What most of us want out of life is happiness. Whether we define happiness in terms of money, love, or accomplishments is upto the person in question. But regardless, happiness is the end-goal.

But how many of us have ever thought of happiness not in materialistic terms, but as a product of our inner mindscapes? This is exactly what the Zen philosophy dictates. The Zen philosophy is a branch of Buddhism that claims inner peace as the spring of happiness, and it is the origin of the minimalist movement.

Zen Buddhism, while taking its name from the Japanese moniker of the practice, did not originate in Japan. It is a mixture of Indian Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism that began in China, and then spread to Korea and Japan. It was popularised in the West in the mid-20th century.

Zen Buddhism became established in Japan in the 13th century. Unlike many other religions, Zen does not rely on deities or scripture as a foundation for its practice. Instead, Zen enforces the importance of a teacher with whom the student has a heart-mind connection, and the intuitive understanding of our-self and the world around us.

Zen prizes simplicity and a forthrightness in understanding reality. It prioritises objectivity over excessive individualism and personal expression. This became the cornerstone of the 1960’s minimalist art movement in the US heralded by the likes of Frank Stella, Agnes Martin, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Morris.

However, the most famous practice of Zen Buddhism, and the one that has permeated western culture most successfully, is meditation. Meditation has numerous benefits to its name such as improved focus, enhanced self-awareness, reduced anxiety and stress, and improved sleep quality among others. Zen Buddhism also claims meditation as an integral process to the freeing of the mind, which is an important aspect of the minimalist philosophy.

Meditation According to Zen

All schools of Zen, regardless of whether they pursue the path of gradual enlightenment (Sōtō school) or instant enlightenment (Rinzai school), practice meditation. For those from the Rinzai school, meditation is a supplement to the kōan method which utilises riddles or puzzles to guide the practitioner to enlightenment, whereas those from the Sōtō school view meditation itself as the path to enlightenment.

Zen meditation follows a three-step procedure. The first step is gaining the correct physical posture which is optimal for attaining a healthy mind-body condition. According to Zen practitioners, there are two of such postures: the lotus-posture and the half-lotus posture.

The second step is practicing the proper breathing techniques. Zen breathing is not a set of complicated procedures; the exercise is ‘observation of breath count’ (sūsokukan) which simply means to consciously track the number of inhalations and exhalations performed. Counting the number of breaths can train the unconscious mind and bring to our consciousness many of the bodily functions we perform unconsciously thereby improving our control over our body.

The third and final step is fully entering the meditative state and disengaging from the troubles of daily life. It requires the practitioner to fully envelop themselves in the now. This is the stage that is most difficult to achieve because, for the most part, the opposite is what we have been striving to do for our whole lives.

Emptying the mind of thoughts is the end-goal to meditation. According to Zen Buddhism, complete absorption in meditation creates a state of “no-mind” which frees the mind from the imposition of personal biases and psychological projection onto the world.

Regardless of whether you believe in a state of “no-mind” or not, there is evidence that meditation may reduce blood pressure, ease anxiety and depression, as well as help with insomnia.

But this does not mean, of course, that meditation can replace medication and professional treatment for these conditions. While meditation may help with anxiety, it may still be a good idea to check out that CBD oil sale to ensure you get the best of both worlds when it comes to your health.

However, just singling out 5-10 minutes per day for the novice practitioner may bring about huge improvements to your mental and physical health. It may help you view your daily troubles in a new light, and you may even realise that your happiness resides not in materialistic things but in inner peace.

For westerners, meditation may well be one of the most difficult practices to undertake. This is because western philosophies and religions are based on intellectual reasoning and the idea of conscious thought, whereas meditation requires you to suspend all thought and immerse yourself in the meditative state.

But if Zen Buddhists are to be believed, meditation is the path to true enlightenment. So if enlightenment seems like it may lead you to happiness, it may well be worth a try.

