How Essentialism can improve your life
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My latest read was the book “Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less” by Greg McKeown. I absolutely love the philosophy behind this book and I think it goes hand in hand with the principles of the KonMari Method.
Amazon describes Essentialism as “more than 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 toward the things that really matter.
By forcing us to apply 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. It’s about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.”
Read related blog: Time Management Strategies from Organizing Professionals
Things that I have learned from the book:
Vision is crucial to making better decisions: This overlaps with the KonMari philosophy and learning to craft a vision for myself and my “ideal lifestyle” a couple of years ago, I completely agree with the validity of this statement. If we don’t have a goal in life we can’t make a plan. So it is important to have a vision for our lives and know our guiding values and things we want to prioritize our time for.
Less but better: Being Busy is the badge of honor for most Americans. But what price do we pay to be busy all the time? Feeling overwhelmed and overworked, but not being closer to happiness. Because by the time we have figured out that being busy all the time does not necessarily make us successful, it also makes us less happy. We can learn to take back control by choosing fewer obligations and being able to do better work. If it’s not a definite “yes” it should be a definite “no”.
Learn to set boundaries: Saying “no” does not come naturally in a world where we are taught to oblige. It could be thought that it is culturally unacceptable or even rude to decline a request. However, the book mentions that research has shown that people will actually have more respect for someone that is very selective of their time, than for someone that just says yes to everything. One great strategy to learn boundary settings is to delay the decision. One can say “let me check my calendar and get back to you”. That gives you time to think if this task aligns with your goals and values.
Read related blog: How to organize your time for happiness
Organizing your time is just as important as organizing your belongings. This book really hit the nail on the head for tips on how to live an authentic life. There are many tips and tricks on how to minimize distractions and great illustrations on the concept of focus and productivity. This is definitely a great read for anyone who feels stretched too thin between life and work and wants to become more centered and happy.