
What’s important is identifying the vital few things that matter in your life and pursuing those things relentlessly. “What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?”īeing busy is a terrible measure of importance. Busyness is a terrible measure of success At its core, essentialism is about eliminating the noise in our lives so that we can spend our time and energy on the things that count. The purpose of the exploration is to discern the vital few from the trivial many.”Įssentialism is a practical philosophy that encourages us to consciously design a life in which we identify and pursue the vital few things that matter, eliminate the things that don’t matter, and create a reality that allows us to achieve our highest point of contribution. But their exploration is not an end in itself. “Essentialists spend as much time as possible exploring, listening, debating, questioning, and thinking. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.” Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. “The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. McKeown highlights the danger in failing to recognize tradeoffs, the necessity of learning to say no, and the importance of play and sleep.Īccess My Searchable Collection of 100+ Book Notes Key Takeaways What is an essentialist? A compelling philosophy about living consciously, focusing on the essential few things that fulfill you, and designing your life to achieve your highest point of contribution.
