Essentialism Review – Don’t Major in Minor Things!

In Essentialism by Greg McKeown we are urged to take on the pursuit of less. Or as the Chinese philosopher Lin Yutang puts it: “The wisdom of life lies in the elimination of non-essentials”

Saying ‘yes’ to everything and trying to please everyone won’t only result in you being stressed out but it will also diminish the quality of your work You don’t want to “major in minor” things as the saying goes.
If I would distill this books key values into 2 words it would be: impact and fulfillment.

Notes & Highlights

📝 Meeting-mindset for the office dweller:
“Just because I was invited is not a good enough reason for me to attend.”
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📝 When you die, would you rather see a long list of accomplishments that doesn’t really matter, or just a few major accomplishments that have true meaning and significance?

📝 “If one’s life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness” – Dalai Lama

📝 The essence of Essentialism is the relentless search for less, but better.

📝 Live design and not by default.

Video Review of Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Prefer video? Here is the Video Review of Essentialism by Greg Mckeown

ELIMINATE OBSTACLES

1️⃣“What are all the obstacles standing between me and getting things done?” Make a list!
2️⃣“What is the obstacle that if removed would make the majority of other obstacles disappear.” Prioritize the list!

⭐️ TAKEAWAY:

“Not only get rid of the obvious time wasters but also cutting out some really good opportunities as well.”
I think this is the new idea that I take way from this book. I’m new to having a lot of opportunities and I’ve been reacting as many people would; I jump on all of them. This has caused me to spread myself thin and I’ve gone from being always on point, to dropping balls left and right. The idea of asking myself: “will this activity make the highest possible contribution towards my goal? “— and turning down every that doesn’t get an undisputed “Hell yeah!” —has been a game changer for me.

⚖️ VERDICT:

I can easily say that this book now has a place in my top 5 when it comes to productivity books. I really loved it, even though it pulls from a lot of sources that that you might have already read (Thinking fast and slow, The Power of habit etc..)