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This video is sponsored by Squarespace.

More on them in a little bit. So, I've

been a minimalist for over 14 years, and

I really don't think it's ever been as

difficult as it is now. Back when I

first found out about it, it felt like

swimming against a strong current.

Today, it feels like standing in front

of a fire hose. Companies have

fine-tuned the levers to manipulate you

into behaviors that suit their best

interest. From social media to

advertising, it doesn't just influence

the stuff you buy. jewelries, cars,

shoes, the new iPhone, a horse. It

changes your lifestyle, your

personality, your values, and your

selfworth. And now with AI, that

influence is getting faster, smarter,

and more invisible. Yeah. I

The result, a world that makes it

incredibly difficult to live simply. A

world that makes it hard to be content

with what you have or even to feel like

you're enough. And because of that, I

think minimalism is more relevant today

than ever before. So, I've called myself

a minimalist through many different

stages of my life. From my early single

days living in my parents' basement.

Basically, I'm just getting rid of all

my stuff to meeting moving in with, and

eventually marrying Natalie, who first

thought minimalism was a cult. Oh, yeah.

I thought it was a cult. Living in New

York, everyone has their weird quirk.

So, I'm like, I guess he's a minimalist.

to moving to Australia, buying our first

home, and having our first child. I

think each of these stages has taught me

something new about myself, what

minimalism looks like for me, and the

best way for me to live simply in a

world that continues to value more.

Really, one of the earliest lessons I

learned about minimalism is that the

label minimalist itself is surprisingly

helpful. So, when I say that I'm a

minimalist, I'm not just virtue

signaling that I'm better than you

because I only own one t-shirt, although

I am. I'm reinforcing a story about who

I am and who I want to be. So for me,

being a minimalist means I aim to spend

less time shopping, less time on

screens, less time thinking about what I

don't have, and more time appreciating

what I do have. Minimalism is a reminder

that I have enough and I am enough. And

it makes me so much less susceptible to

messages that try to convince me

otherwise. Gravity. This is about the

power of identity, which ironically is

exactly what advertisers have been using

for decades to get you to buy more.

Today, they don't just broadcast general

ads. They microtarget you based on who

they believe you are and who you believe

you are. They tailor their messaging

like a chameleon, adapting to your

values, insecurities, and aspirations.

They might speak to the early adopter,

the concerned parent, or the insecure

alpha male. Nothing stops America and

nothing stops Ram. They're not just

selling you products. They're selling

you identities you need to live up to.

But you can also use this to your

advantage to help you change your

behavior. Minimalism has definitely done

that for me. It's helped close the gap

between what I value and how I live.

Now, sure, there are moments when the

label itself can feel limiting.

Sometimes it can box you in or hold you

back from growing. I know I've certainly

experienced that myself. But in the face

of this constant barrage of consumerism

and digital noise, I found it's still

one of the most helpful tools I have. So

over the past 14 years, I've had very

little trouble when it comes to the

physical stuff. But I think the area

where I've really struggled to keep

things simple is less about what I have

and more about what I do. So a few years

ago, I looked around and realized that

I'd made things way more complicated

than I ever wanted with my work. I had

nearly a dozen employees, a packed

schedule, more projects than I could

finish. It all added up until I finally

asked myself, "What would my work look

like if it was more simple?" That

question led me to completely rethink

how I structure my work today and to go

back to being a solo creator again. It

might not have looked like the

successful move from the outside, but it

made me feel a lot more successful. And

to prevent myself from ending up in the

same place again, I now use a simplicity

filter. It's just one question that I

ask before any big decision. Will this

make my life simpler or more

complicated? I use this for business,

finances, relationships. Anytime I feel

torn about a major move because for a

while, every choice I made hiring,

expanding, launching new projects was

about adding layers of stress, layers of

noise and complexity. So, to give you a

few examples where I've recently used

this filter, should we invest in real

estate? Should I hire a full-time video

editor? Should I partner with another

creator on a big project? These are

exciting, potentially highreward

decisions, but they also come with a ton

of hidden costs, whether that's time,

energy, money, or even pressure. Take

real estate investing for example. On

paper, if you have the money, it might

sound like a fun side project. buy a

fixer upper, rent it out, build equity,

maybe even make some money on the side.

But when I asked myself this question,

will this make my life simpler or more

complicated? The answer was obvious.

Having gone through the process of

buying a home before, I know how much of

a time suck it is. So instead, we

decided to keep it simple. We put the

money we would have used on a property

into the stock market. In the long run,

this will probably give us a similar, if

not better, return. But more

importantly, this decision didn't come

with the stress of property ownership.

That's not to say I always choose the

simple path. Some of the best, most

meaningful decisions in my life have

definitely made things more complicated.

Whether that's starting a new YouTube

channel or having a child, but the

simplicity filter really helps in those

gray areas when I'm torn. It gets me

back on track. It helps me to gut check

the trade-offs and to avoid saying yes

to things just because they sound

exciting in the moment. Over the past

couple years, I've radically simplified

my entire business. I've scaled things

back, cut out obligations, and went line

by line through every tool that I use.

Most of it didn't make the cut. But one

that I kept because it's invaluable to

how I run my business, is Squarespace.

They're the sponsor of this week's

video, and I want to share why I've been

using them for over a decade, and why I

recommend them to all my creator

friends. First, it's just easy.

Squarespace has always been one of the

easiest website builders out there, and

it's gotten even easier to get started

with their new blueprint AI website

builder. Just follow the prompts and

build a website in minutes. As a solo

creator, this is huge because it means

that I can design, develop, and publish

my website all by myself. While the

platform is easy to use for designing

beautiful websites, Squarespace also

supports creators and small businesses

in other ways. You can use their

built-in tools to manage your domains,

schedule blog posts, review your

analytics, set up an online store, and

book consulting gigs. The last reason I

recommend Squarespace to all my friends,

and this is a big one, it just works.