When our parents were children, it was a rare event to receive new clothes. Sometimes it was a change in the season or the outgrowing of hand-me-downs, but having something brand new to wear—outside of Grandma’s annual Christmas sweater—was a luxury more than a given. However, at the beginning of the new millennia, fast fashion arrived on our streets and clothes became exponentially more affordable. Trend cycles lasted weeks instead of years, shopping became a veritable hobby, and global clothing chains laid claim to stores in every strip mall.

But, of course, there is a dark side to fast fashion. The reason that clothing from fast fashion labels costs as little as café coffees is that, somewhere along the production line, people and the environment have paid a hidden price. The true cost of fast fashion was revealed in 2013 when the Rana Plaza clothing factory in Bangladesh collapsed. The world was shocked by the deaths of over a thousand workers and the deplorable conditions that they had been manufacturing clothing in.

She’s Got the Look

As educated consumers, people are now looking towards a more conscious fashion style, avoiding the human exploitation and environmental pollution of mass-produced labels. Mindful consumers are moving away from the toxic reruns of constant desire and gratuitous spending and tossing out the questionable values of throwaway culture. Indeed, fashion always functions in cycles and the minimalism trend is back again.

Minimalism as a philosophy is about shedding the superfluous and decluttering your life, leaving yourself with less stuff and therefore less stress. Slow fashion represents minimalism in the fashion movement. It is the antithesis of its fast and frantic counterpart and challenges the modern consumerist narrative. Instead of rushing to the stores to keep up with the Kardashians, slow fashion subscribers choose to buy less items but spend time choosing their purchases more wisely.

Minimalism is more than an aesthetic. A minimalist wardrobe is not filled with only muted cream clothing or A-line dresses with clean lines. In fact, it does not matter which pieces of clothing live in your closet, only that they are the ones that you will actually wear and make good use of for years to come. Did you know that most people only wear 20 percent of their wardrobe regularly? The rest of your neglected wardrobe could do so much more than turn musty if donated to the underprivileged or sold in a garage sale.

The first step towards establishing a minimalist wardrobe is to sort out what you already have. While the KonMari Method invented by organizing expert and author Marie Kondo is not minimalism per se, it offers a helpful way for us to decide what to keep and what to give away. The KonMari Method encourages people to live only among items that they truly cherish. “Does this spark joy?” is a fantastic question to ask yourself when faced with the myriad of items that have been pulled out of your closet.

When curating your wardrobe, keep only the clothes that you adore and know that you will wear frequently. From this foundation, choose other items that supplement and enhance your style. Clothes of varying textures and lengths that can be layered together will offer you creativity and flexibility, particularly as seasons change. Minimalism does not have to be monochrome (unless that is your thing), so feel free to include some color to spice up your selection. However, it is beneficial to choose a color palette beforehand to ensure that your clothes will mix and match easily.

Diamonds on the Inside

Just because minimalists do not subscribe to excessive consumerism does not mean that they cannot enjoy wearing jewelry. The minimalistic approach to jewelry means more versatile and timeless pieces with a focus on quality over quantity. Instead of buying piles of overstated jewelry because a certain celebrity was seen with something similar, invest in high-quality pieces that illustrate elevated simplicity and style. Classic gems such as diamonds represent enduring beauty and will never lose value or go out of fashion.
Minimalism when it comes to jewelry is only adorning yourself with items that compliment you as a person. You can have a ring custom-made or wear an heirloom watch as an accent piece, as long as each item of jewelry has deliberate meaning to you. By avoiding mindless overconsumption, your jewelry becomes something that you carefully curate, designing a distinctive look that truly embodies your personality.

Versatility is another important consideration when it comes to a minimalist jewelry box. Layering is not only applicable for clothing items but is likewise a great way to style your embellishments. Layered necklaces that fall at different lengths can change your look from classic to modern or casual to formal. Stackable rings and bracelets can be tuned up or down, depending on the occasion, while always creating a clean and sophisticated look.

