Essentialism in business

Diane Roberts
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

Starting a business is exciting! Running a business is exhausting. There are not enough hours in the day, or enough people to get all of the work done.

As an entrepreneur you don’t want to miss completing a deliverable or an important meeting that could drive more revenue to your company. The end result can be too much external noise, too many inner voices and taking on more than you need to in order to be successful.

The answer isn’t work more and work harder. The answer is to stop, listen and decide. Become a purposeful essentialist. In other words learn how to do less and gain more by focusing on the right things.

Stop — don’t act on impulse. Decide if doing something will meet your end goal. If not, and it isn’t mandated by law, health or safety don’t initiate the task.

Listen — if you’ve decided that the request or task seems to be aligned with your end goals gather all of the information that you possibly can. Be certain that you understand the ask or need.

Decide — based on the facts that you have, put this request/task in priority order. You can use the Red, Orange, Yellow system or whatever it is that keeps you organized. If this request makes it to your top 3 then act on it. If not, then continue to pause and see where it stands the next day.

Get the right things done. Be purposeful, be Essential.

Diane Williams Roberts is a successful wine-blogger, wife, mother and techie. Growing her wine blogging venture has taken time and focus. She wants to credit Greg McKeown’s book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Doing Less” for starting her on the path of being purposefully essential.

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