Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
“Essentialism” by Greg McKeown is for those who feel stretched too thin, overworked yet underutilized, busy but not productive, in motion, but never getting anywhere. The possible way out is adopting the wisdom of "Less But Better", aka the Essentialism.
THE ESSENTIALIST
Is this the very MOST important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?
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.
Almost everything is noise.
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's 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 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 disciplines, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.
The model: The Nonessentialist vs The Essentialist
THINKING: "All things to all people" vs "Less but better"
I have to vs I choose to
It's all important vs Only a few things really matter
How can I fit it all in? vs What are the trade-offs?
DOING: "The Undisciplined Pursuit of More" vs "The Disciplined Pursuit of Less"
Reacts to what's most pressing - Pausing to discern what really matters
Says "yes" to people - Says "no" to everything
Tries to force execution at the last moment - Removes obstacles to make execution easy
LIVING: "A life that does not satisfy" vs "A life that really matters"
Takes on too much, and work suffers vs Chooses carefully in order to do great work
Feels out of control vs Feels in control
Is unsure whether the right things get done vs Gets the right things done
Feels overwhelmed and exhausted vs Experiences joy in the journey
If you don't prioritize your life, someone else will.
The pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure: success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place
Why do we pursue more?
too many choices
too much social pressure
the idea that "you can have it all"
Essentialism is not a process that you undertake once a year, once a month. or even once a week. It is a DISCIPLINE you apply each and every time you are faced with a decision about whether to say yes or whether to politely decline.
What if society stopped telling us to buy more stuff and instead allowed us to create more space to breathe and think? What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead we celebrated how much time we spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?
Part I: ESSENCE: What is the core mind-set of an essentialist?
CHOOSE: The Invincible Power of Choice
When we surrender our ability to choose, something or someone else will step in to choose for us.
A choice is not a thing - a choice is an action.
Options (things) can be taken away, while our ability to choose (free will) cannot be. It can only be forgotten.
Nonessentialist says: "I have to" and forfeits the right to choose.
Essentialist says, "I choose to" and exercises the power of choice.
When we surrender our right to choose, we give others not just power but also the explicit permission to choose for us.
DISCERN: The Unimportance of Practically Everything
Most of what exists in the universe - our actions, and all other forces, resources and ideas - has little value and yields little result; on the other hand, a few things work fantastically well and have tremendous impact. - Richard Koch
Pareto principle and the "Law of the Vital Few" by Joseph Moses Juran: you could massively improve the quality of a product by resolving a tiny fraction of the problems.
You cannot overestimate the importance of practically everything.
A nonessentialist thinks almost everything is essential and views opportunities as basically equal.
An essentialist thinks almost everything is nonessential and distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many.
Many capable people are kept from getting to the next level of contribution because they can't let go of the belief that everything is important.
TRADE-OFF: Which Problem Do I Want?
Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs. It's about deliberately choosing to be different. - Michael Porter.
Saying yes to an opportunity by definition requires saying no to several others.
We can try to avoid the reality of trade-offs, but we can't escape them.
There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.
Essentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, "What do I have to give up?" they ask, "What do I want to go big on?" The cumulative impact of this small change in thinking is profound.
When faced with a decision where one option prioritizes family and another prioritizes friends, health, or work, we need to be prepared to ask, "Which problem do you want?"
Trade-offs are not something to be ignored or decried. They are something to be embraced and made deliberately, strategically, and thoughtfully.
Part II: EXPLORE: How can we discern the trivial many from the vital few?
One paradox of Essentialism is that Essentialists actually explore MORE options than their nonessentialist counterparts. Nonessentialists get excited by virtually everything and thus react to everything. The way of the Essentialist is to explore a nd evaluate a broad set of options before committing to any.
To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make. But exploration is not an end in itself. Its purpose is to discern the vital few from the trivial many.
ESCAPE: The Perks of Being Unavailable
People cannot figure out what is essential if they're constantly on call.
Before you can evaluate what is and isn't essential, you first need to explore your options.
The Nonessentialist is too busy doing to think about life.
The Essentialist creates space to escape and explore life.
Ways to use physical space to encourage new ways of engaging and thinking.
Focus is a choice, not a thing. Focus is something we DO. In order to HAVE focus, we need to escape TO focus.
The faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking into our schedule. And the noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces in which we can truly focus.
LOOK: See What Really Matters
The concept of "lead" in journalism: It's not enough to know the who, what, when, and where; you have to understand what it meant and why it mattered. It's about figuring out THE POINT.
By training yourself to look for the "lead", you will suddenly find yourself able to see what you have missed.
Listen deliberately for what is not being explicitly stated.
