NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than one million copies sold! Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.

“A timely, essential read for anyone who feels overcommitted, overloaded, or overworked.”—Adam Grant

Have you ever:

Found yourself stretched too thin?
Simultaneously felt overworked and underutilized?
Felt busy but not productive?
Felt like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist.

Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter.

By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy—instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.

Essentialism is not one more thing—it’s a whole new way of doing everything. It’s about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.

Listening Length

6 hours and 14 minutes
Author

Greg McKeown
Narrator

Greg McKeown
Audible release date

April 15, 2014
Language

English
Publisher

Random House Audio
ASIN

B00IWYP5NI
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	6 hours and 14 minutes
Author	Greg McKeown
Narrator	Greg McKeown
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	April 15, 2014
Publisher	Random House Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00IWYP5NI
Best Sellers Rank	#859 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #8 in Business Decision Making & Problem Solving #9 in Business Decision Making #11 in Decision-Making & Problem Solving

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4.6 out of 5

18,217 global ratings

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DT Linda Gross

Greatly Reduce Overwhelm & Perfectionism!

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2023

Verified Purchase

If you are self-employed, like me, and are often stressed-out and overwhelmed, this book is your answer to cure that! It will help you focus and decide WHAT EXACTLY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT thing I should do today? (and be motivated to do it). We often have 10 things going on and can only be great at a couple of those things. This book teaches you how to let go, let go and not say Yes to the things that either don't interest you or that you aren't great at. There is even a section called '8 ways to say NO' (politely).

If you are a people-pleaser and/or a perfectionist, this book also effectively dives into those topics.

Highly recommend!

Helpful

Tim Challies

A Fantastic Read

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2014

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Life is complicated. Life is full of responsibilities and opportunities, planned duties and serendipitous possibilities. There is so much we could do, but so little we can do. Many of us battle our whole lives to focus on those few, significant items that we should do must do, and yet so few of us ever feel like we are even nearly succeeding.

Help is here in the form of Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism. While it is not a perfect book, and while it benefits tremendously from adding a good dose of Christian thinking, it is one of the most helpful I’ve read on that constant battle to focus my time and energy on the right things.

McKeown believes in what he calls Essentialism and describes the basic value proposition in this way: “only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.” The Essentialist pursues fewer but better opportunities and is rigidly disciplined in rejecting the many to devote himself to the few. It is “not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”

The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.

Now that sounds good! That sounds like what we all want—a clear design to our lives that simplifies decision-making and amplifies each of the opportunities we pursue.

McKeown leads the reader to Essentialism in four parts:

Essence. He begins by looking to the essence of Essentialism and the realities that make Essentialism a necessary but difficult practice today.

Explore. Here he describes the way an Essentialist needs to think so he can pursue the highest possible contribution toward the best goals.

Eliminate. Having determined the best goals, the Essentialist now needs to begin eliminating anything that will compete with the pursuit of those goals. “It’s not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don’t make the highest possible contribution; you still have to actively eliminate those that do not.”

Execute. And then comes the heart of it all—living in such a way that you now execute on those few goals, and continuing to follow the discipline of it.

McKeown promises his book “will teach you a method for being more efficient, productive, and effective in both personal and professional realms. It will teach you a systematic way to discern what is important, eliminate what is not, and make doing the essential as effortless as possible. In short, it will teach you how to apply the disciplined pursuit of less to every area of your life.”

And I think it can do that. It is chock-full of excellent insights and quoteable phrases. It is the kind of book you can use to implement systems in your life, or the kind of book you can plunder for its big and important ideas.

Yet the Christian reader will want to read it with some discernment. This is a book that benefits from an infusion of the biblical ethos. As the book reaches its end, McKeown expands Essentialism to all of life and here he stops quoting business gurus and begins quoting religious gurus; the last chapter is easily the weakest and one that can be skipped without any great loss.

Reading the book through a Christian lens improves it significantly. McKeown writes about people who always say “yes” and are afraid to say “no.” That sounds like a classic diagnosis of fear of man, a person so motivated by the praise of man that he takes on too much and says no to too little so he can win the praise of other people.

Not only that, but God has a way of diverting us from what we believe are our most important tasks. He diverts us to tasks he determines are even more important, and a too-rigid adherence to Essentialism may keep a Christian from allowing and embracing those divine interruptions. Read the gospels and the book of Acts and you will see how Jesus and the Apostles were extremely focused, but also very willing to depart from their plans. Implementing Essentialism too rigidly may just lead to a self-centered life rather than a life of service to others.

Reading through that Christian lens also allows us to see that Essentialism can be a means through which we honor and glorify God. It propels us to consider where God has specially gifted and equipped us to serve him and his people. Again, “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 our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.” The principles of Essentialism, read and applied through the Bible, will help us understand how we are uniquely created and burdened by God to meet specific needs. And, equally helpfully, it will steer us away from those areas where we cannot contribute nearly as well.

I heartily recommend the book, provided you read with Essentialism in one hand, and the Bible in the other.

Let me close with a few of my favorite quotes:

In many cases we can learn to make one-time decisions that make a thousand future decisions so we don’t exhaust ourselves asking the same questions again and again.

If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.

We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.

There are three deeply entrenched assumptions we must conquer to live the way of the Essentialist: “I have to,” “It’s all important,” and “I can do both.”

If … people are too busy to think, then they’re too busy, period.

Making our criteria both selective and explicit affords us a systematic tool for discerning what is essential and filtering out the things that are not.

Motivation and cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose.

Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.

