Why Decluttering Your Home Can Calm Your Mind & Improve Your Mental Wellbeing with Joshua Fields Millburn #614
Joshua Fields Millburn, co-founder of The Minimalists, discusses how external clutter often reflects internal chaos. He presents minimalism as a practical framework for intentional living, offering rules like the 30-day game and the 90-90 rule to simplify life and make space for what truly matters.
Deep Dive Analysis
17 Topic Outline
Joshua Millburn's Personal Journey to Minimalism
External Clutter as a Reflection of Internal State
Understanding Consumption vs. Harmful Consumerism
The Problem with the Pursuit of Happiness
Identity Clutter and Societal Definitions of Success
The Disease of More and Its Health Implications
Minimalism as Intentional Living, Not Deprivation
The True Cost of Possessions Beyond the Price Tag
Navigating Advertising and Impulse Buying
The Nature of Desire and Object A
Minimalism as a Continuous Journey of Self-Discovery
Overcoming the Need to Impress Other People
The Spontaneous Combustion and Wouldn't Repurchase Rules
The 30-Day Minimalism Game for Decluttering
The No Junk Rule for Possessions
Minimalism's Impact on Relationships and Health
The Core Question: How Might Your Life Be Better with Less?
6 Key Concepts
Consumerism
Consumerism is the ideology that acquiring more, typically more material possessions, is going to make you happy. It operates under the belief that happiness is embedded in external things, but this often leads to a widening void and tremendous debt rather than lasting fulfillment.
Pleonexia
An ancient Greek word that loosely translates to the greed for things that can be counted. This includes obsessions with measurable metrics like square footage of a house, number of possessions, money in a bank account, or digital metrics like followers and likes.
Identity Clutter
This occurs when individuals cling to things, roles, or labels not because they need them, but because they are afraid of who they will be without them. It's often a product of the ego or false self, where one's sense of self is heavily tied to external achievements or possessions.
Fool's Price
A term for sale prices, suggesting that buying something primarily because it's discounted is often a misguided decision. The impulse to 'save' money on a sale item can lead to purchasing things that don't truly add value, when saving 100% by simply leaving the item at the store is the more intentional choice.
Object A (Lacan)
A philosophical concept referring to the thing an individual desires more than anything else, for which they would be willing to 'set their life on fire' to obtain. The paradox is that once this object of desire is acquired, it often extinguishes the desire itself, leading to the realization that it wasn't what was truly wanted.
Addition Through Subtraction
The core philosophy of minimalism, which posits that the goal is not merely to have less for the sake of it, but to intentionally remove distractions, excess, and unfulfilling elements from one's life. This process creates space for what truly matters most, such as time, attention, presence, and meaningful experiences.
7 Questions Answered
People often try to fill an internal void or emptiness with material possessions, mistakenly believing that acquiring more will bring happiness. This misunderstanding of consumption, driven by consumerism, often leads to debt, overwhelm, and ultimately, dissatisfaction.
Healthy consumption involves acquiring necessary items, while harmful consumerism is the ideology that happiness comes from continually acquiring more material goods. The latter suggests externalities hold happiness, but it actually covers up pre-existing internal happiness.
External clutter is often a physical manifestation of internal mental, emotional, or spiritual clutter. While practical tools can help with external decluttering, the underlying emotional stories attached to items are crucial. Addressing either can initiate change, as they are deeply interconnected.
Buying items primarily because they are on sale can lead to impulse purchases of things that don't truly add value to one's life. The real saving is 100% if the item is left at the store, avoiding not only the cost but also the associated stress and clutter.
YouTube Premium eliminates advertisements, which are viewed as interruptions and a type of clutter. For a minimalist, opting out of the constant bombardment of ads helps reduce mental noise and allows for more intentional and focused consumption of content.
Minimalism creates more time, attention, presence, energy, and freedom by shedding distractions and harmful elements. This allows individuals to be more present in their relationships and make healthier lifestyle choices, focusing on removing what is detrimental rather than adding more.
The most important starting point is to ask, 'How might your life be better with less?' Understanding the 'why' behind decluttering is crucial, as merely following tips without a clear intention will likely lead to re-cluttering over time.
