Christian Living
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Things That Matter: Overcoming Distraction to Pursue a More Meaningful Life
Discover practical steps you can take today to live a life focused on things that matter, from the bestselling author of The More of Less and The Minimalist Home.
"Things That Matter points the way to free ourselves from the distractions of everyday life so that we can build the lives we seek to create."-Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
Do you want to live a meaningful life-with very few regrets-and make a positive difference in the world? But is culture distracting you from doing so? Perhaps moments, days, and years go by without you stopping to ask yourself, Am I living out my true purpose? Even if that question whispers to you, are you brushing it aside because you don't know what to change in life's busyness?
In Things That Matter, Joshua Becker helps you identify the obstacles-such as fear, technology, money, possessions, and the opinions of others-that keep you from living with intention, and then he provides practical ideas for letting go of those distractions today so you can focus on what matters most. He uses practical exercises and questions, insights from a nationwide survey, and success stories to give you the motivation you need to
• identify the pursuits that matter most to you
• align your dreams with your daily priorities
• recognize how money and possessions keep you from happiness
• become aware of how others' opinions of you influence your choices
• embrace what you're truly passionate about instead of planning that next escape
• figure out what to do with all those emails, notifications, and pings
• let go of past mistakes and debilitating habits
Things That Matter is a book about living well. It's about overcoming the chatter of a world focused on all the wrong things. It's about rethinking the common assumptions of today to find satisfaction and fulfillment tomorrow.
How do we get to the end of our lives with minimal regrets? We set aside lesser pursuits to seek lasting meaning. And we discover the joy of doing it every day.
"Things That Matter points the way to free ourselves from the distractions of everyday life so that we can build the lives we seek to create."-Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
Do you want to live a meaningful life-with very few regrets-and make a positive difference in the world? But is culture distracting you from doing so? Perhaps moments, days, and years go by without you stopping to ask yourself, Am I living out my true purpose? Even if that question whispers to you, are you brushing it aside because you don't know what to change in life's busyness?
In Things That Matter, Joshua Becker helps you identify the obstacles-such as fear, technology, money, possessions, and the opinions of others-that keep you from living with intention, and then he provides practical ideas for letting go of those distractions today so you can focus on what matters most. He uses practical exercises and questions, insights from a nationwide survey, and success stories to give you the motivation you need to
• identify the pursuits that matter most to you
• align your dreams with your daily priorities
• recognize how money and possessions keep you from happiness
• become aware of how others' opinions of you influence your choices
• embrace what you're truly passionate about instead of planning that next escape
• figure out what to do with all those emails, notifications, and pings
• let go of past mistakes and debilitating habits
Things That Matter is a book about living well. It's about overcoming the chatter of a world focused on all the wrong things. It's about rethinking the common assumptions of today to find satisfaction and fulfillment tomorrow.
How do we get to the end of our lives with minimal regrets? We set aside lesser pursuits to seek lasting meaning. And we discover the joy of doing it every day.
Editorial Reviews
"The thought-provoking insights and stories inside Things That Matter will help you live your one precious life with more presence, purpose, and peace."-Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama
"Things That Matter is a must-read to recenter yourself and filter out the distractions of the world." -Chris Norton, motivational keynote speaker featured in 7 Yards
"Reminding us that chasing fame and fortune squanders our precious life energy, Joshua offers a compassionate guide to finding what really matters." -Robert J.Waldinger,MD, professor of psychiatryatHarvard Medical School
"Joshua shares his insight from the perspective of a caring friend who wants to help you move beyond the regret-and-avoidance cycle into purposeful living."-Dawn Madsen, The Minimal Momandauthor ofDeclutter Your Home in 15 Minutes a Day
"This delightful guide full of impactful and practical information will lead you through many of the roadblocks you may be facing."-Ronald L. Banks,speaker, writer, and coach
"Things That Matter is required reading for anyone seeking practical guidance on how to confront life's many distractions and-more importantly-how to overcome them."-Christine Platt,author of The Afrominimalist's Guide to Living with Less
"By removing the distractions outlined in this book, we are able to clear the clutter and create space to build life balance, personal growth, and purpose."-Dave Braun and Troy Amdahl(The OolaGuys),experts onwork-life balance
"This book's siren call-that we should aim to be generous, not wealthy, and get dirt under our fingernails by serv...
