Essentialism

I've never done this with any other book - when I got to the end, I went back to the beginning and immediately started over.

Nothing has clarified for me more why I feel so burnt out so much of the time, why I kick myself for constantly failing to make all the improvements I want to in my life, and why productivity tricks and systems weren't the ultimate answer.

The real answer is simple but far from easy: You must say no to most things. You must say no most of the time, even to very good opportunities.

This book truly helps you understand what is essential in your life, and how to eliminate non-essential activities and commitments. It acknowledges that the choices will often be hard, and helps you figure out your own best path through that difficulty.

This approach has already paid off for me - I have less stress and a feeling of space and ease in my life. Some upcoming plans that were starting to feel like a dreaded chore have regained their joyful tone because I cut out the nonessential things that were overloading me and thus making me view all my commitments as burdens. It isn't painless, but it is worth it.

This book was a fast read for me. The good thing is that it made me feel less anxious and less stressed. It reminded me that I have the power to choose what I want to do with my time and my life. And that I don't need to let others dictate/influence my schedule and my to-do list.

It taught me that the most important question to ask is: “What is really essential to me?”. The rest can simply be thrown away.

Also, the author emphasized the importance of keeping a journal. It helps us put things in perspective and after a while we can revisit the entries to figure out the bigger picture and understand worries and figure out the essential purpose of our lives. And to make it a habit, it doesn't need to be long or complicated, you just have to write down whatever and how much you feel like in the moment.

Overall it was a good read that matched my personal psychological needs at the moment (Personally, I was going through some troubled week in my life).
I was reminded of the importance of saying “No” to almost everything that pops up in our lives, and there's nothing to feel guilty about.

It was inspiring and made me think over my current approach to life. I definitely want to start walking towards an essentialist path.

A must read for everyone. Highly relevant in today's time.
Dont go by reviews which says the book can be shorter without losing essential contents and bla bla.
Reviews can be witty but in no way it will reduce the importance and usefulness of reading the book.
If u skip the book based on such similar reviews there is no bigger loser than yourself. Highly recommended book it is.

“What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead, we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?”

Eliminating Non-Essential from your life every day is easier said than done but this book provides an excellent framework to get you started. If you could do half of what is recommended in this book it would have a life-changing effect.
Highly recommended read at least to relook at the choices we make every day and do an audit of our lifestyle.

If I have one takeaway from this it is - “If you don't prioritize your life, someone else will.”

It is a simple idea: focus your attention on the most important things, eliminate the nonessential, and you will achieve great success. It is a book we need, don't we? Our parents never had the choices for using our time that we have; their problems were a lack of options. We suffer today from the opposite problem. We have too many choices. We can't do everything and when we try to do everything, we end up not doing much of anything.


Focus. On. The. Important. Thing.


Great wisdom here.

I hardly finished it! While I enjoyed the first 30 or 40 percent, I felt bored but the obvious and super bloated content later on. I don't see why anyone would need to read 30 pages in order to agree sleeping is good for your health. Examples are boring as well. Disappointed it started so well but finished so bad. If the book is cut in half the pages it would be great.

I enjoyed this book, though I did not agree with everything McKeown argued. He is a very persuasive author, I give him loads of credit for the research which went into this book, and a steady flow was kept up from start to finish. I really appreciated McKeown's realistic explanations concerning the difficulties of becoming an essentialist. Many of the principles within this book align closely with the philosophy of minimalism. For those who agree with minimalism will likely find a broadened view of like-minded principles.

McKeown's advice to ask yourself “what can I go big on?” was my favorite aspect of this read. It was somewhat revolutionary for me. I have listed my talents, goals, and applied realistic expectations to growth and even earning potential within those lists. I had not, however, placed any sort of emphasis on that which I felt I could, or would like to, “go big on.” For that, McKeown has positively impacted my life, qualifying this read as greater than merely enjoyable.

This book dosen't follow what it preaches. What it preaches is “essentialism”. McKeown, the author, defines it as follows:

“The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.”

Don't Get Things Done, Get the Right Things Done.