12 Indispensable Mindful Living Tools

By Leo Babauta

The focus of my life in recent months has been living mindfully, and while I don’t always remember to do that, I have learned a few things worth sharing.

The first is a mindful life is worth the effort. It’s a life where we awaken from the dream state we’re most often submerged in â€" the state of having your mind anywhere but the present moment, locked in thoughts about what you’re going to do later, about something someone else said, about something you’re stressing about or angry about. The state of mind where we’re lost in our smartphones and social media.

It’s worth the effort, because being awake means we’re not missing life as we walk through it. Being awake means we’re conscious of what’s going on inside us, as it happens, and so can make more conscious choices rather than acting on our impulses all the time.

The second thing I’ve learned is that we forget. We forget, over and over, to be awake. And that’s OK. Being mindful is a process of forgetting, and then remembering. Repeatedly. Just as breathing is a process of exhaling, and then inhaling, repeatedly.

The third is that mindful living isn’t just one thing. It’s not just meditation. Nor is it just focusing on the sensations around you, right now in this moment. I’ve found mindful living to be a set of very related tools, perhaps all different ways of getting at the same thing, but each useful in its own regard.

I’ll share them in this post, and hope that you’ll consider each in turn.

Why You Should Care

Why bother to spend the time learning these tools? Is it just for some ideal of living a peaceful, stress-free life?

No. A stress-free life doesn’t exist, but these tools will definitely make you more prepared to deal with the stresses that will inevitably come your way.

But just as importantly, they’ll help you overcome the fear of failure and fear of discomfort that’s holding you back, that’s keeping you from making positive changes in your life.

These tools will help you launch your new blog, start a business, write a book, put out your first music album online, find your purpose in life, become the person you’ve always wanted to be.

This is what I’ve found. I’m certain you’ll find these tools just as useful.

The Toolset

This list, of course, is not complete. It’s a collection of things I’ve been learning about, and am still practicing, things I’ve found useful enough to share.

