Joshua Fields Millburn

Lewis Howes:              This is 5-Minute Friday!!

Welcome, everyone, to The School of Greatness Podcast. We have minimalist Joshua Fields Millburn on today. Super pumped! Now for those that feel like you are overwhelmed with too much stuff in your house, too many things, too many possessions, this is the episode for you, to learn more about why less is more.

Now, Joshua Fields Millburn is a writer and a minimalist. He is the co-founder of the poplular blog and podcast that gets millions of downloads and followers on the blog, called The Minimalists, as well as the author of several books on the same topic, and he owns fewer than 288 things, people. That’s right, only 288 possessions, total.

Joshua Fields Millburn: How might your life be better with less? It’s a counter-intuitive question at first, right? Because we’re always thinking about more. “How do I get this? How do I bring this into my life? How do I achieve that? How do I take on this new responsibility, this new project? How do I get this promotion?” But how might my life be better with less? That’s a different question.

And, for me, at first, it was less commitment, less financial obligation. For me, I had all that debt. And so, the first benefit, for me, was regaining control of my finances and developing a plan to deal with that. And to do that, I had to be less focussed on the stuff. I had to sell a lot of stuff. I had to stop accumulating and buying things, because the price tag is one cost, but then there’s always other costs as well.

You have to have the space to store it, or to clean it or take care of it or to charge it, or to whatever, put gas in it. All of these things, and so, by asking that question: “How would my life be better with less?” You identify what the benefits are for you. They’re different for everyone. I had a ninety-three-year-old come to our last event in San Diego and she came in the Hug Line afterwards and she goes, “I just want you to know,” she brought three generations of daughters, so her daughter, her granddaughter and her great-granddaughter, with her. And she goes, “I just want you to know that I’m ninety-three years old and I am finally simplifying my life for the first time.

We had a thirteen-year-old show up in Omaha, in Nebraska, and I’m like, “Hey buddy! Did your mom drag you out here? I see you’re with your mom here.” He’s like, “Are you kidding me? I dragged her out here! Because I thought maybe my parents could find some value, some benefits, in this minimalist message.”

And what I learned is, the benefits are going to be different for everyone, but we’re all asking the same question. It’s: How do I live a more meaningful life?” and part of that has to do with just changing our focus to figure out what’s important. For me, minimalism isn’t a radical lifestyle, it’s a practical lifestyle and my version on minimalism is going to look different from your version. It’s going to look different from Leo’s version, who has six kids. His will necessarily look different.

I’ll tell you this, Leo is the ultimate minimalist. He washes his shirts in the sink, still. Now, he doesn’t make his family do that, but he does it as a ritual, to show that he doesn’t have to have this attachment to these things.

Lewis Howes:               No way! I like the washer/dryer! I like simplicity.

Joshua Fields Millburn: I have a washer/dryer, I do too. But he finds value in that ritual. And so that’s different for him. And what I’ve realised is that as a minimalist, everything I own serves a purpose or it brings me joy. So, whether it’s serving a purpose, like the equipment you have here, these are all tools. Or they bring you joy, aesthetic joy. Like you have these photo’s and artwork and things on the walls and on hangers and things like that. That serves an aesthetic purpose as well, and so it brings you joy in some way. I think that’s great.

I don’t want people to deprive themselves or think that’s necessary. Now, you can temporarily deprive youself. I think that’s helpful, if you remove something from your life for a temporary period of time, like I did with the cellphone, to figure out, when I bring it back in, “Does this actually add value? And, if so, how can it add the most value to my life.

Number one: Let it go. It’s just stuff.

Number two: You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.

And number three: Love people and use things. Because the opposite never works.

Lewis Howes:               Hey, guys! If you enjoyed this inspirational clip from a past episode of the show, then you’ll love the free book I’m giving away right now. It’s called The Millionaire Morning. It includes some of my best tips for starting off your day with a millionaire mindset. Get your free copy at themillionairemorning.com and just pay shipping.

Again, check it out right now, themillionairemorning.com.