Essentialism
Greg Mckeown

Summary

Focusing on the small essential things and forgetting about everything else

Rating: 4/5

Notes

‘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

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