The past 3 months have been a bit of a whirlwind for me as I took on a big project in addition to my regular work. Despite the fact that I pretty much went into “monk mode” to make sure it came out successfully, I did manage to still dive into some very interesting books, podcasts and classes during this time.
One of these books was “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. At first, you might think this book is all about getting rid of extra “stuff” in your life. It is, kind of. But not the kind of “stuff” you might be thinking: clutter, toys, clothes, etc. The book powerfully points out that although we seem to be doing more and more everyday, our feeling of accomplishment is not there. We are doing SO much in SO many areas, that it is nearly impossible to make meaningful progress in any one area.
Before I go any further and just in case you are not going to get to the end of this post, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to pretty much anyone and everyone; despite your role and what you do. If you are the leader of a company or organization. If you are a manager of a team. If you are an employee at a company or organization. If you are the head of a household or an individual who finds themselves ‘busy’ all the time. You get the picture. I honestly can’t think of one person who would not benefit from reading this.
Among many key concepts and ideas, these are some of the ones that resonated most with me. Some of these concepts and ideas were “a-ha” moments, and others were “amen” moments in that they underscored beliefs I already had:
- If you don’t prioritize your time, someone else will. Do you find yourself waking up every day and allowing your agenda to be set for you? Is your day filled with responding to other people’s needs and questions? I know I can speak for myself that if a text comes in, I feel like I must stop what I am doing and respond. Why is that? It’s not about being rude or unkind, it’s about being in control of how we spend our days. How far will you get with your true priorities if you live your life on ‘reactive’ mode? How much progress could you make if you traded off the time you spent looking at your phone and dedicated that to what was most important in your life?
- Only a few things REALLY matter. It’s true. If you think about it, whether it be in your job or your family role. If you had to narrow your ‘to do’ list to the top 2-3 most essential things, what would they be? And are you doing those things, or allowing the many trivial things to go first? This is a very weak spot for me. I often avoid the harder (but more important) tasks and get distracted with menial tasks convincing myself they ‘must’ get done. I waste so much time this way.
- The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves…One of the most common ways people – especially ambitious, successful people – damage this asset is through lack of SLEEP. Anyone who knows me at all knows that this was one of my “amen” moments. I am a huge believer that to bring forth the best outcome we have to bring the best of ourselves. And that means putting our health first. Sleep is top on the list there, followed closely by movement. Every night I am in bed between 8:30-9pm. I know that this is very difficult for some people, because that is their ‘unwinding’ time. If sleeping is not going to happen, then one thing I would definitely try cutting out iPad/iPhone after a certain time and dimming the lights. Having the lights on and staring at a screen is not doing anything to help get your Circadian rhythm on track.
- BOUNDARIES are a source of liberation. I just loved the example in the book about the importance of setting boundaries. What boundaries have you set for yourself? I am setting up some new ones for myself. Mainly to protect myself from…ME! I am my own worst enemy when it comes to filling every moment of my day with a new passion or project. My new boundaries will allow for only 1 extra passion project at a time. If I want to bring something new in, then something has to come out.
- An Essentialist produces more – brings forth more – by REMOVING more instead of doing more. Just because you can do everything doesn’t mean you should do everything. When your life is to “full”, whether with commitments or things, it numbs you from finding clarity of purpose and working towards what really matters. Taking a critical editor’s eye at your life and meticulously cut out each and every thing that does not serve your purpose.
Not everything will be solved from reading this book. The book lays out what happens when you lead your life reacting & responding to the world’s demands of you versus being in the driver’s seat. However, you will need to do the “heavy lifting” when it comes to your clarity of purpose. Once the chatter and busy-ness are gone, do you know where you want to go? That is an extremely important question no one can answer but you. And the answers will be different for everyone.
I read this book in combination with taking Jess Lively’s “Life With Intention” online class (she actually recommends it as pre-class reading). I am finding in that class an incredible roadmap for getting that clarity of purpose for myself based on my unique Values. I will post about that in the future. Once you have that clarified, then “Essentialism” will supply the why and how to move forward.
After reading this book and with much reflection, one thing I am personally going to be striving for is to stop saying I am “busy” when someone asks how I am. When I say it, I am going to consider that a failure. I really want to stop the glorification of that word in our daily lives. Does it mean I won’t have things to do or a full schedule? No. Because if I am working on the things I am passionate about and saying no to what I am not, then I am not going to call myself “busy”. I will be “joyful”. Right?
Have you read Essentialism? What did you get out of it? I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