1. Meditation. Meditation is where mindful living starts. And it’s not complicated: you can sit still for even just 1 minute a day to start with (work up to 3-5 minutes after a week), and turn your attention to your body and then your breath. Notice when your thoughts wander from your breath, and gently return to the breath. Repeat until the minute is up.
2. Be Awake. Meditation is practice for being awake, which is not being in the dream state (mind wandering into a train of thought, getting lost in the online world, thinking about past offenses, stressing about the future, etc.) but being awake to the present, to what is. Being awake is something you can do throughout the day, all the time, if you remember. Remembering is the trick.
3. Watch Urges. When I quit smoking in 2005, the most useful tool I learned was watching my urges to smoke. I would sit there and watch the urge rise and fall, until it was gone, without acting on it. It taught me that I am not my urges, that I don’t have to act on my urges, and this helped me change all my other habits. Watch your urge to check email or social media, to eat something sweet or fried, to drink alcohol, to watch TV, to be distracted, to procrastinate. These urges will come and go, and you don’t have to act on them.
4. Watch Ideals. We all have ideals, all the time. We have an ideal that our day will go perfectly, that people will be kind and respectful to us, that we will be perfect, that we’ll ace an exam or important meeting, that we’ll never fail. Of course, we know from experience that those ideals are not real, that they don’t come true, that they aren’t realistic. But we still have them, and they cause our stress and fears and grief over something/someone we’ve lost. By letting go of ideals, we can let go of our suffering.
5. Accept People & Life As They Are. When I stopped trying to change a loved one, and accepted him for who he was, I was able to just be with him and enjoy my time with him. This acceptance has the same effect for anything you do â€" accept a co-worker, a child, a spouse, but also accept a “bad” situation, an unpleasant feeling, an annoying sound. When we stop trying to fight the way things are, when we accept what is, we are much more at peace.
6. Let Go of Expectations. This is really the same thing as the previous two items, but I’ve found it useful nonetheless. It’s useful to watch your expectations with an upcoming situation, with a new project or business, and see that it’s not real and that it’s causing you stress and disappointment. We cause our own pain, and we can relieve it by letting go of the expectations that are causing it. Toss your expectations into the ocean.
7. Become OK with Discomfort. The fear of discomfort is huge â€" it causes people to be stuck in their old bad habits, to not start the business they want to start, to be stuck in a job they don’t really like, because we tend to stick to the known and comfortable rather than try something unknown and uncomfortable. It’s why many people don’t eat vegetables or exercise, why they eat junk, why they don’t start something new. But we can be OK with discomfort, with practice. Start with things that are a little uncomfortable, and keep expanding your comfort zone.
8. Watch Your Resistance. When you try to do something uncomfortable, or try to give up something you like or are used to, you’ll find resistance. But you can just watch the resistance, and be curious about it. Watch your resistance to things that annoy you â€" a loud sound that interrupts your concentration, for example. It’s not the sound that’s the problem, it’s your resistance to the sound. The same is true of resistance to food we don’t like, to being too cold or hot, to being hungry. The problem isn’t the sensation of the food, cold, heat or hunger â€" it’s our resistance to them. Watch the resistance, and feel it melt. This resistance, by the way, is why I’m doing my Year of Living Without.
9. Be Curious. Too often we are stuck in our ways, and think we know how things should be, how people are. Instead, be curious. Find out. Experiment. Let go of what you think you know. When you start a new project or venture, if you feel the fear of failure, instead of thinking, “Oh no, I’m going to fail” or “Oh no, I don’t know how this will turn out”, try thinking, “Let’s see. Let’s find out.” And then there isn’t the fear of failure, but the joy of being curious and finding out. Learn to be OK with not knowing.
10. Be Grateful. We complain about everything. But life is a miracle. Find something to be grateful about in everything you do. Be grateful when you’re doing a new habit, and you’ll stick to it longer. Be grateful when you’re with someone, and you’ll be happier with them. Life is amazing, if you learn to appreciate it.
11. Let Go of Control. We often think we control things, but that’s only an illusion. Our obsession with organization and goals and productivity, for example, are rooted in the illusion that we can control life. But life is uncontrollable, and just when we think we have things under control, something unexpected comes up to disrupt everything. And then we’re frustrated because things didn’t go the way we wanted. Instead, practice letting go of control, and learn to flow.
12. Be Compassionate. This sounds trite, but compassion for others can change the way you feel about the world, on a day-to-day basis. And compassion for yourself is life-changing. These two things need remembering, though, so mindful living is about remembering to be compassionate after you forget.

The Practice

OK, that seems like a lot to digest and remember, right?

Well, there’s hope. I often forget all of this stuff, but then I remember, and say, “Ah, I was doing it again!” And then I practice again.

And then I forget, but I reflect, and I learn, and I practice again.

This is the process of learning mindfulness. It’s forgetting, and then remembering, again and again.

And it’s worth remembering, again and again.

Burn Down the Farm

By Leo Babauta

I can’t tell you how many people want to make a big positive change in their lives, but are afraid to make the leap. They don’t want the discomfort, don’t want to leave what they’re comfortable with.

From losing weight or getting healthy to quitting a job you hate to learning something hard, most people would rather stick to what they know.

I’m here to make a rather drastic but effective suggestion: burn down the farm.

Let me tell you a story about a farmboy, in a distant galaxy: Luke Skywalker grew up on his aunt and uncle’s farm, but wanted to make a big change (go to the Imperial Academy) but his uncle doesn’t want him to go.

Later Luke makes a startling discovery, and is invited by a Jedi master to leave his planet and help the rebel alliance. (Bear with me, I’m almost at my point.) But Luke is reluctant to leave.

Luke goes on to adventures in strange worlds, and becomes a changed person in the course of these events. The change he dreamed of is far surpassed.

But his fear of discomfort, his fear of changing his ways and leaving behind what he’s comfortable with, almost stopped him.

How did he overcome this fear?

He returned home to find the farm burned down, and his aunt and uncle dead. That was horrible and painful, of course, but at this point, Luke had nothing comfortable to return to. He went on his adventure, in strange worlds.

