How do you best store digital things part 2

Yesterday, I wrote about how to best store your digital documents. You can find that here. Today, the focus is going to be on pictures. Gone are the days of gigantic photo albums, waiting to get your film developed, and waiting to see how many of your pictures turned out. Now, pictures are on demand, and you can edit and perfect them as you see fit.

So, in this on-demand world, what do you do with all of those pictures? They take up plenty of space on your phone or tablet, so where to put them? I’d suggest either saving them on a portable hard drive, your computer, or in the cloud. My wife and I have a 1 Terrabyte portable hard drive that we store our pictures on. The great part of it is that you can share it between devices. Saving it to your computer is another easy way, just plug your device into the computer and save. For many, though, saving to the Cloud is the easiest. If you’re an Apple user, you can save to ICloud. You can also use Dropbox, Google Photos, Amazon Photos and others. All of these are helpful tools, the only drawback is the limitations on space before you have to purchase more space.

The same principle applies for pictures as it does documents. You don’t want them just haphazardly thrown in one big lumped file. The organization can happen as you see fit. You can break it down by year, by subject, by month, however you want. And as with the documents, it’s a lot of work upfront, but once you get your storage organized as you want it, it’s very easy to keep up with. Also, once you’ve saved your pictures from your device, delete them if you don’t want them on your device. That frees up more space. This is a process I’ll be starting very soon, but I’ll be doing it while watching football, so I’ll be multitasking!

But what about those old not digital pictures? How do you store them? You can continue to store them as you have in the past, or you can digitize them. Either you can scan them in a flatbed scanner (or if you’ve got a printer/scanner combo) or you can use your phone. I’ve found a great app called Scannable, which connects to your Evernote account (and if you’re not using Evernote....well, that’s another blog post) and you can save to it. Also, the app Tiny Scanner works just as well.

Finally, if you want to share photos, you can get a digital picture frame and upload your pictures to that. Many of them connect via wi-fi, so that’s an easy way to share pictures with those around you. Another way that my wife has found, which is super easy and inexpensive is www.chatbooks.com. For $10 you can have your pictures automatically uploaded from social media, your devices, wherever. She’s made a bunch of them for our girls and summer adventures.

I highly encourage you to consider digitizing your photos. They are great snapshots and memories of your life. As I have seen in the area around me over the past year with Hurricane Harvey, water comes and destroys, no matter how valuable your things are or what your income status is. If you have solely physical photos, they may be gone forever. But if you have digital copies, you’ll be able to see those pictures and remember.

Check out the Uncluttered course as it will help you if you’re stuck in your journey of minimalism, or if you’re wanting to dive in.

Also, join The Minimalist Musician group on Facebook

How do you best store digital things part 1

The next 3 posts will be dealing with storing digital things. While digital things take up less space than physical things, they still take up space and do need decluttering from time to time. I’ll be breaking them down into 3 areas, pictures, videos/music and today’s post, documents.

Storing things digitally is a wonderful advance. It gives us access, space to store things that would take up so much physical space. But it can create clutter and hassles if you’re not always on top of it and keeping things organized.

So today, we’re dealing with documents. PDFs, Word documents and things like that can take up a lot of space and can create lots of clutter. Think of your hard drive or storage device as a filing cabinet. The device holds things, but inside the device are individual folders that hold individual files, or ideas. So, how to store all of them? How best do you organize and operate in that organization? Is it by year? By type of document? By idea? However you best think and organize, set it up that way.

Some things have a certain “shelf life” or usefulness. If your ou meant has outlived its usefulness to you, delete it. Or if you know you’ll need access to it down the road, consider moving it to another file or another storage device so that you can access it later.

For me, I work best by ideas. For my job, I direct different musical groups. So my files are organized by group, then in each folder is a sub folder. I’m in the process of updating them and organizing them more, and what I’ll end up with is it broken down by year. Now, if your brain doesn’t work that way, then don’t do it that way. Figure out what works best for you and how you best process things and then go from there.

It will be a bit of work upfront to get things organized, but once you get organized, if you keep on top of it, you’ll find your life less stressed and you won’t be having to spend time looking for things.

A minimalist office

What does a minimalist office look like? The easy answer is, whatever you want it to look like. The harder part is what practical form does it take on?

A desk, right? Sure. Does it have to be big or small? Well, if you have a big desk, but not much use for a big desk, then that won’t work. And the other way around, too. It has to be functional for your needs.

