The Entrepreneurial Benefits of Minimalism and Decluttering

Minimalism is trending, whether it’s a digital nomad freelancer or a 9-to-5 employee biking to work and avoiding the consumerist mindset of the 21st century. With roots in Stoicism, minimalism is gaining traction for a variety of reasons, some of which you are probably familiar with.

In a world of fast-paced digital interactions, distractions abound. Your phone beeps every two minutes and you lose a creative train of thought. It’s no wonder that silence is a product now, with calm and meditation apps ubiquitous on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. 

Minimalism winnows those distractions down. Incidentally, more working professionals are following the trend by decluttering their workspaces to help hone their focus

For entrepreneurs, that’s an immeasurable advantage in what is often a hectic, unpredictable lifestyle. 

Minimizing a World of Distractions 

Motivation to work hard is often correlated with environmental factors. However, the primary enemy for motivation, and, by extension, focus, is often in your pocket – your smartphone. 

Our insatiable hunger for information drives us to our smartphones on a regular basis. Pings for text messages, news updates, or other app notifications are trivial but consequential distractions, let alone in a panicked environment during a global pandemic where pertinent news bombards your phone seemingly every second.

Distractions are a function of the insatiable consumption of information. 

Constant distractions on your phone lead to subtle multi-tasking, which causes stress and reduces productivity. Stress and distractions lead to disorganized behavior, which makes focusing even harder and further degrades productivity. It’s a vicious negative feedback loop.  

Ideally, if you want to rely on principles of minimalism to declutter your professional life, turning your phone on silent mode is an excellent start.

Beyond digital distractions, your environment sets the tone for your peace of mind. If something as simple as cleaning out your closet can induce clarity and peace, imagine the benefits of maintaining a decluttered and simple workspace. Startups take this principle to heart as many transition their small teams into spatially-challenged corner offices in major metropolitan areas.  

Tapping emerging, modern ergonomic office furniture companies like Autonomous, nimble startup teams can craft affordable, open-space offices that have a minimalistic and streamlined aesthetic. Autonomous, widely reputed for its automated standing desks and ergonomic office chairs, gives entrepreneurs the tools to declutter, relax, and not worry about building opulent offices that are the hallmark of multi-billion-dollar firms. 

Traditional ’90s cubicles are stuffy and cramped, stifle collaboration, and do nothing to counteract the negative health effects of sitting all day. Open office spaces are more fluid, encourage collaboration, and promote standing rather than sitting for prolonged periods of time.

You’ll often notice that many open office spaces produce a sense of less cluttering. 

While there still may be papers tossed around desks and some level of disorganization in any shared workspace, everything is more easily managed with a  more expansive environment populated with minimalistic desks like those from Autonomous. You don’t need a grand oak desk with a bookshelf replete with old literature to convey a sense of productivity or access to information anymore. 

All you need is a laptop, the Internet, and a thriving startup environment. The rest falls into place. 

Advantages of Decluttering 

The immediate advantages of decluttered office spaces are distinct. Studies have repeatedly shown that disorganized workspaces induce feelings of stress and anxiety and limit creativity by kicking your mind into overdrive to circumvent the distractions. 

Whether you realize it or not, your brain subtly focuses on its environment using multiple stimuli. The more fast-paced, unfamiliar, and disorganized the environment, the more energy drains from your brain. It’s why people, as creatures of habit, often prefer to work in familiar, quiet spaces. 

Throw in the flexibility of being able to maneuver around in a sleek, minimalized office space complete with standing desks, and you can see why entrepreneurs fawn over things like Autonomous’ products. 

Office spaces, particularly home gamer setups, have become a point of pride (and bragging) for many people. If you spend significant portions of your time at home, it should reflect your work ethic and professional dedication. Minimalism, such as a standing desk and laptop without other distractions, is the key to reducing stress and zeroing in on the tasks at hand. 

Decluttering follows suit as a natural byproduct of minimalism. 

And while you don’t have to throw away your phone or live an austere lifestyle like many Stoics, the benefits of minimalism and decluttering are palpable. As an entrepreneur, you’ll feel less burdened by juggling various tasks, your creative problem solving will improve, and who knows—you may even avoid unnecessary expenses by only spending on tools you really need. 

Digital nomads swear by the minimalist lifestyle, and they seem to be much happier than the average office worker on average. You may not have the luxury of packing up your operation and traveling to random destinations across the globe, but at least you can count on minimalism giving you the clarity and focus to have a competitive edge. 

In the cutthroat world of small business, sometimes that slight edge is all you need. 

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