If I ask a key question to myself as: “What was the best
book of 2024 so far?” Probably I would choose Greg McKeown’s “Essentialism:
The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” which was easy to understand, applicable and
eye-opening for me. I found it while I was searching Amazon’s best seller list
and it is a real must-read if you deal with so many to-do’s within your
ordinary day. I hope my quotes from the book will help you.
THE WISDOM OF LIFE CONSISTS IN THE ELIMINATION OF
NON-ESSENTIALS.
—Lin Yutang
Sam Elliot is a capable executive in Silicon Valley who
found himself stretched too thin after his company was acquired by a larger,
bureaucratic business. He was in earnest about being a good citizen in his new
role so he said yes to many requests without really thinking about it. But as a
result he would spend the whole day rushing from one meeting and conference
call to another trying to please everyone and get it all done. His stress went
up as the quality of his work went down. It was like he was majoring in minor
activities and as a result, his work became unsatisfying for him and
frustrating for the people he was trying so hard to please.
In the midst of his frustration the company came to him
and offered him an early retirement package. But he was in his early 50s and
had no interest in completely retiring.
He went to speak with a mentor who gave him surprising advice:
“Stay, but do what you would as a consultant and nothing else. And don’t tell
anyone.” In other words, his mentor was advising him to do only those things
that he deemed essential—and ignore everything else that was asked of him.
The executive followed the advice! He made a daily
commitment towards cutting out the red tape. He began saying no.
Now when a request would come in he would pause and
evaluate the request against a tougher criteria: “Is this the very most
important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?”
He stopped attending meetings on his calendar if he
didn’t have a direct contribution to make. He explained to me, “Just because I
was invited didn’t seem a good enough reason to attend.”
He could concentrate his efforts on one project at a
time. He could plan thoroughly. He could anticipate roadblocks and start to
remove obstacles. Instead of spinning his wheels trying to get everything done,
he could get the right things done. His newfound commitment to doing only the
things that were truly important—and eliminating everything else—restored the
quality of his work. Instead of making just a millimeter of progress in a
million directions he began to generate tremendous momentum towards
accomplishing the things that were truly vital.
To his great surprise, there were no negative
repercussions to his experiment. His manager didn’t chastise him. His
colleagues didn’t resent him. Quite the opposite; because he was left only with
projects that were meaningful to him and actually valuable to the company, they
began to respect and value his work more than ever. His work became fulfilling
again. His performance ratings went up. He ended up with one of the largest
bonuses of his career!
In this example is the basic value proposition of
Essentialism: 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.