What about storage? Books? If you have books, you need a place to store them, right? Shelves work. Shelving units or shelves mounted on the walls.

Ultimately, I could walk through everything in an office, but really, you have to determine what you need and what priority that has in your life. Will you need a pen to write with? Probably so. But do you really need 50 pens? You can probably get rid of a few of those, right?

Minimalism doesn’t mean spartan and bare. Unless you want it to. As I look at minimalism, it’s about practicality, function and purpose. Start with what the purpose of your office is, then the purpose of the stuff in your office will follow suit. Don’t just ask the question once. Come back to it again and again. Your purposes may change, and then your needs will change with the purpose!

One year ago...

One year ago, August 26th, was a Saturday. Hurricane Harvey had already made landfall to the south and west of us in Houston. There were predictions of the potential of a whole lot of rain, but by mid day, it had rained just a bit. I went to our neighborhood Kroger to run errands and heard people commenting about how this hurricane was a dud. How I wish that would have been true.

As a church musician, sleep on Saturday night is essential. As the afternoon wore on and evening started, there were heavy bands of rains moving toward our area. In our staff text thread, the plan was to have worship as normal. The church isn’t far from Cypress Creek in Houston, and we don’t live too far from that. In fact, my drive to get to the church runs parallel to the creek for most of the drive. It started raining that night. Heavily. And kept raining. And kept raining. And kept raining. I got concerned, because our street in front our house regularly floods when there is just a bit of heavy rain. And the street the church is on has bar ditches along the street that regularly fill with water with minimal rain.

As Sunday morning came, the realization was that people weren’t going to be able to safely get out. So worship was cancelled. As Sunday wore out, it kept raining. Thankfully, we didn’t flood, but watching TV, keeping up with all of the updates on Twitter and Facebook, it was bad. The street I drive on to get to church was impassable by car. The Interstates were filled with water. I had experienced this on a smaller scale the year prior, because on April 15th, the “tax day flood” happened. We had heavy rains which led to heavy flooding and schools were shut down for the entire week. This was the “tax day flood”, but on a much grander scale. We finally lost power on Tuesday, because there was so much infrastructure issues and there were many without power. Thankfully, because the storm had passed, it was cooler and less humid. We made it 24 hours without power before we borrowed a propane powered generator from a friend.

Finally on Wednesday afternoon, I was able to get out. We as a staff met at church to figure out what we needed to do. We contacted members and found that about 25 families had major flooding, as well as families connected to our childcare. Getting out broke my heart. I couldn’t go my “normal” way, so I had to go another way to cross over the creek. I could, but the water was so high, still under the bridge, but so many houses were saturated with water. I cried the entire drive. We also have a time of worship Thursday night, and basically opened the church and our gym for families on that Friday. All of it was powerful, cathartic and needed. “How are you doing” became the question we all asked each other.

When I was able to drive on my normal route, the piles of debris were unbelievable. Brick walls were knocked down. A Catholic Church that was nearby suffered horrible damaged and had to worship in an outdoor location until mid May. But what I saw out of that devastation and destruction was people pitching in, helping out, and a city coming together.

So what does all of this have to do with minimalism? Everything. While yes, minimalism has to do with “stuff” and our relationship with it, it’s a choice that we have to make with our things. Harvey changed that for many people in my area. It didn’t matter if you had a million dollar house or you lived in an apartment. Because of 51 inches of rain, if the water comes in to your residence, what you valued, treasured, loved, owned.....is now junk. So many piles of debris were out in front of people’s houses for so long. To me, that was the biggest lesson I learned in relation to things from Harvey.

Having things is essential to living. A roof over your head keeps you dry and comfortable. What you choose to put under that roof is something that is replaceable, but hopefully, it’s your choice when and how to replace it. Seeing all of this first hand breaks my heart because these people lost their choice to make in regard to their things. A year later, much looks “normal” in the city of Houston. We’re all changed by it, no doubt. And I think that people have been changed in many different ways. For me, it’s how I value things and how much more willing I am to pass things on to others if their need is far greater than mine.

For a visual of then and now, check this article out.

Check out this link for information about the Uncluttered course, which I highly recommend!

