I don’t normally power through a book in one week, but that’s just what happened with Greg McKeown’s Essentialism.
The big idea is less but better. The disciplined pursuit of less and discerning the vital few from the trivial many. Doing only the things that are truly important, and eliminating everything else.
Here are my biggest takeaways.
Questions:
What really matters? What is the highest contribution I can make?
Am I investing in the right activities?
What is the most important thing I can do with my time and resources?
What is the most valuable result I could achieve in this work?
Is there a point at which doing more does not produce more?
Pareto: 20% of our efforts produce 80% of the results.
Law of Vital Few: By focusing effort and attention on just the few things that are truly vital, you can greatly improve the quality of a product.
Power Law Theory: Certain efforts produce exponentially greater results than others.
Choices & Trade-offs:
An essentialist develops the crucial ability to choose. Choice is not a thing. Choice is an action. Options are things.
If you don’t choose where to focus, others will choose for you. And you become a function of other people’s choices.
Filter out the noise. With endless choices, we’re victims to decision fatigue and lose the ability to filter what’s important and what isn’t.
When people believe their efforts at work don’t matter, they often respond in one of two ways: They stop trying, or they accept every opportunity presented because they believe they have to do it all.
The reality of trade-offs: You can’t do it all, so which problem do you want to solve? What can you go all-in on?
Ignoring the reality of trade-offs is a terrible strategy. Be clear about who you are, and who you aren’t. Strategy is about making choices and trade-offs.
One strategic choice eliminates a universe of other options and can map a course for the next several years.
Focus on the trade-off. Think about what you are giving up when you say yes to something.
Everyone is selling something - an idea, a viewpoint, an opinion - in exchange for your time. Being aware of what is being sold allows you to be more deliberate when deciding whether you want to buy it.
Saying no often requires trading popularity for respect.
Space for Discernment:
“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.” - Pablo Picasso
In our hyper-connected world, we are perpetually distracted. We never have to be bored again. We need to be deliberate about creating space to think and focus.
Listen for what is not being explicitly stated.
Keep a journal. The faintest pencil is better than the strongest memory.
Unleash Your Inner Child:
Play is anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than as a means to an end.
Play sparks exploration. It helps us challenge assumptions and make us more receptive to new ideas.
Play has a positive effect on the executive function of the brain: planning, prioritizing, analyzing, deciding.
Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement.
Decision Making:
When our criteria are too broad, we will find ourselves committing to too many options.
What am I passionate about? What taps my talent? What meets a need?
If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.
Think about Sunk Costs: Are you continuing to do something simply because you have invested time, money and energy into it, and that cost can’t be recouped? You work hard to get something and then you can’t let go of it.
What else would you do with this time or money if you pulled the plug now?
Clarity:
Clarity of purpose impacts how people do their work.
Motivation and cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose and clarity. What do you (and the team) stand for? What are your roles and goals?
Edit:
Editing is the invisible art. It’s the strict elimination of the trivial, unimportant or irrelevant.
There are a thousand things we could be doing, but there are only a few that are truly important. Which efforts will produce the results you’re looking for and which will not? Take on the role of editor in your life.
An editor uses subtraction to add. Disciplined editing increases your ability to give energy and focus to the things that matter.
Doing less can be hard since every word or action must now count for more.
Limits:
Boundaries should be liberating.
If you don’t set clear boundaries, you can end up imprisoned by the boundaries others have set for you.
Execute:
Practice early preparation.
If we don’t know what we’re trying to achieve, all change is arbitrary.
Use the good times to create a buffer for the bad times.
The Planning Fallacy: We often underestimate how long a task will take. Add 50% to your time estimate.
Theory of Constraints: What is the obstacle holding the whole system back?
Done is better than perfect.
Pursue small wins in areas that are essential, not the big flashy wins. A small win creates momentum and affirms our faith in further success.
Preparation: There are two ways to approach an important goal or deadline: Start early and small, or start late and big. What could I do right now to prepare?
Execution is easy if you work hard at it and hard if you work easy at it.
Routines/Rhythms:
Habits are made up of a cue, a routine and a reward.
Cue: trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use.
Routine: the behavior (which can be physical, mental or emotional).
Reward: helps your brain figure out if the habit is worth remembering for the future.
Overall Mindset:
From: I have to —>To: I choose to
From: It’s all important —> To: Only a few things truly matter
From: I can do both —> To: I can do anything, but not everything
Great book. It was a game changer for me. One lesson I learned to apply was to simply say “No.” At first it felt odd, frightening and a bit out of character for me, but in the essence of simplifying life, saying No has allowed me to achieve a more fulfilled life.