Joshua Becker's Blog, page 139

Everything You Want to Know about Our New Book. (And How to Get an Advanced Copy for Review on Your Website).

On Wednesday August 15, our new book, Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness, will officially launch. Needless to say, I’m really excited. And with less than two weeks before its release, I wanted to take a moment and explain everything you need to know about the new book… and then give away a few advance copies to help with its promotion.

The Background

Publishers are very interested in the existing audience of their authors. They want to know the size of a potential author’s platform and the specific demographics. Publishers are, after all, in the money-making business and want to know their investment is going to result in profit. In this way, many publishers just pay authors for access to their audience.

But this book is completely different.

Group Publishing first approached me last spring. They had heard our story and the work we were doing at Becoming Minimalist. They believed in the message. And saw a valuable partnership opportunity. Over one year ago, they asked if I’d consider writing a book about minimalism for Christian teenagers – an entirely new demographic for me.

Shortly after the initial conversation, with little hesitation, I said yes. And I did so for several reasons:

The invitation of minimalism is important for teenagers and young adults. The practical benefits are highly relevant to their lives today and in the future. And finding life in owning less at an early age will save many heartaches down the road.
The book provides great opportunity to expand the reach of this life-giving message. Statistically speaking, Christian teenagers and young adults make up an incredibly small percentage of readers on this site. But utilizing the size and reach of Group Publishing’s network, Living With Less will provide an avenue to bring inspiration to a brand-new segment of the population.
I feel uniquely qualified to write this book. In many ways, I have been preparing to write this book for years. I have worked with Christian teenagers in a variety of churches over the years (most recently leading one of the largest youth ministries in New England). I have communicated with teens specifically for the last 13 years. I have intentionally lived with fewer possessions for the last 4 years. And this book will combine both my full-time job and my favorite part-time hobby for the very first time.

The Book

Description: As I mentioned previously, Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness, is written for a brand-new, relatively unreached market: Christian teens and young adults. The book invites teenagers and young adults to discover the practical benefits of living with fewer possessions. And I believe it approaches the subject from a fresh, new angle.

Most religious books written on the topic of materialism discuss the evils of consumerism and seeking the world’s pleasures. I wanted to write a book that didn’t just discuss materialism from a negative view, but praised minimalism from a positive view by clearly articulating the practical benefits of owning fewer possessions: less debt, less distraction, more freedom, more opportunity. I wanted to invite teenagers to embrace a more abundant way to live. I wanted to call them to rethink the teachings of Jesus Christ. And I wanted to use it as a springboard to call the American Church to start taking Jesus’ teaching on money and possessions more seriously.

It is important for me to note that the spiritual/religious undertones of this book are very prevalent throughout. I work hard keeping Becoming Minimalist free from specific religious philosophies and will continue to do so. I understand the message of minimalism holds benefit to all who accept it… regardless of spiritual preference. Because of that, I may allude to spirituality on this website, but I always steer clear of speaking in specific terms concerning it.

But again, this new book is different. It embraces many of the spiritual conversations and beliefs concerning Jesus Christ. If you hold to the same, you will greatly enjoy this book. If you are unfamiliar with Jesus’ teachings on possessions, you’ll probably enjoy seeing how they have shaped my view of minimalism. But if you are hostile towards religion, this book is probably not for you. And that’s perfectly okay.

Length: Living With Less contains 16,000 words which translates to 100+ pages in the physical book. It is short enough that teenagers and young adults who pick it up will be able to finish it quickly. But it is long enough to cover all facets of the conversation that I believe to be necessary. While it contains some material that can be found elsewhere (previous books, blog posts), almost 50% of the book is entirely new. And the sections that can be found elsewhere have been rephrased to connect with a younger audience.

Publisher: Group Publishing is based in Loveland, CO. Group Publishing is a respected leader among publishers who seek to equip and train church leaders and youth around the world.

Video Trailer: You can view the video trailer for the book right here: Living With Less Book Trailer.

Distribution/Price: Along with other book distributors, Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness will be available through Amazon as both a physical copy (paperback) and a digital download (Kindle). The physical copy of the book will sell for $7.99 while the digital download will sell for $6.39.

Release Date: Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness will be released on Wednesday, August 15.

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Get An Advance Copy for Review

As is our custom at Becoming Minimalist, we intend to send out 50 copies of the book to bloggers who desire to post a review (good, bad, or indifferent) on their website. In the past, we have selected the first 50 submissions and mailed out copies to each. But because of the nature of this book (and the increased size of this blog), I intend to carefully select bloggers from a wide variety of genres and platform sizes.

