Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Life is complicated. Life is full of responsibilities and opportunities, planned duties and serendipitous possibilities. There is so much we could do, but so little we can do. Many of us battle our whole lives to focus on those few, significant items that we should do must do, and yet so few of us ever feel like we are even nearly succeeding. Help is here in the form of Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism. While it is not a perfect book, and while it benefits tremendously from adding a good dose of Christian thinking, it is one of the most helpful I’ve read on that constant battle to focus my time and energy on the right things. McKeown believes in what he calls Essentialism and describes the basic value proposition in this way: “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.” The Essentialist pursues fewer but better opportunities and is rigidly disciplined in rejecting the many to devote himself to the few. It is “not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.” 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. Now that sounds good! That sounds like what we all want—a clear design to our lives that simplifies decision-making and amplifies each of the opportunities we pursue. McKeown leads the reader to Essentialism in four parts: Essence. He begins by looking to the essence of Essentialism and the realities that make Essentialism a necessary but difficult practice today. Explore. Here he describes the way an Essentialist needs to think so he can pursue the highest possible contribution toward the best goals. Eliminate. Having determined the best goals, the Essentialist now needs to begin eliminating anything that will compete with the pursuit of those goals. “It’s not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don’t make the highest possible contribution; you still have to actively eliminate those that do not.” Execute. And then comes the heart of it all—living in such a way that you now execute on those few goals, and continuing to follow the discipline of it. McKeown promises his book “will teach you a method for being more efficient, productive, and effective in both personal and professional realms. It will teach you a systematic way to discern what is important, eliminate what is not, and make doing the essential as effortless as possible. In short, it will teach you how to apply the disciplined pursuit of less to every area of your life.” And I think it can do that. It is chock-full of excellent insights and quoteable phrases. It is the kind of book you can use to implement systems in your life, or the kind of book you can plunder for its big and important ideas. Yet the Christian reader will want to read it with some discernment. This is a book that benefits from an infusion of the biblical ethos. As the book reaches its end, McKeown expands Essentialism to all of life and here he stops quoting business gurus and begins quoting religious gurus; the last chapter is easily the weakest and one that can be skipped without any great loss. Reading the book through a Christian lens improves it significantly. McKeown writes about people who always say “yes” and are afraid to say “no.” That sounds like a classic diagnosis of fear of man, a person so motivated by the praise of man that he takes on too much and says no to too little so he can win the praise of other people. Not only that, but God has a way of diverting us from what we believe are our most important tasks. He diverts us to tasks he determines are even more important, and a too-rigid adherence to Essentialism may keep a Christian from allowing and embracing those divine interruptions. Read the gospels and the book of Acts and you will see how Jesus and the Apostles were extremely focused, but also very willing to depart from their plans. Implementing Essentialism too rigidly may just lead to a self-centered life rather than a life of service to others. Reading through that Christian lens also allows us to see that Essentialism can be a means through which we honor and glorify God. It propels us to consider where God has specially gifted and equipped us to serve him and his people. Again, “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.” The principles of Essentialism, read and applied through the Bible, will help us understand how we are uniquely created and burdened by God to meet specific needs. And, equally helpfully, it will steer us away from those areas where we cannot contribute nearly as well. I heartily recommend the book, provided you read with Essentialism in one hand, and the Bible in the other. Let me close with a few of my favorite quotes: In many cases we can learn to make one-time decisions that make a thousand future decisions so we don’t exhaust ourselves asking the same questions again and again. If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will. We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives. 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.” If … people are too busy to think, then they’re too busy, period. Making our criteria both selective and explicit affords us a systematic tool for discerning what is essential and filtering out the things that are not. Motivation and cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose. Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough. “We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’ ”

