0:19

Every little thing you

0:21

think that you need Every

0:24

little thing you think that

0:26

you need Every

0:28

little thing that's just feeding

0:31

your greed Oh, I bet

0:33

that you'll be fine without

0:35

it Oh,

0:58

I bet that you'll be fine without it Oh,

1:58

I bet that you'll be fine without it know, speaking to

2:00

how they did everything they were supposed to

2:02

do or everything that they were told to

2:05

do, such as graduate from high

2:07

school, go to college immediately, get a job, get

2:09

a car, buy a house, all that stuff, you

2:11

know the path. And while

2:13

that does lead to fulfillment and happiness

2:15

for some, I feel

2:17

like the loud, more frequent message is that

2:19

people are coming out the other side with

2:22

no direction, loss of identity, debt,

2:24

excess, and all this resentment for

2:27

what that path provided, you know, especially as it

2:29

can lead to many more downstream

2:31

difficulties in life that you now have to

2:33

deal with. So my thought slash

2:35

question for you is, if we

2:37

simply opt out of the, here's

2:39

what we're supposed to do path that

2:41

everyone is fed, what is

2:44

that free up in our life? You know,

2:46

what if we redefine what we're supposed

2:48

to do as what you're

2:50

supposed to do is to slow

2:52

down, think intentionally about what you

2:54

want for your individual life and

2:57

pursue accordingly. Now, what happens when

2:59

we're not as concerned with what society is urging us

3:01

to do? So I think about

3:04

this and I think about all the burdens that

3:06

we can simply opt out of, you know, in

3:08

shifting this mindset, maybe it gives somebody permission to

3:10

take time after high school to think about

3:12

what they actually want to do or where they want to go, rather

3:15

than hopping into student loan debt ASAP,

3:17

because everybody else is doing it. You

3:19

know, maybe it gives somebody permission to skip

3:22

the next iPhone update or seven, you

3:24

know, maybe it tells somebody, hey, it's

3:27

okay to drive your used car another five

3:29

years or to not immediately purchase a house

3:32

and overextend yourself. So my

3:35

question for you is, what does it

3:37

take to shift that mindset? You know, what do we

3:39

have to do in our lives and our family to

3:41

say, hey, it's okay to be intentional and be true

3:43

to yourself and look the

3:45

other way on what society and everybody

3:47

is telling us to do. Greg,

3:51

your question's really relatable for

3:54

a couple reasons. One is I went

3:57

down that success path and it felt

3:59

like Failure well when

4:01

success feels like failure, you're

4:03

probably playing the wrong game

4:06

Success is a multiplayer game But

4:09

satisfaction is a single-player game. I

4:11

like a great way to frame

4:13

it. Yeah, we got professor Sean

4:21

Right and Satisfaction

4:25

is a single-player game and what I

4:27

mean by that and we can we

4:29

can dissect this But quite often we're

4:32

playing the game of success, which is

4:34

everyone else's idea of success And that's

4:36

why we're told this is what you're

4:39

supposed to do You were supposed to

4:41

buy the house with a 30-year mortgage

4:44

You are supposed to have a

4:46

Facebook account you are supposed to get

4:49

married. You're supposed to have 2.5

4:52

kids you're supposed to have a white picket fence and

4:54

a dog and a cat and there's

4:56

nothing wrong with these things And so I

4:58

don't want to say you're not supposed to

5:00

do those things or you're supposed to not

5:02

do those things There is

5:04

no supposed to and that's why we have to

5:06

be careful with Greg's question He said what if we

5:08

trade that out for you're supposed to slow down? Well,

5:11

that's just another prescription Then that

5:13

for some people it won't work as

5:15

well And so instead of thinking about

5:17

this as a path Maybe think about

5:19

it as a recipe what ingredients do

5:22

I want in my recipe that are

5:24

satisfying to me? Because

5:26

satisfaction is a single-player game and quite

5:29

often you will look like a failure

5:31

to other people In fact, you're going

5:33

to look like a failure to plenty

5:36

of people if you're doing the things

5:38

that satisfy you because it

5:40

does not fit their template of success

5:45

of What it means to be

5:47

or just look like a successful person.

5:49

Oh man, I like that So here's

5:51

my maxim the concept of what

5:54

you're supposed to do is great for law

5:57

terrible for love if you buy

5:59

a product and When you look at your receipt,

6:01

it gives you a return policy that tells you

6:03

all the things you are supposed to do if

6:05

you ever want to return that product in the

6:07

future. And if you fail to do what you're

6:10

supposed to do, they're going to say, sorry, I

6:12

can't help you no matter how dissatisfied you are.

