Joshua Becker's Blog, page 95

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

There’s more to life than buying stuff.

There are many wonderful people pursuing and promoting simplicity. Fortunately, some of them are gifted in communication and choose to encourage and inspire us with their words. I enjoy reading their unique perspective. I’m sure you will too.

So fix yourself a nice warm cup of coffee or tea on this beautiful weekend. Find a quiet moment. And enjoy some encouraging words about finding more simplicity in your life today.

4 Decluttering Epiphanies That Have Changed My Life | Louder Minds by Michele Connolly. One thing has brought a joy that is profound, and honestly, unhyperbolically life-changing. That one thing is stripping down our possessions.

Not Doing All the Things We Want to Do | Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. If you want to actually put that class or gym pass to use, if you want to get that personal project done or read that ebook you bought … here are some suggestions.

Millennials Aren’t Big Spenders or Risk-takers, and That’s Going to Reshape the Economy | LA Times by Don Lee. Millennials tend to prefer experiences over buying things and accumulating stuff.

Mall of America Takes Bold Stand by Closing on Thanksgiving This Year | Star Tribune by Kavita Kumar. The nation’s biggest mall has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to opening on Thanksgiving Day.

Simplicity Voices by Claire. More hand-picked articles about the important things in life.

The Danger of Only Saying What People Want to Hear

The desire for approval is common among us. We like to be liked. This, I assume, is a common trait throughout most of humanity.

But I’m wondering, as technology and communication change, if this element of human nature is playing a larger role in our society and personal development than ever before.

The desire to be liked often causes us to say only the things we know people want to hear. And there is a danger in that for both the giver and receiver.

First, as the receiver, when we only hear the things we want to hear, we are rarely pushed into areas of needed growth. Criticism can be helpful—and it should be welcomed, especially when it comes from the people who love us most. Second, when the voices around us act as only an echo chamber of our personal beliefs, we miss opportunity to see the world from a new perspective.

The first danger of avoiding criticism is just as prevalent as it has ever been. If we do not surround ourselves with people willing to speak hard truth into our lives, we are left with little opportunity for growth. We ought to value those who challenge us in positive ways and also receive their criticism with grace and patience (however difficult that may be).

But the second danger appears to be disproportionately more prevelant in today’s heightened world of communication. For many people, digital platforms have become the new townsquare. Even more, our digital lives form the foundation for the influences we seek in our life. We follow our favorite authors, artists, entertainers, and thought-leaders.

This is all fine and good—I am thankful for the opportunity that technology has provided for me to reach you today.

But there is a downside. When we get to single-handedly pick all the people that we allow to speak into our lives, we are less likely to select people with opposing worldviews shaped by unique circumstances. It’s not always easy to allow people into our lives who we disagree with—and even more difficult to not quickly dismiss their words when we do. But these are needed for life improvement.

Seek out voices that say things you need to hear—not just the things you want to hear.

But I’d like to consider another angle to this conversation. There is a danger to us when we only hear things we want to hear. But there is also a danger in being the person who only says what other people want to hear—and I think our ever-connected world has made that more possible than ever before.

My life wasn’t always so focused on minimalism. As I have mentioned on numerous occassions, before becoming a full-time writer, I was a pastor at a number of different churches. I loved my job and found great meaning in it.

My desire to promote minimalism was as much accidental as it was anything else. I was introduced to the lifestlye by my neighbor… I started this blog as an online journal… but as people started reading it…. I became more and more energized concerning it. Simply put, I enjoyed the fact that people were drawn to the message—their positive response fueled my passion and minimalism’s opportunity to change the world.

Because positive reinforcement always encourages more of the same behavior, when people are drawn to the things we are saying, we are more inclined to repeat them. And the more we repeat them, the more likely we are to believe them.

This is good when the words we are speaking are beneficial to the listener. But this can be detrimental to us when the words we are speaking are not helpful or when they perpetuate a lie that we repeat only because the listener wants to hear it.

As I raise my children, I praise them when appropriate. And they enjoy the compliment and shower of praise. But there are times when they need correction as well. And I can only serve as a loving father if I am willing to take the step and speak hard truths into their life.

In the same way, I think we need to see our role in the world the same. There are times to comfort, soothe, encourage, and praise. But there are also times to speak unpopular truth into people’s lives and into the world around us.

Do both. And receive both.

The Profound Joy of Completion

There are two types of pursuits in life: those that can be completed and those that will never be finished.

