we all know it's a big deal.In The 4 Hour Work Week, four different sections help you to make your life simpler and easier to handle, freeing up time and energy for enjoyable pursuits, or business pursuits that you love. One of the ideas behind this book is that you must focus your energy on what you're good at, and not worry so much about the rest.
The four sections help you learn to define your own objectives for your life, eliminate distractions, free yourself from the traditional expectations that might be hampering you and automating your cash flow to increase income.
Each section takes a different approach to simplifying and streamlining, and combined, they all point to a result that is a much happier you. The book is also filled with a long list of ideas that you can use to free up time, money and energy, all while still encouraging you to work on what is going to make your life the most productive and meaningful that it can be, and satisfying your goals for simplicity.
For learning the difference between doing what you ought to do, want to do and need to do, and then using that knowledge to move forward, this book is wonderful. With the right time management guidance, you can easily implement the ideas Ferris offers to pare your workweek down to a mere 4 hours!
The 4 Hour Work Week
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The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Amazon Price: $14.98 (as of 02/16/2012)
List Price: $24.95
"This book is NOTHING LESS than incredible! If you want to change your life forever, then it is a must read. Buy it! I have purchased both the audio and print book (I first bought the audio book and was so impressed, I wanted the print version as a `workbook' to help work through the material.)
Why should I buy this book you ask? There are many reasons:
1.He provides a solution for taking back control of your life if you have the determination and drive to do so. It's that simple.
2.He illustrates a step by step plan for doing the above and provides a plethora of resources to use.
3.He doesn't just tell you (like many other books) that money will give you back control of your life. Instead he truthfully and accurately explains that it is your freedom, time and passions that fill you with life. As Tim says, "People don't want to be millionaires - they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy" (p.8). At the same time, for those interested, he provides ways and ideas to increase your financial resources by using more efficient methods - but the point is made clear that you don't need gross amounts of money to really enjoy the good things in life, including travel, nor do you have to wait until the golden years.
4.He gives you practical, useful tools for achieving what YOU want out of life; and these tools are immediately applicable. For example, how to go on the "Low-Information Diet" and eliminate unfocused, wasted time.
5.Much of what he teaches is applicable to your life in general, not just your career or financial future. From overcoming fear to focusing your efforts on truly important tasks, he provides REAL LIFE solutions. I love the way this guy thinks!
6.He reminds you to think with your OWN brain and not follow the crowd. To question everything and come up with your own answers and then test them to see what happens. That's what he did, so he practices what he preaches. Now granted, he's not the first person to do this, but he does it in a new way, one that caught my full attention and I think will catch yours too.
7.The proof is in the pudding (or in this case, in the kickboxing ring or on the dance floor). Tim IS and has proof that his methods work, if YOU work his methods. He provides case studies and examples.
Tim asks the question, "Why do it all in the first place? (i.e. work 9-5 or longer hours in the corporate world, save, wait, and then retire later in life when you are too old to really enjoy it). After examination and experimentation he concludes, "The commonsense rules of the `real world' are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions" (p.9). I happen to agree with him and have always dreamed of the lifestyle he shows how to live - not one where I'm just pursuing money to become a millionaire, but one where I have the freedom and resources to live a life of adventure and challenge WHILE I'm growing older - to travel, to do, to be what I want. I didn't know how to achieve this type of lifestyle. Tim shows you how. Thank you Tim, I've been searching for these answers for some time and now I'm going to seize the day!!!"
Release Date: 04/24/2007
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The Ultimate in Simplifying
Elaine St. James is credited with starting what is known as the simplicity movement. In her book, Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter, she suggests many powerful yet simple changes that anyone can make to help bring focus to life and all the things that will make a healthy difference.The book gives many hints, tips and suggestions for clearing the clutter. Not just physical clutter, but all the stuff that clutters up your life - all those things that take up space and time and energy, but that aren't worth it compared to what we deem to be really important. As life continues to heap demands on us, Elaine St. James shares her wisdom for slowing down and finding calm and peace of mind in a life that is filled with less.
Every aspect of life is covered in this book - career, health, home, social obligations, finance - you name it. Some of the suggestions in the book might seem extreme for some, and that's okay! No book is one size fits all, and you might not want to completely give up your phone (or email).
But the basic concept of this book is extremely valuable and timeless. It encourages each of us to stop and think about what's really necessary and what is just taking up time, space or energy in our lives. If you really want to be living the life you want , then you have to take steps to make it happen. This book is filled with compelling thoughts that anyone can use to create more clarity and a sense of well-defined living.
Simplify Your Life
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Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter
Amazon Price: $2.65 (as of 02/16/2012)
List Price: $9.95
"The subtitle describes this book well - "100 ways to slow down and enjoy the things that really matter". The key words in this subtitle are, "enjoy the things that really matter". The book has many good suggestions from cutting your laundering chore in half to drop call waiting!
The book is written for those who are overwhelmed and overextended and is full of simple tips that can relieve some of these feeling.
It is a simple book to read, but one that has many good suggestions, actually 100 suggestions, for simplifying your life.
No matter where you are on your journey to a simpler life, this is a great book to read and start implementing tips to allow you time to do the things you really enjoy!"
Release Date: 04/15/1994
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What Obstacles Make Your Life Feel Overwhelming?
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archetekt
Mar 16, 2009 @ 9:53 pm | delete
- The Four Hour Workweek is an awesome book! I listen to the audios while driving.
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by MySimpleLife
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