Bite sized goals

We’re almost to 2018. Most people will make resolutions. And most of those resolutions will be unsuccessful. Why? Primarily, because the goals/resolutions are way too big. Let me explain a little clearer by going through my goals for 2018

The first thing in 2018 that I want to do is lose weight and be healthy. Many people will be making this resolution. Now, if you put a target for the end of the year, that’s nice, but that’s 365 days off. Why not break that down into something smaller. For me, my goal is to lose 2 pounds per week. In January, I won’t be having any processed food, no alcohol, basically the whole 30 diet, with a couple of modifications. I’m going to allow myself pinto beans and cheese. I have to make a change in my life, and I know that I can, because I did great in October and November. And then the end of November and December hit, and I didn’t do great at all. I have to be more consistent. And that’s where those smaller goals come in.

Our lease on our rental house expires the end of June. We will either be moving to another rental house or buying a house. There is a lot of work that we need to do to downsize and minimize our stuff. Again, instead of making a large goal, I’m breaking it up into smaller, more focused goals. The month of January will be focused on our garage, February will be focused on our office and March will be focused on our bedroom. This way, we can spend the time needed to go through things and figure what is needed and what isn’t needed.

And that’s it. Those are my two goals for 2018. The other thing we try to do is that we try to do too much and again, we lose focus and direction and end up failing.

So as you’re thinking through your resolutions or goals for 2018, how are you making them bite sized? How are setting up a strategy to succeed? Comment with what you’re doing!

Looking back, looking forward

2017 is almost done. At the end of the year, it’s time to take a look back at the year, find things that were good and weren’t good, and then look ahead to the upcoming year. I’ll share more about my personal goals for 2018 tomorrow.

My first gut reaction in thinking about 2017 is that it sucked. I can’t really be more blunt than that. Why? Well, it goes back to 2016. In November of 2016, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It spread quickly throughout his body and in March of 2017, he was called home. My parents live 3 hours from me, so I had lots of back and forth trips. I am not complaining, that’s my responsibility as their son. But that cast a huge pall over the year. From March through about late October, I was in a fog. I didn’t realize how much of a fog I was in until it lifted. And I can’t really explain it.

Another challenge was that my wife was continuing to work on her masters’ degree. She has been taking classes online from a University in California. We live in Texas. The first semester of 2017, she was taking 2 classes. One of the classes met on Monday and Thursday night for the first 6 weeks of the semester. The other class was Tuesday night. All the classes were from 8:30-11 or so. She was working full time as well. On top of everything with my dad, I had to be supportive husband, take on more responsibility at home, and continue to somehow keep my sanity. By the grace of God, I did.

I had a goal of having a musical composition published by the time I turned 40. I had a piece that I submitted, and was accepted, but hasn’t been published yet because of some apparent financial issues with the publisher. I turned 40 in September and didn’t quite meet that goal.

I had spent a few years now creating a brand and a blog called Harmanny Music. In May, for many and various reasons, I killed it. But, of course, in December, I started this blog, so there’s something positive to come from all of that!

On top of everything else, I live in the northern part of Houston. At the end of August, we had a visitor. Harvey dropped a bunch of rain on this area. People lost everything. Thankfully for us, we “only” lost power for 2 and a half days and were able to borrow a generator from a friend. But this radically changed things for the whole area. For me, it definitely got me thinking about what really matters. Is it stuff? Is it memories? Is it something else?

And in thinking through the year, my gut reaction to 2017 isn’t my final reaction. 2017 didn’t suck. I learned so much about myself, my faith and the strength that God gives me. I’ve grown as a person. I turned 40, which isn’t a big deal. I actually had someone say yes, they would publish a composition that I wrote. My wife is now finished with all of her masters’ classes, and just has to write her thesis. This has been a two year journey for all of us, and we’ve made it through. I’m blessed to have 2 beautiful daughters and I’m proud of who they are becoming and I’m humbled by them each and every day. The biggest thing that I realized about 2017 is how blessed I am to be my father’s son. I didn’t say it much, or even as often as I should have, and since his passing, have realized something new almost daily of how he impacted my life. The biggest one is his encouraging me to make music and to make music in church.

So how about you? How would you say your 2017 went? Good? Not so good? The good news is that 2018 is a new start. Comment with how your 2017 was or join the Facebook group and comment there!

Also, I want to give you a huge thank you for visiting the blog! I’m humbled and amazed that someone actually wants to read what I write. Please share it with others, as that’s the best way to help me get the word out!