I’m not encouraging you to literally burn anything down. Nor to slay anyone, of course. That probably shouldn’t have to be clarified, but for the literal-minded, I have to say it.

What I’m encouraging you to do is leave behind the comfortable. Find a way to make it harder to go back to what you’re used to than to go forward into strange, exciting, but uncomfortable new territory.

I quit my day job not long after I discovered that Zen Habits was my calling.

I moved my family from the comfort of our hometown (Guam) to San Francisco, which was hard for all of us, but ultimately led to growth.

We gave up our car and now walk and use mass transit. I tossed out all the junk food from our home when I wanted to eat healthier.

I’ve made public announcements about running a marathon, becoming vegan, unschooling our kids and more.

Those are just a few examples â€" the possibilities are as numerous as the stars of a distant galaxy.

Burn down the farm, nonviolently of course. Get rid of the possibility of comfort, so that the scary journey you want to take is your best choice.

My Most Minimal Travel Setup Yet

By Leo Babauta

I just got back from a trip to Beijing and Shanghai, and really loved how light I traveled for 8 days.

It was the least amount of stuff I’ve taken on a trip of any length, and traveling has never been less tiring.

When you have very little on your back, it’s less draining. It’s faster and funner.

I thought I’d share my latest travel setup, in hopes that it’ll inspire a few of you to try the joys of traveling lightly.

My Setup

This setup is unique to me, so I don’t recommend that you copy it … but that said, I’m sharing it so you can possibly get a few ideas and see how light travel is possible.

1. The backpack. I traveled the entire time with just a tiny backpack, no luggage or roller bag. The one I used is the Goruck 15L Shadowruck, which is just 15-liters in volume and only 0.27 lbs. (!). It’s super light. It’s tough. Not much room in it. Perfect.
2. No laptop. The most significant change I made to my setup this trip is to travel without my 11-inch Macbook Air. This tiny laptop is only 2.38 lbs., but traveling without a laptop is a huge change in weight. I was only going for 8 days, so I did my writing before I left. This wouldn’t work for many people. If I had to write for a longer trip, I could find an Internet cafe in most cities and write there.
3. The iPhone. While I resisted getting an iPhone for 6 years, in June Eva bought me the iPhone 5 for Father’s Day. So I’m now a part of the smartphone masses. And I embraced it on this trip, carrying only the iPhone, no laptop or camera. I did my reading, Tweeting, email and other work on here. And of course used it to document my trip with sweet photos. Also included: the charging cord.
4. Clothes: I favor workout clothes, because they are breathable, washable, comfortable and dry fast. So I wore the Ascent Pant, which looks a little dressy and is light and breathable. And a Precision T. And ExOfficio boxer briefs. I packed: another Precision T, two more boxer briefs, some workout socks, workout shorts, and a long-sleeve workout T-shirt. Just in case, I also packed a thin, lightweight Nike rain jacket (I didn’t need it this trip). Just in case it was cold, I also packed a beanie.
5. Toiletries. Deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, nailclippers.
6. Food. Just in case, I packed a handful of fruit & nut bars, and some raw almonds.
7. Other. I also had a couple of notebooks and pens, for writing, my passport, earbuds, a travel towel, a sleep mask, ear plugs, and a universal travel adapter.

Total weight: under 8 lbs.

Questions and Answers

Q: Why travel without a laptop?

A: I liked traveling without all the weight. And I tend to use the laptop too much when I travel, so I thought the restriction of not having a laptop would be good for me. If I needed to write, I might have found a foldable keyboard for the iPhone, or used an Internet cafe.

Q: How do you travel with so few clothes?

A: I simply wash them in the shower, wring them out good, and hang them to dry in my hotel room. I didn’t need to wash the pants, though they’re easily washable (as opposed to jeans). If you wash underwear, a shirt and socks on most nights, you only need one or two changes.

Q: Why workout clothes and not cotton?

A: I love cotton. It’s just heavier, and it gets smellier, than the workout clothes I pack. And it takes longer to dry. And wrinkles more. So the clothes I brought solve all those problems, and they’re very comfortable.

