Five years ago a 27-year-old Joshua Fields Millburn perched himself atop the corporate ladder with a six-figure salary. As the youngest director of his Cincinnati-based company in its 140-year history, Millburn acquired all of the trappings of success. He had the big house, the expensive car, the massive amounts of debt, the stress and discontent. Millburn really had it all.
"I was working 60, 70, sometimes even 80 hours in a week, and I got to a point in my life where I didn't really know what was important," Millburn says.
In October 2009 Millburn's mother died and his marriage ended -- to say his life changed is an understatement. But Millburn's perspective shifted when he discovered minimalism just a month after, and with it, he brought meaning back to his life.