I did something crazy

This week, I tried an experiment. I have an IPhone and an Ipad. They are both somewhat redundant, but I am trying to intentionally give a purpose to each one. For my phone, it’s using it as a phone (shocking, I know), texting, music, tracking my walking and Fitbit check in. I have a few other apps like my Bible, photos, but that’s pretty much it. My Ipad has pretty much replaced my computer to do things. In fact, I’m typing this blog post on my Ipad. None of this is crazy thing that I did.

The crazy thing that I did is that I took my emails off of my phone. I had found myself checking my phone, like many others, over and over and over again. Did this mean that I would be ignoring people that emailed me? Not at all. It was taking more control of my time and intentionally making specific times to check my email.

So what happened? The obvious. I didn’t look at my phone as much. Did I miss emails? Not at all. Did I get more control of one portion of my life? Absolutely.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone needs to do this, but what I am saying and encouraging people to do is consider their relationship with their phones/tablets and how they choose to use it. Minimizing distractions and focusing on what is important in minimalism, and our technology can most definitely be distracting!

Check out this blog post for more about minimizing your screen time.

Check out this blog post for information about the Uncluttered course

If you’re on Facebook, click here to join the Minimalist Musician Facebook group

Uncluttered

Are you struggling as to what the first step is take in Minimalism? Or do you feel like you got rid of a bunch of stuff and you’re struggling where to go? May I suggest Uncluttered.

Uncluttered is a 12 week online course led by Joshua Becker, a minimalist whose voice has resonated with me, as well as many others.

What do you get out of the course?
Videos with step-by-step instructions
Interviews with thought leaders in productivity and minimalism
Live webinars tackling specific tough-clutter topics 
Live Q&As for members to ask questions
Weekly challenges
And accountability and encouragement from a super-engaged community.

One of the best parts I think about this course is that you get LIFETIME membership! That means that if you get to a “stuck point”, you can come back and review the material covered. 

The course is offered 3 times a year and registration starts today and goes through September 2nd. The cost for the course is $89. Check it out and sign up here!

Minimizing your screen time

One of the primary things people talk about and think about when it comes to minimalism is getting rid of stuff. And that’s a big part of it. However, I feel, as do many others, that minimalism is about relationships.....with things, people and in the case I’ll be talking about today, technology.

Technology is awesome, isn’t it? Well, it can be. I remember growing up without an answering machine until I was in high school. We had a rotary dial phone until I was in 6th grade. And in the time since the 90’s phones have gone from big and bulky, to fitting in your pocket...if you have the right sized phone. But technology can be distracting. How often do you look around, if you’re looking up from your phone at all, to see people walking and looking down at their phones? We’re obsessed with our screens. We’re connected whenever we want to, which is good and bad.

I did a personal experiment when we were on vacation in July. I didn’t really look at my phone much for anything at all. I used it to play podcasts and music when I went for walks, but that was pretty much it. I limited my time to check e-mail, rarely checked social media. The shocking thing was....I SURVIVED! Tomorrow, my girls start back to school. We’re getting back into routines. And that’s the one thing I’m going to be doing more often. Getting back to using my phone to make and receive phone calls, minimal texting, and checking social media and e-mail twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I’ve realized that I’ve personally become very engrossed in my screens, and it’s something that I cannot continue to do if I want to be productive.

I’d encourage you to consider your interaction with screens. Are you also finding yourself distracted by them? There are times I’ve considered going to a “dumb phone”, but haven’t gone there yet. Maybe you have. That’s great if you have. I think that getting rid of apps goes a long way. If I want to use Facebook, I have to log in and use it. It takes more time and work to do it. So I have to think about it before I do it. Breaking habits are hard. This week will be tough, no doubt about it. But I know that I can intentionally do it. I’d love to hear your feedback on what you do in regard to screen time!

Where to start?

So you’ve been looking at this idea of minimalism for a while now and it sounds great and all, but you’re not quite sure where to start. Great question! You can be paralyzed quite quickly and not be able to make any progress because you’re not sure where to start.

The easy answer.....PICK A PLACE! Start simple. Maybe it’s the drawer that you just throw things in. Here’s the thing....don’t just “go through” it and “organize” it. You’re just rearranging the junk and the clutter. What do you use and what don’t you use? What has value and what doesn’t? You can start with books. You can start with your kitchen utensils. It doesn’t matter where, just picking a place and starting is the most important place.

