RWR-031: Minimalism and How to Live Intentionally with Joshua Fields Millburn

One of my favorite people to follow is Joshua Fields Millburn of The Minimalists. His style of writing and the way he explains minimalism really resonates with me. If you ever wanted to live a more meaningful life, you're going to love this episode.

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People, websites, & products mentioned:
Ryan Nicodemus
Essential: Essays by The Minimalists
Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
Everything That Remains: A Memoir by The Minimalists
As a Decade Fades
Create Your Online Shop
SXSW
Spyr Media
Matt D'Avella

Connect with Joshua:
Website: theminimalists.com
Documentary: minimalismfilm.com
Twitter: @jfm / @theminimalists
Facebook: facebook.com/joshuafieldsmillburn / facebook.com/theminimalists
Instagram: @joshuafieldsmillburn / @theminimalists

Best quotes:

While living the "American Dream," I learned it wasn't my dream. It took getting everything I thought I wanted to realize that everything I ever wanted wasn't actually what I wanted at all. I made really good money in the corporate world (six figures), but I spent even better money. And that equation never works. Why the hell are you so happy? -Ryan Nicodemus When I find value in something, I tend to share it with my friends and family. I think that's the meaning in life: growing and giving. The more you grow, the more you have to give. When you look in the rearview, your scars make up the best part of yourself. When you buy stuff to be happy, the happiness doesn't last far past the checkout line. Happiness is when our short term actions align with our long term values. Just being busy for the sake of busy is a supposed sign of productivity. But it's not necessarily productive. Busy usually gets in the way of true meaningful work. I was living the ideal life to a lot of people. And the reason it was ideal to them is it was something they aspired to be. But they didn't realize that once they got there, it wasn't going to make them happy. As I climbed the corporate ladder, I got closer to these guys that I aspired to be like. And what I realized as I got closer to them, they were miserable. At least the majority of them were. There's nothing wrong with making money, I'm certainly not allergic to money. But it's no longer the primary driver for doing what I do. Debt is an anchor in our lives. There is no such thing as good debt. I found that the best way to give myself a pay raise was to spend less money. Minimalism is a tool that allows me to get rid of the excess so I can focus on whats truly important. It doesn't mean it's a perfect life, and it's certainly not an easy life. It's just about living a simpler life, one that is within our means. Being on autopilot tends to lead us into bad decisions. Going with the flow is easy. And if you go with the flow long enough, you end up at the rapids. And then you're in a world of hurt because you weren't prepared for that. That's why you'll never see me tweet a picture of my breakfast, because I don't find that it adds value to other peoples lives. I like to do other things that make me uncomfortable, it's what I call my discomfort zone. I find that the place from which I grow the most is when I put myself in a bit of an uncomfortable situation. As we move along a path from a novice to intermediate to an expert, it just has to do with putting in the work. Being willing to drudge through the drudgery. I don't have a college degree at all and I've never taken a writing class. The reason I started teaching a writing class online was because a lot of people kept asking me a ton of questions about writing. Don't start a business until someone asks you to start it. -Derek Sivers The teacher learns more than the student. If you want to get better at just about anything, teach it. Even if you're not very good at it. Because it will force you to communicate to yourself in the same way you would communicate to others. I'm constantly trying to find new ways to spread the minimalism message to people. We wanted to show people that minimalism isn't a radical lifestyle, it's a practical lifestyle. While all these people lead considerably different lives, they all share one thing in common: they're all striving to live a meaningful life with less. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the day. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of your life. -Yarrow Kraner That's what happened to me. I woke up in the middle of my life and realized that there was more to life than just bills and money and status and achievement. There was something else, and I needed to find that. Ultimately, we all just want to live a more meaningful life. The path that I was on was leading me to a place that I didn't want to be. And so, the bigger risk for me would be staying.

Thanks again for listening and reading the show notes. Be sure to subscribe and leave a review on iTunes and I can't wait to share the next episode with you soon. Until next time, hustle harder and take massive action to reach your dreams!