It’s easy for life to get complicated. Too many emails and meetings. Less than ideal clients who take far too much of your energy. New opportunities that are hard to say 'No!' too. Not to mention endless news and social media feeds on our devices, and bottomless streaming content when we get home.
It’s no wonder our minds feel cluttered and overwhelmed with so many demands on our attention.
Which is why Greg McKeown's Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less is probably more relevant today than it was in 2014 when first published.
What is Essentialism?
As McKeown puts it, Essentialism "is not a way to do one more thing, it is a different way of doing everything."
It is a mindset that rejects the fallacy of the Non-Essentialist, someone who thinks that they can somehow have it all. That they can somehow not have to choose and say “No!” to good options. Essentialism forces us to get clear on what matters most, choose that - and only that.
The Essentialist mindset is based on three core principles: i) "I choose to" rather than "I have to", ii) "Only a few things really matter (the vital few)" rather than "Everything is important (the trivial many)", and iii) "I can do anything - but not everything."
Why it Matters?
We live in one of the most abundant times in history (even amidst COVID-19). Our lives are overflowing with connectivity, news, possibilities and choices – all clambering for our attention. To the point we lose sight of what is essential in our lives.
For our Paleolithic ancestors, abundance wasn’t something they often experienced. And the idea of “more is better” provided some genuine security in a world where scarcity was the norm. But today, our survival brain still responds as if “more is better”, and we get lost chasing the illusion of more safety, security, knowledge and certainty when we already have so much.
Focus, clarity and simplicity are what is missing for most of us. Essentialism is a way to get back to these.
Three Principles of the Essentialist
If you want more ease and clarity in your life – at work and at home – here are three simple principles that work.
1. Choose. Never forget that you have the power to choose. It is your most powerful tool. With a trained mind, we can choose where we want to place our attention, what matters most, what story we tell about what is happening to us, what habits we want to create, etc. This is power!
While this may be obvious it is still hard. I say with a ‘trained mind’, since our unconscious mind influences many unconscious choices without our awareness.
This is why I believe that a meditation and mindfulness practices are essential.
While choosing wisely makes good sense, training your mind to see reactive thinking patterns and beliefs is the key to creating the space between “stimulus and response” such that you actually can choose better. Most of us know better. Yet so many of us still struggle to do better.
“The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away – it can only be forgotten!”
Greg McKeown, Essentialism
2. Discern. The point here is to recognize that almost everything is non-essential. There is a lot of social pressure to stay connected to and up on everything that is happening. The key is for each of us to distinguish the vital few from the trivial many. This is the Pareto Principle, which states that 20% of your efforts yield 80% of your results. It is so easy to get distracted or lured in by the trivial many.
By getting clear on what matters most in your work day and in your life, you start to see that the rest really is non-essential.
This too is hard to do. Particularly when we are barely keeping up, running from task to task and have little time to pause and think. Again, meditation and mindfulness practices are super helpful to build the capacity to pause, notice and choose more wisely.
This is also where practice matters. As you practice discernment, feeding the ‘good wolf’ so to speak, those neural pathways grow stronger, making it easier to do so next time.
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
Greg McKeown, Essentialism
3. Trade-offs. The last principle is to understand that with any choice you are always making a trade-off. When we move through our world on Autopilot, we fall under the illusion that we can somehow say “Yes!” to many things and get it all done. Instead we need to make our choices about where we put our energy and attention far more consciously and intentionally.
Knowing and accepting that there is a trade-off associated with your choice is the difference. And that by saying a clear “Yes!” to the choice you made, you are also saying a clear “No!” or “Not now” to something else.
The key is being OK with, or even proud of, that choice. Your survival brain will still scream “But wait, more is better!” and not like the trade-off you are making. But wisdom allows you to see what is most important (sleep, focus blocks, your genius zone, health, relationships, peace of mind, etc.) and know that you have just made a great choice.
Essentialism has plenty more tips on how to eliminate the trivial many and grease the wheels such that the vital few get most of your attention. But the three practical principles above are the core to the Essentialist mindset.
How About You?
Where could you or your team benefit from getting back to what is essential? How would clarity and simplicity amplify your success at work? Or in your home life?
To learn more about how mindfulness practices, Essentialism and the principles of Stoic wisdom are helping the clients I serve to crush it at work with greater peace in their day, please book a time to connect HERE or email me at scott@mindfulwisdom.ca. I’d love to support you and your people towards having more focus, clarity, peace of mind and joy in your lives.