Panel: How To Deal With And Create Change

On another note, I invite you to join me, Matt Frazier of No Meat Athlete, and Jesse Jacobs of Samovar Tea Lounge, for a great panel discussion we’re holding at Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco next week (Oct. 29) from 8-10 p.m.

If you’re interested, get tickets here:

How To Deal With And Create Change â€" Tea, Tips & Talk

The Exquisite Habits of the Founder of Blue Bottle Coffee

By Leo Babauta

When I sat down to interview James Freeman, founder of Blue Bottle Coffee, it was with some excitement, even nervousness. I am a big fan of his coffee, which is known worldwide for its beautiful quality.

Eva and I love to get a drip coffee or a small Gibraltar from Blue Bottle, and getting a bag of their beans is a special treat. And so, to dive into the mind of the founder of Blue Bottle … I was smiling.

In this video interview, the 3rd in my new Habits of Entrepreneurs series, I sat down with James at his office in Oakland, a block from Blue Bottle’s delicious-smelling roastery. His office is minimal, well-designed, a bit retro, with some great books on design and philosophy on his shelf.

I talked to James about how he founded the company, his habits around work and personal relationships, design, email, goals and long-term plans, and expectations.

It’s a wonderful interview â€" get the short version for free below, or subscribe to the Habits of Entrepreneurs series to get the full 45-minute interview (along with the other great stuff in the series).

3 Little Tricks to Deal With People Who Offend You

By Leo Babauta

Something that we struggle with daily, that eats us up and causes stress and anger: annoying people.

You know those people: they cut in line, are rude to you in the office or at the restaurant, cut you off in traffic, talk loudly about obnoxious things, play loud music when you’re trying to concentrate, interrupt you, and so on.

These offenses are violations of the way you think people should act. And so it burns you up. Don’t worry, I’m the same way.

If you just keep letting these offensive people get to you, you’ll always be mad or annoyed. Life won’t be very good. But it’s something you can learn to deal with.

I have to admit I’m not perfect at this, but here are three strategies I use that are helpful:

1. Get Big. I learned this one from Zen teacher Robert Thomas, who uses “Get Big” as one of his slogans that helps him to be mindful. Imagine you’re a 2-year-old toddler, who can’t have a toy or some ice cream right this minute. This problem is your entire universe, because you have no perspective, and so … you throw a fit. This is the world of a 2-year-old (I should know, I’ve had 6 of them). But as adults, we know that this is a very small problem, and in fact there are lots of other things the 2-year-old could do to be happy. Sure, that’s easy for us â€" we have a bigger perspective. But when someone offends us, we have a small perspective â€" this little offense is the biggest thing in the world, and it makes us very angry. We throw the equivalent of a 2-year-old fit. But if we get a bigger perspective (Get Big), we can see that this little thing matters very little in the bigger picture. It’s not worth being angry over. So remind yourself to Get Big, then widen your perspective.
2. Float Down the Stream. When I drive and other drivers do rude things, I often get angry. Then I remember a trick: I imagine myself floating down a stream in a raft, and the other cars are just twigs and leaves floating past me one way or another on this stream. They don’t have to treat me a certain way, because they’re just twigs. And so I serenely float down this stream, not worrying about how the twigs float around me (though I try not to hit them, because, you know, safety first). And in truth, this is how life is â€" other people aren’t trying to offend you, don’t even worry about you most of the time. They are just twigs floating by. Be nice to the twigs though.
3. Give Them a Mental Hug. This little trick can transform the way I feel about someone who makes me angry. Let’s say someone has just said something rude to me. How dare they! Don’t they have any consideration for my feelings? But of course, in this reaction, I’m not having any consideration for their feelings â€" only mine matter. And so I try to empathize with this rude person, and realize that they’re angry, or scared, or both. They are being rude as a coping mechanism for their fear. And so, mentally (and once in a while physically), I give them a hug. I have compassion for this scared person, because I too am often scared. We’re the same. We need a hug, some compassion, a little love.

