#084 ✰ are you an essentialist?
A resumé of the incredible book: Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Time is precious and this book will be no waste.
In summer 2020, Max came to visit us in Portugal for a month and devoured it in the plane. He then dropped the book on our table, and with that serious look only him can do, insisted we read it. Sold. I love being forced to read a book from someone I look up to. And this one, well, is no joke. Even if your life is busy - especially if your life is busy - you should definitely make time to read this excellent piece, so well put by Arianna Huffington.
And well, if you can’t wait to get your hands on it,👇 below is Carles Carrera’s excellent summary of ‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’ by Greg McKeown 👇
Geniuses like Mies van der Rohe with his "Less is more" and Albert Einstein with his "Make things as simple as possible but no simpler" had it crystal clear: do less and do it effortlessly.
the essentialist
Only a tiny amount of things and people matter:
Basic value proposition of Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
Dieter Rams's design criteria can be summarized by a characteristically succinct principle, captured in just three German words: Weniger aber besser.
The English translation is: Less but better. A more fitting definition of Essentialism would be hard to come by.
"Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless". Do the important, effortlessly. If you don't prioritize your life, someone else will.
essence: what is the core mindset of an essentialist?
Choose: the invincible power of choice
The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away — it can only be forgotten.
When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless. Drip by drip, we allow our power to be taken away until we end up becoming a function of other people's choices — or even a function of our own past choices. In turn, we surrender our power to choose. That is the path of the non-Essentialist.
Discern: the unimportance of practically everything
An essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential.
Trade-off: which problem do I want?
We can try to avoid the reality of trade-offs, but we can't escape them.
explore: how can we discern the trivial many from the vital few?
To discern what is truly essential, we need:
space to think: escape
time to look and listen: look
permission to play: play
wisdom to sleep: sleep
discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make: select
Ironically, in a non-essentialist culture, these things — space, listening, playing, sleeping, and selecting — can be seen as trivial distractions.
Escape: the perks of being unavailable
For some reason, there is a false association with the word focus. As with choice, people tend to think of focus as a thing. Yes, focus is something we have. But focus is also something we do. In order to have focus, we need to escape to focus.
Whether you can invest two hours a day, two weeks a year, or even just five minutes every morning, it is important to make space to escape in your busy life.
Look: see what really matters
A journalist is, in the word's most literal sense, someone who writes a journal. Therefore, one of the most obvious and yet powerful ways to become a journalist of our own lives is simply to keep a journal.
Play: embrace the wisdom of your inner child
A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men - Roald Dahl
But then as we get older something happens. We are introduced to the idea that play is trivial. Play is a waste of time. Play is unnecessary. Play is childish. Unfortunately, many of these negative messages come from the very place where imaginative play should be most encouraged, not stifled.
Play is fundamental to living the way of the essentialist because it fuels exploration in at least three specific ways:
Play broadens the range of options available to us. It helps us to see possibilities we otherwise wouldn't have seen and make connections we would otherwise not have made.
Play is an antidote to stress, and this is key because stress, in addition to being an enemy of productivity, can actually shut down the creative, inquisitive, exploratory parts of our brain.
As Edward M. Hallowell, a psychiatrist who specializes in brain science, explains, play has a positive effect on the executive function of the brain. "The brain's executive functions," he writes, "include planning, prioritizing, scheduling, anticipating, delegating, deciding, analyzing — in short, most of the skills any executive must master in order to excel in business."
Sleep: protect the asset
Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn - Mahatma Gandhi
The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves. If we underinvest in ourselves, and by that, I mean our minds, our bodies, and our spirits, we damage the very tool we need to make our highest contribution. One of the most common ways people — especially ambitious, successful people — damage this asset is through a lack of sleep.
Less well-known finding from the same study: that the second most important factor differentiating the best violinists from the good violinists was actually sleep.
While sleep is often associated with giving rest to the body, recent research shows that sleep is really more about the brain. Indeed, a study from Lübeck University in Germany provides evidence that a full night's sleep may actually increase brain power and enhance our problem-solving ability.
