Essentialism
Greg McKeown · 2014
Greg McKeown's Essentialism makes the case that success doesn't come from doing more, but from doing less, better. It's a disciplined system for finding the vital few things that matter most and giving yourself permission to cut out everything else.
The disciplined pursuit of less, doing fewer things but doing them better.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of Essentialism pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- Replace 'I have to' with 'I choose to.' You always have a choice about where your time and energy go, reclaiming that agency is the first step out of feeling overwhelmed and controlled by other people's agendas.
- Use the 90 Percent Rule: rate every opportunity from 0 to 100 against your single most important criterion, and if it scores below 90, make it an automatic no. This kills the trap of saying yes to things that are merely 'good.'
- Trade-offs are unavoidable, so make them deliberately. Stop asking 'How can I fit it all in?' and start asking 'What do I want to go big on?', because saying yes to one thing always means saying no to something else.
The other 4 — and the full 10-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 9 chapters
The whole summary runs about 10 minutes, read or listened to.
- The Essentialist Mindset: Less but Better
- Choose, Discern, Trade-off
- Explore: Escape, Look, Play, and Sleep
- Select: The 90 Percent Rule
- Clarify: One Decision That Eliminates a Thousand
- Dare to Say No, Gracefully
- Uncommit: Cut Your Losses and Edit Your Life
- Execute: Buffer, Subtract, and the Slowest Hiker
- Progress, Routine, and Living in the Now
Finish Essentialism tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 10 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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