I just finished a wonderful book called Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He talks about the disciplined pursuit of less. A wonderful mantra for business and for our personal lives. I don't say this often, but this is a book I wish I wrote but am so grateful to have it to share with friends and family. Ripe with the wisdom of the role of simplicity, focus and being present, it has a clarity of thought that is rare in most books. Have you ever said one of these phrases.... “I’m stretched too thin” “My plate is too full” “Someone else is controlling my day” "I can't say no" "I don't know what to do first" The book has a clear and simple premise that resonates with my own world view. We all need to do less stuff and be more focused on things that truly matter. Greg preaches not doing essential things, but adopting an essentialist way of being in the world. It is an important distinction. To help illustrate the theme, Greg uses a wonderfully accessible metaphor of our bedroom clothes closet. How many things do you own in your closet that you never wear? If you were truly honest, you probably wear 20% of the clothes hanging up or in your wardrobe. The other 80% are things that you say, “well if I lose a few pounds” or “maybe that disco style will come back” or “I can’t get rid of that shirt that I never wear for sentimental reasons.” Can you prune out your work like you should clean out your closet? So much of our day and time is spent on the non-essential. We stuff our work days filled without time to think or get deep into a few critically important activities. Instead we sit in endless meetings that repeat the same information over and over again. Greg suggests saying no if you can't say, Hell Ya! If you are on the fence, say no. I’m one of those guys who keep a NOT to do list of things that waste my time. I believe in the power of focus especially for marketing professionals. When asked to do something, I like to take a deep breath before responding and ask a few questions to understand why it is important. If its another tactical idea, I like to say, “I’ll put it on our list of things to consider” when we are thinking about executing at a tactical level. But more often than not, with all due props to Nancy Reagan, I like to just say no. No. I can’t be distracted by your lack of planning. No I can't be distracted by an idea that just popped into your head and distracts me from what I deem essential. And especially no I won’t work on something you haven’t thought through clearly enough that it warrants time on a calendar. No. I’m not going to waste time on something that we don’t have funds for and, if we did would require me removing another project from the list. Becoming an Essentialist When you know where you are going and your vision is clear, you have crisp criteria to measure activities. Will this help me achieve my goals that I have carefully evaluated for our business? If no, then I shouldn't be doing it. It would be nice to do but I don’t want to interfere with my core efforts. Often people feel obsessed about doing whatever is asked of them. They can’t say no just like they can’t streamline the clothes in their closet. When everything has equal weight, nothing is of real value. Are you focused on the disciplined pursuit of the essential? There are many great practical ideas in this book which sets a clear course to help you find the essential activities that are right for you and your life. You need space to think. The problem is that we don't take the time to discern among choices. We need to have habits that allow us to think. W.I.N. There is an example of a coach who has an extraordinary winning record in high school rugby. Greg tells the story of WIN - the coach insist that the team is always winning. But in this case WIN stands for WHAT'S IMPORTANT NOW. He gets the team focus on this moment, this play not the error they just made. The coach, Larry Gelwix, figured out how to keep his team in the present moment. He doesn't want them worrying about next week's game or the error they just committed. He wants them focused on what is important now. Powerful. Essential. Wise. Do you turn things off? Do you schedule thinking time on your calendar? Are you so over scheduled that your day is 100% filled without room for the unexpected? Do you plan time to think or are you just so busy with so much nonessential work that you use it as an excuse to only react? Reading this book is essential if you want to clear away the clutter of work that waste your time and provides virtually nothing of real value to help you achieve your life goals. There are precise examples of what a non-essentialist does versus an essentialist. And they are instructive and valuable guideposts throughout this book. Now, excuse me while I drop some old clothes off at Goodwill.

Interesting read, a bit wordy at times but nice flow. Would recommend.

In a world where multi tasking is adored, this book gives a different perspective on how to de-clutter and simplify our lives. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the non-essentials. The way of the essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better. It is about constantly to ask “Am I investing in the right activities?” There are far more activities, opportunities in the world than we have time and resources to invest in. The way of the Essentialist involves learning to tell the difference – learning to filter through all the options and selection only those that are truly essential. Essentialism is not about how to get more things done, but it is about how to get the right things done. It is about making the wisest possible investment of our time and energy in order to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential. Essentialist – Core mind-set of an Essentialist An Essentialist has to be operate with a different mind-set. The core mind-set of essentialist are: Individual Choice – We can choose how to spend our energy and time. Without choice there is no point in talking about trade-offs. The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away – it can only be forgotten. Prevalence of Noise – Almost everything is noise and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is the justification for taking time to figure out what is most important. A non-Essentialist things almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential. Reality of trade-offs – We can’t have it all or do it all. If we could, there would be no reason to evaluate or eliminate the options. The way of essentialist is the path to being in control of your choices. In todays world of competing priorities the mindset is that “You can have it all”. The Essentialist approach would be: Explore and Evaluate – Will the activity that I am investing make the highest possible contribution toward my goal? Exploring meant the ability to discern the vital few from the trivial many. Evaluate what really matters. ESCAPE – The Perks of being unavailable LOOK – See what really matters PLAY – Embrace the wisdom of your inner child SLEEP – Protect the Asset SELECT – The Power of Extreme Criteria Eliminate – It is simply not enough to determine which activities and efforts don’t make the highest possible contribution; you would have to actively eliminate those that do not. How can we cut out the trivial many ? CLARIFY – One Decision that makes a Thousand DARE – Power of a Graceful “No” UNCOMMIT – Win Big by Cutting Your Losses EDIT – The Invisible Art LIMIT – The freedom of setting boundaries Execute – Once you have figured out the activities and efforts to keep, we need a system to make the executing as effortless as possible. How can we make doing the vital few things almost effortless? BUFFER – The unfair advantage SUBTRACT – Bring forth more by removing obstacles PROGRESS – Power of Small Wins FLOW – Genius of Routine FOCUS – What’s important now ? BE – The Essentialist Life The most important message from this book is – “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.” The disciplined pursuit of less each and every time you are faced with a decision about whether to say yes or whether to politely decline. It is a method for making the tough trade-off between lots of good things and a few really great things. Essentialism is about learning how to do less but better so you can achieve the highest possible return on every precious moment of your life. This book will show you how to live a life true to yourself, not the life others expect from you, by disciplined pursuit of less to every area of your life. Summary: In summary the disciplined pursuit of less can change your life for the better in the following ways: More Clarity – Life will become less about efficiently crossing off what was on your to-do list or rushing through everything on your schedule and more about changing what you put on there in the first place. More Control – Gain in confidence in your ability to pause, push back and not rush in. Remember that if you do not prioritize your life, someone else will. But if you are determined to prioritize your own life you can. The power is within you. More Joy in the Journey – With the focus on what is truly important right now comes the ability to live life more fully, in the moment. The life of an Essentialist is a life of meaning. It is a life that really matters. The life of an Essentialist is a life lived without regret. If you have correctly identified what really matters, if you invest time and energy in it, then it is difficult to regret the choices you make. You become proud of the life you have chosen to live. If there is one think you take away from the book, whatever decision or challenge or crossroads you face in your life, simply ask yourself, “What is Essential?” Eliminate everything else.