Science shows that even a nap can increase creativity. In just one example, a report from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that even a single REM — or rapid eye movement — cycle enhanced the integration of unassociated information. Even a brief period of deep sleep, in other words, helps us make the kinds of new connections that allow us to better explore our world.
Select: the power of extreme criteria
The key is to put the decision to an extreme test: if we feel total and utter conviction to do something, then we say yes, Derek-style. Anything less gets a thumbs down. Or as a leader at Twitter once put it to me, "If the answer isn't a definite yes then it should be a no." It is a succinct summary of a core Essentialist principle, and one that is critical to the process of exploration.
Hell Yes, or NO - Derek Sivers.
If it isn't a clear yes, then it's a clear no.
eliminate: how can we cut out the trivial many?
It's not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don't make the best possible contribution; you still have to actively eliminate those that do not.
Dare: the power of a graceful "no"
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
A true essentialist, Peter Drucker believed that "people are effective because they say no." Non-essentialists say yes because of feelings of social awkwardness and pressure. They say yes automatically, without thinking, often in pursuit of the rush one gets from having pleased someone. But Essentialists know that after the rush comes the pang of regret.
Instead of being controlled by the threat of an awkward silence, own it. Use it as a tool. When a request comes to you (obviously this works only in person), just pause for a moment. Count to three before delivering your verdict. Or if you get a bit more bold, simply wait for the other person to fill the void.
Uncommit: win big by cutting your losses
Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped.
Tom Stafford describes a simple antidote to the endowment effect. Instead of asking, "How much do I value this item?" we should ask, "If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?"
Edit: the invisible art
A good editor is someone who uses deliberate subtraction to actually add life to the ideas, setting, plot, and characters.
The Latin root of the word decision — cis or cid — literally means "to cut" or "to kill."
Becoming an essentialist means making cutting, condensing, and correcting a natural part of our daily routine — making editing a natural cadence in our lives.
Limit: the freedom of setting boundaries
When we don't set clear boundaries in our lives, we can end up imprisoned by the limits others have set for us. When we have clear boundaries, on the other hand, we are free to select from the whole area — or the whole range of options — that we have deliberately chosen to explore.
execute: how can we make doing the vital few things almost effortless?
Buffer: the unfair advantage
The way of the essentialist, on the other hand, is to use the good times to create a buffer for the bad.
Subtract: bring forth more by removing obstacles
To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day - Lao-tzu
Essentialists ask, "What is getting in the way of achieving what is essential?" While the non-essentialist is busy applying more and more pressure and piling on more and more solutions, the essentialist simply makes a one-time investment in removing obstacles.
An essentialist produces more — brings forth more — by removing more instead of doing more.
Progress: the power of small wins
We can adopt a method of "minimal viable progress." We can ask ourselves, "what is the smallest amount of progress that will be useful and valuable to the essential task we are trying to get done?"
Flow: the genius of routine
Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition - W. H. Auden
Routine is one of the most powerful tools for removing obstacles. Without routine, the pull of non-essential distractions will overpower us. But if we create a routine that enshrines the essentials, we will begin to execute them on autopilot.
With repetition, the routine is mastered, and the activity becomes second nature.
At first, overcoming the temptation to stop at the bakery or check the e-mail will be difficult. But each time you execute the new behavior — each time you pick up the salad — strengthens the link in your brain between the cue and the new behavior, and soon, you'll be subconsciously and automatically performing the new routine.
Routine is governed by a single rule: "focus on the hardest thing first."
Focus: what's important now?
What we can't do is concentrate on two things at the same time. When I talk about being present, I'm not talking about doing only one thing at a time. I'm talking about being focused on one thing at a time. Multitasking itself is not the enemy of Essentialism; pretending we can "multi-focus" is.
Getting the future out of your head enables you to more fully focus on "what is important now."
How does it feel?
Wait, who are you again?
If you’re new here, welcome 👋 We are Max, Kev and Mat. We’re building a loyalty and rewards program for people who care about objects.
We call these people “LE NEW CONSUMER” and here’s our manifesto.
Objet is the french word for 'object' and should be pronounced 'ob-jeh‘. In this journal, we explore the intersection of desire, taste, joy, meaning and culture. If you’d like to embark on a journey with us, sign the manifesto 🚀
Bisous. kev.
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