If you desire to be among the first to read our new book and help us spread the message, please take 1 minute to fill out the form below. At the end of the day (Friday), I will select 50 fellow bloggers to receive .pdf editions of the book. I will contact each directly via email. And a sincere thanks to each of you who volunteer to help:

Advance Copy Request Form
[contact-form-7]

 

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Be Notified by E-Mail When the Book Launches

If you would like to receive the most current information about the book’s launch and information about intentionally promoting simplicity in a world that desperately needs to hear it, sign up for our Becoming Minimalist newsletter by providing your e-mail address below:

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We’re All Trading Our Lives for Something. Trade Up.

“This is your life. Are you who you want to be?” - Jonathan Foreman

Our lives are, by definition, made up of finite resources. Each of us has a limited amount of minutes, dollars, and units of energy with which to live our lives. And every passing day presents an opportunity to trade our lives for something else.

Unfortunately, most of our lives are unintentionally traded down… lived in exchange for a return of limited or temporal value. We never set out to purposefully trade our lives for things of limited value; but in a culture surrounded by similar pursuits, our lives conform too easily.

At the very beginning, we trade our lives for…

Security – We invest in our knowledge and skill as a means to earn a living. We choose the lives we will live. We seek the right people to place around us. And we trade our time and talents for a steady paycheck with which to purchase shelter, clothing, food… security – the baseline of our existence. Make no mistake, this is not an unwise trade. Security lays the foundation upon which many of our life’s choices can be built. And I’m all for it.

But it seems, after achieving security, most of us begin pursuing…

Comfort – The essential elements of security: roof, meals, clothing are rarely enough. We pursue comfort to be added to our baseline of security. So we begin trading our time and our paychecks for a bigger home in a nicer neighborhood, a softer couch surrounded by entertainment choices, a nicer car with more features, and trendier clothing that makes us feel a bit more fashionable among our peers. Sometimes we intentionally seek comfort; but most often we do because society makes it appear so attractive.

Luxury – After achieving security and comfort, luxury lurks not so far in the distance. We can see it. We can taste it. It appears overwhelmingly satisfying. And we know what it asks of us: just a few more hours each week at work, a little more research to get it right, and a few more dollars spent at the store. Soon, we begin trading the finite resources of our lives for the luxurious offerings of this world.

Victory – Our minds create a ranking system for the world that we desire to climb. We seek more money, more power, more prestige, more fame than our neighbor, our siblings, our friends, or those we read about in the news. We attempt to prove our worth to ourselves and others by beating out others in this self-constructed competition of life. And before we know it, we’ve soon traded our entire lives to win a competition we have invented in our own minds.

Of course, none of these pursuits exist in a vacuum. Each of them thrive in our hearts alongside a steady stream of pride, greed, fear, and selfishness. These emotions reinforce our decision to pursue comfort, luxury, and victory. As a result, we seek them more desperately. And our lives’ most valuable resources are traded for them.

But the trade is a foolish one.

Our lives hold far greater potential than the comfort and luxury most of us trade them for. After all, these are temporal pursuits that can never be fully achieved. They move and shift rapidly with the world around us. They never fully satisfy. They are completely self-centered. And our lives can be traded for things far greater.

Our lives can be traded for significance, social justice, or spiritual pursuits. We can invest our lives into creating a more sustainable planet, beautiful art, moments of joy for others, or causes we believe in. We can help others overcome fear, heartache, or significant obstacles to joy. We can trade our finite resources for the desires and values held deep within each of our hearts – the purest passions unspoiled by the culture around us.

We were created to live for pursuits far greater than comfort, luxury, and competition. We were created to trade our lives up, not down.

The Story of Enough: Giving Up (new) Clothes for One Year.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Sarah Peck of it starts with.

“We live in a world of scarcity. Which means we feel like we never have enough.” – Brené Brown

Living in a world of scarcity means that we’re constantly searching for the next thing to fill us up, the next destination or achievement to make us whole. Our world is filled with messages that tell us we don’t have enough space, enough stuff, enough clothes, enough fitness. We’re never skinny enough or pretty enough or good enough or rich enough.

This scarcity model drives consumption and accumulation; it spurs us to want more, to buy things because we think it will fill the void. We press to work harder, to get fitter, to buy more clothes, to acquire more things in the name of filling the hole.