Try one of these three tricks the next time someone makes you mad or offends you. And then smile in serenity, armed with the comforting knowledge that, like me, you are superior to the rest of the world.

My Healthiest Travel Routine Yet

By Leo Babauta

On our trip to Europe the last couple of weeks, Eva and I tried a new experiment: we ate nothing like we normally do when we travel.

We ended up feeling healthier than ever, and I lost 5 lbs. on the trip. This is highly unusual for us, because usually we eat pretty much whatever we feel like when we travel, and end up heavier and feeling fatter at the end of the trip.

So what did we do differently? We ate no breads, sweets, potatoes, or white rice (in addition to not drinking beer or cocktails, only red wine). This is in addition, of course, to not eating meat, seafood, poultry, dairy or eggs (we’re vegan).

And the results? In short, it was less convenient, but healthier. More below.

This was an experiment, to see what it would be like, and in truth I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. If you don’t like changing the way you do things, and want to eat anything you want, don’t do this. If you are tired of traveling and feeling crappy afterward because you ate crap, you might consider this.

The Plan

Eva and I were both actually doing eating challenges before the trip, for fun, but part of our idea for the challenges was to eat the same way on the Europe trip, with a few exceptions.

Here’s what we could and could not eat during the challenge:

• Could not eat: Sweets (or sugar in general), white flour and breads in general, potatoes, white rice, beer or any alcohol except wine. Meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs of course. Fake meats (I’m not against vegan meat substitutes in general though, depending on the ingredients).
• Could eat: Unsweetened coffee, some whole grains not ground into flour (oats, barley, quinoa, brown rice, etc.), beans, nuts, seeds, veggies, fruits, olive and canola oils.

However, we could have 4 exceptions during our two-week trip. That means if we had a meal with white rice and bread in it, that would be an exception. If we were walking down the street and decided to eat some dark chocolate (that had sugar), that would be an exception.

We were traveling to London, which we knew to be a good place for vegans, along with Frankfurt, Athens, Santorini, Rome, Venice and Vienna, some of which are not vegan-friendly places. So we knew we’d need those exceptions just to not starve on some days.

For exercise, we knew we’d be walking for hours each day, and we’d also be tired from taking 10 separate flights to 7 different cities (London and Athens twice) … so we kept our workouts minimal. The plan was to do short intense workouts for 2 days straight, then take 1 rest day, and repeat the entire trip.

The Results

I have to admit that this was one of the more difficult challenges, simply because some days there weren’t too many options for us. Some cities aren’t great for vegans, and the few things they do have for vegans tend to violate our challenge rules (breads and sweets, for example).

Being a vegan is already a limiting choice, but we were making it even more limited. It’s actually easy to do our challenge in San Francisco or New York or Portland, not so easy in Santorini.

But each city was different. London is easy â€" we went to Nama, Mildred’s and Tibits, but have also enjoyed Saf, Inspiral Lounge, Vanilla Black and others (and we haven’t tried many other great-sounding places).

Frankfurt actually has some decent options, but we arrived too late at night and the ones we went to were closed. Help! We ended up using our first exception on a desperate meal of french fries, fried potato chunks, and German beer. Not the greatest, but I liked the beer.

Athens isn’t horrible, as you can get beans and a Greek salad (minus the feta) and roasted vegetables at most Greek restaurants, but that gets tiring after a few meals (btw, the fava bean dip they serve usually has butter). Luckily, there’s Avocado restaurant, which is run by a lovely couple and saved us. We ate here three times.

Santorini is great if you eat seafood, but not great for vegans doing a challenge like ours. We ate lots of Greek salads, and drank red wine. We had some vegan bars we packed that had only fruit and nuts (no agave or brown rice syrup), so we supplemented with these.

Rome has some good options. We ended up eating at Beehive Cafe for both breakfast and dinner.

Venice is harder. There are almost no vegetarian restaurants in Venice, so we ate Indian one day (only dal, no naan or rice or roti) and a kosher restaurant another day (Gam Gam, lots of veg options), and a Middle Eastern restaurant (Frary’s, decent veg options), and took another cheat meal here with cheese-less pizza and pasta (not good).