6:14

And so that's a great mindset if you're ever

6:16

thinking about returning a product or something along those

6:18

lines, any kind of legal situation, make sure you

6:20

honor the terms you release, that kind of stuff.

6:22

But when you're trying to figure out what

6:25

you love, and you're trying to figure out

6:27

how to do what you love, you're not

6:29

going to get it by consulting a

6:31

bunch of externally dictated supposed to. That's

6:35

something that you do for safety. It's

6:37

like one of the reasons why a

6:40

lot of bureaucratic organizations hire in outside

6:42

consultants isn't because they want a real

6:44

solution to the problem. It's because they

6:46

want a suggestion that no one at

6:48

the organization will have to take responsibility

6:51

for if it fails, right? And so

6:53

the advice becomes a way of hiding

6:55

behind safety. So the things don't work out, we

6:57

get to say, hey, we all did

6:59

what we were supposed to do. Don't

7:02

blame me. That's not the winner's

7:04

mindset. That's the don't get fired, don't

7:06

get sued mindset. And that

7:08

can only get you so far. And so

7:11

the reason we seek so much guidance

7:13

from society is because we know the

7:16

society can be very unforgiving when

7:19

you break its rules, and then you fail. But

7:21

if you follow its rules and you

7:23

fail, society will say, oh, it's okay.

7:26

We all fail sometimes. You did what we

7:28

told you to do. So we won't be

7:30

too hard on you. And so in order

7:32

to really get the true benefits of winning

7:34

in terms of how you define winning, you've

7:36

got to be willing to look at society

7:38

in the face and say, I

7:40

love the possibilities of my life so

7:43

much that I'm willing to

7:45

risk failing, even if it

7:47

comes with the cost of you condemning me

7:49

for daring to do the things you said

7:52

I was not supposed to

7:54

do. It reminds me of this

7:56

thought experiment. Would you rather be

7:58

wealthy but everyone thinks you are

8:00

broke or would you rather be

8:02

broke and everyone thinks you are

8:05

wealthy? To me the answer to that one

8:07

is easy. I'd rather have money and everyone

8:09

thinks I'm broke. However, there are some other

8:11

things, because I don't have an identity around

8:14

wealth, but there are other things that I

8:16

can get, man, I can

8:18

get confused, I can get tied up in, I can

8:21

realize where my ego is sometimes,

8:24

right? So would you rather be

8:26

the best lover in the world

8:28

but everyone thought you were the

8:30

worst? Or would you rather

8:32

be the worst lover in the world but everyone thought you

8:34

were the best? And for me it's like, oh, wait a

8:36

minute. Ooh, that's a more

8:38

difficult question. Why? Because there's some sort

8:40

of sense of pride or identity in

8:42

saying I want this particular outcome. Would

8:45

you rather be the best basketball player

8:47

in the world but everyone thinks you're

8:49

awful? Or would you rather everyone

8:52

thinks you're an outstanding basketball player but you

8:54

really kind of suck? And you could apply

8:56

that to anything. For me, writing is the

8:58

thing that really stands out. It's like, would

9:00

I rather be the best writer in the

9:02

world to me and everyone

9:04

else hates my writing? Or would I

9:08

rather everyone absolutely loves my

9:10

writing but I'm not

9:12

a very good writer? And

9:15

that is difficult because it

9:17

becomes a question of identity.

9:20

And that's the heart of Greg's question.

9:22

And that's why it is a multiplayer

9:24

game. It really depends on what game

9:26

are you playing here. Are you playing

9:28

the game to impress everyone else? And

9:30

if so, do you think that is

9:32

going to satisfy you? Hey, so here's

9:34

a question for you because you got

9:36

my mind spinning with all the hypotheticals

9:38

about would you rather. If you had

9:40

a choice between being a

9:43

great figure in history who has

9:45

a huge impact for good on

9:47

humanity but no one ever

9:49

really remembers your praises, your legacy, or

9:52

you get to be the actor who plays

9:54

that person in a movie and you go

9:56

on to win an Academy Award for your

9:58

role? Wow. Yeah,

10:02

to me, it's definitely the

10:04

former, unless acting is

10:06

something that I'm so passionate about. Yeah.

