Outline

Simple Living/ Minimalism 2010 Book Outline and Notes:

Part 1 is exploring the Why? 

-  Why be minimalist?  It is not usually an end in and of itself. 

-  Why try to clear the distractions?  

Part 2 is the meat (or tofu) to cover several categories.  These categories become the major sections of the book outline.  This list should grow over the life of the first draft.

-  Simplicity in Finance

-  Simplicity in Stuff

  • Clothing
  • Personal Items
  • Toiletries
  • Office stuff

- Simple Time Management

- Simple Focus

- Simple Life Design 

30 (Hour?) Day plan can be part 3 of the book. 

What can be done in 30 Days?  The changes would need to take a half hour to an hour or less.   Anything longer than that will mean people will lose interest.  This presents a problem when tackling larger collections like wardrobe.  Breaking this down into manageable tasks is best.  i.e. take all of your t-shirts out and put them in a pile on a bed.  Pick ten (at most of your favorite and the rest must go).  Day 2 might be all footwear, Day 3 all pants, etc.  

There should be inspirational quotes that go with each of the thirty days.  That means I need at least 30 quotes.  Quotes would be good for the other sections.  Must start accumulating quotes

 This book needs to solve a problem.  What kind of reader would be interested and what problems would they have?

-  One who is fed up with clutter, both mental and physical

-  One who is looking for big change, to redesign their life and align their inner and outer life with their values

-  One who feels distracted and scattered by the many choices and is looking to enact a greater degree of focus

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Kelly Powell January 10, 2010 at 4:16 pm

Hey Charley! I’ve been reading your blogs periodically following up on how the triplets are doing…and I always find something else interesting to think about. Most recently I was checking out your book outline and wondered if you’d ever seen OmniOutliner application. I’ve used it and like it a lot. There’s also OmniFocus which I’m trying out as we speak and you might find it cool too– I’ve been trying out OmniFocus and Things (by Cultured Code) to see what works for me. Apparently they both follow the Getting Things Done plan…but since I haven’t cracked the spine on my copy of the book, I can’t comment for sure. ;) Anyway, I’m starting to ramble. Just thought you might find one of those apps useful. I’m glad you and the babies all seem to be doing so well–
All Best,
Kelly (McQ)

2 Charley January 10, 2010 at 6:34 pm

Hi Kelly,

So good to hear from you. Can you believe we’re coming up on our 15 year from Geneseo?

I found a nice link that does a comparison between Omnifocus vs. Things. Also, Kelly, I’ve used Nozbe which also has an app for the IPhone and is based on the GTD concept. I use it for storing my research and notes for books that I am writing.

Hope you are doing terrific, visited your site and it sounds like you are.

Warmest Regards,
Charley

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