Nonessentialists listen to while preparing to say something. They get distracted by extraneous noise. They hyperfocus on inconsequential details. They hear the loudest voice but they get the wrong message.
The Essentialists pay attention to the signal in the noise, hear what is not being said, and scan to find the essence of the information.
Keep a journal BUT write LESS than you feel like writing.
Get out in the field - see the challenges you want to explore firsthand.
Keep your eyes peeled for abnormal or unusual details.
Clarify the question
PLAY: Embrace the Wisdom of Your Inner Child
The word "school" is derived from the Greek word schole, meaning "leisure". Yet our modern school system has removed the leisure - and much of the pleasure - out of learning.
The Nonessentialist thinks the play is trivial and is an unproductive waste of time.
The Essentialist knows the play is essential and sparks exploration.
Humans are built to play and through play.
Play broadens the range of options available to us. Please is an antidote to stress. The play has a positive effect on the executive function of the brain.
Play doesn't just help us to explore what is essential. It IS essential in and of itself.
SLEEP: Protect the Asset
The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves. And we damage it through a lack of sleep.
The Nonessentialist thinks that one hour less of sleep equals one more hour of productivity, that sleep is for failures, that sleep is a luxury, that it breeds laziness and gets in the way of "doing it all".
The essentialist thinks that one hour more of sleep equals several more hours of much higher productivity, that sleep is for high performers and is a priority, that it breeds creativity and enables the highest levels of mental contribution.
Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritize.
SELECT: The Power of Extreme Criteria
No More Yes. It's either HELL YEAH? Or No. - Derek Sivers
Ask "Do I absolutely love this?" and be able to eliminate the clutter and make space for something better.
90 Percent Rule: as you evaluate an option. think about the single most important criterion for this decision, and then simply give the option a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it lower than 90%, then automatically change the rating to 0 and simply reject it.
When our selection criteria are broad, we will find ourselves committing to too many options.
The Nonessentialist says yes to almost every request or opportunity, uses broad, implicit criteria, "If someone I know is doing it, I should do it".
The Essentialist says yes to only the top 10 percent of opportunities, uses narrow, explicit criteria, like "Is this exactly what I am looking for?"
At work: rather be understaffed than hire the wrong person quickly. Have a rigorous and systematic selection process.
If it is not a clear yes, then it's a clear no.
Being selective when deciding what opportunities to go after is one thing, but it can get even harder when opportunities come to us. The FOMO goes in full swing. But if we just say yes because it is an easy reward, we run the risk of having to later say no to a more meaningful opportunity.
If there's one thing you are passionate about - and that you can be best at - you should do just that one thing.
A systematic process to apply selection criteria:
Opportunity: what opportunity is being offered to you?
Minimum: what are your minimum criteria for this opportunity to be considered?
Extreme: what are the ideal criteria for this option to be approved?
We are not looking for a plethora of good things to do. We are looking for the ONE where we can make our absolutely highest point of contribution.
Part III: ELIMINATE: How can we cut out the trivial many?
It's not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don't make the best possible contribution; you still need to actively eliminate those that do not.
Ask yourself: if I did not have this opportunity, what I would be willing to do to acquire it?
Any time you fail to say to no a nonessential, you are really saying yes by default.
The essential question is: "What will I say NO to?"
CLARIFY: One Decision That Makes a Thousand
What do you REALLY what of your career over the next five years? - very few people are able to answer this question.
When there is a serious lack of clarity about what the team stands for and what their goals and roles are, people experience confusion, stress, and frustration. When there is a high level of clarity, people thrive.
Two patterns emerge when there a team lacks purpose:
Pattern 1. Playing politics.
The team becomes overly focused on winning the attention of the manager. People do not know what the end game is and unclear on how to win, and as a result, they make their own game and own rules.
Similarly, when we are unclear about our goals and aspirations, we make up our own social games, wasting time and energies on trying to look good in comparison with other people.
Pattern 2. It's all good (which is bad)
Teams become leaderless and pursue the things that advance their short-term interests, with little awareness of how the activities contribute to the long-term mission of the team as a whole.
In the same way, when the activities of an individual don't work in concert, they do not add up to a meaningful whole.
Essential intent is concrete and inspirational
We can explore this concept using the 2x2 matrix
one axis is general vs concrete
another axis is bland vs inspirational
bland x general = values
bland x concrete = quarterly objective
inspirational x general = vision / mission
inspirational x concrete = Essential Intent. It is both meaningful and measurable.
Done right, an essential intent is one decision that settles one thousand later decisions.
The Nonessentialist has a vague, general vision or mission statement, has concrete quarterly objectives, but ones that fail to energize or inspire people to take their efforts to the next level; has a value set but no guiding principles for implementing them.