10:09

However, that's a difficult one, right? It reminds me

10:11

of the Woody Allen quote, and they say, how

10:14

do you want to live

10:16

on in people's minds? And he said, I'd rather

10:18

live on in my apartment. Because

10:24

once I'm gone. I

10:27

laugh because with Woody Allen, I feel like

10:29

you either love his movies or you hate

10:31

his movies. And there's no in between. What a

10:33

great example. Right. And I think

10:36

what he's saying,

10:38

what he's saying there is once you let

10:40

go of the need to impress other people,

10:43

then you just want to live on as

10:45

the best version of yourself or not for

10:47

them for you. I printed out this essay,

10:49

actually, Malabama printed it out for me from

10:52

a former podcast guest, Kapil Gupta. He's going

10:54

to come back on the show. And here

10:56

in the coming months, we've been talking about

10:58

this actually been talking about a few things.

11:01

But this one, I thought was perfect.

11:03

To sum up Greg's question, this is

11:05

called the successful man's path to lasting

11:08

satisfaction. We'll put a link

11:10

to this discourse in the show

11:12

notes. It goes like this. If

11:15

one examines with a sharp scalpel

11:17

the foundations of his desires, he

11:19

discovers that they rest upon a

11:21

foundation of hope. If

11:24

one examines this hope with incisive

11:27

detail, he discovers that it rests

11:29

upon a need. If

11:32

one examines this need with

11:34

the utmost clarity, he discovers

11:36

that it rests upon a

11:38

bed of pleasure. Man

11:43

does not truly seek success for

11:45

there is no independent entity known

11:48

as success. He

11:51

seeks the trimmings of

11:53

success. He seeks the fragrance

11:55

of success. He seeks the

11:57

implications of success. He

12:00

seeks the lidocaine-like effects

12:03

of success that numb

12:05

the pains of his

12:07

insecurities. He seeks

12:10

the feeling of importance

12:12

from being accepted into

12:14

the successful circles. To

12:16

seek such things is neither

12:18

right nor wrong. Their

12:21

only liability lies in their

12:24

inability to bring lasting satisfaction.

12:27

The unsuccessful man seeks

12:30

success. The

12:32

truly successful man seeks

12:34

lasting satisfaction. And

12:38

having once attained it, it

12:41

is only he who is in the position

12:43

to discover that it is not success, but

12:46

satisfaction that he has been

12:48

seeking all along. Not

12:51

having found lasting satisfaction, he turns

12:53

to temporary pleasures, hoping

12:56

that through volume and in

12:58

their aggregate he can patch

13:00

together a semblance of

13:03

satisfaction. Not having

13:05

found lasting satisfaction, he

13:08

resorts to the surrogate of

13:10

self-adornment. Now,

13:13

there's a couple more pages there. We'll put a link

13:15

to this so you can read the entire discourse if

13:17

you'd like. But if you were

13:20

to sum this up, TK, it's pleasure

13:22

chases don't lead to satisfaction. I

13:25

think about the easiest way to think

13:27

about pleasure is gustatory pleasure. Eating your

13:29

food, there's nourishing food

13:32

that satisfies you. In fact,

13:34

after really nourishing nutrient dense

13:36

meal, you feel like, oh,

13:38

yeah, I did something for

13:40

my body. So I was

13:42

rewarding myself. It wasn't

13:44

as tasty as cake or candy

13:46

necessarily, but the cake and candy is

13:49

devoid of nutrients like that meal is.

13:52

They're empty calories quite often. And

13:54

so that's what we're doing with our lives. We're filling

13:57

them with empty calories in search

13:59

of... pleasure, that momentary

14:01

burst of pleasure, which actually leads

14:03

to pain in the

14:05

long run. If

14:12

you do everything you're supposed to do, and

14:15

you're still unhappy, maybe you

14:17

want to question the prescriptions of

14:19

success instead of questioning

14:21

your own unhappiness.

14:24

Greg, I'd love to send you a copy

14:26

of our book, Everything That Remains. It's

14:29

really the story of walking away from

14:31

success to find a satisfying

14:33

life, a meaningful life, because

14:36

I fulfilled that template of success

14:38

that Greg is talking about here. Ryan

14:41

did the same thing, and we walked

14:43

away from that because the success was

14:45

not satisfying. In fact, it got in

14:47

the way of our own fulfillment. So

14:49

if you enjoy our podcast, you'll enjoy

14:52

the audiobook version of Everything That Remains.

