14 Types of Minimalism
Minimalism can be approached from many different perspectives. This article explains multiple different types of minimalism and provides directions to further content related to them.
Table of Contents
1. Temporal Minimalism
There are countless way to save time in the day-to-day life. You may be able to work remotely, cook your food in large batches or use many other time-saving hacks that can save you considerable amount of time already individually, but used together truly free up your calendar for those thing that matter for you the most. Temporal minimalists are fine for purchasing new products or services if they help to save time.
2. Relationship Minimalism
Every relationship either give value to your life or reduces it. Therefore it is important to decide with who you want spend your precious time. Relationships minimalists dedicate to share their time with those people that give more meaning to their life.
One way to consider your relationships is to analyze it through the view of Jim Rohn that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Now think about the five closest to you. How well they represent the type of life you want to live?
3. Decision-Making Minimalism
According to research, we make about 35 000 decisions per day on average. Every decision reduces the energy you have for the day. Too many decisions can lead you to a decision fatique and paralysis analysis. Are you quilty too for spending more time on Netflix selecting the movie than actually watching it? Decision-making minimalists remove those decisions from their life that do not add them more value than they take. Simplifying your wardrobe or diet are two examples of methods that decision-making minimalists can utilize in their life.
Other Resources on Decision-Making Minimalism
4. Financial Minimalism
Financial minimalism is often referred as intentional use of money. Financial minimalists see that instead of consuming their hard-earned income on things that may only give them a short-lasting buyers´ high, they invest their money on things that bring them significant value. For some this means investing into their hobby and for others buying more free time through reinvesting their dollars of whatever their choice of currency may be. As Jim Rohn, a famous entrepreneur and motivational speaker has said:
Time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to waste it, kill it and spend it rather than invest it.
FIRE movement has been other connected to financial minimalism. FIRE is an abbreviation for financial indepence and early retirement. The basic premise of FIRE is to gain such a significant stream of passive income so that working becomes optional, instead of a must. It is important to remember that for many, financial independence does not mean going to the beach and sipping margaritas for the rest of their life. Instead, it just gives them to freedom to so or whatever they feel like. Sounds pretty good, doesn´t it?
Examples of Financial Minimalists
Other Resources on Financial Minimalism
100+ Ways to Save Money by Minimalist Products
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle
The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin
MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins
5. Compulsive Minimalism
Not only that minimalism can be solution to things, it can also be a symptom of something else. Just like there are compulsive hoarders, there also are minimalists that declutter compulsively. If you feel that minimalism has become an aspect negatively affecting your life, do not be afraid to get help.
6. Nomadic Minimalism
Nomadic minimalists have streamlined their life (i.a. by paring down their possessions) so that they can flexibly travel around the world for leisure, work, or both. Nomadic minimalism has been revolutionized by the advent of digitalization and the internet as in more and more cases your office can be where ever you decide to go with your laptop. One of the popular movements among this type of minimalism is onebagging which refers to the art of travelling with a single bag.
Examples of Nomadic Minimalists
7. Work Minimalism
According to Gallups´ State of the Global Workplace: 2022 report, workers are more stressed than ever before. Work minimalists have limited the stress by picking up a more related profession, shortened their work commute or elimininated it altogether by changing their location or by starting to work remotely.
Also for some, entrepreneurship is the best way to go. Being their own boss is something that is a non-negotiable factor regarding their work life, although it also introduces certain responsibilities that employees do not have. One of the most tempting ways to implement minimalism into work life is to do the type of work that generates passive income. This way, the certain amount of hours you have put into labor can reap you money even while you are at sleep.
8. Business Minimalism
Business and minimalism share a lot of common aspects. Considering the minimalist aspects in your business may completely change your direction of your company and consequently your life.
For example, higher productivity refers for a company to getting more done with fewer resources.
MVP, Minimum Viable Product is also something that shares congruent ideas with minimalism. The term was popularised by Eric Ries in his highly influential business book The Lean Startup. MVP is such a version of a product that only carries the most essential features. MVPs are popular in a startup scene where the viability of a new product among the target audience can help the startup to avoid wasting their finite resources on something their potential customers see no value in. In other words, MVPs can help startups to focus to the essential. This is what minimalist also strive to achieve.
When discussing business and minimalism, it is highly likely you have stumbled upon The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss. This bestseller introduced the DEAL framework. By Defining your goals, Eliminating the nonessential, Automating the remaining tasks to make them take as little time as possible, and finally getting to Liberation to do those things you want instead of those you must do.