The Essentialist has a strategy that is concrete and inspirational, has an intent that is both meaningful and memorable; makes one decision that eliminates one thousand later decisions.
Ask, "How will we know when we're done?"
Example: Brad Pitt and "Make it Right": "to build 150 affordable, green, storm-resistant homes for families living in the lower 9th ward".
DARE: The Power of a Graceful "No"
Courage is grace under pressure - Ernest Hemingway
Without courage, the disciplined pursuit of less is just lip service. Anyone can talk about the importance of focusing on the things that matter most - but to see people who dare to live it is rare.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing - Stephen COVEY.
It's hard to choose what is essential in the moment because of an innate fear of social awkwardness. The only way out of this trap is to say no firmly, resolutely, and yet gracefully.
The Nonessentialist avoids saying no to avoid feeling social awkwardness and pressure; says yes to everything.
The Essentialist dares to say no firmly, resolutely, and gracefully. Says yes only to the things that really matter.
It's important to separate decision from the relationship
Saying "no" gracefully doesn't have to mean using the word "no". There are a variety of ways of refusing someone clearly and politely without actually using the word "no".
Focus on the trade-off. The more we think about what we are giving up when we say yes to someone, the easier it is to say no.
Remind yourself that everyone is selling something - in exchange of your time. SImply being aware of what is being sold allows us to be more deliberate in deciding whether we want to buy it.
Make your peace with the fact that saying "no" often requires trading popularity for respect
Remember that a clear "no" can be more graceful than a vague and noncommittal "yes"
The "No" repertoire
The awkward pause. Own the silence.
The soft "no" (or the "no but") - email is a good way to start practicing the soft "no"
"Let me check my calendar and get back to you"
Use email bouncebacks - don't limit it just to out-of-the-office time
Say "Yes. What should I deprioritize?" - this works with a senior leader
Say it with humor
Use the words "You are welcome to X. I am willing to Y": You are welcome to borrow my car. I am willing to make sure the keys are there for you." = "I won't be able to drive you"
"I can't do it, but X might be interested." Often people requesting something don't really care who helps them.
UNCOMMIT: Win Big by Cutting Your Losses
Sunk cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped.
The Nonessentialist asks, " Why to stop now when I've already invested so much in this project?". Hates admitting to mistakes.
The Essentialist asks, " If I weren't already invested in this project, how much would I invest in it now?" Thinks, "What else could I do with this time or money if I pulled the plug now?" Is comfortable with cutting losses.
Avoiding Commitment Traps
Beware of the Endowment effect: our tendency to undervalue things that aren't ours and to overvalue things because we already own them.
Pretend you don't own it yet.
Get over the fear of waste
Instead, admit failure to begin success
Stop trying to force a fit
Get a neutral second opinion
Be aware of the status quo bias
Apply zero-base budgeting: instead of trying to budget your time on the basis of existing commitments, assume that all bets are off.
Stop making casual commitments.
From now on, pause before you speak.
Get over the fear of missing out.
To fight FOMO, run a reverse pilot: test whether removing an initiative or activity will have any negative consequences. by quietly eliminating or at least scaling back an activity for a few days or weeks, you might be able to assess whether it is really making a difference or no one really cares.
EDIT: The Invisible Art
Oscars: Best Picture and Best Film Editing awards are highly correlated. Since 1981 not a single film has won Best Picture without at least being nominated for Best Film Editing.
Jack Dorsey: the role of the CEO is the Chief Editor of the Company. There are thousands of things a company could do, but only one or two are important.
An editor does not merely say no to things. In a way, an editor actually adds. A good editor uses deliberate subtraction to actually add life to ideas, setting, plot, and characters.
The Nonessentialist thinks that making things better means adding something and is attached to every word, image or detail.
The Essentialist thinks that making things better means subtracting something and eliminating the distracting words, images, and details.
Cut out options. The Latin root of the word decision - cis or cid - literally means "to cut" or "to kill".
Condense. "If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter". Condensing does not mean doing more at one, it simply means less waste.
Correct. Don't just cut or condense. Make something right. Come back to your core purpose.
Edit less. The best editors can sometimes be the least intrusive, the most restrained. Edit your tendency to step in.
LIMIT: The Freedom of Setting Boundaries
No is a complete sentence. - Anne Lamott
Nonessentialists tend to think of boundaries as constraints or limits, things that get in the way of their hyperproductive life, think if you have limits you will be limited, exert effort attempting the direct "no"
Essentialists see boundaries as empowering and liberating and know that if you have limits you will become limitless, set rules in advance that eliminate the need for the direct "no"
Don't rob people of their problems.
