Friday, March 13, 2015

Book Review - Essentialism By Greg McKeown

As some of you know have gotten back to reading voraciously again. Around 2007 my two good friends &I had contemplated putting out summaries of the books we read, but we never did. Am now trying to take that forward and will post the summaries of books that others may find interesting. Cheers

Essentialism By Greg McKeown

The disciplined Pursuit of Less in an overloaded world. The author lays out “the process of how to focus on what is essential,” and apply all your energy towards the relentless pursuit of that intent. Becoming an essentialist is key to creating space in one’s life and creating space for fulfillment. Reading this book has made me rethink about what things I say yes to. A powerful read with the potential to change how you lead your life.

Eight key ideas discussed in the book are

1. Explore options, eliminate quickly and execute flawlessly. Repeat cycle. Essentialists exercise the power of choice

2. An essentialist thinks almost everything is non essential. The trick is to distinguish the vital few from the trivial many.

3. FOCUS -Essentialists ask “what problem do I want to solve? What do I bet big on?” This is the study tradeoffs, risk and reward

4. CREATE SPACE – Essentialists create space to escape, and have this time to explore and choose focus

5. SEE CLEARLY – Essentialists learn how to see – discern signal from noise, and pay attention to what is not being said

6. PLAY – Essentialists see work as play, stress kills. Stress takes away choice and ability to explore. Shift into the play mode to be successful

7. SELECT – Your response to life and things should be Hell Ya or NO! Say yes only to the top 10% of opportunities. Remember if it is not a Clear Yes, then it is a Clear No.

8. ESSENTIAL INTENT – Have clear essential Intent, and clearly know when your task is done. Design a routine that enshrines what is essential. The essential is the default position

If anything it will get you rethinking of what is truly important and convince you to focus on the Essential Intent. Good easy reading, and can be applied to all areas of life.

FOUR STARS rating from me and WORTH A READ.

Mahipal Lunia

www.TheRenaissancePath.com

www.RadicalChangeGroup.com

www.MountainViewAiki.com

No comments:

Post a Comment