The modern minimalist does not need to forgo fashion to achieve a chic and striking image. Fast fashion is like a shroud that gives all its followers an uninspired and homogeneous aesthetic. Through the mindful selection of clothing and jewelry, minimalists can achieve a unique style that is not only alluring but also amplifies who they are and what they believe in.

Let us be honest: Who would not love to have a simpler life? However, as our day-to-day life gets more and more full of tasks and appointments, finding ways to balance our time has become a monumental task. We have to keep up with so many things that we hardly find time for ourselves.

Within the last few years, many tools have emerged that make it almost effortless to keep track of upcoming meetings, birthdays, and deadlines. What once required you to take a daily, thorough look at the calendar has been replaced by alerts, reminders, and pop-ups.

You can set an alert on your phone that reminds you that you have a flight booked in 72 hours. You can set a reminder in your smartphone’s calendar so you do not forget to text your aunt on her birthday (although a call would be a lot more personal). And you can synchronize these tools between devices to make sure you are always on top of any time-critical event that is coming up.

These tools are certainly a blessing for people who have problems keeping track of time and dates. And they shrink the number of excuses you can come up with in case you do miss someone’s birthday.

As you can see, technology has found numerous ways to make your life easier and less stressful. But how is the outlook for you and your business?

Like people, many businesses and industries rely on schedules and appointments to run their operations. It is a matter of organization and is paramount in making sure that the company can serve every customer and dedicate the appropriate amount of time to them.

In the past, making an appointment was a relatively simple task: You would walk into the store and talk to the person at the reception desk. Then, after noting down your name, the store clerk would give you the date and time of your appointment. However, there was one downside to it: This process required you to go to the actual, physical location of the business.

As time progressed, more and more businesses offered the option to schedule a visit over the phone. This form of booking an appointment still has the personal touch while providing the convenience of doing it over the phone. But, as more people started to realize the advantages of booking an appointment by phone, lines started getting clogged by customers. Long waiting times and awful music playing in the holding queue became the harsh reality of customer service.

With the advancement of technology, traditional brick-and-mortar services slowly become available over the internet. One of these services is booking an appointment. Nowadays, many companies offer the option to schedule an appointment or callback right on their website. Some even offer it on their Social Media pages if the platform allows for it. Gone are the days of holding the phone line for hours, just to be greeted by a customer support agent that sounds like he could not care less about booking an appointment for you.

And every form of business that deals with appointments should take note of these technical improvements. Otherwise, they risk being left behind by those who adapt quickly to new technology. You certainly do not want to look like a company that offers tube televisions while your competition sells 4K TVs.

So, no matter whether you are a fitness instructor, offer consulting services or own a hair salon: You need to have a top-notch online scheduling tool in place. Besides making life much easier for you (or whoever is in charge of organizing the company schedule), it also makes the process a whole lot simpler for your customers.
If people can go on your website and book an appointment, guess what? You just saved them a lot of time. And since time is becoming a precious resource once again, people will genuinely appreciate it.

People are slowly gravitating towards doing everything online: From reading the news to shopping, all the way to chatting with customer support: More and more services are being offered on the internet.

And while the myth about our attention spans decreasing might not be true, after all, one thing is for sure: Making any process your customer has to through short and smooth brings them value. A value that converts to user experience, which, in turn, converts to rapport. And this rapport can convert to money.

Yes, we know: Not everyone is internet-ready. But the amount of people that do their daily tasks online is constantly growing. And let us not forget one thing: Whenever there is an advancement in technology, many people will be initially skeptical towards it. However, as time passes, more people will adapt to making an appointment online.

No matter what form of business you run, an online scheduling tool can lighten your workload if it involves making appointments or scheduling calls.

If you’re intent on a minimalist life, and you’ve decided that early success at entrepreneurship is the path that you wish to take, then you’re going to need investment, most likely. Presenting to investors is a challenging skill to develop. In this article, we discuss helpful guidelines for presenting your product or idea to investors.

When entering investor discussions keep in mind that presenting as well as showing the product to investors is a challenging part that entrepreneurs need to tackle during the fundraising process.