Boundaries are the sources of liberation. When we don't set clear boundaries in our lives we can end up imprisoned by the limits others have set for us.
Find your dealbreakers. Write down any time you feel violated or put upon by someone's request.
Craft social contracts. When you work with someone else, agree on what you want to achieve and what are the boundaries that keep you from wasting your time.
Part IV: EXECUTE: How can we make doing the vital few things almost effortless?
While Nonessentialists tend to force execution, Essentialists invest the time they saved by eliminating the nonessentials into designing a system to make execution almost effortless.
BUFFER: The Unfair Advantage
The story of Joseph who saved Egypt from the famine.
The only thing we can expect (with any great certainty) is the unexpected. Therefore, we can either wait for the moment and react to it or we can prepare. We can create a buffer.
The Nonessentialist assumes the best-case scenario will happen and forces execution at the last moment.
The Essentialist builds in a buffer for unexpected events and practices extreme and early preparation.
Use extreme preparation. The story of Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott.
Avoid planning fallacy by adding 50% to your time estimate.
Conduct scenario planning. Ask the following questions:
What risks do you face on this project?
What is the worst-case scenario?
What would the social effects of this be?
What would the financial impact of this be?
How can you invest to reduce risks or strengthen financial or social resilience?
SUBTRACT: Bring Forth More by Removing Obstacles
To attain knowledge add things every day. To attain wisdom subtract things every day. - Lao Tzu
"The Goal". Constraints are the obstacles holding the whole system back. Even if you improve everything else, but don't address the constraints things will not improve.
The Nonessentialist piles on quick-fix solutions.
The Essentialist removes obstacles to progress, brings forth more.
Be clear about the essential intent. We cannot know what obstacles to remove until we are clear on the desired outcome.
Identify "the slowest hiker" in your job and in your life. By systematically identifying and removing this constraint you'll be able to significantly reduce friction keeping you from executing what is essential.
Remove the obstacle. The slowest hiker can be your own attitude or another person.
Use the "catch more flies with honey" approach. To reduce the friction with another person, apply the "catch more flies with honey" approach. Send him an email, but instead of asking if he has done the work for you (which obviously he hasn't), go and see him. Ask him, "What obstacles or bottlenecks are holding you back from achieving X, and how can I help remove those?" Instead of pestering him, offer sincerely to support him.
PROGRESS: The Power of Small Wins
Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow. - Doug Firebaugh
POsitive tickets - police focusing on catching young doing something good.
The Nonessentialist starts with a big goal and gets small results; goes for the flashiest wins.
The Essentialist starts small and gets big results; celebrates small acts of progress.
Of all forms of human motivation, the most effective one is progress. A small, concrete win creates momentum and affirms our faith in our further success.
Stanford prison experiment vs Heroic Imagination Project
Done is better than perfect. Focus on minimal viable progress: "What is the smallest amount of progress that will be useful and valuable to the essential task we are trying to get done?"
Do the minimal viable preparation. Late and big means doing it all at the last minute. Early and small means starting at the earliest possible moment with the minimal possible time investment.
Visually reward progress. When we start small and reward progress, we end up achieving more than when we set big, lofty, and often impossible goals. And as a bonus, the acti of positively reinforcing our successes allows us to reap more enjoyment and satisfaction
FLOW: The Genius of Routine
Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition. - W.H. Auden
The Nonessentialist tries to execute the essentials by force and allows nonessentials to be the default.
The Essentialist design a routine that enshrines what is essential, making execution almost effortless. Makes the essentials the default position.
Embedding our decisions into our routine allows us to channel the discipline towards some other essential activity.
Nearly 40% of our choices are deeply unconscious.
Overhaul your triggers: we need to find the cue that is triggering the nonessential activity or behavior and find a way to associate that same cue with something that is essential.
Create New Triggers
Do the most difficult thing first.
Mix up your routines.
Tackle your routines one by one.
FOCUS: What's Important Now?
Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily activity. - Thich Nhat Nanh
The ancient Greeks ahs two words for time. Chronos is quantitative. Kairos is qualitative and is experienced only when we are fully in the moment - when we exist in the now.
The Nonessentialist's mind is spinning about the past or the future.
The Essentialist's mind is focused on the present.
Multitasking versus multi-focusing. We can easily do two things at the same time - eat and talk, wash the dishes and listen to the radio. What we can't do is CONCENTRATE on two things at the same time. We can multitask, but cannot MULTI FOCUS.
Figure out what is most important right now.
Get the future out of your head.
Prioritize.
In work, do what you enjoy. In work, be completely present.
BE: The Essentialist Life
There are two ways of thinking about Essentialism. The first is to think of it as something you DO occasionally. The second is to think of it as something you ARE.