Clutter

I’m going to ask you a simple, yet very complex question. What is cluttering your life? It could be habits, relationships, stuff, exercise choices (or lack of them), healthy eating choices (or lack of them) and many, many other things.

We all have something cluttering our lives. In fact, if we’re honest, we probably have a few things, physical and otherwise, that clutter our lives. That huge first step is identifying what the clutter is. It could be allowing social media to take up more time in our day that it should (raises hand), or the physical stuff cluttering up your house, leading you to be feeling disorganized, unproductive and frustrated.

Once you’ve identified the clutter....how do you get rid of it? Or, to start, how do you make it more manageable? Is that scheduling the time you allow yourself social media? Is it starting with a drawer or a room and going through and figuring out what is needed and beneficial for your life? It’s those little steps that start to build momentum toward real, long lasting change.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about resolutions, we make our resolutions or what we’re going to change much more grandiose and unachievable than they need to be. But more than that, we have this perfectionism mentality. That, if we can’t do it perfectly, we shouldn’t even try. You will not immediately eliminate all of your clutter whether it is physically, relationships, habits, whatever the case may be. But you have to determine what is causing the clutter, how best to start dealing with it....and then deal with it. When you get off track (and you will), you get back on track, give yourself grace and DO NOT QUIT. You can do it. One step at a time. Start with figuring out what is causing the clutter in your life. Write it down. Then write down 2-3 steps to help you get rid of the clutter. Then put it somewhere visible, where you can be reminded of it regularly. And then do it!

Resolutions for 2018

Last night, I had a webinar with my friend, author Jon Acuff, talking about how to make resolutions stick for the new year. So I thought I would synthesize what was shared and pass it along to you as you prepare for 2018.

The first thing shared is that for all resolutions made, 92% will fail. Not great odds, right? Well, there’s hope. The thing that we Americans tend to do is make our goals way too big, and unreachable. Instead of breaking the cookie down into bite sized pieces, we tend to try to shove the entire cookie into our mouth, choke on the cookie, and stop trying.

So how do you break down the cookie into bite sized pieces? As I posted yesterday about starting to go through and get rid of things, if you want to end up with the whole house being your macro goal, your micro, or bite sized goal is that each month, you focus in on one area. You’re building on those wins and rolling them up together.

The next thing Jon shared is that when we set goals to take on something, we don’t always give up something. We think that adding in one, two, three or more things to our busy lives is going to be easy, and that we expect it to be perfect or we quit. We don’t give ourselves grace. When you take on a new goal, you want to create steps to success, but also eliminate as best as you can the distractions that may keep you from achieving the goal.

Finally, one thing that we don’t always think of is how to make it fun. Give yourself the motivation you need. Figure out what it is that you want as your goal, find a reward and make it happen!

So if you’re going to start running in 2018, awesome. Don’t sign up for a marathon. Start with a simple, more achievable goal of a 1K. Do you have 100 pounds to lose? Set yourself a goal of losing 8 pounds in January. You don’t have to do it all in the first 31 days of 2018. When you break that macro goal down into micro goals and then even smaller from there. For example, if you’re wanting to lose 100 pounds, you’ve got the 1st on a Monday. So, by the 8th, you want to be down 2 pounds, the 15th, down 2 more pounds, the 22nd, down 2 more and finally on the 29th, you should be down 2 more and you’ve hit your 8 pound goal. If you’re looking at losing 100 pounds and you “only” get down 8 by the end of January, you may feel frustrated, lose focus and quit. Then you’lll join the 92% who will fail.

Let’s be the 8% this year. Let’s make improvements in many different facets of our lives. We can do it together and encourage each other! I’ve got The Minimalist Musician Facebook group if you’d like to join for more encouragement.

So now what?

You may be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in your house, whether it’s Christmas stuff or just the overall amount of stuff. You’re ready to get rid of stuff and get rid of the junk and the clutter in your house. Awesome. So now what? Where do you start?

Trying to do everything at once is overwhelming. And impossible. And will lead to frustration and more than likely, you won’t get far. So, what to do? Start small. Start simple. There’s a couple of different directions and suggestions I’ll give for you to consider.

First, pick a room. Focus on that room for a month. I saw this suggested in a Minimalist Facebook group and I thought that there was some positive things that could come out of this. If you focus on one room for that period of time, you can really focus on getting down to the things that are really beneficial to you. This makes things less overwhelming and it helps you to be more focused and concentrated.

Another alternative is something that I’ve picked up from the bloggers The Minimalists. They do what they call the “30 day minimalism game”. The idea is that based on what the number of the day is, that is how many items you get rid of. So, day 1, it’s 1 item, day 2, it’s 2, and so on. This can be very beneficial, as well as quite challenging. I did it in the month of November, and while it was challenging, I found it quite fruitful.

