the minimalists

Love people, Use things

The opposite never works

The Minimalists

www.theminimalists.com/about/  

I woke at 2:44am last night, again. Scrolling Netflix I came on The Minimalists which I watched thinking it might help subdue the anxieties that come in the night time and allow me to rest again. It worked. Then I woke up and it was Thursday morning, Quote morning! The one morning every week I can connect with people and share words that make sense to me to people that somewhere, sometime have gotten on this list and know that sometimes these words will make sense to them too! This feels real

Thanks!!

Jeanne

About The Minimalists

At first glance, people might think the point of minimalism is only 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, we’re missing the larger point.

Minimalists don’t focus on having less, less, less. We focus on making room for more: more time, more passion, more creativity, more experiences, more contribution, more contentment, more freedom. Clearing the clutter from life’s path helps 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 things at all.

For The Minimalists, it all started with a lingering discontent. Nearly a decade ago, while approaching age 30, we had achieved everything that was supposed to make us happy: six-figure careers, luxury cars, oversized houses, and all the stuff to clutter every corner of our consumer-driven lives.

And yet with all that stuff, we weren’t satisfied. There was a gaping void, and working 80 hours a week just to buy more stuff didn’t fill the void. It only brought more debt, stress, anxiety, fear, loneliness, guilt, overwhelm, depression.

What’s worse, we didn’t have control of our time, and thus we didn’t control our own lives. So, in 2009, we took back control using the principles of minimalism. (Read about our 21-day journey into minimalism.)

Since starting this website in 2010, we’ve been fortunate enough to establish an audience of more than 20 million people, and The Minimalists have been featured throughout the media. We have spoken at Harvard Business School, Apple, Google, and SXSW.

In 2011, we walked away from our corporate careers and published our first book, Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life. That same year, we went on an international book tour and eventually began contributing to people through our online writing classes and private mentoring sessions.

After we left the corporate world, we found time to contribute to several worthy causes. In the past few years, The Minimalists have built two orphanages, provided relief to the victims of Hurricane Harvey, supported the survivors of the Orlando and Las Vegas mass shootings, funded a high school for a year in Kenya, installed clean-water wells in three countries, constructed an elementary school in Laos, and purchased thousands of mosquito nets to fight malaria in Africa. We are currently raising money to build a grocery store in our hometown, Dayton, Ohio, which has one of the largest food deserts in the United States.

Toward the end of 2012, we moved from Dayton, Ohio, to a cabin near Philipsburg, Montana, as a four-month writing experiment, followed by a move to beautiful Missoula in 2013, where we cofounded Asymmetrical Press, a publishing house for the indie at heart.

In 2014, we published our most popular book, the critically acclaimed memoir Everything That Remains, and we embarked on a 100-city bookstore tour.

In 2015, we published our third book, Essential: Essays by The Minimalists, which presents a minimalist’s perspective on twelve different areas of life—from decluttering, gift-giving, and finances to passion, health, and relationships. We also hit the road with five other authors and one musician for Asymmetrical Press’ first-ever WordTasting Tour.

In January 2016, we launched The Minimalists Podcast, where we discuss living a meaningful life with less and answer questions from our listeners. With more than 40 million downloads, it is often the #1 Health podcast on Apple Podcasts and it occasionally charts in the Top 10 of all shows. The podcast is produced by our good friend Podcast Shawn.

In February 2016, alongside our friends Sarah and Joshua Weaver, we opened a coffeehouse in St. Petersburg, Florida, called Bandit Coffee Co.

On May 24, 2016, our documentary, Minimalism, was released in 400 theaters in the United States and Canada, opening as the #1 indie documentary of 2016. It is now available on Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon.

In January 2017, we announced our 50-city Less Is Now Tour. In each city we presented an in-depth talk about minimalism and recorded a live version of The Minimalists Podcast.

In September 2017, we moved to Los Angeles to build a podcast and film studio in an effort to produce more meaningful creations. We’re currently working on our next documentary.