14:54

It's the 10-year anniversary of that

14:56

right now. Or if you want the book book or

14:58

the ebook version, we'd be happy to send those to

15:00

you as well, Greg. Let's

15:03

move on to some social media questions

15:06

here. Lori from Facebook has a question

15:08

for us. I own hundreds

15:10

of pairs of shoes, but I mostly wear

15:12

sneakers for work since I'm on my feet

15:14

all day. Why can't I part

15:16

with the shoes I never get to wear? TK, it

15:19

seems to me there's a psychological

15:21

component to this. We

15:23

hold on to a bunch of shoes that

15:25

we never wear, and I think you could

15:27

translate this to anything. We hold on to

15:29

a career that we don't

15:31

want to wear anymore. We hold

15:33

on to shirts we don't want

15:35

to wear anymore. We hold on

15:37

to a car that we don't

15:39

enjoy driving anymore. We hold on

15:41

to a bunch of things that

15:43

we no longer have used. They

15:46

are essentially obsolete to us, even

15:48

though, well, I can't seem to

15:50

let it go. I can't seem to

15:52

walk away. In fact,

15:54

I think the problem quite often is we

15:57

don't recognize that those shoes that were once

15:59

used for are now

16:01

clutter because a thing becomes clutter

16:03

the moment it ceases to add value.

16:07

And so I'm thinking about this video

16:09

of Floyd Mayweather. Danny was showing me

16:11

this video this morning. You go into

16:13

his closet and he has what

16:16

can only be described as a mountain

16:19

of shoes. I mean,

16:21

it's boxes and boxes and boxes

16:23

and boxes of shoes. He

16:26

has so many shoes in this closet.

16:30

However, he's super

16:32

excited about it. He seems to be getting immense

16:34

value from it. Now, it's easy for me

16:36

to look at it and say, oh, that's stupid, especially

16:38

when he says, I've got all these

16:40

shoes, you know, money, Floyd, money,

16:42

Mayweather, he loves shoes, right? But then he

16:45

said, I only wear them one time and I

16:47

just wear the next pair. To

16:50

me, I look at that like, oh, how stupid, right? But

16:53

there's someone else who looks at Professor Sean's

16:55

collection of pins who thinks the same thing.

16:57

And they're like, why would

17:00

you have all of these fountain pins that

17:02

you just need one pen? But

17:04

no, he gets value from it. He's

17:06

looking at the different color ways and

17:08

I'm going to go to the pin

17:10

show and I'm going to get value

17:12

from my experience with those. So if

17:14

you get value from your experience with

17:16

the shoes, even if it's just having

17:18

a shoe collection in your closet, I'm

17:21

certainly not telling you to get rid of those shoes. However,

17:25

when someone like Laurie writes in and says,

17:27

hey, I don't wear these shoes. Why

17:30

can't I let go of them? That

17:32

question of why can't I part with

17:34

the shoes I never wear, it says

17:37

there's some sort of entanglement here. Your

17:40

identity is tangled with

17:42

those shoes and

17:44

you're afraid that by letting go of the shoes, what

17:46

happens? You're letting

17:48

go of a piece of yourself. That

17:50

is true with the clothes that we wear. Oh, I

17:52

don't really like those clothes anymore, but I can't let

17:54

go of it because I'm letting go of a

17:57

piece of me. I can't let go of that

17:59

furniture. Let go of my old car.

18:01

I can't let go of my career because that

18:03

is who I am But

18:06

you are not your shoes and As

18:09

soon as you recognize that those

18:12

shoes aren't me. They're an accessory quite

18:14

literally. They accessorize your life They enhance

18:16

your life in some way and if

18:18

they cease to add value, it's

18:21

okay to let them go Shoo

18:24

man, that was

18:26

a good point

18:28

I'm holding back all my what

18:30

are those? Oh man professor. So disappointed

18:32

in me right now. I'm literally getting

18:34

booed I've

18:40

never been booed live in the studio before

18:42

you know another thing I add to this

18:44

is Part

18:46

of the tension here comes from two conflicting

18:49

stories You have a lot of shoes and

18:52

there's a real dream there No matter what anybody

18:54

else thinks of it It's your dream and

18:56

your dream is to one day wear those shoes

18:58

you like those shoes You wouldn't have bought them

19:00

if you didn't like them and you want to

19:02

wear them and the possibility that

19:04

one day You could is what

19:06

makes you hold on to them. And the last

19:09

thing you want to do is Let

19:12

go of a dream prematurely that

19:14

day to wear them might actually come that's

19:16

a real possibility But then

19:18

there's the second story which is what

19:20

if I'm lying to myself? What

19:23

if I'm selling myself a story that isn't

19:25

true and I'm just procrastinating be inevitable what

19:27

if deep down aside? I know what my

19:29

lifestyle is. I know I'm not gonna wear

19:32

those shoes and Letting them

19:34

go forces me to be honest about that

19:36

fact Well now your knowledge of

19:38

that possibility produces this tension because you got this

19:40

dream that you want to fulfill But

19:43

then you also know there's a possibility that you might

19:45

be lying to yourself, which is it? But

19:48

I think part of the solution here is To

19:51

make a commitment if you

19:53

love it commit to it. What'd be honest?