The problem with scarcity, however, is that you can’t fill it or fix it with things.

The answer to scarcity, ironically, isn’t more. It is enough.

What you have is enough. Who you are is enough. As Danielle LaPorte says in her Fire Starter Sessions: “You already have everything you need.”

What about Minimalist Enough?

This cuts both ways, however. As a person with lots of things, and an apartment with hundreds of books, I sometimes feel like my efforts to de-clutter and reduce the number of things that surround me aren’t enough. And the thought begins to creep in: I’m not minimalist enough. I see someone who is minimalist and only has 100 things and the internal voice begins again, “I guess I’m not minimalist… enough.”

These attitudes are pervasive and can race around in my head. I can quickly become overwhelmed with the desire to eliminate stuff, lose weight, be better, do more, achieve….more.

But the idea of minimalism isn’t about reaching a goal, or checking off a box, or reaching a certain destination. To me, minimalism is realizing that what I already have is enough, and that adding clutter to the pile won’t make it any better. And chasing a dream of more minimalism is, ironically, not what I’m after either.

To me, as I breathe out and sigh into the life that I’m living, and find gentler ways to tweak, edit, and refine; I find that recognizing what is important and what is not is the most critical exercise.

Stripping away the excess lets us get to the bones of what really matters. Get to the heart space. Get to the pieces that are important. And that level can be different for different people.

My Modest Minimalist Journey.

I spent 2011 conducting an experiment in which I decided to stop buying new clothes for the entire year. (There were two exceptions: shoes and underwear, but only as needed). For an entire year, I lived without buying anything new, on purpose. As a female in a clothes-and-image-centric society, I wanted to see what it was like to live without shopping for a while.

I was always dismayed by the number of female friends that were readily going into debt to maintain their image in public. When I thought about it, $400 outfits (the average price on any feature shopping magazine page) can add up to a lot of money if one were to wear a new outfit every day for a year. (That’s $150,000 just on clothes—who are we kidding?). You might think I’m joking—but to be perfectly honest, I know people who are $20,000 and $30,000 in credit card debt from clothes shopping alone. The image pressures on females (and males!) can be increasingly intense.

Yet over the year, as I experimented in my journey of wearing and re-wearing the same outfits hundreds of times, I also found there were times when I got discouraged—especially when I looked around online and saw things like One Dress Protest and the Versalette by revolution apparel. I inadvertently compared myself to other people who were doing a better job at buying nothing than I was.

But then I realized: I don’t have to be the best or the most minimalist. I can be minimalist enough. Minimalism isn’t about winning, and it isn’t about a particular achievement. It’s about finding out what matters to you, and getting rid of the peripheral.

Over the course of the year, I thinned out my closet and pared down to a few favorite items. I made over twenty trips to charity with bags of clothes and gently worn shoes that I no longer needed. At one point, I had socks and underwear with holes in them, and I got out my sewing machine and fixed them up. Making old things new again was surprisingly satisfying. Getting rid of all of my extra socks—and just having a few pairs to use each day—actually made my life simpler. The process of getting rid of things reminded me of what I liked—and what mattered.

Over time, I started to become acutely aware of everything that crossed the physical threshold of my front door. The amount of stuff that piled up around me on a daily basis crept into my consciousness, and I’m still surprised by the amount of clutter we let into our lives each day. Every time I brought something new in—mail, letters, books, ideas, shopping bags—I tried to make a conscious effort that the stuff I was bringing with me was valuable, and that I was also taking enough stuff out of the apartment each day to keep my space maintainable.

Untethering from the need to consume was surprisingly easy. It was the attitude change that made the most difference: looking through my things and realizing I already had enough—that I didn’t have to rush out and buy something new to fill a hole or a need—let me breathe again. It was relaxing and reassuring to know what I had was okay. What you are is already good enough.

I learned, slowly, that having excess stuff was giving me a headache, wasting my time and energy, and wasting a lot of money I wanted to focus on eliminating debt.

Over time, I will continue to whittle away at the things I don’t need in order to make space for the things I love. It turns out, all those unnecessary clothes were crowding out the space of the things I loved. I got rid of several boxes and cleared off a space for all of my books—one of my loves. Clearing out, to me, is about reducing the unnecessary clutter in your life to make space for what matters, and finding a balance that lets your soul breathe. It’s about stripping away the things you don’t need so you can focus on what’s important.

