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The More of Less by Joshua Becker
Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own
My Thoughts
The author’s stated goal of this book is to introduce you to a lifestyle of owning less, without letting you lose sight of the purpose for it. Mainly, finding the freedom to pursue the things that matter most to you.
This book on minimalism is written by a Christian author and adds Biblical perspectives on minimalism.
My Favorite Quotes
- Once we let go of the things that don’t matter, we are free to pursue all the things in life that really do matter.
- Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value, and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.
- Live with whatever possessions give you the life you want.
- Your things are keeping you from becoming all that you were intended to become.
- Identify the life you want to lead, and pursue the kind of minimalism that will get you there.
- Remember, you have big plans for your life, and clutter can get in the way of those plans.
- Physical possessions often keep us from experiencing more of the things that give us joy and fulfillment.
- You can’t reach for new experiences and relationships if you are too busy holding on to yesterday’s things.
- One must ask hard questions to find harder answers.
- Owning less is great, wanting less is better.
- Lasting fulfillment can never be found in things that are temporal by nature.
- When you decide to live with less, you are not so busy earning money to buy stuff, buying stuff, and taking care of the stuff you bought.
- A busy life is an unreflective life.
- Own less to live more.
Key Questions
- Do I really need this object? Why or why not?
- What principles should be guiding what I keep and what I get rid of?
- What am I really going for here?
- Is there a disconnect between what you claim are your priorities and how you actually spend your time and resources?
- What experiences, both good and bad, have shaped your life?
- What similarities can you recognize in your most notable achievements?
- What problems in the world are you most passionate about solving?
- If money were not an issue, what line of work would you be most drawn to?
- Which dreams in your life do you feel the most regret for not pursuing harder?
- What is the lasting legacy you want to leave?
- Whom do you most admire in life? What specific characteristics of that person do you want to emulate?
- Am I buying too much because deep down I think it will insulate me from the harms of a chancy world?
- What if contentment is actually found in the opposite place we’ve been looking?
- What if the more we give away, the less we need?
- What if generosity leads to contentment?
- What possessions are adding value to my life?
- What possessions are distracting the value from my life?
- Questions to ask a generous person:
- Have you always been such a generous person?
- When did you become so generous?
- How did it start?
- How do you decide where your money goes?
- What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started?
Chapter 1: Becoming Minimalist
Not only are my possessions not bringing happiness into my life, even worse, they are actually distracting me from the very things that do.
Simpler, more purposeful living is something everyone can benefit from.
The author created a blog Becoming Minimalist.
Research professional organizing.
Our excessive possessions are not making us happy; they are taking us away from the things that do.
Once we let go of the things that don’t matter, we are free to pursue all the things in life that really do matter.
Spending money we don’t have to buy things we don’t want…
Find the life you want, hidden under all the things you own.
Universal Benefits of Minimalism
- More time and energy.
- More money.
- More generosity.
- More freedom. Excess possessions enslave us.
- Less stress.
- Less distraction.
- Less environmental impact.
- Higher quality belongings.
- A better example for our kids.
- Less work for someone else.
- Less comparison.
- More contentment.
Personal Benefits of Minimalism
- Freedom to pursue our heart’s greatest passions.
- More time to spend on meaningful activities.
- More freedom to travel.
- More clarity in our spiritual pursuits.
- Increased mental capacity to solve our most heartfelt problems.
- Healthier finances to support causes we believe in.
- Greater flexibility to pursue the careers we most desire.
- Better relationships.
Joshua Created a nonprofit called The Hope Effect.
Chapter 2: Good Riddance
What do you think of when you hear the word minimalism?
Author thinks of: Peace, joy, freedom, space opened up to make room for new possibilities.
Author’s goal is helping people get to the level of possessions that will enable them to live the best lives they are capable of. For most of us, this means reducing our possessions.
We have to learn the skill of minimizing.
Author’s definition of minimalism: minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value, and the removal of anything that distracts us from them.
Minimalism is about what it gives; not what it takes away.
Two common misconceptions about minimalism:
- Minimalism is about giving up everything. Less is not the same as none.
- Minimalism is about organizing your stuff.
