#837: How to Simplify Your Life in 2026 — New Tips from Derek Sivers, Seth Godin, and Martha Beck

We feel constantly pressed for time. We try to do too much, yet when someone makes a request, we say yes without thinking. We feel we have to do it all. But because we’re going in so many directions, we make little progress in any of them. Yet most of these activities are trivial. As Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism puts it, we’re majoring in minor activities.

The way out of this trap is to practice essentialism: “do less but better.” McKeown explains how you can distinguish the vital few from the trivial, then eliminate the nonessentials and make your optimum contribution in your life and work.

What if all the possessions you’ve accumulated are holding you back from a life of focus, purpose, and fulfillment? Tokyo-based editor and publisher Fumio Sasaki says they do. In his journey toward a minimalist lifestyle, he threw away nearly all of his belongings, keeping only the bare necessities, and found that it transformed not only his personal space, but his entire life.

In Goodbye, Things, Sasaki shares his story, arguing that you can be happier, freer, and more focused by eliminating clutter. He presents minimalism as more than simply an organizational strategy, but an entire approach to life that reshapes how you use your time and form relationships. He also shares practical advice for choosing what to discard and overcoming the emotional challenges of letting things go once and for all. Throughout, our commentary explores the psychological principles behind Sasaki’s ideas and compares his recommendations with those of other minimalists and decluttering experts.

In his epic 707-page Tools of Titans, Tim Ferriss shares the habits and beliefs of 101 people at the top of their game, including tech investors like Chris Sacca and Peter Thiel, entrepreneurs like LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Evernote’s Phil Libin, superhuman athletes like Amelia Boone and Wim Hof, media figures like Edward Norton and Whitney Cummings, and more.

These are the principles that successful people use to achieve audacious goals, improve themselves, and be happier. The premise: if you can apply the lessons from this book, you can be more effective.

In his epic 707-page Tools of Titans, Tim Ferriss shares the habits and beliefs of 101 people at the top of their game, including tech investors like Chris Sacca and Peter Thiel, entrepreneurs like LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Evernote’s Phil Libin, superhuman athletes like Amelia Boone and Wim Hof, media figures like Edward Norton and Whitney Cummings, and more.

These are the principles that successful people use to achieve audacious goals, improve themselves, and be happier. The premise: if you can apply the lessons from this book, you can be more effective.

Many people want to retire as millionaires so that they have the time and money to travel, buy luxury cars and homes, or visit with their friends and families. However, you don’t need to be a millionaire to do all these things. You don’t even need to retire.

In The 4-Hour Workweek, entrepreneur, consultant, and life coach Tim Ferriss explains how anyone can live the retired millionaire lifestyle by building their own business, automating it, and then collecting the income while they go off to live their dreams. In this guide, we’ll describe each of Ferriss’s steps to creating this life. We’ll also examine why some of his recommendations are particularly effective and explore alternatives and counterarguments to other suggestions.

The way we think about and measure productivity is all wrong, according to Cal Newport. In Slow Productivity, Newport argues for a new definition of productivity—one that prioritizes outcomes and deep focus over frenetic busyness. Slow productivity is designed for anyone with ambitious goals who doesn’t want to compromise their time or mental health.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Newport argues that traditional definitions of productivity are flawed and why he thinks “slow productivity” is an effective and sustainable model that will increase your professional success and improve your work-life balance. We’ll introduce Newport’s key principles of slow productivity and provide practical strategies for how to implement them in your personal and professional life. We’ll also supplement Newport’s advice with insight from other productivity experts like Stephen Covey, David Allen, and Laura Vanderkam.

Everyone wants to make a living doing meaningful work that aligns with their values and makes them happy. However, many people feel stuck in the wrong life doing unfulfilling work. They hope that once they find their “passion,” everything will magically fall into place. According to Stanford professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, this attitude hinges on the belief that there’s only one path to a meaningful life and limits your ability to experience joy and satisfaction.

In Designing Your Life, Burnett and Evans argue there are multiple paths to career and life happiness—learning how to recognize and evaluate these paths increases your chances of experiencing satisfaction. They share principles from their popular life design courses to help you explore multiple paths and purposefully plan a balanced life in which you can truly thrive.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the authors’ methods for purposefully planning a happy and meaningful life. We’ll also expand on their ideas with research and practical advice from other self-help practitioners.

Does something in your life feel “off"? If so, you may not be living in alignment with your true self. In The Way of Integrity, Martha Beck seeks to connect readers with their inner truths and lead them to a life of happiness, well-being, and spiritual growth. She argues that each of us has a deep, personal nature that tells us who we want to be and how we want to live. However, we lose touch with this nature as we internalize messages from our culture that tell us to chase things we don't really want.

Beck is a life coach and best-selling author. She draws her lessons from her own struggles and the lives of her clients. In this guide, you'll learn about the root causes of chronic unhappiness, how to challenge your false beliefs, and why changing yourself can also change the world around you. Along the way, we compare Beck’s advice to psychological research and extend her strategies with tips from other self-help authors.