Vienna was a dream. Surprisingly, lots of great vegan options. We ate at Harvest (awesome) and Yamm (great veg buffet) and for breakfast at at Corns n’ Pops (a do-it-yourself muesli place with soymilk options, recommended).

So yes, it was more difficult in some places, but others were awesome. And we didn’t feel unhealthy once on this trip.

For workouts, we often did pushups, squats, and lunges in our hotel room, but also did weight workouts when a gym was available. Or all-day pushups (sets of 10-20 pushups frequently throughout the day).

Overall, I’ve never been healthier on a trip, never felt better. It was more inconvenient, but I’m glad I did it.

Startup Founder Megan Casey’s Habits of Priorities

By Leo Babauta

Megan Casey, founder of social media startup Pack and co-founder of Squidoo, recently added a new top priority to her already full plate: a daughter.

After giving birth to her daughter Eowyn about a year ago, Megan’s priorities had to shift. Her life began anew.

There’s her daughter and her startup Pack, then her dog Luna, then her husband Jack, among other priorities.

In this video, the 2nd interview in my Habits of Entrepreneurs series, Megan shares how she deals with all these top priorities.

She also shares how she uses friends and colleagues to help her build the habits that have helped her found two excellent social startups.

It’s a great interview â€" get the short version for free below, or subscribe to the Habits of Entrepreneurs series to get the full 45-minute interview (along with the other great stuff in the series).

My Pursuit of the Art of Living

By Leo Babauta

For many years I simply lived, and got by.

But in the last few years, after learning a bit about habits and mindfulness and simplicity and love, I have changed my approach to living.

Now I see living as an art form, to be studied and played with and practiced and mastered. Of course, few ever master the art of living, and I don’t know if I ever will. Probably not.

But I can pursue this art. I can appreciate it when others do it well. I can learn about it, through experiments and observation and introspection.

My pursuit of the art of living is only just beginning, but I thought I’d share a bit about this pursuit with you, my good friends.

Beginning the Pursuit

The journey begins with a single step, a wise man said, and for me that first step is simple:

Admit I don’t know.

Learning begins by emptying your cup, so that you can fill it with what you find. Emptying your cup means getting rid of pre-set opinions.

I don’t know what the art of living is, but I am curious.

And so the path is one of open hands, of curiosity and finding out.

And it’s one of bare feet, of being open and naked, willing to be exposed to life and chaos.

It’s about clear seeing, mindfulness turned to seeing reality as it is, without trying to make things rosy or conform to the story you tell yourself.

Clear seeing, naked, open hands, curious without knowing. That’s the path that I’ve found, so far.

The Art Emerges

With clear seeing, I start to see why I (and others) suffer, why we stress and get mad at each other and want more and more.

And now I can start to apply the art of living to my days.

Here’s what I practice with, imperfectly:

• Compassion. Instead of being angry or frustrated, I find the pain in others, and open my heart to them. This includes compassion for myself.
• Gratitude. Life is filled with wonder, and the people around me as well. I try to open myself to that wonder, and be grateful it’s there, instead of complaining.
• Joyfear. Joy is an awesome thing to have, but joyfear is present in the powerful moments in life where joy and fear mix, where we’re taking chances and doing something outside of our comfort zone that both excites us and makes us face the possibility of failure. I now embrace these moments rather than avoiding them.
• Not avoiding discomfort or uncertainty. When we avoid discomfort, we are limited by our comfort zone, and new learning and new ventures become impossible. When we avoid uncertainty, we only stick to what we know. But we can purposely become good at discomfort and uncertainty, by practicing in small bite-sized chunks, over and over.
• Staying with the moment, even when it’s hard. This is the hardest of all. “Living in the moment” sounds wonderful, but actually staying with the present moment isn’t ever easy. Try it: with your eyes open, sit still and stay with the sights and sounds around you for 1 minute, without your mind wandering away from them. If you don’t notice your mind wandering, either you’re an experienced mindfulness practitioner, or you didn’t notice when your mind wandered.
• Relationships are everything. Getting what we want, having things our way, having control, being right … these things matter nothing compared to relationships. Imagine being in your death bed at the age of 80 … will your sense of being right and in control comfort you when you have no good relationships, no one who has loved you? Put relationships first.
• Not holding on to expectations & judgments. Expectations and judgments prevent me from enjoying what I have, from enjoying the simple presence of someone else in my life. I practice with noticing these expectations and judgments, and practice with holding them loosely, letting them go.
• Letting go. This is the art of living in two words: letting go. It’s letting go of judgments, expectations, wanting to be right, wanting to control, fear of discomfort, fear of uncertainty, fear of failure, fear of boredom, comparing myself to others, wanting distraction, being irritated, complaining. It’s noticing when I’m holding these, and letting go. Loosening my heart’s grip on any of these, and letting go. And then letting go again. And again.