Minimalism removes physical distractions.
Live with whatever possessions give you the life you want.
Organizing without discarding is only a temporary fix.
Organizing is simply rearranging.
Major shortcomings of organizing your stuff without removing:
- Organizing doesn’t benefit anyone else.
- Organizing doesn’t solve our debt problems. It often costs us more in buying storage.
- Organizing doesn’t turn back our desire for more.
- Organizing doesn’t force us to evaluate our lives.
- Organizing accomplishes little in paving the way for other changes.
The act of removing possessions from our home accomplishes many of these skipped over purposes. It changes our hearts and it changes our lives.
Minimalism is about reducing the number of our possessions to a level that sets us free.
Minimalism is not a new philosophy. Jesus practiced minimalism.
Living with less has always been freeing and life-giving, filling people with hope and purpose. It has enabled human-beings to expand in spirit.
The rich young ruler was anti-minimalist.
Your things are keeping you from becoming all that you were intended to become.
Your things are an unnecessary burden.
Your things are keeping you from experiencing an abundant life.
The ruler’s possessions were keeping him from truly living.
Chapter 3: Minimalism Your Way
Two things the author discovered about minimalism:
- There are a lot of people pursuing minimalism.
- Minimalists are doing minimalism in a variety of ways.
Joshua references a book The 100 Thing Challenge by Dave Bruno.
Shape your minimalism based on your purpose.
Identify the life you want to lead, and pursue the kind of minimalism that will get you there.
Jesus gave different instructions to the rich young ruler and the maniac of Gadara.
One to sell his possessions and follow Jesus, the other to go home.
They were called to fulfill different roles with their lives.
They were created for unique purposes.
Owning less helps us do what we have been fitted to do.
If you have spent your whole life chasing things that don’t matter, it could be difficult at first to recognize all the things that really do.
The process of minimizing will help to inform your vision for your future. Your expanding vision of what you want will help you further refine your minimizing.
You will find yourself asking:
Do I really need this object? Why or why not?
What principles should be guiding what I keep and what I get rid of?
What am I really going for here?
It is a dual process of clarifying your goals and settling into a less encumbered lifestyle at the same time.
Is there a disconnect between what you claim are your priorities and how you actually spend your time and resources?
Create margin so you can discover passions you didn’t know you had.
Minimalism can reveal or clarify what your passions are.
One of the most important days of your life is the day you decide to throw off any distraction and decide to pursue your purpose completely.
If you want to clarify your own life goals, start by examining yourself.
Write out your answers to these questions:
- What experiences, both good and bad, have shaped your life?
- What similarities can you recognize in your most notable achievements?
- What problems in the world are you most passionate about solving?
- If money were not an issue, what line of work would you be most drawn to?
- Which dreams in your life do you feel the most regret for not pursuing harder?
- What is the lasting legacy you want to leave?
- Whom do you most admire in life? What specific characteristics of that person do you want to emulate?
Begin by recognizing that you were not born to live someone else’s life. You were born to live your life.
Determine today to be the best possible version of yourself.
Chapter 4: The Fog of Consumerism
It is important to recognize we are surrounded by consumerism.
Consumerism has become confused with happiness.
The needs and wants of consumers have to be continually stirred up. (Advice from a psychologist to marketing firms.)
The US measures success by GDP.
Nobody gets to the end of life wishing they had bought more things.
Consumption never delivers on its promise of fulfillment or happiness.
Resisting consumerism can give us the possibility of finding real happiness.
Three areas to open our eyes to consumerism:
- The attitudes towards material ownership that you may have because of the generation you belong to.
- How the world has taught you to define success.
- How marketers are trying to manipulate you when you shop.
Success and excess are not the same.
Those who live in excess are not necessarily the ones who have the most fulfilled lives.
Often those who live quietly, simply, and modestly are the happiest.
How are you making material excess out to be something it is not?
Admire success but do not celebrate excess. Learning to know the difference will change your life.
Spot the Tools of the Trade
In 2013 US marketers spent 170 billion dollars on advertising alone.
You are not immune or too smart to be influenced by the power of advertising.