If you join The Minimalist Musician group on Facebook, I’ll be starting a challenge in August. It’s really, really easy. Each day, you choose the number of items to get rid of corresponding to the number of the day. So, August 1st, you get rid of one thing, the 2nd, you get rid of 2, and so on until you get to the 31st. On the 31st, you’ll have to get rid of 31 things. If you follow this, you will get rid of 496 items. That seems like a lot, but I think once you get going, you’ll see it’s not hard at all! I’ll be giving more details over the next few days in the group so we can get ready to start on August 1st!

One thing lacking

Before I dive in to this post, if you’ve read my blog and looked at timestamps, you’ll notice that there’s been a lull in my writing. It’s not for a lack of ideas. I was on vacation, then dealt with the busyness of the return from vacation. On top of that, I’ve been focused on creating a podcast for Church musicians, called The Healthy Church Musician podcast. Now that things have settled down, I’m going to get more in a routine of writing and my goal is to have a post up on Tuesday and Friday each week.

In our worship service this past Sunday, we looked at the 10th chapter of Mark. We’ve been going through the Gospel of Mark in our services. But there was something about this section of Scripture that jumped out at me. And it was in verses 17-31. It’s the story of the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus reminds this young ruler about the commandments, to which the ruler responds that yes, he has kept those. Jesus doesn’t argue with him about this, but says, “One thing you lack...go sell everything you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” This young ruler couldn’t do it. Was because he was rich? Somewhat. It wasn’t the things (or lack of it) that caused the issue. It was the relationship and value placed on the things. Jesus and His disciples traveled regularly. They didn’t have much and they relied on the love and generosity of others. They trusted in the provision of God. It seems that this rich young ruler didn’t want to or couldn’t do these things. So Jesus told him that one thing was lacking.

So let’s fast forward to today. As a Christian, I trust in God, but....the reality is that there are plenty of times that I focus more on my wants, my needs as opposed to the needs and care of others around me.  I allow stuff and things to get in the way of what’s most important to me. In the end, whatever I collect or own on earth will just go to someone else when I die. It’s not that important. But yet, for whatever reason, I seem to think from time to time that it does matter and collecting and owning these things are important. I’m moving away from that mindset more and more, but I find myself returning occasionally to thinking that stuff matters.

What’s the takeaway from all of this? Are we supposed to just sell all of our stuff and live on the streets? Of course not! But, it is definitely a step toward evaluating what our belongings and “possessions” really mean to us. That’s the thing with minimalism. As I’ve walked down this road, I’ve seen many struggle with the “what are the rules” question. And really, to each person, the rules will be different. Over the past 8 months or so, we’ve definitely gotten rid of a lot of things in our house. Looking forward, I’d hope that we would continue to do that as a family and continue in that mindset. It’s hard, it takes lots of work, but I’ve found it to be freeing, encouraging and extremely valuable. I hope that you’re encouraged and challenged to look at your stuff and your attitude and relationship toward it and determine what the best course of action is for you.

Collecting

One of the things that I’ve noticed about myself, and people in general is that we like to collect things. Back when I was younger, I collected baseball, basketball and football cards. That was my focus and passion, second only to music. Once I was in college, I was faced with a dilemma. Do I lug my expansive collection of cards with me or do I get rid of them? They weren’t valuable because they were of the 80’s and 90’s, when cards were overproduced, so I just got rid of them. I haven’t thought much about collecting cards since then.

My girls love Barbies, as many girls do. My youngest daughter’s room has all of the Barbie paraphernalia in it. The dream house, the cars, and a whole ton of Barbies. Many of these things were given to them by a family in our church whose daughter didn’t want her collection anymore. And my girls play with the Barbies quite regularly.....but there’s so much of it!

I could keep going with more examples from my life, but as you’re reading this, you can probably think of many more yourself. We collect things. And when we find something we like, people feel compelled to give us things that help us with that collecting. Now, inherently, there’s nothing wrong with that, until your shelves, your rooms, your house is filled with your collection. And you’re facing the “now what” with all of it. You’re overwhelmed, And you don’t control the stuff, the stuff controls you.

While the optimal first encouragement I’d give in regard to collecting is don’t do it, I have 3 encouragements in helping to deal with your collecting:

1) Find a manageable number. When one new thing comes one, it has to replace another item in your collection. I collected nutcrackers. I’d only put them out at Christmas. I kept a few out regularly. So I decided that 28 nutcrackers were not worth storing, so I kept the 8 I really liked, and got rid of the rest. If I get a new one, it replaces one in my collection.