19:55

I say put a ring on it now the

19:57

thing about commitment is it doesn't

19:59

happen to be manifested in

20:02

some all-out sense overnight. If

20:04

you propose to someone, will you marry me? And

20:07

they say, yes, that only you have to have

20:09

the wedding tomorrow. You can have

20:11

the wedding in a year. Some people have

20:13

longer engagements than that, but you've committed and

20:15

now you're participating in a very different kind

20:17

of process than the one you ran prior

20:20

to the commitment. In a similar way, you

20:22

can look at those shoes and say, all

20:24

right, I'm willing to commit to

20:26

wearing one new pair every

20:28

week. I'm willing to commit to wearing these

20:31

shoes by this time. I'm willing to commit

20:33

to wearing them this many times. And

20:35

if you can't get yourself to agree to some

20:38

commitment, which doesn't have to be, I'm going to

20:40

wear them right now today, then

20:42

that lets you know if you

20:44

really love them or not. That lets you know commitment

20:47

is what brings out the truth about what we

20:49

love. You know what is fascinating about that, because

20:51

you can go through that sort of experiment and

20:53

you start wearing those shoes and you're like, why

20:55

did I ever wear these in the first place?

20:58

I don't like them. They're uncomfortable. Or

21:00

I call this shopping in your

21:02

own closet. You start wearing them and you

21:04

say, why did I ever stop wearing these?

21:07

I really enjoy wearing them. And yes, maybe

21:09

I can't wear them to work because I'm

21:11

requiring to wear these particular sneakers and

21:14

I can't wear these other shoes, but I can wear

21:16

them in the evenings or the weekends or whatever. You're

21:18

committing to one new pair a week or a day

21:20

or whatever is right for you. And then

21:23

you identify the ones that do add value and

21:25

you separate that from the ones that don't add

21:27

value. Reminds me of a few different rules that

21:29

we have in the minimalist rule book. Laura,

21:32

you can download it for free at

21:34

the minimalist.com/rule book. There's also an audio

21:36

book version over there as well. It's

21:39

16 rules for living with less, but two of

21:41

them that stand out for me is obviously the

21:43

just in case rule. Right now, it seems to

21:45

me you might be holding on to all of

21:47

those shoes just in case you might need them

21:49

someday in some non-existent hypothetical future. And

21:51

so you keep holding on to them and just in case,

21:54

well, I guess I'll need them

21:57

someday, but someday never arrived. So they sit there

21:59

in your closet. Not as an art

22:01

piece or something that's adding value, but it's

22:03

actually extracting value It's getting in the way

22:05

the other rule that really stands out And

22:07

I think it's perfectly appropriate

22:09

for your shoes is the

22:11

spontaneous combustion rule if all of those

22:14

shoes spontaneously combusted right

22:16

now Which ones

22:18

would you replace and if the answer

22:20

is none of them well, then you know that oh There's

22:23

the answer these are a huge burden

22:25

now if you're like Oh, I'd actually replace

22:27

this pair this pair and this pair Well

22:31

great, maybe I hold on to those

22:33

but I'm certain if this pair spontaneously

22:35

combusted I'm letting it go and

22:37

now if you have a hundred pair of shoes Yeah,

22:40

it's gonna take a while to sort through

22:42

that but literally picking them up burdening yourself

22:44

with them for a moment What

22:46

would I do if this went up in flames?

22:49

Oh, man, I'd feel relief for

22:51

me That's a sign to let it go and once you're

22:53

ready to let go I'm gonna put a link to this

22:56

article in the show notes and I say I I mean

22:58

professor Sean It's seven places

23:00

where you can donate sneakers for

23:02

cash It's the

23:04

resource manual calm and

23:07

I'll just read the first three here real quick You

23:09

can check out all seven though got sneakers as a

23:11

website got sneakers pays you $7

23:14

for every athletic sneaker you donate if

23:16

you're sending more than 10 pairs Then

23:19

they're willing to come pick them up for

23:21

you in certain locations The

23:24

second one is DS w VIP ways

23:26

to give DS w

23:28

allows you to donate your shoes

23:30

to get points toward cash You

23:33

get 50 points for every donated

23:36

sneaker and when you accumulate five dollars worth

23:38

you get to use it as a coupon To

23:41

shop for new shoes now donated shoes

23:43

also go to this company when you

23:45

donate them to DS w to this

23:47

company I have here you can donate

23:49

directly to Souls for shoes.

