Read our free ebook: 16 Rules for Living with Less
The Minimalists
The Minimalists are Emmy-nominated Netflix stars and New York Times–bestselling authors Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. Alongside their podcast cohost, T.K. Coleman, this simple-living trio helps millions of people eliminate clutter and live meaningfully with less. Learn More.

Adding Value

Contributing to other people—adding value to their lives—is the only way to gain another person’s buy-in, and it’s one of the few ways to get others to believe in you. For obvious reasons, this is important in many facets of life: leadership, friendships, relationships, connecting with new people, and especially with your family.

If we want people to respect us, then we must add value to their lives—otherwise we’re just dead weight.

Thankfully, there are many ways we can add value…

Create something someone can use
Inspire someone to take action
Lend a helping hand
Be a shoulder to cry on
Show someone how to do something
Show someone a better way
Provide a new perspective
Lead by example
Listen more
Give your full attention
Just be there for someone
Love them

No matter how we contribute, it’s important to add value in an authentic way—without an ulterior motive—genuine and helpful and unassuming.

We’ve all benefited from someone’s contribution in the past: The two of us started this website last year (2010) because we were inspired and encouraged by the value created by several people. Those people added value to our lives—enough value that we were compelled to change and improve our own circumstances—and for that we are eternally grateful.

Thus, we find it important to pay it forward by adding value to other people whenever we can; in fact, you’re reading this because we created this site to add value to other people, to add value to your lives. We also donate our time to charity. We listen more than we talk. We care about other people. And we love.

Who adds value to your life? How do you add value to others?