A MINIMALIST, A JAPANESE COWBOY, AND AN ARROGANT AMERICAN WALK INTO A MUSEUM

…The sun is completing its coin toss into to ocean, our group outlined in twilight. Looking over the cowboy, surveying his staunch temperament, I realize that his confidence is simply an external display of a rich interior life—congruency between his internal and external worlds. Arrogance, on the other hand, is the opposite of confidence: a veneer of composure, incongruence at its zenith. This is why a confident man is able to coalesce with any group, anywhere; an arrogant man, nowhere at all.

Confidence holds up under scrutiny, whereas arrogance fractures with the slightest crack. And, as human beings, we all have cracks. Sooner or later, a spotlight is shone and the arrogant man’s pomposity is exposed, seeping through the veneer, while the confident man just admires the beauty of his flaws.

– Joshua Fields Millburn 

[Read the full story on The Minimalists]

Everything That Remains Tour 2014

Throughout 2014, The Minimalists will embark on a 100-city tour across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, & Australia to share their story of living with less and celebrate their new book, Everything That Remains.

Come listen to Joshua and Ryan speak about their journey into the simple life, followed by a short reading from their new book, a brief Q&A session, and an optional book signing and photos. Each event is 90 minutes.

Admission is free. So are the hugs. Click the link next to your city below to reserve your tickets. You are also welcome to pick up a copy of the new book, but you certainly aren’t required to. (Note: although tickets are free, some cities will have a limited number, so it’s best to get yours now.)

Follow The Minimalists on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates, photos, and stories from the road. Join the conversation: #minstour

Want to help with the tour? The Minimalists need assistance with bookstores, photos, video, local media, local event-calendar placement, Wikipedia, sponsorships, and various other ways of spreading the message. Details here.

Tour Dates

—Book Preview Event 2013—

November 13, 2013 (Media & Public) — NYC (details)

—United States 2014—

January 24 — Tampa, FL (free tickets)

January 27 — Miami, FL (free tickets)

January 30 — Orlando, FL (free tickets)

February 2 — Jacksonville, FL (free tickets)

February 5 — New Orleans, LA (free tickets)

February 8 — Jackson, MS (free tickets)

February 11 — Birmingham, AL (free tickets)

February 15 — Atlanta, GA (free tickets)

February 17 — Knoxville, TN (free tickets)

February 19 — Nashville, TN (free tickets)

February 21 — Memphis, TN (free tickets)

February 23 — Little Rock, AR (free tickets)

February 25 — Tulsa, OK (free tickets)

February 26 — Oklahoma City, OK (free tickets)

March 1 — Dallas, TX (free tickets)

March 4 — Houston, TX (free tickets)

March 7 — San Antonio, TX (free tickets)

March 10 — Austin, TX (free tickets)

March 13 — Albuquerque, NM (free tickets)

March 16 — Tucson, AZ (free tickets)

March 19 — Phoenix, AZ (free tickets)

March 22 — Las Vegas, NV (free tickets)

March 25 — San Diego, CA (free tickets)

March 28 — Los Angeles, CA (free tickets)

March 31 — San Jose, CA (free tickets)

April 2 — San Francisco, CA (free tickets)

April 6 — Sacramento, CA (free tickets)

April 9 — Portland, OR (free tickets)

April 12 — Boise, ID (free tickets)

April 15 — Salt Lake City, UT (free tickets)

April 18 — Denver, CO (free tickets)

April 21 — Omaha, NE (free tickets)

April 22 — Des Moines, IA (free tickets)

April 23 — Kansas City, MO (free tickets)

April 25 — St. Louis, MO (free tickets)

April 27 — Louisville, KY (free tickets)

April 29 — Indianapolis, IN (free tickets)

May 2 — Cincinnati, OH (free tickets)

May 5 — Dayton, OH (free tickets)

May 8 — Columbus, OH (free tickets)

May 10 — Pittsburgh, PA (free tickets)

May 14 — Charlotte, NC (free tickets)

May 15 — Greenville, SC (free tickets)

May 17 — Columbia, SC (free tickets)

May 19 — Raleigh, NC (free tickets)

May 21 — Virginia Beach, VA (free tickets)

May 23 — Richmond, VA (free tickets)

May 26 — Washington, DC (free tickets)

May 28 — Baltimore, MD (free tickets)

June 1 — Fargo, ND (free tickets)

June 3 — Philadelphia, PA (free tickets)

June 5 — New York City, NY (free tickets)