Here are some of the common methods used to compel us to buy:
- Loyalty cards and rewards.
- Retail store credit cards.
- Scarcity mindset.
- Instant markdown.
- Decoy pricing. (One or two items priced significantly higher than those around it)
- Loss leader.
- Samples.
- Architectural layouts.
Recognize these devices and recognize your response to them.
Chapter 5: The Wants Within
Examine your motives for the buying decisions you make.
Once you get to the “why” of your unnecessary purchases, possessions will begin to lose their power over you.
As we remove clutter from our homes, we learn more about ourselves.
Let your journey in minimalism reveal your inner motivations regarding security. It is one of three basic motivations of human need.
- Security
- Desire for social acceptance
- Contentment
Security
Ask yourself:
Am I buying too much because deep down I think it will insulate me from the harms of a chancy world? If so, what is that costing me?
We too quickly confuse needs with wants and security with comfort.
Lasting security can never be found in temporal possessions.
We always desire more, we never arrive at a full sense of security.
For security we should look to the very things we sacrifice in our pursuit of more and more possessions.
Relationships
A sense of security can come from supportive relationships.
Those who do not feel internally secure in their personal relationships will often put a higher value on physical possessions.
Those who are over-estimating what their possessions can do for them, tend to under-value and put too little work into their relationships.
Cut back on buying and owning, and instead put more effort into how you relate to people around you.
Desire for Social Acceptance
When the right stuff is the wrong stuff.
We feel embarrassed because we don’t have what other people have.
We do not feel embarrassed about being “normal.”
We can adjust our definition of normal.
Our sense of “normal” is arbitrary.
We buy too many things because we hope they will make others accept us, and make us feel comfortable and normal.
What if excess became the cause of embarrassment?
Contentment
When our concept of contentment depends on material abundance, contentment becomes a destination that recedes into the distance every time we approach it.
What if contentment is actually found in the opposite place we’ve been looking?
What if the more we give away, the less we need?
People who give away possessions hole their remaining possessions in higher esteem.
What if generosity leads to contentment?
People who give their time make better use of their remaining time.
People who donate money are less wasteful with their remaining money.
Generous people have less desire for more.
They find fulfillment, meaning, and value outside of the acquisition of possessions.
You will find abundance in giving.
Take control of your attitude.
Decide to be happy.
The more you remove, the more unhealthy motivations will be revealed, such as:
- A sense of inadequacy
- Jealous of friends or acquaintances
Let contentment come to you be appreciating what you have and giving away what you don’t need.
Chapter 6: Take it Easy
Focus on the opportunities, not the obstacles.
Start easy and small.
Begin at the easiest possible place.
As you tackle the easier areas you will develop skills for confronting the more challenging areas.
Declaring Your Why
Put yourself in a position where it is easier to fulfill your life goals.
Sit down and articulate one or more reasons why you want to minimize.
Examples:
“I want to spend my evenings and weekends with family instead of straightening up the house.”
“I want to get out of debt and start saving for retirement.”
“I want to climb mountains on every continent of the world.”
Post your goals in a place where you will see them often.
You must be convinced that your new lifestyle will be worth the effort.
Quick Grabs
Where do you start?
Apply the 80/20 rule.
We use 20% of our stuff 80% of the time.
We use the other 80% of our stuff 20% of the time.
Start with minimizing the 80%.
Begin in an area of your home that you use frequently: living room, bedrooms, and bathrooms are great places to start.
The author started with cleaning his car, afterward, he found it to be not only cleaner but also calmer. The atmosphere and feeling of the space had changed.
Next Stage
Room-by-room.
After the initial sweep to clear out your lived-in spaces.
A more thorough process of minimizing possessions room-by-room.
Work easiest to hardest.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What, realistically, needs to stay?
- What possessions are adding value to my life?
- What possessions are distracting the value from my life?
Focus on one specific small area at a time. A room, a closet, or a drawer.
Make three piles:
- Things to keep
- Things to relocate
- Things to remove
Sort things to remove into four piles:
- Donate
- Sell
- Recycle
- Throw away
Physically touch every item.
