“He was making a millimeter of progress in a million directions.”
– Greg McKeown, in his 2014 book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
It’s my second time through the book (which I definitely recommend), and I am struck by how, like many of life’s best lessons, common sense rules the pages.
All or most of our focus on one or two things is game changing, and McKeown sets a comfortable framework for understanding, and executing on an “essentialist mindset.”
Part one covers the Essense of Essentialism, and we learn about choosing, discerning and trade-offs. Part two shows us how to Explore, and deals with a couple very surprising topics as it does. Part three is where we get comfortable with Eliminating — getting rid of the “trivial many” so that we can focus on “the vital few.” Part four is all on Execution.
If we’re feeling over-matched, tired, pulled in too many directions — this book is a good primer on getting to a better place. Or, as McKeown says early in the pages, “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
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