What is the main message of Minimalism?

The main message of Minimalism is that living with less can lead to a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Who is the author of Minimalism?

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus are the authors of Minimalism.

Motivation & Inspiration

Minimalism Book Summary - Minimalism Book explained in key points

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Minimalism summary

Name: Minimalism
Rating: 4.1 (401 reviews)
Author: Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

Joshua Fields Millburn Ryan Nicodemus

Live a Meaningful Life

4.1 (401 ratings)

19 mins

Brief summary

Minimalism by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus is a guide to a simple and more intentional way of living. It invites us to question our possessions, habits, and values, and to embrace a slower and more meaningful lifestyle by getting rid of the excess and focusing on what truly matters.

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Healthy Living Self-Care Meaningful Living Happy

Table of Contents

Minimalism
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Break free from the nine-to-five grind and find a more meaningful life.

What did you do last week? Was each day about getting up, going to work and coming home exhausted?

Is your house filled with gadgets and toys meant to distract you from the dreadfulness of those 50-, 60- or 70-hour work weeks?

In case you haven’t realized this for yourself, there’s little happiness to be found in devoting your life to a job that only provides you with a paycheck. And to make matters worse, the meaningless things we buy to make the job easier to cope with only serve to clutter up our lives and cause more anxieties and distractions.

As these blinks point out, using the authors’ experiences, it’s time to reprogram our minds and bodies away from the corporate culture of fast-food, disposable goods and instant gratification. With some simple techniques and a bit of effort, you can reclaim your life, declutter it of all that’s hollow and useless, and refill it with meaning and purpose.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

how your home, mind and body can all be decluttered;
why a cherished collection needn’t be cleared away; and
why our jobs shouldn’t define who we are.

Money and stressful jobs are not keys to happiness.

Many people grow up with the expectation that getting “a good job” is everything. From this perspective, true “success” is based on how good the job is – which is largely dependent upon the size of the paycheck.

But the truth is: money doesn't buy happiness.

Even rich people will tell you that more money comes with more problems, including being so stressed that you resort to comfort eating, waste money on meaningless gadgets and constantly think about the future while never enjoying the present.

Success often comes at another great cost: very few hours to spend with loved ones. Many children from families of success-oriented adults are raised by hired help, just so their parents can spend more time earning money.

So, more often than not, the thing that money really buys is unhappiness.

Ask yourself this: Is any stressful job worth having?

Coauthor Ryan Nicodemus asked this question while working at what many would consider to be a great job. He was even on the rise, getting promoted to a managerial position, but the role came with 80-hour work weeks and huge amounts of responsibility and pressure. What it added up to was debilitating anxiety, stress and depression.

Nowadays, Nicodemus believes there is no amount of money to justify the toll a stressful job has on your mental health. However, when you’re wrapped up in the job-is-everything mentality, it feels like you always need to make more and more money.

Both Nicodemus and his coauthor, Joshua Fields Millburn, thought they would be happy once they hit $50,000 a year. But after reaching that milestone, the goal quickly crept up to $75,000, then $100,000 and so on. At no point did they feel satisfied.

Part of the reason for wanting more was that, as their paycheck grew, so did their financial commitments and responsibilities – in the form of loans, cars and mortgages. Eventually, enough was enough and they both quit their jobs and decided to live on less money.

It was at this point that Millburn and Nicodemus finally experienced happiness. All thanks to their decision to adopt a minimalist lifestyle of working and consuming less.

But as we’ll see in the blinks ahead, the minimalist ethos is about more than money and work; it’s about letting go of everything that holds you back.

To begin your shift to minimalism, pay off your debts and declutter your surroundings.

If you were to ask yourself “What are the anchors that are dragging me down?” the answer might not be readily apparent. But there’s a good chance that you have some form of debt, be it a mortgage, credit cards or student loans, that weighs heavily on your well-being.

That’s why the first and most crucial step to minimalist living is to pay off all your debts.

Minimalism is also about reducing the amount of junk you put into your body.

There’s no shortage of diets or fitness programs out there. In fact, the sheer amount can seem overwhelming. But you can avoid trendy diets and temporary fixes by reprogramming the way you think about your body.

From now on, think of it as a machine: when you give it high-quality fuel, you’ll allow it to perform at its maximum potential. With this frame of mind, it should seem obvious that junk food, like processed and prepackaged goods, should be avoided.

Change and improvement don’t have to impact your authenticity; they can lead to better relationships.

Friends and loved ones are important. If you’re currently feeling isolated or unhappy with your relationships, it may be time for another round of reprogramming, this time to become more accepting of others as well as appearing more acceptable to others.

The first step to making this happen is to have a willingness to change.

Don't let work define you as a person.

Just as we saw the importance of breaking away from the idea that money and work are the most important things in life, so too should we avoid thinking that our jobs define us.

Think of it this way: You’re a complicated person with a variety of interests and talents, some of which make money, some of which cost money. So you’re far more than just your job.

For more freedom, reduce your dependency on money.

One of the primary purposes behind minimalism is to spend less of your life working at a job. Naturally, this means finding ways to become less dependent on a big paycheck.

There are a number of ways to help with this, including learning how to make things yourself rather than buying them, and selling off the needless clutter in your home. But the next reprogramming you should learn is how to live on a small income.

Make life more rewarding and purposeful by taking on difficult work that contributes to society.

So you’ve cut all your anchors and are finally free from your dependencies. The only question now is: What are you going to do with your newfound freedom?

Sure, you have your new plans to get healthy, fit and friendly, but you won’t get far without a strong purpose in your life. And true purpose only comes from a meaningful life that allows you to actively contribute to society.

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What is Minimalism about?

Minimalism (2011) offers readers an alternative path that avoids nine-to-five drudgery and helps them focus on what’s important in life. Authors Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus have practical guidance on how anyone can free themselves from the financial and emotional binds of modern life to build a new and simpler lifestyle that is still authentic and rewarding.

Minimalism Review

Minimalism (2011) by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus is a thought-provoking exploration of the benefits of living a more intentional and minimalist lifestyle. Here are three reasons why this book is definitely worth reading:

Offering practical tips and strategies, the book helps readers declutter their lives and prioritize what truly matters.
Packed with personal anecdotes and relatable stories, it provides a relatable perspective on the journey towards minimalism, making it an engaging and enjoyable read.
The book challenges societal norms and encourages readers to rethink their relationship with material possessions, inspiring a newfound sense of freedom and contentment.

Best quote from Minimalism

No matter how you contribute, you get to feel an immense satisfaction from your contributions – a satisfaction like no other.

—Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

Who should read Minimalism?

Readers who are ready to live a more peaceful lifestyle
Anxious and distracted people eager for a decluttered life
Anyone who’s tired of living for a paycheck

About the Author

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus were both on the corporate fast-track and earning six-figure salaries before they realized how unfulfilling living this supposed dream was. So they decided to pack it all in to live simpler and more fulfilling lives. Since then, they’ve been sharing their journey and the many lessons they’ve learned along the way on their popular website: theminimalists.com

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