Sometimes a subtle attitude shift or a small sacrifice can make a big difference. Like taking the time to appreciate that what you already have is enough. And your effort? It’s enough.

Because stuff isn’t what matters.

What you have is enough. YOU are enough. 

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Sarah is a writer, designer and storyteller based in San Francisco, CA. She is the brain behind the blog “it starts with” and founded the online landscape urbanism journal at the nexus of cities, landscape and design. In her playtime, she spends ample amounts of time running, open water swimming, dancing and doing handstands in unusual places. 

As a separate note: Sarah’s trying to raise $29K for clean water by reaching out to 1000 people and asking them to donate $29 to for her 29th birthday. As a little incentive, she said if she reaches her goal, there will be a very chilly Alcatraz swim she’s promised to do–in her birthday suit, nonetheless!  

Finding Pride and Joy in the Journey of Life

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” - Ursula K. LeGuin

Too often, we live our lives from destination to destination. We look back and mark the significant accomplishments as the milestones that define our lives: a graduation, a new job, a move, or overcoming a tragedy. We look back with fondness and we look desperately forward to the completion of the next: the accomplishment of a life goal, a significant desired award, a major life transition, finding the love of our life, or emerging from one of life’s dark valleys triumphant.

Unfortunately, life is not lived exclusively in these destinations. In fact, it is far more often lived in the pathways between them. Consider the fact that these destination moments are few. But the journeys between them long. These moments between destinations are where we prepare ourselves – and are prepared – to accomplish the goal, to weather the storm, and to choose the next destination carefully.

But because we live in a results-oriented world, finding pride and joy during these moments between destinations is difficult, but absolutely essential.

Earlier this past school-year, my daughter walked into our living room carrying the book, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I can still picture its distinct orange cover held against her body by her 5-year old arms. She climbed into my lap, asked if she could read to me, and began opening the front cover. With little hesitation, I agreed. It’s important to me that Alexa enjoys reading. And I looked forward to helping her through it.

Little did I know my help would not be needed. Using the sight words she had learned from her kindergarten teacher and simple steps to get through the tricky words (look at the picture, sound out the first letters, look for rhyming words), my daughter successfully navigated every single word in the book. Spoiler Alert: He ends up liking the green eggs and ham at the end.

When my daughter closed the back cover to the book, she looked at me with a huge sense of accomplishment. And when she did, she looked directly into the eyes of the only person smiling bigger than her. I can remember looking down with a feeling of pride I could never communicate with words. The compliments were genuine and the hug was sweet. My daughter was learning to read. She knew it. I knew it. And there was great joy to be found at this point in her knowledge.

Now, just to be clear, I know full-well her journey to become a reader is not complete. Green Eggs and Ham is hardly the highest piece of Literature she will learn to read… after all, Pinkalicious is right around the corner. And being able to sound out every word in a Dr. Seuss book is hardly the culmination of her education. I will still encourage her and challenge her to reach new heights and seek higher accomplishments.

But in this moment, at this time, overwhelming joy and pride were perfectly accurate responses. My daughter had grown much in her ability to read over the previous weeks and months. She had worked hard to reach this point. Her progress deserved to be celebrated. And she understood there was joy to be found in this journey.

Very likely, your life deserves far more celebration than you offer. After all, our lives are not measured by the leaps and bounds as much as they are measured by the little steps and decisions we make every day.

Keep striving forward to become a better person, a better parent, a better citizen, and a better contributor to the world around you. Strive for the great accomplishments that you and the world will use to define your life. But don’t be so quick to discount the progress you have already made. Because that’s where life is lived. And that’s where joy is to be found.

Taking Minimalism to the Masses. And How You Can Help.

At the end of this article, I’ll introduce you to a brand-new Becoming Minimalist Newsletter and give you an opportunity to win one of ten autographed editions of my new book being released in August. But before I can make that exciting announcement, I need to give you some background…

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“I have heard it said that the first ingredient of success – the earliest spark in the dreaming youth – is this; dream a great dream.” – John A. Appleman

Becoming Minimalist: The Story

Four years ago, I stood outside my typical suburban garage and made a life-changing realization. To the left of me stood a dirty pile of material possessions. To the right of me, my son sat alone in the backyard asking me to play. At that very moment, my neighbor appeared outside her home. I began commenting to her on how much time and energy was being wasted taking care of my house and everything we had purchased over the years. Her response was simple and life-giving, “That’s why my daughter is a minimalist. She keeps telling me I don’t need to own all this stuff.”

