Discussion of the book entitled Essentialism by Greg Mckeown

Discussion of the book entitled Essentialism by Greg Mckeown

Discussion of the book entitled Essentialism by Greg Mckeown. This book explores how to be disciplined to focus on fewer tasks, but deliver big results.

Have you ever felt your work never ends? You are busy but why are you unproductive? Why is 24 hours never enough? If you feel that way, maybe you can try the essentialism lifestyle.

So essentialism is not about strategies or time management techniques to be productive, but rather the systematic discipline of determining what's most important, then eliminating the rest that isn't important, so we can focus on what really matters.

The essentialism lifestyle allows us to have control over the life we ​​live. We no longer do things because of circumstances or conditions, but we choose what we do.

Discussion of the book entitled Essentialism by Greg Mckeown, Which Is Good For You

I've summarized the three highlights of this book:

First, what is essentialism?

The essentialism lifestyle means living by what we determine for ourselves, not just going with the flow.

Instead of making choices reactively, we consciously make choices that matter rather than many choices that are less important.

Try it once in a while, you stop to do everything, stop to say yes to everyone, then that way, you can only focus on delivering big results.

Maybe we often hear or even do it ourselves, which is an activity to show off our busyness. We feel that when we are busy people, we are productive people.

In fact, busyness is a bad measure. It's much more important to prioritize the work that gives the greatest payoff.

We must have the courage to make difficult choices and be willing to sacrifice many things that are less important for the little things in life.

Remember, if we don't consciously choose to focus our energy and time, then someone else, whether it's our boss, co-workers, or even family, will choose it for us. Of course this is not good, because the one who knows best which is the best priority for our lives, is ourselves, not others.

Granted, we don't always have control over our choices in life, but we always have a choice how to choose from among the available options.

Sometimes, what we don't do is just as important as what we do. Why is that? Every choice we make has consequences.

If we focus on doing everything, will the results be in line with expectations? Or better, we choose the best priorities and focus on running those priorities as well as possible?

This is the basic premise that we must understand first, not to get caught up in all the many choices, but to lose time to work on the main priorities we want in life.

The essentialism approach can be divided into three parts:

First, exploration and evaluation. At this stage, you spend as much time as possible exploring, listening, debating, asking questions, and thinking. Exploration is a way to distinguish which activities are a priority and which are not.

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The second stage is Elimination. We actively choose to eliminate activities and endeavors that do not make a high contribution to life.

The third stage is executed. Invest the time you save into the system and make execution as easy as possible.

The three stages do not stand alone, but are cyclical processes that depend on each other.

Second, the ability to choose

If two jobs appear before us, people usually ask, how can I get them all done? But, people with an essentialism mindset ask, which challenge do I want to choose?

Sacrificing one thing for another opens up great opportunities for us. If we always look at options with a more critical lens, then our chances of achieving the desired result will be even greater.

Choosing what to sacrifice is part of life. It's not about giving up on other options, but determining which options you want to focus on to achieve big results.

There is an interesting perspective. Doing nothing or doing everything is a sign that you are powerless.

Have you ever heard the expression, I have to do something or everything is important or I can get it all done. Maybe at first glance there is nothing wrong with this sentence, but if we dissect further, this is a wrong assumption.

Try changing the sentence above to be like this. From what I have to do to what I choose to do. From all that matters to only a few things that matter. From I can do everything to I can do anything but not everything.

This is the power of a choice that we sometimes forget. In any case, one's ability to choose cannot be taken away from it, it can only be forgotten.

Sometimes we feel like we don't have a choice, but the truth is, we forget how to choose, until eventually we become helpless, feel overwhelmed, or feel tired in life.

There is an interesting experiment to try. Instead of always trying to be there all the time, how do you create space for yourself.

For those of you who always feel life is too busy or 24 hours is never enough, this is an interesting experiment. We need space to get out of the hectic routine and choose which priorities are important in life.

Unfortunately, in an era where busyness is considered a good thing, we don't have that space automatically, but we have to be able to create our own space.

First, space to design. We need space to get out of all the routine and explore life. This is a space for thought and focus, so that we can see life more clearly and set priorities in life amidst hundreds if not thousands of opportunities.

Second, space to concentrate. No matter how busy your activities are, you can still find time and space to think. Remember, you don't have to fulfill all your schedule every day, if that's the case then you should also take some time to think.

Third, space for reading. There is an interesting example. While still active at Microsoft, Bill spent a whole week without being bothered to think.

This activity is called think week and is held twice a year. Bill would arrive in a hidden cabin in the woods by helicopter or seaplane, and spend a week reading a paper written by a Microsoft employee about a new innovation or potential investment.

He also reads as much newspaper as possible, sometimes doing it 18 hours a day, and stays up late in the morning. Bill created an environment where he could focus without anyone's distraction just thinking and reading.

Third, practice essentialism thinking

Perhaps the most suitable definition of essentialism is only slightly but better. We are like editors in our lives, meaning we add to, but often remove, parts of our lives that are less important.

There is an interesting rule that is the 90% rule and you can use it for any time of decision or dilemma. When you evaluate an option, think about the single most important criterion in that decision, and then score that choice between 0 and 100.

If you give a value lower than 90 percent, it will automatically reject it. This exercise makes us aware of the trade offs.

Sometimes we have to reject choices that seem very good and believe that the perfect choice will soon come.

We may be right or sometimes we are wrong, but the bottom line is that the act of applying selective criteria forces you to choose the right option to wait, rather than letting someone else choose for you.

Closing

That's what I wrote about Discussion of the book entitled Essentialism by Greg Mckeown. In life, we have to make choices. It's not just a matter of fewer choices, but choosing the priorities that can bring about the greatest results in our lives.

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