What is Essentialism?
Essentialism is a concept popularized by Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. To put it short, being an Essentialist is like being a minimalist on a mental level. This hyper-focused state of being produces more freedom in a person’s life by identifying top priorities and eliminating outside noise. Assessing and evaluating new opportunities with a selective criteria allows a person to tap into their power of choice. As a result, Essentialists feel more control over their lives.
To Start Becoming an Essentialist:
Know You Have the Ability to Choose If you don’t protect your choice to live life on your terms, then putting the rest of the suggestions into play won’t matter.
Discover Your Priority Stop asking yourself what your priorit(ies) are and start focusing on what your priority is. As McKeown explains, the word “priority” was singular for hundreds of years, meaning “the very first or prior thing.” Essentialism is about using all your mental energy to focus on the most important thing you need to accomplish.
Set Time Aside to Play Mine your past for play memories. What did you do as a child that excited you? How can you recreate that today? Lose your self-judgment and tap back into your sense of awe and wonder—it’ll reinvigorate you, help restore expended energy, and birth new creative ideas.
Get Enough Sleep Sleep will enhance your ability to explore, make connections, and do less but better throughout your waking hours.
Eliminate Trivial Tasks Productivity and busyness are not the same. The goal of essentialism is downsizing what you work on to make real progress on objectives that matter.
Learn How to Say “No” “No More Yes. It’s Either HELL YEAH! Or No.” Derek Silvers You’ve only got 16 waking hours to be productive.
Edit Your Life “Be an editor of your life. Take out the fluff. Make the story better. The important things stand out more.” Josh Axe
“You only have control over three things in your life: the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take.”
-Jack Canfield