"Things That Matter is a must-read to recenter yourself and filter out the distractions of the world." -Chris Norton, motivational keynote speaker featured in 7 Yards
"Reminding us that chasing fame and fortune squanders our precious life energy, Joshua offers a compassionate guide to finding what really matters." -Robert J.Waldinger,MD, professor of psychiatryatHarvard Medical School
"Joshua shares his insight from the perspective of a caring friend who wants to help you move beyond the regret-and-avoidance cycle into purposeful living."-Dawn Madsen, The Minimal Momandauthor ofDeclutter Your Home in 15 Minutes a Day
"This delightful guide full of impactful and practical information will lead you through many of the roadblocks you may be facing."-Ronald L. Banks,speaker, writer, and coach
"Things That Matter is required reading for anyone seeking practical guidance on how to confront life's many distractions and-more importantly-how to overcome them."-Christine Platt,author of The Afrominimalist's Guide to Living with Less
"By removing the distractions outlined in this book, we are able to clear the clutter and create space to build life balance, personal growth, and purpose."-Dave Braun and Troy Amdahl(The OolaGuys),experts onwork-life balance
"This book's siren call-that we should aim to be generous, not wealthy, and get dirt under our fingernails by serv...
Readers Top Reviews
Kindle Maryse
Joshua's latest book goes much beyond his previous works. You realize that minimalism only a part of what he is conveying in Things That Matter. Minimalism is only the beginning. The journey that he wants you to undertake will teach you what is essential not only in your life, but also of others as well.
Joan N.Kindle Ma
If you were to die today, what one thing would you be most disappointed you did not complete? (123/3445) Do you want to get off the easy path of the ordinary and immediate and get onto “a more intentional path that leads to a life that satisfies, and resonates beyond your own mortal existence – a life lived well”? (95/3445) Becker has given us a good book to help us live a life that matters, with fewer regrets. He writes about finding our purpose, including an exercise investigating our passions and abilities, combining them with meeting the needs of others. He explores the obstacles to a life that matters and helps with strategies to remove them. I like his emphasis on self examination, helping us identify things that keep us from being our best self. I like his reminding us, “Selfless living results in greater overall life satisfaction.” (1120/3445) Becker is passionate about minimalism and it shows in this book. He helps us see how having less stuff really allows us to go after our highest pursuits. He encourages us to be contributing people rather than consuming ones. He suggests we share our journey with others, not keeping hidden our insights to a better life. This is a good book to help us live life with greater intention and fewer regrets. It's not easy. It may take a technology detox. It may take serious self examination regarding time, focus, and energy wasters. If you are willing to make the best of your remaining years, this book will help you get on the right path. I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
AngelaAngelaJoan
“If you were to die today, what one thing (or few things) would you be most disappointed that you weren’t able to complete?” Within the first few pages of Things that Matter, I saw this question and it stopped me in my tracks. Talk about putting things in perspective. It really made me think and reminded me what is important in my own life and how much time and energy I am putting (or not putting) towards it. If you're looking to remove distractions and put first things first, I highly recommend this book by Joshua Becker of becoming minimalist.
Ginger HudockAnge
Joshua Becker has been writing about minimalism and intentional living for over 10 years. He has written on his blog as well as several previous books and I have followed him most of that time. This book expands beyond minimizing possessions to the important topic of living an intentional, meaningful life. He shows that minimizing possessions is a means, not an end in itself. He also writes about the distractions of life, such as leisure, possessions, money, technology and happiness, which can hinder people from pursuing their higher purposes. The book has chapters that take a deep dive in each of these areas to help the reader reduce some of these distractions. The final chapter is encouragement to discover the meaning and purpose in the reader's live and then pursue that. As someone who is on the path to living in a simpler way and trying to find more meaning in life, I very much enjoyed this book. I recommend it to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed in any aspect of their lives for good ideas of how to reduce is and do more of what they want. I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
A Life with No Regrets
Beginning with a View to the End
We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it. . . .
Life is long if you know how to use it.
-Seneca, "On the Shortness of Life"
Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who spent several years caring for people during the last weeks of their lives, routinely asked her patients about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently if they could. Later she posted an article called "Regrets of the Dying" about her findings. In it, Ware wrote of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gained at the end of their lives as well as the common themes that surfaced again and again during these conversations. This article has been shared millions of times online and was turned into a book in 2012.
It's a fascinating premise, isn't it? What do people most regret about their lives?
I'm not going to include the list here. Instead, I want to ask you: How badly do you want to know what's on it? How tempted are you to google the article right now so you can see the top regrets that people have at the end of their lives? And more importantly, where does that desire to know the regrets of the dying come from? Isn't the strength of your interest proof that you're concerned that your life might be wasted?
(Now that I've got you thinking about that, if you still want to know what the list is, you can turn to the first endnote at the back of this book and find the list there.)
Why did a list about other people's dying regrets go viral? It's because we all know that's going to be us nearing death someday and we don't want to have regrets when we get there. And also, I believe, because we're already starting to have regrets about our life choices.
For people in middle age, and even for people in young adulthood, it's common to have nagging anxiety that we're squandering our time and resources on things that are not important while not focusing enough on the things and people that really do matter. And we can easily imagine that we'll be sorry about it someday if we don't make a change. Yet on and on we go, putting the inconsequential ahead of the imperative.
On and on we go, putting the inconsequential ahead of the imperative.