23 Actionable Insights
1. Ask: How Life is Better with Less
Start your journey by asking yourself, “How might your life be better with less?” Understanding your personal “why” is crucial, as superficial decluttering without this insight will likely be temporary and ineffective.
2. Love People, Use Things
Adopt the core philosophy to “love people and use things,” never the opposite. This principle clarifies that relationships should be about presence and unconditional connection, while possessions are tools to enhance life, not sources of love or identity.
3. Embrace Minimalism for Intentional Living
Adopt minimalism as a practical framework for living with greater clarity and intention, rather than just a trend or aesthetic. This approach helps create space for what truly matters, improving health and relationships through increased time, attention, and presence.
4. External Clutter, Internal Reflection
Recognize that external clutter, such as an abundance of physical possessions, is often an outward manifestation of internal chaos, including mental, emotional, spiritual, career, relationship, or identity clutter. Understanding this connection is a vital first step towards simplifying your life.
5. Shift to Contribution Over Consumption
Reorient your life’s focus from endless consumption to meaningful contribution. This aligns with a more harmonious and valuable human existence, where creative acts and consumption are intertwined with giving back to the community.
6. Identify by Verbs, Not Nouns
Focus on what you do (the verb) rather than who you are as a fixed label (the noun). Identities can be heavy and restrictive; dropping a fixed identity allows for personal growth and new experiences, such as “writing” instead of “being a writer.”
7. Drop Unserving Identities
Scrutinize and consciously set down identities that no longer serve you, even if they have been a long-standing part of your self-perception. Holding onto an identity that doesn’t align with your current actions or desires can be a heavy burden, preventing personal growth.
8. Embrace Desire, Not Just Acquisition
Understand that the act of desiring can be a valuable part of the human experience, and that acquiring the object of desire can sometimes extinguish that desire itself. This perspective encourages appreciating the process of wanting and finding connection in shared human experiences, rather than solely seeking external fulfillment.
9. Question How Much Is Enough
Regularly ask yourself, “How much is enough?” across various aspects of your life, including money, relationships, status, and possessions. This self-inquiry can reveal that “enough” is often a much smaller number than you initially perceive, leading to greater contentment.
10. Sale Price is Fool’s Price
Do not let the impulse of a sale price dictate your purchasing decisions. You save 100% by leaving an item at the store, and money should be a passenger in your decisions, not the driver, to avoid unnecessary acquisitions.
11. Proactive Decluttering: Leave Items
The most effective way to declutter is to prevent items from entering your home in the first place. The most sustainable product is the one you leave at the store, avoiding future accumulation and waste.
12. Recognize the True Cost
Consider all the hidden costs associated with an item beyond its initial price tag, such as the expense of storing, cleaning, maintaining, protecting, or worrying about it. These invisible costs contribute to mental clutter, stress, and emotional debt.
13. Set Intentional Boundaries
Establish personal boundaries or “rules” to guide your behavior and help you live more intentionally in a world of constant marketing and overstimulation. These boundaries define what you are willing to accept and prevent falling into consumerist traps.
14. The No Junk Rule
Categorize every possession you own into one of three piles: essential, non-essential (value-adding), or junk. Give yourself explicit permission to let go of anything in the “junk” pile, which includes items you think you like but no longer add value.
15. The 30-Day Minimalism Game
Partner with someone and for 30 days, get rid of one item on day 1, two items on day 2, and so on, with the goal of letting go of approximately 500 items by the end of the month. This gamified approach makes decluttering fun, achievable, and provides accountability.
16. The 90-90 Rule for Clothes
For any piece of clothing, ask: “Have I worn this in the last 90 days?” If not, then ask: “Will I wear it in the next 90 days?” If the answer to both is no, give yourself permission to let it go, helping you intentionally declutter your wardrobe.
17. The 30-30 Rule for Purchases
For anything that costs more than $30, wait at least 30 hours before making the purchase. This delay helps prevent impulse buying, allowing you to consider the item’s true value and associated costs with more intention.