23:51

It's souls for shoes org

23:53

and they're an organization that

23:55

turns shoes and clothing into

23:58

educational and economic opportunities

24:00

for children. So you're doing a good

24:02

thing by letting go. By clinging, what

24:05

happens? You don't add value to anyone's

24:07

life, but by letting go, what you're

24:10

able to do is actually add

24:12

value to other people's lives as

24:14

well. There are several other places

24:16

where you could donate your sneakers,

24:18

your other shoes for cash, or

24:20

to help improve someone else's life.

24:22

I'm gonna finish with a story

24:24

on this question here. I remember

24:27

right when we started the blog, theminimalists.com,

24:31

right? And a journalist reached out

24:33

to me for an interview, and

24:35

we were talking about all these things. And one of

24:37

the questions they asked was, what

24:40

are your three favorite things? And

24:43

I'm like, hmm, I don't know. As

24:45

a minimalist, what are your three favorite things? I

24:48

have a favorite shirt, I have a favorite pair of jeans,

24:50

and I have a favorite pair of shoes. And I got

24:52

to thinking, well, why are these my favorite things? So,

24:55

well, they're my favorite things because I tell myself

24:57

they're my favorite things. It's just my opinion, right?

25:00

And so I said, huh, am I clinging

25:02

to them because they're my favorite? And

25:04

so I reached out to the journalist later, I

25:06

said, before this thing goes live on whatever website

25:08

you're publishing this on, I'd like

25:10

to offer up to the audience who's reading this,

25:12

I wanna get rid of my three favorite things.

25:14

I'd like to donate it to someone who would

25:16

get value from my favorite shirt, or someone who

25:18

would get value from my favorite jeans, or someone

25:21

who would get value from my favorite shoes. And

25:23

when I did that, there

25:25

was a person who later became a friend of mine, and

25:28

he took me up on the offer for my favorite

25:30

shoes. They're these really nice Alan Edmund dress shoes. And

25:32

he's like, I could really use a pair of shoes.

25:34

I'm getting ready to go to an interview at this

25:37

university. And I have a suit, but I don't have

25:39

a nice pair of shoes. When

25:41

I donated those to him, he reached out to me

25:43

a few weeks later and he said, those shoes made

25:45

me feel so confident in the interview.

25:48

I got the job and it's my dream

25:50

job. And all

25:52

because I was willing to let go of

25:55

something that was supposedly my favorite thing. And

25:58

guess what happened? A new pair of shoes. She

26:00

was became a saver. Parachute was a

26:02

new sure became my favorite shirts. A

26:04

new pair of pants became my favorites

26:06

pair of pants by also got something

26:08

out of the contribution than I otherwise

26:10

would have not received. Were

26:12

in the season of let right now

26:14

and one of their practices is to.

26:17

Pick at least one thing. And.

26:19

Give it up for that period of time.

26:21

Not legal, heuristically, not out of the belief

26:23

that it's a bad thing and fact it's

26:25

typically something that you enjoy that you're like

26:27

that is a perfectly innocent or good thanks

26:29

if it's an unhealthy things had already given

26:31

it up anyway. it's an optional thank you.

26:33

See the what a lot of people find.

26:36

Is. When that season ends

26:38

they anticipated the whole time. I can't

26:40

wait to get back into some chocolate

26:42

or whatever was they gave us over.

26:44

They get to that point they realize

26:46

Wow! I. Significantly underestimated

26:49

my ability. To. Be

26:51

happy without that saying that I assume

26:53

was so inner. Go to my life.

26:55

And not only that, you discover a

26:57

new space of availability because a lot

26:59

of these things. Innocent

27:01

things Okay things. Whether it's eating, shop

27:03

at are watching tv, stay, take up

27:05

so much space and our brains us

27:07

normalizes that as the way it is

27:09

and you take that away. It's hard

27:11

for while and you're bored as collateral.

27:13

Have my Tbr, I have my sockets.

27:16

but then something new starts to open

27:18

up and you realize wow, I'm available

27:20

to my mind and to my relationships

27:22

in ways that I previously didn't understand.

27:24

As the Michael Car Called says, it's

27:26

hard to imagine the freedom we find

27:28

from the things we leave. My. And.

