We are flooded by information and possible actions. What are the ones that are essential?

Essentialism by Greg McKeown is a study of how we can sift gold from the ore that is ubiquitous in our lives. In the society of information abundance, we are at a node of endless choices to make. How do we choose the actions that have the greatest value to us? How do we make time for only those?

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Essentialism-Disciplined-Pursuit-Greg-McKeown/dp/0804137382

Personal website: https://gregmckeown.com/books/effortless/

The essential thing about essentialism

Constantly refine what is essential to us. Every one of us has our unique goals and desires. It is up to us to choose what is most important.

We always retain the ability to choose. Letting go of it is a conscious choice to be helpless.

Why is it vital to do so?

"..we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable." - Naval Ravikant

Practise figuring what is the core of the issues we encounter. For a journalist, they need to look for the lead in the story they are writing. So do we, in the story of our lives only we can write.

How do we begin to do that: create space for ourselves

We don't spend every waking hour engaged at work, or some chore hoisted on us. At least, it is not healthy to. We need that mental space to rest, to prioritise, to do all the tasks that distinguish us from a code snippet running on a machine. We need that space to:

  • Create space to decide well: what is essential. To figure what are we inclined towards, and what makes a significant impact on the world.
  • Create space to play, and through that find what we are drawn towards. We pursue our curiosities without obligation.
  • Create space for sleep: the basic maintenance of the body. Without adequate sleep, our physical, mental and emotional performance suffers. Our judgement and decision-making becomes flawed. With sleep, we can present our best selves to our essential work.

The tactical aspect of creating space

There are deliberate small steps we can take to create space. Each step is small at the time of undertaking, but they do require a significant amount of clear thinking before hand.

How do we create such space for ourselves?

Say "No" at the start, to prevent further damage done by a reluctant "Yes". We may believe that saying "No" is bad for relationships, but the ambiguity of a non-commitment causes more damage.

Remember that a clear "No" can be more graceful than a vague or noncommittal "Yes"

Set extreme criteria, to ensure we are choosing the actions that have the most leverage or alignment. Due to limited time and energy, the choice of one demands the rejection of another.

Create space by demanding everything counts for more.

Pursue clarity on the vision. Vagueness in vision creates difficult decisions down the road, when there's a need to evaluate them individually. Clarity in the vision enables us to evaluate each decision on the basis of 'how does this serve the vision?'

Once we have clarity on the vision, we can then set clear boundaries, and refuse to compromise on them.

...if you don’t set boundaries—there won’t be any.

How do we keep doing it?

Even though these are small steps, they can be radical to those around us. This is especially so if they have been conditioned to come to us with their issues freely.

We need to keep ourselves motivated as we travel the path of Essentialism. We can keep our journey sustainable by:

Celebrating small wins, generating the emotion we need to fuel our next action.

Maintain sustainability by programming our goals into routines. This reduces the activation energy of taking steps in the direction of our journey.

"....once we master them and make them automatic we have won an enormous victory"

Not relenting on boundaries. Once we have given exceptions, we will be tempted to make more allowances.

Being an Essentialist comes up in the routine choices we make, because the outward pressure to commit our time and resources will be ubiquitous.

Constantly question: Is this Essential?

Call to Action

The next time you are asked to 'help out with something' that you are not too enthusiastic, give a clear "No".

Interesting quotes

"If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will."
“Protect the asset.”
“If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.”
"Once they are in place they are gifts that keep on giving."
“REMEMBER THAT A CLEAR “NO” CAN BE MORE GRACEFUL THAN A VAGUE OR NONCOMMITTAL “YES””