For example, my desire to be a good parent will likely, never be completed. I will contine to grow and improve in this area over the course of my life as the seasons change. Likewise, my desire to be a faithful spouse, a good friend, and a contributing member of society around me.

On the other hand, there are some accomplishments fully completed. I graduated college. I ran a marathon. I wrote a book. I started a business. These desires represent completed goals.

This is a simple reality, but there is irreplaceable joy and opportunity for those who can accurately distinguish between the two. When we continue to pour resources into completed projects, we miss opportunity to direct those resources towards goals that continue.

Unfortunately, in a society built on constant and ever-increasing consumerism, there are countless voices arguing for us to confuse the two.

Consider this, when was the last time you looked at the clothes in your closet and thought, “Yup, that’s enough. I have accumulated enough. I’m done with this pursuit. It is complete.”

Perhaps never, right? This is because the world has told us we will never be finished buying clothes. Even if you have enough in your closet to last you the next 12 months, marketers will continue to convince you that you are not done—that the pursuit of fashionable fabric must continue.

For this reason, we rarely see the pursuit of physical possessions as a desire that can be completed or fully finished. Even if we have accumulated enough, there is still a “better” that we should continue to invest resources in pursuing.

So we look at our existing furniture and think how nice it would be to upgrade this chair or that rug. We desire a larger home, a newer car, a bigger paycheck, a stainless steel fridge, or granite countertop. No matter what we already possess, we seem to always desire more.

Buying things has become a pursuit with no finish line. (tweet that)

But take a look around. Is it possible there’s enough clothing already in your closet? Is there enough furniture already in your house? Is your home sufficient for you and your family? Do your kitchen appliances already meet your needs? Is your car sufficient to get you from Point A to Point B?

And if you already own enough clothing, furniture, or housing, maybe you can begin to see that pursuit as completed.

The next time you have a desire to buy something you don’t need, say to yourself, “Nope. I’m done buying clothes. I already have enough. I have met this desire and I am moving on to something else.”

There is a profound joy and opportunity that accompanies this realization because it allows us to redirect our finite resources towards more important pursuits—those that may never be fully completed.

If I spend less money and time and energy pursuing new clothes, expensive furniture, and more square footage, I have more money and time and energy to spend on being a good father, a faithful husband, and a contributing member of society.

And isn’t that the goal? To excel at the things in life that matter most and to remove those that don’t?

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it. It requires a conscious decision because it is a countercultural lifestyle that stands against the culture of overconsumption that surrounds us.

The world we live in is not friendly to the pursuit of minimalism. Its tendencies and relentless advertising campaigns call us to acquire more, better, faster, and newer. The journey of finding simplicity requires consistent inspiration.

For that reason, I hope you will make an effort this weekend to find a quiet moment with a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy some of these hand-picked articles to encourage more simplicity in your life.

This is What Happens When You Get Rid of 75% of Your Stuff | Market Watch by Alessandra Malito. “I was spending a lot of money on my idealized version of myself.”

Are You Taking The False First Step? | Break the Twitch by Anthony Ongaro. Ads tell us that buying something is a step towards achieving our dreams. They’re lying.

The Science of Why We Buy Clothes We Never Wear | TIME by Kit Yarrow. Why would we waste money on clothing we don’t wear? Here are the top reasons.

An Essential Budget Query: Is This Spending Aligned With My Values? | New York Times by Carl Richards. When you find places that your spending could be better invested in other values, make the change.

Becoming Minimalist on Facebook. This week, we passed half a million followers on Facebook! Thank you to everyone who has ever helped to spread the message. And if you’re not part of the community over there, join us now.

The 7 Internet Tools I Use for Blogging

Over the past eight years, blogging has become important to me.

At first, it was a hobby that I loved. Years later, it provided the platform for full-time employment. But most importantly, through it all, it has provided opportunity to make a lasting change and impact in the world.

I recently sat down with Val Geisler from ConvertKit to discuss, in detail, my personal growth in blogging and my transition from hobby to full-time writing. You can find the conversation on the Reach Podcast.

If you blog as a hobby or career, you’ll find the conversation helpful.

I have worked hard to keep my blogging platform simple and minimal—focused in both pursuits and tools. As a result, I use many of the same tools today that I used when I first started Becoming Minimalist.

So I thought I’d take a moment to list them. Perhaps you will find some of the recommendations helpful.