The statement rang in my heart as a beautiful invitation. The realization that I could purposefully live with fewer possessions had never entered my mind. Maybe it’s because I was a product of my own selfish greed or maybe I had become a product of the consumeristic society in which I lived… but I had never considered the fact I could intentionally live with only the most essential possessions in my life. My wife and I went to work right away removing everything from our home that we did not know to be useful or beautiful. Eventually, we’d move into a smaller home.

As a result, we discovered a far better way to live. It is a life lived with more time and energy for the things we value most. Saturdays are no longer spent cleaning the garage or organizing closets. They are spent with the ones we dearly love. Our financial opportunities have also changed dramatically. We spend less time and money at the department store. We no longer live paycheck-to-paycheck. And we have far more disposable income available to give to causes we believe in. We have more freedom and less stress in our lives. Our kids are happy. We are happy. We have indeed discovered a better way to live life.

And this message needs to reach the masses.

Becoming Minimalist: The Website

Immediately, we started a website. For the first 18+ months, it stood as an on-line journal of the progress we were making, the lessons we were learning, and the benefits we were discovering. Surprisingly, the website was being read by more and more people each day. At the time, we did very little to market the blog or target readers. We just consistently wrote about the outward and inward journey towards minimalism in our lives. We never asked for readership, we just opened up our lives.

Two years later, in March 2010, we made an intentional change to this website. We began to realize we had learned some valuable lessons about possessions and the effect they have on our lives. As a result, we began to use this website not as a personal journal, but as an opportunity to invite others to pursue minimalism and find new life because of it. We joined social media networks. We connected with other bloggers. And we sought out opportunities to challenge our readers to live for something greater than the pursuit of material possessions.

Our efforts were well received. Becoming Minimalist grew from 500 subscribed readers to almost 15,000. Our monthly page views increased from 40,000/month to 500,000/month. Facebook fans increased. Twitter followers grew. Books were written. And the message was beginning to spread. Looking back, this intentional pivot forever changed the course of this website and our lives in the process.

But over the past few months, I have sensed a growing call inside my heart… a newfound passion growing inside my soul. I still recognize far too many lives around me being lived for temporal pursuits. Our culture demands conformity and our souls too willingly submit to the pursuit of possessions… seeking life, happiness, and meaning in all the wrong places.

But we have an opportunity to change that! We have discovered there is more joy in pursuing less than can be found in pursuing more. We have discovered an unexpected key to happiness. We have a message that needs to be spread. We have built a platform on which to proclaim this message. And we are ready to intentionally give more energy, time, commitment, and finances to spread this message to the masses… to those who so desperately need to hear it.

And I know in my heart that many of you are desiring to do the same.

Becoming Minimalist: The Newsletter

Starting today, I am announcing the creation of a Becoming Minimalist Newsletter to accomplish that very purpose. Specifically, the goal of this newsletter is to recruit, mobilize and equip a team of people committed to the intentional promotion of the minimalist lifestyle. And provide them with the resources to spread this message as far and wide as possible.

The newsletter will provide a far more personal opportunity for communication than this blog allows. Because of its nature (permission-based delivery to inboxes), we will have greater freedom to share intimate details of our pursuits, this website, and the intentional spread of the minimalist message. The newsletter will be delivered on a consistent basis and will contain links to popular, shareable posts from this website and others to be shared via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and heartfelt conversations over a cup of coffee. The newsletter will provide practical opportunities to support Becoming Minimalist and others in minimalist-specific ventures (book launches, speaking engagements, interviews, presentations, tours).

In short, the newsletter will serve as direct communication to those interested in promoting the minimalist message. And together, we can make a big difference!

I do encourage you to sign-up. At this point, it’s the most important first step. By subscribing, you’ll get exclusive content, specific opportunities to promote minimalism, and advance notice on new projects we’re working on. (FYI: This e-mail list will not receive blog post updates individually. But will instead receive regular round-up reports of popular posts from this site and others).

To increase the incentive, on August 1st, I will randomly select 10 subscribers to receive an autographed edition of my new book, Living With Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness. The book will be shipped directly from my house to your doorstep with a special thank-you message inside. All as a practical symbol of my gratitude to you for joining the team.

