Let Go - Daisuke Yosumi

This book gives 50 lessons from Japanese minimalism. Yosumi was a successful music producer who worked with some of the biggest names before giving it all up to live near a lake in New Zealand, fishing and growing his own food, while writing bestsellers. His idea is that life gets richer by letting go and that one can experience freedom of letting go instead of the pain of loss. 

Yosumi gives out his principles in various areas such a 'Money and Belongings' to start with. He talks of the importance of clearing things now instead of postponing, letting go of what we're not using, not stocking up and using only what we need, being generous, stop making small unnecessary purchases, stop impulse shopping, buying exactly what you need, not buying to impress, choosing your own lifestyle, buying clothes you'll like. 

In 'Work' he advocates letting go of work one is not good at, multi tasking, do what you love, trust your intuition and not follow majority, eat even hungry and not stick to routine, let Go of assumptions, do what feels right, start and keep going instead of procrastinating, instead of balancing do one thing no one can do.

In 'Health' he advocates sleeping early, going to sleep when you feel hungry, not to overeat, making each day your best day, embrace each moment, be alone, create instead of feeling judged, use words that empower, slow down, you do better when you enjoy the process, learn what matters, look within and be silent. 

In 'Relationships' let Go of networks, make plans you wouldn't miss for anything instead of being available all the time, leave comfort zones and letting go of the past, do new stuff instead of taking the usual holidays, express yourself freely, call only the people you love most instead of everyone, give in to tradition and greet people, be well mannered, polite, shut yourself from the phone, tell people you'll contact them instead of them contacting you, compete with yourself, don't defend - take responsibility, apologise whole heartedly, don't hold yourself back, make mistakes. 

In 'Lifestyle' he says, let Go of fear of lack, take less stuff, go to places that spark joy, choose few or just one, don't fear being foolish and do what you love, stop being online, feel free to run away and do stuff that matters to you.

In 'Company Loyalty' he says, find ways to be useful to the world not just the company, never let Go of your dreams, don't leave your freedom, don't get stuck in past successes, stay present. He says we must work in freedom, protect our true selves, and bring our most important dream to life. 

I liked all his ideas. Things I'll take to practice is the stuff about tradition (greeting, being polite etc), getting rid of unnecessary stuff, do what you love and cut out all the rest, let Go of the past and be present. I can see many things falling off which means there will be space for the new.

Yosumi for example does not write articles, he focuses only on his books. And they become bestsellers.