2) Keep asking yourself why. Ask why you collect these things. Do they bring you joy? Cheer you up? Awesome. Do they serve a purpose? Because if you don’t keep asking why, you may end up with the dinner plates of the world collection and not really have them serve a purpose or have a place to store them!

3) Don’t be afraid to say no. As a musician, much of my music has been handed down or picked up through giveaways. And I’m thankful for that because I’ve found some great music. I’ve also found some awful music, music I’ll never use and music that’s falling apart. Why should I keep it? So, I’ve become more discerning. I’ve learned to look and if there’s music I know I can’t use, I’m not just going to take it and hold on to it to take up space.....I’m not taking it in the first place. No is a hard word to say, but it’s so necessary and beneficial!

Happy collecting!

Social Media

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been a bit busy with launching a podcast (The Healthy Church Musician Podcast) and being a husband and a dad, along with doing lots of fun things for the music ministry I serve. Today, I want to spend some time diving into social media.

There are some pros to social media. It’s a great way to keep in contact with family and friends that you don’t regularly get to keep in contact with. I’ve used Facebook to join groups and get ideas and encouragements for lots of different things. But there sure are plenty of cons to social media. Not only the absolute time suck that it can become and the control that it can take on your life. And on top of that, the arguments, disagreements and whatever else that may come across the way.

So, how do you get control of it? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself lately. I’ve spent way too much time on social media. What I’m trying to do is schedule my social media time. 15 minutes in the morning when I wake up and 30 minutes in the evenings. But on top of that, this coming weekend, I’m planning on a social media fast. What does that mean? No posting, no reading, no nothing on social media. I’m going to start Saturday morning and actually go through Monday afternoon. Why that time? I’ll be doing lots of yard work on Saturday, so I’ll be outside most of the day. Sunday and Monday we’ll be going to my wife’s aunt and uncle’s house, so I’ll be busy with that, then go to a baseball game Monday night.

What are your thoughts on social media? How do you control your time and your interaction with it?

Digital versus Physical

One of the things I have too much of is books, CDs, DVDs and printed music. They take up so much space in my house! Last night, we went over to a friend’s house, and he asked before we went over if we had bought or rented the movie Black Panther that we watched the night before. We bought it. Digitally. And it got me thinking when the last time I bought a physical movie was. I can’t remember. Between streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime, and purchasing movies digitally on Amazon Prime, We don’t buy physical movies anymore.

The same thing goes for music. I can’t remember the last time I bought a physical CD. I stream all of my music through Amazon Prime. I’ve uploaded most of what I had already purchased to their site as well, so that I have access all in one place. I’ve been moving that way more with books, as well as sheet music.

Yes, moving from physical to digital can be scary. And can be a lot of work. But to me, it’s worth it, because I have many stacks of books now accessible on my Ipad. It’s far more practical. I can plug my phone in when I’m in my car and play whatever music I’m in the mood for. I don’t have to mess with CDs or where to store them when I’m not using them or whatever the case is.

Yes, it is nice to have the physical things, because you can mark them up, if they’re books. I do still have some CDs, and the reason is because they’re autographed. But, you can make notes with the Amazon Kindle app, if you choose to go that route. Is it exactly the same? No, but it works just as well. And you can digitally check out books from your local library and access them via your device.

To me, the pros far outweigh the cons to go digital. My hope is that by the end of summer, I’ll have everything completely digital, and will have much more space in my house! It is definitely something for you to consider as you continue to go through and sort through all of those physical things and wonder if having all of it is worth it!

What do you have too much of?

Interesting question to ponder, isn’t it? For my daughters, it’s probably Barbie stuff or stuffed animals. For me, it’s probably sheet music. For my wife, I’d say it’s shoes....but she’d disagree! :-) The reality is that we all have too much of something. Sure, we can justify and explain why, but if you really ask yourself the hard question of “do I NEED it”, the answer is probably no.

Growing up, I used to have too many baseball cards. I collected them from when I was about 5 until I was a sophomore in college. I then decided to throw them out. Just threw them out. Didn’t miss them at all. Then, it was CDs. I sold some and gave the rest away to cull my collection down to ones that truly have meaning for me. As for the sheet music, I have gone through some and pared down, but I definitely need to spend time over the summer going through my music and purging some more.

