Interviewing The Minimalists

The Minimalists are two guys who recently set out to change their lives. Read more of their story here.

1. Who are you?

We would love to joking respond with a pithy philosophical platitude, but we'll resist. The honest answer is we are a couple of guys who want to help people live a more meaningful life, a life that's filled with happiness, passion, and freedom.

2. In the most succinct way possible, tell me - what does everyone reading this need to do right now?

Make a "must" list. Then discover their passions in life and mission in life. We go into detail on this things in the "Our Journey" portion of our site.

3. Why would I want to be a minimalist? Will minimalism change my life?

You would want to become a minimalist if you are unhappy with your life, if you feel like your life needs more meaning, or if you want to focus on the things you are passionate about. Minimalism allows you strip away the excess stuff in your life so you can focus on what's important. Yes, minimalism can change your life, but realize it is just a tool to make the change. You must still take action to apply its concepts to your life.

4. Will minimalism help me become free from fear?

Yes, we wrote about that here: http://themins.com/fear

5. Explain the whole "packing and then unpacking thing".

Many people are visual or kinesthetic learners (even if you're an auditory learner, you still are able to learn in these other ways). We took an approach to minimalism that allowed us to touch and see what was important to us (viz. we packed up all our stuff as if we were moving, then unpacked only the things we needed over the next week, and then we sold, donated, or trashed the remaining items). We did this over 21 days to show people that they could do it too (although it's not easy to do in 21 days, but it's well worth it).

6. How does Tyler Durden inform your work?

Tyler Durden is an interesting character (as are many of Chuck Palahniuk's characters). While Tyler is not a good person (or perhaps not a person at all) he has some great minimalist quotes that can really touch your nerve endings. We have a list of them here: http://themins.com/fc

7. What are you passionate about?

A lot of things, but if we each had to pick one, Joshua would pick writing (specifically fiction writing) and Ryan would pick helping people (specifically helping people who need and want help), and that's the reason The Minimalists project was ideal for us.

8. To you, what does it mean to be human? What IS humanity, fundamentally?

We believe that the meaning of life (i.e., human life) is growth and contribution (viz. growth as an individual and contributing to others in a meaningful way).