Typically the presentation happens once you have shared your pitch deck. Perhaps one that you created from scratch or one that you got from polishing a pitch deck template.

As you can imagine, you have planned and practiced your presentation countless times and reviewed the slides over and over. Now, it is time to present your demo.

• Exude confidence: When you stand tall, dress the part, and speak with confidence, it will be easier to convince investors why you and your product are worth it. Make yourself memorable in the presentation so they won’t forget about you after 5 more pitches of other startups.
• Introductions: Introduce yourself, your team, and the product to the audience. Let them know why they should not only invest in the product but in you too. What makes you qualified, and how can you make them money?
• Elevator pitch: Your opening lines should be a 15-30 second pitch on what you and your product can do. Get them hooked, so they want to hear the rest of the demo presentation. If you don’t get them here, you might have lost your chances of an investment before you even began. What’s unique about it? How is it 10x better?
• Storytime: Tell a captivating story about your product and the consumer. Your product demonstration is not just about the product’s features but how the consumer will want to buy it and use it. This is especially important if your investors are not likely users and customers of your product.
• Demo: Show how it works for users. What does it do? What is the number one thing it does so well? Have backups in case it fails.
• Execution: Discuss current investors, business development ideas, the philosophy behind the company, and what the future looks like.
• Q&A: Ask if anyone has questions about the product, competition, or financial data.
• Follow up: After completing the demo presentation, follow with a conversation with the potential investors. They might not have understood everything you spoke about or missed vital takeaways. Reinforce the value of your product and thank them for their time. Let them know how they can buy if applicable
• Call to action: The most critical part of the presentation is how you will get them to open their checkbooks? Provide them with the next step to invest in you and your startup.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you go into the demo presentation with fears of making a mistake, you end up making more of them unknowingly. Add humor to break down the awkward start and make your message memorable. You might even consider sharing a meaningful story to connect with them personally. Most of all, prioritize learning.

What Doesn’t Work in a Demo Presentation

Even experienced entrepreneurs can get these things wrong. Avoiding these will help you execute the perfect demo pitch to investors.

Firstly, don’t spend too much time getting to the demo. It is easy to fall into the trap of rambling on about the things you are passionate about and your big vision. People will start getting impatient. Remember they are not emotionally invested in your product yet, so go straight to introductions and demo.

Turn off all the notifications on your devices. Your audience might find it annoying seeing your Facebook messages and notifications from email and other social media outlets coming in. These messages popping up on the screen can be embarrassing and distracting.

Software technicalities are frustrating during a demo presentation. You lose your audience’s attention right away and can throw you off your game. Don’t let your confidence sink because your device or software is malfunctioning. Test the demo product multiple times beforehand and right before your scheduled time to present your pitch. Also, having a backup plan is essential for saving the presentation if there is a problem with the main equipment.

You might lose your audience the moment you begin to read from your slides or written notes. Bringing notes is good to help your mind stay on track and ensuring the demo presentation flows. Your slides and notes should only have a few short sentences on them, and the rest must come from your own knowledge of the product and engaging in the room.

How Did the Demo Presentation Go?

If your demo presentation did or didn’t go well, you should reflect on the details, so you know how to improve or repeat. Here’s what you can ask yourself and record:

• Was the meeting organized?
• What questions did the investors ask that I didn’t know the answer to?
• Was the material presented effectively?
• Did the investors feel individually heard?
• Did the meeting have an agenda, or was it open?
• How well did everyone communicate throughout the meeting?
• Do you think you presented your goals effectively?
• Did everyone understand precisely what your startup is and where you can take it?

Answering these questions after evaluating the meeting results can help you change your strategies if the outcome was not desired. The more you improve on your pitch, the greater your chances are of getting what you want.

A Demo Presentation that Sells

Doing a demo presentation can make or break your chances of locking down that investment. Make sure you come prepared and ready to sell, even if you aren’t a public speaker. Practice your presentation with those around you, ask for constructive criticism, and rework your pitch repeatedly until you reach perfection.