June 7 — Hartford, CT (free tickets)

June 9 — Providence, RI (free tickets)

June 11 — Boston, MA (free tickets)

June 13 — Portland, ME (free tickets)

July 3 — Buffalo, NY (free tickets)

July 5 — Rochester, NY (free tickets)

July 7 — Cleveland, OH (free tickets)

July 9 — Ann Arbor, MI (free tickets)

July 11 — Grand Rapids, MI (free tickets)

July 14 — Chicago, IL (free tickets)

July 16 — Milwaukee, WI (free tickets)

July 18 — Madison, WI (free tickets)

July 20 — Minneapolis, MN (free tickets)

August 3 — Seattle, WA (free tickets)

August 6 — Spokane, WA (free tickets)

August 11 — Missoula, MT (free tickets)

—Canada 2014—

June 16 — St. John’s, NL (free tickets)

June 19 — Halifax, NS (free tickets)

June 22 — Quebec City, QC (free tickets)

June 24 — Montreal, QC (free tickets)

June 26 — Ottawa, ON (free tickets)

June 29 — Toronto, ON (free tickets)

June 30 — London, ON (free tickets)

July 2 — Hamilton, ON (free tickets)

July 22 — Winnipeg, MB (free tickets)

July 24 — Regina, SK (free tickets)

July 26 — Saskatoon, SK (free tickets)

July 28 — Edmonton, AB (free tickets)

July 30 — Calgary, AB (free tickets)

August 1 — Vancouver, BC (free tickets)

—UK & Ireland 2014—

October 9 — London (free tickets)

October 11 — Southampton (free tickets)

October 13 — Bristol (free tickets)

October 15 — Cardiff (free tickets)

October 17 — Birmingham (free tickets)

October 19 — Manchester (free tickets)

October 21 — Leeds (free tickets)

October 23 — Newcastle (free tickets)

October 25 — Edinburgh (free tickets)

October 27 — Glasgow (free tickets)

October 29 — Belfast (free tickets)

October 31 — Dublin (free tickets)

—Australia 2014—

November 4 — Brisbane (free tickets)

November 6 — Gold Coast (free tickets)

November 9 — Sydney (free tickets)

November 12 — Melbourne (free tickets)

November 15 — Adelaide (free tickets)

November 19 — Perth (free tickets)

Questions?

Is your city not listed? Sorry, we can’t make it everywhere (yet!). Stay updated on when The Minimalists will be in your city by subscribing to our essays via email (no spam, ever).

Other questions about the tour? Email: tour@theminimalists.com.

Previous Tour Stops, Photos, Video

Big thanks to the 4,000+ people who attended The Minimalists 51 tour stops during 2012/2013 (list of previous cities, plus photos and tour reviews here). If you can’t make it to one of the events, you can watch a video of The Minimalists’ Seattle meetup

 

[follow The Minimalists on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for even more exciting info.]

What It Feels Like to No Longer Worry About Money

Growing up in a poor neighborhood with a single mom was not, as they say, child’s play. Drinking and drugs and familial anarchy permeated the walls of our cockroach-infested apartment. Not to mention all the baggage that comes with that lifestyle: discontent, anxiety, uncertainty, depression.

To add insult to injury, we were broke. Like flat broke. Dead broke. Poor as church mice. I’d have to remove my shoes to count how many times our electricity got shut off on Warren Street. I shit you not.

By the time adulthood was at my doorstep, I thought if I made enough money, I could circumvent Mom’s path; I could somehow achieve happiness (or at least finance it). So I spent my twenties traversing the corporate ladder.

Fresh out of high school, I skipped the whole college route and instead found an entry-level sales job with a corporation that “let” me work six, sometimes seven, days a week, ten to twelve hours a day. I wasn’t great at it, but I learned how to get by—and then how to get better.

I bought a big-screen TV, a surround-sound system, and a stack of DVDs with my first big commission check. By 19 I was making over $50,000 a year, twice as much as I’d ever seen Mom bring home, but I was spending even more, racking up the credit-card debt. I obviously needed the three M’s in my life: Make. More. Money.

So I worked harder, much harder, and after a series of promotions—store manager at 22, regional manager at 24—I was, at age 27, the youngest director in the company’s 140-year history. I’d become a fast-track career man, a personage of sorts. Which meant that if I worked really hard, and if everything happened exactly like it was supposed to, then I could be a vice president by 32, a senior vice president by 35 or 40, and a C-level executive—CFO, COO, CEO—by 45 or 50, followed of course by the golden parachute. I’d have it made then! I’d just have to be miserable for a few more years, to drudge through the corporate politics and bureaucracy that I knew so well. Just keep climbing and don’t look down.

