Greg McKeown is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.” Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less time; it’s about getting the right things done so that you can make your highest possible contribution. On this episode, we talk about how to determine what is absolutely essential and eliminate what is non-essential, so that we can focus our time and energy on the things that matter most.
Show Notes
- The definition of essentialism (2:08)
- The misconceptions people have about essentialism (2:36)
- The moment in Greg’s life that was a wake-up call to embrace essentialism (5:52)
- The problem with non-essentialism (7:11)
- The three-step process to determine what is essential (11:00)
- Explore what is essential
- Eliminate what is non-essential
- Create a system for executing what matters most
- The questions to ask to filter what’s essential and what is non-essential (11:49)
- Leadership is essentialism (15:19)
- The paradox of success: the more options we have, the more we feel distracted from what would otherwise be our highest level of contribution.(18:17)
- The 90% rule (25:48)
- Greg walks Molly through the essentialism process (29:30)
Resources / People Mentioned
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
- THIS, Inc.
- The Essentialism Model
- Quiz: How Essentialist Are You?
- Rory McIlroy Is the Golfer Who Juggles. Or Is it Vice Versa?
- Greg McKeown on the Steve Harvey Show
- John Adams by David McCullough
- On The Shortness of Life by Seneca
Recommended For You
Did you enjoy this episode? Then listen to:
- Juliet Funt on Reclaiming White Space at Work
- Tiffany Dufu on The Myth of Doing It All
- Daniel Pink on The Science of Perfect Timing
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