Investors prefer to see a prototype and use it or see a video of how it works. Don’t present the prototype if it is not performing well. It may do more harm than good.

Present your demo with confidence and ensure investors know who you are and what you represent. You are well on your way to getting the investment you need to kick off your business.

Credit: Image via FreePik

There’s no better money management tool than the budget. This spending plan helps you prioritize your income so that you have the cash you need for important expenses — on and off-campus.

But what happens when it’s wrong? What if your expected income takes a hit, or your expenses vary drastically?

Like many students learning remotely, you’ve already experienced a big change due to the ongoing healthcare crisis. Maybe you’ve also lost hours at your job due to COVID-19 security measures, or perhaps you’ve seen your living expenses increase since you’ve moved off-campus.

While a global pandemic may be exceptional — with hope, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience — it does provide an important financial lesson. You can’t always easily anticipate the income or expenses in your budget.

The unexpected can happen under perfectly ordinary circumstances. When they do, an emergency fund can help.

What is an Emergency Fund?

An emergency fund is a special cushion of savings that you keep aside for urgent financial situations. You can tap into these savings to cover unexpected expenses you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to pay out of pocket.

An Emergency Fund is Crucial to Remote Learning

A couple of years ago, an unexpected expense for the average student might have been a medical bill. If you wound up at the campus clinic after breaking your wrist, you could withdraw cash from this reserve to cover this unexpected medical expense.

Nowadays, you might be facing more unexpected expenses as a remote learner. You might not have convenient access to the library if your tech goes down one day. You may be living off-campus and need a car to get around.

Your emergency fund can help you cover unexpected tech breakdowns or car repairs. It’s also helpful should you lose your job due to illness or lockdowns. If you manage to collect enough savings in this fund, you can use it as a backup to your missing paycheck.

How Much Do You Need in an Emergency Fund?

Much like your budget, your emergency fund is personal, and it should reflect your expenses and living situation. However, most financial advisors recommend setting aside the equivalent of three to six months of living expenses.

This target includes all your essential spending, so you should calculate how much rent, utilities, and education costs add up to over six months.

After punching this into your calculator, you’ll probably wind up with a daunting goal. Try not to let it intimidate you. It’s big so that you’ll have a cushion in case you lose a summer job or that scholarship you were banking on.

When it comes to emergency savings, the journey is sometimes more important than the destination. Whether you have four, five, or six months of expenses doesn’t matter as much as making regular contributions toward this account.

Falling Short of Your Goal Before an Unexpected Expense

If plan A is your budget, and plan B is your emergency fund, what’s plan C when neither works? If you wind up having to take your car into the shop when you have no extra cash on hand, you might take out an installment loan or line of credit.

In an emergency like this, you’ll want to research online loans carefully before you borrow them. There are many installment loans and lines of credit available online, and each one comes with different rates and terms. You need to confirm you can handle their cost before you sign an online loan contract.

How Do You Save More for an Emergency?

When it comes right down to it, time is the single most critical factor of building savings. With a target as big as six months, you’ll need a fair bit of patience to see your fund grow.
During these months (or years) of saving, consistency is another vital trick to growing your emergency fund. Think of these savings as an essential expense, just like rent or utilities. Just as you budget for these bills, you’ll have to pay into savings every month.

If your paycheck can’t stretch that far in a typical month, you’ll have to think about ways you cut into discretionary spending. Limiting how many subscriptions you have or how often you purchase takeout can help you unearth more savings.

If that works, automate your contributions so you don’t forget to move money around each month. Lastly, you’ll want to leave your savings alone until you’re facing an emergency.

Start Saving for Another Day

Remote learning has transformed your college experience — for this year, at least. Not only are you attending class from your couch, but that couch is also located off-campus. This change in scenery means you might be facing more unexpected expenses than usual.

Preparing for them in advance with an emergency fund can help you handle these expenses with greater confidence. So, take a look at your budget to learn how you can boost your savings.