So how do you determine whether you have too much of something? Ask yourself if you need it. Pack it up and put it in the garage for a month and see if you can do without it. Or just go cold turkey and get rid of it. Or, better yet, choose a few of the things that have value to you and get rid of the rest. Then you have a manageable collection of things that has meaning to you. With my CDs, I kept the ones that I had autographed and ones by friends and bands that I really liked. And do you know how much I have listened to CDs? Maybe about 10 hours in total over the past year. So, it’s time to cull again. Why? Because I have everything digitally. And that’s the other thing. It’s always an ongoing process.

Growing up, I loved my grandparents’ nutcracker collection. So, when I got out on my own, I bought a couple of nutcrackers and had them out at Christmas. Of course, more and more and more were purchased for me. It got to over 25 nutcrackers. I decided to get rid of some and get down to 9. And that’s manageable. Now they’re out all the time, not just a massive pile of them at Christmas. Was it hard to get rid of them? Not really. I thought it would be, but it really wasn’t.

So, ask yourself those tough questions. Pack up a few of those things and see if you miss them. Or comment with what you’ve done with the things you’ve had too much of.

Ikea

Yes, I’m writing a blog post about Ikea. Why? Well, we went as a family last Saturday and it was quite fun. Yes, we bought stuff. I know that violates the “rules” some may have of minimalism, but see my last post about the “rules”. Here’s the deal. After exploring the possibility of purchasing our own house (we rent), enough doors were closed where it looks like making another year in our rental house will work. But, we have to be better organized and make the space work. So that’s our summer project.

A big part of that summer project is getting rid of stuff. There’s just too much that we have and do not need. But for my youngest daughter, her room was a disaster. Primarily because we had a dresser that was far too big and not enough efficient storage space. So, that was our primary purchases at Ikea. A new dresser, a bookshelf and a storage unit.

But one of the things that amazed me in looking at Ikea was the creative uses of space. Sure, you could spend a ton of money there and get stuff and not really be better off for it. And really, it doesn’t matter what store you go to, that would be the case. Ikea’s design, though, is definitely to make efficient uses of space.

Will we purchase more stuff at Ikea? Probably. Depending on how our purge and organization process goes. We have a few things that would better benefit us when it comes to organization, whether that is something to put on the wall to keep us better organized when it comes to paper, or storage for things, or whatever the case is. As we go through the process, we’ll figure out. We’re starting with the girls’ bedrooms, then moving out from there.  It’s a process that will be a lot of work, but is necessary and will be beneficial for us in the long run.

Rules of minimalism

Yesterday I wrote a post titled “How many shoes do you need?” I shared it on Facebook and got a few interesting responses. Most of them were actual responses about actual shoes. While I’m glad people have reasons for specific shoes, that wasn’t quite my point. The shoes are a means to an end. You can insert anything for shoes and still have a question that only you can answer.

There has been a big push toward minimalism. But the interesting part of it is that there isn’t any specific “rules” that you must follow. If you want to have 20 shirts, you can. If you want to have 5 shirts, you can too. Really, the biggest rule is how you justify what you have and why you have it. And whether you consider yourself a minimalist or not, Justifying what you have and why you have it is practical and benefiical.

Whether it’s shoes and you having your reasons for 10 pairs of shoes, or CDs and your reasons for having 125 of them, or anything else you come up with, asking yourself the questions, “Why do I have this?”, as well as “Do I need this?” and “What purpose does this serve” will definitely help you to sort out the things that need to stay and the things that need to go.

So it’s not completely about shoes. It’s not about rules. It’s about your individual reasons for why you have what you have. I would guess that many of us, myself included, have plenty of things in our houses that we don’t have very strong reasons for why we have.

How many shoes do you need?

This topic was something my wife and I go back and forth on from time to time. Recently, I brought the topic up and she told me. Black shoes, brown shoes, casual shoes, heels, flats...and she kept going and after that my head started spinning.

When it comes to things, this question of how many do you need is an interesting one. And I’ve gone through this in my life. How many CDs do I need? How many shirts do I need? How many.....you name it.

With minimalism, there aren’t really any specific rules. That’s part of the beauty of it. You’re in charge. For me, the question of shoes is simple. Black and brown dress shoes, running shoes, old running shoes to wear for mowing, causal shoes, and a pair of boots. I’ve got a couple of pair of flip flops, but I rarely wear them. Simple, right? And even that might be excessive to some. But that’s what I’ve chosen as my amount of shoes.

