Essentialism

Essentialism : The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Author : Greg McKeown

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Essentialism is

- A disciplined habit to be constantly applied, not a one-time activity or productivity trick used now and then.
- It involes the following steps:
 - Explore and Evaluate- Identify what is vital vs what is also good and what is just a waste of time.
 - Eliminate - Anything which isn't vital, or the top priority (even if it's also good) must be done away with.
  - Execute - An efficient system to repeatedly do this, without it being excessively cumbersome must be built.

Underlying assumptions

1. Individual choice is possible, and we are not forced into (too many) decisions.
2. Prevalence of noise, meaning that some vital opportunities are much more valuable than the bulk of the noise.
3. Trade-offs exist, meaning that we can't do all of it.

Essence

The core mindset of an essentialist replaces the following assumptions:
- I have to
- It's all important
- I can do both

With the core truths of:
- I choose to
- Only a few things really matter
- I can do anything, but not everything

Explore

In order to successfully explore and distinguish the vital few from the trivial many one needs to be able to create:
- Space to think
- Time to listen and look
- Permission to play (around with ideas)
- Wisdom to sleep (on the decision)
- Discipline to select (stringently and authentically)

Eliminate

- Clarity of purpose is needed. Without that we end up playing politics or stuck with the status quo. We need 'essential intent', which is a combination of being inspirational and concrete.
- Dare to say no even if it means a little awkwardness, or loss of short term popularity for long term respect. To say no, separate the decision from the relationship, say it gracefully but clearly and focus on the trade-off/reasoning.
- Uncommit by carefully avoiding the sunk cost bias, endowment effect, status quo bias and stopping trying to force a fit.
- Editing of life involves cutting out options, condensing what we work on, correcting what we do, and not editing too much.
- Limit the ability of others to set boundaries. Set them yourself and don't let them be moved around.

Execute

- Add buffers to all tasks. Add buffers to the tune of 50% extra time and resources. This improves execution ability and reduces stress.
- Identify and remove bottlenecks to the objective. This is the most efficient way of getting results.
- Constantly making some, little progress is better than aiming for a big jump. Identify the minimum viable progress that can be made in a direction and just do it. It will take very little time, and can be done well ahead of time, making everything easier later.
- Create effective routines for ourselves. The routines themselves can be mixed up to keep things interesting. Setting the right cues and changing rewards can help shift from unhealthy to better routines.
- Focus on the moment that you're in. While we can multi-task, we can't focus on multiple things. Pause, prioritise and ensure that you're 100% present.
- Aim to be an essentialist at the core, rather than just using the prince's now and then. It's hard to do, but gets easier with time and application.