What’s The Point of Money? Lifestyle Design + Minimalism by Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle

January 16, 2024

Our Guest

Colin Wright is an author, speaker and full time traveler. He’s written over a dozen books, spread out across both fiction and nonfiction including two I've loved: My Exile Lifestyle and Iceland, India, Interstate.

He has also co-founded Asymmetrical Press a publishing company founded with the purpose of focusing on amazing, perspective-changing work instead of the exclusivity of traditional publishing companies.

Millions of people head over to Colin's blog, Exile LifeStyle, to follow his projects, travels, and exclusive essays. He also hosts a YouTube series called Consider This along with a successful podcast called Let’s Know Things where he does a fantastic job adding context to the news.

Colin is one of the pioneers of being a digital nomad and one of the original Gen-Y bloggers. He was a huge inspiration for us to start Under30CEO and a very early contributor to the site.

The Episode

Throughout the episode, Colin and I share travel stories about everywhere from Iceland to Wichita, Kansas.

We delve into minimalism, which both of us practice, and he helps us debunk some of the misconceptions about the practice. He explains that we can practice minimalism and buy possessions that make us happy at the same time.

He even sets me straight about the point of having money.

Finally, we get into our mutual love for travel and how it has helped us grow by making us uncomfortable.

Topics Covered:

Travel and growth

Minimalism

Lifestyle choices that maximize growth

How Colin has been able to write over a dozen books

How to “Get in the Zone” of creative work

Why we should all be bullish on the tourism industry

Memorable Quotes

“Minimalism is about focusing on what’s important so that you can spend more of your time, energy, and resources on the important stuff. You do that by excluding the less important stuff”

“Things should add to our experience, not subtract or distract from the important things in our lives”

“Expose yourself to frictions -- A life without any friction at all is not one where you’re incentivized to grow”

“Travel is uncomfortable to a certain degree, but uncomfortable to the point where it makes you grow”

“I’ve structured my life in a way to make sure that I’m prioritizing time”