Ryan Nicodemus

Ryan Nicodemus co-founded The Minimalists with Joshua Fields Millburn following what became known as the 'packing party' — an experiment in which he boxed up everything he owned in order to rediscover what actually mattered to him. The exercise became a foundational story in the broader minimalism movement: a practical, personal test of attachment that treated ownership as a question rather than an assumption. That single experiment became the origin point and recurring reference for a sustained body of writing and public work.

Together, Nicodemus and Millburn built The Minimalists into a platform reaching millions of readers, listeners, and viewers, with their books achieving New York Times bestseller status. Among the titles were Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life and Essential Essays, which set out a practical and philosophical case for living with less. The work found its audience through personal narrative rather than aesthetic prescription: a record of what changed when two people stopped measuring life by what they accumulated. Translations into Italian, Spanish, and Polish extended the reach across language groups.

The Minimalists expanded into podcasting and documentary filmmaking, earning Emmy nominations for their Netflix work. Nicodemus continues as a regular contributor alongside Millburn, appearing across podcast episodes, live events, and on-screen. Their books remain in wide international circulation, and the full back catalogue of episodes is publicly available at theminimalists.com. The packing party, which started as a private experiment conducted by one person in one room, has since entered the wider record of how people have rethought their relationship to what they own.