27:31

Quite often when we leave that

27:33

behind, the Freedom is much more

27:36

spacious than you could have even

27:38

imagine. Alabama.

27:41

What time is it's you? Know what time it

27:43

is. It's time for the lightning round where we answer

27:45

your questions from sector. yes indeed you can

27:48

follow the minimalist on six och also

27:50

instagram facebook x and threads we are

27:52

at the minimalist saw those platforms during

27:54

the lady around we each have sixty

27:57

seconds to answer your question for the

27:59

shorts terrible less than 140 character response. We

28:02

call them minimal maxims. And we put

28:04

those maxims in the show notes over

28:06

at theminimalists.com/podcast. So you can copy and

28:08

share our pithy answers on social media

28:10

if you'd like. And by the way,

28:12

we'll send those minimal maxims to your

28:14

inbox every Monday with the show notes

28:16

for free. It will never send you

28:18

spam or junk or advertisements, but we

28:20

will send you the podcast each week

28:22

if you're on our email list over

28:24

at www.theminimalists.email. You

28:29

can get on our email list over there. And

28:32

one last thing, you can find

28:34

all of our pithy quotes now

28:37

over at minimalmaxims.com. What's today's question,

28:39

Malabama? Today's question comes from

28:41

Pepperill. When everything is digital nowadays,

28:43

how can you take breaks from

28:45

technology? Give me something pithy, T.K.

28:48

Coleman. Meditation is a

28:50

technology. You know, a

28:52

technology is really just a set of

28:54

techniques or strategies or processes that we

28:57

use to simplify complex tasks. And so

28:59

a stick can be a technology. If

29:01

I use it to extend my reach,

29:03

knocking the apple from the tree, obtaining

29:06

something good to eat. A basket can

29:08

be a technology. If I'm using it

29:10

to extend my ability to carry things

29:13

that won't fit into my hands or

29:15

my arms. And so digital technology is

29:17

new, but it's

29:19

a very old art for human beings to

29:21

figure out ways that they can leverage the

29:24

tools and the

29:26

resources in their environment to accomplish more

29:28

than they can do with their immediate

29:30

skills or with their physical limitations and

29:32

so on. And so the whole world,

29:34

yes, is flooded and

29:37

filled with technology, but there's more

29:39

to technology than the digital stuff.

29:41

And when I say meditation is

29:43

a technology, it's possible to unplug

29:46

from our digital preoccupation To

29:48

go within and to connect with that,

29:50

which reminds us of the meaning of

29:53

all of these tools so that we

29:55

can come back and use the tools

29:57

purposefully rather than being used by them.

30:00

Impulsively. I think

30:02

about using tools like fire rights,

30:04

either fire will either warm you

30:06

or it will burn you depending

30:09

on how deliberately. Use. It

30:11

and the same is true with a

30:13

sticky were talking about a moment ago

30:15

to knock Bf off the tree by

30:17

sharpen his and I becomes a weapon.

30:19

What are you doing with these tools?

30:21

And by the way, a weapon isn't

30:24

inherently bad either. I can protect myself

30:26

with that weapon now or I can

30:28

harm my neighbors. One am I doing

30:30

with those tools. However, if the tool

30:32

becomes a distraction, If

30:34

your digital technology, your smartphone, your

30:36

computer, the screens. Ultimately, what we're

30:38

really talking about here is being

30:41

distracted by screens we've all turned

30:43

into zombies. Take a look next

30:45

time you're in line at your

30:48

favorite restaurants and everyone's staring down

30:50

at the screen. Mrs. in a

30:52

judgment, it's an observation about what

30:54

reality is. We feel like this

30:57

is what we're supposed to do

30:59

and now we don't. South.

31:01

At a red light and just look

31:03

around. I've got five seconds to see

31:05

if anyone. Texted me see

31:07

if there any new d ends

31:10

on Instagram and so now the

31:12

sun. That technology which can be

31:14

really useful is getting in my

31:17

way. I target thing that was

31:19

warming me and now I'm burning

31:21

myself with it. As

31:23

answer another question here, we are quite

31:26

a few more questions coming up on

31:28

the private podcast of Firsts. Real Quick

31:30

Force right here are right now. Here's

31:32

one thing that's going on. In the

31:34

life of the minimalist Ck, you wrote

31:37

a book. It's called Emotional Clutter. The

31:39

audio book is now available on you

31:41

tube you can listen to the first

31:43

hour of for free. You download the

31:46

book version for free as well. It's

31:48

a beautifully designed he bought got format

31:50

and by Professor Sean and then designed

31:52

by Dave. Over. it spire media that

31:54

it's such a great job is beautiful

31:57

and you didn't awesome job i was

31:59

with maya Babysitter this weekend. She was

32:01

out at the house and she said I

32:03

just downloaded the audiobook I just bought the

32:06

audiobook version of TK's new emotional clutter book

32:08

and it's already helping me in my Relationship.

