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Essentialism – The disciplined pursuit of less  by Greg McEwan

I am taking much from this Audiobook and will probably listen to it a second time to draw out the best lessons, but here are some of his quotes, my first thoughts and short notes. “Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, you […]
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Essentialism – The disciplined pursuit of less  by Greg McEwanBook Review by Jonathan Bowman-Perks

I am taking much from this Audiobook and will probably listen to it a second time to draw out the best lessons, but here are some of his quotes, my first thoughts and short notes.

“Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, you can make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.”

“The way of the Essentialist is […] the path on which we enjoy the journey, not just the destination”

“The way of the Essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better.”

Key concepts – choice, discernment, and trade-offs.

“There are far more activities and opportunities in the world than we have time and resources to invest in that is it important to always paused and ask ourselves if we are signing up for the right activities.”


Essentialism
, what is the one thing that you can do that would make the highest added value? Minimise your number of choices to 3. Don’t be overwhelmed by trying to please everybody and trying to be successful at everything, so that ultimately you fail.

The Most Dangerous Lie

Beware the marketing lie: “you can have it all and do it all”, you cannot!

Everything in life might be possible if you’re prepared to pay the price and live with the consequences. Is the price and are the consequences really worth it?

Regrets of the dying – No1: “I wish I’d lived a life true to myself, and not what everybody else wanted me to do!

Priority

Priority means the most important 1 thing – not many things.

Sorting Your Stuff

Ask yourself: “If I didn’t already own this, how much would I spend to buy it?” So sort out your cupboards and keep the essentials that you love and they give you pleasure and that you wear. Don’t buy more

Saying NO to What matters Less in order to say YES to what Matters Most

Peter Drucker said: people are effective because they say “no” – This isn’t for me!

So be discerning.

Less but better

If you don’t have a life plan and a priority, you end up in somebody else’s life plan and their priority. Beware – they haven’t got much planned for you!

Avoid the 21 Century Trap

Doing things we detest

to buy things we don’t need

With money we don’t have

to impress people we don’t like

Fool’s Paradise and The Search for High Performance

Don’t celebrate being busy as a measure of importance

Make time to think, sleep & reflect on your essentials

Less is more

Goodreads review said

“Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin?
Do you simultaneously feel overworked and under-utilised?
Are you often busy but not productive?
Do you feel 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. The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.  It is not 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 towards the things that really matter.

By forcing us to apply a 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. A must-read for any leader, manager, or individual who wants to learn who to do less, but better, in every area of their lives, Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.”

– Jonathan Bowman-Perks

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