Salam guys,
Last week we talked about ‘do nothing’. Tapi jangan lama sangat ‘do nothing’ tu :D
Now, we need to do something.
Question: What is that thing?
Before that, let’s recap 3 questions from last week:
What is the ONE THING you want to achieve in 2024?
What is the ONE HABIT you want to incorporate into your life?
What is the ONE REGRET you want to declutter from your life?
That ONE THING, kalau kita buat, it changes everything.
Another question: What is that ONE THING?
Have you decided on that ONE THING?
Today’s topic is about ESSENTIALISM.
Sebelum kita dive in, I want to share with you about minimalism:
Minimalism adalah sebuah 'alat' untuk minimize distractions yang menghalang kita dari serve our life purpose.
Contoh distractions:
1. Physical clutter: Kita sibuk mengemas setiap weekend, because we have too much stuff in the house
2. Digital clutter: Kita suka scroll social media, because we're afraid of missing out (FOMO)
3. Mental clutter: Kita selalu teringat benda lepas (depression) atau terlalu risau future (anxiety)
4. Heart clutter: Kita tak boleh let go kisah lama, dendam, marah, cemburu, all negative vibes = dosa.
Contoh, life purpose kita adalah kita pandai memasak, boleh buka restoran. Tapi kita tak nampak kelebihan tu. Kita asyik scroll nampak kelebihan orang lain, "Dia boleh lah, dia hebat."
Those 4 clutters menyebabkan kita tak nampak apa kelebihan kita, yang boleh digunakan untuk manfaat bersama.
Kita ada kelebihan.
Tapi kita mungkin tak nampak kelebihan kita, sebab kita banyak scroll. Kita nampak orang lain hebat, then kita kata, “Dia boleh lah…”
That’s the function of ‘doing nothing’ last weekend, which is to reflect.
Kat mana sebenarnya kekuatan kita ni?
Once kita tahu kat mana kekuatan kita, dekat situ kita perlu letak effort.
So what is essentialism?
Essentialism is about focusing our energy into ONE DIRECTION, instead of buat banyak benda dalam satu masa.
(Essentialism juga adalah tajuk sebuah buku yang ditulis oleh Greg McKeown)
Here’s some excerpt from his website:
The Way of the Essentialist involves doing less, but better, so you can make the highest possible contribution.
The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done.
It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’.
Biasa bila masuk tahun baru, kita ada banyak benda nak capai.
Bagus tu, ada impian.
Cuma, bila terlalu banyak benda nak dicapai, kita tak tahu nak buat mana satu dulu. End up, tak buat apa-apa.
Atau, we are doing too many things at the same time, sampai kita tak nampak progress. Bila tak nampak progress, kita tend to, rasa nak putus asa.
Time ni lah syaitan bisik, “Mu takyah buat lah. Semua benda tak jadi…”
Bahaya tu… kadang-kadang bukan syaitan je bisik, manusia pun ada yang bisik macam tu.
Essentialism is about focus on ONE THING. Apa benda yang kita nak capai tahun ni?
If there’s too much things yang kita nak capai, ask this question: “If you know you have another 6 months to live in this world, apa 1 benda yang nak dicapai?” - this is your answer.
There was a guy that I knew from work, orang yang sangat baik. Bila orang datang minta tolong, he doesn’t know how to say ‘No’.
A datang minta tolong, dia buat
B datang minta tolong, dia buat
C datang minta tolong, dia buat
Bila you buat semua benda, you are stretching yourself too thin.
Ada satu ayat Quran tentang cerita Nabi Sulaiman:
[27:20-21] Solomon inspected the birds and said, ‘Why do I not see the hoopoe? Is he absent? I will punish him severely, or kill him, unless he brings me a convincing excuse for his absence.’