18. The Spontaneous Combustion Rule
For any item, ask yourself: “If this item were to spontaneously combust right now, would I feel relieved?” If your emotional response is relief, it’s a clear sign that you are ready to let go of that item, as it likely causes stress or burden.
19. The Wouldn’t Repurchase Rule
For any item you own, ask: “If this item were to disappear right now, would I buy it again or request it again?” If the answer is no, it indicates the item no longer holds sufficient value to warrant keeping, providing an intellectual basis for decluttering.
20. Avoid Holding Onto Unused Items
Recognize that holding onto things you don’t use is a selfish act, as it deprives someone else who could benefit from them. Letting go of such items prevents clinging due to a scarcity mindset and allows for forward movement.
21. Ask About Passions, Not Jobs
When meeting new people, shift from asking “What do you do?” to “What are you passionate about?” This encourages genuine connection and reveals what truly excites someone, rather than leading to socioeconomic comparison.
22. Avoid Instagram Ad Purchases
Set a personal boundary to avoid buying anything directly from an Instagram advertisement. These ads are specifically designed to trigger impulse consumerist behaviors, often leading to purchases of items you don’t genuinely need.
23. Invest in Ad-Free Experiences
Consider investing in services like YouTube Premium to remove advertisements. Ads are a form of clutter and interruption; opting out of them whenever possible reduces chaos and allows for greater focus and intentional consumption of content.
7 Key Quotes
Our material possessions is the easiest place to see it because our stuff, that's a physical manifestation of whatever's going on inside us.
Joshua Fields Millburn
The problem isn't that we're too materialist. The problem is we're not materialist enough.
Juliette Shore (quoted by Joshua Fields Millburn)
Money is a drunk driver.
Joshua Fields Millburn
The objects of our desire become the objects of our discontent after they're acquired.
Joshua Fields Millburn
The coolest person you can think of... they're not trying to impress you, and yet they're the most impressive people to you, but it's precisely because they don't care about whether or not you're impressed by them.
Joshua Fields Millburn
Pain is a request for change.
Kelly Starr (quoted by Joshua Fields Millburn)
Love people and use things, because the opposite never works.
Joshua Fields Millburn
6 Protocols
90-90 Rule for Clothes (Seasonality Rule)
Joshua Fields Millburn- Pick up any piece of clothing.
- Ask: 'Have I worn this in the last 90 days?' If no, proceed.
- Ask: 'Will I wear it in the next 90 days?' If the honest answer is no, give yourself permission to let it go.
Wait For Rule (30-30 Rule)
Joshua Fields Millburn- For anything that costs more than $30, wait at least 30 hours before buying it.
- This pause helps to avoid impulse purchases and allows time to consider the true costs and value beyond the initial price tag.
30-Day Minimalism Game
Joshua Fields Millburn- Partner with someone (a friend, family member, or coworker) who also wants to simplify.
- On day 1, get rid of 1 item.
- On day 2, get rid of 2 items.
- Continue this pattern for 30 days (e.g., on day 15, get rid of 15 items).
- The person who goes longest wins, or if both make it to the end of the month, both win, having gotten rid of approximately 500 items.
No Junk Rule
Joshua Fields Millburn- Categorize every item you own into one of three piles: essential, non-essential (value-adding), or junk.
- Essentials are necessary for living (e.g., shelter, transportation, vocation, basic clothing).
- Non-essentials are things that add tremendous value to your life, even if not strictly necessary (e.g., a couch, coffee table).
- Junk includes things you like (or think you should like) but no longer add value, or are held 'just in case' without regular use.
- Give yourself permission to let go of anything categorized as junk.
Spontaneous Combustion Rule
Joshua Fields Millburn- Consider any item you own (material possession, digital file, or even abstract concepts like careers or relationships).
- Ask yourself: 'If this item were to spontaneously combust right now, would I feel relieved?'
- If the emotional response is relief, it's a strong sign that you want to let it go.
Wouldn't Repurchase Rule
Joshua Fields Millburn- Consider any item you own.
- Ask yourself: 'If this item were to disappear right now, would I buy it again or request it again?'
- If the answer is no, then consider letting the item go, as it likely no longer adds significant value to your life.