And so the art of living is a practice, one that doesn’t end, that doesn’t have a mastery level. It’s a constant letting go, a constant picking up again, and then letting go again. And falling, and getting up without beating myself up.

The art of living is the art of getting back up.

A Month Without TV or Video

‘I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.’ ~Groucho Marx

By Leo Babauta

Of all the challenges I’ve done for The Year of Living Without, going without TV/video has been the one with the most mixed feelings for me.

One side of me: I all of a sudden had more free time, to read, write, do whatever I wanted without distraction. I enjoyed being free of TV and movies.

But the other side: I couldn’t hang out with my family when they watched TV. Which they tend to want to do every night, for an hour or two. I honestly didn’t want to watch the TV shows with them (we don’t have cable, but watch shows we pick on iTunes), but when they watched, I was isolated. This wasn’t always great.

I could have asked them to not watch TV, to join me, and some nights I did. I enjoyed those nights. We would hang out and talk, instead of staring at moving images. But I didn’t want to force them to go without something just because I wanted to experiment with it myself, so I tried to allow them to watch, most of the time. So I would go to my room and read.

And so the results are mixed.

Here are my findings after a month of no TV and video:

• Well, in the beginning, I forgot to not watch online video, and so I slipped up once and watched this video on how the iPhone is isolating us. I’m glad I watched it, but when I realized I’d already violated my challenge, only a day or so into the month, I felt bad.
• A number of other times I automatically clicked on an online video, to watch, and had to turn it off after a few seconds when I realized what I was doing.
• I don’t really miss video online. It’s not a big deal to me.
• I wanted to do yoga this month, just 5-10 minutes every evening, but couldn’t watch yoga videos. So I had to make stuff up on my own.
• I did feel isolated from my family, as I said, when they would watch TV. It would be great if we could find some non-TV things to do in the evening instead. They love board games, so I might start proposing that we play board games together some evenings.
• On my daughter Maia’s birthday, she wanted us all to watch the first episode of Naruto, one of her favorite anime shows. I had to sit out. I felt bad.
• I did feel good skipping out on watching a bunch of re-runs of our favorite TV shows. We often just watch these things out of habit, because there’s nothing better to do. I’m not proud of it. I don’t think it’s a good use of our time. So I’m glad I sat it out (again, if it weren’t for having to miss hanging out with Eva and the kids).
• I got more reading and work done this month than normal. Really great.

So what will I do going forward? Here are my thoughts:

1. I’m not going to watch online videos unless it’s to learn something useful (no entertainment videos).
2. Only one movie at the theaters per month, so I’ll have to be more choosy.
3. Propose board games or other activities with the kids in the evening, instead of TV.
4. I’ll allow myself 2 hours of TV a week. So 1 hour, twice a week. No reruns.

A Month Without Sugar

In October, I’m going without sugar all month.

I actually don’t eat a lot of sugar these days. When I first set out on this challenge, I was eating more sugar than I am now, so it seemed like a hard thing to do. I don’t think it’ll be too hard, except for a couple things:

1. Eva & I are traveling through Europe for the first part of this month, so I can’t eat any desserts on our travel. Tasting yummy vegan foods as we travel is a tradition, so I’ll be breaking that.
2. My son Justin’s birthday is at the end of the month. We usually do pancakes or waffles or French toast for their birthday breakfasts, and birthday cake later in the day, so I’ll be skipping out on that stuff.

