Everything That Remains: A Memoir by The Minimalists

by Joshua Fields Millburn

Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t bad people, but their careers have changed them, altered them physically and emotionally:

the American Dream really just seems to imply that we are fat and in debt, discontented and empty, every man an island, leaving a void we attempt to fill with more stuff.

Everything has to change.

the world lost inside myself.

“You were going in the wrong direction.” It’s impossible for me to disagree.

act of ownership is what stressed me out, kept me from feeling free.”

“The first jump—that’s the most difficult part. Because you’ll always have some people who say things like, ‘Why would you do that?’ or ‘How can you do that?’ or ‘If you could do that thing you want to do—write that novel or become an entrepreneur or travel the world or whatever—then everyone would be doing it.’

It’s important to remember that these naysayers are just projecting. It’s that ingrained fear we all have, a natural instinct. We tend to be afraid of bucking the status quo. But when you do take that first jump, it actually becomes terrifying to do ‘normal’ things, because you realize what a risk it is to give up your entire life just to be normal.”

Zen Habits,

Unfortunately, “what I do” actually gets in the way of “what I’m passionate about,” not allowing me to form the healthy obsession necessary to cultivate that passion.

Sadly, what we’re actually asking when we posit this question, albeit unknowingly, is: How do you earn a paycheck? How much money do you make? What is your socioeconomic status? And based on that status, where do I fall on the socioeconomic ladder compared to you? Am I a rung above you? Below you? How should I judge you? Are you even worth my time?

True passion, however, arises after you’ve put in the long hours necessary to become a skilled craftsman, a skillset you can then leverage to have an impact, to gain autonomy and respect, to shape and control your destiny.

hard when there are so many passive diversions with which I can fill my days?

Does this thing add value to my life? But it’s not just material possessions at which I posit this question. Stuff was just the start. I ask it too in regard to relationships, Internet consumption, food, and any other potentially superfluous matters.

It’s painful if you’re aware of what is going on, emotionally abortive if you’re not.

“To be honest, I thought my overflowing bookshelves made me look important and intelligent and cool. Like, look at me, I know how to read—a lot!”

‘It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.’ ”

I told myself I was a number, like there was a dollar sign on my head; I could be bought. I told others they could take my time and my freedom in exchange for green pieces of paper with dead slave owners’ faces printed on them.”

“Now, before I spend money I ask myself one question: Is this worth my freedom? Like: Is this coffee worth two dollars of my freedom? Is this shirt worth thirty dollars of my freedom? Is this car worth thirty thousand dollars of my freedom? In other words, am I going to get more value from the thing I’m about to purchase, or am I going to get more value from my freedom?

And so then we tend to hang on to things—jobs, relationships, material possessions—in an effort to feel secure. But many of the things we cling to in search of security actually drain the satisfaction from our lives, leaving us discontented and overwhelmed.

I got rid of my television. Why? Because I watched it. A lot. You see, I sort of enjoy television. It’s easy to watch. It’s passive. It’s quite entertaining at times. And you don’t have to do much work when you’re basking in its warm glow.56 But there’s no reward emitting from the glowing box. Ultimately, the overarching costs of television drastically outweigh the benefits…

Creativity. If we are constantly consuming, we are not creating.

relationship like I had been during all those magnificent

And success for me has little to do with money or possessions or status. Rather, success is a simple equation: Happiness + Growth + Contribution = Success.

I’m thirty-one now, and I’ve untangled myself from my lotus-eating twenties, and so sex for sex’s sake seems like a vacant proposition, devoid of meaning. Lonely.

it wasn’t her life; she felt like she was living someone else’s dream.

Work wasn’t the problem. What I did as my work was the problem. I wasn’t passionate about my work before—my work wasn’t my mission—and so I wanted to escape from work

When your work becomes your life’s mission, you no longer need a work-life balance.”

I begin my spiel by telling a story about a child on Christmas morning: “Fast forward a few weeks from now, Christmas Day, as little Andrew unwraps Optimus Prime and a grin breaks across his features when the large toy lights up and nearly comes to life, flashing and beeping and driving Andy’s parents crazy. “But in a few moments, Andy discards the toy and begins unwrapping the rest of his presents, extracting each box from under the tree, one by one—some long, some tall, some heavy, some light. Each box reveals a new toy. Each shred of green-and-red wrapping paper, a flash of happiness. “An hour later, though, little Andy is crying hysterically. Based on his fits, this has undoubtedly been the worst Christmas ever. Sure, Andrew received many of the things on his list, but he’s far more concerned with what he didn’t receive. That Power Ranger he wanted, that video game system he was secretly hoping for, that new computer that all his friends are getting. The toys in front of him simply remind him of what he doesn’t have. “This sounds childish, I know, but don’t we do the same thing? Don’t we often look at the things around us and wish we had more? Don’t we covet that new car, those new clothes, that new iPhone?” Several people in the crowd are nodding with identification. “What if Andy was happy with the toys in front of him? And what if we were too?” I ask rhetorically. After a brief pause, Ryan jumps in: “We are clearly in the throes of the holiday shopping season,” he s...

The best present is presence.

‘Your presence is the best present you can give me.’

You see, sometimes we have to contribute to help other people, but sometimes we need to contribute to help ourselves.

Without growth, people atrophy: we waste away, and in a meaningful way we die inside.