I’m always trying to cram more into my day. Who isn’t? But I’m reading a fascinating book called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and trying to discern what’s really essential to me and where can I make the greatest contribution.
Greg McKeown is the author of Essentialism, and I heard him discuss this form of “systematic discipline” on this podcast with Michael Hyatt.
McKeown makes the point that we live in a world where “the preponderance of choice has overwhelmed our ability to manage it. We have lost our ability to filter what is important and what isn’t.”
He uses the analogy of our clothing closet — just like it gets cluttered, so do our lives as we make commitments and the list of things we are doing keeps growing. So the Essentialist way of approaching life, like his or her closet, is three-fold:
1. Explore and evaluate. Take a look at everything you’re doing and determine what you really love or what pertains to your goals.
2. Eliminate. Get rid of the nonessential activities.
3. Execute. Develop a process so you have a method, a systematic discipline, for making these decisions on an ongoing basis. As McKeown states, “It’s about learning how to do less but better so you can achieve the highest possible return on every precious moment in your life.”
I actually read a library copy of this book while on vacation about two months ago, and I liked it so much, I purchased my own copy. Now I’m re-reading it, highlighting key points. From there, I plan to do some discernment as I look at all the activities I have in my life. Now is a good time for me to do this, as it’s been two years since I left daily journalism to “rewire.”
As part of this exercise, I’m going to look back at my journal from 2013-14 where I wrote about what I imagined my life would be like when I left 33 years of full-time journalism. I know I’ve accomplished a lot, but am I achieving what I dreamed? Have those dreams and goals changed?
How about you? What changes have you made in your life to be an Essentialist? Or are you, like me, in need of some soul-searching discernment?