the way of the essentialist

The way of the Nonessentialist is to go big on everything: to try to do it all, have it all, fit it all in. The Nonessentialist operates under the false logic that the more he strives, the more he will achieve, but the reality is, the more we reach for the stars, the harder it is to get ourselves off the ground. 

The way of the Essentialist is different. Instead of trying to accomplish it all - and all at once - and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don't really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential. 

Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.194, 195.

to attain wisdom

To attain knowledge add things every day. To attain wisdom subtract things every day.

Lao-tzu

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.185.

boundaries

Clayton Christensen, the Harvard business professor and author of The Innovator's Dilemma, was once asked to make... a sacrifice. At the time, he was working at a management consulting firm, and one of the partners came to him and told him he needed to come in on Saturday to help work on a project. Clay simply responded: "Oh, I am so sorry. I have made the commitment that every Saturday is a day to be with my wife and children."

The partner, displeased, stormed off, but later he returned and he said: "Clay, fine. I have talked with everyone on the team and they said they will come in on Sunday instead. So I will expect you to be there." Clay sighed and said: "I appreciate you trying to do that. But Sunday will not work. I have given Sunday to God and so I won't be able to come in." If the partner was frustrated before, he was much more so now.

Still, Clay was not fired for standing his ground, and while his choice was not popular in the moment, ultimately he was respected for it. The boundaries paid off.

Clay recalls: "That taught me an important lesson. If I had made an exception then I might have made it many times." Boundaries are a little like the walls of a sandcastle. The second we let one fall over, the rest of them come crashing down.

Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.165.

"to cut" or "to kill"

The Latin root of the word decision - cis or cid - literally means "to cut" or "to kill." 

You can see this in the words like scissors, homicide, or fratricide. Since ultimately, having fewer options actually makes a decision "easier on the eye and the brain," we must summon the discipline to get rid of options or activities that may be good, or even really good, but that get in the way. Yes, making the choice to eliminate something good can be painful. But eventually, every cut produces joy - maybe not in the moment but afterwards, when we realize that every additional moment we have gained can be spent on something better. That may be one reason why Stephen King has written, "To write is human, to edit is divine."

Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.159.

chief editor of the company

 

Jack Dorsey is best known as the creator of Twitter and as the founder and CEO of Square, a mobile payments company. His Essentialist approach to management is a relatively rare one. At a dinner I attended recently where he spoke, he said he thinks of the role of CEO as being the chief editor of the company. At another event at Stanford, he explained further: "By editorial I mean there are a thousand things we could be doing. But there are only one or two that are important. And all of these ideas... and inputs from engineers, support people, designers are going to constantly flood what we should be doing... As an editor I am constantly taking these inputs and deciding the one, or intersection of a few, that make sense for what we are doing.

Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.156, 157.