When it comes to minimalism in doing, distractions are the biggest obstacle.

We must first identify what's most important to us, what we're passionate about, what we want to spend our time on. And then we must focus on those things first.

But the distractions. They get in the way of this focusing, no?

And so we must kill the distractions with the zeal of a maniacal dictator. Without all the actual bloodiness, you know.

Without distractions, you'll be able to focus. You'll find peace. You'll find time for doing what you love.

Here's how:

• Cut back your social networking to network (or two at the most) - including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, forums, etc. These are hugely distracting.
• Cut back on your social networking "friends". Stick to your actual friends and colleagues. Networking with thousands of people you don't know is superficial and distracting.
• Limit time on social networking, email to specified periods. Set the times you allow yourself to do these activities - from 1-2 p.m., for example.
• Do less email. Start by sending less. Check email less often. Use the phone or face-to-face conversations when possible.
• Shut down the internet to work. Disconnect, and work without distractions.
• Separate consuming from creating. Reading and networking and emailing are different from actually creating. Do them at separate times.
• Set a limited reading time. If you read a lot on the web, or RSS feeds, set limits and do it at specified times.
• Shut off notifications. Email, Blackberry, IM, whatever. Shut em down.
• Clear away icons on your desktop. File them all in one folder, and use an app launcher such as LaunchBar or Launchy.
• Clear your actual desk.
• Use music to block out your surroundings.
• Get away from the computer, spend time with actual people.
• Shut off the smartphone. Seriously.
• Single-task and focus.
• Focus on the most important tasks first, before you get distracted.
• Set limits on your work hours. If your time is limited, you'll find ways to make the most of that limited time.

In case you feel I've been wordy:

less

You can become a minimalist overnight, by not only changing your mindset but renouncing all possessions.

Of course, that's not a realistic approach for most of us. We have families, jobs, lives, and unless we're willing to give up those lives, our approach won't be so drastic.

Slow change is best for most people.

And so I recommend you do it in steps, as I've done. Here's what these steps might look like:

1. Stop buying unnecessary things. This step was important for me as I was trying to get out of a mountain of debt (achieved, btw). Only buy the necessities, and always ask yourself: is this truly necessary? Stop the bleeding first.

2. Get rid of the obvious things. Stuff that's getting in your way, that you rarely ever use. You can often fill up a few boxes immediately, put them in your car, and donate them to a thrift shop or to friends and family the next day.

3. Get rid of more obvious things. Now that you've cleared up some of the clutter, you can take a look around and start seeing other things you rarely use. Box these up as well.

4. Clear the clutter on your floors. If your floors are barely visible because you have clothes and boxes and different items all over the place, start clearing your floors.

5. Clear other flat surfaces. Shelves, table tops, counter tops. They don't have to be completely clear, but should only have a few essential objects.

6. Start going into closets and drawers. One place at a time, start clearing out clutter.

7. Cut back another third. At this point, you should have simplified drastically, but you can revisit what you still own and see things you don't really use that often.

8. Start letting go, emotionally. For emotional reasons, there will be things that you "just can't part" with -- clothes or shoes or books or mementoes or gifts, childhood items. This is difficult, but given time, you'll learn that such attachments aren't necessary.

9. Get rid of another third. At this point, you're pretty minimalist, but you can cut back more.

10. Et cetera. The process will never end, until you actually give up everything. I'm not there yet.

These steps are just a rough outline of what I went through, but it's a look into a process that might help.

How does a minimalist eat? Just a few grains of rice each day, perhaps?

There's no one way, of course, but one thing to consider is whether eating huge amounts of food, super-sized fast food meals and mountains of fried cheesy food that you find at chain restaurants ... whether this American style of eating is consistent with the minimalist philosophy.

I say no. A minimalist would more likely eat less, prepare food simply with few ingredients, eat mindfully, and eat sustainably.

Here's how.

• Eat less. If you're overweight, eating less is absolutely the best thing you can do. If you're underweight, eating less isn't a good idea. But the Okinawans, reknowned for their incredible health and longetivity, do so well in part because they eat fewer calories than most people. They stop when they're 80% full. I've been doing this with great results. Trick is to cut back on your portions a little at a time, and your stomach slowly grows smaller. It's not hard if you do it slowly, gradually. Don't starve yourself, but learn to eat until you're almost full -- after 5 minutes, you'll realize you really are full.
• Fewer ingredients. Try three-ingredient recipes (other than spices, oil & water) -- there are lots of them on the web. I like oatmeal, nuts & fruit (with cinnamon); black bean chili with tomatoes (and cilantro, cayenne, chiles, salt); black beans & quinoa; soy yogurt, berries & nuts; coconut flakes, fruit & soymilk; apples & almonds. You get the idea.
• Simple preparation. The above dishes require very little preparation. If you really love cooking, this tip won't be for you, but for those who normally eat out or eat packaged foods, it's important to find foods that don't require a lot of prep time. You want to do little work with few ingredients -- just fresh, real food that is flavorful and healthy.
• Eating mindfully. Instead of eating while you watch TV, try paying attention to each bite, savoring your food and getting the most out of it while eating less.
• Eating sustainably. A plug for veganism, which is more sustainable than meat and dairy because plants require fewer resources (yes, even fewer than free-range animals). If everyone became vegan, we'd have more than enough food to feed the world, and we'd use fewer resources with less carbon emissions.

Yes, books. I know for many of us, getting rid of possessions is an attractive prospect ... but not books! Books are sacred.

Right?

Well, maybe. I love books as much as anyone. I love them in a physical way, with certain pleasure-inducing parts of my brain being activated by the smell, feel, look of books, new and used. I love browsing through bookstores for hours, discovering new worlds at every turn. I love cuddling up with them in the morning, or right before bed, escaping from reality for a little while. I love talking about books, reading about them, surrounding myself with them.

But I'm learning to let go of the need to possess them for any substantial length of time. This has been a slow process. At first, I'd cull my fairly large collection of books by taking 10 or 20 here and there, and donating them or selling them to used bookstores. Then I got more aggressive and got rid of a lot, limiting myself to one (long) bookshelf. (Admittedly, the bookshelf extended itself as I stacked books below the shelf and then double stacked books, but it was progress, for me.)

Recently, I've decided to go even further. I'm rounding up all the books I've been keeping "just in case" -- in case I want to read them again, or refer to them, or if I decide to get back into triathlons or marathons or whatever I used to be obsessed with. I'm planning to have a reader give-away of many of these books soon.

My new rule is pretty minimalist: If I don't plan on reading the book in the next 6 months, it's out. And I'm going to be realistic about how much I'll actually read -- one every two weeks at most.

If we learn to let go of this need to hold onto books, here's a better approach, a more minimalist and saner way to live with books:

• Massively purge yourself of your books. It'll be difficult at first, but trust me: it's also massively liberating.
• Check books out from the library. My library isn't great (here on Guam) but when I move to S.F. this summer, I plan to make the S.F. public library my biggest bookshelf ever.
• When you're done with a book you own, let it go. Give it to a friend to enjoy. Donate it to charity. Sell it to a used bookstore so you can read another book.
• Start a book-sharing group with your friends. Swap books you really enjoyed. You'll save money and shelf space.
• Only keep on your shelf the books you're going to read in the next 6 months. No more.

Edit: Of course, there's always the option of getting an ebook reader such as the Kindle or Apple's long-rumored tablet computer. Then you'll only have one device with possibly thousands of books. It's an option I'll probably move towards soon, as I decide what ebook reader I want. Maybe by the end of this year.