32:11

I was like, oh she's like I needed

32:13

to hear this and she was so excited

32:15

and you do such a good job in

32:17

the audiobook It was mixed

32:19

and mastered by post-production Peter as

32:21

well. So it sounds great Thank you, sir And

32:23

you can check out the first hour for free

32:25

right now on our YouTube channel youtube.com Slash

32:28

the minimalist if you want

32:31

to download the e-book for free or purchase

32:33

the full audiobook You can find that

32:35

over at the minimalist calm slash emotional

32:37

clutter. We'll put a link to that in

32:39

the show notes Malabama what

32:41

else you got for us? Here's a minimalist insight

32:43

from one of our listeners Hey

32:47

guys, this is Bob from Middle, Tennessee Just

32:50

had a quick story that I wanted to share with you I

32:53

needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store

32:55

recently and one of the things on my whopping three

32:57

items Was soft tortillas.

33:00

I'm not an aficionado of soft tortillas. So I

33:02

figure I can go on the cheap. Oh,

33:04

but wait What's this a

33:07

tiny little sign on the shelf? This

33:09

item is BOGO That means

33:11

buy one get one and it's free

33:13

didn't matter what price at that point.

33:15

I thought to myself yachtsi I

33:18

get free tortillas. Heck. Yeah, I

33:21

placed two packages of the tortillas in my basket and

33:23

headed to item number two on the list Out

33:26

of nowhere. I heard Josh's voice in my

33:28

head Is it really free

33:30

if you don't need it or

33:32

a burden to do something with it? And

33:34

I looked at the packages and it

33:36

read 20 count and there's two

33:39

packages This is like one

33:41

of those word math problems that they warned me

33:43

about so many years ago I

33:45

only need six flippin tortillas I

33:48

began foreshadowing the second package going bad before

33:50

the family would be able to even touch

33:52

them So I turned around and

33:54

placed one of the packages back on the shelf

33:56

and proceeded back working on my list. I

33:59

thought to myself That was a. Walk.

34:01

With Josh do moment. So

34:05

I figured it was a when I arrived

34:07

back of my daughter's house and she hears

34:09

me telling my wife about it and since

34:11

the wait a minute. The. Tortillas were

34:13

buy one get one and you only

34:15

took one. You're. Not out anything. Why

34:17

wouldn't you just take the free ones? Me

34:20

knowing better than to get into a

34:23

debate with my daughter, I replied josh

34:25

said it was okay. And. Not

34:27

to take the free one if you didn't need

34:29

it and we didn't need it. So.

34:32

There. I swear I could hear

34:34

my daughter mumbling as I left the room. But.

34:36

It's Free Bob! Just.

34:38

Make sense. Don't. Need

34:40

it, Don't take. Thanks. For

34:43

keeping me from hardened towards years. Or

34:48

job See you on Patriarch for

34:50

the full maximal edition of episode

34:52

Four Hundred and Thirty Three, which

34:54

includes answers to a million more

34:56

questions, questions like one of the

34:59

minimal sauce on junkie journaling, what's

35:01

the ideal number of coffee mugs

35:03

for the average household? What should

35:05

I do? A smile be cluttering.

35:08

Rules are now getting in my

35:10

way, plus a bunch more questions

35:12

and simple living segments including a

35:14

minimalist homes or from one of

35:16

our listeners over. On the

35:19

middle most private podcast visits patreon.com

35:21

slash.minimalist of click the link bound

35:23

in the description to subscribe and

35:25

gets your personal length of our

35:27

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35:29

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35:31

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35:33

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35:35

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35:37

Zero one month away Patron as

35:40

an offering free trial So if

35:42

you like to test drive our

35:44

private podcast you could join for

35:46

seven days for free. And

35:48

then as are minimal episode for today

35:50

he leave here with just one message

35:52

but if you this. Most

35:55

people. And you say?

35:58

is the opposite Never works. Thanks

36:01

for listening, y'all. We'll see you next time. Peace. Every

36:04

little thing you think that you need. Every little thing you think that you need. Every little

36:06

thing that you think that you need. Every little thing that you see in your greed.