You can sign-up below to start receiving the brand new Becoming Minimalist Newsletter. I look forward to partnering with this exciting team committed to the intentional promotion of minimalism to a world that desperately needs to hear it:

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If you receive these Becoming Minimalist posts via e-mail and do not see a sign-up form above, click here to subscribe: Newsletter 

Thank you so much for being a part of a more intentional Becoming Minimalist. And if you wouldn’t mind sharing this article on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, I’d really appreciate it.

Publicly Appreciating the Contribution of Others

“Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.” - Earl Nightingale

We all have influence. We have a platform on which to create change in this world. And most people in our world (myself included more often than I’d care to admit) will spend much of their finite energy comparing their platforms to others.

Unfortunately, they’ll waste their time comparing all the wrong metrics.They’ll compare…

income and savings account balances.
home prices and car models.
job titles and salary packages.
Facebook friends, Twitter followers and blog subscribers.

They will compare the size of platform, but often disregard for what influence the platform is being used. As a result, many of the wrong people will be held in esteem. And many of the people who are getting it right – using their platforms for positive change – will go unnoticed, be overlooked, or worse yet, quickly forgotten.

We need to change our metrics. We need to stop comparing size and start comparing direction of influence. We ought to spend less time praising those who build large platforms for selfish gain. And spend more energy lifting up those who use their platform for the betterment of somebody else – regardless of size.

We ought to publicly praise those who use their platform to contribute good into our world. People like…

1. Scott Harrison, who gave up a highly lucrative career to deliver clean water around the world and redefine charity in the process.

2. Stephanie Zito, who is giving away $10 every day this year to a different charity.

3. Jeff Slobotski, who has given his life to encouraging and connecting young start-ups in Omaha, NE.

4. Brene Brown, who has dedicated her life to studying vulnerability and equipping others to live authentic, vulnerable lives.

5. Josh Furnas, who recently moved to San Francisco to help nonprofits raise funds in a practical, fashionable way.

6. Sarah Peck, who is giving away her 29th birthday to charity.

7. Chris Guillebeau, who once gave everyone in the room $100 to invest in themselves and something great… $100,000 total.

8. Kimberly Becker, who put aside her career aspirations to raise two children at home for the past 9+ years.

Based on the typical metrics of our society, each person listed above varies in their level of success. But on the metrics of appreciating positive contribution, each has used their influence to benefit others. And our world would be a better place if they were publicly praised because of it.

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Will you consider adding to this list and publicly drawing attention to someone in your life who ought to be celebrated because of their positive contribution to others? You can do so in the comment section below. Links will be approved.

On Publicly Appreciating the Contribution of Others

“Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.” - Earl Nightingale

We all have influence. We have a platform on which to create change in this world. And most people in our world (myself included more often than I’d care to admit) will spend much of their finite energy comparing their platforms to others.

Unfortunately, they’ll waste their time comparing all the wrong metrics.They’ll compare…

income and savings account balances.
home prices and car models.
job titles and salary packages.
Facebook friends, Twitter followers and blog subscribers.

They will compare the size of platform, but often disregard for what influence the platform is being used. As a result, many of the wrong people will be held in esteem. And many of the people who are getting it right – using their platforms for positive change – will go unnoticed, be overlooked, or worse yet, quickly forgotten.

We need to change our metrics. We need to stop comparing size and start comparing direction of influence. We ought to spend less time praising those who build large platforms for selfish gain. And spend more energy lifting up those who use their platform for the betterment of somebody else – regardless of size.

We ought to publicly praise those who use their platform to contribute good into our world. People like…

1. Scott Harrison, who gave up a highly lucrative career to deliver clean water around the world and redefine charity in the process.

2. Stephanie Zito, who is giving away $10 every day this year to a different charity.

3. Jeff Slobotski, who has given his life to encouraging and connecting young start-ups in Omaha, NE.

4. Brene Brown, who has dedicated her life to studying vulnerability and equipping others to live authentic, vulnerable lives.

5. Josh Furnas, who recently moved to San Francisco to help nonprofits raise funds in a practical, fashionable way.

6. Sarah Peck, who is giving away her 29th birthday to charity.

7. Chris Guillebeau, who once gave everyone in the room $100 to invest in themselves and something great… $100,000 total.

8. Kimberly Becker, who put aside her career aspirations to raise two children at home for the past 9+ years.

Based on the typical metrics of our society, each person listed above varies in their level of success. But on the metrics of appreciating positive contribution, each has used their influence to benefit others. And our world would be a better place if they were publicly praised because of it.

