“Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.”
Leo Babauta, The Power of Less
Leo Babauta built a whole practice around that sentence. Not a vibe. Not a mood board. Two moves: name what matters, then cut what doesn’t.
Most of us skip step one. We tidy drawers, unsubscribe from newsletters, and still feel crowded, because we never decided what “essential” means for this season of life. Essential isn’t a universal list. It’s your kid’s bedtime story. It’s the walk that clears your head. It’s the work that pays the bills without eating every evening. Everything else is optional until you prove otherwise.
Step two is where people get dramatic. Elimination doesn’t have to mean a dumpster in the driveway. It can mean one standing no. One recurring meeting declined. One category of shopping you pause for thirty days. The point isn’t deprivation. It’s making room so the essential can actually breathe.
The trap is treating simplicity like a personality. You don’t need a new aesthetic, a capsule wardrobe manifesto, or a perfect morning routine. You need a clearer yes and a braver no. Babauta’s line works because it’s small enough to finish before lunch—and honest enough to use again when life piles back up, which it will.
Here’s a concrete way to live it this week.
Pick one corner of your week that feels bloated—your closet, your calendar, or your phone’s home screen. Write down the three things in that corner that earn their keep. Be honest. Then remove or mute three things that don’t make the list. Not forever. Just for seven days. Notice what you miss and what you don’t. Keep what you miss. Let the rest stay gone.
If you want a second pass, do the same with one money habit: name the three purchases that actually support your week, then skip one automatic spend that doesn’t. Identify. Eliminate. That’s the whole method.
Want a longer set? Start with our 25 simple living quotes and pick one for the week.
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