Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Working in technology can be very overwhelming, there is a new tool released every other day and it’s almost expected that you learn it, working in MSP land it’s easy to want to offer additional services instead of focussing on the essential. While new toys can be fun to try out, at the same time it can be very draining to try and fit it all in. I wanted to learn to say ‘no’ more often, and reading Essentialism was a push in the right direction.
Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
If you don’t prioritise your life, someone else will.
Studies have found that we tend to value things we already own more highly than they are worth and thus that we find them more difficult to get rid of. If you’re not quite there, ask the killer question: “If I didn’t already own this, how much would I spend to buy it?” This usually does the trick.
“If you could do only one thing with your life right now, what would you do?”
When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless. Drip by drip we allow our power to be taken away until we end up becoming a function of other people’s choices – or even a function of our own past choices.
A non-Essentialist approaches every trade-off by asking, “How can I do both?” Essentialists ask the tougher but ultimately more liberating question, “Which problem do I want?” An Essentialist makes trade-offs deliberately.
When we push back effectively, it shows people that our time is highly valuable. It distinguishes the professional from the amateur.
If your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with “Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritise to pay attention to this new project?” Or simply say, “I would want to do a great job, and given my other commitments I wouldn’t be able to do a job I was proud of if I took this on.”
Are there commitments you routinely make to customers, colleagues, friends or even family members that you have always assumed made a big difference to them but that in fact they might barely notice? By quietly eliminating or at least scaling back an activity for a few days or weeks you might be able to assess whether it is really making a difference or whether no one really cares.
Every second spent worrying about a past or future moment distracts us from what is important in the here and now.
When faced with so many tasks and obligations that you can’t figure out which to tackle first, stop. Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is most important this very second – not what’s most important tomorrow or even an hour from now. If you’re not sure, make a list of everything vying for your attention and cross off anything that is not important right now.
Details
My Rating: ★★★★☆
ISBN: 9780804140836
Date Finished: 2019-04-02