Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus Page B
Book: Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus
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Authors: Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus
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come together to contribute to the local community (e.g., the aforementioned Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, various other non-profit organizations, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and the like). For a list of great places to start, visit volunteermatch.org or check out the classifieds in your local free community paper.
Start Your Own Thing : Many people discover so much satisfaction from contributing to others that it becomes important to them to create their own means by which to contribute. For us, this meant starting a website where we documented our journey and helped other people by sharing advice based on our experiences. For other people this could mean any number of things: from starting a community garden to providing work training to inner-city children. Typically, if you’re going to start your own thing, you get there by contributing to local organizations first, determining how you can best add value in the process.
We tend to subscribe to a combination of the two, because they fulfill us in different ways. Donating our time to local non-profit organizations allows us to connect with people face to face, as well as connect with the community as a whole. Our website, on the other hand, allows us to contribute intellectually to a much larger group of people in ways that would not be possible without the Internet.
Wherever you start, you’ll likely need to start somewhere that’s a little out of your comfort zone if you’re not used to contributing in these ways. That’s completely understandable. You’ll want to check out different organizations, different locations with different people, until you find what’s right for you. It also helps to have some variety in the ways in which you help so that your contribution efforts continue to feel fresh and exciting.
Big or Small Equals Satisfaction
The good news about contribution is that no matter how you contribute, you get to feel an immense satisfaction from your contributions—a satisfaction like no other. We started contributing on a small scale, well before we had our website, by seeking out local charity events in which we could participate. We would tag along with whatever group was donating their time and we’d help however we could. After our first couple of events we discovered something unexpected: we felt really, really good about our contribution; contributing beyond ourselves gave us a deep sense of satisfaction we didn’t experience from other aspects of our lives.
Writing Checks Is Not the Answer
We’ve heard some people say things like I don’t have the time to donate my time to charity; I’ll just write a check instead. While donating money to charitable organizations is great (and we certainly encourage you to do so if you can afford it), the satisfaction you get from such donations pales in comparison to actual engaged contribution. The face-to-face interactions, the physical exertion, and the mental activity of being completely immersed in contribution is far more rewarding than writing a check.
Two Types of Positive Experiences
There are two types of positive experiences in life:
Positive experiences you enjoy . For some people this category includes activities like exercising by playing a sport, teaching a child how to ride a bike, snowboarding, going to a friend’s house to watch a football game, and the like. These are often the best and most effortless experiences in your life. They are easy to do because they are exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling. Unfortunately, these types of experiences are rare compared to the second type of positive experiences.
Positive experiences you dislike . For some people this category includes most of the activities that are good for them, activities like eating vegetables, exercising daily, sitting down and doing the hard work, conversing with loved ones each night, growing by taking on new challenges.
Why People Don't Contribute
The
Start Your Own Thing : Many people discover so much satisfaction from contributing to others that it becomes important to them to create their own means by which to contribute. For us, this meant starting a website where we documented our journey and helped other people by sharing advice based on our experiences. For other people this could mean any number of things: from starting a community garden to providing work training to inner-city children. Typically, if you’re going to start your own thing, you get there by contributing to local organizations first, determining how you can best add value in the process.
We tend to subscribe to a combination of the two, because they fulfill us in different ways. Donating our time to local non-profit organizations allows us to connect with people face to face, as well as connect with the community as a whole. Our website, on the other hand, allows us to contribute intellectually to a much larger group of people in ways that would not be possible without the Internet.
Wherever you start, you’ll likely need to start somewhere that’s a little out of your comfort zone if you’re not used to contributing in these ways. That’s completely understandable. You’ll want to check out different organizations, different locations with different people, until you find what’s right for you. It also helps to have some variety in the ways in which you help so that your contribution efforts continue to feel fresh and exciting.
Big or Small Equals Satisfaction
The good news about contribution is that no matter how you contribute, you get to feel an immense satisfaction from your contributions—a satisfaction like no other. We started contributing on a small scale, well before we had our website, by seeking out local charity events in which we could participate. We would tag along with whatever group was donating their time and we’d help however we could. After our first couple of events we discovered something unexpected: we felt really, really good about our contribution; contributing beyond ourselves gave us a deep sense of satisfaction we didn’t experience from other aspects of our lives.
Writing Checks Is Not the Answer
We’ve heard some people say things like I don’t have the time to donate my time to charity; I’ll just write a check instead. While donating money to charitable organizations is great (and we certainly encourage you to do so if you can afford it), the satisfaction you get from such donations pales in comparison to actual engaged contribution. The face-to-face interactions, the physical exertion, and the mental activity of being completely immersed in contribution is far more rewarding than writing a check.
Two Types of Positive Experiences
There are two types of positive experiences in life:
Positive experiences you enjoy . For some people this category includes activities like exercising by playing a sport, teaching a child how to ride a bike, snowboarding, going to a friend’s house to watch a football game, and the like. These are often the best and most effortless experiences in your life. They are easy to do because they are exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling. Unfortunately, these types of experiences are rare compared to the second type of positive experiences.
Positive experiences you dislike . For some people this category includes most of the activities that are good for them, activities like eating vegetables, exercising daily, sitting down and doing the hard work, conversing with loved ones each night, growing by taking on new challenges.
Why People Don't Contribute
The
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