The 7 Internet Tools I Use for Blogging

Bluehost. Eight years ago, I signed up to use Bluehost as my domain host for www.becomingminimalist.com. At the time I knew very little about starting a website. But I found the Bluehost interface to be inexpensive and very easy-to-use. I have been pleased with their service ever since and continue to recommend their service to others.

WordPress. WordPress is my blogging platform of choice. Easily integratabtle with Bluehost or as a free hosting site, I find the platform user friendly and fully customizable with a nearly unlimited number of tools to use (called plug-ins). If you’re interested in starting a blog for the first time, here’s a simple, helpful guide to get you started.

Genesis. Genesis is the framework that I use to create the look and design of this website. WordPress offers a number of free designs on their platform. But for full customization, you’ll need a stronger tool. Genesis is a premium framework ($59.95) that is both robust and user-friendly. Becoming Minimalist was designed by Brian Gardner (as noted on the bottom of every page).

ConvertKit. ConvertKit is my email distributor of choice. If you receive Becoming Minimalist posts by email, they are delivered by ConvertKit. If you’ve been a part of our Uncluttered Course, it is ConvertKit that made it possible. ConvertKit is relatively new to the email provider scene. As a result, they are highly personable and open to user feedback. Built by bloggers, for bloggers, I switched to their service (from MailChimp) last year and am incredibly pleased with it. Their plans begin at $29/month for unlimited emails.

Unsplash. Unsplash offers free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos. Most of the images that appear here on Becoming Minimalist are found via Unsplash. If you use images for blogging or social media, you’ll love the tool. And their recent addition of a search function has made navigating the site even easier.

Social Media. I use three social media platforms to promote Becoming Minimalist content (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest). But I have found Facebook to be the most productive and efficient for promoting content and engaging with readers. So I choose to spend most of my social media time over there. As a fun little side note, we are just about to surpass 500,000 followers on Facebook—how exciting is that! For a more in-depth look at why and how I use social media, read this.

Google Analytics. Google Analytics provides the information I need to be intentional about the growth and effectiveness of Becoming Minimalist. It allows me to understand how people find this site (search traffic or referral traffic), what posts are most popular, and even what posts cause the most people to leave. If you want to be serious about blogging, you’ll need an analytics tool—and there are few free tools as powerful as Google.

Honorable Mention: Jason Charnes handles all of my web coding and technical problems. When I run into any significant back-end issues that are beyond my limited programming knowledge base, he’s the first one I call. If you need technical support in any way, he’s earned my recommendation. You can contact him at Red Beard Coding.

If you enjoy blogging, you’ll enjoy these tools. Hope that’s helpful.

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Note: This post contains affiliate links which means the company has graciously offered me a small commission every time someone signs up via one of my links. This does not influence my recommendation. I have used these tools from the very beginning and continue to do so today. 

You Are Doing a Noble Thing

A noble thing is to “have or show fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.” And I think you are doing just that:

If you are working today to support yourself and your family—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are being a good neighbor—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are there for your friend when they need help or a listening ear—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are loving and raising your children in an intentional manner—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are taking steps today to steward well the planet we live upon—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are contributing to your community in positive ways rather than harming it with destructive behavior—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are offering kind words today—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are making life easier for those who are suffering—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are pursuing the interests of others rather than looking only to your own interests—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are using talents and skills at your workplace to serve others—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are an example of discipline and perseverance to others—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are taking steps today to become more than you were yesterday—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are hugging your child and expressing your love—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are doing the laundry, washing the dishes, cleaning the floors, scrubbing the toilet, or picking up a mess that isn’t yours—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are showing respect and honor to your parents and elders—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are fighting to overcome an unhealthy addiction in your life—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are displaying compassion and patience—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you are engaging in conversation with a desire to understand rather than persuade—

you are doing a noble thing.

If you practicing honesty when dishonesty might be easier—

you are doing a noble thing.

You are doing a noble thing with your life. Keep on keeping on.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Never underestimate the importance of removing stuff you don’t need.

Encouragement is important in all areas of life, but especially when trying to live a life different than those around us.

Encouragement provides us with motivation to persevere. It invites us to dream dreams of significance for our lives. And it begs us to work diligently with optimism and promise.

Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement. To that end, I hope you will find motivation in these articles below.

Each post was intentionality chosen to inspire simplicity in your life. For maximum effect, find a quiet moment this weekend and enjoy them with a fresh cup of coffee or tea.

What Should You Choose: Time or Money? | The New York Times by Hal E. Hershfield and Cassie Mogilner Holmes. Which would lead to greater happiness—the money or the time?

