Transcription
I used to feel really stuck in my life and unmotivated. I'd always try these extreme things to change my life, 30-day challenges that I saw other people doing. But over the past few years, I've built some small, simple rules for myself that have really improved my day-to-day life, and I hope it can improve yours as well.
The House on Fire Rule. Recently, on our trip through Europe, British Airways lost our luggage. We kept our backpacks, but we lost all of our clothes. And it was at that point I had a really cool realization. I didn't really care about any of that stuff. It didn't make any difference to me. If I never saw all my clothes again, it wouldn't really matter.
So I've been practicing this rule recently, and the rule is: think about your attic or your closet, your storage unit, whatever it is. What would happen if it just went away? It evaporated into thin air. Your house burned down and you lost all that stuff. Would you actually be relieved? Are you overly attached to it? Does your stuff actually kind of own you a little bit? For me, I had this realization: there's a few things in my house that I wouldn't love to lose. For the most part, it wouldn't really affect me as a person, my happiness levels, anything if my house burned down. And that's a really freeing concept because the stuff we own ends up owning us. So the more stuff I've gotten rid of, the more calm and mental clarity I've ended up having in my life.
The 2020 Rule or Just In Case. I think I first heard this rule from The Minimalists, but especially in my beginning stages of decluttering, when I was going through a bunch of stuff, and I realized that we have so many things that we hang on to for just in case. Just in case people come over, just in case I need to make 18 cups of coffee at once, just in case I go up a size or I go down a size. We've got all of this stuff for just in case. So as you're decluttering, you're trying to figure out what to get rid of, if you can replace an item for twenty dollars in under 20 minutes, then just let it go. Obviously, without being wasteful. But when I've used this rule and I've exercised this, there really hasn't been one thing that I've actually needed to replace. So if you're on the edge with something, use the 2020 rule. If it fits in there, just let it go.
The Box Rule. This rule, and actually the last two, are my absolute favorite rules, so make sure you stick around for those. But the Box Rule kind of expands on the last one, where if you're going through decluttering stuff, you're unsure about it, maybe it doesn't fit in the 2020 rule, throw it in a box. Put it in your attic, put it in the garage, and set a reminder on your phone for like six months from now that you will go through that box and decide that. So this is for the people who have a hard time getting rid of stuff and you're like, "Well, I'm not getting rid of it. I'm just putting it in a box." And when that time comes, maybe six months from now, and you realize that you haven't gone to that box because clearly you didn't need anything out of it, you have two choices. You can either go through it and decide to sell or declutter it, or you can just take the entire box and donate the entire box because clearly you don't need anything that's in there. So if you want to trick yourself into decluttering, this is a great. By the way, if you're enjoying this and getting some value, don't forget to subscribe. It's free, and I only post once a week, so I won't clutter up your YouTube feed.
The Two-Day Rule. I'm pretty sure I already originally learned this one from Matt. This rule is super simple. It's pretty much that you're not going to miss a new habit two days in a row. For me, I use this a couple of different ways. I read a page of a book every single morning, and it's okay if I miss one day because I've got an appointment in the morning or whatever's going on, but I can never miss two days in a row. And that has kept that habit extremely consistent for over a year now. I also use this with going to the gym, where I'm going to do some type of exercise every day, and it's okay if I miss one day, but I can never miss two in a row. But it also keeps you from, like, falling off the bandwagon for habits that you really want to keep.
The Investing Rule. This is a rule that I've, like, followed, but I don't, I don't really know what to call it. If you have any ideas, let me know. I just called it the investor rule. But pretty much, instead of investing into stuff, into into random books, what is this? Hence Christian Andersen, I didn't even know we had that. These are Meredith's books, by the way. We should be investing into experiences. Investing into stuff has generally led me to being more, like, stressed. It all takes up space in my mind. It doesn't really make me happy. Even when you buy a new car, it's cool for a little bit, and then it's just a car again. Same thing with clothes and most things. But experiences really help change you as a person. They're great memory, they help you learn and expand your horizons. So I've been really focusing on taking that money that I'm not spending on stuff and investing it into travel for holidays. We gift each other experiences instead of gifting each other, like, random crap that we don't need. And that should be, like, literally in our budget is to invest money and experiences.