And so I didn’t look down; I looked up. And what I saw was terrifying…

“You shouldn’t ask a man who earns $20,000 a year how to make a hundred grand,”…[Read more on The Minimalists]

Join the Revolution on The Minimalists

The Worst Thing That Could Happen

Risk scares the bejesus out of people. Many of us associate risk with failure, failure with pain. Yet we’re told we have to take plenty of risks to succeed. Thus, success must be painful, right? Not necessarily…

When it comes to challenging our preconceived notions about risk, the common platitudinal question that gets tossed around by kindhearted friends and self-help gurus is, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

Truth be told, some risks are fairly benign: jettisoning most of your material possessions, asking a cute guy or girl for his or her phone number, writing the first page of the book you’ve always wanted to write. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Likely, nothing at all. There is no real risk in these innocuous endeavors.

Other risks, however, probably should scare the shit out of you: skydiving, purchasing a home, quitting your job. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Umm, some pretty awful shit actually: death, debt, and poverty, respectively. Although that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take these risks; it means you should approach each risk with logic, reason, and intuition. Peer over the edge before taking your proverbial leap, and if it makes sense, then leap. Because not leaping can be a much bigger risk.

The difference, then, between the benign risks and the real risks, is that the latter possesses potentially life-altering worst-case consequences, while the former poses virtually no threat at all.

But, when you think about it, the benign risks can also hold life-altering consequences if you change the question: What is the best—not the worst, but the best—thing that could happen? Perhaps getting rid of your excess stuff will free up time and money and space and give you some much needed peace of mind. Perhaps that phone number will lead to a fulfilling relationship. Perhaps writing that first page… [Read more at The Minimalists]

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Haunted by Desire

The ghosts of desperation and lust and envy hide in the shadow of our yearning. Be it money, material possessions, or accolades, we are haunted by our aspirations. After all, we become what we desire.

Covet that shiny new truck, that next big promotion, that beautiful man or woman, and you will feel unspeakable pain until it/he/she is yours. When your desire is met, however, your flame is not extinguished. No, you are instead filled with brand new desires, a never-ending cycle.

The key, then, is to aspire toward something meaningful. Instead of jonesing for things, we must pursue those which are without definitive milestones: growth, contribution, love.

These qualities are self-fulfilling: Seek growth and you will grow. Endeavor to give to others and you will, by definition, contribute beyond yourself. Love others and your cup with overflow with the love you give.

It is not wrong to have aspirations, desires, goals. But it is wrong for us to imagine that we can ever satiate our ever-growing need for more.

[Read more from The Minimalists]

Imagine Everything

 

Imagine Everything

 

Imagine your life a year from now. Two years. Five.

Imagine living a healthier life, one in which you don’t just look better, you feel better. Imagine a life with higher standards. Imagine a life with less clutter, less stuff, fewer distractions. What would it look like?

Imagine your life with less—less stress, less debt, less discontent. What would it feel like? Now imagine your life with more—more time, more contribution, more elation.

Imagine better, more interesting relationships. Imagine sharing meals and conversations and experiences and smiles with people who have similar interests and values and beliefs as you. Imagine growing with your peer group and your loved ones.

Now imagine cultivating your passion until you can’t imagine a day without pursuing it. Imagine creating more than you consume. Imagine giving more than you take. Imagine a consistent commitment to growth. Imagine growing toward your limits and then past your limits and waiving back at your previous limits with a smile.

Imagine still having problems, but better problems, problems that fuel your growth and excitement, problems you want to face.

Imagine getting everything out of the way so you can love the people closest to you. Imagine the myriad ways you can show your love, not just say it, but really show it. Imagine holding hands and exchanging hugs. Imagine making love with the man or woman you love, unencumbered by the trappings of the noisy world around you, fully in the moment, two bodies, flesh and hearts as one.

Imagine real success. Imagine making your priorities your Real Priorities. Imagine feeling lighter, freer, happier.

What you’re imagining is a meaningful life. Not a perfect life, not even an easy life, but a simple one. There will of course still be hardships and pain and times when slipping back to the old passive world is appealing, but you won’t have to, because the real payoff is worth the struggle.

“Imagine Everything” is an excerpt from Everything That Remains, a memoir that will be published in January 2014. Twitter: @ETRbook.

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