Create your own working definition of clutter.
The author’s definition of clutter:
Too much stuff in too small of a place.
Anything that we no longer use or love.
Anything that leads to a feeling of disorganization.
Other definitions of clutter:
- Joshua Fields Milburn: anything that does not add value to his life.
- Marie Kondo: anything that does not spark joy.
- Peter Walsh: anything that interferes with the life you could be living.
- William Morris: have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
Do not confuse a desire to change with actual change. Talking about change is not the same as implementing change.
Eliminate redundancy and get rid of repetition.
- Do not keep things “just in case.”
- Get rid of duplicate items. Example: towels.
- Two towels per person are probably sufficient for your needs.
- As you remove duplicate items, your home will be filled with only your favorites of every object.
- You will take better care of your remaining possessions.
Tell your story. Joy is meant to be shared! Start today!
Baby steps to owning less:
- Write down your goals.
- Start decluttering with the easy targets in your lived in areas.
- Go room by room tossing out and tidying up.
- Eliminate duplicates as you make your circuit.
- Share your story with others to keep yourself motivated during and beyond the first steps.
Chapter 7: Troubleshooting
Common categories people have difficulty with minimizing:
- Books
- Paper
- Technology
- Keepsakes
- Two other topics he will introduce later
The common theme: you are getting back more than you are giving up.
Book Reference: The 100 Thing Challenge.
Story of getting rid of all of his woodworking tools.
Sometimes parting with our possessions means giving up an image that we have created in our mind of the person we would like to become.
Sometimes minimizing possessions means a dream must die. This may be difficult at the moment but is sometimes necessary.
Sometimes it takes giving up the person we wanted to be in order to fully appreciate the person we can actually become.
Books
Is it a book you use often or regularly recommend?
If no, get rid of it.
Remember, you have big plans for your life, and clutter can get in the way of those plans.
Helpful thoughts for clearing out books:
Realize that books do not define you.
Remind yourself that the memory of a book is not the same thing as the book itself.
Think of forwarding good books as an act of love.
Set reasonable boundaries for your collection.
Distinguish the most important from the somewhat important.
Give yourself permission to keep your favorites.
Read in pixels instead of print. (E-books)
Goodbye Mr. Paper
Estimate how many file cabinet drawers you can fill with paper from your home.
Each drawer will hold 4,500 sheets of paper when full.
Paper clutter takes up mental space in our lives.
Clutter is a visual sign of procrastination and carries with it just as much anxiety. -Leo Babauta
The process of removing paper clutter boils down to answering three questions.
- Why?
- What?
- How?
Why do I keep paper?
Are you a procrastinator?
Are you disorganized?
Are you uninformed? (Keep too many documents and don’t know what you can keep and what you can throw away)
Are you too busy to handle it or read, so you store it for later?
Sentimental attachment?
You cannot achieve a solution to your paper clutter until you decipher why it collects in your home.
What?
What papers do I actually need to keep?
Review the specific laws in your area.
Adopt a museum mentality in your home.
Fewer things on the walls bring more attention to the masterpieces.
Keep just your favorites.
How?
How am I going to keep paper clutter under control?
Keys
- Act quickly
- File appropriately
Make a decision and act on it.
Have a designated place to put items you cannot act on immediately.
Device Advice
Know the difference between technical obsolescence and functional obsolescence.
Technical obsolescence = newer version available
Functional obsolescence = doesn’t function properly
For buying decisions, ask yourself this.
What problem does it solve?
Is your technology improving your life, or taking you away from what matters?
Keepsakes
Keep only the best.
Highest quality and most meaningful items with which to remember former times and beloved people.
Find places in your home where you can see them, instead of keeping them in boxes.
Tips to make it easier to keep only the best keepsakes
- Try keeping half for now
- Try taking a photo of the item first
- Give it life again (donate)
Physical possessions often keep us from experiencing more of the things that give us joy and fulfillment. (People, experiences, accomplishments of growth and achievement)
You can’t reach for new experiences and relationships if you are too busy holding on to yesterday’s things.
Two areas you may not have thought of minimizing
- The vehicle you drive
- The home you live in
Car ownership is often about status and reputation.