Why Paying for a Storage Unit Is Almost Always a Terrible Idea | TIME by Natalie Campisi. Paying for storage facilities might seem like an easy solution when you’re in dire need of short-term space. But, typically, storage units aren’t worth it.

11 Reasons Your Apartment Is Always So Cluttered & How To Fix The Problem | Bustle by Carolyn Steber. Read for some of the top reasons why your place lives in messy infamy, as well as what to do about it.

6 Popular Decluttering Methods for Minimalism | Break the Twitch by Anthony Ongaro. While minimizing will likely require significant time and effort to accomplish, having a good decluttering method to follow can make all the difference.

But How Much Does It Cost? | Seth’s Blog by Seth Godin. “I know what the price tag says. But what does it cost?”

The One Foundation for Financial Freedom That 10 Out Of 10 Financial Advisors Agree On | Forbes by Joshua Becker. The most essential foundation for financial freedom is to spend less than you earn. But why is it so hard to implement?

17 Staggering Statistics About Our Shopping Habits

There is little disagreement that shopping comprises a significant portion of our lives. And to some extent, this is entirely expected—to live is to consume. However, in most developed nations, shopping has long since passed the role of necessity and has entered the realm of sport.

Our fascination with shopping and consumption has produced many harmful effects on our lives (debt, stress, and busyness). And yet, it continues. Unfortunately, to a degree that few us even realize.

Based on a variety of studies and research methods, here are 17 staggering statistics that articulate our current passion and obsession for shopping:

1. The average woman makes 301 trips to the store annually, spending close to 400 hours a year shopping. This amounts to 8.5 years spent shopping during a typical lifespan. (NY Daily News)

2. Americans spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education. (Psychology Today)

3. Shopping malls outnumber high schools in America. (Affluenza)

4. 33% of Americans shop online at least once per week. 69% shop online at least monthly. (Mintel)

5. While 50% of online shoppers will increase the size of their orders just to hit the free shipping minimum. (Mintel)

6. An estimated two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) comes from retail consumption. (The Balance).

7. On average, an American between the ages of 18 and 65 has $4,717 of credit card debt. (TIME)

8. 63% of Americans do not have enough savings to cover a $500 emergency. (Forbes)

9. When asked about hobbies, girls (age 13-18) identified shopping as their favorite pastime. (Adweek)

10. And 96% of adults and 95% of teens admit they participate in some form of retail therapy. (Yahoo)

11. More than a third of adults and teens said shopping made them feel better than working out. (Yahoo)

12. The average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year. (Huffington Post)

13. The $8 billion home organization industry has more than doubled in size since the early 2000’s—growing at a staggering rate of 10% each year. (Uppercase)

14. Americans now spend more money on dining out than groceries. (Fox News)

15. The average American women spends 190 hours each year shopping for clothes, shoes, or window shopping. That same survey found that these same women spend 95 hours shopping for food—this task occupies only half the time of shoe, clothes and window shopping. (Forbes)

16. 50% of Americans will go shopping on Black Friday. (Syracuse)

17. Worldwide, total retail sales were more than $22 trillion in 2014, according to a report from eMarketer.com. And total annual U.S. retail sales have increased an average of 4.5% between 1993 and 2015, according to the U.S. (The Balance)

The numbers paint a jarring picture of excessive shopping and unnecessary consumption. This fascination with shopping might be okay if it was improving the happiness of our lives. But as most of us know, the happiness derived from accumulating material possessions doesn’t last. We ought to be looking elsewhere.

Four Simple Living Benefits from Spending A Little More Time Outdoors

Note: This is a guest post from Robin Shliakhau of Simplify and Pursue.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. To front only the essential facts of life and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” —Henry David Thoreau

When you’re out in the wild and daylight is fading, you get stuff done. Fast. You strip down your routines to the bare necessities and you figure out what’s really important. You might find yourself rethinking how you do things. “What must be done before dark? What can wait? What is pointless? What is weighing us down? What can we live without?”

This was my reality when my family and our friends—nine of us all together—went on a weeklong camping trip. During our pre-trip planning we chose a location that would have little to no connectivity. We would also be without electricity and water at our campsite, though there was water nearby. For my family this was the most “off the grid” we had been.

We were thrilled and a little nervous.

When our journey toward a simpler way of life began four years ago, one of the benefits we were looking forward to was more time to spend outdoors. My husband and I are both nature lovers. But marriage and children and careers and the “typical American life” seemed to slowly eat away at our time spent outside.