[27:20-21] Dan dia memeriksa burung-burung lalu berkata, "Mengapa aku tidak melihat Hud-Hud,1 apakah ia termasuk yang absen (tidak hadir)? Pasti akan ku hukum ia dengan hukuman yang berat atau ku sembelih ia, kecuali jika ia datang kepadaku dengan alasan yang jelas."
Ayat ni, kita nampak Nabi Sulaiman sangat FIRM. Dia tanya, kenapa burung ni tak datang? I will punish him, or kill him…
Ok obviously I’m not asking you to kill anyone here.
Just want to share about being FIRM. Kena tegas.
Sample kawan yang I bagi tadi, dia tak tegas, at the end, semua benda dia buat.
Hence this quote:
If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.
(p.s: For my friend example, it’s ok to do a lot of things, because he’s young. In the beginning of your career, you want to say yes to as much as possible. Your hustle and your work ethic, are your biggest asset. But as you start to grow, it’s very important to learn how to say no; hence, essentialism.)
You need to choose ONE THING, ONE DIRECTION, and if you don’t, you akan tertarik untuk buat semua benda.
Focus adalah benda yang senang untuk dicakap, tapi susah untuk dibuat.
I pernah berjumpa dengan seorang business guru, in which dia kongsi, ‘orang bisnes ada blink blink syndrom’: business A boleh buat duit, business B boleh buat duit, business C pun boleh.
Bila tak fokus pada 1, akan burn out. Ni nak buat, tu pun nak buat. Energy akan jadi macam dalam gambar sebelah kiri:
Nathan Barry, founder ConvertKit, company dia sekarang valuation at $320 million pernah tulis:
Anytime someone brags about how many businesses they run I cringe. I’d far rather take one thing and do it really well. I’ll leave the serial entrepreneurship for the scattered, the wannabes, or those who are truly far more talented than I am.
A friend told me the other day that he was surprised I still only did ConvertKit. At this point we have an incredible team, available capital, and the leverage of an audience. Why not start something else and run it in parallel?
When we say YES to something, that means we say NO to other thing.
Contoh gini:
Bila kita say YES to read 1 chapter of book, that means, kita say NO to scrolling for 30 minutes
Bila kita say YES to exercise di sekitar kawasan perumahan, that means, kita say NO to scrolling for 30 minutes
Bila kita say YES untuk duduk dengan anak kita tolong dia buat homework, that means, kita say NO to scrolling for 30 minutes
Say YES to what matters to you the most in your life.
Contoh yang diberi ni cuma skala kecil.
Cuba lihat skala besar. I don’t know what is that ONE THING you want to achieve, but when you decide only ONE THING, you will have MORE space for things that matter, like family.
If you want to do 5 things at the same time, that means, less time with family. Could be less sleep which depletes your energy, less time untuk exercise misalnya. Because you want to accomplish too many things at the same time.
Dharmesh Shah, seorang billionaire, dan juga founder Hubspot pesan: Do fewer things, better:
1. Decide on what matters the most.
2. Say no to everything else.
3. When something falls in the gray area, re-read #2.
Let’s get back to the question:
What is the ONE THING you want to achieve in 2024?
What is the ONE HABIT you want to incorporate into your life?
What is the ONE REGRET you want to declutter from your life?
That ONE THING, that ONE HABIT, kalau kita buat, it changes everything.
(p.s Write it down on your notebook. Don’t trust your brain)
Bila kita FOCUS pada SATU, it becomes easier to achieve.
Welcome to the minimalist world!
Alright guys, feel free to hit reply and let me know what do you think about this topic. I'd love to hear your reasons for choosing either essentialism or doing multiple things at the same time.
Thanks for reading.
Love you guys.
Talk to you again next week inshaAllah.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
Majalah Minimalis: Download Majalah Minimalis secara percuma + get free mini course on Declutter Your Life.
30-Day Declutter Journey: An online self-paced course to help you to stop scrolling mindlessly and start focusing on your life-priorities.
(Selagi kita tak decide apa yang kita nak capai sekarang, selagi tu kita akan tetap scroll phone…)