Essentialism by Greg McKeown is one of the best books I’ve read in years.
Although most of the book is written for a business audience, everything he says applies directly to life in general, whether you’re a stay-at-home parent, unemployed, high-level manager, or fresh college student. His aim is to encourage people to really focus in on what is most important and to spend as much time and energy as we can investing in those few things if we want to have the biggest impact. This book changed how I homeschool our kids, how I approach my business, how I look at our home life, and how I think about the legacy I want to leave behind. Right now, in this Covid world, we are being forced to dial everything back. It’s given many of us a chance to ask what is really important? Are we living in a way that reflects that? And how can we adapt and adjust our lifestyle to really focus on those things (or people!) where we can make the most of the time we have here? Essentialism makes you think, invites you to re-evaluate where and how you’re spending your time and energy, and offers tools to help you figure out how you can simplify your life and identify what is “essential.”
Here are a few quotes and some of my biggest takeaways:
*Ask: “Is this the very most important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?” If you can’t answer with a definitive YES, then the answer is NO.
*Less is better. “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.”
*Learn to tell the difference between “good” and “essential”
*Learn to distinguish the “vital few” from the “trivial many”
*Essentialism is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution.
*I need to cultivate a more heightened awareness of my ability to CHOOSE how I spend my time and energy.
*Look to say “no” to good opportunities so you can “yes” to truly great ones.
*Essentialists don’t say “how can I do everything?” They ask, “what problem do I want to have?” They acknowledge the reality of trade-offs and are intentional about their choices.
*It’s not “what do I have to give up?” but “What do I want to go big on?”
After reading Essentialism, I revamped some of our homeschool choices, came up with new business ideas, simplified our home life, and reconsidered all the things we had on the calendar and our daily schedules. In fact, I think it might be time to read it again…
Have you read it? What did you think?
And you might be wondering what this has to do with Online Legal Tutorials… Well, for one thing, reading this book led to me creating these courses as I realized that I could help far more people online than just by meeting local clients and repeating the same information each one. Also, relationships are, undoubtedly, the most essential things in our lives. Evaluating a marriage or making your end-of-life plans must take priority if we are going to make the most of the time we have here on earth. This book provides tools for applying essentialism across every aspect of our life and can be a valuable asset as you consider how you want to live now and in the future.
