Living a life without many complications and responsibility is something that most dream of and only a few get to experience it. Most of us are usually really frustrated with our jobs, studies or life in general while dreaming what if I had so much money that I could fix everything that came in the way. While I am in no position to speak but I do like to think what if I really had infinite money will all those be fixed? If you ask me the answer is NO - a big no.
TL;DR A lean life is doing less of the unnecessary, more of what matters, and owning your time and attention.
What is a lean life?
In my words, it means to do things that you want to do and avoid the rest. According to chatGPT, intentionally removing waste to focus only on what truly adds value to your life
Like everything in life, there is no formula to living "lean life" but I think treating life as a system or just various aspects as systems and investing upon yourself which compounds will definitely make life much lean and thin.
Treating life as a system means to tackle regular day tasks in such a way that you don't spend any cognitive load to process any decisions apart from the ones that require your true attention. A few things a lot of people do that might be helped with having a system:
- having a wide wardrobe just to get confused on what to wear today
- what to cook today
- what should I post?
- taking a lot of important choices in a day
- what is someone thinking about me
- what will people say
I do think all of these questions are very valid but they don't really justify who we are really. All they give is a nudge of validation and a ton of cognitive overload.
Investing upon yourself is the best investment that anyone can make. Any asset that you usually invest usually gives a monetary return. When you do the same upon yourself there are changes that can't be explained in a spreadsheet. Usually the way of articulating your thoughts increases a lot, body gains peace and you problems don't vanish away right away but they seem much more easier to tackle.
Focusing on the 80/20 rule which goes by to achieve 80% of anything you just need to put in 20% of the efforts. I find this really meaningful in the places which I don't really enjoy. Frankly speaking I don't enjoy doing household chores so I just do 20% of them which make for the 80% of the effect and I am really happy that I did the things that were meant to. Studying for exam is also something I really hate mainly because there a lot of useless information all around. So I just study the 20% portion properly and then get 80% marks.
Do I live a lean life?
I would not say no. I try to live a life that is meaningful. I want to be tired doing the things that I wanted to do while I have a very beautiful connection with my loml. I try to wear same clothes or similar ones just because I just like them. I don't post much or put a lot of thinking on what should I really post about. I don't have a lot of choices just because of my habits/lifestyle. I don't care much about others opinions just because they are just opinions. So, honestly I would say I am in a right track but a lot far from the end goal.
To conclude, living a lean life is very meaningful mainly because of the influence or ownership that you can have upon yourself. It feels meaningful to go to bed doing the things you love. Talk to people about what you really do and enjoy. Finding like minded people who share the same opinion. And explaining anything and everything to everyone when you're outside.