Book review- Essentialism by Greg McKeown

 

Life. Moment. Simple. Less.

My recent book titled Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown revolves around these four words, i.e. Life; Moment; Simple; Less. The book validates my thinking that life is simple and that being simple is the core of life. However, to practice the same in day-to-day life requires discipline and the practice of essentialism.

The book's mantra or the nutshell catch fraise is "if it's not a hell yes, it's a no”.

McKeown does an excellent job explaining why it is so hard to change our habits…especially those we know are doing no good to ourselves. Later focuses on showing us ways to break or create patterns for letting go of the less important things and building our momentum to accomplish something in our professions, family, and personal lives.

Most tools/pieces of advice explained in the book are not earth-shattering; they are things we have heard, seen, and read before, but the book does an excellent job putting a fresh and practical spin on those techniques.

The book is must read for those who look at Essentialism as the antidote to everything all the time. And also to those who dare say they as non-essentialist.

The three quotes from the Essentialist book that encapsulates its most important takeaways are-

There are three deeply entrenched assumptions we must conquer to live the way of the Essentialist: "I have to," "It's all important," and "I can do both." Replace these false assumptions with three core truths: "I choose to," "Only a few things matter," and "I can do anything but not everything."

We must learn the slow "yes" and the quick "no."

If we could be truly excellent at only one thing, what would it be?