Focusing on the small essential things and forgetting about everything else
Rating: 4/5
‘The wisdom of life exists in the elimination of non-essential things’ - Lin Yutang
Less but better
If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will
The pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure
Have the courage to live the life true to yourself, not the lives others expect of you
Almost everything is noise and very few things are exceptionally valuable
3 core truths: I chose too, only a few things really matter, I can do anything but not everything
We may not have control over our options but we always have control over how we choose them
An essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential
Ignoring the reality of trade-offs is terrible for people and organizations
We can try to avoid the reality of trade-offs but we cannot escape them
Essentialists spend as much time as possible exploring, listening, debating, questioning and thinking
‘Without great solitude, no serious work is possible’ - Picasso
Create space to escape and explore life
To have focus, you must escape to focus
Set email to bounce within specific times to create space
If you can, take a week off and read
The best listeners listen to what others do not hear
‘A little nonsense now and then is cherish by the wisest men’ - Roald Dahl
Play: anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than a means to an end
Play doesn’t just help us to explore what is essential. It is essential in and of itself
Protect the asset - yourself
Encourage sleep in those around you
Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritize
If something is just or almost good enough, the answer should be no
When deciding on a vision, keep it concrete and inspirational - an essential intent
‘The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing’ - Stephen Corey
Saying ‘no’ often requires trading popularity with respect
Get comfortable with cutting losses. Don’t fall into sunk cost bias
Get over the fear of missing out
Making things better means subtracting something. Eliminate distracting words, images and details
Set boundaries for your time because if you don’t, other people won’t respect them
Build in a buffer for unexpected events
People underestimate how long a task will take, even if they done it before
Produce more by removing more instead of doing more
Start small and get big results. Celebrate small acts of progress
Creare new triggers to create new habits
Figure out what’s most important right now and do that
‘In work do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present’ - lao Taxu
When facing a decision or challenge, ask ‘what’s essential?’ Eliminate everything else
***
Free E-book download here