It’ll be a bit of a challenge, but I think I’ll be OK. Wish me luck!

The Way of No Debt

By Leo Babauta

In 2005, one of the low points of my life, I had 5 kids, crippling debts, and was barely making it from paycheck to paycheck.

I would shove my bills in a drawer, envelopes unopened, so I didn’t have to deal with bills I couldn’t pay. I would avoid the calls of collection agencies. I was swimming in debt, and didn’t know how to get out.

The real low point, though, came when we didn’t have enough money to buy some milk and cereal for the kids. My bank account had a negative balance. So I stole money from my kids’ piggy bank to buy the food. Yeah, that didn’t feel good.

Things went on like this for awhile before I finally decided it was time to face the fears, see my situation clearly, and start doing something about it.

Here’s what I did:

1. I finally faced the problem: I took the bills out of the drawer, and make a spreadsheet with all my debts, the amounts, and the minimum monthly payments.
2. I took a look at our spending, and realized we needed to stop the bleeding before we could start healing. We were spending more than we earned, or at best, all of what we earned.
3. So we cut out all kinds of expenses: cable TV, one of our cars, magazine subscriptions, daily lattes, going to the movies with the kids, buying new things other than actual necessities, going to the mall for entertainment, eating out, buying convenience food. Many of these things we cut out gradually, a month at a time, but some we cut out right away.
4. We started a spending plan â€" most bills were put on automatic payment, and a few discretionary categories (food, gas, etc.)
5. I started an emergency fund.
6. I started paying off the debts, one at a time.
7. I renegotiated with some of our creditors.
8. We found other fun ways to have fun as a family.
9. I started earning more as a freelancer, to bring in extra income.
10. I started this blog, and sold my first ebook 11 months later, to make more income.

Then we got out of debt. And stayed out. We haven’t been in debt one single minute since then. It’s wonderful.

The Way of No Debt

The first part of the Way of No Debt is getting out of it. The steps I took above are how I did that. It’s the hardest part, but definitely worth it.

The Way is then a transition from being in debt, to living debt-free.

First, we kept living frugally for awhile â€" we didn’t really loosen up, and that meant we put a lot of our income to savings. We grew our emergency fund to the recommended 6-month cushion, which was important to me as a self-employed business owner.

Then I started looking to invest, and invested in index funds, which are pretty basic but low-cost and low-worry investment vehicles. Then I learned about tax-advantaged investment vehicles like IRAs, and got me some of those. I’m still learning about all of this, but the important thing is that I got started.

The Way is now just a philosophy, of not going into debt. I use credit cards now, but pay them off completely every month (for awhile, I paid them off weekly, then just set up autopay). I don’t have a car, but the last time I did, we bought it used, with cash. We don’t have a mortgage. We live within our means, and spend less than we earn.

This means we don’t worry about finances, for the most part. It means we don’t pay interest. We earn interest. We aren’t tied to a house, we don’t have anything expensive we’d need to sell, and we live lightly.

This is the Way of No Debt, and I recommend it highly.

The Sea Change Program: Debt Reduction/Elimination

If you’d like help forming the habits that will help you get out of debt, I’d like to offer my Sea Change Program, which I’ve created to help people form habits and change their lives.

In October, we’ll be focusing on the Debt Reduction/Elimination Habit, and I invite you to join us. The module will consist of:

1. A simple plan to follow â€" 5 minutes a day
2. A few articles during the month to help you implement healthy eating changes
3. Reminder emails every day (if you want them) to help you stick with the changes
4. An accountability group in the Sea Change forum to keep you on track
5. A live video webinar in the middle of the month to help you beat healthy eating obstacles, and allow you to ask questions

Five tools that will help you stay on track with this new healthy habit, for $10 a month (we have a different module each month).

Sign up for the Sea Change Program here.