When our first child came along we bought a backpack carrier, thinking that purchase would be the key to us getting back into the woods more. But as with all buying promises, it failed to deliver as we would dust it off only about once a year.

As we realized that our lives were cluttered both physically with our possessions and time-wise in all the commitments and activities we had, we began to make changes.

We purged our home of the obvious and with that momentum, we gave it another sweep, discarding even more items first deemed necessary. We also began saying something we rarely said — “No.” We noticed that every time we said yes to something, we were saying no to our family going hiking or pursuing other things that were more important to us.

As clutter disappeared, we found freedom, time, and energy to do more of what we love. We started hiking more and added weekend and weeklong camping trips. In doing so, we realized benefits to being outdoors that go along with our desire to live simply.

Physical Health. The physical health benefits from being outside may be pretty obvious at first, but there are more than I realized. Studies have shown that besides the vitamin D intake, being outside can boost immunity, reduce inflammation and even increase recovery and healing times. Activity outdoors can also have a higher fitness benefit than exercises done indoors.

Mental Health. A walk in the woods or even just a quick trip to a park can help lessen depression and anxiety, reduce stress, improve short term memory and reduce mental fatigue. Any time I need a boost in my mood, spending even five minutes in the sunshine will help. Imagine the benefits we receive from spending an entire day or even more outdoors.

Inspiration. As I’ve made it a priority to be outdoors, I find myself returning from outings inspired and excited about life. It’s almost like there’s a innate knowledge of what’s important and essential that awakens when you’re outside. Thoreau said, “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” Many people claim that their best ideas come to them in the shower, I have had the same happen when in nature. My creativity, confidence, and focus all increase after a hike or weekend spent camping.

Good for our kids. In between my generation and the generation of my children there has been an extreme decrease in the amount of time kids spend outdoors. In his book, How to Raise a Wild Child, Dr. Scott Sampson cites several reasons that kids are spending more time indoors than ever before and shares shocking statistics of how little time kids get out versus hours of screen time each day. This has given rise to many negative consequences such as poorer physical and mental health. But as mentioned previously, all the benefits we as adults can reap from time spent outdoors, it is even better for our kids.

It is clear that time in nature is good for us and our kids. Simplicity has created more time for us to be outdoors.

Interestingly, that time outdoors has also given a boost to my commitment to live more simply.

Our week camping forced me to reevaluate some of our daily habits and rituals. We had to strip them down to the essentials in order to beat the darkness or make the most of our time. Why would I add to them when at home?

Are the extras I do or have at home really adding value to our day or to our life? But it’s not just maximizing my time, but realizing that the resources our earth gives us are limited and sometimes fragile. The excess and pace of modern life puts a strain on the environment and on our lives that we cannot fully comprehend. So let’s make time to get outside a little more and discover all the benefits nature has to offer.

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Robin Shliakhau blogs at Simplify and Pursue where she helps others simplify their life and home in order to pursue relationships, dreams, and goals. You can also find her on Facebook.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Fill your life with stories to tell, not stuff to show.

The simplicity/minimalism movement is a beautiful community. And I enjoy any opportunity to promote writing that encourages people to live more by owning less.

So fix yourself a nice warm cup of coffee or tea. Find a quiet moment this weekend. And enjoy some encouraging words to inspire more simplicity in your life today.

Why I Rent a Tiny Apartment Rather than Buy a Big Home | FEE by David L Veksler. For one hundred plus years, Americans have been told that owning a home embodies the ideal, an essential life goal.

How Getting Rid of My Stuff Saved My Motherhood | The Balanced Life by Allie Casazza. “I had had enough. I decided I wasn’t going to let this be my life, and this overwhelm and depression wasn’t going to rule me any longer.”

I’ve Downsized 3 Times In The Past 18 Months. Here’s Why I’m Happier Than Ever | Mind Body Green by Amie Tollefsrud. “To an outsider looking in, it probably seems like we’re struggling. We don’t have many of the modern luxuries that most Americans have. In my opinion, we have more.”

25 Ways the Uncluttered Course Has Changed Lives | The Huffington Post by Zoë Kim. How cool is this? Zoë read through the comments in our private Uncluttered Group and compiled this anonymous list of ways the course has changed people’s lives. Awesome.

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Uncluttered: The Course. If you are drawn to the notion of owning less, but need some extra help getting there, this 12-week course is designed for you. Registrations ends on Sunday, September 4. And the course concludes just in time for you to have your home decluttered for the holidays.