—

Will you consider adding to this list and publicly drawing attention to someone in your life who ought to be celebrated because of their positive contribution to others? You can do so in the comment section below. Links will be approved.

Live with Less. Pursue Your Passions. Finally.

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” - Nelson Mandela

We own too much stuff. And it is stealing our joy.

Consider how our possessions deplete our most finite and valuable resources:

Money: Everything we buy moves our financial balance closer to zero… sometimes even below. The Average American with credit card debt lives with $15,956 debt spread out over 3.5 credit cards. But it is not only families with debt that struggle. Recent statistics report nearly 8 out of every 10 Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck.

Time: Our possessions rob us of precious minutes every day. They are required to be cleaned, organized, maintained, fixed, recycled, removed, and replaced. And that doesn’t even begin to account for all the time we spent working in the first place just to earn the money to buy the possessions that we take home to be cleaned and organized and maintained and…

Energy: Our excessive possessions demand our attention and mental energy. Clutter in our life contends for our eyes, our attention, and our focus. Our minds are subtly consumed with the pursuit of possessions… and the temptation to compare our possessions with those around us permeates our thoughts more than we’d like to admit.

But there is a far better way to live life. The removal of excessive possessions and the intentional decision to live with less offers countless benefits. In exchange for removing the clutter, we are rewarded with newfound finances, time, energy, freedom, and mental capacity. Our lives are lived with less stress, less anxiety, and less burden.

Life is immediately improved. Our finite resources become more available to us. In short, we are freed to pursue our greatest passions. And for some of us, it’s been a long time since we had access to the necessary finite resources required to chase our heart’s greatest delights – however we decide to define them.

For too long, we’ve bought into the lie that more is better. We’ve bought bigger houses and faster cars and trendier clothes and cooler toys… but we’ve traded far more than time and money to acquire them. We’ve traded the very passions and life we most desperately desire to pursue.

But they can be rediscovered. After all…

Living with less offers more time to spend on meaningful activities.
Living with less offers more freedom to travel and move about.
Living with less offers more clarity in our spiritual pursuits.
Living with less offers more mental capacity to solve our most heartfelt problems in life.
Living with less offers more finances to support causes we believe in.
Living with less even offers far greater flexibility in pursuing the careers we most desire.

Owning fewer possessions provides the perfect roadmap for living the life you’ve always dreamed of living. One that is lived pursuing the greatest passions in your heart. Maybe for the first time. Finally.

12 Ways Friends Improve Our Lives

“A true friend is the best possession.” – Benjamin Franklin

I write often on the benefits of living with fewer possessions. One of the greatest rewards of living with less is the opportunity that it provides to focus our energies (and finances) on the things that are most important to us. These values will change from person to person, but for me, they have been typically defined as faith, family, and friends. Since choosing to become minimalist, I have had more time, money, and energy to pursue each of them.

One of the reasons that friendship makes my list of values is because I have seen how much benefit they provide. The opportunities they provide to make life better far outweigh anything that can be found in material possessions. As a result, they ought to be pursued with far greater fervor than most of us commit to them.

Consider the ways friends make life better. Authentic friends…

1) Encourage us. Friends believe in us. As a result, they offer both the words and the support we need to become better people in all aspects of life.

2) Challenge us. Friends recognize deficiencies in our life. They challenge us to embrace and succeed in making these healthy, life-giving changes.

3) Motivate us. In every regard, it is highly motivating to know that someone loves you, believes in you, and is cheering for you.

4) Listen to us. Friends open their ears and hearts to our words. A listening ear communicates value, trust, and openness. And a listening ear provides the opportunity for our thoughts to disentangle themselves.

5) Celebrate with us. Full joy is never realized until it has been shared with others – that’s why we immediately call our friends when something good happens. Friends celebrate with us in victory and make our joy complete.

6) Grieve with us. Life is full of ups and downs. Friends make the high points higher and the low points bearable.

7) Support our contributions. Friends recognize the value we contribute to the world and the beauty we offer to it. They look forward to our contributions and promote them to others.

8) Keep us honest. Friends know us best. They know our strengths… and they recognize our weaknesses. Because of their intimate knowledge of who we are, they keep us honest with each other and with ourselves.

9) Add joy to our lives. According to a study from the Harvard Medical School, the more friends a women had, the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life. There is likely some correlation between being joyful and having friends… but clearly the inverse is also true.

