Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

by Greg McKeown

Have you ever found yourself struggling with information overload?

Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised?

Do you ever feel busy but not productive?

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

In Essentialism, Greg McKeown, CEO of a Leadership and Strategy agency in Silicon Valley who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook, shows you how to achieve what he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Being an Essentialist is about a disciplined way of thinking. It means challenging the core assumption of ‘We can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time'.

By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter.

Using the experience and insight of working with the leaders of the most innovative companies and organisations in the world, McKeown shows you how to put Essentialism into practice in your own life, so you too can achieve something great.

• ISBN10: 0753555166
• ISBN13: 9780753555163
• Publish Date: 17 April 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 11 October 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Virgin Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[kiracanread]

A really interested and detailed look at the life of an essentialist and how the average non-essentialist can transition their lives. I think that this book was written in a very understandable manner, it's very easy to read and isn't forceful and the ideals are not forced upon the reader. I really enjoyed the writing of Greg McKeown, I feel as though I'm not more in tuned with what it means to be an essentialist.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Hillary]

So I am all about paring down to the basics these days. I had heard about this book and thought now I can learn how to pare down to the bare bones of survival. I know, I know it is a good dream but not feasible. However, this book did have some good points about boundaries and stuff. Like if your boss wants you to work on Sunday but you reserve that day for the Lord then you tell your boss to suck it and stick to your guns, and somehow you gain respect and your time back.

There is my biggest problem with this book. Supposed you work at Mickey D's. If you tell you boss off there then basically you are SOL and jobless. While this book had some good advice, it is only applicable if you are in the upper economic classes. I mean in the freelancing community the hot topic is, should one take weekends and time off to recharge? I love my job, and I love to write, so I haven't yet reached that crisis point when I tell everyone to fuck off that it is the weekend and not to bother me until Monday. But alas I know some who have. More power to ya. But if my cousin who is a road cleaner (I know there is an official name, but I cant think of it at the moment) tells HIS boss that he is not going to clear the road of snow in the wintertime on weekends cause that is family time, well again he would be SOL.

Again this book is an excellent book if you are upper middle class or richer. It seems that the American consumerism had gotten so big that it busted and now instead of McMansions we all want to go live in tiny houses with a tiny yard and a tiny friends list and a tiny...you get the picture.  But what if one doesn't have the money or the means to get a tiny house custom built. What if you are really poor, and you do that extreme couponing thing and you need the room to store all that stuff. I feel that not everyone would have the ability to put this book into practice. I know that is more of a comment on our social classes than the book itself but still.

I would recommend this book, though. It DOES have some good valid ideas. We say yes to so many things when we need to be saying no.This review was originally posted on Adventures in Never Never Land