No matter what way you choose to do, start somewhere. It could be that you pick tonight and start with your closet. Awesome. Start and start simple. Maybe it’s each day you’re focusing on a shelf or a drawer or something. You can do it. We can do it. Together. Over the next couple of days I’ll be sharing more about what I’ll be doing to close 2017 and get started into 2018.

Join The Minimalist Musician Facebook group!

Christmas 2017

Well, you’ve made it! You’ve survived another Christmas. You’re probably looking around your house, seeing all the stuff that has now been brought in, and you’re saying, “now what??” I hear you. My kids got a bunch of stuff. My kids had plenty of stuff before yesterday. My kids had more than enough stuff and needed to get rid of some of that stuff. But here were are. Now what?

If you’re a parent, start with you. If you set the example, the kids will follow. Thankfully for me, my wife and kids are going to my in-laws, so I’ll have time and ability to go through a lot of things. If you don’t live alone, make sure to communicate with the other person. My wife and I have talked about what in the garage and the backyard needs to go away. My girls are getting new bikes while at my in-laws, so their bikes can go away. We don’t need to store the old bikes.

Now for the “now what”. Start preparing yourself, your house, your family for next Christmas. What do I mean by saying that? Start thinking about your possessions, how you use those possessions, what space is taken up by those possessions in your house, whether things are necessary or unnecessary, and when you’re sharing things you would like for Christmas, whether you’re going to share a desire for practical, useful things. I don’t tell people what I want, because I am happy and thankful for what I get. So what did my wife and girls get me? Socks, a hoodie for when I walk, a new wallet, and body spray and body wash. All practical and useful things that I love and appreciate.

Stick with me. I’m going to be sharing thoughts and ideas over the next couple of weeks that will help you as you process and inventory your stuff, your thoughts, and most importantly, your life.

Minimalizing yourself

While stuff takes priority for many of us when we’re talking about minimalism, there are also other things, like yourself, that need attention. Today’s post is about just that.

Just like with your stuff, you need to have a plan and focus, eating right and exercising needs a plan and focus. And when you lose that focus, it’s hard to get back on track. And the biggest thing that all of us face is that it’s easy to be unhealthy. If you look at the cheaper foods in the grocery store....it’s all of the processed, unhealthy food. But whole food that is healthier and unprocessed, costs more. So, yes, to eat healthy and making good choices costs in terms of money as well.

What do you do? The biggest thing I’ve done is drink more water. Water is cheap, healthy and makes a huge difference in our lives. It clears up skin issues, helps to make you feel fuller, and gives you more energy throughout the day. From there, what diet you do is really a matter of what works best for you. If you like meat, don’t give it up. If you like carbs, eat less of them, and eat whole grains, but you don’t need to give it up completely. The whole thing in this is that you need to enjoy food, so eating things you don’t like or don’t want to eat isn’t going to give you long term success.

So what about exercise? It is a good thing! It can be as simple as buying a good pair of walking shoes to buying a whole bunch of expensive exercise equipment. Whatever you choose, exercise helps to deal with stress, give more energy, help you lose weight, and much more. When you connect regular exercise to eating properly, you will start to see progress!

One final thing. What about when you get off track? It happens more often than we like.  Do you beat yourself up over it? Give up altogether? Of course not! It happens, and you just get back on track and get back to work. But many times when we get off course, we give up or start beating ourselves up and that doesn’t help to fix the problem. If you eat a few too many Christmas goodies, drink a few glasses of water, eat some fruit and some veggies and go for a walk! Most importantly, don’t give up!

What do you use your garage for?

A few days ago, we went to a friend’s house. As we pulled into the driveway, my youngest said, “They’re not home!” I had texted them 10 minutes before and I knew they were home. And she said, “But their car isn’t in the driveway!” Which got me thinking....

I can count the times we’ve put one car in the garage. It’s 5. All of them due to heavy rains/storms and vehicles that had issues with leaking in heavy rains. And it took a Herculean effort to make space for the car in. Normally, they are parked in the driveway. Why? Because of all the crap in our garage! We have the normal things like bikes, lawnmower, other lawn/yard tools. But we’ve got lots of disorganized stuff in the garage and things everywhere so that there isn’t space to park one, let alone two cars in the garage, using the garage for its’ designed purpose.

So how about you? Do you use your garage for the intended purpose? Could you do something different to be able to park your car or cars in the garage? What would need to change? How do you change it?

