Essentialism

Greg McKeown's Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less is more than a book; it's a life-altering philosophy.

As someone brimming with creative energy and ideas, I found myself often lost in a sea of projects, losing sight of my true goals. This book was a revelation. It adeptly distinguishes between essentialist and non-essentialist mindsets, compelling you to evaluate your intentions and commitments.

Through its teachings, I've learned to eliminate non-essential projects, focusing only on what truly aligns with my core objectives. It's a must-read for anyone looking to declutter their life and mind, ensuring that every action taken is a… show more.

I am a practicing Zen Buddhist. Every year, I spend a week in silence, and it influences how I see the world.

This book is incredible at defining what is essential. It’s not about minimalism, or maximalism; it’s about the essentials. As Dieter Rams is quoted in the book, “less but better.”

I’m not a great fan of self-help tomes, but this one spoke to me.

I’m a sucker for saying ‘yes,’ which always leaves me with too much on my plate and not enough time to focus on the things I really love.

Building a better future is about focus, and Essentialism is a great guide to focusing on those things that will really make a difference in your life.

In our world of 24/7 connectivity and overly busy lives, Greg McKeown provides the key to happiness and success; decide what you want to achieve (i.e., what’s essential to you), and then focus all of your energy on that while tuning out other distractions. As someone who tries to “do it all,” this book helped me understand how to be strategic in how I spend my time.

This book is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt stretched too thin, who has said yes when wanting to say no, or who has felt the frustration of having precious time… show more.

A major component of our burnout is that we’ve implicitly accepted the “more, faster, better, stronger” paradigm of productivity and are continually committing to more because we can. Until we can’t, that is. Essentialism gets us off the maximization bus and instead has us focus on fewer things that matter more.

As startup founders, we are often trying to do too much. By spreading ourselves thin, we lose. I love this book because McKeown provides a selective criteria framework for making decisions about what is important and essential -- decisions that any founder has to make on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

Greg Mckeown says that the way to overcome procrastination is to become an essentialist. This means to focus on what is essential. I took this to mean doing fewer things but doing them better. I love the saying ‘swallow the frog’ - meaning get your hardest task done first. I’ve been trying to think each day, what is the most important/essential thing to do today, and then to focus my efforts on that. When you’ve done the hardest task, the rest of the day goes by like a breeze. Essentialism is in many ways like Minimalism. The less we have… show more.