“We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’ ”

53 people found this helpful

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Essentialism

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2023

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Essentialism is a book in the Malcolm Gladwell tradition of exploring behavioral themes that, on the face of it, seem kind of obvious. The thesis here is that you should strip down your obligations to the bare minimum and thus achieve a more productive and rewarding lifestyle. In other words, prioritize tasks so you spend your precious time on only the most important things.

A lot of this theme revolves around saying "no". The way you pare down the tasks on your to-do list is by declining to do things requested by others. Doing so would seemingly make you the villain in your personal and professional dealings, but the thinking is people will gain respect for you in the long run because you do tasks well precisely because you were selective about which tasks you take on.

The problem is the examples in the book are all in situations where you're fielding requests from colleagues and potential clients. The obvious failing of this strategy is when dealing with your boss. I don't know about you, but I don't have the luxury of telling my boss "Sorry, but I decline to do that task you've requested of me".

The key to paring down your tasks is to prioritize them. In other words to focus your efforts on the things that are truly most important. Consequently a fair amount of the book deals with value judgement and thinking hard about your priorities.

The chapters take the form of examining various aspects of the essentialism lifestyle, covering the techniques and advantages of doing so. A frequent motif is a Goofus and Gallant-style table of how an essentialist behaves and how a non-essentialist behaves.

Like Gladwell's books, there's a struggle here to stretch what would be a good magazine article into book length. That means padding it out by including a lot of tangential topics that are only slightly related to essentialism. The chapter about getting a good night's sleep is ok, but it's hard to see what that has to do with the rest of the book.

Almost all the material in the book could be considered common sense, but there is some value to re-examining even the most basic common sense ideas in a new light, if only to enforce concepts that you already adhere to.

15 people found this helpful

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Trainer Ajith

A beautiful book

Reviewed in India on December 31, 2021

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Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Book Summary : Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.

1. Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.” Essentialism is about pausing constantly to ask, “Am I investing in the right activities?

2. 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.

3. The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the non-essentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. The way of the Essentialist is the path to being in control of our own choices. It is a path to new levels of success and meaning. It is the path on which we enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

4. If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will. "When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people – our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families – will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important.

5. Before saying yes to anything, ask yourself, “Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution towards my goal?”

6. Essentialists ask, “What do I feel deeply inspired by?” and “What am I particularly talented at?” and “What meets a significant need in the world?

7. Essentialists invest the time they have saved into creating a system for removing obstacles and making execution as easy as possible.

8. Essentialism is not a way to do one more thing; it is a different way of doing everything. It is a way of thinking.

9. There are three deeply entrenched assumptions we must conquer to live the way of the Essentialist: ‘I have to,’ ‘It’s all important,’ and ‘I can do both.’ To embrace the essence of Essentialism requires we replace these false assumptions with three core truths: “I choose to,” “Only a few things really matter,” and “I can do anything but not everything. Ask yourself, “If you could do only one thing with your life right now, what would you do?”

10. To become an Essentialist requires a heightened awareness of our ability to choose. 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.”

11. A non-Essentialist thinks almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential. We live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. Many capable people are kept from getting to the next level of contribution because they can’t let go of the belief that everything is important.

12. Trade-Off—Which Problem Do I Want? : 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? Instead of asking, ‘What do I have to give up?’ Essentialists ask, ‘What do I want to go big on?’”

13. To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make.”

14. Look—See What Really Matters : “Being a journalist of your own life will force you to stop hyper-focusing on all the minor details and see the bigger picture. One of the most obvious and yet powerful ways to become a journalist of our own lives is simply to keep a journal.”

15. Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritise. Select -The Power of Extreme Criteria : The 90 Percent Rule: “As you evaluate an option, think about the single most important criterion for that decision, and then simply give the option a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it any lower than 90 percent, then automatically change the rating to 0 and simply reject it. If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.

16. The killer question when deciding what activities to eliminate is: “If I didn’t have this opportunity, what would I be willing to do to acquire it?

17. Dare—The Power of a Graceful “No” : “Only once we separate the decision from the relationship can we make a clear decision and then separately find the courage and compassion to communicate it.” Essentialists accept they cannot be popular with everyone all of the time.

18. Uncommit—Win Big by Cutting Your Losses : Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped. An Essentialist has the courage and confidence to admit his or her mistakes and uncommit, no matter the sunk costs.

19. Don’t ask, “How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity?” but rather, “If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?” Similarly, we can ask, “If I wasn’t already involved in this project, how hard would I work to get on it? Essentialists accept the reality that we can never fully anticipate or prepare for every scenario or eventuality; the future is simply too unpredictable.

20. Progress—The Power of Small Wins : “Instead of trying to accomplish it all—and all at once—and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don’t really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential.”

Whatever decision or challenge or crossroads you face in your life, simply ask yourself, “What is essential?” Eliminate everything else.

95 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Good book

Reviewed in India on October 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

Good book which talks some things new and some that we already know of. But the has set good flow and most of the chapters talk about implementing things.

Nicol

Really valuable

Reviewed in Germany on October 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

Super fast delivery!
The book itself is super good. It gives a very interesting view on the professional life and presents you a valuable mindset If you feel overwhelmed and can't prioritize your time on what's actually essential. Super powerful🌟

Elizabeth Bell

Work smarter, not harder!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 11, 2023

Verified Purchase

A well written book with some great examples about how to focus for smarter work, not harder work. Get done what matters without feeling worn out. Great ideas you can implement immediately. But you'll be returning to it time and time again to sharpen your saw!

Tamara Jurisic

Interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

It helped me better than a psychologist

One person found this helpful

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