My whole point in looking at this is not to point fault. In my neighborhood, there are so many houses that don’t have cars parked in the garages. My point in this is to encourage you, as well as myself, to look at the space you have, and to ask if there’s a better way. There may be, or there may not be. In our garage, we have a chest freezer, as well as our washer and dryer. That limits our space. But it all depends on your situation. You may not have any issue with parking your cars in your garage. Awesome! I’ll have more on organization in the garage and the rest of the house soon enough! If not, you’ve got some things to consider and some work to do!

What’s the purpose?

Over the past year in my journey toward starting to be a minimalist, I’ve learned one really simple and yet challenging question. What’s the purpose? Whether it’s a thing, a relationship, health, whatever it is....knowing what purpose the thing serves is essential.

Let’s unpack for a second. Not literally, of course! With your possessions, what purpose does each thing serve? Can you specify it? If not, do you really need that item? Maybe so, maybe not. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff, but I’m still constantly in the process of asking what the purpose of each things. CDs, books, sheet music, clothes.....you name it, I’m asking what purpose it serves. When you get to the point where everything in your house has a purpose, how much less stress would you have? How much less clutter? How much more freedom would you have? But it’s always an ongoing process.

What’s the purpose of being healthy? One big purpose is feeling your best, right? Of course it is! But there’s so much more to it than that. You feel good, you look good, your clothes fit. But there’s even more. You’re able to take care of your responsibilities better and more efficiently, you’re able to be there for others around you. But the most important reason is whatever your reason is. When you are purposefully motivated, you are focused and it will be easier to stay on task. It will be challenging, but it will be easier.

Purpose drives what we do. There is some reason you’re reading this post. Maybe you’re overwhelmed by stuff and busyness in life. Most people are. And deep down, most people want less. Or at least, want focus and purpose and meaning to their things and what they do. So keep checking back and we’ll be on this road together. We can do it!

What to buy?

So far, my posts have been about stuff and getting rid of it. But let me focus on the flip side of it. What do you buy? What do you keep in your house? So far, we still have plenty of stuff. We’re slowly working into this process. Is there more that we could do without? Absolutely! But we’re not there yet. And the point isn’t a race to get rid of stuff, it’s determining what is needed and necessary.

The bloggers The Minimalists do what is called a “packing party”. You pack up your entire house and only unpack what you need when you need it. That’s pretty time and labor intensive, if you ask me! But how many newfangled kitchen gadgets do you need? How many shirts do you need? Pants? Shoes? And if you’re anything like me, you look for deals, bargains...and, well, I’m just cheap. And the old line “you get what you pay for” is very true. If you invest in things that are of a higher quality, the likelihood is that you won’t need to replace them as often. And if they cost more, the reality is that you’ll probably have less things.

But Christmas is coming up! How do you determine between a want and a need? Going back to my premise of minimalism being something that is beneficial, that’s a great question to ask. “Will this benefit me?” A pretty cool looking little flashlight gizmo that will end up buried in a drawer in 2 months is probably not a benefit. Time spent with loved ones and making memories is definitely a benefit! But who determines that? The great part is.....YOU DO!! There’s not a “rule book for minimalism”. It’s about your life, your stuff. What matters to you and what is beneficial to you.

So back to the question in the title of this post. What to buy? Does it always have to be brand new? Can you buy something used? Do you always have to buy it? Can you borrow it from someone else? There are plenty of options, it all depends on your choice of creativity. Over time, we’ll dive into individual things and unpack (pun intended!) how they play a role in your life and how they can be overwhelming, and how they don’t have to be!

Stuff, stuff, stuff!

While we’re regularly obsessed with stuff, in the month of December, we become even more obsessed with stuff. Decorations, getting, giving, stuff is everywhere. So how do you survive and focus in on what’s most important when you’re surrounded by stuff?

Surviving can be simple, yet very difficult. When you’re asked about what you would like, give an honest answer. My wife and I had a conversation with my mother because she wanted to get my daughters something physical for Christmas. We told her to get them an AMC gift card so that they can go see a movie. Personally, I’d rather have all of us go to a movie as opposed to more stuff in their rooms that will get left everywhere and broken.

As you’re getting your Christmas decorations out, ask yourself this question. “Is this beneficial for me?” If it isn’t, don’t put it up. Or better yet, get rid of it! And the same way with presents. When you’re thinking about what to give, give something that isn’t going to just be used, broken and/or discarded. Give something that is beneficial for the other person.

I want to finish with a short word on expectations. A lot of times in this time of year, we place unrealistic expectations on ourselves or others. You are human. You can only do so much. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to come from the heart and be genuine. Place realistic expectations on yourself and others. It will make your Christmas much happier!

