{"id":73644,"date":"2019-08-28T03:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T02:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusme.com\/?p=73644"},"modified":"2025-02-11T10:57:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T10:57:01","slug":"the-philosophy-of-essentialism-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusme.com\/blog\/the-philosophy-of-essentialism-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Philosophy of Essentialism, Part 1 – The Essentials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once in a while, you come across a book\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

…and while you\u2019re reading it, you find yourself nodding your head all the time. For me, one such book was \u2018Essentialism\u2019 by Greg McKeown. I found myself nodding my head because what was written there were many ideas that I had thought of myself.<\/p>\n

Great minds obviously think alike.<\/p>\n

The essence of the book is that you should limit yourself to one or two essential things, don\u2019t spread your attention thin, don\u2019t try to do everything at once. A focus on the few moves things forward, being drawn toward the many keeps you floating in place.<\/p>\n

So here I am going to do a quick book review, explain all the key points, and then direct you to read the rest of the book yourself.<\/p>\n

Here goes…<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the essential<\/strong><\/p>\n

The writer starts his book with a definition: \u2018what is the mindset of Essentialism?\u2019 The definition is important, for it serves as a foundation for all the rest that is to come.<\/p>\n

Essentialism is defined as a way of thinking. It is a way of doing everything. At the core, there are three non-Essentialist convictions that stand in the way of becoming an Essentialist.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u2018I have to\u2019 <\/strong>(you don\u2019t)<\/li>\n
  2. \u2018It\u2019s all important\u2019 <\/strong>(it isn\u2019t)<\/li>\n
  3. \u2018I can do both\u2019 <\/strong>(you can\u2019t)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The above assumptions are seductive, and they make you think you can do anything and you\u2019re some kind of all-knowing, all powerful, multitasking productivity robot. Unfortunately, you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

    Essentialism is a philosophy that acknowledges your limits and makes you more productive because of it.<\/p>\n

    It replaces the above three non-Essentialist tenets with it\u2019s own three part creed:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I choose to<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. Only a few things really matter<\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. I can do anything, but not everything<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      By implementing agency, choice and focus, we\u2019re free to pursue the things that really matter and do them well.<\/p>\n

      Choice – you get to pick what you want to do, nobody else<\/strong><\/p>\n

      At many times in our lives, we have to make a choice. This implies two things.<\/p>\n

      First of all, it means we have <\/em>a choice. We have a certain freedom to pick the road we\u2019re going to follow. This can be a blessing (not everyone has the privilege of having lots of choices), but can also be a curse, because choosing can be hard and even heartbreaking at times. Imagine your parents separating as a child, and having to choose who you\u2019re going to live with (if you have that choice at all).<\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

      Talk about first world problems<\/em><\/p>\n

      This brings us to the second element of a choice: it is not just something we have, it is something we do<\/em>. It is an action, and unfortunately, too many options to choose can actually lead to inaction.<\/p>\n

      But that\u2019s nothing. What’s worse, is that sometimes we can even forget<\/em> we have a choice, that we can make one.<\/p>\n

      The author attributes this to \u2018learned helplessness\u2019, at some point in their life, people become convinced that whatever they do in life, it doesn\u2019t make a difference at all. Somebody studies real hard for a test but they fail anyway. If this sort of thing happens often enough, they start to think that their actions and their choices make no difference whatsoever.<\/p>\n

      This leads to two different outcomes. Someone who acquires a sense of learned helplessness will start to do one of two things.<\/p>\n