If you have only one minute to read what Essentialism is, here you go:
The author Greg McKeown, writer of the book ‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’, says the most appropriate definition of essentialism is “less but better“.
The basic value proposition of Essentialism is: “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.”
And one of the most important lessons
“If you take one thing away from this book, I hope you will remember this: whatever decision or challenge or crossroads you face in your life, simply ask yourself, ‘What is essential?’ Eliminate everything else.”
We were essentialists in summarizing what essentialism is, however, if you want to go deeper and learn more about how essentialism can change the meaning of your life, we have separated the best lessons about this lifestyle, so you can start as soon as you decide.
To explain Essentialism in details, the author mentions that we must live it, that is, if we paraphrase what he meant, we will fail until we actually live this lifestyle.
So, here are the quotes from the not-so-subtle definition of what is essential:
All quotes are from author Greg McKeown.
“Essentialism is not about going back to some simpler time. It’s not about eschewing email or disconnecting from the Web or living like a hermit. That would be backwards movement. It is about applying the principles of ‘less but better’ to how we live our lives now and in the future. That is innovation.”
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”
“Essentialism is not one more thing — it’s a whole new way of doing everything.”
“The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default.”
In short, it means having a sense of living and having things with a certain sense. For this, check out some lessons that you can take throughout your life. Using a simple way, obviously, but with a wealth of content – with this good blog text.
Become an expert
The essentialist intentionally discerns the vital from the trivial, eliminates what is not essential and removes obstacles.
“Success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place.”
Why is Nonessentialism everywhere?
There has been an exponential increase in the existing number of choices in the past decade. Because of that, we lose sight of what is important. Social pressure has also grown, along with it the strength and number of external influences on our decisions.
When we don’t deliberately choose where to focus our energies, other people – bosses, colleagues, family members – choose for us. We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.
The Essentialist approach
These next three elements are not separate events but a cyclical process. Apply them consistently to reap greater and greater benefits.
Explore and evaluate: spend as much time as possible exploring, listening, debating, questioning, and thinking. Exploration is not an end in itself, but a way to discern the vital few from the trivial many;
Eliminate: actively eliminate activities and efforts that don’t make the highest possible contribution;
Execute: invest the time you saved into creating a system for removing obstacles and making execution as easy as possible
Change your way of thinking
Replace false assumptions with three core truths:
“I have to” –> “I choose to“
“It’s all important” –> “Only a few things really matter“
“I can do both” –> “I can do anything but not everything“
In short, becoming an essentialist means knowing what matters and dealing with it, cutting out everything that is not essential.
If you can keep the next phrases in a jar, do so.
#1 – Design space in your life to escape
#2 – Spend time exploring
#3 – Realize you have a choice
#4 – Define your purpose
#5 – Focus on the vital few
#6 – Move from motion sickness to momentum
#7 – CEO is about editing your life, not performing it
#8 – Say “yes” slowly and “no” quickly
#9 – Sleep. A lot.
#10 – Do it all over again, with the appropriate routine.
To end this article, – which is no longer essentialist – ask yourself these three questions right now:
“If you could do only one thing with your life right now, what would you do?”
“Is this the very most important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?”
“What’s important now? After a moment of reflection I realized that until I knew what was important right now, what was important right now was to figure out what was important right now!”
If your answers were brief, you are an essentialist.