[Download the video or download the audio]
In this lesson, I interview Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist about his journey, and all the benefits of and reasons to declutter your life.
Joshua has decluttered his life, with a family of four, while helping thousands of people around the world do the same. He’s published a new book called The More of Less, and I recommend you check it out.
Note: The video freezes at about 23 mins, but the audio keeps going, so keep listening!
Topics we discussed:
- Joshua’s journey, and what inspired him to start.
- How all that we accumulate keep us from the things that matter the most — minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things that we value, and the removal of the things that get in the way.
- Decluttering with a wife and kids — compromise, not starting with the kids’ stuff, being patient with others not being on board.
- The burden that our possessions become — we don’t realize it until we start to remove them. Our possessions become distractions, take up energy, grow in costs, become our motivation, eat up our time.
- The things we want most — time, money, energy, gratitude, contentment, less stress — all on the other side of owning less.
- Minimalism and the search for meaning, outside our stuff. How we define success in America, through our stuff.
- Consumerism, and how it doesn’t deliver on the promise of happiness.
- Overcoming consumerism: becoming aware of consumerism, greater self-awareness and introspection, diagnosing your motivations for having so many possessions.
- Minimalism is about purpose — clearing the path for what’s meaningful to you, forcing you to ask what you want your life to be about.
- How to find the time to declutter — don’t have to do it all at once, but you can find small amounts of time to start out.
- Starting out in spaces where you’ll feel the calm when you’re done.
- Why we need constant reminders of minimalism over time.
- Finding time for your family.
- How to uncover the joy of giving to those in need, and the gratitude for what we have.
- How we put our identity in our possessions, and use stuff to show love. And how stuff can represent loved ones, so it can be difficult to let go.
- How he celebrates Christmas & gift giving with his wife & kids.
- And a lot more!
This was a great interview with Joshua, and he shares a lot of meaningful and practical stuff, so please watch!
Get regular updates from Joshua Becker at Becoming Minimalist, and check out his book The More of Less.
Exercise
For today, what I’m asking of you is fairly simple:
- Commit to doing a timed decluttering session of 10 minutes every day.
- Think of a time when you can do this 10-minute session.