GetOptions(
...
   'verbose=i'   => \my $VERBOSE,
...
   'minimum=i'   => \my $minimum,
);
                                                                               
$minimum ||= 1;
$VERBOSE ||= 0;

##</code><code>##

GetOptions(
...
   'verbose=i'   => \(my $VERBOSE = 0),
...
   'minimum=i'   => \(my $minimum = 1),
);