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Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Greg McKeown)
- Essentialism is about pausing constantly to ask, “Am I investing in the right activities?”
- Ask yourself, “If you could do only one thing with your life right now, what would you do?”
- The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away — it can only be forgotten.
- A true Essentialist, Peter Drucker believed that people are effective because they say no.
- Multi-tasking itself is not the enemy of Essentialism; pretending we can ‘multi-focus’ is.
- An Essentialist produces more — brings forth more — by removing more instead of doing more.
- As John Maxwell has written, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.”
- Instead of asking, ‘What do I have to give up?’ Essentialists ask, ‘What do I want to go big on?’
- The reality is, saying yes to any opportunity by definition requires saying no to several others.
- We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.
- Essentialists see sleep as necessary for operating at high levels of contribution more of the time.
- The more we think about what we are giving up when we say yes to someone, the easier it is to say no.
- by abolishing any chance of being bored we have also lost the time we used to have to think and process.
- We live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable.
- In a reverse pilot you test whether removing an initiative or activity will have any negative consequences.
- One of the most obvious and yet powerful ways to become a journalist of our own lives is simply to keep a journal.
- Sleep will enhance your ability to explore, make connections, and do less but better throughout your waking hours.
- An Essentialist has the courage and confidence to admit his or her mistakes and uncommit, no matter the sunk costs.
- Essentialism is not a way to do one more thing; it is a different way of doing everything. It is a way of thinking.
- In many ways, to live as an Essentialist in our too-many-things-all-the-time society is an act of quiet revolution.
- A non-Essentialist thinks almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential.
- The Essentialist designs a routine that makes achieving what you have identified as essential to the default position.
- Take a goal or deadline you have coming up and ask yourself, What is the minimal amount I could do right now to prepare?
- What do I feel deeply inspired by? and What am I particularly talented at? and What meets a significant need in the world?
- Being a journalist of your own life will force you to stop hyper-focusing on all the minor details and see the bigger picture.
- Before saying yes to anything, ask yourself, “Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution towards my goal?”
- To operate at your highest level of contribution requires that you deliberately tune in to what is important in the here and now.
- There should be no shame in admitting to a mistake; after all, we really are only admitting that we are now wiser than we once were.
- Essentialists invest the time they have saved into creating a system for removing obstacles and making execution as easy as possible.
- Whatever decision or challenge or crossroads you face in your life, simply ask yourself, What is essential? Eliminate everything else.
- Instead of focusing on the efforts and resources we need to add, the Essentialist focuses on the constraints or obstacles we need to remove.
- The next stage in the Essentialist process, eliminating the non-essentials, means taking on the role of an editor in your life and leadership.
- Many capable people are kept from getting to the next level of contribution because they can’t let go of the belief that everything is important.
- The killer question when deciding what activities to eliminate is: If I didn’t have this opportunity, what would I be willing to do to acquire it?
- The way of the Essentialist rejects the idea that we can fit it all in. Instead, it requires us to grapple with real trade-offs and make tough decisions.
- There are three deeply entrenched assumptions we must conquer to live the way of the Essentialist: ‘I have to,’ ‘It’s all important,’ and ‘I can do both.’
- Instead of asking, What do I have to give up? they ask, What do I want to go big on? The cumulative impact of this small change in thinking can be profound.
- It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
- It’s not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don’t make the best possible contribution; you still have to actively eliminate those that do not.
- Once we accept the reality of trade-offs we stop asking, ‘How can I make it all work?’ and start asking the more honest question ‘Which problem do I want to solve?’
- Remember that if you don’t prioritise your life someone else will. But if you are determined to prioritise your own life you can. The power is yours. It is within you.
- Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.
- The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years.
- Don’t ask, How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity? but rather, If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?
- the pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure. Put another way, success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place.
- Today, technology has lowered the barrier for others to share their opinion about what we should be focusing on. It is not just information overload; it is opinion overload.
- Adopt a method of minimal viable progress. Ask yourself, What is the smallest amount of progress that will be useful and valuable to the essential task we are trying to get done?
- Instead of looking for the most obvious or immediate obstacles, they look for the ones slowing down progress. They ask, ‘What is getting in the way of achieving what is essential?’
- We often think of choice as a thing. But a choice is not a thing. Our options may be things, but a choice—a choice is an action. It is not just something we have but something we do.
- Another way to think of improving results. Instead of focusing on the efforts and resources we need to add, the Essentialist focuses on the constraints or obstacles we need to remove.
- Essentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, What do I have to give up? they ask, What do I want to go big on?
- Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
- To embrace the essence of Essentialism requires we replace these false assumptions with three core truths: I choose to, Only a few things really matter, and I can do anything but not everything.
- Tom Stafford describes a simple antidote to the endowment effect. Instead of asking, ‘How much do I value this item?’ we should ask, ‘If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?’
- You have to look at every opportunity and say, ‘Well, no … I’m sorry. We’re not going to do a thousand different things that really won’t contribute much to the end result we are trying to achieve.
- To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make.
- …the faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. And the noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces in which we can truly focus.
- The way of the Essentialist is the path to being in control of our own choices. It is a path to new levels of success and meaning. It is the path on which we enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
- The word school is derived from the Greek word schole, meaning leisure. Yet our modern school system, born in the Industrial Revolution, has removed the leisure—and much of the pleasure—out of learning.
- Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped.
- When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless. Drip by drip we allow our power to be taken away until we end up becoming a function of other people’s choices — or even a function of our own past choices.
- What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?
- The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves. If we underinvest in ourselves, and by that I mean our minds, our bodies, and our spirits, we damage the very tool we need to make our highest contribution. One
- The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities.
- Once an Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware, who cared for people in the last twelve weeks of their lives, recorded their most often discussed regrets. At the top of the list: ‘I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.’
- Instead of trying to accomplish it all — and all at once — and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don’t really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential.
- When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people — our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families — will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important.
- Don’t ask, How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity? but rather, If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it? Similarly, we can ask, If I wasn’t already involved in this project, how hard would I work to get on it?
- The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the non-essentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage.
- What if society stopped telling us to buy more stuff and instead allowed us to create more space to breathe and think? What if society encouraged us to reject what has been accurately described as doing things we detest, to buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like?11
- We overvalue nonessentials like a nicer car or house, or even intangibles like the number of our followers on Twitter or the way we look in our Facebook photos. As a result, we neglect activities that are truly essential, like spending time with our loved ones, or nurturing our spirit, or taking care of our health.
- Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
- Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
- When faced with so many tasks and obligations that you can’t figure out which to tackle first, stop. Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is most important this very second — not what’s most important tomorrow or even an hour from now. If you’re not sure, make a list of everything vying for your attention and cross off anything that is not important right now.
- We have good reasons to fear saying no. We worry we’ll miss out on a great opportunity. We’re scared of rocking the boat, stirring things up, burning bridges. We can’t bear the thought of disappointing someone we respect and like. None of this makes us a bad person. It’s a natural part of being human. Yet as hard as it can be to say no to someone, failing to do so can cause us to miss out on something far more important.
- Instead of just jumping into a project, take a few minutes to think. Ask yourself, What are all the obstacles standing between me and getting this done? and What is keeping me from completing this? Make a list of these obstacles. They might include: not having the information you need, your energy level, your desire for perfection. Prioritise the list using the question, What is the obstacle that, if removed, would make the majority of other obstacles disappear?
- The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.
- Once an Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware, who cared for people in the last twelve weeks of their lives, recorded their most often discussed regrets. At the top of the list: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” This requires, not just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials, and not just getting rid of the obvious time wasters, but cutting out some really good opportunities as well.
- When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless. Drip by drip we allow our power to be taken away until we end up becoming a function of other people’s choices—or even a function of our own past choices. In turn, we surrender our power to choose. That is the path of the Nonessentialist. The Essentialist doesn’t just recognize the power of choice, he celebrates it. The Essentialist knows that when we surrender our right to choose, we give others not just the power but also the explicit permission to choose for us.
- When we are unclear about our real purpose in life—in other words, when we don’t have a clear sense of our goals, our aspirations, and our values—we make up our own social games. We waste time and energies on trying to look good in comparison to other people. We overvalue nonessentials like a nicer car or house, or even intangibles like the number of our followers on Twitter or the way we look in our Facebook photos. As a result, we neglect activities that are truly essential, like spending time with our loved ones, or nurturing our spirit, or taking care of our health.
- two most personal learnings that have come to me on the long journey of writing this book. The first is the exquisitely important role of my family in my life. At the very, very end, everything else will fade into insignificance by comparison. The second is the pathetically tiny amount of time we have left of our lives. For me this is not a depressing thought but a thrilling one. It removes fear of choosing the wrong thing. It infuses courage into my bones. It challenges me to be even more unreasonably selective about how to use this precious – and precious is perhaps too insipid a word – time.