Something's got to change here. And there's only so much time ahead in each of our lives to make the change.
We're always going to make some foolish decisions along the way that we wish we could take back. So it's probably not possible to live a life with absolutely no regrets. But it most certainly is possible to make changes that take us off the easy path of immersing ourselves in the ordinary and the immediate and put us onto a more intentional path that leads to a life that satisfies and resonates beyond our own mortal existence-a life well lived. Presented with the choice, don't we all want a life of fewer regrets and more fulfillment?
One day, not long ago, I was forced to come face to face with something I just had to do before I died. And I want to tell you about it now, because it's related to you.
One Thing
In October 2019, I sat with a number of team members from my staff at a conference called Start Finishing, at the K'é Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona. Charlie Gilkey, author of a book with the same title as the conference, was our presenter for the day. Charlie told us he wanted us to be specific in applying the principles of the workshop to the most important work in our lives. To help us determine what that work was, he said, "Close your eyes and answer this question: If you were to die today, what is the one project you would be most disappointed that you weren't able to complete?"
After asking ourselves the question, we shared around the table what work we saw as most important. The young woman next to me mentioned an art project she wanted to complete. A mother of two spoke about her desire to prepare her two teenagers for life. For me, without hesitation, I answered Charlie's question this way: "If I were to die today, I would be most disappointed that I never got a chance to write that book I've been thinking about for a long time now."
I bet you can guess what book it was.
It's the one you're reading right now.
For a while, I'd been thinking about writing a book that takes the principles of minimalism I am known for and paints a bigger picture of how distractions keep us from meaning, purpose, and satisfaction. And at that very moment in the Learning Lab, writing Things That Matter became my highest-pr...
A Life with No Regrets
Beginning with a View to the End
We are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it. . . .
Life is long if you know how to use it.
-Seneca, "On the Shortness of Life"
Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who spent several years caring for people during the last weeks of their lives, routinely asked her patients about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently if they could. Later she posted an article called "Regrets of the Dying" about her findings. In it, Ware wrote of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gained at the end of their lives as well as the common themes that surfaced again and again during these conversations. This article has been shared millions of times online and was turned into a book in 2012.
It's a fascinating premise, isn't it? What do people most regret about their lives?
I'm not going to include the list here. Instead, I want to ask you: How badly do you want to know what's on it? How tempted are you to google the article right now so you can see the top regrets that people have at the end of their lives? And more importantly, where does that desire to know the regrets of the dying come from? Isn't the strength of your interest proof that you're concerned that your life might be wasted?
(Now that I've got you thinking about that, if you still want to know what the list is, you can turn to the first endnote at the back of this book and find the list there.)
Why did a list about other people's dying regrets go viral? It's because we all know that's going to be us nearing death someday and we don't want to have regrets when we get there. And also, I believe, because we're already starting to have regrets about our life choices.
For people in middle age, and even for people in young adulthood, it's common to have nagging anxiety that we're squandering our time and resources on things that are not important while not focusing enough on the things and people that really do matter. And we can easily imagine that we'll be sorry about it someday if we don't make a change. Yet on and on we go, putting the inconsequential ahead of the imperative.
On and on we go, putting the inconsequential ahead of the imperative.
Something's got to change here. And there's only so much time ahead in each of our lives to make the change.
We're always going to make some foolish decisions along the way that we wish we could take back. So it's probably not possible to live a life with absolutely no regrets. But it most certainly is possible to make changes that take us off the easy path of immersing ourselves in the ordinary and the immediate and put us onto a more intentional path that leads to a life that satisfies and resonates beyond our own mortal existence-a life well lived. Presented with the choice, don't we all want a life of fewer regrets and more fulfillment?
One day, not long ago, I was forced to come face to face with something I just had to do before I died. And I want to tell you about it now, because it's related to you.
One Thing
In October 2019, I sat with a number of team members from my staff at a conference called Start Finishing, at the K'é Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona. Charlie Gilkey, author of a book with the same title as the conference, was our presenter for the day. Charlie told us he wanted us to be specific in applying the principles of the workshop to the most important work in our lives. To help us determine what that work was, he said, "Close your eyes and answer this question: If you were to die today, what is the one project you would be most disappointed that you weren't able to complete?"
After asking ourselves the question, we shared around the table what work we saw as most important. The young woman next to me mentioned an art project she wanted to complete. A mother of two spoke about her desire to prepare her two teenagers for life. For me, without hesitation, I answered Charlie's question this way: "If I were to die today, I would be most disappointed that I never got a chance to write that book I've been thinking about for a long time now."
I bet you can guess what book it was.
It's the one you're reading right now.
For a while, I'd been thinking about writing a book that takes the principles of minimalism I am known for and paints a bigger picture of how distractions keep us from meaning, purpose, and satisfaction. And at that very moment in the Learning Lab, writing Things That Matter became my highest-pr...