If you can afford a fancy car, you can make more of an impact with an ordinary car. -Harvey Mackay
Trading down can actually be trading up if it allows you to pursue things that are more important.
Reasons you may be happier in a smaller home:
- Smaller homes are easier to maintain
- Smaller homes are less expensive in both purchase and upkeep
- More money for other things
- Smaller living spaces encourage family bonding
- Smaller homes are easier to sell
Choose based on your needs, not what you can afford. Choose freedom, not a burden.
Don’t Quit
If we don’t do the hard work of minimizing, we are giving up the freedom to be able to fully live the life we want.
You will never reach your fullest potential until you learn to push through the frustration.
Chapter 8: Experiments in Living with Less
If you aren’t sure you want to get rid of something, live without it for a while. Then decide whether it is necessary or superfluous.
Test your assumptions about how much you need.
Experiment: I will live without ____ for ____ days.
After the experiment, I will either get rid of them permanently and not miss them, or integrate them back into my life.
Finding Enough
Book Reference: Enough by Patrick Rhone
“Enough” comes from trying things out, from challenging your preconceptions, from letting go of your fear of less, from having less, trying more, and reducing to find out what is just right.
To get there one must let go of: what ifs, conjecture, guesses, overcome fear, self-doubt, and thoughts of grandeur.
One must ask hard questions to find harder answers.
The goal is to discover the tools and strategies you need to find what is enough for you right now.
Try leveling as an intermediate step of your decluttering journey.
If you are not ready to depart with an object, place it in a box with similar items. Write the date and brief description on the box and store it out of sight.
Return to the box in the future and it will be easier to get rid of the items.
Use 29 days for your experiments.
If you can live happily without an item for 29 days, you can very likely happily live without it forever.
Clothes are a great place to start getting rid of things or experimenting with.
Remove decorations that clutter rather than enrich your living experience.
King Solomon did the opposite, living with more.
King Solomon was a maximalist.
See the book of Ecclesiastes.
Solomon said it was vanity, disillusionment, and futility.
You will feel free and light when you discover how few things you really need to live a happy and fulfilled life.
Chapter 9: Maintenance Program
How will you make it stick?
Start at once to form habits that will help you hold on to your gains.
Five habits anyone can adopt to consolidate the advantages of minimalism:
- Tidy your home every day
- Impose your own experimental shopping ban
- Watch less television
- Bring greater intentionality to your gift giving rituals
- Practice gratitude as a discipline
Clutter Busters
Ten of the easiest and most helpful practices you can incorporate into your home:
- Make your bed each morning. Mess attracts mess.
- Wash dishes right away.
- Fill your recycling container and trash receptacle every week.
- Always leave room in your coat closet.
- Keep flat surfaces clear.
- Complete 1-2 minute jobs immediately.
- When you finish a magazine or newspaper, process it immediately.
- Place junk mail immediately into the recycling bin.
- Take care of the clothes immediately.
- Nightly return items to where they belong.
Give Your Wallet a Rest
Institute a temporary shopping ban.
Watch less television.
Experience the benefits of living life instead of watching it.
Make a list of shows you can go without.
Television is a self-propagating habit.
Gift Giving
Quality over quantity.
Needs over wants.
Experiences over products.
Replace greed with gratitude.
Gratitude is more valuable to us as an intentional habit than a spontaneous response.
Gratitude improves our overall wellbeing.
Gratitude is a discipline, not an emotion.
Owning less is great, wanting less is better.
Chapter 10: The Minimalist Family
Sharing minimalism with your family is an act of love.
Live it before you demand it.
Set boundaries for children.
Example: you can keep as many toys as you want as long as they fit in the closet.
Reward your children with fun experiences.
How to raise minimalist teenagers in an age of excess
- Encourage idealism
- Require teenagers to pay for expensive items themselves
- Teach them to understand the relationship between work and satisfaction
- Encourage teenagers to recognize the underlying messages in advertising
- Find an ally
- Discourage entitlement in your family
- Travel to less developed countries
- Teach them that what matters most is not what they own, but who they are
Do you value relationships more than your possessions?
