How to live a Spartan life

Hit the snooze button 10 times, waking up late, no time for a healthy breakfast, snacks on the go... Stuck in traffic jams to work you loathe, self medicating overdoses cafeine just to stay awake, smart phones notifying you have 50 unread notifications.  Getting managed on micro level by your boss, driving home, more traffic jams. Sitting together with your family with each member watching on his/her own screen... Ads everywhere, which training routine to follow, eat meat vs don't eat meat. Sounds familiar? Welcome to the 21st century buddy.

Does this sound familiar to you? If so... do you enjoy this? If you answer yes you can simply ignore the rest of my post. If not? Why are you existing a life like this? Yes, existing, you are not living. You are merely surviving. So how can a Spartan mindset help you live your life? For this we must first define what can be considered a Spartan mindset. This is a very difficult task and therefore we will talk about different aspects of the Spartan mindset? The first one in a series of articles.

Typically a statue would be left unpainted in Sparta. Other cities would paint it in fleshy and vivid 

1. Simplicity
KISS or Keep It Simple Stupid / Keep It Stupid Simple. The Spartan philosopeher Chilon famously said that "less is more" - a phrase we still use today and this became a rule that guided the entire ethos of the Spartans / Lacedaemons. We know from ancient sources it was forbidden to paint statues in bright and fleshy colors like was done all over in greece and other countries. Spartan food was often simple and it was frowned upon to make display of wealth. The word Spartan today still means synonym to "without luxuary".

So what does this mean for you, am I saying you should get rid of all your stuff? Perhaps... perhaps not... that is your choice to make I am not the owner of your stuff. When in doubt look for ancient  Spartan advice and ask yourself two questions:

1. Is it functional? 
If the answer is no then you have your answer already. If the answer is yes proceed to question 2.

2. Do I need it? 
If the answer is no, then discard it. If the answer is yes keep it.

This way you can declutter your life, home, relations from all unnecessary items. You see a new fitness gimmick... Is it functional? Often the answer will be yes, even though there are succesful fitness devices which deliver worse results than old school exercices. Do you need it? 9/10 times the answer will be no. Oldschool techniques and proven over time and they work. Fitness requires education, dedication and time. And with a consistent schedule you will progress to your goal.

I, for example, declutter every day something in my appartment: a drawer, a shelf in my apartment,... It counts for a maximum 10 minutes of work and it helps to keep my home clean and tidy and thus my mind clean and tidy. 

In the Spartan mindset I will leave this article short and use not more words than needed to convey my goal. If you have inserted our simplicity value in your life and declutered let us know what happened in the comments, was it a good experience for you?