I’m not dogging my wife for her amount of shoes. She does have a lot of them, and over the years we’ve been married, she does do a good job of going through them from time to time to cull them. But whether it is shoes, clothes or anything else, it can be quite easy to justify and explain why we need to have so many of some item. And if we’re honestly asking ourselves the question of if it is needed or what number is needed, we may realize that we don’t need as much as we thought we did.

So...how many shoes do you need?

When plans change...

On Thursday, I wrote about what’s most important and not getting so wrapped up in the busyness of life that you neglect your family or anything else that is important. This weekend, I’ve been reminded of that even more. We were supposed to go on a family camp out but due to the threat (and reality) of heavy rains last night into today, the camping was canceled. So, we were left with a weekend that we expected to be busy, and now was much more flexible. What to do?

Friday was different. Instead of me planning to leave early so that we could go camping, I was able to get more things done. I even got to have lunch with my family, because my girls had an early release from school and my wife had taken the day off of work because of the camping trip. So that was a huge win right there. Friday nights are usually movie night. We ate pizza, the girls picked a couple of movies. And once they went to bed, my wife and I watched Justic League.

Saturday, we were going to skip my youngest daughter’s soccer game because of camping....but she got to play. Then we had contacted our realtor that since we weren’t camping, we could look at houses. We spent the rest of the morning looking at 5 houses. One was a maybe and the rest were ok. Then we went and saw A Wrinkle in Time, because my oldest really wanted to see it and we had read her the book. It was a fun movie.

Today (Sunday), I’m off from playing for worship. It’s been a relaxing, restful morning. We’ll be going to a couple of open houses this afternoon and then a pizza party at my girls’ school. All in all, a restful, fun, good weekend.

Why does all of this matter? Our weekends (and weeks) have been busy. Our upcoming weekends (and weeks) will be busy. Having time to rest, relax and spend time together as a family has been what we all needed. Would it have been fun camping? Sure. But it would have been work and not really as restful as what we got to do this weekend.

When plans change, how do you respond? By nature, I am a planner. I have learned to be more spontaneous and go with the flow. Sure, I’d like to have a plan, a direction, a way to go laid out even before I begin. But I’ve learned that it’s in those times where you are spontaneous, where you have the change of plans that you can really have fun, make memories and get refreshing. Have you had times when your plans changed? How did you respond?

What’s important?

In life, it’s always good to step back and take inventory of your priorities. Just to make sure that you’re on track and focusing on what you need to focus on. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to do that.

You see, 13 months ago, my dad died. My mom lives in Waco, 3 hours from Houston, where I live. She had bronchitis, was sent to a pulmonologist for a breathing test and some things of concern showed up. So, yesterday, she had a follow up. Because she has a hard time hearing, even with hearing aids, and is getting more and more forgetful, she asked if I could come. I said absolutely. So, I dropped my daughters off at school, spent 3 hours in the car, did a few things for her around the house, went with her to her appointment (all is well) and drove back home. It was a long, exhausting day, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

So what’s important? To me, it’s not stuff. It’s not activities. It’s not even work. I enjoy those things and enjoy doing them. To me, what I hope that people see and say is my priority is my family. That I prioritize them first over anything else. I know that I haven’t always made those choices to put them first all the time. And the reality is, there may be times when I get off track again. But have an opportunity to refocus and reset are always beneficial.

So.....what’s important to you? Is it evident to others through your choices and actions?

Simple

In response to my post yesterday "Discipline and focus", I received a comment. It said "Wow, you mean the secret to getting things done is just doing them? And the cure for a lack of discipline is sticking to your calendar? Why didn't I think of that!" 

If eating healthy were so simple, why is the diet and exercise industry so large?

If keeping a neat and tidy home were so simple, why are there so many resources out there to help you, or how many people pay someone else to clean their homes?

If staying disciplined were so simple, why are there so many books about how to be more disciplined?

I don't ask these questions to argue, rather, to make the point that these things aren't as simple as they seem to be. While we may have the best of intentions to do things, there are other things that get in the way. Or, as was my point in writing the post yesterday, we lose focus. As I said, I'm awesome at being focused for short periods of time....and then I fall off. And I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

While I may have the best of intentions for my calendar, being a church music minister, things come up. Like funeral. The last 2 weeks, I've had 2 funerals to prepare for and play for. That takes priority over other things when it comes to practicing. 