Let´s take one more example. TPS, Toyota Production System was developed by no other than the auto makers of Toyota. TPS is a production philosophy that strives to achieve “the complete elimination of all waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods“. Part of TPS is also Just-in-Time, which focus is to produce only “what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed”.
Examples of Business Minimalists
Other Resources on Business Minimalism
9. Exercise Minimalism
Do you want to keep your exercises simple but still effective? Then exercise minimalism should interest you. Exercise minimalists focus on the exercises that give them them the most results with the least amount of time and/or equipment.
For example, research has backed compound exercises offering the most bang for your buck when it comes to improving and and maintaining your fitness. Compound exercises include movements such as squats, deadlifts, pull-ups and dumbbell shoulder press. Theses exercise utilize many muscle groups in your body at the same time, in comparison to isolation exercises such as a preacher curl that mostly challenges only a single muscle group.
When it comes to cardio, excercises such as walking, running or indoor rowing are effective ways to improve your general health. For example, did you know that indoor rowing, when done in a proper form engages 86% of the muscles in your body?
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10. Digital Minimalism
Those following the guidelines of digital minimalism fight to not let the non-essential things to steal their time, focus and well-being.
The interest towards digital minimalism has exponentially grown after the advent of smartphones and social media platforms. Although these technologies have brought a lot of positives to peoples´ lives, their possible potential for harm in the terms of loss of focus, addictiviness and worsening mental health have been recognised. In this light, Joshua Field Millburn´s statement “scrolling is the new smoking” is not that far-fetched. The term digital minimalism really started to gain traction after the publication of Cal Newport´s book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. The author himself described digital minimalism the following way:
A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of small of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly supports things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.
As with other types of minimalism, also digital minimalism has many different avenues. Some may practice it through the deletion of social media apps from their phone while others have changed their iPhone to a feature (or so-called dumb) phone such as the Punkt MP02. Furthermore, some have reduced the number of digital devices they own.
Examples of Digital Minimalists
Other Resources on Digital Minimalism
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
11. Communicational Minimalism
As minimalists know, less can often be more. Communicational minimalists only talk when they have something meaningful to say. Often these people “walk the talk”. They let their actions speak louder than their words. And when they talk, others know it is something important.
Examples of Communicational Minimalists
12. Ecological Minimalism
The worry about our planet´s healthbeing draws more and more attention. Ecological minimalists have decided to give their own effort to help Earth. Ecological Minimalism can take many forms. For example, members of the zero-waste movement focus in producing as little waste as possible.
Not only that ecological minimalists pare down their unnecessary spending on products, they favor products that harm the environment as little as possible e.g. by getting products that are use sustainable parts/ingredients and/or are locally produced. Ecological minimalists are faced with a challenge to differentiate actually sustainable products from those that are just greenwashed.
Where we live and how we move are a big factor in how much we use resources. Many ecological minimalists favor smaller living places with renewable energy sources and have adopted a car-free lifestyle.
Examples of Ecological Minimalists
13. Bandwagon Minimalism
Many things have become trendy during the years. Minimalism is no exception. After all, we humans are herd animals. Many have jumped on the minimalist bandwagon, only finding themselves to moving on to the next hot trend soon after. Still, some people stay to follow the minimalist principles on their lives.
The Google Trends chart below demonstrates interest for the term minimalism over time in the United States. The big spike around end of 2016 – start of 2017 is likely a consequence of the release of Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things on Netflix.
Examples of Bandwagon Minimalists
Haha, good try! We are not going to point the finger at anyone.
14. Design Minimalism
Minimalism has long roots in different categories of design. There is design all around and thus minimalist design principles can widely benefit us by removing distractions and giving us room to breath, whether considering Bauhaus-inspired living spaces all the way to the interfaces of our digital devices that carry a name of a certain fruit.
One of the biggest influences related to design minimalism has been the Ten Principles of Good Design introduced by the German industrial designer Dieter Rams. Key takeaway from the framework is that good minimalist design is not only aesthetic but also comprises aspects such as longevity and making the product useful. As Sir Jonathan Ive, the former chief designer of Apple has put it:
A beautiful product that doesn`t work very well is ugly.
Examples of Design Minimalists
Other Resources on Design Minimalism
Rams by Gary Hustwit
Sahakian, B. J.; Labuzetta, J. N. (2013). Bad moves: how decision making goes wrong, and the ethics of smart drugs. London: Oxford University Press.
Ingham, S. A.; Carter, H.; Whyte, G. P. & Doust, J.H. (2008). Physiological and Performance Effects of Low- versus Mixed-Intensity Rowing Training. The American College of Sports Medicine.