Realize you can’t change anyone. You can only educate, encourage, and assist as permitted.
Don’t love things, or the absence of things, love people.
Chapter 11: Shortcut to Significance
Our hearts follow our treasure.
Lasting fulfillment can never be found in things that are temporal by nature.
Our discontent is evidenced by our excess.
Advice: don’t try selling items you are getting rid of. Except for big-ticket items, it is usually a waste of time.
Consider donating to women’s homes, refugee centers, and other local charities.
Give them away. Practice generosity.
Trying to resell your clutter only adds time, energy costs, anxiety, and frustration to the journey.
The author talks about With This Ring nonprofit organization for donating your rings for a good cause.
It is far better to give than to accumulate.
Simple steps to make generosity more intentional in our lives:
- Start small. Really small. Even $1 if you’ve never given before.
- Give first.
- Divert one specific expense.
- Fund a cause based on your passions.
- Spend time with a generous person.
Questions to ask a generous person:
- Have you always been such a generous person?
- When did you become so generous?
- How did it start?
- How do you decide where your money goes?
- What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started?
Generosity rarely happens by chance.
Minimalism pays a time dividend.
When you decide to live with less, you are not so busy earning money to buy stuff, buying stuff, and taking care of the stuff you bought.
Chapter 12: An Intentional Life
Living an unexamined life is dangerous and often results in drifting.
We often trade long-term purpose for short-term pleasure.
If an activity, decision, or a habit is not bringing us closer to our purpose and passion, then we should remove it.
Three common areas where we can benefit by applying intentionality to our lives.
- Schedule
- Body
- Relationships
Schedule
Addicted to business.
75% of parents are too busy to read to their children at night according to a study in Britain.
A busy life is an unreflective life.
We often overspend and over commit our calendars.
Enjoy the benefits of calm, intentional living.
Four steps to focus your effort on those things you value most:
- Cultivate space in your daily routine.
- Reduce distractions.
- Find freedom in the word “no.”
- Appreciate and schedule rest.
You cannot grow in one area of your life if you are curious about all areas.
Body
We often focus more on beauty than on health.
Our physical bodies are the instruments through which we accomplish our purpose in this world.
- Fuel your body properly
- Hydrate sufficiently
- Exercise frequently
- Eliminate unhealthy habits strategically
Minimalism spurred a change in how the author treated his body.
Relationships
Saying your goodbyes.
There are times when it may make sense to end a relationship.
- If the relationship is harming you physically or emotionally.
- If neither of you are receiving any benefit from it.
- If putting time into this relationship is hindering you from putting time into a more important relationship.
Every goodbye makes room for a new hello.
Develop the compassion and space to love even those who don’t deserve it.
Valuing a one-sided friendship.
These relationships offer frequent opportunities to give love.
The goal is to bring greater intentionality into your relationships.
Those who experience the greatest joy are the ones who seek to implement wise and healthy habits in all aspects of their being.
When they do, they are equipped to accomplish more with their lives than they ever imagined.
Chapter 13: Don’t Settle for Less
You will find your greatest possible life when you get out and do whatever you are most passionate about.
Don’t just dream a dream; live it!
The pearl of great price.
Take action. Do what it takes to acquire the pearl.
Principle: Life is about choices, but some choices matter more than others.
Some endeavors are worth sacrificing everything for.
The author’s minimalism journey began when he was confronted with the realization that his possessions were keeping him from spending time with his five-year-old son.
You can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything.
Your life is too valuable to waste chasing material possessions. Your life is too valuable to waste pursuing only selfish interests.
The biggest dreams are the dreams that help others.
This is a book about living with less so that you can get more out of your days.
Paradox: own less to live more.
Joshua founded The Hope Effect organization.
We already have everything we need to make a difference in the lives of others.
The goal of this book: to introduce you to a lifestyle of owning less, without letting you lose sight of the purpose for it. Mainly, finding the freedom to pursue the things that matter most to you.
Related Book Summaries
Hope you enjoyed this and got value from my notes.
This is the 37th book read in my 2019 reading list.
Here is a list of my book summaries.
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