Why minimalism?

What is the point to minimalism? Quite simply, if you have felt overwhelmed by stuff in your life, or relationships, or social media, or, or, or...then you may need to minimize. What and how you go about it is as simple or as drastic as you choose to go.

Why think about it at Christmastime? Now is the perfect time! We are so stuff focused normally, but December seems to be racheted up by about 500% or so. Yesterday, we were getting out our Christmas decorations and one of the things I was reminded of is my need to minimize my nutcracker collection. Why do I need so many nutcrackers? Why did I get so many nutcrackers? I promise you, I didn’t wake up one day and say, “I think I’ll get a bunch of nutcrackers”. My grandparents had a couple, I thought they were cool, so I bought myself a couple when I got out on my own and since I don’t tell people what I want for Christmas (because I don’t want stuff), they got me nutcrackers. So that’s my project to do tonight! But how many ornaments do you hang on a tree? Lights? Decorations? Is it needed?

And really, that’s the question. Is it needed? The Minimalists talk about their question “Does it add value”. My question is, “Is it beneficial”? Junk drawers, all of the kitchen gadgets, books that take up space, clothes in your closet.....is it beneficial? Over time, we’ll explore these specific concepts in detail, but I want to start with the thought of it being beneficial. Food is beneficial. It’s necessary. But when we overindulge, we gain weight, need new clothes, so on and so forth. When we’re eating what is beneficial and good for our bodies, we feel good, are healthy and in balance. What about relationships? We can probably think about relationships that aren’t the most beneficial to us. Then why are we still involved in them? Or social media? Can it be beneficial? Of course! But how much? All of these questions can only be answered by you.

As you’re getting out the Christmas decorations or going through your house, ask yourself, “Is this beneficial”? If it is, great. If it isn’t, then maybe you start a box of things to donate or sell. You’ll be amazed at how freeing it is even starting with just a few things. And you’ll start to get a handle on the clutter in your house and your life!

What is this about?

In the movie Zoolander, the character Jacobim Mugatu described minimalism as being “so hot right now”.....OK, not really. It was Derek Zoolander, but minimalism is a “trendy” thing right now. That’s not why I’m starting this blog. There’s much, much more to it than that.

Let’s step back for a moment. Hi! My name is Craig Harmann. I’m a 40 year old husband, father of 2 girls, full-time church musician who has way too much stuff. Chances are you do too. But it’s more than just stuff that may be cluttering your life. Do you feel unfocused at times? Struggling to maintain discipline in eating healthy, exercising, or other aspects of your life? That’s why I’m starting this blog. Not only to tell my story and keep me motivated and accountable, but my prayer is that it helps encourage others as well.

So how did this whole thing get started for me? Well, I’ve always loved stuff. Having stuff, collecting stuff. I collected baseball and sports cards, spent so much time and energy with them and then one day when I was college, I decided to throw them out. Literally. As I’ve gotten married and had kids, my stuff has increased and I’ve become overwhelmed. Last January, I found a documentary on Netflix titled “Minimalism: A documentary about the important things”. So I watched. And I wanted to do all of what they talked about. Then I discovered they had a podcast. So I started listening. And then I discovered another minimalist blogger and author named Joshua Becker.

But in the midst of all of this, in March of 2017, my life changed dramatically. My dad, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November of 2016, passed away. My dad was a collector. He was a child of parents who lived through the depression. And after having his first wife leave him with no physical possessions, things, specifically family things, meant a lot to him. So now, my mom, my sisters and I are left to go through all of this stuff and do something about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention where I live. Houston, Texas. In August, my area was dramatically changed. I don’t think any parents have named their child Harvey since August. People lost the choice to keep or get rid of stuff. When 50 inches of rain falls, it’s gone. Thankfully for myself and my family, that was not an issue. Our house was dry. But all of this has led me to realize that this is important. And I needed to start this now. In December. My busiest time of the year.

So as we go, I’ll be writing posts on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In the month of December, I’ll also be posting daily updates of my 31 day minimalism challenge. Later on today, I’ll post my 1 item to get rid of. Tomorrow, it will be 2 and so on. What will I do with it? Either sell it, donate it, or pitch it. I do not claim to be an expert on minimalism. I’m still learning as I’m going. I still have a bunch of junk in my house that needs to go. And it will.

I encourage you to join me in the journey. Check the two pages “Who is the Minimalist Musician” and “What is Minimalism?” Join The Minimalist Musician Facebook page. Tell others about the blog and encourage them to check it out! I look forward to where this journey will go!