When you work, when you have children, or even if you don't, maintaining focus and discipline is not the simplest thing in the world. If the secret to get things done is just doing them, then we'd have no problems. We'd be the most productive people on the planet. The productivity section in your local bookstore would cease to exist. If the cure for a lack of discipline is sticking to your calendar, then calendar sales would be off the charts! But neither of these are the case. Why? Because it's not that simple.

Life is a series of choices. Sometimes we choose well. Sometimes we choose poorly. I've made my share of good choices. I've made my share of poor choices. As I've grown older, I've learned that I don't have all of the answers, and I try to look to and lean on others for help. Because it's not that simple. 

So is that it? Just throw your hands up and say, "well, it's not that simple, so I'm sunk"? Not at all. My point in writing the post yesterday and this one is to share that while it isn't simple, you keep trying. While I did awesome in January at eating healthy and exercising, and staying focused, I didn't in February, March and so far in April. Does that mean that I'm sunk for the year? Of course not! It's only April! There's 7 and a half months to learn from those mistakes, make better choices and make progress. I haven't managed my time as well as I should have. Same point applies. And the same thing goes for you. It's not simple. But it's doable. And it's necessary. So I pray that you are able to find those things that bring you focus and discipline, as I pray that I am too. 

Discipline and focus

Yesterday I came across a post on Facebook which really hit me. It was “Clutter is no just physical stuff. It’s old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits. Clutter is anything that does not support your better self.” There’s a lot to unpack, but I’m going to deal with what hit me out of that quote.

I’m awesome at something. I do really great at it. It’s a talent that I have.....but I don’t want to be that way anymore. What am I awesome at? Being focused, successful and disciplined for a short period of time. And then I fall completely off the wagon. Whether that’s exercise, practicing music, composing music, being organized and cleaning up regularly, blogging, and more....I’m awesome at being focused and doing great for short, maybe 2-4 week spurts....and then for whatever reason, I quit. I stop.

So how does it change? That’s the struggle. Of course the easy answer is, “suck it up buttercup”. But that only goes so far.  So what changes? What is different? I wish I could say there is a magic bullet that if you do this one thing, everything falls into place. Ain’t gonna happen. What it is going to take is a plan, focus and consistency.

So how do I exercise more? Well, back on about Ash Wednesday (February 14th) I quit walking. Why? I chose sleeping in. This morning, that changed. I got up and took the dog for a walk, even though it was cold (for Texas) and it’s going to be a long day. That’s even more reason for me to do it.

How do I practice more? I calendar it. And I stick to that calendar. This is one of the hardest ones because throughout my week, my schedule isn’t always “regular”. There may be meetings that come up, funerals to practice for (that’s happened the last 2 weeks after Easter) and more. So it’s a matter of doing my best and when I’m practicing, focusing on using that time as well as I can.

How do I compose more? That’s easy. Just do it. Actually, the laptop I’ve used to compose is a few years old and it’s run slowly....which, of course, works great when you’re fantastic at making excuses. Of course I made excuses to not do anything because of schedule, computer being slow, and really, honestly, what the answer is, I was scared. Composing music puts you out there. You’ll get plenty of rejections, non responses or tepid encouragements. I’ve gotten plenty of all of them. But I feel called to be a composer, so the only way I can call myself a composer is......to do it.

How do I get and stay organized and keep the house clean. Funny, right? Well, yesterday was my oldest’s 9th birthday. We got the house (and her room) cleaned. So, keeping up shouldn’t be too hard. It’s about doing a few things each night after the girls go to bed. Of course, moving (as we’re hoping to) will lead to even more of a focus and attention to organization, what needs to stay or go, etc.

And finally, blogging.....how do I do it regularly? Just like doing things before bed, I sit down and write out posts. Whether that’s going to be daily or a few days a week, that remains to be seen. But in a previous blog incarnation, I planned out the month coming up and topics to write about. That helped to keep me focused. With this blog, I haven’t. I’ve basically been spitballing, throwing things against the wall, and been unplanned.....and yet you still read it. So thanks for that! I know that I’m capable of giving you better ideas and information than I have in the past, and I look forward to doing it.

How about how? Where do you struggle with discipline and focus? What habits are you wanting to adjust, change or drop completely? Comment with those habits!