How to accomplish more with less

Based on Essentialism by Greg Mckeown

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

What if we stopped celebrating BEING BUSY as a MEASUREMENT of IMPORTANCE? what if instead, we celebrated how much time we spent LISTENING, PONDERING, MEDITATING AND ENJOYING TIME with the most important people in our lives? — Greg Mckeown.

A friend of mine recommended reading this book ‘ESSENTIALISM’ when I told her I am stressed about having to do a lot of things and it feels never-ending. I used to be a perfectionist(work in progress) and would put unnecessary pressure by doing things for others and not taking time for myself.

I was intrigued by the concept of the book and ended up putting things I learned into practice and it works. Though I struggled initially, I am glad that I invested time in things that truly matter to me and I could see a difference in my emotional and mental health.

The concepts shared in this book are simple and yet effective.

Productivity vs Essentialism

Productivity is about doing more things/tasks as efficiently as possible.

Essentialism is doing more of the RIGHT THING. It’s about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is Essential.

Nonessentailist vs Essentialist

NonEssentialist is someone who focuses on:

• ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE: “It’s all-important”, How can I fit in all?, ‘I have to’
• Reacts to what’s most pressing.
• Says “YES” to people without really thinking and works till the last moment.
• Take on too much and feels out of control, overwhelmed, and exhausted.

Essentialist focuses on:

• LESS BUT BETTER: ‘only a few things that really matter’, ‘ I choose to’, what are your trade-offs?
• Pauses to discern what really matters.
• Says “NO” to everything except what’s essential.
• Removes obstacles, chooses carefully in order to great work, and experiences joy in the journey.

The core concepts in Essentialism are:

1. Explore and Evaluate: Make a list of the most important things in your life and ask yourself what is the most essential thing in your life that you are not making time for?

Saying “yes” every time takes away time from another experience that truly matters.

2. Eliminate: Declutter and figure out what aligns most with you and it can start by looking back at the past week or month and list of things that you did not find the time and things that made time fly by.

Eliminating nonessentials may seem uncomfortable for a lot of people but the idea is to remember there is a choice and in that choice is the space to negotiate. It’s about practicing saying ‘NO’ more deliberately.

3. Execute:

“Remembering that I will be dead soon is the most important tool that I ever encountered that help me make big decisions in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart” — Steve Jobs.

• Mastering the slow “yes”: This is not an easy thing for most people. It’s a practice of putting across our point without sounding selfish, disrespectful, or condescending. Greg shares some examples like — This project/idea sounds good and before I say yes let me check my calendar or I will get back to you on this. I may not be the right person but I can recommend someone who could be the right fit and a few more to get us started.
• Learning to uncommit: When we overcommit, we are not being completely honest.

Having a genuine conversation about un-committing to a task that you agreed previously and how disconnected you feel now may seem like you are breaking other's trust but it’s more being honest. This may seem like a lot but with practice, it will become clear on doing things that matter. It’s about being consistent in what you believe.

This book is a practical tool to navigate with thought-provoking questions to ask ourselves and simple principles explained with examples, stories based on real life instances based on personal and professional life that help us to question and figure what we truly want.

My insights from this book:

• We live a world that expects us to do more and never give up. This is the root cause of major stressors in everyone’s life. Essentialism is about accomplishing more with less.
• This is more than a self-help book. It is a mindset with a disciplined, systematic approach in establishing a road map that we resonate with.
• It’s all about creating a system that focuses on what is truly important and doing it with honesty and being accountable for our choices.
• Greg talks about creating a trigger list in our schedule that will help us remove obstacles and switch our attention to things that bring us joy and peace.
• The concept of Essentialism touches many aspects that we usually avoid to confront. It’s in a way a self-discovery guide.
• Believing that putting ourselves first at times is not selfish, it’s a priority.
• By focussing on doing the RIGHT THING that matters to us, we are saying ‘yes’ to things that bring us value and creating an environment to choose our time wisely.
• Doing less doesn’t mean just doing for the sake of less either, it’s about learning to filter and decluttering the nonessentials and making time for the essential things.
• Essentialism is customizable, it can be applied to work, business, self, and relationships.
• It touches concepts like self-worth, setting boundaries, letting go of comparison, People pleasing, cultivating social intelligence, and most importantly communication — with ourselves and others.