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Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Ep. 75: JOSHUA FIELDS MILBURN on Saying "No" to Almost Everything

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Education, Self-improvement, Technology

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2021

⏱️ 97 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In today's episode, I talk with Joshua Fields Milburn, who along with Ryan Nicodemus make up the powerhouse duo known simply as the Minimalists. You probably know Joshua from the wildly successful Netflix documentaries, MINIMALISM and LESS IS NOW, or the popular podcast he co-hosts with Ryan. The story of how the Minimalists got started is well-told, so I thought I would focus on a natural follow question: what happened next? Starting with when I first met him in 2012, I ask Joshua to walk us through the building of the Minimalist brand -- how they went from an amateur blog to being recognized on the street a dozen times a day. In doing so, we learn a lot about the inspiring, value-driven approach that Joshua and Ryan have taken in their careers, in which living right is more important than making the most money or accusing the most likes. Thanks to Jay Kerstens for the intro music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions, episode 75.

0:21.5

Quick announcements.

0:23.2

So my new book, A World Without Email, comes out tomorrow.

0:27.7

That's Tuesday, March 2nd here in the US.

0:30.3

It's released in the UK on March 4th.

0:34.6

So that's good news in part because it means I don't have to keep talking about it soon during

0:40.8

these quick announcements. Two quick points on the book. First, if you pre-order the book,

0:48.2

you know, again, you have my appreciation, you get access to this email Academy course,

0:53.8

we're going to keep that open all day on March 2nd. So even if you buy the book at any point

0:58.2

on March 2nd, you'll still be able to register your purchase and get access to that email Academy

1:05.2

course. I just finished actually the final video today for the course. It's about 45 minutes

1:10.2

spread over five videos. It really gets to the heart of the matter. Here's the big ideas. Here's

1:14.4

you do the changes. Here's how you adapt the changes. It's the big ideas from the book plus some

1:18.6

extra sort of practical knowledge. Some additional ideas not in the book. We're probably going to,

1:24.8

I think, the way we're going to do this is these videos are really going to be, they're going to

1:28.1

be posted unlisted, but in a shareable way. So there's a little benefit to getting access to

1:33.1

this Academy is if you're trying to convert someone over to the Cal Newport mindset and you're not

1:36.9

sure if they're going to read the whole book, you will probably be able to just surreptitiously

1:42.5

send them one or two of these videos. You think they'll get right to the heart of the matter.

1:46.3

So anyways, if you pre-ordered the book, even if you buy it on March 2nd, just go to calnewport.com

1:52.6

slash pre-order. And as I mentioned last time, honestly, just the biggest bonus I can give you

1:58.0

as my thanks is just useful for the book launch, the more people who buy it in advance. Also,

...

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