10) Improve our health. Studies also indicate that authentic friendships actually result in better health. These relationships make healthy habits easier to adopt and the body more likely to heal itself.

11) Provide opportunity for influence. Trust always precedes influence. Sometimes trust can be earned quickly (books, experts, studies), but other times it can take years of living life together. Friendships – life lived in relationship with others – offers trust and influence.

12) Provide opportunity for sacrifice. Giving always benefits the receiver and the giver. True friendships require sacrifice. And in that sacrifice, both lives are improved.

Of course, those of you who already have good friends understand these realities. In that case, take some time today to be reminded of their importance in your life. Adjust your life accordingly. Extend gratitude where needed or change your priorities as necessary to further invest yourself into them.

But there are a number of people who will read this post and desperately desire the level of intimacy and longing mentioned above. You have sought these friendships for years and yet, for one reason or another, they have alluded you. Or you had them at one time, but they have since disappeared from your life. Take heart. And never lose hope.

The path to discovering these authentic relationships is always the same. It will require risk, trust, and honesty. It will require sacrifice and intentional investment. It will require you to give and give and give some more and it will require you to become the very friend you desperately desire. But in the end, it will be worth every ounce of energy you commit to it.

12 Ways Friends Make Life Better

“A true friend is the best possession.” – Benjamin Franklin

I write often on the benefits of living with fewer possessions. One of the greatest rewards of living with less is the opportunity that it provides to focus our energies (and finances) on the things that are most important to us. These values will change from person to person, but for me, they have been typically defined as faith, family, and friends. Since choosing to become minimalist, I have had more time, money, and energy to pursue each of them.

One of the reasons that friendship makes my list of values is because I have seen how much benefit they provide. The opportunities they provide to make life better far outweigh anything that can be found in material possessions. As a result, they ought to be pursued with far greater fervor than most of us commit to them.

Consider the ways friends make life better. Authentic friends…

1) Encourage us. Friends believe in us. As a result, they offer both the words and the support we need to become better people in all aspects of life.

2) Challenge us. Friends recognize deficiencies in our life. They challenge us to embrace and succeed in making these healthy, life-giving changes.

3) Motivate us. In every regard, it is highly motivating to know that someone loves you, believes in you, and is cheering for you.

4) Listen to us. Friends open their ears and hearts to our words. A listening ear communicates value, trust, and openness. And a listening ear provides the opportunity for our thoughts to disentangle themselves.

5) Celebrate with us. Full joy is never realized until it has been shared with others – that’s why we immediately call our friends when something good happens. Friends celebrate with us in victory and make our joy complete.

6) Grieve with us. Life is full of ups and downs. Friends make the high points higher and the low points bearable.

7) Support our contributions. Friends recognize the value we contribute to the world and the beauty we offer to it. They look forward to our contributions and promote them to others.

8) Keep us honest. Friends know us best. They know our strengths… and they recognize our weaknesses. Because of their intimate knowledge of who we are, they keep us honest with each other and with ourselves.

9) Add joy to our lives. According to a study from the Harvard Medical School, the more friends a women had, the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life. There is likely some correlation between being joyful and having friends… but clearly the inverse is also true.

10) Improve our health. Studies also indicate that authentic friendships actually result in better health. These relationships make healthy habits easier to adopt and the body more likely to heal itself.

11) Provide opportunity for influence. Trust always precedes influence. Sometimes trust can be earned quickly (books, experts, studies), but other times it can take years of living life together. Friendships – life lived in relationship with others – offers trust and influence.

12) Provide opportunity for sacrifice. Giving always benefits the receiver and the giver. True friendships require sacrifice. And in that sacrifice, both lives are improved.

Of course, those of you who already have good friends understand these realities. In that case, take some time today to be reminded of their importance in your life. Adjust your life accordingly. Extend gratitude where needed or change your priorities as necessary to further invest yourself into them.

But there are a number of people who will read this post and desperately desire the level of intimacy and longing mentioned above. You have sought these friendships for years and yet, for one reason or another, they have alluded you. Or you had them at one time, but they have since disappeared from your life. Take heart. And never lose hope.

The path to discovering these authentic relationships is always the same. It will require risk, trust, and honesty. It will require sacrifice and intentional investment. It will require you to give and give and give some more and it will require you to become the very friend you desperately desire. But in the end, it will be worth every ounce of energy you commit to it.