“Essentialism” by Greg Mckeown

The author 🖋

Greg McKeown is a Stanford graduate, two-time New York Times bestselling author and business strategist for top companies like Adobe, Apple, Google and Meta.

His work on essentialism has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Fortune and Harvard Business Review (and he hosts a pretty cool podcast on it too).

Key takeaways 🎓

1. Do the most important things first

The key is to simplify our life by focusing on what's most important.

By doing less but better, we can achieve more significant and satisfying results.

Imagine you have a jar and you need to fill it with big rocks and sand. If you put the big rocks in first (the important stuff), everything else fits around them. But if you start with the sand (the less important stuff), the big rocks won’t fit. Focus on your big rocks.

2. If it’s not a clear YES, then it’s a clear NO

We shouldn’t be afraid to say no to things that aren't important.

This principle helps us avoid indecision and unnecessary commitments.

It also encourages us to be more selective and focused on what truly matters to us.

3. Create space to think

To practice essentialism, we need time and space to think.

This means setting aside quiet moments to reflect, plan and prioritize.

By taking the necessary time to think things through, we make more thoughtful decisions.

Closing thoughts 🧠

The book is about the disciplined pursuit of doing less, but better.

I myself often feel stretched too thin and overcommitted, which makes it harder to focus on what truly matters.

Essentialism provides a framework for prioritizing what's most important and eliminating non-essential tasks so that we can achieve more with less stress.