Chaos Review: Essentialism
About the Author
Mike Lindberg
- Published
- in Book Reviews
Your chaos is feeling inundated with tasks to accomplish, and you don’t know how (or when) to focus. “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown will help you define your essentials and guide you on the road to freedom from the overload of unimportant tasks.
Essentialism is a must-read for most people, especially those who feel overwhelmed with “stuff to do” daily. The author shares some simple yet profound opportunities that individuals have to change the trajectory of their lives and their day and does so in an approachable, fun style. This book is highly recommended, not only to read but to have a few extra copies in your library to offer to those in your life who feel the chaos in their lives as overwhelmed by tasks thrown on their plate.
Book Details
Essentialism: The Disciplined pursuit of less
Author: Greg McKeown
Book Website: https://gregmckeown.com/books/essentialism/
Intended Audience
The book’s target audience is those who feel inundated with stuff to do. Those individuals feel that their burden to shoulder is ever-growing, and they are reaching burnout. As most people think this burden to some extent, the content is helpful to help refine the most important things in your day and maintain that focus over time.
Book Format
The book is separated into four parts, each containing four chapters. Each section focuses on a single high-level question that the chapters explore. The chapters start with a quote and are roughly 10-12 pages each, including engaging designs and charts where appropriate.
- Essence – What is the core mindset of an Essentialist?
- Explore – How can we discern the trivial many from the vital few?
- Eliminate – How can we cut out the trivial many?
- Execute – How can we make doing the vital few things almost effortless?
The author’s writing style is approachable and insightful. The book is written with a tone of helpfulness and illustrates true mastery over the subject. The author is not trying to prove their knowledge of the issue, instead focusing on helping the reader understand concepts and learn how to apply them.
Defining Chaos
Essentialism’s premise defines chaos as an overload of tasks and the uncontrolled nature in which most of us treat our duties. Effectively, we create chaos because we don’t know how to differentiate the non-essential from the essential. It further articulates that chaos is energy misapplied to tasks that ultimately don’t serve the purpose that we understand as vital for us to succeed.
Chaos is giving the same attention to everything that crosses our path. It thrives when we do not have the tools to prioritize. It destroys when we are not maintaining our focus on the most important things.
Addressing Chaos
The book’s core premise identifies and isolates the tasks or items essential to the individual or function. Chaos is handled by classifying the tasks on our plates as essential or non-essential. Once we can organize the essential, we can intensely focus on these items, ultimately minimizing the non-essential tasks. The work of addressing chaos is intense editing of our lives, allowing the non-important to fall away as you intently focus on the essential.
As the book says so nicely,
It’s not about getting more done in less time, it’s about getting only the right things done.
Greg McKeown, Essentialism
Who would receive the most significant benefit?
This book is an excellent book for most to read. You’ll particularly enjoy it if you feel overwhelmed by the many things you have going on. You’ll feel permission to assess these items and feel equipped with an understandable structure and plan to address your essentials.
This book really should make you think. Honestly, in most cases, it will leave you asking more questions than you’d care to admit, and you’ll find yourself re-reading sections repeatedly as you apply the principles in your life. Of course, you will also want to use these practices in your team for those in leadership roles.
Favorite Quotes
- “When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless.”
- “Instead of asking, “What do I have to give up?”, [essentialists] ask, “What do I want to go big on?”
- “The cumulative impact on this small change in thinking can be profound.”
- “Essentialists, on the other hand, see boundaries as empowering.”
Thoughts to Ponder
What things are essential for you?
How do you identify and prioritize your life?
Who in your life would most benefit from these practices? How can you help them find their essentials?
