Very few people, if you were to sit across from them over coffee, would proclaim that owning everything in the world is their greatest goal in life.
Most people would answer quite differently.
When you engage in heartfelt conversations and ask people what they want to accomplish in life, most speak of love, relationships, impact, and significance. They desire to live meaningful lives, close to the people they love the most. Many speak of faith. Or they talk about solving important problems. But very few proudly declare, “I just want to make as much money and own as much stuff as I possibly can.”
Our hearts speak of something greater, more fulfilling, and longer lasting.
I bet yours does too.
And yet, too often it seems, we trade our heart’s greatest pursuits and greatest passions for the temporal possessions of this world.
I once had dinner with a man who mentors outgoing CEO’s and corporate executives in the Pacific Northwest. I asked him about his work and how he got started in it. He told me, “Joshua, I had a surprising number of retiring executives come to me and say something along the lines of, ‘I feel like I wasted my life.’”
He went on to tell me more. That these men and women had spent their lives investing into and building companies that were successful by almost every standard of measurement. But at the end, the only question they were asking was, “Was it all worth it?”
Now, just to be clear, this is not a post about the merits of corporations or their executives. Indeed, some of the people I most look up to in life are highly successful in business and live meaningful lives at the same time.
This is a post about something else entirely. This is a post about the temptation that surrounds each of us, every day, to trade our greatest passions for the things of this world.
Because minimalism is about more than owning less.
Minimalism is also about alignment.
It is about removing the burden of unnecessary physical possessions from our homes and lives. But it is also about reevaluating the esteem that possessions hold in our affections. And being intentional about removing the distractions that keep us from realizing our most important goals.
It is freeing to own less. Owning less frees up money and time and energy and focus. But it frees up more than that.
Minimalism frees our lives to realign our resources around the greatest passions of our heart. (tweet that)
And this is a benefit that cannot be overstated.
Grab a sheet of paper. Across the top, write, “The Three Most Important Things I Want to Accomplish with My Life.”
Quietly, make your list.
When you are finished, begin asking yourself hard questions about alignment. Am I spending my money pursuing these accomplishments? Have I crafted a life that devotes enough time and energy toward this list? Have I allowed any distractions (whether physical possessions or time commitments) to take precedence over any of these items? Are there other, less important pursuits in my life keeping me from fully accomplishing this list?
Have I allowed my greatest passions and most important desires to be usurped by the world around me? Have I chased society’s definition of success rather than my own?
In the end, we’re all going to ask ourselves, “Were the things I devoted my life to worth it?”
And if we discover at that time, that we traded our most meaningful passions for the things of this world, it will be a trade we’ll regret making.
Well said joshua, the things of this world stay here. There are alot of business owners and CEO’s even workers that find themselves in these situations. Giving their all to a company or job and in the end realizing they have in a way given all of their time not doing what makes them happy or their passion.
Joshua, Thank you for consistently writing the articles on BecomingMinimalist. Thank you for coming out of the comfort zone to write the articles. I read your archives often to remind myself that BecomingMinimalist is a shift inside me. It is more for me to build new habits and the internal me, than just the stuff. Otherwise, decluttering and deowning are tough when I just focus on the stuff.
Yes this is indeed very true having a lasting good impact on others is far more than money. I began a business and I realize I am happier when people reach out and are happy we helped their senior loved ones. This means more than any amount of money can bring
Following my life long passion of photography is wonderful and fulfilling, if you love your job and are passionate about it…then you are very lucky, as it will never feel like a hum drum job! My goal in life is to continue to be a photographer and maybe someday end up being a famous photographer…I love life! Each and every day brings a new beginning to cherish, and realize life is what you make it! Just be happy…
My goal in life is to get through it, and get it over with. Life isn’t a bunch of roses or even a bunch of rotten bananas for that matter. To me this article is like reading about life on another planet.
I’m buying each of my two grandkids girl and boy a copy of Walden. I keep a copy by my bed and read and re-read it. I’ve learned more from it than any religious document including James’ anthology.
What a beautiful comment and gift for your grandchildren. I first read Walden as an adult and am currently re-reading it. I was surprised to find that things we think are modern problems, like consumerism, were so present and deeply considered pre Civil War. Whatever you think about Thoreau, his words inspired environmental and civil rights activists to make this world a better place, and his words are powerful.
My thoughts on this:
Happiness is always relative. A person who’s never had money or glory would certainly crave it much more than someone who’s already been there and done it. But to someone who has done it and has experienced the pain and pressure of chasing these things, a different life would be preferable.
These people who have chased success all their lives may have felt that they wasted their life…but in my opinion, they didn’t. They pursued what they felt was more important at that time in their life. As a person gets older, their perspective in life changes.
If they did NOT pursue their dreams, whether it was materialistic or not, what would they have done differently? In my opinion, they would have ended up miserable at the fact that they didn’t put forth the effort to achieve their goals. And they still probably would have felt they wasted their life.
Bottom line, what’s most important is that you follow your own desires, and nobody else’s. As of right now, I am content with enjoying all of my time off in peace and freedom, with no real goal other than to enjoy my life. Will that change in the future? Most likely. But I believe that living one moment at a time according to your own desires and ideas will lead you to happiness…whether it’s grinding for that big screen TV, or helping others, or finding the love of your life, or saving the world, or just enjoying a moment of tranquility.
We came into this world naked… without money, possessions… even knowledge and memories. We leave it without money and possessions… Knowledge and memories are information and according to current scientific theories… are infinite. They will exist after your physical form has been reduced to dust. There is a profound reason why this is so. It is at the core of the mystery that we are all tasked to solve… “What is life?”
flawed assumptions from the start. the base being there is meaning or purpose here. this place whatever is one of relativity, of relation. that means there can be no absolutes here. to bring them or even attempt to impose them would likely result in the rest of the reality which would have been labeled other, will have no choice to seeming close ranks and oppose. will is not free, it is like a muscle, and the other is always at least our match. shadow boxing is like that.