This book charts a clear path for those wishing to simplify their schedules in favor of those pursuits that matter most. The German phrase “weniger aber besser” (less but better) encapsulates the book’s premise. This thesis challenges the large body of productivity literature that aims toward doing more things in less time. Instead, Mckeown argues that the quality of what we do supercedes quantity every time. Mckeown divides the book into five stages that provide an ordered path toward eliminating inessential endeavors in favor of the pursuits that mean the most to us. His clear language, vivid stories, insightful, research citations, specific strategies, and memorable quotes make this book a stimulating and informative read. I give it my highest recommendation.

Reading Essentialism helped me name something I already was at my core: an essentialist. When I lose my way, it’s usually because I forget that “less is more” isn’t a flaw—it’s my natural operating system. I didn’t realize that about myself for a long time, so it was easy to start looking for other answers or trying to live like everyone else. People have made me feel bad for wanting a simple life, but this book reminded me that simplicity is not weakness; it’s clarity and power. Essentialism matches how I already think and how I function best. I believe in owning fewer things that work harder. I prefer items that serve multiple purposes, and I like organizing my life so I don’t waste mental energy on constant decisions. For example, I keep a simple, repeatable wardrobe system and I believe you only need a small number of quality shoes. I also like learning skills that reduce future stress—like making my own laundry soap—because it lets me buy in bulk, spend less, and stop overthinking purchases. What stood out most is that Essentialism isn’t just about doing less; it’s about doing what matters most with intention. When I simplify the basics, I free up my mind for higher-value goals—like finding the smartest way to get out of debt and improve my credit. Overall, the book felt like permission and confirmation: I don’t need to do everything. I need to do the right things, on purpose, and build a life by design instead of by default.

Has some good ideas but it’s outdated.

It's an inspiring book: Greg comforts us in the process of achieving more meaningful outcomes by focusing on less activities. The book is written in a clear, logical, and actionable fashion. There are way more than a handful gems in this book, making me want to read it twice in order to better record and take specific notes to apply them accordingly. As we can see from the table of contents, the book is wisely divided into 4 parts: Essencial, Exploration, Elimination, and Execution. They make sense, and each is broken into short chapters, expressing in a clear manner why it is important to focus on the most important aspects in life, and how to achieve that. As I said earlier, there are many highlights, but one of them was remarkable right in the beginning of the book. Greg compares the way of the Nonessentialist with the way of the Essentialist. He expresses that the energy spent by the Nonessentialist is divided into many different activities, resulting in an unfulfilling experience of making a small progress in many directions. The energy of the Essentialist, however, is focused on few activities, resulting in a more satisfying experience, and therefore making significant progress in the things that matter most. To achieve that, he says, the Essentialist learns how to distinguish the vital few from the trivial many, removing obstacles so the essentials can flourish. It's a designed lifestyle, a systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies in order to execute them almost effortless. As a conclusion, I highly recommend this book, specially this time and age where we have been bombarded with too much information and activities fighting with themselves for our limited attention, disrupting our precious focus. Haical