When the stakes are high and I'm

launching a course, getting thousands of

people coming to my website, I need to

make sure that my site's performance is

reliable. And when it comes to

Squarespace, I've literally never had to

worry about that over the past 10 years

of using their platform. If you want to

see why I trust Squarespace with all my

websites, then go to squarespace.com

today for a free trial. And when you're

ready to launch, go to

squarespace.com/mattella

to get 10% off your first purchase of a

website or domain. And remember, when

you sign up for Squarespace using the

links that I shared in this video,

that's going to go a long way to helping

to support my channel. Over the years,

minimalism has looked very different

depending on the season of life I've

been in. While my wardrobe hasn't

changed much, pretty much everything

else has. minimalism as a single guy

living in his parents' basement. It

doesn't get much simpler than that. Add

a partner, move to a new country, buy a

home. Lots has changed with each of

these milestones, but nothing shook

things up quite as much as becoming a

dad. It was a massive adjustment and I

really struggled with it in the

beginning. It's true what they say about

parenting. You don't really know what

it's like until you're in it. No book,

podcast, or well-meaning YouTube video

can fully prepare you for the mix of

exhaustion, joy, frustration, and wonder

that comes with raising a child.

Suddenly, I had so much less time than

before. I had less time for my work,

less time to go to the gym, less

one-on-one time with Natalie, less time

for creative side projects, less time to

just be still. In the early days, I

definitely felt a lot of resentment. It

felt like I was sacrificing so much to

be a parent. I was frustrated and angry

that I couldn't do it all. During that

time, Frankie must have been around 9

months old. I interviewed Ryan Holiday

while he was traveling through Sydney.

Ryan's probably the most productive dad

I know. He's written a dozen bestselling

books, creates tons of content, and from

everything I've seen, he's an incredibly

present and caring father. So, I asked

him, "How can you become more productive

as a parent?" Obviously, one way to be

productive as a as a parent is just to

completely neglect your children, which

is which is which is the way that I

think historically it was often done.

I'm less proud of how productive I am

and more proud of the fact that I like

spend a lot of time with my kids. Like I

take them to school, I make their

lunches, I pick them up from school, I

very rarely miss dinners. Like we just

spend a ton of time together. His answer

got me to think about things

differently. When I became a dad, I had

instinctively made a choice. I

prioritized my family over everything

else. Instead of being resentful about

this choice, I should be proud of it. My

lower output at work, fewer hours at the

gym, less time for creative projects was

a direct sign that I was making the

right choice for my family. Bye-bye,

Frankie. Bye, Daddy. Bye-bye. I can no

longer work 10-hour days. I can't stay

up late editing or say yes to every

exciting idea. I had to let go of who I

was and what I was able to do if I

wanted to be a good dad. Now, you might

be wondering, what does this have to do

with minimalism? For me, it was about

embracing a simpler life and

appreciating what I have. I'm no longer

as worried about optimizing every minute

of my day and squeezing every last

second out of my schedule. Right now,

I'm more concerned about creating space.

space for morning walks with my son, for

daycare drop offs and pickups, for

getting to bed early because I know

he'll be awake at 3:00 a.m. It's about

choosing the zoo over the edit,

wrestling in the living room instead of

being alone at my computer. Yes, it

means that I won't be able to make as

much money, that I don't create as much

content, that I miss out on some big

projects, but I also don't miss bath

time or slow mornings or walks in the

morning to get coffee with my family.

Embracing minimalism as a dad has gotten

me to ask the same questions I did over

14 years ago. What do I really need to

be happy? How do I want to spend my

time? What are the things I can let go

of? While these questions are identical,

the answers are very different now. That

to me is the real benefit of minimalism.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's

that life doesn't stop changing. I'll

keep being surprised by new seasons, new

challenges, and the ways that I grow

through them. But what stayed consistent

is this. Minimalism has always helped me

find clarity when things get messy. As

you know by now, it's not a magic fix.

It doesn't have all the answers, but it

gives you a framework, a way to slow

down, a reminder to keep coming back to

the things that matter most.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
minimalism /ˈmɪn.ɪ.mə.lɪ.zəm/ B2	noun - a style or technique that is characterized by extreme sparseness and brevity
simple /ˈsɪmpəl/ A2	adjective - easy to understand or do
life /laɪf/ A1	noun - the state of being alive
live /lɪv/ A1	verb - to be alive or have life
time /taɪm/ A1	noun - the indefinite continued progress of existence
value /ˈvæl.juː/ B1	noun - a person's principles or standards of behavior verb - to consider or regard something as important
enough /ɪˈnʌf/ A2	adjective - sufficiently great or good
complicated /ˈkɒmplɪkeɪtɪd/ B1	adjective - involving a lot of different parts or aspects, difficult to understand
decision /dɪˈsɪʒən/ A2	noun - a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration
work /wɜːrk/ A1	noun - activity involving mental or physical effort done to achieve a purpose verb - to do work or cause to do work
project /ˈprɒdʒɛkt/ A2	noun - a piece of work undertaken to investigate or accomplish something
space /speɪs/ A1	noun - an area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied
family /ˈfæməli/ A1	noun - a group consisting of parents and children living together
change /tʃeɪndʒ/ A1	verb - to make or become different noun - the act or instance of making or becoming different
need /niːd/ A1	verb - to require something because it is essential
grow /ɡroʊ/ A2	verb - to become larger or increase in size
creator /kriˈeɪtər/ B1	noun - a person or thing that brings something into existence
website /ˈwɛbˌsaɪt/ A2	noun - a location connected to the internet
simplify /ˈsɪmplɪfaɪ/ B1	verb - to make simpler or easier to do or understand