become an essentialist

Successful and prosperous people are always focused — they set big goals for themselves, and hence, they know where they are going and consistently take steps to get there. Instead of repeating misaligned, hamster-wheel patterns like the majority,  they walk on the path of Essentialism, which is nothing but a disciplined, systematic approach for establishing where their highest point of contribution exists and then making the execution of those key things almost effortless.

In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown explains that most of us in this day and age are “busy” but not effective. A majority of the tasks that we end up doing are actually not essential, but we still do them out of either habit, guilt, and obligation, or greed, ambition, and poor thinking. And therefore, sooner or later, our productivity and performance nosedive. A better approach is to exclusively focus on things that really matter and perform the daily tasks that reflect our values and take us towards our goals. 

At their core, the rich and wealthy are essentialists; they live by the mantra: “Less is better.” Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius once wrote, “‘If you seek tranquillity, do less.’ Or (more accurately) do what’s essential—what the logos of a social being requires, and in the requisite way. Which brings a double satisfaction: to do less, better.”

The top performers and producers know they are trading their life for their goals. That’s why they set worthy goals for themselves and let go of anything that’s extraneous and steals their precious time and energy. In that way, they not only do what’s essential but they also do it better. And the icing on the cake is that they’re able to experience tranquility and the double satisfaction that Marcus Aurelius wrote about. Amazing, isn’t it?