Essentialism: Greg McKeown

Quotes

"The overwhelming reality is: we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. As John Maxwell has written, "You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything."

"... pulling an all-nighter or having a week of sleep just four or five hours a night actually "induces an impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.1%, Think about this: we would never say, 'this person is a great worker! He's drunk all the time!' yet we continue to celebrate people who sacrifice sleep for work."

"We can't control the future in a literal sense, just the now. Of course, we learn from the past and can imagine the future. Yet only in the here and now can we actually execute on the things that really matter."

Paradigm shift

A classic these days in productivity circles, Essentialism couples, in my mind, with Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism. The intersection between the two occurs at a fundamental level, that in a society founded on excess, to thrive we need to say no to many things that are enticing. There are so many things that vie for our precious attention that if we live by default, we will spend our lives in mediocrity.

The concept put forward in Essentialism has stuck with me for the better part of a decade since reading the book, live by choice, not by default. The more I live, the more I see this approach seeping into every aspect of my world (see the idea "you are responsible for your beliefs", from Richard Hamming's writings). Living deliberately allows us to take advantage of the incredible technological advances available to us, while creating a shield from the mediocre and unimportant (yes, I'm looking at you, Facebook). Deliberate living enables human thriving.