Have a Home Rule. I really gotta get better at naming these things. This is, this is embarrassing. If stuff does not have a home in my house, I just get rid of it. Since I took the time and I found a place for everything to go, I've stopped losing my wallet, stopped losing my keys, my phone has a place to go, all my clothes have places to go, all the toys have places that they go. Everything in my house has a place where it belongs. And if it doesn't have a place where it belongs, it probably does not belong in my house. And because it'll end up on the counter, it'll end up strewn all over the place. And if it doesn't have a place, strongly consider getting rid of it. Like, this is just a good overall rule that if it doesn't have a place where it belongs and it's always just sitting around, you probably don't need it.
Other People Rule. A lot of times we do things, either consciously or subconsciously, for other people. When we're getting the newest iPhone, it's partly because we want that new flashy thing, but it's partly because you can kind of show off. It's cool to have, it's a status symbol. Same thing with maybe a pair of shoes or a car or the house in the neighborhood or clothes. Part of it's for you, and part of it is for other people. Even like posting to social media, unless it's like for work, a lot of that is just to get some validation from your day for other people and kind of make yourself feel better because maybe you're not having a great day and you want people to tell you how great you look or how hard you're working or or whatever.
So this one actually took me a while to get out of. But instead of worrying about what other people think, especially when I'm buying stuff, I've been really focusing on wants versus needs. Is this something that I actually need, or do I want it because X, Y, and Z? Because maybe people think it's cool. Like when I spilled water on my laptop, I realized that I didn't need a second laptop. I was able to share Meredith's for like a year almost. And then when we went to travel and I needed to edit while I was traveling, I bought a laptop because I needed it, not because it was like, "Ah, that'd be cool to have." I don't really care what other people think. I'm doing what is best for me. I don't really care.
The 90 Rule. I use this rule two different ways. First, when I'm looking at stuff to buy, I try not to buy it unless it is a 90 or above. So, 1 out of 100, does this shirt reach a 90 for me? Does it fit well? Will I wear it a ton? And if it's below there, I'm not gonna buy it. And as a result, every shirt that I own is my favorite shirt. I can reach my hand in, grab it, I love it. I used to have a lot of stuff that was maybe 60, 70, and be like, "Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it's not bad." And I never wore it because I would wear my favorite stuff. And now everything's my favorite stuff. And since I found all my favorite stuff, I I don't really buy anything anymore. So that's really strict criteria to buy pretty much everything in your house. And while sometimes that might mean spending a little more money to get a more quality thing, in the long run, at least for me, I've spent a lot less money because I don't shop ever, like for anything. Like obviously I need some stuff, but I I don't like cycle through anything anymore.
And then the second way to use this is when somebody asks you to do something, an opportunity comes up. Is that a 90 yearbook? Is it a heck yes? And if it's not, then it's a no. And doing that has cleared up my calendar incredibly. I do so much less stuff now.
The Two-Minute Rule. I think I've done a whole video on this. Let's give you the quick version. Life-changing rule. If something takes two minutes or less, just do it. Put away the dishes, clean up your room, bring that thing upstairs that's been sitting on the staircase for a month, finish that repair, put on your workout clothes and go sit in the car. Only commit to the smallest thing possible. And by doing that, you'll trick yourself into doing the big stuff, and you just clear up, like, a bunch of crap that you've been avoiding.
The Nightly Reset. Every night before bed, I walk through and I reset my house. I lay out my clothes for the night, before I load or unload the dishwasher, so we never leave any dishes around. Fill up my kettle so that I can make coffee by just clicking the button in the morning. I lay out the book that I'm going to read. I set up my next day for success the night before. And it's been life-changing. Almost as life-changing as subscribing to this channel, because trying to hit half a million by the end of the year. So thank you to everybody who has subscribed, and I'll see you next week.