LESS, LESS, LESS, LESS, LESS, LESS…

By Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus · Follow: Twitter, Facebook

At first glance, people might think the point of minimalism is just to get rid of material possessions. Eliminating. Jettisoning. Extracting. Detaching. Decluttering. Paring down. Letting go.

But that’s a mistake.

True, removing the excess is an important part of the recipe. But it’s just one ingredient. If we’re concerned solely with the stuff, though, then we’re missing the larger point.

Minimalists don’t focus on having less, less, less. Rather, we focus on making room for more: more time, more passion, more experiences, more growth and contribution and contentment. More freedom. It just so happens that clearing the clutter from life’s path helps us make that room.

Minimalism is the thing that gets us past the things so we can make room for life’s important things—which aren’t actually things at all.

i want the unamerican reality

the minimalists

THE UNAMERICAN DREAM

By Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus · Follow: Twitter, Facebook

THE AMERICAN DREAM…

The white picket fence. The large suburban home. The nice car. The big-screen TVs glowing in multiple rooms. The safe, reasonable nine-to-five. The corner office. The suit and tie. The white collar pride. The blue collar pride. The weekends off. The paid holidays. The occasional vacation. The fringe benefits.

IN EXCHANGE FOR…

The daily grind. The nose to the grindstone. The rush-hour traffic. The punching the clock. The cubical farms. The spreadsheet eyestrain. The much-anticipated lunch break. The inbox overflow. The arbitrary goals. The late nights at the office. The empty platitudes. The office gossip. The “productivity.” The downsizing. The “doing more with less.” The mounds of bills. The second job. The credit-card spending. The debt. The second mortgage. The beer gut. The mid-life crisis. The retirement at 65. The volatile stock market. The retirement at 67 or 72 or 75. The death before retirement. The unyielding tiredness. The emptiness. The depression. The unshakeable discontent.

You can keep your American Dream. Give us back our time, our freedom, and our lives.

Free Undream Poster: Ragnar Freyr created a cool Undream poster using this essay. You can download your free poster here. Feel free to post it wherever you want (e.g., community bulletin boards, coffee shops, break rooms, etc.).