Things That Matter: by Joshua Becker
Overcoming distraction to pursue a more meaningful life.
From the cover:
Undoubtedly, 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?
Why should you read this book?
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.
Whether it’s rethinking your pursuit of money, changing your views on work and retirement, or rejecting the labels you have given yourself, there are practical steps you can take today to live a life focused on things that matter.
Excerpts:
“Living a life of purpose is important not just to me or to a few others like me. It’s important to all of us, because we all have at least one thing (probably more) that we feel we just have to do before we die. And I’m not talking about bucket-list items like “ride in a hot-air-ballon.” I’m talking about living in a way that makes a difference. I’m talking about knowing our lives matter and make an impact on the world in a positive way, that our existences mean something.”
“Fear and desire are closely related emotions. For example, if you fear hunger, you will desire wealth. If you fear change, you will desire stability. If you fear loneliness, you will desire relationship. If you fear failure, you will desire comfort. And the list continues.
Not every fear is wrong, but every fear does result in an opposing desire. We can never eliminate fear, but we can we can prioritize fears so that our fear of not living up to our fullest potential outweighs whatever fears keep us from taking action and making a difference. That’s courage: action taken not in the absence of fear but in the face of fear.”
“People with money tend to be more isolated and lonelier than others…They can emphasize individualism and self-reliance at the expense of community, and they can exhibit a lack of empathy, a sense of entitlement, and arrogance…
It is true that having more money isn’t the secret to having more happiness. It doesn’t solve all our problems. In many cases, it brings new ones. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one.” Perhaps the greatest danger of wealth is that nobody appreciates when they achieve it…they continually desire more. That’s why people in the top 10 percent of the world can still think they don’t have enough.”
“Today, much of our leisure activity has migrated out of the real world and onto our devices, making the distraction of the trivial ever present…
We are fed messages relentless from advertisements everywhere we look. And we are bombarded with a twenty-four-hour news cycle.
Each bit of information enters our minds with one goal: to gain control of our attention and resources. At the same time, it pulls our attention from the work right in front of us. Equally important, tech distractions keep us from realizing the life we truly desire to live…and yet these distractions go virtually unnoticed…
Technology’s existential threat to society mirrors its existential threat to the kind of people we want to become. I’m concerned that when we give in to it too much, living unintentional lives distracted by our devices, we are going to get to our final days and wonder why we wasted so much time.”
About the Author
Joshua Becker is an American author, writer, and philanthropist. Becker has written four books on minimalism and intentional living.